I don’t want to make a habit out of talking about what happened on TV last night, because for one thing, that’s more WarmingGlow‘s bag, but I’d be a slapdash blogger if I didn’t mention last night’s South Park, which included a subplot starring our favorite megalomaniacal billionaire submarine captain, James Cameron, who’s also been known to direct the occasional film when he’s not hunting unicorn on his flying yacht. I won’t go into detail about how Cameron fit into the overall plot, but I’m including below a clip of my favorite bit from the show, where James Cameron pilots his submersible deep below the waves while listening to a Davy Crockett-style song called “James Cameron.”

This was the second South Park episode of the new season and their second home run, as far as I’m concerned. It’s in its 16th season now, and while there were a few rough patches early on, I think it’s possible to make the case that South Park has been funnier more consistently and for longer than The Simpsons (and obviously edgier, but you can’t really fault the Simpsons for not being on cable). Trey Parker is twice as funny and just as musically talented as Seth MacFarlane, but you don’t see Trey Parker being asked to host the Oscars. He’d scare the sh*t out of everyone there, which is probably why his show’s so damn good. But it’s much easier to dole out accolades to shows like Modern Family, because it incorporates a couple gay characters into its stew of old-fashioned sitcom tropes (the bumbling dad, the precocious child, the hilariously-accented foreigner, etc.), than it is to invite something as legitimately subversive as South Park to the party. Last night’s South Park was more important to our nation’s democracy than the presidential debates! Okay, that’s probably the booze talking, but it was pretty good. (*hic*)

Aside from the song, which had me in tears, the part where the crane drops the submersible onto the deck of the ship instead of into the water was nicely subtle.