Good things come in three right?  Whoever designed these also thought so:

These pillows from Alexandra Ferguson are made using felt from 100% recycled water bottles.  Pick up some this three set for $190 or some of her other pillows here.

From SF Girl By Bay (see previous post).

I keep seeing buttons and stickers that say “Yes We Did,” which has caused me to ask the question in the title.

Most people have forgotten that Obama introduced his Yes We Can theme in his concession speech after losing in New Hampshire to Hilary Clinton. That’s why that speech is so incredible: he formed this mantra when he lost. It’s a sort of resurrection phrase. He gave that speech at a time when no one knew in what direction he would go. Before he introduced the phrase, people were chanting “We want change,” which got replaced with Yes We Can for, I believe, every speech that came after. It may be because of Will.I.Am, who turned the last portion of this speech into a music video/celebrity campaign ad, that Obama went on to win. 

The first part of this section does well to reveal what we’ve already done:

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation: Yes, we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail towards freedom through the darkest of nights: Yes, we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness: Yes, we can.

It was the call of workers who organized, women who reached for the ballot, a president who chose the moon as our new frontier, and a king who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the promised land: Yes, we can, to justice and equality.

We’ve sent a powerful message to the world that America remembers how far we’ve come and wants to continue in a direction of progress. As someone who has just lived outside the US, I know what a big deal this is (but I don’t think one needs to experience the outside to know this). When I sang in a cover band on Khao San Road, I’d have about thirty minutes or so after our 15 song set to wait for the bar owner to pay us. I spent this time talking to Farang, both ex-pats living in South East Asia and travelers, most of whom were not American. They loved to express to me their views of America. Farang love to talk politics, I realized, and this contrasted the Thai people’s respect for the idea that politics and religion should not be discussed. I found myself both apologizing for the Bush Administration and defending the US. Our band stopped playing before Obama started running in the primaries, so I wasn’t yet at a point when I could use him in our defense. If our band had played four or five months later, I know our conversations would be different. Most of the people I talked to were amazed that such a large portion of America did not stand behind the war and the Bush Administration.

It is probably because of these conversations, and my own deep convictions about the war and the American economy (which had already fell so much that I went to Bangkok for job security) that the prospect of an Obama presidency overwhelmed me with so much, yes, hope. So, the first thing we’ve done is allow the rest of the world to see the other side of America, a side more conscious and concerned about the rest of the world, a side less arrogant.

We’ve also, as my friend Lisa pointed out in her reaction to the election, cut through some of the cynicism that has built up from the last two elections. I know it has cut through mine, which was at its height when I worked in a department store stock room, four years ago, and witnessed the deflation of hope among those at the bottom of the economy. I saw how they voted and then gave up on America, some vowing to never vote again. I may have made the same vow.

We’ve elected a strong leader; an intelligent man who speaks well and demands respect, a man who graduated from Harvard Law and who has a sense of humor about himself. We’ve elected a practical man, who in his first press conference after the election, addressed the economy by assuring the American people that it was going to take a long time to fix. I don’t know if we’ve elected a leader who can reach across the aisle because he hasn’t had to reach across it yet—it’s hard to say if those who elected him were previously on the other side of the aisle, though maybe victories in Iowa, New Mexico, Virginia, and North Carolina attest to his ability to do that.

In the speech, Obama declared: We know the battle ahead will be long. But always remember that, no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.”

So that’s what we’ve done. We’ve formed the millions of voices calling for change; right now, that’s all we’ve done. But if we take a look at the rest of the speech,

Yes, we can, to opportunity and prosperity. Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can repair this world. Yes, we can.

And so, tomorrow, as we take the campaign south and west, as we learn that the struggles of the textile workers in Spartanburg are not so different than the plight of the dishwasher in Las Vegas, that the hopes of the little girl who goes to the crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of L.A., we will remember that there is something happening in America, that we are not as divided as our politics suggest, that we are one people, we are one nation.

There is another t-shirt/button that reads “Yes We Can, Yes We Did, Yes We Will.” I like this one more because it acknowledges the work we have to do. We’ve not yet healed this nation, nor have we yet healed the world. The plight of the textile workers, the dishwasher, and the girl who goes to the crumbling school still exists. Our politics are still split. We still need the last line of his speech: together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story, with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea: Yes, we can.

