Comments on: Lizard vs Heads of Meat!

Lizard vs Heads of Meat!

XQUZYPHYR — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 14:53:49 -0800

Japanese games shows are f*cked up, part 4,543,213. Contestants strap meat to forehead and release giant lizard. Hilarity ensues.

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 14:56:09 -0800

God damn it, Jesse.

By: killdevil

killdevil — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 14:56:24 -0800

Magnificent.

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 14:56:53 -0800

Best double-posting ever! Matt, please don't delete this. Let it remain for posterity.

By: goatfish

goatfish — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 14:58:23 -0800

WTF? Awesome.

By: tapeguy

tapeguy — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 14:59:32 -0800

I recently enjoyed this video of Tony Almeida off '24' appearing on some Japanese TV show. Needless to say, he moonwalks like Michael Jackson. No, really.

By: iamck

iamck — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 14:59:56 -0800

I was really hoping the two were NOT related so I could make some witty remark.

By: tatnasty

tatnasty — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:00:14 -0800

It's a tie!

By: jmccorm

jmccorm — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:00:22 -0800

Awesome. They really need to export more culture.

By: killdevil

killdevil — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:00:37 -0800

I must be missing out on some good television. Japanese and/or expats... please comment.

By: puke & cry

puke & cry — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:02:35 -0800

Best double post ever.

By: spinifex23

spinifex23 — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:05:22 -0800

Wow. Meat helmets. Literally. (A friend posted this in my LJ already, as my LJ name is 'meathelmet'. Because it wasn't taken, amazingly enough, and I think it's the best name ever.)

By: arcticwoman

arcticwoman — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:18:27 -0800

*waiting for part three of the japanese+lizard trifecta*

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:24:30 -0800

I'm-a-bettin' Matt's gonna re-neg on his usual "first post wins" policy because this one will have more comments. Any takers?

By: quin

quin — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:28:36 -0800

i think this is my new favorite video. At about the 25 second point when they pull the monitor back and he starts freaking out is great, but the best moment is at about 45 seconds when they cut to a different angle and you can see the people not directly being charged reacting... Genius.

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:29:40 -0800

Izam-san is going to fall! The studio is in a panic!

By: cloeburner

cloeburner — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:36:25 -0800

Man, what is up with the girl on the left in the shot that comes in at 45 seconds? She seems creepily uninterested in the preceedings.

By: lemonfridge

lemonfridge — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:37:43 -0800

second post for teh won!

By: skallas

skallas — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:46:20 -0800

Is there a high-quality direct download of this? >She seems creepily uninterested in the preceedings. Zen mind, man. Nothing phazes her. When not busy with MM, she acts as assassin and bodyguard for the Japanese prime minister.

By: kosher_jenny

kosher_jenny — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:46:33 -0800

Leaping lizards, that was hilarious! *is shot* I think I'd watch Fear Factor a whole lot more if it featured a bunch of jumpy Japanese girls.

By: kosher_jenny

kosher_jenny — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:49:07 -0800

Man, what is up with the girl on the left in the shot that comes in at 45 seconds? She seems creepily uninterested in the Proceedings. She's a trained lizard meat target, planted there by the producers for extra hilarity.

By: spazzm

spazzm — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:56:05 -0800

Awesome.

By: Pretty_Generic

Pretty_Generic — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 16:01:07 -0800

polar bear

By: paradroid

paradroid — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 16:04:57 -0800

i really need to move to japan ...

By: jazon

jazon — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 16:12:20 -0800

Man. Why can't we get American pop stars to participant in such tomfoolery?

By: swift

swift — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 16:14:15 -0800

LOL

By: dhartung

dhartung — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 16:15:50 -0800

Man, what is up with the girl on the left in the shot that comes in at 45 seconds? She seems creepily uninterested in the preceedings. The one who doesn't scream or duck? She is so fired.

