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- The 1 Legged Jive 1 800 VOTE 411
Tomorrow night Kym and I dance the Jive. this week has been different than the past weeks of practicing in so many ways. We didnt get our song till Tuesday night, meaning we had 6 days. The same as everyone else of course, but dang. Knowing that Monday is going to get here a lot faster than ever before definitely gave me a lot to think about.
But that wasnt the worst part. Jive is easily the most physical of the dances. Just about every step is a jump from the balls of my feet. Not a problem for my right leg. A huge problem for my left. (the hip replacement left the muscles in my leg far weaker than my right). And not only was all the "action" supposed to be high energy and up, but the basic step is supposed to be knees up with a quick kick that is supposed to end with your foot basically kicking yourself in the butt around bringing my feet together while in the air. Yeah, like thats going to happen..
The mind was strong, but the body was weak. There were steps , or more precisely, technique of steps that i was just not able to do. Worse yet was the practice. By the time we got to a routine I could do, we had to practice it again and again and again. I'm sorry, I don't care if I was 21 or the 49 years old that I am, practicing the routine 6 hours a day, every day, is exhausting and I dont want to even explain what the following mornings felt like.
I dont want to sound like Im complaining, but I guess I am. But hey, if Im going to blog , I might as well talk about it all.
So the Jive is not going to be easy for us Monday night. The hope is that all of you that voted for Kym and I will vote again to keep us alive. Your vote is going to be even more important to us Monday because all of Dallas will be watching the Cowboys take on the Bills. The Cowpokes are amazing this season, so Im thinking most Dallasites will not have voting for Mark and Kym as their Monday night priority. Which is another way of saying that I really need everyone's help to get people's attention from 7pm to 8:30pm Monday night and to take a break from the game to call 1800 VOTE 411 or for that matter, just call while you are watching the game ! Go to ABC.com at halftime. Email your friends and have them get behind us..
As always, thank you for all your support. It really means a lot to Kym and mePermalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
- Thank YOU !!!!!!!
I can't thank everyone who voted via phone or email for Kym and I as much as I would like to. To say I was surprised to not only move on, but to not be under the red light would be an understatement. I thought there was a good chance we were goners. The only reason we weren't is because of your votes. THANK YOU.
I wish I had the energy to write more , but I have been up for 36 straight hours and I need to crash.
After the show last night we practiced from 9pm to 11:30, i got back to the hotel around midnight. That would not ordinarily be of note, but I had committed to do interviews with the media on the east coast to discuss our moving forward on the show and my new hip. Being in LA, doing early morning East Coast shows meant being up at 3:30 to start interviews before 5am LA time. I tried to get 3 hours of sleep. I didnt get any.
The interview sessions lasted till about 9:15 and from there I went to start rehearsing with Kim. That lasted till about 4pm. It wasnt all that productive, by the end I was like a zombie.
So here I sit in my hotel, tapping this post out with toothpicks keeping my eyes open. I didnt want anyone to think I didnt appreciate all the support Kym and I received.
As I told every entertainment and news show that interviewed us after the show and this morning, the support of people who read this blog, the support of the many bloggers who got behind Kym and I and the Facebook and Myspace nations and networks that rallied behind us are what kept us alive on the show.
The Nerd Herd was in full effect. This was truly an internet showing and I cant thank everyone enough and I truly hope we earn the same level of support next week.
Time for me to get some sleepPermalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
- Time to Go For It !
We have worked hard. the adrenalin is pumping. I got to check out my costume for tonight. Which is pretty cool. not something people are going to expect from me. We have really changed up the look. Hope you like it !
I have to be down in rehearsal in about 20 mins. Believe it or not, this is a little bit more nerve racking than last week. This morning we got to work with the orchestra for the first time. Well after we went through it once. At the same speed as the CD they gave us (ABC picks the music btw), Kym really felt that the tempo of the song was too slow. So boom, she got the orchestra to speed it up.
Easy for them, not so easy for me. Its not a little bit faster, its A LOT faster. Fortunatey , after dress rehearsal, we will have about 90 minutes and kym and i can try to work on the little things that were based on timing. Talk about a challenge !
It still wont change the fact that I am going to go out there and have a blast. HOpefully the smile will be big enough you wont notice if Im a little off in a few places..
And of course, DWTS is all about the vote. I need everyone to get everyone to dial 1 800 VOTE 411 tonight from 8pm EST to 9:30EST and then go to abc.com and register as many addresses as you own and vote for Kym and I !
Here is the link to register
and one more thing. Win Lose or Draw, I can't tell you how important all the posts and emails of support have been over the last week. That have meant a lot to me. Thank you so much !Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
- Its Mambo Time for Mark & Kym - 1 800 VOTE 411
Its 8am Sunday morning and I'm getting ready to go to what will be my last full practice leading into our mambo on Monday night.
We have been working incredibly hard. 6+ hours yesterday. A split practice of 3 hours in the am and 6pm to 9:30 at night the day before. We will go another 4 hours till 1pm, then head over to the studio where the show is filmed and do it in front of the cameras so they can block it out for the live broadcast. Then if we have time we will get together tonight for a shorter practice.
