"In just seven days......and six long nights......I can make you a man"

Perhaps one of my favorite things about being away from America is the ability to consciously censor what sort of media I consume. Granted, there is a lot of information about America coming from Australian press, but its certainly not the same as being in the states.

I was looking around on the itunes (because its impossible to use any file-sharing programs) and I found a show called 30 days, done by Morgan Spurlock, the guy who did "Super-Size Me." The premise of the show is that they take two people who are diametrically opposed on a certain issue and force them to live together for 30 days. Some of the shows have been of a pro-choice woman living in a christian maternity home, a vigilante border patroler living with a family of illegal immigrants, and Morgan himself trying to live on minimum wage. Being a huge documentary film fan, I was pretty interested to see what he could do on the small screen. Would it be nearly as powerful as what he did for the movies? So I download an episode and .............BAM! Before I know it I was seriously hooked. There is nothing like finding TV with a brain. I mean we have become so accoustomed to dribble (Fox News anyone?) that when we do find good tv, it is that much more powerful.

After watching seasons 1 and 2 I am amazed at the brevity and power that these vignettes provide. My favorite technique that he uses is the animated voice-over clips that explain the issue more fully. But what is truly is amazing is the people that he finds for the show are the most talented and gorgeous humans. Of particular note is Armida in the illegal immigration episode in which she poignantly attacks the minuteman's view of illegal immigration, to the point that he barely has an argument when he leaves. I wish I could say that it did well in changing everyone's opinion. When I looked for the website that was created for her raising money to go to college, it had been taken down, and a google search returned the most bigoted hate sites calling for her deportation.

The itunes reviews of the show are usually good, but a good portion of the comments point out the liberal bias of the show, while others claim that it attacks traditionalism and by nature has a liberal slant. To me I don;t really care as I am liberal, and it is amazing to have some good liberal exposure of issues, without being propoganda.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/morganspurlock/
http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/30days/main.html
PLEASE watch, I know you will enjoy it!