Bryce Zabel's FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH

Smalls Steps & Giant Leaps: Moonwalk Memories

Bryce Zabel is the editor of "For What It's Worth" and "Movie Smackdown," a Hollywood writer-producer, former chairman of the TV Academy and ex-frycook.

Although nothing can probably touch the media frenzy over the death of Michael Jackson this year, we are still about to experience the mass coverage of the 40th anniversary of the original moonwalkers. Back on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin kicked up their own moon dust when they became the first human beings ever to walk (or bounce) on the Earth's Moon. The world is probably evenly divided now between those who were alive when the Eagle landed in the Sea of Tranquility and those who weren't. I was. It was unforgettable, but not necessarily for the reasons you might think. As with 9/11, JFK's assassination, and the deaths of John Lennon and now Jackson, our memories of these super-events are colored by where we were when they happened, what was going on in our own lives, and how we felt about the actual events. 

Where were you?

For me, July 20 remains an important day -- not solely for the awe and accomplishment of the technological and spiritual acheivement of the moon landing -- but equally for the extreme personal impact it had on my young life. 

Let's roll the time machine back four decades. It was 40-years-ago that Neil Armstrong made that little jump off the ladder from the lunar lander: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."  The ghostly TV transmission had people glued to their sets around the world, blowing past barriers of nationalism and politics. And, up in the Pacific Northwest, it was also exactly 40-years-ago that I was fired from my first job. I have since been fired again, laid off, cancelled, and otherwise unemployed in a variety of ways, shapes and sizes and, as someone with great depth of experience in this area, I can tell you that Cat Stevens was correct when he wrote that oft-recorded song, "The First Cut Is the Deepest."

If you remember The Wonder Years (that great TV series set in the 1960s starring Fred Savage), it'll help you appreciate the tone of what will follow. If you're too young to recall the 60s (when the series was set) or the 80s (when the series was filmed), then you'll have to settle for this shorthand. The series told the story of Kevin, a kid growing up during the time of Vietnam, hippies, civil rights and moon walks, all told with a gentle sense of humor. So, in this story, I'm Kevin. And Kevin's dad (Dan Lauria) had a gruff son-of-a-bitch exterior, always was pissed off, and never connected with his kids. Like my dad, Harvey, who was a high school teacher in Hillsboro, Oregon at the time. It had something to do with his being a part of the "Greatest Generation," having lived through the Great Depression and World War II. Like a lot of guys who had that experience, he was changed by it. It seems so much more understandable to me now than it did when I was a kid.

Anyway, back then, I was the youngest fry-cook in all of Washington County, having scammed my way into a job at the Arctic Circle Drive-In before I was strictly employment legal, I think, based on the fact that my older brother Alan had paved the way. It was a sweet deal -- I was making a full $1.35 an hour, up from my starting wage of $1.10 a year before. Do the math, that added up to a whole $10.80 a day and, if overtime was involved, man, that was serious bread. Of course, those burgers only cost nineteen cents, a quarter for a cheeseburger.

The boss was a tough immigrant -- a Basque from Spain -- named Mariano Bilbao and he was living (or working) the American dream.  Work, work, work and, if you did that, life would be easier for your kids.  His kid was just a baby, and Mariano was in full pay-the-dues mode to get ahead in time for his kid to have the good life he dreamed of.

When the schedule for the week of July 20 got posted, I got a sinking feeling because I had the night shift and, if all went according to plan, Neil Armstrong was going to be moon-walking while I was slinging burgers.  At the time, I was very into the whole moon landing, even more (if possible) than the rest of the country.  I'd actually tried to mimick a Gemini capsule with a refrigerator box a few years earlier in our basement until my mom made me come up and eat dinner. Plus, Harvey, being an American history teacher, made sure we all knew that history didn't come in any bigger size than this.

So I asked Mariano if I could trade shifts with someone.   No.  Maybe we could have a TV in the kitchen so we could watch with every other person within ten miles of a TV?  No.  A radio then, just to listen to hear in real time how it went?  No.

