Happy Black Friday!

What a badass name for a ridiculously shitty day. Now, get out there and risk your life for $20 off on an electric toothbrush or a laptop that was already slow last Thanksgiving!!!

How Firm a Foundation - movie review

How Firm A Foundation, is the third recent release from Norman, OK filmmaker, Mickey Reece. Many of you know Mickey as one-man, dissonant art rock band, El Paso Hot Button. And, anyone who knows Mickey, knows that this isn't only his third movie. He's made movies with his friends for a long time. But, only recently, he started taking things a little more seriously and scheduling premiers for his creations at Opolis in Norman. He'll do the same with How Firm A Foundation on December 14.

This film really centers around one prominent character, Bill Donahue, played by the ever improving Kameron Primm. I've been critical in the past about the quality of acting in Mickey's movies. But, the truth is, Mickey probably couldn't get the movies made without the help of his friends and the atmosphere that working with them creates. And, honestly, they're all getting better. Kameron Primm is really quite good as Bill.

Bill Donahue is an entrepreneur. He owns a machine shop and a lawn business. He's a simple, honest, hard-working man who makes an unlikely hero. The film focuses on his relationship with a long-time employee, Joseph (played impressively by Dallos Paz), and a new employee, Ralph (played by director, Mickey Reece).

I don't want to get too into the story, for fear of spoiling it. The film is around 40 minutes long, so I can't say much without giving away a lot. But, this is a good movie. I feel like this is the most "real" of Mickey's movies. Weird though it may be at times, it's a touching story. There's something more human about this movie, than what Reece has given us in the past. And, it's a good thing.

Fans of (way) underground indie music will appreciate the appearances by Dustin Sanchez (We Are Good Friends) as Wilson, Harry Merry as himself, and Ali Harter as Bill's Accountant. The film's score, by Justin Rice and the D. Whitfield Ensemble is fantastic.

Mickey's movies get better and better. And, it's great to see every aspect of the films improve, every time. The acting is better. The music is better. The films look better. And, most importantly, the stories get better. Come out to Opolis on December 14 and see for yourself. Admission is only $3. And, all of your cool friends will be there.

trailer teaser #2:

Major Conservative think tank admits that this is a "center-left" nation

Yep.... reality sets in.

Something to believe in?

I want to believe that the Democratic party is in much better shape than the Republican party because they're somehow a little less corrupt and a little more focused on progress. I want to believe in them. We'll see!

Center-Right America: Don't believe the myth.

It started happening even before the election. When it was clear that the nation was leaning left, and preparing to elect Barack Obama to the Presidency, and even more Democrats to the House and Senate, the right-wing pundits started pushing this notion of America as a "center-right" nation.

People, let me tell you right now, this is complete nonsense. A significant percentage of Americans self-identify as "conservative", for a few reasons: They're afraid of the idea of radical change. They would rather go with something bad that they know, than something good that is "new". They have been conditioned to believe that "liberal" means something bad, or dangerous, while "conservative" stands for strong and reliable.

But, consider that most Americans actually lean a little left on most important issues.

Most Americans want healthcare coverage to be available to all people. And, most of us realize that the choice is between trusting a corporate system that is driven by profit, or a government system that should (theoretically) be driven by a desire to meet the needs of the people. If we could really go to the polls on election day and vote out executives from insurance companies, then I bet my coverage would be a lot better. It's scary to call it "socialized" medicine, because the truth about Socialism has been so corrupted over the years. It's seen as somehow antithetical to Democracy. But, our federal government already spends more money per capita on healthcare than any other nation. And, we're the only one that doesn't provide socialized healthcare to our citizens. If we could clean up the government, instead of always reacting and throwing out the baby with the bathwater, sometimes new radical ideas can develop into incredible benefits for the citizens. But, my point is, if my Representative or Senator were responsible for overseeing the administration of a national health system, then every election day would see them held accountable for the job that they're doing. Most people favor that idea when you don't call it "socialist".

Most Americans think that the government should play some part in protecting us from being victimized by the greed of incredibly powerful people who do not have to answer to the voters.

Most Americans think that we should try to be better world citizens. Reestablishing our good reputation in the world will go a long way towards reducing the number of people in the world who want to do us harm. We know that engaging the world and leading by example is a more effective way to affect change than with fighting wars for oil OR money. Most Americans don't believe that we should be occupying countries to protect the financial interest of only a few very large corporations.

Most Americans realize that there are several reasons to make investments in alternative energy sources, and we CARE about all of them. Americans want cleaner air to breathe and water to drink. We can't afford to continue putting gasoline in our cars as the supply dwindles and prices skyrocket. We realize that most of the people in the world who hate Americans, do so because we exploit their resources. We know that investment in energy technology and infrastructure modernization simply HAS TO be done. And, we realize that in doing so, millions of great jobs can be created.

Most Americans don't think you should be able to go to a gun show and buy a machine gun. Most of us don't think that holding gun owners more responsible for what happens with their weapons is an attempt to "disarm America". You can respect the Second Amendment and still make every effort to keep people safe from firearm accidents and keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of criminals.

A majority of Americans think that access to abortions should be safe and legal.

Most Americans believe in our Constitution. And, most of us believe that it should protect ALL American citizens.