No question I'm tired. It was a short week to get everything together and the Mambo is not the easiest dance for me. Being 6' 3", i have to keep my knees bent pretty much the entire dance so that i don't like I'm stiff or tower above Kym. That's not a problem at the beginning of practice, but an hour in, my left leg in particular starts to get tired. (when they replaced my left hip, whatever they had to do left my left thigh about half the size of my right. Now its about 3/4 the size of my right. A lot stronger than it was, but far from full strength). I'm so stubborn, I won't let Kym stop at all.
OK, that's not entirely true. My wife brought our daughters to practice yesterday. We needed to cheer up Alexis. She got sick during our trip to LA for the 1st week's taping and had a bad fever. We took her to the doctor who recommended that we cancel her birthday party since and keep her separated from her sister since she was probably contagious. It took until yesterday afternoon for her to get back to her usual perpetual energy self, so Tiff brought her to practice so she could dance with Kym and I. She loved it. She and her sister got to dance to our song and twirl and twirl and run around. She wanted to help daddy, so we let her hit the start button before a bunch of runthroughs. By the time we got home, I was her hero again and she was her beautiful self again.
All the hard work has rewards beyond getting my entire family involved . I'm under 200 pounds for the first time since college. At 49 years old, I would be lying if I said I knew I could get down to my college weight again. Losing 20 pounds is not something I thought was even remotely possible. Like any other dad my age, working out is enough of a challenge. Not having fun after dinner making "daddy treats" for my kids is impossible. (of course no treat goes unfinished by dad !). My kids definitely keep me young. I don't ever want to let my age define the activities I undertake. At 49, I dint want to do an "age appropriate " dance. I tell Kym all the time that if Joey or Emmitt could do it, I'm going to do it. Albert may be 27 years younger than me , but if he can do it, I can do it. The dance steps that is. I promise I wont take my shirt off. A lot of things have grown on my body in those 27 years and I'm not a "just wax it off type guy".
Back to dancing....Our Mambo is fun. We have some great moves that hopefully the crowd will love. There are some tough timing moves that I have to get right , but no matter what, I promise that its going to be fun !!
And one last little thing in terms of blogging. For the past 8 years since I bought the Mavs, I have kept my private life 100pct private. In the sports world I expected everyone to characterize me as "the guys who yells at the refs
. I really didn't care what they thought. It isn't the real me. But it served its purpose. Every interview I ever did,. Every description of me. Every reference to me, Every picture of me always had me yelling in one way or another. My friends, my family, the people I work with, all know that its not me. That's not to sayI dint get emotional at Mavs games. I do. That's where I release. But even there, If i stand up and act like a fan, its a picture that lives and is used forever. Doing DWTS has allowed me to show the real me. Its actually fun.
So when you see someone describe me in that way, the only thing you know for certain is that they don't know me.
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- DWTS - What a wave of emotions
Wow. Talk about a range of emotions and a humbling experience.
I was suprised at how I wasnt as nervous as I thought i would be during the day on Tues. I got a good nights sleep. I was excited, but not overwhelmed. I think a lot of it had to do with all of the guys hanging out together during the day telling jokes.
As we got closer to showtime, the nerves definitely started to build. It was fun to watch the others dance. The entire group, competitors and pros get along so well. Everyone is truly nice to each other. But it was obvious the tension was building. Whenever we had a break, I would go off to the side to practice. My mental hump was making sure I got the first few steps right. Once i got past that, I thought I would be alright.
When it was our turn, we walked out there and took our places. I got to see my wife and family which calmed my nerves some, but then they started the video package. I couldnt watch. I didnt want anything distracting me. When they announced our names, Now dancing the Foxtrot....I just thought to my self to trust our practice and make sure to have fun.
I have to say that the first couple beats I felt like I was in total control. Then its a blur. We got into the dance, and I literally barely remember the dance till the end. I could see Kym in front of me. I felt like things were moving good. I literally could not hear a thing other than the song. I dont know if Kym said anything to me during the dance. I dont know what the crowd cheered to (or didnt). I didnt see anyone's face in the crowd. Then we got to the end, I did my jump, and when i landed and pointed at Kym, it was the ultimate rush of excitement. I cant explain it. I just wanted to scream to release all the energy that had been building up over the last several weeks.
Standing there in front of the judges. Honestly, I was just happy that they were smiling. I didnt really know how I did, but I saw my wife and family smiling as I glanced over there. I could tell they all were proud of me. When their comments were honest and actually encouraging it made the night even more special, and when we hit 21. I was thrilled. I was happy for me, I was happy for kym.
Wednesday was actually a relaxing day. I got to the studio about noon. Had to get the costumes and everything on for rehearsal. I brought my computer with me so that during the hour or so down time we had, I could answer emails.
The energy of the day was exciting, with a little dread. Honestly, I didnt think I had to worry. But i knew that someone had to go, and that despite getting a 21, that there still were only 4 out of 12 with lower scores, so that it could be me. All day long and through most of the show, everyone was telling each other to be confident and to have fun.
Going out there on the stage as the different people were being "saved" to dance another week, and then people with lower scores were "saved" I realized that Kym and I might be in trouble.
