I'm gonna be the most popular girl!

left: Ryan's friend Jake. right: Ryan. crappy low-res cell phone photo credit: yours truly. 
I found out a couple of days ago that I was going to appear on The Oprah Winfrey Program today. Uhm, that's different. Who knew?

Here's the deal:

My friend Ed starred in a "reality tv show" that actually documented reality. I know... go figure. Ed hosted a young, religious, ex-military, and very conservative 24 year old guy named Ryan. Ryan is from rural Michigan and had never been to San Francisco. Almost everything was filmed for a month, allowing for reality to ensue.

Ed had been cast for the "gay/straight" episode of Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days. I appear as one of Ed's friends, and no I didn't get paid. heh. I've heard all the chatter about reality television disappearing. Can you hear the laughter of TV $tudio management? I sure can.

The good news is that the producers did not exploit "the gay community" for shock value (aka: more ratings). That is, unless you count our visit to Daddy's as shock value. This was a true attempt to challenge the beliefs and prejudices on both sides of the equation. I saw Ryan grow as a person and I think that the positive outcome of the process is evident in the footage that made the final cut. His sharing of that experience is a good thing.

Anyway, three or so clips of the program were shown on Oprah today. Check out the program summary on Oprah's website. I believe FX is coming out with a Season 1 DVD of "30 Days" in the near future.

IN OTHER NEWS...

1. I managed to run/jog the entire length of Golden Gate Park (a little over 3 miles) from Haight Street to the Pacific Ocean. This is quite a feat for someone recovering from a knee injury. WOOT!

2. The radio talkshow producer for a certain bay area T.V. personality (think large cranium) has been promoted to another department. The "powers that be" have asked me to fill-in for the first week of the transition. That's not a bad sign.

Now I just need to figure out a way to get a new place to live and distance myself from the anal-retentive roommate. Oh yeah, that's right, I need a real job. ;-)