One Sentence: Follow the Church of Stop Shopping.
Lately there have been a lot of reports about shopping, overspending, housing crashes, spending more than you earn, piles of debt, and the attack of Christmas. It is all very scary stuff actually. We buy too much, we don't save enough and we are borrowing our economy away for trinkets. What Would Jesus Buy? is a documentary that follows The Church of Stop Shopping and Reverent Billy, as they tour the country spreading the word of the "Shopocalypse."
The documentary is funny, has a good message, and follows the energized Reverend Billy on their bus as they tour the country. The tour is met with tragedy, music, police, snow, baffled stares and some with a listening ear. Along with the bus tour are interviews with normal shoppers, and members of the stop shopping congregation. It has a lot of interesting things going on and really makes you think a lot about what you are buying for others for Christmas.
However the documentary is more about the church than the actual overspending of America. Everything everyone talks about is not spending money, but it is through the eyes of the church, and their shows, and mischief. There are very few facts about overspending, and must trust what Billy is saying is the truth. We have another documentary that was recently released called "Maxed Out" that has more of these facts. So having another I guess would be pointless, it just seems like here we not exactly talking about lessening our spending and more talking about people who want others to lessen their spending. Either way the documentary is interesting enough to warrant the rental, if you can find it on DVD, or check it out if it shows up at a festival near you.
Yes it was a small movie done by a guy I met, very nice guy. They are hoping for wider distribution soon.


The Bank of America ATM at the Brown Office Building, which has been inaccessible since Sept. 29, is once again available to students.
Emma Simmons MD'91 MPH'04 has been named assistant dean for minority medical affairs at the Alpert Medical School. In a statement released in early September, Edward Wing, dean of medicine and biological sciences, said he was "very pleased" that Simmons is assuming such a "new and essential role" at the Med School.