Jim Messina

On Tuesday night, President Obama delivered his third State of the Union address, laying out a blueprint for an America that’s built to last—where everyone gets a fair shake and does their fair share.

What’s at stake between now and November couldn’t be clearer. We’re fighting for a future that rewards hard work and responsibility, not recklessness, and where everyone has an opportunity to get ahead if they try.

If those are the kind of values you want to see in this country, too, add your name to say you’re standing with the President today.

- Jim Messina, Campaign Manager at Obama for America

In a nutshell, last night’s State of the Union address by President Barack Obama took up the populist banner and told Republicans “Game on!” For months we’ve endured the Republican primary, as would-be GOP contenders talk trash (much of it untrue) about the Obama administration, so it’s nice to hear a rational response.

He’s been a little busy, but now that we’re officially in an election year, we can expect to see a little more of the “Campaigner-in-Chief”. In his speech, Obama took on the deadbeat Congress with a consistent refrain: put a bill on my desk, and I will sign it. He also addressed his proposed “Buffett Rule” which would require millionaires to pay at least 30% in taxes. “Now, you can call this class warfare all you want,” the president said. “But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense.”

Whether the Republicans nominate Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney, they already know they face a formidable opponent. Try as they may to paint him as out of touch, Obama’s message is much more in tune with the sentiments of the American public. People intrinsically understand that in a fair America, people like Romney would pay taxes at a higher rate than 15%. Americans understand that failed conservative policies helped get us into this mess, and it will take a real progressive leader like Barack Obama to set us back on track.

All of our favorite stars and Hollywood’s elite will be in attendance to find out which films were voted best of 2011.

In an incredibly indecisive move by the Academy, nine films are now vying for the top honor of the night, the award for Best Picture.

Best Picture Nominees

• The Artist
• The Descendants
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
• The Help
• Hugo
• Midnight in Paris
• Moneyball
• The Tree of Life
• War Horse

The Obama campaign has released its first political ad of 2012 – “The Facts About President Obama’s Energy Record“. The ad credits Obama with reducing our dependence on foreign oil and rapidly expanding jobs in the clean energy industry, as well as toughening ethics rules. It also cites fact-checkers who say attacks on Obama are “not tethered to the facts” and are funded by “secretive oil billionaires”.

This is gearing up to be an incredibly important presidential election season. If you want to join 1.3 million Americans who have donated to Obama’s campaign so far, contribute today. The president needs grassroots supporters like you to beat the GOP in November – can you help?

In case you missed what they were protesting, here’s a quick rundown. Congress is  currently considering two pieces of legislation: H.R. 3261, also known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and its companion in the Senate, S. 968, or the Protect IP Act (PIPA). These laws would give the U.S. government unprecedented control over the internet. (Unless you include China, North Korea and Iran as precedents.) Watch the video below for a summary of why these bills are so dangerous to the internet as we know it.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Sites each participated in the protest in their own ways. Google, for instance, censored their signature logo on their home page and linked to a petition that spread like wildfire across social channels like Facebook and Twitter. Wikipedia took it a step further and actually “blacked out” all of its English content (except for articles on censorship, SOPA, and PIPA) in an attempt to demonstrate what the web would look like without access to the user-generated online encyclopedia.

It’s really mind-boggling to me that Congress can’t see past their special interests on this issue. Anyone with half a brain would oppose SOPA and PIPA. These awful acts would completely rock the landscape of the internet today, and had they been in place in previous years, some of the most important websites of today may have never even existed.

It’s heartening, though, to see the internet rise up against these bills with a unified voice. I haven’t seen my Facebook or Twitter timelines this singularly focused in a very long time. It seems that everywhere I turned online, people were talking about SOPA and PIPA. I was also receiving texts and emails about it, and ever overheard multiple tables discussing the bills when out to dinner last night.

