My Ba-Rock the Vote Greatest Hits

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I know this is not a political blog, but I’m pretty blown away by the inspirational energy and phenomenal creativity of the music videos, original songs and down right brilliantly edited videos that have appeared on behalf of Barak Obama. It’s a grassroots energy that lifts my soul and gives me, yes, hope.

I was asked to put together some of my favorite videos for some friends, so I thought I’d share them with you. Some of this is really state of the art Internet video production. Of course, in the case of Dave Stewart (formerly of the Eurythmics, who co-wrote the first song below with Bono), this is new work from some of the top rock musicians in the world. But there are a number of much lesser known artists below that are also sensationally original. I offer these links with sincere appreciation for the way these folks are using the new media to make a difference. Thanks!

My American Prayer by Dave Stewart
This is just awesome. Taking inspiration from the 40 years since we lost MLK, and using top acting talent as well as top music making, this multi-layered montage takes us back to “the mountain top.” Yes, to many, Obama is an answer to a prayer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVi4rUzf-0Q

Vote for Hope by M.C. Yogi
A young rapper whose uplifting message and visual style are first rate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iojPaw8yX0

Respondele a Obama by Jose Conde
Infectious Latin rhythms and Latinos on the streets of NYC make me want to dance with joy. Obamanos!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ycu0sy5RW8

Hockey Mama for Obama
One mama whose voice is worth hearing. I like the moose too. Hysterical.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh9BmNuqeiQ

A Message for Sarah Palin from “the Young Girls of America”
These young women speak for themselves. Touching & motivating.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53XnLUUL82k

The American Promise by the Obama campaign
Is there anything that this campaign does that isn’t first class?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCx0J3NiABY

The original “Yes We Can” video by will.i.am
from February just in case you didn’t see it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY

and for good measure, how about a little
Bruce Springsteen in Philadelphia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFnCc20E87g

Enough? 🙂

YES WE CAN.

The Real People in the Middle of this Election (and the TV hype)

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Errol Morris is arguably one of the most important documentary film makers of our time. More than just an Academy Award winner (for “The Fog of War“), he has an amazing talent for listening to people and letting them tell their own stories in ways that inform and even illuminate reality.

Now, he has written for the NYTimes blog site an extremely insightful perspective, including an impressive selection of historical examples, on real “everyday” people in election advertising campaigns. This perspective, “People in the Middle” also includes discussion and links to Morris’ brand new web video site, PeopleintheMiddleforObama.org which was sponsored by People for the American Way.

About this new work, Morris says, “If you’re not going to put words in people’s mouths, if you’re really listening to what they have to say, you’re going to learn something. Admittedly, the evidence is anecdotal. I haven’t selected these people through some kind of statistical sampling. These people are self-selected. They wrote in and said that they were registered Republicans, Independents or switch-voters who were planning to vote for Obama. People in the middle. And I was interested in talking to them on film about why they were making the switch from voting for a Republican to voting for a Democrat.”

Most interesting to me was this conclusion, “The people I interviewed have embraced Obama. They are voting for a candidate, not against a candidate.”

Read more of Errol Morris on “People in the Middle” by clicking here.

Howard Rheingold Parses the Video Language

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Howard Rheingold was a thought-leader before the term entered the vernacular. For example, he wrote the original book on virtual community. Now, Howard is helping people to understand what he’s calling the “video vernacular” by walking his talk ie by posting a video on his vlog (video blog).

Just like us videographers used to talk about the “language of film making,” Howard is correct that the whole video language, along with all the various forms of interacting with video are going through a radical metamorphosis. Video will never be the same. Will we? Doubtful.

Howard does a tease at the end of his six and a half minute video clip for the relevance of these new forms of video to education. In any case, I appreciate Howard’s effort to help those of us who don’t swim in this cyber-crap daily to get some perspective on what’s happening.

Obama iPhone Application Leverages Your Swing State Contacts

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Once again (OK, I’m biased), Barak Obama has proven himself as a visionary leader who gets it. (OK, that was a bit over the top.) Bringing 21st century technology to the virtual campaign trail, the Obama campaign has launched it’s own iPhone application; and, it does more than you might think. For example, it supports you to call contacts in your address book who live is swing states (but without violating their privacy). Pretty impressive stuff.

Details are here in this excellent NY Times write-up, “It’s Obama on the iPhone”

Facebook to Become New Distribution Channel for Major Media Videos

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Social media platforms are all the buzz, but I think this is a milestone worth noting: Slide today announced a deal to use Facebook to distribute videos from “major media” companies (including CBS, NBC and many more…). The geeky young face you see to the right is not only the founder/CEO of Slide, but a co-founder of PayPal.

Sure, Amazon and NetFlix (just to name two) are now distributing streaming video; but the leverage of Facebook is quite amazing. In fact, I’ve become an active Facebook user myself recently (see link lower left of this page), and I enjoy (among other things) using the quickie one-click video embed for Facebook that’s offered by YouTube. Now, fans of network TV shows will actually be able to embed episodes and who knows what else.

Stay tuned. The Video Web is regenerating with a major boost from social networking power!