By: bobo123

bobo123 — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 16:35:13 -0800

Japanese games shows are f*cked up, part 4,543,213. You know, I think America has surpassed Japan in terms of f*cked up games shows... like here's a description of Family Fear Factor... During one segment, a mother locked her daughter into a Plexiglass box full of cockroaches, and then forced the kid to undo her lock. For some strange reason, being locked in a box and covered with hundreds of cockroaches didn't sit too well with her daughter; the girl looked terrified and was sobbing as she fumbled with the lock.

By: mosk

mosk — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 16:52:14 -0800

These "game" shows always remind me of the classic 1958 Robert Sheckley short story, "The Prize of Peril", which seems to be the Ur-story of the reality TV genre. Although the lizard/meat hat angle of this FPP is mighty weird...

By: delmoi

delmoi — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 16:53:44 -0800

Very nice. Is it just me or has today been an exceptional day on metafitler?

By: clevershark

clevershark — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 16:54:22 -0800

Morning Musume... cute moniker.

By: nightchrome

nightchrome — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 17:07:11 -0800

Oh, gee, yet another "Look at those wacky Japanese" post...

By: chuq

chuq — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 17:17:32 -0800

Oh, gee, yet another "Look at those wacky Japanese" post... Well, if that isn't wacky, I don't know what is.

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 17:36:15 -0800

Donna mushi ga nightchrome no oshiri ni iru ka? [Translation: What kind of bug is in nightchrome's butt?] Seriously, there's plenty of things in Japan that aren't wacky. Kids riding bicycles or the subway to school, salarymen working long hours and getting drunk with their co-workers at the end of the day, housewives listening to soap operas as they scrub the bathroom floor... these things happen in Japan every day, and they aren't wacky in the slightest. And how about traditional culture? Kabuki, noh, sumou, calligraphy, the tea ceremony? These things are unfamiliar to most Westerners, but nobody could fairly call them wacky, either. But girl group members with meat strapped to their heads being assaulted by a huge lizard while a TV studio crowd goes nuts? I'm sorry, that is wacky, no matter who you are or where you're from, and I'm sure any Japanese person would agree. Perhaps nightchrome's wackometer needs calibrating.

By: effwerd

effwerd — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 17:40:11 -0800

This is great. It must be fun to be a Japanese TV game show producer.

By: effwerd

effwerd — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 17:41:56 -0800

Oh and the same minute double post just adds to the wackiness.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 17:46:59 -0800

Is this the first same minute double?

By: nightchrome

nightchrome — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 17:53:50 -0800

This individual post is not the point. It's the fact that mefites seem obsessed with finding wacky stuff from Japan and pointing and staring, then shaking their heads and going "Oh those wacky Japanese..." Everyone seems to believe that ALL Japanese are ALL wacky ALL the time, and that stuff like this is representative of the country as a whole. It's a lame stereotype is what it is.

By: clevershark

clevershark — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 18:05:19 -0800

nightchrome writes "It's a lame stereotype is what it is." Likewise: Americans, you are being judged by Fear Factor, Gigli, and speeches by George W. Bush.

By: freebird

freebird — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 18:09:49 -0800

Come on clevershark, we get some Batman and Pynchon don't we?

By: freudianslipper

freudianslipper — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 18:13:31 -0800

give me a break nightchrome. it's women with meat strapped to their heads getting rushed by giant lizards. NOT THE FACT THAT THEY ARE JAPANESE. get over it.

By: nightchrome

nightchrome — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 18:17:16 -0800

That's bull, and you know it. Posts like this show up all the time making fun of stuff in Japan. Heck you can probably just go through my comment list and find all the ones I've bitched about. It's a recent pet peeve I've developed.

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 18:25:33 -0800

We equally enjoy finding wacky stuff from Kansas and pointing and staring. 's all good.

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 18:28:01 -0800

clevershark writes "Likewise: Americans, you are being judged by Fear Factor, Gigli, and speeches by George W. Bush." When I was in Japan, I saw a lot of Jerry Springer on TV....

By: kosher_jenny

kosher_jenny — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 18:28:33 -0800

girl group members with meat strapped to their heads being assaulted by a huge lizard while a TV studio crowd goes nuts? I'm sorry, that is wacky And there's probably a hentai manga out there with a very similar plot too.