It did not feel good to be standing up there having the lowest score for Tuesday night. It definitely hurt. I kept looking to my family as they struggled to smile and show their support. I definitely did not want to go home. I didnt want to go home for my dad, my brothers, my wife, my daughters. For every bit of work i put into the last few weeks. For everytime I went home struggling. They were there to pick me up. When I hurt , my wife let me slide on things. When I felt bad because I was leaving the house to go to practice, my daughter was there to encourage me and to cheer for me when I came home and showed her what I had learn. Thats what I was thinking about.
When they called out Josie's name. I honestly didnt hear it. I was looking at my family. My brother stood up and gave me the thumbs up and I realized that it was ok. We had survived another week. That set off another set of emotions. I was happy. I was mad. I was upset.
What had I done wrong ? Had i not worked hard enough ? Did people really not care enough about me to vote for me ? Its a weird, humbling experience. But its one I signed up for.
I have to take the bad with the good. Ive got to turn this into a positive. We are the underdogs. When I signed up, I knew that everyone thought i was going to be the one guy who couldnt dance. I think, and I hope I surprised a lot of people. The emails and calls of support I have gotten the last 2 days have been incredible.
Now everyone thinks we are the ones to go next week. Hopefully people will rally to support us. I know that Kym and I will be working harder than ever. We have practice scheduled for first thing tomorrow morning. We have a great Mambo routine worked out to a fun song. When I walk out there next week, I will probably have the same wave of emotions, and I am going to enjoy every minute of it.
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- Vote for Mark & Kym - 1 800 Vote411
You didnt really think i would miss out on the chance to pump up the votes for Kym and I did you ?
I'm up against all the pretty boys , athletes and entertainers tonight, but the vote counts for 50 pct of our total, so jump on board and vote for us !!
Am I nervous, absolutely. My knees aren't shaking, yet, but im guessing they may be come gametime.
As far as a hint for tonight, all i can tell you is that I couldn't get the lawnmower or sprinkler in tonights routine, but I did get "churn the butter" in. So when you see me pull it out, dont laugh too hard :). And since Jane Seymour is on the show (she is amazing), I promised I would try to get the Motorboat in a future routine as a tribute to her making it famous in The Wedding Crashers.
As you can probably tell, I'm having a blast with all of this. I can promise everyone that no one is having more fun than Kym and I. That Im going to be the guy with a big smile on his face, singing and dancing my way through tonight's show.
Tonight is important in many ways. Not only for my dancing future, but....
Hopefully, tonight will lead the way so that future generations of guys can walk into any wedding reception or nightclub knowing that Churn the Butter and in the future , the Sprinkler, Lawnmower and the Motorboat can bring joy and happiness to your wives and girlfriends. That they will finally be accepted as a proper dance routines they are. Maybe we can see Ballroom competitions for traditional guy dances ? "Now dancing the Sprinkler..."
Voting for Mark and Kym tonight and hopefully on future nights will be one small step towards bringing couples out of their chairs and on to the dancefloors where man and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend and any combination there of, can proudly do the dances that we guys excel at.
If you have made it this far.. thanks and Vote for Mark and Kym early and often and ask your friends to do the same ! hopefully you will have as good a time watching as I will be dancing
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- Lots of HDTV Channels, but No HD ?
There is nothing wrong with the new HDTV that you just spent a fortune on.
It's not yours' or the TV's fault that the picture quality you are seeing on your brand spanking new TV looks like crap compared to what you saw in the store.
It's not your fault that you signed up for and paid extra for the HD package from your video provider, got all excited about your favorite network and shows finally being in HD and then looking worse than it did on your old TV. Its not your fault because what far too many TV networks are trying to pass off as HD isnt really HD. Its not even close.
TV Networks are misleading consumers into thinking they are getting HD versions of their networks. Which leads to a simple question. What makes a TV Network HD ?
If a network calls itself an HD Network, does that make it an HD Network ? Or should the network be required to actually have content that is of high definition resolution ? And if they have HD Resolution content, how much should they actually have before they can call themselves HD ?
In the coming months cable, telco and satellite providers are gearing for a marketing battle over who has the most HD channels. Ads will be everywhere touting big name networks finally bringing HD versions to the masses.
Unfortunately for consumers, the schedules of many, if not most of those new channels will have less than 10pct of their content actually produced using HD cameras and shown at HD resolution. Few will have more than 3 hours a day of HD resolution content.
I think a lot of consumers are going to be very, very disappointed.
When you turn the channel to an HD network that you are paying for, shouldn't you have the right to expect to see content in full HD Resolution ? Of course. Unfortunately you won't. For many "HD" networks, you may go DAYS without seeing any real HD content.
That's not right.
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- All Publicity Isn't As Good As It Used To Be.
"All publicity is good publicity" It may have been true at some point, but it certainly is not true today. Nor will it be true forever more.
Instead, the motto has changed to "All Publicity is Abused Publicity"
The reality is that in todays ultra competitive chase to get your attention , if something you say or do is seen by more than 100 people, someone is going to attempt to re-purpose it to their own benefit or amusement.
In essence, the internet has put us all under a form of digital arrest.
"Everything we say or do, can and will be used for or against you on a website somewhere at some time, from now and ever-more"
There will be someone there with a camera phone to memorialize the mustard that dripped on your shirt from your hotdog and some website will use it to explain how the stress of "fill in the blank" is getting to you.
