Henk van de Goor's Bloggers@large

Remember Beavis & Butt-head? They were one of the great cultural icons of the 20th century and I think I found their heirs for the new millennium: Fur TV. Back in the early and mid-90's I loved to watch the exploits of Beavis & Butt-head the two cartoon characters, who live in the fictional town of Highland, Texas. They while away their time in sarcastic conversation, fantasizing about sex and masculinity, although they have no real-world experience with either thing.
Now Fast forward to 2008 and meet Fat Ed Tubbs, Lapeño Enriquez and Mervin J Minky. Fat Ed is a foul-mouthed, violent, beer swilling heavy metal obsessive, Lapeño is a Brazilian sex fiend, who has a way with women and has even worked as a pimp, while Mervin is a hapless, mentally retarded, self-abusing fanatic with an addiction to masturbation. Yup guys, it is the new millennium and so we have a bunch of characters fitting for the new millennium.

You can watch all episodes online at the MTV website, or at YouTube. Or you can have a quick preview here so you can see what I am writing about:

MTV Cribs


Fur TV: Rent Boys

Oh yes my fellow Californication lovers: he's back! hank Moody; the man with the sex-addiction, drug-habit, foul-mouth but small heart. The official season 2 premiere is going to be on September 28 but I downloaded the first 2 epsiodes (slip of the Tongue and The Great Ashby) already! Dude, I love the internet! I can't wait to see all episodes.
The first season ended with Karen running from her own wedding and jumping into Hank's battered Porsche 911 convertible. That ending let lot's of people speculating about the next season. Many people thought it to be one of those infamous 'dream scenes' where it just all turns out to be a figment of imagination.
Well, having seen both episodes of season2 I can tell you... You'll have to watch it for yourself! No spoilers here :-)

This tip is for those of you that are in Europe and can't connect to US websites to watch streaming videos because they block your IP-address because it's European. If you want to enjoy streaming, full length TV-series from the US from websites like www.fancast.com, www.abc.com and www.fox.com but get denied, just download this tool called Hotspot Shield. Hotspot Shield creates a virtual private network (VPN) with a proxy server that is located in the US. By doing so, your PC is suddenly virtually located in the USA! And presto: you can access all content from those pesky websites!
So If you want to watch The Bionic Woman, Late Night with Conan O'Brian, Survivor, Big Brother USA etc., this your chance! It's a hassle free installation and it works great for me.

If I had to name a thing I would not want to miss in my life, I would say: The Internet. To me it is just as valuable as water from a faucet and electricity from my outlet. I can't image life without it. Surfing, chatting, downloading and blogging. All things we would not have without it. And I'm particulary happy with it on days like today where I just was able to snatch all 12 episodes of the first season of Californication of usenet. So right now I have two DVD's with the full season of Hank Moody's adventures in Hell-A. As I wrote before, it's one of the most graphic American TV-series (nudity, profanity, sex, drugs, vomit and even female ejaculate!) I have ever seen. In fact, I am still very surprised it ever even managed to get aired! It reminds me in a lot of ways of the movies Dutch movie director Paul Verhoeven has made (Turkish Delight, Soldier of Orange, Basic Instinct). They were always shocking and very graphic in nature.

I really hope there is going to be a second season! But I guess it depends if the Writers Guild stop their strike anytime soon.

The (Almost) uncensored trailer

Meet Hank Moody:

Famed novelist & NYC transplant Hank relocates to LA after his acclaimed book is optioned, but it later becomes a crappy romantic comedy, which sparks a horrible case of writer's block. He's struggling to get his career back on track with the help of his agent/best friend, raise his pre-teen daughter, all while pining for his ex-girlfriend, who is now engaged to another man. It may sound desperate, but he enjoys life and owns all his various vices - drink, drugs and women - with a refreshing sense of honesty and unapologetic candor. He's holding it together while falling apart, and he doesn't mind it one bit.

So what can I say? I have new favourite TV-series: "Californication".
It is raw, compelling, politically incorrect and most likely won't air more than two seasons. In Holland it airs - oddly enough -on Comedy Central on Mondays at 22:30. Just as it does in the US. Coincidence? Who knows, I like it. Want to find out more? Watch the YouTube movie below or head on over to the official Californication website.

As of today, Joost ("Juiced") has become a publice beta, instead of by invitation only. I found out about Joost in January this year, but didn't get a test account until April. I have looked at the technology and the way Joost works (it's peer-to-peer technology, just as Skype and Kazaa) and though the technology behind it is interesting, it has been the lack of content that keeps me from using it daily. Too many networks try to keep their programs from being available outside their country, which is stupid as the Internet does not has any borders.

With the internet you have (potentially) a chance to watch TV from virtually any country without having a sattelite dish in your backyard. So why can't I watch American TV in holland, using the internet (Joost)? NBC has started some new TV-series like a remake of the '70's series "Bionic Woman"; I very much would like to see them. Now I just downloaded the season premiere episode (in HD format), but why isn't there some service that allows you to see this abroad? Long story short: get rid of the frontiers and please give us more content.

Tonight at 21:00 CEST, 20:00 GMT you HAVE to watch BBC2. It's the ultimate episode of the season: Top Gear's Polar Challenge. I had the pleasure of watching the episode already in HD-format by downloading it. I have just 2 words for you: EPIC TV! This is just bonkers.

The Top Gear Team races against each other to see who would reach the North Pole first: Jeremy & Captain Slow in a specially prepared Toyota Hi-Lux or Hamster with a sled and dogs. An truly epic battle against nature. No man has ever tried to take a car to the North pole before.. Will they make it?

Want to see more now, or rekindle the memory afterwards? Turn on my slide show and enjoy this truly briljant and epic special episode!