I should be catching up on homework but why do homework when instead one can post about Bear Grylls?
I knew it was time for a new season of Bear Grylls on the Discovery Channel when a lot of people suddenly started coming to my blog this past week.
Mr. Grylls has a blog, where he looks gorgeous while grimy:
I routinely train for three to four hours a day to keep my physical fitness at the level needed to sustain the pace of each shoot; this routine includes weights, running, yoga, rucksack runs, yomps, and circuit training.
What are yomps, I wonder?
Unfortunately he hasn't updated it for a while. Fans will be more satisfied with the Discovery Channel website.
Here's an interview on his latest Everest romp:
Here's Bear talking to Conan:
"Naked, with a pair of boots and a trenchcoat" will certainly bring more viewers to any blog or website that shows him in that. There's a persistent couple of people who keep coming to my blog looking for "Bear Grylls naked".
Maria sent me this: Reuters's Andrew Wallenstein is shocked, SHOCKED! that Bear Grylls spent a night or two in a motel:
But this British adventurer is now the subject of an investigation by U.K.'s Channel 4, which already has confirmed that Grylls checked into motels on a few occasions when he was depicted on TV having slept under the stars.
Considering how, when I watch the program, I sit there hoping Bear would be staying in a motel, I'm actually relieved to hear it.
Andrew's outrage comes from his belief that,
"Wild" restored a sense of realism to being marooned and sold us on the fantasy that we could learn the actual skills for survival.
Perhaps the show restored Andrew's belief that he could learn the actual skills for survival. Every time I've watched that show it has restored my belief that I would have been dead by the first ad break.
I look forward to the 3rd Man Vs Wild season.
Go for it, Bear.
UPDATE Bear sings! Thank you to the friend (and Bear fan) who prefers to remain anonymous.
Yesterday three dozen people came to my blog from googling "Bear Grylls", plus two who were searching for "Bear Grylls naked".
At first I was puzzled as to why the sudden interest, but later last night when I was watching Mythbusters, I realized that Bear's new season starts tomorrow.
I'm sorry to dissapoint the latter two, but here's a shirtless Bear Grylls YouTube:
EVERGLADES: This premiere episode finds host Bear Grylls stranded in the swamps of the Florida Everglades, where each year at least 60 tourists need to be rescued. With more than a million alligators, thousands of snakes and even black bears roaming these waterlogged lands, the area has more than its share of hazards. Bear demonstrates how to keep alligators at bay, deal with vicious razor-sharp grass and find stomach-churning food that will keep you alive if you find yourself stranded in this beautiful but dangerous destination.
The first thing I'd do if stranded in the Everglades would be calling my sister on the cell phone, since she lives in the area. But then, she'd probably come along so then the two of us would be stranded.
The Phoenix is quite insulting, calling Bear "English boy adventurer".
Over on the Discovery Channel, English boy adventurer Bear Grylls backflipped off a chopper into the ultramarine waters of the Pacific, swam two miles to a desert island, scaled a cliff, descended through the root system of a banyan tree, and finally found a hospitable little cove, where he subsisted for a few days on coconuts and tiny fish ( MAN VS. WILD , Friday at 9 pm). A juicy turtle passed within harpoon range, but Bear courteously forwent a feast on account of the turtle's position on the endangered-species list. Both Bear and Criss, as they go about their respective tasks, make a selection of animalistic grunts and coughs. Shinning down the coconut tree seemed particularly hard on Bear, who grimaced against the chafing bole and warned the viewer against it "as a bloke."
Flying over the top of the world A British Everest summiteer has become the first man to fly higher than the top of the world in a powered paraglider.
Bear Grylls, who at the age of 23 became the youngest British climber to scale Mount Everest in 1998, achieved a feat that had been deemed impossible by many critics prior to the mission.
Here's a selection of books authored by Mr. Grylls,
I haven't found Man Vs Wild on DVD yet, but when I do I'll link to it.
Meanwhile, if Mr. Grylls is reading this, please email me at faustaw-at-yahoo-dot-com. I'd love to have you as my podcast guest.
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In other diversions, I have become addicted to Facebook. I'm learning the ropes and just this morning asked a question, but then I made a mistake and the question got sent to all my friends, which probably means I've annoyed everyone early in the morning. My apologies to all.
Does Bear Grylls have a Facebook page? Well, I looked and there are dozens of Bear Grylls Facebook pages. Will the real Bear Grylls please stand up? Technorati tag: Bear Grylls Share on Facebook
Last night I wanted to watch TV, but 24 and House weren't on, so I settled by flipping back and forth between Man vs Wild and Ugly Betty.