Resigned to missing it all, I accepted my fate, strapped on my apron, and went to work.  Being the boss, even Mariano was at home, of course, watching the moon-walk with his wife.  Back at the grill, I was going insane because there was almost no business because everyone else in town was home watching TV.  About thirty minutes before Armstrong was scheduled to set foot on the lunar surface, I snapped.  I called my dad and told him I wanted to come home to see the moon walk.  Would he come pick me up?

There was a long pause.  I waited on the other end of the phone, knowing that The Lecture was coming. About responsibility, about sticking with your decisions, about not screwing up.  Instead, he said, "You know you'll be fired?" 

I said I knew. I waited again. Surely The Lecture was coming now. Another beat. "I'll be right down."

So my Dad drove down to the Arctic Circle Drive-In on Baseline Street in a moment of high drama in my young life.  We went back home, gathered with the rest of the family around the TV set, held our breath with everyone else and watched Armstrong's ghostly image from the moon.  It was the most exciting TV I had ever seen.  Better than the Beatles on Ed Sullivan kind of TV, if you want to know the truth.  Part of the attraction was the danger.  These guys might die on live TV.  Or they might sink into moon dust and never be heard from again.  You never knew.  

When it was over, dad said we had to go back to the restaurant and I had to face the music.  I had done the crime, now I had to do the time.  As I returned, it was clear that my co-workers had given me up to Mariano, who was there waiting for me and, man, was he pissed.  He was a short guy with a fiery temper and his face was as red as I'd ever seen it.

Mariano fired me that night, as predicted.  My dad told him he was missing a great worker and he was a small-minded man to not understand the importance of what was happening, and how this event had changed the world for everyone.  Even teenage fry-cooks.

All I know is that my dad had never stood up for me quite like that before and never quite like that after.  I remember July 20, 1969 as clearly today for turning in my greasy apron as I do for Armstrong and Aldrin doing the moonwalk.  And I remember July 20 because it was also the day that my dad passed away back in 2001.

So -- that giant leap for mankind -- for me, it isn't about where I was when it happened -- but all about where I wasn't.

For those of you who experienced your own "Moonwalk Memory," please do leave your own personal stories in our comment section. Thanks!

Giving Peace a Chance: Between Shalom and Salaam

If you live anywhere near Santa Barbara and you care about bringing peace to the Middle East, I'd like to invite you to come visit us at the 2009 Israeli-Palestinian Film Festival.

Hi, I'm Lauren Zabel, the Head Chair of the Event.

This year's festival is being held between Monday, May 4 and Thursday May 14.  We have a collection of films that are guaranteed to expand your horizons, make you think and see the world with just a little more perspective.  We open with "Waltz with Bashir" but keep the momentum going with 11 more truly impactful films.

Please feel free to visit our website for details.

Or you can download a PDF of our flyer.

We hope you'll think of us as an organization worthy of your support.  We're student run and we appreciate whatever you can do but mostly we'd like you to come see one or more of these films.

UCSB's very own Israeli Palestinian Film Festival grew out of a tiny film club that met weekly to watch and discuss the latest and classics of Israeli cinema. Looking for a way to dive into the societies of Israel, beyond the news and the surface facts, was the main purpose for many of the club's initial members. Many had a solid understanding of Israeli history and current events, while many others were completely new to the culture and just looking for an approachable angle.

Whatever the cause, the club spawned a similar chapter when founder Herschel Colbert arrived in Santa Barbara. While not the film major or film buff he is often thought to be, Herschel took a liking to the window into daily life that films can bring and the healthy environment that UCSB fosters for debate and the Middle East. He wanted to show fellow students "the real Israel" that he lived in, not the one spoken of by both news media and university professors.

Israeli Palestinian Film Club joined forces with several on-campus organizations and departments in Spring quarter 2007 to bring to UCSB the world's first and only festival dedicated to both Israeli and Palestinian cinema. The first festival spanned an entire quarter and had highlights of the composer and ensemble of the film West Bank Story and a powerful visit by director Eytan Fox and his film Walk on Water. Now planned and run by a student committee, the festival enters its third year and we are determined to make it even better.

