Pissy pinball

Last night, after I got done watching one of my new favorite shows (“Worlds Apart” on National Geographic) on Tivo, the end of another National Geo show was on live TV (yes, I do watch non-Tivo’d TV once in a while). It’s called “Taboo” and delights in gross out footage of people eating live snakes, etc. Last night, the fine folks in China were eating bull penis (with detailed descriptions of how you have to clean the urinary tract to make sure the meat doesn’t taste like urine).

Then I went to bed. Where I dreamed I was in an arcade full of pinball machines, and I had to urinate. So I started urinating on one of the machines, right on the button you press to set a new game. And half way through, I realized the machine had a couple of dozen free games on it. Du-oh! Now I couldn’t get the free games without mucking around in my own urine …

OK, all you Freudians out there. What’s going on in my head? Clearly the Taboo show was an influence. I’m afraid to think what else might be going on here …

As for World’s Apart, this one is worth checking out. They take a totally yuppie family, complete with stereotypical soccer mom, and dump them into the middle of some so-called primitive culture. Each episode features a great scene where the yuppies get to see their food killed before their very eyes and another scene where the soccer mom breaks down in tears. I’m not sure if they’re out there trying to find the soccer mom stereotype, or if the stereotype is just so prevalent they can’t miss.

Maybe the most interesting part is how little control the Americans have over their children. While all the village children listen and do what they’re told, the American kids whine and moan and are generally a pain in the ass.

It’s definitely interesting to see how different we are from much of the rest of the world.