h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This is probably a sign of mental debility of sorts, but we all need our little insanities.

I confess that I just love watching "Pimp my Ride" on MTV. The programmes we are shown in Germany are probably a couple of years out of date, but at least they're not dubbed (just very badly subtitled, but you don't have to look at them). And the people are so thrilled with their jazzed up cars at the end of the programme it always cheers me up.

The UK version (I hope it's a sendup) has me hooting with laughter and rolling on the floor. It all sounds so over-the-top with English accents.

Who cares if the designs are tacky, the colours are gross and the ideas are corny - the people doing up the cars (both US and UK) enjoy themselves and get a great kick out of making other people happy. Simple recipe.

Reminds me of Dolly Parton. "I paid a lot of money to look this trashy".

Never caught this programme, I'll have to watch out for it.

Stuart Hall was on TV at the weekend and just hearing his lovely voice makes me want to crack up laughing, as I'm back in the seventies and at Jeux Sans Frontieres and It's a Knockout. Always made me feel better

My daughter, a clean-living Buddhist in her thirties, loves that programme too (a little shame-facedly, yes ).

Dolly Parton is a saint

She goes on chat shows knowing that the presenter will treat her with disrespect of a covert or overt kind, but she just smiles sweetly and answers the questions. No money is worth that treatment.

I would watch Pimp My Ride more often if they stopped having loud, squeaky blondes on the programme.

Stuart Hall's autobiography is a reasonable read, purely for his hyperbole.

Now I've got a new obsession. I'm a sucker for quiz shows, and one I particularly like is on French TV - mainly because you don't have multiple choice answers - you have to actually answer the question.

It's on about 5.30 pm here, so I don't often get home from work often enough to watch it, but last time, the presenter said at the end that you could play online. Since then, I've been doing nothing else whenever I'm online (except for a quick look at h2g2). Totally hooked, and my French vocabulary has increased immensely (mainly totally useless words that only crop up in quizzes!)

I don't think my French is quite good enough to compete in quizzes, but I might have a look at it. What's the link?

tv5.org

The game is "questions pour un champion" - it's a jolly good TV show, very fast moving.

Follow "jeux/divertissements"

I have a secret fondness for 'bargain hunt' n other such afternoon bbc trash

There is a truly appaling programme on UK daytime TV that features the world's favourite cockney - Dick Van Dyke, and his real-life son, playing a father son Doctor, Detective team. It's called Diagnosis Murder - it's so bad it's a joy.

Holy guacamole, Batman!