On Making A Statement, Or, The Revolution Will Be Downloaded

We have been busy, these past two weeks...and we deserve a bit of a break before we get right back at it tomorrow...so to that end I have two “mini-stories” for you that will give you a chance to be ahead of the curve, to jump in on something new—and in one case, to help pull a major public prank.

Along the way, I have some “don’t miss” video for you to see—including a 1960s classic that is utterly and completely disconnected from politics in every way...but is still the perfect thing for a Monday.

And just to show what a help I can be, I’m even going to leave you with a story idea you can run with that has been almost entirely ignored by the larger media.

There are few filmmakers in American history who have impacted American politics as much as Michael Moore. Fahrenheit 9/11, Bowling For Columbine, and Sicko have all recently changed the political dynamic...much as “Roger and Me” did almost 20 years ago.

And this month, a new Michael Moore movie is to be released: ”Slacker Uprising”.

So with times as tough as they are, wouldn’t it be great if the movie was...oh, I don’t know...free?

Hey, America (and Canada...), guess what—it is.

For the first time ever a major studio film production will be premiered on the Internet...and it will be free...and to make it even better you can download the film, and keep the copy, pass it around, or whatever.

Our first “don’t miss video” is a 30 second commercial that was put together by the Campaign for America’s Future for the delegates attending the Republican Convention this past week. Katrina, the price of gas, the housing crisis...and that “Mission Accomplished” moment—all reprised to the tune of “Thanks for the Memories”.

I love this video—and you will too.

The movie will “drop” September 23rd; and you can go to the Slacker Uprising website to register for the download today. Come the 23rd, you go back, download a “full” version of the movie—and it’s all free.

Now if you want the “deluxe” package...the DVD is also for sale at the website...it’s $9.95...and it includes a presentation of “My Pet Goat” in case you need something to read the next time you want to re-create Presidential history.

Who loves the game “Grand Theft Auto”? Those who do will also love one of my favorite videos--Chuck D., Flavor Flav, and George W. Bush working together as though they were some sort of...Public Enemy...performing the song “Grand Theft Oil”.

It has a great beat, you can dance to it...and it excoriates the President.
What could be better?

I promised you a story heads-up, so here it is: while New Orleans might have survived the recent hurricane mostly unscathed, Baton Rouge is severely damaged. In fact, it could be three weeks before power is fully restored.

Go check this out...and get the stories rolling.
I can’t do them all, you know.

Now to close out today, I want to ask you to get involved in helping to advance a giant secret prank.

Giant secret prank, did you say?
Indeed I did.

Here’s the deal: I got an email the other day from my friends over at “The Yes Men”...and they are looking for donations because they are preparing another outrageous event.

Outrageous event?
Whatever do you mean?

Well, in the past they were involved in the formation of the Barbie Liberation Organization (the group swapped the voiceboxes from Barbies into GI Joes...and vice versa...and then placed the altered toys back on the shelves to be sold to unsuspecting customers).

They made Dow Chemical admit---very publicly—that they had no intention of compensating the victims of the Bhopal Disaster...and they did it by faking Dow’s admissions of guilt, announcing a fake compensation plan...on the BBC...along with the fake “requisite apology”...which forced Dow to announce that the Bhopal victims are getting nothing.

They also manage to get invited to conferences as representatives of the WTO from time to time (it all has to do with a confusing website they created back in the day...); proposing such things as “compassionate slavery” and the Halliburton SurvivaBall.

One of the greatest comedians ever: Buddy Hackett. Check out this video of Hackett, from the 1960s, explaining to Dean Martin how he found out his wife was pregnant. (She sent him for pizza pie...)

Retro-cool and absolutely hilarious, it is.

The clip has nothing to do with anything else in this story...and despite that, it could not fit into the context of the story more perfectly.

The last big prank for which The Yes Men raised funds had them (this time as fake representatives of Exxon/Mobil) proposing—at Canada’s largest annual energy conference--to use dead humans as an alternative energy source. During the event they handed out to the audience candles made from Vivolium, the new dead human fuel they had developed...and your donations paid for the candles.

Here’s the description from the email I received:

“Your donation [to this site] will make it possible for
us to print and distribute up to hundred thousand copies of, um,
something. We can't tell you what it is, but we can say it'll happen
well before the Presidential election, that it's fantastic and funny
and smart, and that it aims to change the discussion from just managing
the Iraq War, to ending it, with all that that would mean for the US as
well. Because this war has been a disaster not just for Iraq.

If you give us money (any amount is helpful), we'll make sure you get a
copy. And if you live in the New York area and would like to be part of
this action, please write newyork@theyesmen.org.”

So here’s your chance to get directly involved in...something...just in time to influence the election—and to have a lot of fun doing it.

Ever wish you had been a Merry Prankster?
40 years later, here’s your chance.

So that’s today’s story: there’s a free Michael Moore movie available in a few days...and there’s a fantastic opportunity to put the money you saved on movie tickets, jujubes, and popcorn to good use.

Having fun while doing good—who doesn’t love that idea?