Someone will keep a picture from your 5th birthday party when your sister dressed you up as a Spice Girl. Your local newspaper will write an article saying how cute it was. Then some website or tv show, produced by someone who doesn't like you, will use it to try to convince their readers that you are gender confused and here is proof that it started at an early age
Silly examples for sure, but real.
The one thing the internet lacks that will forever change us all is Context. There is no way to retain context when you cut and paste. No matter the original intent of the words or pictures, anything on the net probably will find its way into situations for which they were never intended
Publicity, in fact all information used to have a shelf life. Newspapers were relegated to the hassles of microfiche. TV became a box or tape on a shelf somewhere. You could find it, but the cost in dollars and time were significant. Which of course reduced its use.
Thats no longer the case. Between the internet archives and search engines Everything is Everywhere. Forever.
The Net is a beautiful, wonderful utility but it certainly not an innocent medium.
The internet has put us in interesting times.Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
- Once you go Mac
I sold and bought my first PC a long, long time ago. Back in the late 80s I owned a Mac, I think it was a Mac2. I honestly thought there would never come a time where I would buy a Mac. Ever.
Then I upgraded my PC to Vista. What a disaster. I had grown accustomed to my PC freezing every now and then. Enter Vista and my PC was frozen more often than it was working. The biggest culprit was MicroSoft Outlook.
The application has to have a memory leak. I could follow memory numbers as they grew and grew. Then as my email was downloading, the rules would stop working and everything went straight to my inbox. Spam and all.
When you get as many emails as I do. Thats a problem. When it also causes the system to freeze, its more than just a problem.
My first step was to get a copy of CPU Magazine with Vista tricks. The tricks helped. Everything froze or crashed less often. Significantly less often. But the annoyance factor was beyond belief. I dont run any special applications. I run outlook, Office and firefox. Thats it.
I had gotten to the point where I was embarrassed to be a PC owner. The thought of someone calling me and asking me to go to my computer to find something was paralyzing (ok, not that bad, but it sounded cool writing it).
This wasnt just a problem on my Desktop, it was a problem on my laptop with Vista as well.
So a few months ago I made the executive decision to buy a MacBook to replace my laptop.
I haven't looked back.
Its not that there arent hassles with the Mac. There are two. One there isnt a version of Outlook for the Mac. As someone who has more than 10 years and gigabytes worth of emails in multiple outlook files, the concept of exporting and importing wont fly. So i am keeping my PC Desktop purely to download my emails into Outlook so I have a master database. But I only do so after deleting unimportant emails from the server using my Macbook.
The 2nd problem is the lack of the right mouse click. I know its a Mac thing to only have one button, but its a hassle. Sure there are work arounds, none of which are quick and easy for a longtime PC user.
Both of these are easily offset by 3 simple Mac elements that make me very happy.
First is that when I close my MacBook without turning it off, it doesn't lose power. It can sit there for hours and then work when I open it up.
The 2nd is that it rarely freezes up. Maybe 3 or 4 times in months.
Finally, i LOVE the fact that it boots up in 1/1000000000 of the time it takes my PC. It probably will add years to my life .. (ok an exaggeration).
Im not an Apple fanboy, but I love me some MacBook
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- What Can I Do to Help Those Who are Serving our Country ?
A couple years ago I got asked by the CBS Evening News to do an interview. They wanted to interview me just before a Mavs game and the reason I said yes (I saw no to 99.99pct of interview requests), is because they were curious as to what I was "saying" during the National Anthem before every game.
They had noticed that before every game I was "talking to myself" during the Anthem. On this day, September 11th, I decided to share some of what I say before every Mavs game, and on almost every day, and to also ask a question.
Here is what I say:
"Thank you to all those who have fought before and are fighting now to make this country great. I will never take my freedoms or opportunities for granted. Here is to .... then I go through a list of family members and thank them and hope that they and their children are healthy, happy and can always look up at a blue sky and be thankful for all we have." Then at Mavs games, I give thanks to all the players on the court , fans in the seats and hope that they stay healthy, happy and that the Mavs win. "
I dont ever want to take for granted what I have, what my family has and how fortunate we are.
Six years after September 11th, I wanted to also ask the question, what should we do for those who serve our country ?
Is The Fallen Patriot Fund enough ? Is it just about money ? Is it about politics ? Is it about time ? Are we as individual citizens just along for the ride ? Should we trust our elected officials and government to have the best interests of our servicepeople ? Is trusting the government in that capacity the wrong thing to do ?
Is generating discussion and inquiry a positive or a negative ? Should the marketplace of ideas, as it applies to the military and our government be expanded or contracted during a time of conflict and war ? Why is it that so many seem to speak so authoritatively when I have so many unanswered questions ?
I wonder how future generations will look back at these Post 9/11/2001 years. Will they see us as Enlightened ? Barbaric ? Confused ?
I get emails every single day from soldiers and their families. All give me a sense of pride that they would want to contact me. All make me sad that they are at risk and I dont fully understand why.
What should we as American citizens do to help, honor and serve those who are serving our country ?
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- Dancing with the Stars and the Meaning of Life
The first question every always ask me is "Why ?", Why would I do it ? The answer is simple.
Because I can.
