TVSquad

For the most part American game shows are pretty tame. Oh sure, we eat a live slug once in awhile, and we take a dip into a pool of rattlesnakes on occasion; however, overall, the craziest thing we do is have our halter tops fall off while running down the stage. And, that's by accident.

The rest of the world, on the other hand...well, they've pretty much thrown off the Puritan shackles that we still bear and, for lack of a better phrase, let it all hang out when it comes to their game shows. Sometimes literally. Some examples of this can be found at Cracked.com, which lists 6 examples of the most insane game shows in the world.

Over in Japan, they have some wild game/reality shows. Some of them are just outrageously crazy (really, how many times can we see Japanese guys whacked in the groin or weird food being eaten?), but sometimes you see something so cool, so clever, that it just makes you shake your head.

This is such a video. It's from the show Kinchan and Katori Shingo's All Japan Costume Grand Prix (yes, that's the real title - take that Jerry Seinfeld's Super Colossal Happy Hour!), and it shows a group of people who put on a live Olympic highlight reel. I really can't describe it better than that, but trust me, it's quite amazing. This is the type of show we should import. Video after the jump!

Much like the new Underdog movie, the Wachowski brothers' bigscreen adaptation of the popular Speed Racer cartoon will not be animated, but considering the Wachowskis were behind the Matrix trilogy, one assumes the new film will be both visually stunning and not especially "heavy" storywise. Of course, it's not as if the original cartoon was all that deep, either, so in many ways this is a good match. If they do it right, it could be the perfect no-brainer, popcorn matinee.

First of all, I have to give a big ol' Minnesota-style "thank ya" to those of you who recommend some great anime for me to check out. A Minnesota-style "thank ya" is like a regular "thank ya" except you say it while keeping a herd of rabid moose away from your snow fort with a hockey stick.

SpongeBob SquarePants is hugely popular in the United States with little children and immature adults like myself, but nobody thought he would make much of a splash in Japan.

It turns out those people were wrong, because SpongeBob is watched by 1.9 million households every day in Japan, which is even more impressive when you take into consideration that the series is only shown occasionally on network TV and that many households don't have cable or satellite, where SpongeBob SquarePants is shown on a more regular basis.

Also, it's not little kids who love SpongeBob the most, it's young women. This wasn't an accident, though: SpongeBob was introduced to Japan as a trendy, hip, underground kinda thing, something to be found on clothes and handbags and spread around by word of mouth. Apparently, it's been working.

[via The Beat]

I love animation, but I have to admit my knowledge of anime is rather limited. There's a lot of anime I enjoy and admire, but what I've seen doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of this popular animation style.

If you love anime, or you just want to start at the very beginning of this art form, Digital Meme is releasing a DVD titled "Classic Japanese Anime." Don't expect stuff like AstroBoy, Speed Racer or Gigantor in this set. Instead, think silent animation from the '20s and '30s. Some of the works contained in this DVD set were originally shown in theaters with a separate audio track played on a gramophone record. If your interest in anime goes far beyond casual admiration, this is something worth spending $110.00 on. Also, every one of the fifty-five cartoons is subtitled, so there's none of that gaudy American dubbing to ruin it.

The set releases on April 30.

[via Cartoon Brew]

In an interview with Empire Online, producer Joel Silver said very little about the upcoming live-action Speed Racer movie from the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix), other than it's going to look really cool. Of course, he's producing the movie, so what else is he going to say, that it'll be a lot of flash and no substance? Silver also said they might not even use cars, which I would assume means they won't use any real cars, and do some kind of fancy CGI effects instead, which I think actually makes sense for this kind of movie.

Silver also had this to say in the interview, regarding the Wachowskis: "They said they'd never work again the Matrix sequels." If you can figure out what the hell that sentence is supposed to mean, you're a better person than I am. I'm trying to figure out why Joel Silver speaks like Yoda.

[via TV Filter]