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July 25, 2005
Reality TV I Can Get Into
I'm not generally a fan of reality tv, but TLC and FX have actually caught my interest lately. Miami Ink is about a bunch of guys opening a tattoo parlor, and so far is pretty interesting. One thing that irked me in the debut, though, is that they were all pissed off when the sign for their shop turned out crappy. They took a sketch to a sign shop, and the sign shop... blew it up and made their window sign. One of the guys said "I figured they'd straighten out the lines and Photoshop it or something to make it look good." Newsflash—sign shops don't do design work. They print what you give them. Not to mention the fact that logo work, if you do hire a graphic designer, is not cheap and takes lots of time. You don't just "photoshop" something hand-drawn, bingo, easy as that. I just forget how little the rest of the world knows about graphic design. It's not easy, or else everyone would do it.
FX has been showing 30 Days, Morgan Spurlock's (of Supersize Me fame) new series exploring what happens when people live in someone else's shoes for 30 days. He and his girlfriend were the guinea pigs for the first episode, in which they lived on minimum wage for 30 days. Other episodes vary in profundity, from the truly eye-opening ("Muslim in America") to the disturbing but somewhat superficial ("Binge Drinking Mom"). I recommend the show; in some cases though it is so frustrating to watch people not even try to open themselves up to someone else's perspective. The subject of "Gay/Straight," a midwestern Christian farm boy, has no clue how ironic he's being when he gripes that he's "being judged for one opinion" he holds.
So yes, kids, I am still managing to watch some television here and there. Mostly because Lily found her thumb this past week.
Posted by mwashburn at July 25, 2005 03:30 PMPosted to Television
Comments
I, also, am digging 30 Days currently. It's very nice to see an intelligent person doing something intelligent (at least in comparison) on TV.
Posted by: adam at July 26, 2005 12:26 PM
I can *so* identify. When I was the graphic designer for a bank, we often took things over to the sign shop across the street to be printed. My boss always thought that they could PhotoShop whatever or lay out this or that. I couldn't drill it into his head that they don't DO those types of things!!!!!
Posted by: Lisanne at July 26, 2005 02:56 PM