It actually is more surprising to me that some people would even think twice if asked to participate on the show.
I'm the first to admit that I'm the luckiest guy in the world. I can honestly say I wake up every morning with a smile knowing what a wonderful family, friends and life I have. It's the exact same way I felt when I was broke.
Money makes so many things in life easier, but it can't buy you a positive outlook on life. Fortunately, how any of us approaches each of our days is completely up to us. It's not something you can buy or sell. It's not hard to put a smile on your face every day, but for some reason some people find it impossible to do. Not me.
The opportunity to do something unique that makes me smile is something I try not to pass up, Dancing with the Stars is just that.
It's not about how well I can dance. Its about the opportunity to compete at something I enjoy. Its about doing something that makes me smile every minute I'm doing it or even thinking about it.
Why am I competing on Dancing with the Stars ? Because its an opportunity to have a blast. Its a blast practicing. 2,3, 4 or more hours just blaze by is if its just minutes. Its hysterical what they are going to make me wear. Yesterday I felt like they had found Ricky Ricardos garage sale and bought up his clothes just for me. I'm going to be out there to win, but I promise you no one is going to be having a better time than me. I can promise you that.
When I'm 90 years old and talking to my grand kids and hopefully great grand kids, I won't be the grandparent who tells them about the things I wished I had done and how they should experience life, I will be the grandparent with tons of great stories that hopefully inspires them to live their lives to the fullest .
That's why I'm doing Dancing with the Stars,
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- Me and Bill OReilly
I got this question from Mr OReilly's producers
From: "Watters, Jesse" <Jesse.Watters@FOXNEWS.COM>
To: <Mark.Cuban@dallasmavs.com>
Cc: <mark@hd.net>
Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 13:14:55 -0400
Subject: o'reilly factor request
> Mr. Cuban,
>
> The Factor will be doing a segment this evening on Redacted...which, as
> you know, depicts US atrocities in Iraq. The director says the the
> depicted rape is "the reality" of what is happening in that country.
> Of all of the schools that are being built, the medical care being
> supplied, and the security that our soldiers have been providing to
> Iraqi neighborhoods...do you agree that a few random and horrific
> crimes represent the norm of what is going on in that newly liberated
> country? and what exactly was it about the film that made you want to
> produce it?
>
> Thanks
>
> Jesse Watters
> The O'Reilly Factor
> Fox News
> 212-301-3404
>
From: "Mark Cuban" <Mark.Cuban@dallasmavs.com> 
To: "Watters, Jesse" <Jesse.Watters@FOXNEWS.COM> Cc: mark@hd.net Date: 09/04/2007 12:55 PM Subject: Re: o'reilly factor request
No, it doesnt represent the norm and the movie doesnt say it represents
the norm. Seperate the self promotion of Brian Depalma from the movie. The
movie is fully pro Troops. The hero of the movie is a soldier who stands
up for what is right in the face of adversity.
Maybe Bill can attempt to be fair and balanced and actually see the movie
before he thinks he knows what he is talking about.
And this is one of many movies we produce. I actually have seen it and
think it is an amazing movie. But to answer your question, I didnt read
the script or know all that much about it before we greenlit it. As we do
with several big name directors, we give them carte blanche in producing
their movies.
And to pre empt some of the stupidity coming from bloggers, I am fully Pro
Troops, Pro America. I think that the concept that the enemy will see
these films and use it as motivation is total nonsense. We have no plans
of translating these movies to arabic or other middle eastern languages.
Nor will we provide batteries or electricity for them to watch bootleg
DVDs as some zealots have suggested online.
And no , I am not involved in Loose Change. No I didnt finance it. No I
didnt plan to have it translated to multiple languages as Mr Oreilly
claimed on air. His command of the facts is truly abysmal.
What other lies has Bill spread that I can dispel ?
Oh, as far as other movies we have distributed, we released Voices of
Iraq, a movie whose PR campaign was financed by Republicans right before
the 2004 election. You may have caught my comments about this very much
pro Iraq movie that "this is a movie everyone should see before the election"
And maybe Bill can do something that is truly fair and balanced and put in
a plug for WWW.fallenpatriotfund.org . A fund I started right after the
war started. We provide funding for soldiers in need. To date we have
given 2.5mm dollars in grants. 100pct of the money goes to the troops, not
a single penny is spent on overhead or expenses. I cover those myself.
Oh, and I dont know how bill feels about No End in Sight, but we
distributed that movie as well.
Thats my feedback for Mr Bill
m
I didnt forward what is below to them, but i couldnt resist adding it below, it is the commentary criticizing me for Voices of Iraq. Just to show im equally hated by zealots on both sides. And to answer the question of why we distribute or get involved with politically charged movies ? Because I am a zealot that truly believes what JFK said and that I quoted in my last blog post. To paraphase, "A country afraid of the marketplace of ideas is a country afraid of its people". Its really easy to hate, its really hard to think issues through on their own merits. Anything that makes people think about issues is a good thing. I don't take sides, Diversity of information makes for more informed perspective and decisions.