By: aramaic

aramaic — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 18:31:05 -0800

If you can't appreciate the majesty, no, the pure steam-distilled awesome of women with meat hats taunting a lizard, then I pity you. ...because it's a world of meat-hats out there, and we don't have nearly enough lizards to do the job right.

By: anthill

anthill — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 18:41:03 -0800

I can think of a few people in Kansas that could stand to have meat strapped to their heads and put in a cage with a large Floridian lizard.

By: clevershark

clevershark — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 18:46:51 -0800

Did someone say "meat hats"?

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 18:49:28 -0800

nightchrome writes "Heck you can probably just go through my comment list and find all the ones I've bitched about." I went back three pages in your comment history and I couldn't find another comment by by you bitching about MeFis making fun of Japan. There were several of you ragging on the US for immediate post war Japanese legilation though. There was this fairly surreal comment in the Cohen thread. Are you defending Japan there or Canada or the US. I'm not sure who you meant by we in the comment.

By: nightchrome

nightchrome — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 18:58:23 -0800

Mitheral, well I have to admit I make a lot of comments bitching about a wide variety of things. But I assure you there are bitchy comments in just about every Japan-related thread in the past few months. The Cohen one was about Canada, since I am in fact Canadian.

By: Manhasset

Manhasset — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 19:03:40 -0800

Posts like this show up all the time making fun of stuff in Japan. I'm betting that if it were members of New Pornographers (Canadians), it would still have been linked. I'm also betting that if there were no meat hats, helmets, or lizard it would not have been linked.

By: fungible

fungible — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 19:04:18 -0800

Everyone seems to believe that ALL Japanese are ALL wacky ALL the time, and that stuff like this is representative of the country as a whole. Actually, no. The stereotype is they're mostly rigid and boring until they let their freak flag fly on national television (or wherever). My experience has pretty much borne this out as true, and yes I think it's awesome. "It's not racism if you like their race." - Seinfeld

By: dydecker

dydecker — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 19:04:21 -0800

What nightchrome said.

By: photoslob

photoslob — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 19:09:10 -0800

So, if I go through nightchrome's comment list I'll find more japanese wackiness?! Awesome!

By: nightchrome

nightchrome — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 19:28:06 -0800

Nah, if you go through my comment list you'll find an extremely bitter and sarcastic person sniping whenever an opportunity arises.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 19:34:49 -0800

Apparently he fell through the Earth and ended up in Norway.

By: graventy

graventy — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 19:40:48 -0800

Jesus Christ, man. You know why I like clips from Japanese game shows? Because they kick ass. If our game shows had that much variety and melodrama, they'd be fun to watch! Did you watch the seal girl and the polar bear? Genius. Clips like that are why I enjoyed that one show on Spike TV (the..uh...Japanese game show). Not the crappy announcers, but the coolness of the games themselves.

By: nightchrome

nightchrome — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 19:43:33 -0800

Admittedly, Japanese variety shows totally wipe the floor with just about everything on North American tv.

By: punishinglemur

punishinglemur — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 19:52:43 -0800

How embarrassing, XQUZ etc.

By: clevershark

clevershark — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 19:58:54 -0800

nightchrome writes "Nah, if you go through my comment list you'll find an extremely bitter and sarcastic person sniping whenever an opportunity arises." er, who among us can't say the very same thing?

By: nightchrome

nightchrome — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 20:01:31 -0800

Metafilter: bitter, sarcastic sniping in meat-hats

By: Heywood Mogroot

Heywood Mogroot — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 20:17:24 -0800

that one show on Spike TV Unfortunately, Takeshi's Castle was the coolest show on J-TV ever. I lived in Japan 1992-2000 and saw nothing even remotely like it.

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 20:30:45 -0800

that rules ... i really would have liked to see if the lizard would actually eat meat off of someone's head like that

By: j-urb

j-urb — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 20:39:34 -0800

this is great.