Amid today’s web blackout, the legislation began losing key congressional support. With historically low approval ratings, I’m not surprised that SOPA’s former supporters are buckling their knees for overwhelming public opinion. Even Texas’ very own Sen. John Cornyn appeared to withdraw his support of the bill when he took to Facebook to argue that PIPA needed “a more thoughtful, deliberative process” and should not be rammed through the Senate.

Still supporting the bill? Aside from its hypocritical author, Texas Republican Rep. Lamar Smith, its other biggest proponent has been Chris “Bought and Paid For” Dodd, former U.S. senator from Connecticut and current CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Dodd used to be a well-respected legislator, but now he’s little more than a corporate shill and a sad reminder that the Democrats are still beholden to Hollywood’s deep pockets.

If you’re against online censorship, please take action. The protests mean nothing if we don’t call Congress and let them know what we think. Please take a few minutes to contact your representative and senators and let them know you’re a constituent who opposes SOPA and PIPA.

Arcade Fire has released the new video for “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” from their Grammy-winning album The Suburbs. The clip stars band member Régine Chassagne. Also be sure to check out the interactive video at Sprawl2.com.

In case you missed it, home improvement giant Lowe’s has found itself in hot water over its decision to pull advertising from the TLC reality show “All-American Muslim“, which depicts American Muslim families living in Dearborn, Mich.

Lowe’s and other advertisers faced pressure from right-wing bigots to stop buying commercial slots on the show. The Florida Family Association, a hate group based out of Tampa Bay, targeted Lowe’s along with several other major companies like McDonald’s, Bank of America, and Walmart.

Unfortunately for the hardware chain, Lowe’s put itself in the middle of a culture war by pulling the advertisements. These extreme groups are upset about “All-American Muslim” because it shows Muslims leading normal American lives. Many of the people depicted on the show were born in the United States. (They are actually angry because it doesn’t depict any Islamic extremists, which gives the wrong message, i.e. “not all Muslims are terrorists“.) The show offers a rare look into the lives of people facing unique struggles and is actually a wonderful learning opportunity. Islamaphobia has defined the terms of the debate for too long, and it’s the perfect time for a show like this one. A reality show, of course, cannot fully or accurately speak for the Muslim population in America, but it can at least help to foster some positive, healthy conversation about a misunderstood and oft-maligned group of people. Instead, we are continuing with a hate-filled debate led by Christian extremists. Whatever happened to rational thought?

Lowe’s certainly has the right to choose where it puts its advertising dollars. But its cowardly move to pull ads for this particular show has angered a lot of consumers who may think twice about where they shop the next time they need paint or tools. Over 30,000 people have signed an online petition urging the brands involved to reinstate or keep their ads airing on the TLC show. Rap mogul Russell Simmons was so upset by the move that he bought up remaining advertising for the timeslot, and has now begun calls for the CEO’s resignation.

Meanwhile, TLC stands behind its new program and some speculate that the spotlight put on the show because of the Lowe’s decision may actually help boost its ratings.

Lady Gaga (channelling her male alter-ego Jo Calderone) presented Brit with the Video Vanguard Award, saying “She taught us all how to be fearless, and the industry wouldn’t be the same without her.”

For the past week, I’ve been using Tweetbot for iPhone for all of my mobile tweeting. After hearing some buzz about Tweetbot, I was definitely intrigued. Was there something out there better than the lackluster, establishment-approved Twitter for iPhone née Tweetie?

Don’t get me wrong. Twitter’s official app isn’t bad. But Tweetbot is better.

I was hooked as soon as I saw the slick, albeit robotic interface. It’s just a beautiful app. The look and feel of it is perfect. (Because of this impeccable design, I was inspired to research the other Tapbots apps for iPhone, and ended up purchasing Convertbot and Weightbot. Like Tweetbot, they are equally stunning and resourceful!)