Which leads to my position on the Iraqi War. I hate that thousands of our troops have died. It sickens me to think of how their families must feel and every single day I wake up I say thank you to them, as I thank all those who have come before them for their sacrifices to make this country so great and to give me the opportunity to live the life I have and enjoy my family. I have never, nor will I ever take for granted the liberties we have in this country
That said, I don't agree or disagree with the war because I don't know enough. There isn't enough information available to me to take a position beyond hoping that it runs its course very very quickly and our troops return home safely as soon as it is viable.
And to anyone who has ever questioned my patriotism or love for this country, fuck you.
A Dubious Doc
By Eartha Melzer
Just before the election, a film about Iraq hit art house theaters around the country. Voices of Iraq claimed to be a groundbreaking film in which "150 DV cameras [are] distributed across Iraq for the Iraqi people to show the world who they are and what Iraq will be."
The results? People seem happy that Saddam is gone and optimistic that, if the United States stays in Iraq, democracy will prevail. They seem unafraid of bombs going off nearby. People say Saddam funded al Qaeda. Former Iraqi political prisoners are shown laughing off the stories of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib-what Arab man wouldn't want a female American soldier to play with his penis?
The film begins with shaky handheld footage but the production values increase dramatically as talk turns to the horrors perpetrated by Saddam Hussein-extended sequences of beatings and dismemberment obviously shot using a tripod not supplied by the producers of this film.
So how was this film made?
Voices of Iraq was promoted as a project in which "thousands of ordinary Iraqis become filmmakers" as the cameras are passed hand to hand and-amazingly-all returned to the filmmakers. But Archie Drury, the Gulf War vet and actor who went to Iraq with the cameras, told me that he actually shot some of the footage himself.
Drury also said that the Iraq Foundation was "extremely helpful" to him as he tried to figure out how to get around and who to give the cameras to. The foundation also supplied the torture footage.
The Iraq Foundation, based in Washington, is funded by the State Department and the National Endowment for Democracy.
Not surprisingly, Drury got uncommon access to Iraqis and Iraqi leaders favored by the U.S. government. Among the notables interviewed, but not identified, is Sharif Ali, the cousin of Iraq's last king. Drury also interviewed a Sheik Aku Bezei, a man he says was the most powerful tribal leader in Fallujah. On November 6, a Sheik Bezei was killed for collaborating with American forces.
Drury says that his commanding general from Desert Storm put him in touch with General Mattis, fighting in the Sunni Triangle, and General Amos of the Air Wing, and that he exchanged e-mails with these generals as he planned his trip.
In an interview in Movie Maker magazine, another of the film's producers, Martin Kunnert, said: "Getting a theatrical release for a documentary film is still rare. We lucked out in that our distributor, Magnolia Pictures, [which also put out Control Room and Capturing the Friedmans] was eager to get the film in theaters before the presidential election."
A call to Magnolia Pictures in New York was answered by a man who, lowering his voice when asked about Voices of Iraq, whispered, "Nobody here wanted to release this and we didn't do any of the promotion on it. [Mark] Cuban steamrolled us on this." (Cuban owns Magnolia Pictures, the Dallas Mavericks and much more.)
Jeff Riechert, the Magnolia Pictures contact for Voices of Iraq, said that while his company is technically distributing the film, Manning, Selvage & Lee (MS&L) is coordinating the publicity. MS&L has the public affairs contract for the U.S. Army. The firm's revamp of the Army's image with the reality TV-style "Army of One" ad campaign is credited with enabling the Army to meet its recruiting goals after a long slump. According to MS&L Managing Director Joe Gleason, he and his colleagues also deliver key targeted messages about the war in Iraq to specific constituencies.
Was the left-leaning art house crowd one of those constituencies? Is the government hiring documentary filmmakers to propagandize the U.S. population?
Nobody involved with the film is willing to say who initially put up the money for the film or how they ended up represented by the Army's PR firm.
On November 13, as Marines stormed Fallujah, the Marines' Birthday Ball in San Francisco honored Drury for his work on Voices of Iraq, for "going back and living up to the standard of a Marine."
Eartha MelzerPermalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
- Politics
I'm not a Republican. I'm not a Democrat. Although I like to tell people I'm a Libertarian, I'm really not. I'm unaffiliated with any political party. In fact I can't think of anything good that comes from political parties because they do just one thing, politics.
When I vote in any local or state election, I vote for the candidate who I think will do the least. Not the least of anything specific, just the least amount of everything. The perfect candidate for me would be one that would walk around kissing babies. I think we have enough state and federals. We have 200+ years of making local and state laws. That's enough.
When I vote in Presidential elections, I tend to vote for 3rd party candidates simply because anything that might prompt strength in a 3rd party could weaken the two main parties. Otherwise, I vote for the candidate that I think will do the least.
Here is why.
Take a look at domestic car manufacturers. How difficult is it going to be for them to regain the lead in their industry ? It won't be easy. Nor will it be easy to do in a mere 4 years. Now if its very difficult to pick the right person to turn around a major corporation, how difficult is it to pick the right President ? The car companies get to interview anyone they want. Voters typically only have choices presented to us based not on their abilities to lead or improve the country, but on their ability to get elected . And that's not a very big list.
The 2 major parties seem to put having their party in power over having the best possible person in that position. I haven't become a big fan of that approach.