These are not "radical" ideas. And, this is not a "center right" nation. And, who the fuck gives Karl Rove ANY say in setting the agenda for the years to come?!? Barack Obama ran an amazing campaign. His agenda is not a partisan agenda. It is a common agenda. It is THE PEOPLES' agenda. The progress that he wants to make for this country and the world will not be derailed by a sensationalist media that thrives on controversy. And, it will not be remotely influenced by the logical gymnastics of newly irrelevant fools like Karl Rove or Robert Novak. The easiest way to hasten the extinction of the failed, divisive politics of the past, is to look to the future.

Palin didn't understand that Africa was a continent, rather than a country.

Amazing. Hopefully, this will put an end to the nonsense about her running in 2012. Her political career is OVER. Check out this Fox"News" report on the FORMER "future of the Republican Party". Apparently, she was also unclear about which countries make up North America. None of this even remotely surprises me.

Fox"News" is now also accurately reporting that McCain's slide in the polls wasn't a result of the financial crisis, but actually began several days earlier after Palin's appearance in the Katie Couric interview.

McCain clearly lost for two giant reasons:

1. Judgement. His selection of Palin just killed his chances of winning. When you're the old guy, with all the experience, you can't make decisions that are this colossally bad.

2. Obama had a positive message. In his 30 minute infomercial, he didn't mention McCain or Bush one time. If the press asked McCain to sum up his candidacy in one sentence, you can be sure it would have been a slam against Obama.

Here's the video about Palin from Fox:

We Shall Overcome

Don't fight it. Let the tears flow. It's an amazing time to be alive.

10:45 PM CST: Victory!

HUGE victory for Barack Obama! It's a great day for this country. McCain's concession speech was gracious and classy. It was a sad reminder that the McCain that we saw in the last days of the campaign were not the real McCain. Unfortunately, the real McCain is a much better person than the person his handlers presented.

But, this night is about Obama. And, this night is about change.

I'm prepared for Barack to deliver the greatest speech ever in about 10 minutes.

9:04 PM CST: Cleveland county results

Looks like McCain will win Oklahoma. But, in my county, Cleveland county, with 11% of precincts reporting, Obama leads McCain with 51% of the votes!

6:51 PM CST: I'm feeling good about this.

I still haven't opened a beer yet. Krystal's out of town. I'm not really comfortable being this anxious in front of a crowd. So, I just ordered a pizza and I'm cable news surfing.

The folks at Fox "News" are pretty somber. They sound crushed. But, nothing of consequence has been called yet. I'm assuming that they have some exit polling data that they're not excited about.

I'm pretty confident.

2:08PM CST: Obama wins the presidency!!

At 2:08PM CST, I, Chris Harris, am prepared to call the 2008 presidential election for Barack Obama! Congratulations, President-elect Obama, on your decisive victory!

Seriously folks, the turnout this year is unprecidented. It's looking like we'll finally have a turnout that indicates a genuine interest in the political process in the U.S. And, with record turnout, it can only mean one thing. The candidate with the most enthusiastic voters will win in a landslide. And, trust me, Republicans are NOT excited about this election.

If I'm wrong, I'll be back here this evening, typing a drunken apology.

But, for now, yipee!!!

284!!!

In a small precinct, where turnout typically averages between 60 and 80 votes per election, I was voter number 284 at 9:45 AM!! There were a shitload of young people in line!! I'm predicting that Obama will carry Cleveland County. We'll see tonight!

VOTE

GO VOTE!!!!!!

And, no.... It's not good enough that you just go vote. I'm not one to say, "it doesn't matter who you vote for, as long as you vote!"

It does matter. You should vote for the future of this country and the world, by casting a vote for Barack Obama. While you're at it, if you live in Oklahoma, then vote for Andrew Rice, too.

Evangelicals BATTLE for Obama

It's no surprise that Evangelicals are getting involved in this election. I spent a little more than a week on the road with them this Summer. I can tell you that this is a band that is engaged in what's happening in this country. Before the show in Columbia, Missouri, we happened to walk by Obama's local campaign headquarters. The whole band spent plenty of time talking with the staff there and picking up buttons and stickers.

I'm not surprised then, to find out that they're back in Columbia, working for the Obama campaign, in a swing state that could turn out to be very important to Obama's chances for success on this HISTORIC election day. I'm a little surprised that they're back on the road, just days after returning from a two month, grueling tour. But, that just shows how big this election is and what it means to young people in America. This is the future, happening right before our eyes.

From their blog:

"That’s right, Josh and I spent the day in Missouri canvassing and making phone calls for the Obama campaign. It’s been great! We rolled in around 1pm today and starting canvassing, hitting about 100 households in the Columbia area. Then we got our phonebank on, each calling roughly seventy people in the same area. If Obama wins here by a narrow margin, I’m taking some credit for an Obama presidency. Sorry."

You should definitely check out their BLOG. It's a fantastic read! Also, befriend them on MySpace, and tell them how much you appreciate what they're doing for their country.

These are really good guys.

Oh snap.

If this is real, and it sounds like it is, then this will be big news in the next few days. Absolutely hilarious.

Thanks to Maybe Baby over at the Oklahomarock.com forum for pointing out this gem.