Thirty Days

I just watched the pilot, which is a few years old, of a documentary program called "Thirty Days". It's from Morgan Spurlock, the guy who did "Super Size Me", the documentary where he ate nothing but McDonald's food for a month. Anyway, in the pilot of "Thirty Days", he and his financee take on the task of living on minimum wage for 30 days. It's only 45 minutes, so it's like a mini-documentary, but it's terrific. It really shows what you would expect the life of a minimum wage worker in America to be. And I think it's only worsened since then, when you consider the runaway inflation and $4 a gallon gas prices. The lesson you come away with, is that you can never really get ahead. Morgan Spurlock took on 2 jobs to get some extra money, and he got it, but then he'd gotten hospital bills for when he and his wife had to go to the ER due to their respective health aliments. They totaled around a thousand dollars. They got charged approximately 400 dollars for walking into the hospital, and Morgan got charged 40 dollars for "medical supplies", which consisted of an Ace bandage.

It's very fascinating, and I could certainly relate right now. A few months ago, due to being unemployed, I had to ditch my health insurance. I'm looking for a summer job, and I already know that it's going to be difficult. And I'm educated, articulate, and white. Imagine how someone else who isn't feels, and what kinds of hurdles they have to face.

The great thing, is that you can watch this online. Just go to www.hulu.com, click on the TV show area, and you'll see 30 Days. It's the first episode. There are a few good movies I want to watch this weekend. Tonight, on Showtime, at 7:30, there's a documentary called "Maxed Out" that's airing. It's about how Americans are mired in bottomless debt to these credit card companies. These guys are predators. Yes, I know it's our responsibility to use our money wisely and to only buy that which we can pay back. But who teaches us these things? Our culture encourages us, at every step, to spend money on things we don't need. But I don't want to go on a spiel. I just want to see this documentary tonight, it sounds really good.

Oh, and on Sunday night, there's a premiere of a movie on HBO called "Recount", about the Florida election in 2000. I'm so glad this story's being told. And Kevin Spacey's in it, so I just have to see it.