Drunk guy says what?!?

Let's talk about Genesis 9.

Verses 18-27, to be precise. I'll summarize...the LKV (Leah Kathryn Version), if you will.

Post-flood Noah decides to grow a vineyard. He makes wine. He gets drunk off said wine. Totally plastered. He passes out naked inside his tent. I'm getting a Peter Griffin image right about now (Drunk Peter: "Hey, where's that Peter Griffin guy? He said he'd give me 50 bucks to take off all my clothes off!"). I mean, this is NOAH! The only righteous man on the face of the earth! His son, Ham, happens across the sight of his father passed out naked, then goes outside and tells his brothers about this. The brothers, Shem and Japheth, decide to walk into the tent backwards so that they don't see Noah naked and they lay a garment over him.

If it wasn't crazy yet, this is where I get totally confused.

Noah wakes up, sees this garment over him, and somehow figures out that Ham saw him naked. He says:

"Cursed be Canaan (Ham's son)! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers."
He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend the territory of Japeth; May Japeth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave."

I have a few questions:
What does this even mean?
Just because Ham accidently saw his father naked, he and his line are cursed?
Why are Canaan and his children cursed when it was the father that made a mistake?
And why are Shem and Japeth blessed?
Why is this in the Bible?
Are these just the ravings and overreactions of an ashamed, hungover dude?
Is Noah just blowing off steam, or is this an actual prayer?
And if it's a prayer, does God approve of this prayer?
Would God actually answer this prayer? DID HE answer this prayer?

I don't know the answer to any of these. I just ran across this passage this morning and was perplexed.