Movie Review Time!

Just watched Supersize Me. Really quite good. Ah, but as a bookseller, I should ask: How does it stack up against Fast Food Nation, the book by Eric Schlosser?

Schlosser, in writing his book, takes a far more complete look at the food industry. These are the things you can do with a book and not a movie, after all. Schlosser literally goes to farms and ranches to see how people are growing food today - agribusiness - and how it is different from how food was grown back in the day - agriculture.

However, it's worth nothing that Supersize Me has probably already has a larger impact than Fast Food Nation did. Not because the documentary market is bigger than the non-fiction book market (I have no idea), but because Morgan Spurlock's deterioration after (only!) one month on nothing but McDonalds is really stunning.

I have to resist the temptation to compare it to Black Like Me, the famous account of how John Griffin darkened his skin (and later died of skin cancer because of it) to experience racism in the deep south. Spurlock isn't that important, but damn if the method isn't the same.

In any case, you should all watch the movie. And the DVD extras, if you can - there's an interview with Schlosser on the disc.

BTW everybody, The Corporation comes out on DVD in March. Save your pennies!

Seriously, save your pennies. I keep finding I have like, twenty bucks every time I roll them.