A few years ago a guy named Morgan Spurlock made a movie called Supersize Mewhich I really, really liked. It also changed the way one of the biggest corporations on the planet – McDonalds – did business. Though Mickey Ds never admitted it, the Supersize menu was pulled from its chain not long after the movie exploded at the documentary box office. (12th highest grossing doc film of all-time… not bad.)

Well, Morgan is back and he’s taking on the unbelievable amount of advertising and propaganda we face daily. Do any of us even realize how much of this junk we are exposed to?

We think we’re immune, we think we see between the lines, but really, many, many, many of us are being manipulated. (Myself included as I type this blog wearing a swoosh.)

Heck, we’ve turned ourselves into walking billboards for mega-corporations… and if the right logo is on my chest, come on, I don’t just walk into a room, I swagger!

I know, I know, shallow, ain’t I?

Should we give pause when it comes to the amount of ads we allow to pollute our minds? I mean who is in charge. Just because a guy owns a building, does that mean he can post a guy sitting on the toilet lighting a giant cigar with a burning $100 bill in 200 foot high visuals for everyone on San Vicente to see.

I mean I’m no prude but that really happened to me no so long ago in L.A. when some new hip-hop album came out… this was the marketing: A man on the toilet burning money. (How creative.)

Morgan’s new movie is called: Pom Wonderful: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (He even “sold” the title sponsorship to help pay the freight on this film… wow.) I do wonder about the amount of commercialization we’re exposing young people to today. Then again, this teachersold ad space on the bottom of his tests to pay for the copies.

A harbinger of things to come, perhaps?

I wholeheartedly endorsed a film the other day. Here’s how it came to cross my path.

I am dear friends with the filmmaker. Of course, my endorsement suddenly opens me up to accusations of cronyism but trust me when I tell you, I know a lot of “artists”. I know writers up the wazoo, filmmakers, musicians and painters, and you almost never hear me publicly go to bat for them just because they are my friends.

Even if their work really, really rocks, I am still often quite reticent because I am not much of a fan of “the good ol’ boys club” of endorsing the work of people just because I know them.

So the documentary I would practically insist you see – especially if you are over the age of 40 – is an anomaly for me. I really didn’t think I’d be willing to so publicly go to bat for the thing but now that I have seen it I am on the bandwagon blaring with a megaphone.

Here’s the link. Trust me on this.

The filmmaker is a teacher. A Teacher of the Year award winner in fact, class of 2007, same as me. That is how I got to know him. TK (his name) is from Wisconsin – he once brought me a 3 pound block of cheese just to prove it – and he’s quite the remarkable guy. 6’5” former basketball player who now teaches 4^th grade. Just seeing pics of him with the kids is enough to make you smile.

But he is beloved, he is phenomenally well-read and he’s got a heart as big as any hunk of cheese in his state.

He also learned that he closest brother had terminal cancer the same day that we met the President of the United States in the Oval Office of the White House together.

Just remarkable. And that set him off on a journey exploring how we die (in lieu of the way modern medicine can keep us almost unnaturally alive in this day and age).

And how we die gets the ball rolling on where we’d like to die. And that gets the ball rolling on how we are truly one of the first generations to be so disconnected from death.

I mean we view death as a failure, as if it’s a shortcoming of some sort instead of a natural part of life. And when you “consider the conversation” (that’s the title of the film, you can’t help but reflect on how you are actually living.

And what’s important to you. Like truly important. Family. Work. Community. Spirituality. Meaning.

I described the journey of watching this the other day as, “Be prepared to be terrified, illuminated, profoundly moved, confronted and warmly hugged all within 60 minutes. Just knocked me off my feet!”

Probably, just hearing the subject matter makes you want to say, “Nah, thanks.” But the piece is so tastefully done, so thoughtful in its manner and so insightful in its selection of people who appear throughout that I can promise it’s gonna break through the ice of even the most emotionally frozen of us.

As I said, here’s the link. Trust me on this. Way to go TK. Magical!

Folks, there is a revolution going on — and the kids at Effingham High School are on the cutting edge. WOW! It’s almost unbelievable some of the things I saw in Illinois.

First off, it’s easy to see why Joe Fatheree is NEA’s 2009 Teacher of the Year. From the relationship he has with his students to the rigor he demands in his curriculum, Joe is on the top of his game across so many areas of the teaching spectrum that it’s truly a joy to know this fellow is an American educator. He’s the real deal.

As for the theater, it was unreal. 1500 seats and the place was PACKED!! Just a sea of people and there is no doubt that the entire event had the feel of an Academy Awards for teenagers. The buzz was palpable all evening long.

Obviously, the highlight was the work of the students. From animated shorts to scripted narratives with humor, pathos, drama and even fear (BTW, the song Ring-Around-the-Rosy was brought to the theater with such a sinister twist I actually felt myself squirm in my seat), this student film festival had it all. It’s truly amazing what kids can do if they are given the opportunity. And I know I always say that wherever I go but to visit the city of Effingham was to see it firsthand.

Kudos to the folks who staged the AHA Film Festival. I don’t think a person who attended will ever forget the experience.