oh, and another one. i found out that what i'm suggesting with forth and microcontrollers actually has a name: 'a tethered forth'
http://www.ultratechnology.com/4thlego.htm
this site is a great information resource for forth.
i can really recommend the following streaming videos, especially those featuring Charles Moore himself explaining his idea of forth, and the road to ColorForth.
http://www.ultratechnology.com/rmvideo.htm
some (most) of these are transcribed to html pages on the same site.