By: Jon-o

Jon-o — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 20:47:46 -0800

Posts like this show up all the time making fun of stuff in Japan Then find some clips of Brazilians, Danes, or Italians and we'll make equal fun. Wait! Correction: we're not even making fun of it. In reality, we're totally bowled over by the ultimate awesomeness of these activities. Meat hats? Giant Lizards? Could it get any sweeter? Dude, it's not like we're saying things like, "tea ceremoney is teh gay and they've got small eyes pearl harbor put them in camps let's n00k them agin hahahaha." ¹ It just so happens that we don't often see this sort of extreme hyperactive surrealism coming from other nations. It's like getting to watch grownups play Double Dare all the time. Settle down. I mean, really, if you're getting bent out of shape about how excited we all are about japanese women wearing meat hats running from a big lizard, you've got a lot of indignant outrage to spare. 1: Would never ever say something like that in real life.

By: Jon-o

Jon-o — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 20:50:43 -0800

PS: Just click on the "meat" tag. Go on.

By: kingfisher, his musclebound cat

kingfisher, his musclebound cat — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 20:55:38 -0800

Am I the only one who thought this was hot? Not the thread, just the Japanese pop stars with meat on their head fleeing from a lizard.

By: yhbc

yhbc — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 20:56:38 -0800

* awkward silence *

By: Jon-o

Jon-o — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 21:15:22 -0800

Am I the only one who thought this was hot? Probably not. You're just the only one who didn't care about our feelings enough to prevent you from sharing that disturbing tidbit.

By: huffa

huffa — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 21:46:03 -0800

there is certainly always a fine lane between exoticizing Japan and appreciating the myriad of amazing cultural products they produce. but I wonder how disparate reactions of people in the US say are from people in Japan when seeing a video like this. isn't this in all likelihood also seen as completely bonkers in Japan? we have equivalent shows in the US it seems. fear factor etc. isn't ot rather odd to assume that Japanese people think that this is completely unremarkable? do Americans think that fear factor is completely normal? maybe they think its stupid and uninteresting because we understand its rather banal context, but its still really absurd. also, unless I've missed it, everyone has failed to mention that those girls are members of two incredibly awesome japanese bands: morning musume and minimoni!

By: nightchrome

nightchrome — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 21:52:13 -0800

If by "incredibly awesome japanese bands" you mean "amalgamation of talentless cutie-pies forged into a mass-market powerhouse" then sure.

By: dreamsign

dreamsign — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 22:10:14 -0800

That's bull, and you know it. nightchrome is right. How many Brazillian meat-helmet eating lizard game shows get posted to MeFi? What about the Italian ones? Or the Iranian? Clearly the wacky isn't found in Japan. We find it because we look there.

By: Jon-o

Jon-o — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 22:26:37 -0800

nightchrome

By: nightchrome

nightchrome — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 23:17:47 -0800

Jon-o, Yeah, I totally agree that I fly off the handle over this topic. I have an agenda. It's a pet peeve, something I get antsy over, something I poke and prod at incessantly. We all have something that irks us. There could be countless reasons why these things bug me. Probably none of them are very flattering to me.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 23:51:16 -0800

Am I the only one who thought this was hot? Hot? No. Adorable? Yes. I dunno. It's cute watching women be afraid of (harmless) things. My wife was afraid of a mouse last month and I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. Wouldn't let me kill it either. It got so that I thought the mouse was too cute to kill and I had to shoo it out the garage (took about an hour). I think it's harmless, although I understand where nightchrome is coming from. There is a bit of fetishization (is that a real word?) of the Japanese and Asians in general. What I'd like to find is the 'reality' show I saw a long while back when I was overseas. It was produced when airport bombings were the thing among terrorists (pre-9/11 "tearists") they pick some shnook in an airport, walk up to him, drop a briefcase in front of him and run. Now that's offensive and funny. (Note - I'm not mentioning the country).

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 23:54:20 -0800

Probably should have emphasized the "AND" on that last bit there.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 00:04:40 -0800

Meathats and lizards? I gotta agree: it's one of the more insane things I've seen. It's like Salvadore Dali does a TV Game Show. A work of Art.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 00:06:51 -0800

It was produced when airport bombings were the thing among terrorists (pre-9/11 "tearists") they pick some shnook in an airport, walk up to him, drop a briefcase in front of him and run. Now that's offensive and funny. I should imagine that would be a fatal practical joke these days, especially in the US. A shame, because it would otherwise be a great sick prank.