Like with most Twitter apps, you pull down to refresh, but unique to this app is the ability to change out your timeline to any of your Twitter lists. Finally, you can customize your Twitter experience by tuning in to specific circles of people right on your iPhone. Even if you don’t already utilize Twitter’s list feature, now is the perfect time to start. For instance, you may want to make a list of tweeps that make you laugh. Then, when you’re waiting in line and want a chuckle, load up Tweetbot and scroll through your laugh list exclusively, tuning out the rest of the noise in your feed. It’s brilliant!

Another fantastic feature of Tweetbot is the ability to contextualize tweets with their corresponding conversations. When looking at a tweet, you can swipe to the left to see the conversation the tweet’s replying to. Swipe to the right and you will see all of the replies to the tweet. This makes it super simple to be a part of the conversation by helping you understand what tweets mean in context. I find myself using these features quite often. Sometimes, it’s also fun to check the replies of a celebrity’s tweet. People tweet them the most hilarious things!

One downfall of Tweetbot is the lack of native push notifications. The developers are still working on a cost-effective solution to the issue, but in the meantime suggest using Boxcar. Yes, it is a separate app, but it syncs right up with Tweetbot and it’s free. Oh, and you can choose a “Bird” tone, so that when someone tweets you, your phone literally tweets.

Tweetbot does cost a couple of bucks, so do your homework and be sure you’re ready to take the plunge before purchasing. I, for one, don’t see myself going back to the official Twitter app anytime soon. Tweetbot is a simple, outstanding app and I can only see it getting better with future updates.

Tweetbot is available for $1.99 on the App Store.

Win Butler - Arcade Fire

Was last night the best night of my life? That’s certainly a possibility. Spending a beautiful Saturday evening with Win Butler, Régine Chassagne and the rest of Arcade Fire was definitely a good decision on my part. I’ve been wanting and needing to see these Grammy winners live for so long, and after streaming their amazingly jaw-dropping Coachella set live on YouTube I knew I just had to be at their Dallas show. There was simply no excuse in my mind not to be there.

Arriving at the venue a little early, my friend and fellow concert-goer Cat and I got to see the latter part of opening act Okkervil River, which was quite good. I’ve been spinning their song “Unless It’s Kicks” in my iTunes lately, so I was glad to see them play that song at the end of their set. Those guys were good live, and apparently a special treat for the Dallas audience. It was also a treat for the band, who doesn’t normally play to such large audiences. (Instead of Okkervil River, The National has joined Arcade Fire on previous dates.)

The feature presentation, though, was the real treat. Arcade Fire is a phenomenal band. Everything about them is spectacular. Why am I not in this band? I want to be surrounded by them at all times. They ooze magic and music and everything I love. (I would be friends with Will and help him play crazy ass percussion during every song. And then we’d have cereal.)

I couldn’t have asked for more. They played a good selection from all three of their albums. I was elated that they played so many songs from Funeral, which is still my favorite Arcade Fire album despite the mind-blowingness of last year’s The Suburbs. The most beautiful part of the whole night was undoubtedly the encore, which included songs from both of those albums: “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” sung by the immaculate Régine, complete with streamers and a bit of rhythmic dance; and to close the show, the inimitable and ever-recognizable “Wake Up” during which the audience sung along with gusto.

Arcade Fire perform "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" in Dallas - April 30, 2011

There’s really nothing like being at an Arcade Fire show. I completely recommend that you check these guys out if you get the chance. There’s just nothing like watching a band that truly loves to perform. I would venture to say that the songs are better performed than they are recorded. The experience really comes to life on stage and you can begin to understand the songs in their natural element. Arcade Fire wrote these songs to play them for us, and I’m happy to listen.

The purchase begs the question: is Apple launching a cloud-based music service? Sources say yes, which could be huge news for music fans in the near future.

When I think of “The Cloud”, I think of an Internet of the future type scenario where everything that I would like to store online is at my fingertips no matter where I am in the world. For a long time now, I’ve wished my iTunes library were accessible in this way. Could Apple be launching a product that would allow us to stream our iTunes libraries from any computer, anywhere? Would the record companies allow it? Read more…