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showAuth({"version":"1.0","encoding":"UTF-8","entry":{"xmlns":"http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom","xmlns$blogger":"http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008","xmlns$georss":"http://www.georss.org/georss","xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-708938817000327103.post-8057721635306341209"},"published":{"$t":"2010-01-11T00:03:00.000+10:30"},"updated":{"$t":"2016-08-08T13:15:19.519+09:30"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Columns"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":""},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-98AG4ygJGUo\/UrL06g_d0oI\/AAAAAAAAA1w\/C8gPqJAFsU4\/s1600\/port-col-beargrylls.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-98AG4ygJGUo\/UrL06g_d0oI\/AAAAAAAAA1w\/C8gPqJAFsU4\/s1600\/port-col-beargrylls.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEVERY Monday night at about 8.30, my boyfriend and I have the same argument. Not the one about who left the milk out all day – that happens earlier, around 6.30pm, when we get home from work and find the\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nkitchen smelling like an abandoned dairy. I usually lose that one.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAnd it’s not about who’s going to do the dishes – that argument occurs around 7.45pm. I usually win that one, based on forensic evidence (ie: a burn on my finger that corresponds exactly to the shape of the dirty\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nfrying pan in the sink) that proves I cooked dinner and am therefore exempt under the ‘‘whoever cooks doesn’t have to clean’’ rule.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOur regular scheduled 8.30pm argument doesn’t have anything to do with household chores. It coincides with the opening titles to SBS ONE’s \u003Ci\u003EMan Vs Wild\u003C\/i\u003E, and usually goes something like this:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nMe: ‘‘Ooh, Bear’s on a volcano!’’\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nHim: ‘‘It’s a set.’’\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nMe: ‘‘Wow, Bear started a fire with two sticks!’’\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nHim: ‘‘He used matches and they edited it out.’’\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nMe: ‘‘Look, Bear caught a rabbit!’’\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nHim: ‘‘Fake.’’\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAnd so on.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFor the three people who watch \u003Ci\u003EStargate Atlantis\u003C\/i\u003E or \u003Ci\u003EThe Mentalist\u003C\/i\u003E on Monday nights instead of SBS, allow me to explain: \u003Ci\u003EMan Vs Wild\u003C\/i\u003E is a weekly nature show starring Bear Grylls, a handsome and overly earnest English survivalist who likes to put himself in dangerous situations just to show you how to get out of them.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOften these situations involve him having to eat ants, or sleep in mud, or lick dew from cave walls, or soak his T-shirt in urine and wrap it around his head. I can’t remember why he did that last one – apparently it’s a legitimate survival technique. (It’s also an effective form of contraception, should you require some at\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nshort notice.)\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBut ever since \u003Ci\u003EMan Vs Wild \u003C\/i\u003Ebegan airing in 2006, debate has been raging about the show’s credibility – or more accurately, that of its host. Put simply – fans are divided over whether Bear really does s*** in the woods.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nA quick search of YouTube brings up a number of videos claiming to expose Bear as a fake. There’s one that seems to show ‘‘dangerous’’ volcanic rock that Bear breathlessly jumped about on is actually 50m\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nfrom a busy highway. There’s another that shows ‘‘wild’’ horses he tamed and rode in the Sierra Nevada are wearing horseshoes. And then there’s the most damning of all – a crew member dressed in a grizzly bear suit.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nSeems Grylls isn’t the only fake bear on \u003Ci\u003EMan Vs Wild\u003C\/i\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nNevertheless – I find Bear’s antics fairly impressive, given my usual approach to surviving in foreign locations involves finding the nearest pub and waiting until help arrives.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAnd despite the fakery, I think the main appeal of \u003Ci\u003EMan Vs Wild \u003C\/i\u003Ecan be summed up by the following text message, which my sister sent me at about 8.24pm last Monday: ‘‘Don’t 4get 2 tune in 2 c Bear do naked pushups in snow 2nite! Woohoo!’’\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nHe might be lying about the volcanoes and horses and grizzlies – but you can’t fake that bod.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003EFirst published in the Sunday Mail, January 10, 2010.\u003C\/i\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/708938817000327103\/posts\/default\/8057721635306341209"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/708938817000327103\/posts\/default\/8057721635306341209"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.petrastarke.com\/2000\/11\/every-monday-night-at-about-8.html","title":""}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-98AG4ygJGUo\/UrL06g_d0oI\/AAAAAAAAA1w\/C8gPqJAFsU4\/s72-c\/port-col-beargrylls.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"}}});