I’ve been running the Obama video from Will.I.Am for a while now, but here at FatMixx, we try to give reasonable candidates equal time. So, here’s a video put together by some folks for John McCain.

(in all seriousness, if you vote for a Republican in 2008, or Michael Bloomberg, you’re an idiot. Really. This isn’t Maverick McCain running, it’s the “I Love W” McCain that’s running)

Update: It seems several people have been inspired by Will.I.Am. Here’s another McCain tribute:

More serious yet funnier at the same time.

I saw this on Slashdot originally, but after AW sent it to me over IM, I finally watched it. It’s actually pretty impressive stuff. Technology is pretty damn awesome sometimes.

Sen Ted Stevens (R-AK) had his home raided. TPM Muckracker is tracking the story, and the video above will give you an overview of the brewing scandal that’s about a month old.

The audio is a bit horrible (video camera, no remote mic) of Dodd making a campaign stop in Anamosa, Iowa. His answers are actually very, very good. I loved how he would’ve answered the question that started the recent Obama and Clinton spat and I do wish he had a chance to answer more questions (I agree with him on the futility of the debate). He is, in my opinion, the best balance of experience, knowledge, and leadership in the race right now. I would be proud to see him as my President.

Watch the whole thing, it’s worth it. The health care plan he mentioned is detailed on the ChrisDodd.com site.

Prisoners in the Philippines recreate Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Seriously. Watch it. (via Jason Calacanis’ blog.)

US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who prosecuted this case, who is also a Republican appointee, responds to Bush’s statement. Listen to what he says, it pretty much lays out why Bush justification (as usual) was wrong.

I’m breaking tradition here and putting several clips in this slot. What Bush has done is that bad.

One more:

I hate these people. Will someone please rescue the Republican party from these corrupt, evil, self-centered idiots?

Seriously, I don’t envy her the job she has to do. It must suck to have to go up there and defend a position that you know makes no sense. Add to that the unbelievable administration back story reported by the Washington Post and there’s really only one conclusion. Cheney should leave his position and the White House should ask for him to resign. More on that later.

This is an awesome movie that recreates Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing using Fisher Price Sesame Street toys. Amazingly cool. (via Boing Boing)

Got it! Ads on FatMixx are showing the NBA’s playoff video “ad” again. I have some screenshots of what I was talking about earlier. It’s a little embedded interactive app. If you click on the controls, you can navigate to one of 4 features: Recap video, Preview video, Stat Leaders, and the Playoff schedule. If you click just in the window, you get taken to the NBA playoff package on NBA.com. Very slick, and great production values.

Here are the screenshots:

This is neat, but I wonder what the practical upshot is. Google Adsense as a Widget delivery vehicle? Is this content or advertising? Does it employ the same targeting algorithms? What keywords do you buy to deliver this ad? How much is the NBA paying? This is an interesting development.

All will make sense in the second video I post.

Quick note: I was checking out NYC17’s comment on my “Why I Left ESPN.com” post below and saw something I hadn’t seen before: The square Google Ad placement before the comments was a video ad that let me watch highlights from last night’s Spurs game. I didn’t embed it, and it wasn’t a traditional ad (I didn’t get redirected to NBA.com or another site). I just got to navigate a menu and play back the highlight right there.

That’s a pretty cool setup. Ad as content…

Does anyone know anything more about this? The only thing I can find online (after a quick Google) are passing references in various Adsense Video coverage (which is different).

I wish I had taken a screenshot. I’ll grab one if I see it again.

Just watch his latest appearance on the Daily Show:

Part 2:

So many things that McCain is wrong about and there are a number of things that Stewart didn’t call him on. Really, this is an emblematic performance. I don’t believe a war supporter could do a better job to explain their position, and McCain looked downright foolish at moments.

And Stewart didn’t even ask McCain what happens if the surge doesn’t work… As Atrios is fond of doing, it would be nice if someone asked these “wait X more months” folks what happens when we reach the end of that X month period.

In other words, what would it take for America to redeploy troops in a major way? So far, no Republican ever has ventured that idea.

(via Atrios)

This is a minor spoiler, so if you’re a Battlestar Galactica fan and haven’t seen the season finale for Season 3, stop reading this now. I got turned onto Battlestar Gallactica after friends kept saying it was a good show. I’ve been hooked after seeing season 1 and have been keeping up with the latest season.

Last night’s episode featured a tight, awesome cover of Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower which had a cool Indian/Middle Eastern feel. I can’t find the recording online right now, but I have the episode on iTunes and keep skipping to the end so I can listen to it.

In an effort to track down who covered it, I hit Google and found out that the cover was written specifically for Battlestar. It will be on the Season 3 soundtrack according to the artist who arranged this version. If you read his blog post, he goes through how he went about building the arrangement. It makes for great reading.