Alessandra Celentano ha la dote del colpo di coda. Ama stupire, come quando, dopo una carriera brillante sui palcoscenici di mezzo mondo, ha tentato di riciclarsi (con grande coerenza) come passaparolina. Però, ricordiamoci che la danza “vera” è quella dei Laghi-di-Cigno e delle punte-dritte-come-fusi. Infatti, come ben tutti sanno, Gerry Scotti recluta proprio su queste basi le sue “letterine”, tipo la Fabiani (che ora, coerentemente con gli assunti della sua carriera, fa i calendari porno-lesbo con Mascia Ferri) o la Lodo (che, coerentemente con gli assunti della sua carriera, è finita nell’inchiesta giudiziaria denominata “vallettopoli”).

Stavolta, la Celentano risponde all’improvvisato musical dei Bianchi (“Yes, I can”) con un video livoroso, che deve spiegare per l’ennesima volta un concetto che ormai è chiaro al mondo intero e che non serviva decisamente ripetere. E, mentre l’”I can” di Giulia e Susy era sembrato un’idea geniale, poetica e per niente cattiva, perfino emozionante, questa replica appare stantia, inutile, deprimente. Tutta quella serie di ballerini freddi e distaccati che fanno i professionisti affermati è parsa d’una noia mortale, come perfino i tentativi di fare il brillantone di Leon Cino, che, brillantemente poi, ha affermato che non può assolutamente credere che la sua presenza potesse servire a attaccare alle spalle i suoi maestri di un tempo, Garrison e Steve.

Ma, a parte questo qui pro quo, la Celentano canna sorprendentemente l’affondo, perché, mentre nel video dei ragazzi ci sono fior fior di professionisti di successo, chiamati alla bisogna dalla De Filippi, dalla sua parte c’è qualche ballerino di “Amici” e neppure tutti – tutti bravi nel loro ruolo, ma nessuna étoile, nessuna stella nascente, nessun talento da classica che ha calcato il palco della Scala. Quei tre-quattro signori, che si fanno grandi del riferimento (filmato) a Nurejev o alla Savignano, sono tutti ancora da inventare: successo? quello internazionale l’han visto col binocolo. Ballano ad “Amici”, con tutto il rispetto, non al Bolscioi. Una di loro, tra l’altro, non si fa neppure vedere sul palco, facendo la mera assistente (e di Steve, tra l’altro). Cosa abbia pensato nel momento in cui ha detto di sì alla Celentano, non è dato sapere. Probabilmente, era sotto barbiturici, o funghi allucinogeni.

Quella, però, che ci fa meno bella figura è quella prezzemolina di Carla Fracci. Nessuno la evoca per nome, intendiamoci. Sarebbe troppo anche per lei. La Celentano, con un fil di voce, esclama: “E naturalmente lei”, senza nominarla, e lei appare, chiusa sempre nel suo solito vestito da scena (facciamo una colletta per comprargliene uno nuovo), a lanciare lo slogan del vecchio che uccide il nuovo. Chissà se Anbeta Toromani, che ci teneva tanto a “esserci”, si ricorda di come venne trattata dalla Fracci in visita dalla De Filippi. Mentre la conduttrice cercava di farle vedere l’allieva, la Fracci non la degnava di uno sguardo e continuava a parlare di sé.

A vederla, però, ripetere stancamente, a distanza di anni, la sua “parte” in un programma così lontano dai suoi abituali palcoscenici, verrebbe di suggerirle, visti gli acciacchi dell’età, che forse, invece che “Yes, I will”, dovrebbe dire: “Yes, I would”.

Hillary Clinton is clearly being told she needs to give off more energy. In the last three weeks, especially as the race has gotten tight, Hillary has been working on trying to be “more exciting” because she is just screaming at the top of her lungs at this point. I mean it has gotten really bad.

Could it be more obvious? I mean how much more fake can it get?  Hilly Clint, let me tell you volume does not equal passion.  You can talk all you want about Barack Obama being “only” talk, but you are sure running around trying to catch his lightning in your bottle, aren’t you?  Speaking of plagiarism, anyone who has seen a Barack speech is familiar with his “Yes We Can” chant. Well, here is Hillary with “Yes We Will”.

Here’s Hillary Clinton’s “Yes We Will”

She gets to it right in the beginning…and it really doesn’t take off. Stay until the end when she screams herself hoarse. Yikes, that is just scary.

Of course, we’ve seen what happens when Barack says “Yes We Can”, musicians and celebrities put this together.

-Brock

A really awkward snapshot of desperation beginning at the 15-second mark…

Sorry darlin’, they ain’t buying it.