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.

Whoa, slap me silly and call me Sally: It's back to the future guys and girls! If you're about my age and some 25 years (!) ago you used to watch those cheesy US sitcoms like the A-team, Airwolf and MacGyver you must have watched "Knightrider" as well. Well, just like The Bionic Woman, TV-studio NBC has resurrected the TV-series and the first episode aired two days ago on Feb. 17th. To be exact: it was actually a television movie that probably is going to become a TV-series (if ratings are positive).

David Hasselhoff has only a cameo in the pilot (as the father of the lead character) and the Pontiac Trans Am is replaced by a 2008 Ford Mustang GT500KR. What has stayed is the cheesy LED light behind the grille (man, did I see many dumb-asses trying to replicate the old Trans Am LED back in the days) and the sarcasm of KITT (The Knight Industries Three Thousand: an upgrade to The Knight Industries Two Thousand) this time with the voice of actor Val Kilmer (WTF?).

I'm about to download this movie in HD format from usenet and am looking forward to see if after 25 years this is still as funny as it was back then. I'll keep you posted.

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.

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!