A couple for couch potatos with kids

Not surprisingly, since the new kid arrived, I have been spending a bit more time in front of the TV surfing around, while feeding/chilling with the kid. It still amazes me that I've got over 300 channels and its difficult to find something interesting to watch all the time. But there are a couple of shows that have caught my eye lately. Hard as Nails - This is a profile of a 28 year old un-ordained minister, Justin Fatica, who uses unorthodox techniques in his preaching. I was raised as a Roman-Catholic but I'm not currently "following my faith." I think what's fascinating about this is a couple of things. First, how fanatical people can be about religion. Even young people. When I was a kid, it was like pulling teeth for my parents to get me to go to Catechism school, so its interesting to see young kids really into it. I also find it interesting how driven Justin is. Through verbal abuse from nay-sayers as well as preaching techniques which cause him pain physically, he doesn't appear to skip a beat. Whether his drive is misguided or not is hard to say, but just seeing someone that driven for something is impressive. ...So Goes The Nation - An excellent expose on the 2004 Presidential Election in Ohio. Besides copious interviews from the "men" in charge, it follows the lives of several individuals down at the grassroots level. I got a sense when watching this is that the "leaders" of the media machines didn't really care so much that they are fighting for particular parties as much as they are just interested in being the winner. One memorable young man they follow is part of a college "votemob", and I found it a bit ironic that he's working for the Republicans and yet he's got a car that he has to get in from the passenger side because the driver side door doesn't work.

(2007-12-29 14:14:48.0) // Permalink