We are now a collaboration between the following groups: American Students for Israel, Amnesty International, Lebanese Club, The Muslim Student Association, Persian Student Group, Santa Barbara Hillel, Students for Justice in Palestine and Students for Understanding the Middle East.

We're not going to lecture you, though.  We're going to give you a film experience that you're just not going to have in a multiplex.

Hope to see you in Santa Barbara.  Our site has directions and more information.  Come early on film days and enjoy the wonderful ambience of Santa Barbara.  Springtime is truly spectacular in our wonderful town and campus.

"Chasing a Dream" on Hallmark Channel

You know hard it must be to run a four-minute mile?  Now imagine doing it when you're still in high school, nobody supports you doing it and track isn't your sport in the first place.

That's the scenario we've set up for Cam Stiles in our Hallmark Channel film, "Chasing a Dream" which airs this Saturday at 9pm (8pm in Central time).  It's about a high school senior who runs a "sub-four" when nobody thinks he can or should, but he does it anyway.  It stars Treat Williams as the reluctant father/coach and Andrew Lawrence as the obsessed athlete/son.

 

Jackie and I wrote it originally as a project I would direct as an indie film but the WGA strike intervened and we sold it instead.  So, with the caveat that we wrote it, but did not direct, cast or produce it, we still think it came out as a very decent piece of family entertainment.

Here's a great article from Runner's World, written by long-time editor (and Boston Marathon winner) Amby Burfoot.  It includes the text of an interview he conducted this month with both Jackie and me and shows incredible respect for writers.  Go, Amby!

Here's another bit of coverage from Track and Field News.  This has a good bit of background on the mile race, and the four-minute-mile record.

Here's the Hallmark URL with a newly cut trailer.

Here's a look at the promotional video from the film.

Sub-fours in high school actually happened a few times in the 60s, then not again until Alan Webb did it in 2001, and not since then.  Over many years and incarnations, "Chasing a Dream" evolved from "Sub-Four" to "Finish Line" to "Miles from Nowhere" to its final Hallmark title.  One thing that always stayed the same was that the original runner was named John Van Horn in tribute to Bryce's close high school friend who died at the age of 18 in a car crash but is still remembered and missed.

Finally, because things always change (sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse) from "the page to the stage," here's a draft of our original screenplay, when it was known by its original title, "MILES FROM NOWHERE."

Download MILES-Zabel

For fun, if any of your runners would like to vote in our Movie Smackdown! poll pitting "Prefontaine" against "Without Limits," then CLICK HERE.

DOOMSDAY: The World's Worst Day Ever

Writer/producer Bryce Zabel edits both "For What It's Worth" and "Movie Smackdown!"

Would you like a reason to wake up and smell the coffee, to stop and smell the roses and to tell the people you love that you do?  I've got one word for you:  DINOSAURS.

These poor creatures were cruising along, pretty much dominating the planet like we do today, only they were on a 162-million year streak compared to our paltry length of existence.  Then, one day, out of the blue came a killer that changed everything... forever... practically overnight.

This Thursday night(Feb 26) on Animal Planet at 9pm you can see for yourself when my two-parter on the extinction of the dinosaurs begins.  It's called "Doomsday Falling" and it's probably the hottest episode so far in the very good "Animal Armageddon" series.

Since last May, I've been working as a consulting producer and lead writer on this series about mass extinctions. It's been like going back to college and having to take all the courses I dodged the first time around, plus a few I probably couldn't even spell properly. In terms of being a mind-boggling head-trip, it's been both a treat and a brain puzzle. I don't say this about every project I work on but this one has truly changed the way I look at the world.