Man vs Wild is an acquired taste. On the one hand, Bear Grylls is very attractive. On the other hand, he eats termites. Last evening's Mt Kilauea episode apparently was a re-run but I wanted to see him walking on lava fields.
I had never watched Ugly Betty before, and years ago I only saw a few minutes of Betty la fea (yes, that means Ugly Betty), the original soap on which it's based.
The original Betty la fea character was in much uglier disarray that Ugly Betty, but after a makeover that took months, she got the guy at the end. Betty la fea was the usual ugly-duckling/Cinderella story but it was so successful across Latin America that the Colombians did another ugly duclking/Cinderella soap with a guy, Pedro el escamoso (which I would translate as Geeky Pete, instead of the more literal Creepy Pete). The guy playing Pedro wore a mullet, created a dance that became a fad, and got the girl at the end.
Pedro had four things in his favor: he was in great shape, had a truly beautiful voice, he was a good man, and he was really funny - a lethal combination in any guy. One's willing to overlook a mullet. His fans certainly did.
Which comes to show you the universality of a cliche.
But back to Betty: I actually liked the program. This Betty is young, and homely (due in great part to her clothes and hairdo), but is a good role model for young girls. Here's why: 1. Betty loves a guy that doesn't love her back. That's the existential crisis of every teenager. In last night's episode she finally figured out that trying to be his friend that tags along while he goes on a date with someone else is not a good idea. The good thing about it is, she stopped that, and she was fine.
2. Betty helps other people do the right thing. The show is not preachy, and indeed Betty arrived at that moment after much meandering. But she knew what the right thing was, and she was able to bring around the other character to turn herself to the police.
3. Betty has good friends, and a good family. They're Mexican but they don't sound like "dees"; they say "these". They are fully integrated into American society, another excellent thing.
4. The show pokes fun at fashionista slaves while at the same time showing what really looks good.
"Our ancestors were far more violent than we are." We're probably living in the most peaceful time of our species' existence, a statement that seems almost obscene in light of Darfur and Iraq.
The decline of violence, he tells us, is a fractal phenomenon - we see it over the centuries, the decades and the years. That said, we see a tipping point in the 16th century - the age of reason - particularly in England and Holland.
Coke has some 70 clean-water projects in 40 countries, a service it hopes will eventually boost local economies and broaden its consumer base. But the efforts are also part of a broader strategy under Chairman and Chief Executive E. Neville Isdell to build Coke's image as a local benefactor and global diplomat. "You have to be an integral and functioning part both in perception and reality in every community in which you operate," he said in an interview.
In a lighter note, Over at the BBCA broadcast, they had a report on French electoral polling of pets. Dogs were for Sarko, cats for Sego. I wondered what Marvin and Maynard would say, but then, Marvin and Maynard are not French. Marvin's blogging - go check it out.
Maria tells me that The Sopranos are filming in Morris Plains. I wonder if the bear has a cameo? A local corporation has sent a memo with instructions on what to do if the bear finds you, among them,
Black bear attacks are extremely rare. If a black bear does attack, fight back -- do not play dead.
If Bear Grylls attacks, however, expect an entirely different reaction.
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Right now I'm listening to some of the most beautiful music man has created,
"U.S.-Iran tensions could trigger war," cautions an article by the AP, which appears to be just waking up to this possibility.
In a similar vein, this morning's BBCA newscast managed to blame the centuries-old, thirteen centuries, that is, Sunni-Shia rivalry on - you guessed it - Israel and the Americans:
"It's America and Israel who want trouble here," said another participant.
"Sleep must not be trivialised," Xavier Bertrand, the Health Minister, said.
But they're not lazy.
Obviously Cassandra's husband (see above) is not French.
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A little romance, a little sadness, from Siggy, You'll find a line from the lyrics in today's Twitter box on the right sidebar.
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In a lighter mode, I'm always amazed by what brings some people to my blog. The latest are two people doing google searches for "Bear Grylls naked picture." These two have been doing that search for the past couple of days but I guess they haven't given up on me yet. (For those of you who don't remember, Bear's one of the Discovery Channel guys.)
Sorry to disappoint you, folks, but this is a mostly PG-rated blog. However, You Tube has several videos of the fully clothed Bear. I might post one of those one of these days.
I watched the Discovery Channel the other night and they had Stephen Hawkins talking about black holes. I can't say I understood most of what he said, but I came out pondering the possibility that my long-lost pair of eyeglasses dropped into a mini black hole.
Fausta was born and raised in Santurce, Puerto Rico and is a long-term resident of Princeton, New Jersey. She discusses New Jersey, taxation, current events, and how news are reported in the French and Spanish-language media at Fausta's Blog.
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