30 Days

If you loved Super Size Me, you'll like Morgan Spurlock's other major project: TV show 30 Days. A show where an average shmow steps into the shoes of a certain subculture for as many days as the title implies.

The episode I saw most recently had to do with a stressed out, overweight middle aged working man, Brian, trying the "new age" lifestyle. From the first day, Brian is optimistic, but his girlfriend, Lindsay, acts as hostile as Nazi Germany over the fact that he won't be up to his usual routine.

The show goes through a very similar structure as Spurlock's attention-grabbing feature film. It goes deeply into the situation, defining every stray term and explaining the persepctive as well as an "objective" human can. There are numerous interviews, cartoon executions, and Morgan's quirky sense of humor.

Brain tries a number of holistic approaches to stress relief and life in general. He recieves a life coach, who is calm and helpful enough from the very beginning to win over everyone (even Lindsay around Day 15). As he moves into a new house in suburban New Jersey, services like reike, yoga, some odd form of dancing and a few quasi medical treatments help transform Brian from an angry, sweaty bafoon into a calm, reasonable, and all around pleasant human being.

As far as this experiment goes, it proves that anyone of us can benefit from some new age know-how, as long as we are open minded enough to give it a try. Spurlock creates similar caliber episodes for just about any walk of life that come sto mind: illegal immigrants, minimum wage workers, coal miners, homosexuality, Arabic Americans, outsourced jobs, prison, off-the-grid living, pro-choice fundamentalists, animal rights activists, etc. I recommend anyone of these episodes as they are stimulating to the mind and very informative. Without stepping out of your shell, you can experience a path through life that just might interest you.