I saw an episode of 30 Days, Morgan Spurlock’s new show on FX. You’ll remember Morgan from Supersize Me, the movie which convinced quite a few people to stop eating McDonald’s all together.
The premise of this show is the fish out of water concept. Take a person and put them into a totally different environment for 30 days.
So this particular episode show a Christian from West Virginia living as a Muslim for 30 days. He had to participate in everything a typical Muslim would do for 30 days. He lived with a Muslim family, ate Muslim approved food, and participated in Muslim rituals.
And during all this I discovered something about Muslims:
Islam promotes Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
What other religion would systematically compel their followers to pray 5 times a day at specific times. And have a certain way of praying. Prostraiting oneself on the floor…toward Mecca. Which makes one think, are you worshipping Allah or Mecca?
Also Muslims have to eat approved meat. It’s somewhat like Kosher meat that Jews have to eat. However at slaughterhouses, when slaughtering the animal, the butcher must turn the animal’s carcass toward the east and utter a phrase in Arabic just before killing it. Why this is so important to God, I don’t know. But I just seems a bit compulsive to me.
Part of the show dealt with everyday Muslims refusal to condemn, or even apologize for extremist views. The typical Muslim view is that these extremists are the fringe group. However Muslim leaders don’t seem to urge compromise. If anything they look the other direction while embassies are burned over Danish editorial cartoons.
Still the concept of a religious rules being very very close to OCD, is not foreign to some Christians. Unfortunately some Christians tend to look at their religion as a set of rules which MUST be followed or else one ends up being punished in Hell. I used to look at life that way. What I missed was the concept of grace. You’ll never be good enough for heaven. But you are made perfect through God. So live your live the best you know how and don’t let rules get in the way.

Monster is the tragic story about how a woman can degenerate to a shell of a human being who becomes a serial killer.
Aileen was a prostitute in Florida. She has almost no friends, except for Thomas, owner of a bar who she sometimes frequents. It is Selby, a lesbian who befriends her due to sexual interest, but also because she too needed a friend.
During the time of Selby and Aileen’s relationship, Aileen kills one of her Johns who was abusive to her. Initually it was self defence but somehow after the initual wounding it eventually turned into anger. Just weeks later Aileen sees the headlines in a local paper saying the police had no idea who did it. Aileen knew that she could kill a man and get away with it.
And so the killing spree began. Whenever Aileen needed money to live her dream, she killed one of her customers. Maybe it was out of desperation. Maybe it was out of revenge toward her abusive father. Together Aileen and Selby traveled around as nomads living in hotels and cheap apartments. Initually Selby was too naive to know what was going on. She regarded Aileen as some type of hero figure in her life, something she never had. Aileen too, saw Selby as a true friend, whom she never had.
What impacted me so much about the movie was how ugly the deep underworld can become. And how one human being can sink so low into killing people just to stay alive in a sense.
Initually it is unclear Selby’s role in the movie. She is the dimissive follower in the movie. She always looks to Aileen for advice and direction. Yet eventually we see Selby taking the law into her own hands and deciding to testify against her.
The real Aileen was excuted in 2002 for killing 6 men throughout 1989 to 1992. She refused her last meal and opted instead for a cup of coffee.
Charlize Theron transformation is phenomenal. She played Aileen in such a believeable fashion. We feel her pain. We see the struggles she goes through. Charlize gained 30 pounds for the role. No doubt heavy makeup was used to make such a beautiful woman into such a monster.

The latest Real World/Road Rules Challenge is afoot on MTV. This time its the Gauntlet 2. The setting is the Caribean island of Tobago with a pirate theme. I perceive MTV is trying very hard to make it seem like Survivor.
After the usual competition to choose team captains, the real drama happens in the last 5 minutes of the episode. The cast does what any group of publicity seakers do. They get drunk and have sex with each other. This is nothing unusual because it seems to happen on every RW/RR Challenge.
Jo, who appeared on the Real World San Francisco gets very upset at the activites of her fellow costars. She freaked out; called home; and went in to get her bags. Ruthie, yes Ruthie – the same person who practicially drank herself to death on Real World Hawaii – tries to reason with Jo on why she is so upset. Jo refuses to talk to Ruthie because she feels she doesn’t have to give a reason for leaving. In true BMP style the episode ends with a cliffhanger, with the next episode showing Jo calling the police.
What the cast members and many viewers don’t understand is that a large part of the Real World San Francisco focused on Jo’s restraining order against her ex-husband. Obviously she has had substantial conflict with an ex-lover which might have even turned violent. No wonder she has negative feelings toward the mix of sex and drunkeness which was exhibited in the house that night. Jo should have never showed up to this Gauntlet.
The sad thing is that I indentify with Jo. Maybe we all have at one point in our lives. I’ve wanted to leave perceived hostile situations before. The thing is that it is perceived to be hostile. Perception and reality is much much different. Others might have wanted to help Jo, but they just didn’t know how to handle it. They don’t know her background. As Timmy put it, “I don’t know Jo from a ham sandwich.” And so we see that ignorance and drunken orgies rule the Gauntlet.