Although all the episodes in this eight-part miniseries are excellent if you only catch two of them, they should be the ones on February 26 ("Doomsday") and March 5 ("Panic in the Sky"). Let's just put it this way. The comet or asteroid that hit the Earth 65-million years ago was about the size of Mt. Everest. It was traveling at about five miles per second. When it hit in the waters near what's now the Yucatan, the energy it released was the equivalent of all the nuclear weapons that have ever existed, exploded at the same time, exploded in the same place (are you ready for this?) TIMES 10-thousand. Yeah, it was a big one. Part one deals with the first 24 hours or, as I called them in my script, the Worst Day on Earth Ever. Part two deals with the first year. By the end of it, the Dinosaurs were pretty much gone.

A Career Ahead at the Harvard Lampoon?

EDITOR'S NOTE: This essay was submitted to Harvard by Carlmont High School senior Zack Reynard and actually got him an interview. Yeah, we'll keep you posted...

I am the single greatest student ever to apply to Harvard.

 

I am by far the smartest person I know.

                                            

I have scored perfectly on every test I have ever taken.

 

By the age of nine I had conducted four symphonies, written seven novels, and earned twelve PhD’s. 

 

By the age of ten I had confirmed Einstein’s theory of relativity, disproved the Big Bang Theory, and discovered the true reason that the dinosaurs went extinct.

 

My Nobel Prize collection takes up three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a large garage.

 

If it is true that the universe is constantly expanding, it is most likely to fit the wondrous entity that is my mind.

 

I have memorized pi in its entirety.

 

I am fluent in Spanish, French, Latin, Mandarin, Italian, German, Icelandic, Slovenian and many languages most are not even aware exist.

 

The rate at which I learn is so fast that I will possess infinite knowledge by the time you are finished reading this essay.

"Animal Armageddon" on Animal Planet

Have you ever actually thought about mass extinction? You know, those times when damn near everything dies and lots of species simply go away forever? It's been on my mind a lot, for almost a year now.

Since last May, I've been working as a consulting producer and lead writer on "Animal Armageddon," a series for Animal Planet about mass extinctions. It's been like going back to college and having to take all the courses I dodged the first time around, plus a few I probably couldn't even spell properly. In terms of being a mind-boggling head-trip, it's been both a treat and a brain puzzle. I don't say this about every project I work on but this one has truly changed the way I look at the world.

"Animal Armageddon" is an eight-part miniseries that begins airing this Thursday, February 12 with a show about the first mass extinction, the Ordivician ("Death Rays"). The first four episodes are scheduled to air between now and the first week of March, and the final four will air sometime this summer.

One thing I can tell you is that if you only catch two of them, they should be the ones on February 26 ("Doomsday") and March 5 ("Panic in the Sky"). That's a two-parter dealing with the death of the Dinosaurs. Let's just put it this way. The comet or asteroid that hit the Earth 65-million years ago was about the size of Mt. Everest. It was traveling at about five miles per second. When it hit in the waters near what's now the Yucatan, the energy it released was the equivalent of all the nuclear weapons that have ever existed, exploded at the same time, exploded in the same place (are you ready for this?) TIMES 10-thousand. Yeah, it was a big one. Part one deals with the first 24 hours or, as I called them in my script, the Worst Day on Earth Ever. Part two deals with the first year. By the end of it, the Dinosaurs were pretty much gone.

More on DARK SKIES

To fans of the NBC series that aired in 1996-1997, I have some good news and some bad news.

The bad news is that it's been a very, very frustrating year trying to get the DVD (or Blu-ray) release of those 20 hours of TV. As many of you know, SONY was set to release it last year, changed their minds at the last possible moment, told fellow creator Brent Friedman and myself that if we could find a DVD company to release it they would help facilitate it.  Well, we found three.  They liked the idea, the series concept and the fact that plenty of fans still want to see it released.  Each time we got cautiously optimistic.

All of them, when it came time to budget the project, however, backed out when they realized the sheer amount of period music that we had incorporated into the series and factored in the cost of licensing against what they perceived as the upside of sales.  To have so many people saying "We love this project but we're not going to take it on" was heartbreaking and frustrating.

