Thursday, September 29, 2011

60 Minutes on CBS recently featured the two prolific comedians Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of Comedy Central's most long running show South Park. The two recently garnered critical acclaim for their hit Broadway musical The Book of Mormon. A religious satire with both huge heart and laughs. I had the pleasure of going to see the musical this summer with my girlfriend in New York. The show is currently sold out from now all the way into next summer and picked up nine Tony awards this year. I have followed closely the careers of Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the last ten years and have seen many interviews through YouTube as well as on TV, but this 60 Minutes interview was of extremely high caliber and represented the two fairly and insightfully. Besides YouTube clips this is the first 60 Minutes I have watched and it definitely won't be the last as it is very well informed writing.

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I have just recently re-watched Michael Moore's critically applauded Bowling for Columbine. Though the documentary has a very strong emotional impact, since reading many claims of Michael Moore's manipulation with words to help sway opinions in his documentaries I can't help but take in all of his work with a grain of salt. A good example is his interview with Matt Stone of South Park. Directly following Moore's interview with Stone he plays a cartoon short on the History of Violence that very closely resembles the style and animation of South Park. Matt Stone is on record saying he was asked by Michael Moore if they would be interested in making the short in which they refused because they did not agree with the politics of the documentary, and then he goes and pretty much plagiarizes their work. The nerve!

Whenever I find myself listlessly flicking through channels on the television unable to find anything to watch, it's always the Discovery Channel that comes to my rescue. This week it was How Its Made. This show has the ability to stop me in my tracks every time I flip to it. After a few seconds of being on this channel I am hopelessly mesmerized by outstanding technology creating things that I had never even given a second thought about how they are made, from lacrosse balls to hammers, it blows my mind watching the process and meticulous attention to detail that goes into each created product.

Until next time, keep it real. Stranger things have happened.