Its not that the nominated candidates can't or won't be great Presidents, it's just that we don't really get our choice of the best candidates. But that's not the biggest issue. That's not why I vote for the candidate that does the least.
The reason is that the United States has gotten so big, in terms of population, diverse groups and economy, I just dint think ANYONE can truly set a course of action that is anything more than a guess.
It doesn't matter if its a Democrat or a Republican. It doesn't matter if its a social or economic program. Every President has his projects that he promotes and promises to implement. We see and hear all about it as its being discussed and voted on. If it passes, we see and hear about its initial implementation, but then it just becomes one more program in an awful big book of programs. Did you ever wonder how many programs have been implemented every 4 years ?
The same applies to laws. Its part of a platform. It becomes law at some point after election, then put in the legal system as one more law. I personally think we have too many laws.
Too many programs and too many laws. There are so many passed, that when something good happens in the economy, and thanks to good old American innovation something good usually does happen to the economy during every administration, that the administration gives credit to one of their programs for whatever good is occurring at the time
President Clinton took all the credit when the Internet Boom boosted the economy and let all the blame fall on President Bush when it collapsed. President Bush took all the credit as the economy grew and grew as interest rates fell, until sub prime undercut that growth. If the economy doesn't rebound from this sub prime mess, I'm sure he will pass the blame on to the next President. In reality, neither President really had anything to do with things going right or wrong. Its the American People stupid.
This isn't a criticism of either President, or any President, it's a reflection of what I believe, which is that when it comes to economic and social policy the best any candidate or President can do is guess. They turn to the smartest people they trust, ask them for advice on what to do and hope it works. That's not as big a problem when it comes to turning around or building the results of a corporation, that's a huge problem to me when it comes to our nation.
Since most policies are just guesses, I would rather they just do nothing. There is no question their hearts are in the right place and they want to do the right thing, but the reality is that every single program that is supposed to have a major impact on our country is nothing more than a guess.
What I would love to see is a candidate who says he/she is going to start removing laws and programs. Give me a candidate who's primary platform is to spend 4 years removing federal programs and laws. If it was a law or program worth anything the states or local municipalities will find much more creative ways to make them work.
I know its far easier said than done, but could it be any harder to remove an existing law or program than it would be to define, develop and implement another on top of what we already have in place ? Our government is so big, getting it to move in any direction is an incredibly difficult thing to do.
So if you want my vote in 2008, don't tell me what you are going to add, tell me what you are going to remove. Tell me how you are going to simplify the government. That's how you get my vote.
And although its not exactly in context, but i didnt know where else i could put it, I decided to post it here. This is one of my favorite all time Presidential quotes, but I'm not going to tell you who said it.
"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with
unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and
competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let
its people judge the truth and falsehood in an openmarket
is a nation that is afraid of its people."
And 1 more thing, because of the inevitable crazy comments that will come from the comment bombers from left and right websites, I reserve the right to turn off comments, quickly
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
- The Internet Is still Dead and Boring
I obviously hit a nerve with my last post. My index for quality of post has evolved to the number of "you suck", "broadcast.com sucks", "You got lucky", etc posts that are submitted but never confirmed. For this post it was off the charts. Good.
When people resort to personal comments. Its usually a good sign.
Among those I respect, there were a lot of great responses. Let me first say, my position on this has nothing to do with HDNet. I've not abandoned the net. In fact i have more than 100 RSS feeds and untold other sites Im involved with.
Ive been inundated with spam on Myspace. Used flicker. Used Digg for sourcing news and laughed at the unending ridiculousness of its posters. Used and posted to Youtube, Google Video, DailyMotion, Veoh, Flickr, Slideshare, used every bittorrent client, got bored with twitter after 7 minutes, signed up for other findme, find you, this is where I am, this is where you are, type app I could find, and the lists go on and on. I read techmeme, techcrunch, extremetech, and tons of other tech sites and I make a point to try every and any new site that seems the least bit plausible or interesting. I spend far far too much time on the net just to make sure I keep up and know whats going on.
Honestly, its just a bigger, more time consuming version on CompuServe Forums from back in the day (Find someone who participated in the OS/2 forums if you want to know about social networks). Only back then you didn't call People friends, they were just forum members.
I have a ton of Internet investments that you dont and wont know about.
i have loaded and used facebook apps and I have downloaded the API documentation and actually read it. I'm such an exciting guy, I downloaded Ruby on Rails and read the documentation as well. That's what Saturday Nights are for.
I have bought installed and integrated every imaginable wireless device in my house. I think its fun.
I have invested in and gotten involved with application development on Facebook. Had a serious discussion with Facebook about the revenue opportunities they could achieve if they would license their API for full scale commercial applications on other websites. For example, to me, it would be an interesting and potentially explosive business move for Yahoo to license the Facebook API for their Panama platform. I think the beauty of Facebook is that people for the first time have defined and opened up the "database of their lives". Which if integrated into an advertising platform like Panama would allow advertisers to truly personalize ads, rather than algorithmically present ads. To me it was an interesting conversation.
I think it could change the way advertising is handled on the net. Each user could have the option to publish certain fields/objects which could be replicated/peered to the licensees of the API and then integrated Into the ad serving application. When the user showed up on the licensee site, say Yahoo Finance, the ad server could present a contextual ad chosen based on the published objects within the context of the Yahoo content.
