My Whole World Has Basically Been Shattered

Previously, I've expressed my love for the old American Gladiators, which you can still see on ESPN Classic. I was excited as anyone else when I heard NBC was bringing it back to the airwaves. I tuned in to a couple of the new episodes, and while they're decidedly worse than the old episodes (words can't describe how awkward Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali are as hosts), I was still entertained. Further excitement was generated when Vish told me a good friend of his was going to be a contestant on the show.

Well, Vish attended the tapings, and has the whole inside scoop on how it all goes down. Suffice it to say, I don't even know what to believe in anymore. I really loved the unabashed "these guys are on a whole lot of steroids" culture of American Gladiators, and the games were fun, and the competition seemed genuinely intense.

Now, thanks to Vish's insider expose, I now know it's pretty much only a couple levels above pro wrestling.

You can read all about it here, but if you're a fan of the show, don't say you weren't warned.

Oh and also, I'm very scared of NBC now. Like, terrified.

Quick Hits

I should start off by making a lot of excuses for the lack of blog entries in the past 3 weeks. Basically, it all stems from my slow-to-heal sprained left ankle. I can walk now, but I really still can't run, so as a result, I'm inordinately sluggish, and when I get home, instead of thinking up blog entries, I just pass out on the couch around 10:30 pm. The scary part comes 4 hours later when I come to. Did I drool on myself? Why do I have 5 missed calls? Why is Carson Daly still on TV?

One of my pet peeves is when local areas have specific temporary names for roads. So like, when you're driving, you just keep driving straight, only suddenly the name of the road you're on is totally different, and then like 10 minutes later you have no idea where you are anymore. Richard told me that in Detroit, not only is there an "8 Mile" road, but also a "7 Mile" and "6 Mile" road. I think that's just so stupid. If you later on decide to extend or alter roads, the names no longer make any sense. Of course, all this complaining will be reversed if someone decides to name a road after me. "Eric Ma Lane" - that just sounds like a fun road to drive. If you're reading this AND you happen to be the mayor of some town, let's make this happen.

I've been going out to eat less often with the gimpy ankle, so I've had to do a little more grocery shopping. The closest market to me is a Trader Joe's, which is both a great and incredibly frustrating market. Trader Joe's is really good for ridiculously specific things - frozen desserts, herbal supplements, cheap red wine. Unfortunately, they're bad in wide-ranging categories like "produce" and "milk" and "jellybeans". Sara reminded me of one of their most ridiculous marketing techniques - when Trader Joe's sells "ethnic" food, it gets branded under "ethnic names", like "Trader Jose's Chicken Empanadas" or "Trader Ming's Sesame Ginger Noodles". I'm stunned that someone out there thought this was a good idea.

The writers' strike continues to drive me insane. Fox has this horrific lie detector show coming up where they basically strap someone in, and ask questions like, "would you donate your kidney to save your father's life?" Or, "do you expect to still be married in three years?" Entertainment Weekly had a quote calling it "the end of western civilization", which sounds about right to me. But then, Fox turns around and tries to USE THAT in their marketing. The commercial I just saw said, "is this show the end of western civilization?" (attributed to Entertainment Weekly) "...tune in and find out!" I'm serious, President Bush is not going to solve any Israeli-Palestinian conflict at this point in his presidency. If he wants to redeem himself in even some minuscule way, he should broker a deal to end the writers' strike. I'm about to lose my mind. Fox is even bringing back the "reality" show "Paradise Hotel", which I had thought already ended western civilization back in 2003.

Oh, and watch "Juno" if you haven't yet. Very funny.