By: nightchrome

nightchrome — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 00:25:47 -0800

I think I'm just bitter because I had a serious thing for 1st generation MM girl Yuko Nakazawa, otherwise known as "the old one".

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 00:50:22 -0800

I have little experience with it, I admit, but from what I've seen, I love Japanese TV.

By: nightchrome

nightchrome — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 00:54:28 -0800

By: the cuban

the cuban — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 02:04:58 -0800

Japanese television is excellent. Taken as a whole, I found it to be pretty average.

By: donkeymon

donkeymon — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 02:13:32 -0800

Mainly because there isn't as pervasive a celebrity factory spitting out geinojin whose sole purpose in life is to populate all these stupid shows. Japanese TV is teh crap. The only thing worse than Japanese TV is Morning Musume. I was hoping that they were going to get eaten by the lizard. By the way, none of those girls are more than like 13 so don't go finding them hot. Or at least don't go telling anyone about it. (unless you're a 50 year old Japanese man; then it's okay.) And yeah, you people are all far too fascinated with Japan and things that you can find wacky about it. However, if it weren't for the other 6000 posts along that line, this post would have been cool. Although some might be compelled to mention that it's just one link with no contextual information.

By: Joeforking

Joeforking — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 02:16:01 -0800

Shut up nightchrome, I didn't come to this thread to read about you.

By: nightchrome

nightchrome — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 02:33:47 -0800

Woah, the hate.

By: alumshubby

alumshubby — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 03:44:24 -0800

I'm no PETA handwringer, but I felt sort of sorry for the lizard. Between getting shoved around and, the girls freaking out, and the studio audience going ballistic, it looked pretty befuddled.

By: lapolla

lapolla — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 04:26:16 -0800

oh thank god, alumshubby... i was starting to wonder "am i the only one who feels bad for the lizard?" and the polar bear: thud! i hope neither animal got hurt. although i was laughing hysterically, even as i worried. heh.

By: armage

armage — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 04:35:27 -0800

Meh, it's all good -- this thread is due to be deleted within a few hours anyway. FWIW, I see where you're coming from, nightchrome (I also currently live in Japan--Shinjuku, if you're curious), and I do get a bit irritated by the "it's CRAZY Japan! wild and CRAZY!" kind of reactions to Japan. But, on the other hand, meat hats. On teenage Japanese girls' heads. With a lizard running around. I don't care where you're from, that's downright hilarious.

By: clevershark

clevershark — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 05:37:49 -0800

nightchrome writes "If by 'incredibly awesome japanese bands' you mean 'amalgamation of talentless cutie-pies forged into a mass-market powerhouse' then sure." Yeah, you'd never see that sort of cheapening of culture in America, that's for sure.

By: Who_Am_I

Who_Am_I — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 05:48:06 -0800

OK, wtf? You can't put meat on someone's head and let a lizard loose on them and then say 'don't talk about this.' If people in Japan are going to keep creating this stuff, we're going to keep staring and saying 'that's crazy.' And it's not like we're singling out Japan. Did we all have a laugh at the German 'training' video? Yes we did. How about those crazy Russians? OMG, what's up with Sweden? Don't even get me started on the stuff coming from America that gets posted here.

By: elemenopee

elemenopee — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 05:52:58 -0800

1983: - "Dang man, what is that you are eating, sushi? eeewww. Look everyone, he's eating raw fish!!" -"hey man, how do you say boobies in chinese" "um I'm Japanese" "ya whatever, how do you say it?" "hey! ching chang wang bang ah so!!... did i say anything in chinese?" "hey teach me how to do a judo chop" 2005: "oh you are japanese? man I love sushi! california rolls are my favorite!" "hey man, what does your name mean in engilsh?" its beautiful!" "what is that old lady saying to bill in the hospital scene in lost in translation? I love that movie" "teach me how to do a sake bomb"

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 06:56:56 -0800

MXC (that SpikeTV japanese game show) is insanely great if you mute the sound. The contest where they shove the contestant into a ball and then roll them down a giant pinball table was one of the insanest things I've ever seen.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 06:58:48 -0800

Japanese television is excellent. I firmly believe that Japanese are way better at comedy than (North) Americans. Why hasn't the concept of celebrity-run variety shows taken off back home? For that matter, why don't we have any genuinely amusing and interesting celebrities who aren't comedians by trade? I take it you've never seen VH1. (by the way, I find that sort of 'entertainment' almost unberable when it comes out of American culture)

By: fungible

fungible — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 07:05:42 -0800

I got really ill in Kyoto and was bedridden for a whole day, once. Trust me: a whole day of Japanese TV can be quite dull.

By: gen

gen — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 07:42:16 -0800

nightchrome: Japanese television is excellent. I'm Japanese. Overall Japanese television is worse than American television. Sure there are some exceptions to the rule, but there's a reason why American TV is watched around the world whereas Japanese TV is almost never watched overseas.

By: mowglisambo

mowglisambo — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 07:45:18 -0800

I'm with alumshubby & lapolla-- amusing as the clip was, I seriously felt sorry for the lizard, who obviously was no threat to the girls (except maybe in a hygenic sense).

By: nightchrome

nightchrome — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 08:24:08 -0800

I suppose this is probably one of those cases of the grass always being greener on the other side. Most people I know here don't like local tv either, but fawn all over the most retarded sitcom crap that comes out of the US.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 11:26:07 -0800

nightchrome writes "I suppose this is probably one of those cases of the grass always being greener on the other side." More that it's being screened for the "best"[1] content. For example, of the hundreds of hours of British programming broadcast everyday BBC Canada only shows 24 hours of it. And big chunks of that are repeats of popular shows. So there is a bar keeping the truely horrible programming out raising the average of what is percieved to be programming from country "foo" [1]whatever the metric setting the best is at the moment

By: wzcx

wzcx — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 15:29:52 -0800

I had never heard of Takeshi's Castle- perhaps it's even better in German?

By: dreamsign

dreamsign — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 15:43:23 -0800

i was starting to wonder "am i the only one who feels bad for the lizard?" Nope.

By: inconsequentialist

inconsequentialist — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 16:44:13 -0800

I believe that that was one of the most disturbing things that I have seen in a very long time.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 06:51:10 -0800

clevershark : "Morning Musume... cute moniker." And just shows the awkwardness that comes from folks not knowing history. They're named "morning musume." after their first song, "Morning Coffee", which has the refrain "Let's drink morning coffee together". The average age of band members was maybe 15 at the time. "Morning coffee" is an old roundabout way of saying sleep together. (Think "Would you like to have breakfast tomorrow? Should I call you, or nudge you?") Most people nowadays don't know this old slang, so it was taken as an innocent little ditty, as opposed to a band named after paedophilia. And, no, Japanese don't all think paedophilia is the best thing since sliced bread. Heywood Mogroot : "Unfortunately, Takeshi's Castle was the coolest show on J-TV ever. I lived in Japan 1992-2000 and saw nothing even remotely like it." I wish I'd seen it. It's still talked about with reverence. I should go check if there are videos of it. Mitheral : "So there is a bar keeping the truely horrible programming out raising the average of what is percieved to be programming from country 'foo'" Exactly. Living in Japan, you find two things: you get used to stuff like this (I doubt I would have given the clip in question a second glance if it were on regular TV), and that there's a whole lot of crap that people outside Japan don't have to sift through. When I say "get used to", I don't mean that this is humdrum ordinary stuff, no different than riding a bike or baking pancakes. It's "xtr33m zany stuff". But it's extremely common "xtr33m zany stuff". Think of it the way you might a band like Slipknot: is wearing demented clown masks with nails coming out while screaming into a mic normal in the US? No, not really. It's far from average behavior. But it is relatively common for bands who need a gimmick, so after a while, you just stop registering that band X has pictures of themselves covered in pigs blood or the like. It's both extreme and really common, at the same time.