"We're just a typical American family that just happens to run a multimillion dollar outdoor empire. We create, test and sell the world's coolest products for the modern outdoorsman, and we find our inspiration on a little slice of Heaven called the Busbice Family Ranch in Louisiana."

Sounds like an infomercial, doesn't it? It's actually the intro to A&E's latest in their collection of redneck families who happen to be in the dough. If you like Duck Dynasty, this show was made for you. It's another one of those eccentric families in the outdoors business. With names like Uncle Hard Luck, these guys fit right in with the Robertson family over at Duck Dynasty. In fact, they're buddies, and Willie guests in the pilot episode. He'll also pop up later as well. It's the whole A&E family of outdoorsmen as Swamp People's favorite Troy "Shoooooot" Landry comes by a couple of times to visit. It's more down-home reality television and "accidental" humor.

Right off the bat, the first 10-minute flashback in Lost for Words that repeats verbatim at the end could have been left on the cutting room floor. If you’re looking for an in-your-face, action-packed summer blockbuster, this isn’t for you. If you have more sophisticated tastes and are seeking a slow to medium-paced love story that transcends country and race, Lost for Words tells the beautiful bilingual tale of American ex-Marine-now-IT-guru Michael and Chinese modern dance ballerina Anna.

Almost stealing limelight from the story is the incredible backdrop in which the story unfolds. Lost for Words is set against the exotic setting of cosmopolitan and rural Hong Kong. Over 40 days, the cast and crew of Lost for Words travelled across Hong Kong to capture its beauty on film.  Though Jimmy Wong, cinematographer, is a veteran of Asian film, this was his first English-language feature film. The contrasting imagery is stunning and rich, and I expect Mr. Wong will be finding more work in American theater.

by Dustin P. Anderson

Design activists Matt and Emily come to a small town in North Carolina which is struggling to get by. Their goal is to start Project H, a design class for high school students, to help get kids interested in school and lift the town out of a recessive period. The students start by building things as simple as a cornhole game, to designing a real building for a farmers market to help the town. Matt and Emily must work against incredible odds, like not getting a salary for their work and an oppressive school board, in order to see this dream come to reality.

"My name is - . This is my true story like it's never been told before." 

You can fill in that blank with any one of six names or groups for the first season of Gunslingers. Each episode picks up the story of a legendary icon of the West. We're not talking about the fictionalized characters from the long run of television westerns. These are the real infamous gunfighters whose history has become the stuff of mythology over the years. The episodes are told from the point of view of that week's subject, as played by an actor, of course. Other parts are also played out, but the focus is the point of view of that gunslinger. That means the story is going to be slanted somewhat. To balance that perspective we have input from western historians and even actors who might have portrayed the story in Hollywood. Together with dramatization of the pivotal moments, we get a somewhat unique look at an otherwise widely known story.

by Dustin P. Anderson

Floyd is a down-on-his-luck ex-bank robber who has had enough of his current life and wishes to pull one last heist with his old partner Mitch. The two plan the robbery, quit their meaningless jobs, and complete the job, getting five hundred thousand dollars in cash split between seven cases. After their success, they go to a remote hideout to wait out the authorities and celebrate. The next day, they discover their money is gone and has been replaced with a cassette tape. A voice on the cassette tape tells them that there are torture devices attached to seven people the duo knows, and their cases of money are with them. The two must choose between money and the people that they may care about; if they try to dismantle the devices a bomb will go off that will kill everyone. Can the two put aside their greed in order to save the people they care about?

This was one of the best documentaries that I have seen in a long time. Very engaging, and it covers subject matter that everyone already has an opinion on: infidelity. Of course you can tell from the appropriately coined title that it focuses on the idea of individuals in a committed relationship who seek additional gratification outside their relationship. This documentary does a good job of addressing all expects of this topic including how media outlets such as poplar television series and reality portray the stigma. Broken down into multiple sections, we are even treated to hearing from celebrities as well as the public about their opinions of having or being a side piece. It was a truly illuminating experience.

One the key aspects I enjoyed about this documentary was that when illustrating the role extramarital affairs play in our everyday television watching, they point out a prime of example of a side piece in one of the most watched television series of this generation: Scandal. For those not in the know (though I doubt there are many not in the know) Scandal is a popular series starring Kerry Washington who, and I hope I’m not spoiling this for anyone, is the mistress of the President of the United States. This is the best example of this story topic possible; honestly, I’m a little stunned at the fact that I didn’t register this until they pointed it out. Scandal is an example of this stigma of knowing that the person you’re with is committed to another, and instead of doing the right thing and dumping this person, you engage in an affair, and the crazy thing about the show is we tune in every week to cheer for the person who is essentially a mistress. Now before I receive a ton of negative comments about this, let me be clear, this is not an indictment at all, simply a statement of fact, and the documentary does cover both sides of the issue.