I’m looking forward to getting a copy of this track when it’s available.

Here’s a clip from YouTube that shows the end. The music plays over most of the clip, though it skips the best parts with the electric sitar. Be warned! The clip contains spoilers, in fact it pretty much gives away the climax of Season 3. Do not watch if you haven’t see the whole episode!

That’s pretty sweet, and amazing that it was written for a show. BTW, I really want that guys studio setup…

The first is a followup to Amb. John Bolton’s appearance on the Daily Show the night before.

Reality means nothing to these guys, and John Bolton is example number one. Wikipedia has more on Lincoln’s cabinet as does The University of Illinois at Springfield.

The second clip is John Oliver providing commentary about the White House’s “offer” to have Harriet Miers and Karl Rove testify only if there are no transcripts and they are not under oath.

I thought that was hilarious but then I became a little annoyed. When the Bush administration says F you to Congress in cases like this, they’re saying F You to all of us. Transparency and accountability aren’t simply important between Congress and the Executive but important to help us keep our representatives in government honest.

This is easily the best explanation of what “Web 2.0″ is meant to describe…

That’s impressive. The video has been going around for a while but I hadn’t watched it until today.

I love the city, but they should be ridiculed for the whole bomb scare fiasco. And, here we go:

That’s actually pretty good.

Just for you, some more songs from the musical episode:

So touching…

Update: Here’s more:

How can you not love this episode?

NBC released a behind-the-scenes video on YouTube, too:

too funny…

The speech he gave this morning during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was… wow. I’m curious what the rest of the Senators said. I don’t agree with him on many things, but his speech was refreshing. YouTube has the video:

(via this site)

OK this is nuts:

The Stars did end up winning but holy crap. I love that the announcer doesn’t hold back at all.

This has to go in the bizarre but apparently true column. An independent filmmaker is making a film about Ryan Leaf. Why? I don’t actually know. Will I watch it? Let’s just say I hope to never see it even on accident flipping through the channels. It might even be more unbelievable in HD.

Here’s the trailer:

I can’t even tell if it’s an elaborate joke or just bad production values…

No, not a regular feature, but Atrios has some good videos linked up and I wanted to show all of you.

Here they are. The first is a video about some weird video doctoring on the White House web site:

The other video is from CNN’s Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz. After starting out with the typical “the troops resent the media coverage,” Kurtz talks to CNN’s John Roberts who just came back from Iraq. Roberts provides a different perspective, where the violence is worse than what we see or appreciate via U.S. media coverage. I recommend that you watch the foreign press now and again. You’ll be surprised at the differences in tone and quality of coverage.

Enjoy.

Update: The first video is wrong. It’s a black box that’s inserted by the captioning software. The explanation of why it was considered doctored didn’t sound all that likely, but I didn’t know enough to say so. It’s why I left it with little commentary.

I can’t really explain why I remembered this today, but this has to be my favorite music video ever:

Love it!

Weird Al is a clever guy, and his music is often smart and funny. Josh got me to look at White and Nerdy and from there, I bought the album. I am telling you, this album is pretty classic Weird Al. My favorite song, and the most interesting arrangement, is Polkarama where he blends together all of these songs into one 4:17 long work of art:

• Chicken Dance
• Let’s get it started – Black Eyed Peas
• Take Me Out – Franz Ferdinand
• Beverly Hills – Weezer
• Speed of Sound – Coldplay
• Float On – Modest Mouse
• Feel Good – Gorillaz
• Don’t Cha – The Pussycat Dolls
• Somebody Told Me – Killers
• Candy Shop – 50 Cent
• Drop It Like It’s Hot – Snoop Dogg
• Pon de Replay – Rihanna
• Gold Digger – Kanye West

Worth buying.

Update: Of course, YouTube has the video:

Makes me smile every time.

If there’s one thing about YouTube I like, it’s finding out that there are some seriously bored and talented people out there. Watch this, you won’t be disappointed.

How long do you think that took to make?

Found via Matthew Yglesias by way of Ezra Klein.

Update: More videos from this user after the jump. Click the title to see some more videos by this guy.
(Click here to read the rest of this post)

Before I say anything else, watch this:

So, what did you think of the ad?

Well, NBC has refused to air it because it deals with “public controversy.” Weinstein plans to take legal action, though I’m not sure how or on what grounds. We’ll have to see if that ends up materializing.

We ended up in a rather long and heated discussion at work about the controversy that prompted the movie. You might remember in 2003, lead singer Natalie Maines said to a crowd in London, “Just so you know, we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.” The overreaction from holier-than-thou country music fans was swift and harsh.

Cumulus Broadcasting pulled their music across the network, and Clear Channel stations organized protests where people were encouraged to stomp on, burn, or destroy Dixie Chicks CDs and memorabilia. It was pretty ugly stuff.

