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"Man Vs Wild" is probably one of the most awesome shows ever created. There's something about watching how an ordinary human being can survive the most unfriendly environments in the world, and Bear Grylls shows us how it's done in the most straightforward way possible. Simply watching the show can make men question their own masculinity.

I'm sure a lot of men, me included, wouldn't pass up a chance to go with Bear on one of his up-close-and-personal encounters with Mother Nature. This is the reason why Discovery Channel came up with the brilliant idea of "upgrading" the series for this season into "Men Vs Wild," where Bear teams up with another celebrity to face the world and all its cruelty.

Will Ferrell, American funny guy, was the first to sign up.

I was able to watch the debut of "Men Vs Wild" yesterday. Not to spoil anything if you missed it, but Will was such a great choice for Bear's companion. According to Bear, he only asked Will to do two things for the show: One, to show up alone and without an entourage, and two, to trust him. Will did both, and they had a swell time.

Of course, "swell" is relative -- the two underwent 48 punishing hours in the Arctic, with the ever-resourceful Bear finding means and ends to ensure they both survive the trek. Will, on the other hand, provided a lot of banter throughout the show -- I swear, it was awesome times two.

If you missed it, and you live in Southeast Asia, then you can still catch "Men Vs Wild" encore showing on Saturday, August 8 at 6 PM, and Sunday, August 9, at 10 AM. Miss it, and you'll be half a man.

The Asia Television Forum (ATF) just wrapped up the other day, bringing an end to a very busy week in Singapore. SIGGRAPH Asia 2008 also took place in the same venue at around the same time, and I probably got a month's worth of exercise going from one event to the other. While SIGGRAPH Asia 2008 was where I spent a fair deal of my time toward the end of the week, it was the ATF that captured my attention, and had more than its share of proud moments.

Coming off the heels of the 3DX Film and Entertainment Technology Festival and hosting the first ever SIGGRAPH Asia 2008 at around the same time, Singapore is now also the proud host of the 2008 Asia Television Forum (ATF). The ATF is the third big international media-related event that the tiny island country has hosted within a span of 30 days. The 2008 ATF takes place from December 10 to 12, at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibit Centre.

Since this throw-away line was spoken over twenty years ago in the first Star Wars film, fans have been wondering just how epic the Clone Wars were. Now that George Lucas has gotten Episodes 2 and 3 out of the way, he's finally giving his fans the long-awaited look into the enigmatic Clone Wars that bridged the gap between his two latest live-action films. Yesterday, he gave his Singaporean fans the privilege of being the first in Asia to see the Clone Wars TV series debut.

Almost everybody in the world disliked (hated?) the George W. Bush administration, but this wasn't the case for TV satirists like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. In fact, they and other TV satirists had the time of their lives over the past five or six years, particularly when things started turning sour in the Iraq War and the US economy. Having a gaffe-prone President gave them a lot of things to talk about, which means they may be in for a tough time when the next President steps into the White House.

This year, the rules for the Academy Award for Documentaries have been changed -- “streamlined,” actually – to supposedly make it easier for documentaries to qualify. The rule changes have been both praised and criticized by various fronts for more than a week now.

Yesterday I wrote about the directors who made it to the shortlist of the the Academy Award for Documentary Short Film. Now I'd like to turn a little of the spotlight to some of the directors that I'm personally following. I don't know precisely why, but I sometimes have a knack of seeing which filmmakers have the brightest futures in the business. From the way I see it, these three directors are particularly worth keeping an eye on.

It was announced last week that eight out of the 31 entries for the Academy Award for Documentary Short Film have been shortlisted for the nominations. Three, four, or five of these eight will be chosen as nominees for the award on January 22, 2009.

The lineup sounds like an interesting mix of subjects that have received little, if any, critical worldwide attention as of yet. The topics include the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., gay men in China, and Cesar Chavez's grape boycott.

These are the films who bested 23 others in the shortlisting process:

CW is getting ready to roll out the carpet for its new series, “90210.” This spin-off of the 90's teen drama Beverly Hills 90210 is set to premier on September 2, a little over two weeks from now.

The show's debut doesn't come with its share of questions from viewers, particularly regarding what the series is going to be like and how well it's going to do almost ten years after the original series bowed out due to poor ratings. The first two Beverly Hills 90210 spin-offs, Melrose Place and Models Inc., didn't really do as well as their producers – and viewers – had hoped.

If you don't remember HBO's 2007 TV show John From Cincinnati (or simply forgot about it), it's a story set around the border town of Imperial Beach, California, where a cast of imperfect characters who share a love for surfing make their way through difficult emotional times. The gritty town gets a visit from a strange individual named John Monad (played by Austin Nichols), and little by little this oddish stranger remedies their personal demons through mysterious – and often cryptic – means, indicating that there's much more to John than meets the eye.