Its one of many good or bad ideas that are feasible because the net is the plain vanilla boring, never really changing platform that it is.
Guess what. When things go from exciting to stable and boring in the technology world, that's a good thing.
Call me a cynic. I feel the same way about Personal Computers. Faster processors dint do it for me. Installing Vista was a disaster till I read a copy of CPU magazine and used the OS mods they had in there to clean the junk up. Its sad but true that a 25 year old platform is more volatile than the Internet. It still takes so long to boot that for the first time since I had a Mac in 1990 I bought a Macbook and junked my Vista Laptop. My time is at a premium. The days of being concerned that if I bought a Mac there might be some apps that I could use but the wouldn't run on the Mac are long gone. Not because the Mac has an Intel processor, but because I cant really think of any new off the shelf software that I would get excited to buy.
Beyond Office and email, I spend a ton of time on the net. That boring platform that ain't gonna change and is dead in the excitement category.
What do I get excited about ?
I'm excited about Virtual Machines, as I have written before, and the changes and impact they could have on all of us. I get fired up about the continuing decline in flash and hard drive prices. Its amazing to me after all these years of watching drive prices fall that I can buy more than 500gigs of drive for under 100 bucks. That i can buy a 16gig flash drive for not much more. and it still pisses me off that i have to deal with file size limits that require me to manage my email files when I back them up.
And of course I'm excited about the HDTV space and whats happening there. Maybe some people dont think peoples media consumption patterns change when 70" HDTVs are installed in their homes, I do.
Which brings me to why I said that "The Net is Dead and Boring"
The best way to sum up how I feel about the excitement and opportunities on the net compared to the many other personal and corporate technology options out there is to use a Yogi Berra quote.
"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded"
When everyone is looking for gold in the same river, the best opportunities are somewhere else.
But hey, that's just me.Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
- The Internet is Dead and Boring
A lot of people are all up and upset about my comments that the Internet is dead and boring. Well guess what, it is. Every new technological, mechanical or intellectual breakthrough has its day, days, months and years. But they don't rule forever. That's the reality.
Every generation has its defining breakthrough. Cars, TV, Radio, Planes,highways, the wheel, the printing press, the list goes on forever. I'm sure in each generation to whom the invention was a breakthrough it may have been heretical to consider those inventions "dead and boring". The reality is that at some point they stop changing. They stop evolving. They become utilities or utilitarian and are taken for granted.
Some of you may not want to admit it, but that's exactly what the net has become. A utility. It has stopped evolving. Your Internet experience today is not much different than it was 5 years ago.
That's not to say the impact of the Internet on the entire planet hasn't been off the charts. It has been. It has changed the lives of billions of people and it will continue to be a utility to billions of people. Just like cars, TVs, Radio, Planes, Highways, you get the point.
Some people have tried to make the point that Web 2.0 is proof that the Internet is evolving. Actually it is the exact opposite. Web 2.0 is proof that the Internet has stopped evolving and stabilized as a platform. Its very very difficult to develop applications on a platform that is ever changing. Things stop working in that environment. Internet 1.0 wasn't the most stable development environment. To days Internet is stable specifically because its now boring.(easy to avoid browser and script differences excluded)
Applications like Myspace, Facebook, Youtube, etc were able to explode in popularity because they worked. No one had to worry about their ISP making a change and things not working. The days of walled gardens like AOL, Prodigy and others were gone. The days of always on connections were not only upon us, but in sufficient numbers at home, work and school, that the applications ran fast enough to hold our interest and compel us to participate. In other words, the Internet stabilized. Great software was developed to run on the software.
Just as a reminder to some, Myspace, Facebook, Youtube, etc are not "the Internet". They are software applications that run on the Internet. Just like MicroSoft Excel is a software application that runs on MicroSoft and Apple operating systems.
The days of the Internet creating explosively exciting ideas are dead. They are dead until bandwidth throughput to the home reaches far higher numbers than the vast majority of broadband users get today.
Few people's actual throughput to their homes have increased more than 5mbs in the past 5 years, and few people's throughput (if you dint understand the difference between throughput and the marketed downstream speeds your read from your ISP, you should) to their homes will increase more than 10mbs in the next 5 years. That's not enough to define a platform that allows really smart people to come up with groundbreaking ideas.
In fact, if you index the expected growth in bandwidth consumption by applications that are heavy LAST MILE bandwidth users (as opposed to the Internet backbone where there is plenty of bandwidth but consumers cant get to it) vs the actual increase in LAST MILE bandwidth available to the home, our net effective throughput to the home could decline over the next few years. The Internet is like a highway. There is plenty of room for everyone to go as fast as the throughput will let you go, that is until the traffic forces everyone to slow down.
For some reason a lot of people don't understand that concept.
So, let me repeat, The days of the Internet creating explosively exciting ideas are dead for the foreseeable future..
The Internet is boring. That is not a bad thing. In fact its easy to make the argument that its a great thing. That it has become the utility that the people who worked to get it started firmly believed it would. That it finally is the platform for any number of mundane applications that are easy to write and that anyone can use and trust.
Just like wheels, printing presses, cars, TV, radio, electricity, water.....
When we reach a pointPermalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