It was this participation by the larger media companies that prompted our discussion. Specifically, we debated whether anyone should be upset by the actions taken by NBC or by the radio stations in 2003. After all, the radio stations and these networks are simply making profit decisions. If the decision isn’t the one that will make them the most money (or it angers customers directly), the market will let the stations and networks know by taking their money elsewhere.

Second, is there anything wrong with the radio stations simply doing whatever they think makes the most business sense for them? If they want to avoid upsetting the administration because it makes business easier, then so be it. They have that right, as they have the right to do what they want with their own stations.

Those that know me will know that while I appreciate the sentiment in those thoughts, I couldn’t disagree more. The idea that markets are self-correcting is fine, but markets often don’t consider externalities until the cost of dealing with them is acute. To look back at 2002 and 2003, market-driven media brought us the poor journalism surrounding the lead up to the Iraq War. Very little media sought to anger or alienate a President riding a big popularity surge. It is also cheaper to simply report what the government says rather than doing actual investigation.

Beyond that, however, people can and should make moral judgments about why these companies chose to pull the music or reject the ad for the movie. This is not to say that laws should be created to compel these networks to air songs or commercials they don’t want to. Instead, the public has a right and obligation to inform the company of their displeasure and to either convince the network to make the “better” decision or to help change circumstances so that the “better” decision is the natural choice for the networks.

For example, in the case of this commercial, if NBC was standing up for some principle or for a real business case where their customers (advertisers) would really take their money elsewhere, that would be unfortunate but morally neutral in my opinion. Companies try to make money and listening to the people that give them money is a natural thing. It’s a mantra of business, after all.

On the other hand, there are situations like this:

The studio provided media outlets copies of “clearance” reports from NBC’s standards and practices department bearing handwritten notations stating the ads were deemed unacceptable because “they are disparaging of President Bush.“

To me, that represents a different choice, not one born of business or customer needs, but by fear of retribution or by political considerations outside of this particular transaction. In either case, that is a failure of a free press and NBC should be criticized for this. I’m sure that the market might end up costing NBC something, but the reality is that the market will reward the Dixie Chicks and NBC will see no lasting impact. They will sell their inventory to someone else, and they’ll hardly look back at this.

The background upon which this entire story is unfolding also has to play a part in our judgment of what NBC is doing. There have been numerous examples of our media protecting the administration and Republicans. The bias is undeniable and is unprecedented in our modern history. Imagine if President Clinton were protected and coddled by the media as much as President Bush?

That alone isn’t reason to criticize NBC, but it is reason to be concerned that more is going on here than a simple business decision. It would be great to see some actual reporting on this. Unfortunately, if there is something that the media is bad at, it’s self-examination. Without critical journalism, we’re relegated to having public outrage drive the day. In fact, without concerned citizens asking the next level of questions, where would we be?

Glenn Greenwald has more on the issue, including other pointers on Bush administration voodoo over the media.

Click through if you want to see the full trailer.
(Click here to read the rest of this post)

If you haven’t seen this, the winner of the Chicago Marathon slipped at the finish line. ouch.

(via Deadspin)

initial reaction, eh. I think I’m too wired into political news to be surprised by this. I also wish they had flipped the order so that they mentioned up front that Bush flip-flopped… the clips go on too long before getting to the punchline.

Hope to see it on TV soon.

I could probably just put all of these on FatMixx, but this one seems important. I probably could automate this post, but if you’re not watching Keith Olbermann, you’re completely missing out.

I don’t have much to add. This summarizes the last month or so of the terrorism debate and policy world in one 10 minute segment.

Update: I hate being away for weekends. I hadn’t heard that they found more remains around ground zero. For ****’s sake, are these people so incompetent that they chose to make us feel better instead of actually doing the right thing? First, they lied about the air quality. Now we have this. This stuff was always going to come out. Treat the public like the adults they are, that’s all I really want.

I think Keith Olbermann is trying to the be Edward R Murrow of our time…and heavens knows we could use it. I’m glad that someone in the mainstream media is saying this. His latest commentary, published Oct 19, is truly to the point:

And now—our rights and our freedoms in peril—we slowly awaken to learn that we have been afraid of the wrong thing…A government more dangerous to our liberty, than is the enemy it claims to protect us from.

In times of fright, we have been only human. We have let Roosevelt’s “fear of fear itself” overtake us. We have listened to the little voice inside that has said, “the wolf is at the door; this will be temporary; this will be precise; this too shall pass.” We have accepted that the only way to stop the terrorists is to let the government become just a little bit like the terrorists.

Read the rest of the article. It is a bit long, but worth reading.

Update (from sujal): Here’s the video: