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Grand Designs (1999)
Ordinary dreams, extraordinary executions
I've now seen at least thirty individual episodes, and this show is the best of a huge lot of home building shows that are available. There have been at least two water tower adaptations, an early 20thC fantasy castle brought into practical living space while the owner learns how to live with the architectural drawing process, a colourful Spanish luxury home and French historic building conversion built by Brits abroad, and a community co- op housing project built by a group of low-income participants to guarantee them secure rental housing for their young families. The value of seeing this wide range of people and projects is huge - you can see how dreams are realized, the number of concessions and adaptations that must be made along the way, the long-term result when projects are revisited ten years later, and, my favourite, become acquainted with new green building materials and techniques. 1960's building designer Walter Segal's methods led me to an Irish architect Dominic Stevens, who uses inexpensive sheet materials in their original sizes to reduce labour costs. The materials he specifies are only recently available in North America, so this television program has enabled me to specify materials for my architect to investigate and incorporate. The fact that this program has been useful and educational as well as entertaining is a bonus I hadn't anticipated - I'm very glad to have discovered this show. Thanks, Kevin McCloud, for a comprehensive, thoughtful presentation of quality material.
Gloriously Free (2004)
Compelling Stories... and insightful critique of Canadian Refugee processing
The review written in 2007 is accurate but it doesn't tell the complete story about this great documentary. Yes, the stories told by the refugee claimants about their lives in their countries of origin are powerful and compelling. Equally insightful, the two immigration lawyers who explain the pitfalls within Canada's refugee processing system add a layer of analysis and criticism that (SPOILER ALERT) helps to focus the outrage viewers will likely feel when they learn that these refugee claims were rejected! The documentary then records the confusion and disappointment each of these failed claimants experience as they try to figure out what to do now. These gay men have lived in Canada for two years, gloriously free from the persecution and insecurity they all experienced previously, only to find out that the Refugee Board felt that they weren't in enough danger to qualify as a refugee claimants. That emotional collapse has left me with an insatiable need to find out what has happened to each and every one of these men, and has also left me outraged by the fact that Canada does not allow any appeals. A single person, who may or may not have biases and preconceived notions, holds the life and death decision controlling the fate of every refugee applicant appearing before them - and if they get it wrong, there's no way to correct their error. This is a powerful documentary that has left a lasting impression; I hope I'll be able to find out what has happened to these men in the intervening decade.