TBL is on the air!

The Buried Life, a crew of four guys who are looking to fulfill their dreams and the dreams of others, have touched the deeply buried heartstrings of even MTV, and are bringing their Matthew Arnold-inspired message of possibility to your television. The Buried Life is coming your way, wherever that might be. (And the pilot episode was awesome, by the way; ever walked the red carpet? Inspired an entire classroom of inner-city youth?)

These guys (Duncan, Jonnie, Dave, and Ben) are the energy that the post-failed revolution ironicized society needs to jumpstart itself, particularly in the wave of economic recession and with a thunderous ecological crisis. Based loosely in Victoria, B.C., they have done a variety of crazy, awesome things with their giant purple bus, Penelope. They brought kids with terminal cancer on a Toys-R-Us shopping spree. They opened the six-o'clock news. They lead a parade, destroyed a computer, planted a tree. They were in a protest. They got a song on the radio, sang the national anthem to a crowded stadium, and kissed the Stanley cup. There are a hundred different things on their list; what's on yours?

Here's their newsflash version:

When it’s TBL related, we always want you guys to be the first to know. Sometimes that’s tough.

If you’ve seen the front page of the New York Times today you’ve probably read some exciting news. After three years on the road, “#53: Make a Television Show” is about to be officially crossed off the list! Let us be the first to say: Yeeeeeehaawwwww!!!

We’ve turned down many TV offers in the past. Anything with a script, “mood music” or a lightning round has been - ever so politely - refused. We are exceptionally grateful to even get the offers, but packaging The Buried Life as a conventional “Reality show” would betray our principles. Besides, that shit is whack.

This one - as you can see from the article - has a different fit. The world is changing and we applaud MTV for being brave enough to change with it (for the record, we’re doing this the way we’ve always done it - on our own). We are stoked to be the flagship series of their turnaround and look forward to seeing more like-minded programs in the years to come.

Lastly and most importantly - to our friends, family, everyone out there following on the blog - take this as a sign that you can do anything, no matter how far-fetched or impossible it seems. Write it down, get your friends together and go after it.

It’s Sunday, TBL is in the New York Times, MTV is shifting course. TBL Season One airs (tentatively) July 20th worldwide and we’re going to go to the beach to celebrate!

What do you want to do before you die?

Jonnie, Dave, Ben and Duncan

Check out their website to learn more, and to become a part of the Buried Life network.

My list?
The top ten:
10.) Be involved in a Broadway production of either Cats, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, or Rent.
9.) Shake hands with Spider Robinson and Robert Hass.
8.) Play Mariokart in an IMAX theatre.
7.) Watch the extended Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy in an OMNIMAX, nonstop. Done it in the living room a few times; now it's time to supersize. After all, I am a cynical North American.
6.) Build another house for a homeless family (went to Tijuana once before, and have to do it again somewhere before I keel).
5.) Have a home that provides rent-free rooms in the form of scholarships for students.
4.) Adopt a child.
3.) Foster animals from the SPCA.
2.) Publish an anthology.
1.) Skydive.

Not an Arnold fan? Try some Tennyson, then, or Herrick. Try some Albom/Schwartz, or even Bedingfield. It's not too late. Dig up your life; the plot isn't sacred, and you will thank yourself later. There is no time like the present, and it's continually slipping away, but it's also continually reborn, an instantaneous shift from past to future, future to past. You're a time-traveler, and you can do the impossible. Prove it possible.

Now, the question again: what do you want to do before you die?