Brent and I aren't ready to say that's the end of it, but it's the end of the beginning.  We're probably more disappointed than any fan out there.  We're very sorry to report this.

The good news is that Frank Garcia and Mark Phillips are out with Science Fiction Television Series, 1990-2004 and it includes an excellent amount of material on DARK SKIES.  Both Brent and I talked to Frank extensively.  This is a highly recommended book for any science fiction fan.  Here's an excerpt:

Dark Skies came to light when two of Hollywood's most experienced producers met for the first time and sat down, ruminating for their next project. The discussion turned to the UFO phenomenon and that's when the electrical charge they generated became a neon sign. "It just came to us — what if we fused the two greatest conspiracies of all time together?" says executive producer and co-creator Bryce Zabel.  "We came up with the Unified Field Theory of conspiracy — who killed JFK and why, and whether Roswell was a real event or not. The essence of the series is that John Kennedy was assassinated because he was going to tell the truth about UFOs in his second term."

"I told Bryce about a very credible Washington insider I knew who had told me there was intelligent, extraterrestrial life here on Earth," says supervising producer and co-creator Brent Friedman. "That sparked some conversations about Roswell and the possibility it really occurred. And if it did, how could events like JFK's assassination, Watergate, Vietnam, etc. — how could those events have any meaning historically unless they were somehow tied to the alien truth."

With the basis of the series firing up their imaginations, Zabel and Friedman went to work. The first task at hand was to shape the "series pitch" proposal into an unconventional form to generate interest, and provoke the network executives receiving it, to immediately pick up the phone and say the words, "We're interested!"

"We started creating an ultra-classified briefing book that was meant for high-level top secret people that basically told them about the UFO cover-up and how it all happened and made the case that, in 1994 and 1995, the government was going to have to come clean and tell people what was going on," explains Zabel. "And the best way to get the public prepared for it was to do a television series about the truth, so that they could see it as fiction at the beginning and later come to understand the truth. So we were already mixing reality and non-reality in a way that I think was pretty fascinating. We did this whole briefing book before we showed it to anybody."

Here's the link to the authors' site where you can read more about the book and even order it.  Or, if you prefer, here's the link to the book on Amazon.

Frank and Mark have worked very hard to sweat the details in this book.  Check it out.  

Meantime, we'll keep thinking about how to get the DVD released.

The Hollywood Cookbook: The Gift That Keeps on Giving!

Looking for a modestly priced gift for a special friend?  Want it to make them think of you over and over?  Would you like it to help make the world a better place. Well, that would be The Hollywood Cookbook. Every copy of it sends $5 straight off to a group of twenty charities, hand-chosen by each of the participating celebrities. It was just written up in this week's TV Guide article "The Goods: Gifts That Give Back." They ask the question: "Doing some last-minute holiday shopping? Consider a present that will make everyone happy."

If you click on the above image, it'll take you straight to the Amazon page where you can order the "Gourmand Award" edition of The Hollywood Cookbook.

If you want to really get into it, see the celebs and the recipes, etc., click here for a great website that has all things Hollywood Cookbook.  

Getting Smacked Around Good

A good film review ought to be as entertaining as the film that inspired it. 

That's the 'high concept' behind our  Movie Smackdown! site -- a whole new format in film reviews.  While For What It's Worth takes a short Thanksgiving holiday, we want to introduce you what's going on over at www.moviesmackdown.com.

Others have tried adding a bell here and a whistle there to sizzle things up in movie criticism.  First there were stars.  You got a lot or a little.  Then there were thumbs.  They were up or down.  Old School.  One note.

We're talking film reviews that have winners and losers.

That's right.  Film review as a contact sport.

Movie Smackdown! gives readers the suspense and drama of authentic film-on-film competition.  It's based on the way people watch and talk about movies these days.

We constantly compare films we've just seen with other films, right?  We'll have passionate arguments about which was better.  Sometimes, disappointed, we'll even wonder if we should have stayed home -- saved the parking and popcorn -- and watched a new Blu-ray.

