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One of the nuances of Japan is their absurdist sense of humor. You can find it peppered all over their tv shows and Hard Gay is a fine example. Masaki Sumitani plays this character called Hard Gay who spreads his idea of morality and charity through his over the top "gay" antics. These include pevis thrusts every 15 secs and random yelps of various catchphrases like Hooo~! or Okay~!!. He always always reintroduces himself every other second and as you can see, with his ridiculous costume (hot leather shorts not shown), he also makes constant references to his sexuality by bending over, slapping his ass and slowly, slowly sliding a hand/finger around his crotch area. Cringe all you want, you'll still laugh anyway.

You can check out many clips on the man himself at YouTube. Watch in horror as he assails anyone and everyone, like in his Father's Day clip, where he convinces kids to appreciate their dads. He follows this girl to her home and gets her to thank her father and give him a present. At this point, he butts in with his own present to the dad, which consists of a leather tie with a spiked collar and this S&M style facemask with a metal chain. Daughter drags dad around by the chain in a scene which is at once a heartwarming family moment and an ultra badong incestual episode. Go figure!

With methods that are Ali G-esque, Hard Gay gets away with it because he's playing an outrageous gay character. So everyone knows its all just a stupid joke and as awkward and perverse it seems, it does work to some extent as you watch him salvage a ramen shop in earnest for instance. Its only in Japan where a gay character takes on an almost mythical status in that he's just a social representation of something strange and embarrasing, pushing his ideas in the name of gayness and fun, thereby making it ok.

Read up a little bit more about Hard Gay here. Check out this forum here. (They've got a Hard Gay section) And check out his own licensed toy which was the result of Hard work here. Thank you dear for intro-ing me to such good stuff!

Coupla years back, I remember watching this show with my girlfriend which had this guy going around chasing snakes and making a list of the top ten most deadly ones. We cringed every time he grabbed onto any insidious looking reptile before proclaiming how its poison could kill you in a matter of minutes and how they worked. He also took some rather dramatic photos of the snakes in question, some seemingly attacking the camera. In fact, he has had several occasions when he had the snakes spit venom at him and he was actually bitten whilst filming by a pretty venomous snake as well. He was rushed to hospital and barely made it and promtly went back to filming soon after recovering.

That man, pictured above, is Austin Stevens, born in South Africa and known as the snake man, he's got a tremendous amount of knowledge of wildlife and a hands on, get in there approach. The new show on Discovery I caught was Austin Stevens: Most Dangerous, in which he tracks down this huge lizard down under. This guy is amazing. He's an absolute showman, with a terrifically fresh accent and a bravado which holds no bounds. He just seems really earnest in how he enjoys doing the dangerous shit he's doing, almost like a kid with his favourite toy. The careless abandon that he displays only goes to further highlight the audacity of his photos. He goes all out to get crazy shots. I remember the snake series had this matrix-esque sequence, with the camera swirling round him, as the snake closed in on him. With zero ego outwardly displayed and 100% commitment, he's just one of those guys anyone can appreciate. Respect.

Check this interview. 

Just caught this show on Discovery Travel & Adventure Channel. Project Runway* is a contest pitting 16 fashion designers against each other, having to take on different projects each round, bearing the criticism, bitching and in-fighting. 16 models are also lumped into the show and each week one designer is voted off together with one model, emphasizing the dog eat dog world of fashion. Or as host Heidi Klum puts it incessantly, "You're either in or you're out!"

The designers come from all over. There's a mature, helpful on the outside, bitchy on the inside mother to an overweight and ultra flamboyant guy, to this dude whose eyes constantly look like they're popping out to a punky short haired girl to this guy who believed vulgarity=fashion. Anyway, the episode I caught had the designers doing the theme of Envy. Each designer only had about a short time to cut, dye, sew and decorate their pieces from a long bale of white cotton. Accesories came from a one hour shopping trip all in the same store. The guys then went around doing their stuff, looking/fighting over dyes and stuff until they were surprised an hour early and asked to present their work at this store, where each piece would be auctioned off. The one dress with the highest bid would survive the round, regardless of what the critics thought. One would be chopped~!

The best bit was the crit. Punky girl got slammed for making an outfit that was too simple. This guy that made a pantsuit whilst talking about penis envy. Evil mother spent more time bitching about how she'd do anything to take advantage of others in a sly, cunning way, endlessly mentioning how this was her last shot. When it came to the crit, the judges thought her piece was incomplete. She used that as her mantra. "I'm using the bareness to emphasize...." Blah blah blah. "You know, you talk the talk..." was the reply from the judge. Another girl had this dress where she was trying to sell it in the store by telling the customers how the bloomy things were tumours and how envy was like a disease. Cue bewildered expression of shocked customer. "You know, in the end, its got to be a beautiful dress..." said the judge woman. The highest bid received for a dress was by this black girl who used a military theme. It was daring, with a low cut but you wouldn't think military=envy. Although to her it was more like... Envy > Greed > War. A long extrapolation of the original concept until it became invisible. At least the dress was nice. The guy who got the chop also got the lowest bid and his half arsed attitude got the better of him. For starters, he finished a whole 4 hours before anyone else and went on about how he liked to do his own thing and not think too much. In the end, his idea was a tiny white skirt, a big black ribbon round the waist, red beading that resembled blood. Oh and getting the model to flip the bird and sticking her tongue out at the end of the runway. Cue head shaking by judge. Ultimately, he got chopped because he didn't seem to care one bit.

* The link goes to season 2. The episode I watched was from season 1.