Anarchronistic

Standing Ovation TV... not...

Ovation TV is having an "all music weekend", which I foolishly took literally as I decided to stay up late tonight. They're currently airing 'The Artist's Den" featuring Crowded House ( a high school favorite) and next is "Later...with Jools Holland" with special guest David Bowie.

Think you can count on a full night of quality artistic content? Not quite. Here's the late night/morning infomercial line-up:

4 - 4:30am: Natural Weight Loss
4:30 - 5am: Rockin' Body
5 - 5:30am: Eliminate Debt
5:30 - 6am: Look Younger
6 - 6:30am: Relieve Joint Pain
6:30 - 7am: Lose Weight Now
7 - 7:30am: The Answer to Acne
7:30 - 8am: Battle Hair Loss
8 - 8:30am: Celebrity Slim Down
8:30 - 9am: Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts(!)
9 - 9:30am: Eliminate (More) Debt
9:30 - 10am: Battle (More) Hair Loss
10 - 10:30am: Scrapbooking Made Easy
10:30am - 11am: The Franklin Mint
11 - 11:30am: Foreclosure Secrets
11:30 - Noon: (More) Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts

Apparently, there is not enough artistic programming to available to fill a 24 hour cycle. But, I can insure that my 40 year old ass is rockin' slim, well coiffed, financially solid, physically flexible, Clearsil free and available to use my hard-earned dollars to invest in foreclosed properties and Franklin Mint collectibles so I can live like Dean Martin and scrapbook my memories to my heart's content.

Not.

Morgan Spurlock - 13 Days to "30 Days"

For my money, Morgan Spurlock has become the 21st Century's answer to Upton Sinclair.

First with "Super Size Me" and now, with the third season of "30 Days" starting on June 3rd, Spurlock asks us, as did Sinclair, to confront the more uncomfortable and ugly sides of America, including bigotry, poverty, obesity and religious intolerance.

I hate horror movies, and I've always been one to watch through my fingers. I do the same with "30 Days", but out of a mix of outrage and embarrassment.  I'm not sure why I am looking forward to this show again, except that perhaps I wish I had the insight and courage to do what Spurlock has done - put human faces on controversies so that the battle lines are blurred and turned on end.

This season he's tackling subject such as coal miners, same-sex parenting, life in a wheel chair and animal rights.

Whether you agree with the positions or not, it is an intellectual exercise in challenging your own thoughts, beliefs and assumptions. If you can't do that, what good is having free will? Or a brain? Or a life?