Like any blockbuster, Movie Smackdown! has a "high concept."  Ours is as clean and simple as this:

Two Films -- One Review -- No Holds Barred!

Each review is a two-fer:  usually a film that's out in the theaters goes in the ring with a competitive film that's easily seen on DVD.  They each share something, anything from a theme to a director.

Every review or "Smack" breaks down like a real fight into these sections:

• THE SMACKDOWN. This section explains why the two films are being put in competition against each other.
• THE CHALLENGER. This is our newest film, the one that has just been released in theaters or on DVD or, in the case of a classic, the most recent film.
• THE DEFENDING CHAMPION. The classic film that the first film is compared to is our champion.
• THE SCORECARD. This is the section where we compare each film's strengths and/or weaknesses.
• THE DECISION. We don't allow ties. We always declare a winner.

Times have been tough lately for the mainstream media's newspaper critics.  They've been losing jobs at the same pace as the auto industry.  The problem seems to be that people don't feel they need an established critic to tell them how to feel about a film and, if they do, they'll probably ask a trusted friend or look at a favorite blog or check out the official film site.  Like so many other things today, consumers have options.

But the disconnect between audience and reviewer must be more complicated than that.  After all, why would a piece of media content that talks about movies when people are going to movies as much as ever be unpopular? 

My opinion's that film reviews, as they're done in print and on-air, are predictable.  It's like a high school essay.  Explain what the film's about, tell why you liked it or didn't, and conclude.  My high schooler's writing one now for his film class.  Been there, done that.

So we think it goes back to format.  The ways that reviews have always worked has gotten old and stale and hasn't kept up with today's audiences. 

Our way of doing things takes into account the burgeoning home viewing market and the competitive frenzy that chasing box office has created.  Then it presents itself in a breezy and fun format (film-on-film competition) that is, in its own right, a piece of entertainment.

MOVIE SMACKDOWN! will, hopefully, become more than a blog.  It was conceived to be a versatile concept that can be expressed in a cross-platform way.  It's both written and visual, and it's something that works as a blog, a TV series, mobile content and regular entertainment column.  That's the vision for it.  The end of 2008 wraps up a planned three-year "proof-of-concept" stage where ideas and forms have been tested and developed, low-risk, on this blog.   

FROM THE EDITOR:  Bryce Zabel

MOVIE SMACKDOWN! started as a one man effort and has grown to where we now feature the work of 17 different "SmackRefs" (as we like to call them).

Our SmackRefs are a diverse group of voices, men and women, old and young, in the biz and not.  Everybody writes in the same format, but you'd be surprised how versatile it is and open to creative riffs. Besides Bryce, three other strong voices can be found regularly on this site these days:  Mark Sanchez, Sherry Coben and Beau DeMayo. 

We also hear from a dozen others: Jay Amicarella, Scott Baradell, Stephen Bell, Randal Cohen, Sarah Harding, Sloane Hayes Skala, Bob Nowotny, Joe Rassulo, Lak Rana, Lorianne Tibbets, Tyger Torrez, Jonathan Zabel and Lauren Zabel. You can read about all our SmackRefs on The Critics bio page and finds links to their specific work.

There's also a vibrant visual style, all over the site and within the reviews themselves.  Designer Nancy Tokos of Tokos Design Associates is responsible for the incredible banners we've tried on so far.  These days we're going with Nancy's take on the pop-art look. 

You'll also notice that each film we review also comes with a captioned photo.  We call these our Movie Smackdown "Comix."  Armed only with an iMac, some Comic Life Magiq software and a serious authority issue, we take common publicity stills and present them in a way that you can't get anywhere else.  Then we also collect them on a special iWeb created-site where you can download them to send them around to friends (they're protected as "fair use" because of their critical commentary) and where they're collected in "albums" that can play as a pretty cool slide-show.  You really should check this out.  Because it's graphic intensive and we offer these photos in high quality, these pages load a little more slowly than, say, the blog, but we think they're worth the few seconds wait.

We've done over 300 reviews (or "Smacks") so far.  There's a Google Search box in the right sidebar that indexes only the Movie Smackdown! site.  Type in the name of a film you're interested and you might find we've already taken a crack at it.  Please write your own comments, too.  We like the feedback and, frankly, we might be wrong in our decision(s), so fire away.

You'll also find a number of polls where you can make your own decision on a Smack, especially on some of the newer reviews.  Many of these polls have hundreds of responses already.  Some of them are more lop-sided than you'd think and a few of them are nearly dead even.

Responding to that point-of-view, in 2008, AMC even named Movie Smackdown! its "Site of the Week."  They responded to our tone that we try to shed a little light but not take things too seriously either.

Movie Smackdown also happens to be a registered service mark with the U.S. government.  Accept no substitutes!

Over on the left side-bar at the top, you'll find two ways to get MOVIE SMACKDOWN! on feeds.  Come join us!

Let the million or so other film critics out there do it the old fashioned way -- one movie at a time. We’ll do it the new way.

Two films for the price of one!

Mr. Obama Goes to Washington

EDITOR'S NOTE, ELECTION DAY-AFTER 2008.

It feels like a movie, this rise of Barack Obama. 

Besides its compelling lead actor, this blockbuster has had plot twists, villains, conflict, a heroic journey, incredible stakes and a great ending.  These are all, as it is, also elements expected to be in any film or TV pitch I might make out here in Hollywood.  Dramatically speaking, this one has it all.

So far this year, I've voted for him twice, supported his campaign financially, gone to a rally, and even worked on "Ready to Believe," a professionally-produced song that's been well-received everywhere from YouTube to iTunes.  Mostly, though, I've followed the campaign like a member of an audience glued to an on-screen spectacle. 

President-elect Barack Obama's journey has felt like an epic film, but the way it's sucked us into caring about a character in a show where anything can happen, it's really played more like a TV series.  But there hasn't been a reality show created that could match this one.

No matter who you voted for yesterday, a President Barack Obama promises to continue as a compelling chapter in American history. 

I was born on the exact day the Supreme Court issued Brown -vs- the Board of Education.  My father taught American history and was shamed by having to explain our country's shortcomings in civil rights.  As a kid, I actually remember seeing news coverage of people having dogs and water hoses set on them because they wanted basic dignity.  To see this change in my lifetime -- from the awful images from the south to this man of progress chosen to lead us -- is a profound thing. 

There's so much hard work ahead, but right now a black man just proved that anybody CAN grow up to be president.  That's good for our country and it's good for our citizens, especially our kids.  And, coming back from Europe just two days ago, I believe the support Obama receives from world leaders will help with leading on the global financial mess and getting them to kick in more troops in Afghanistan.

You see: the Barack Obama movie not only has done incredible domestic box office, but it's about to play just as successfully in global markets.

The United States of America, for a few years anyway, has a brand to equal Coke and McDonald's on the world stage.  The President of the United States of America, Barack Obama.

In the fall of 2007, before the first primaries, I first wrote about Barack Obama on the FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH blog.  I just re-read it today and thought it was worth the re-post.  Here it is then, as it was:

The world has probably not been holding its collective breath waiting to find out who the FWIW blog will throw its weight behind in the presidential campaign. We have yet to serve our billionth daily reader, Tim Russert stubbornly refuses to quote us on "Meet the Press," and the campaigns have apparently missed the opportunity to bookmark us on their browsers. Even so, I've been watching the presidential campaign from the sidelines long-enough, and it seems like the right time to get in the game.

I just logged on to the official campaign website and gave a donation to Barack Obama. There are some good candidates I can support if Obama does not get the Democratic nomination but he's my first choice by a mile.

I just can't get behind a George H.W. Bush - Bill Clinton - George W. Bush - Hillary Clinton narrative for America. We try to raise kids to believe that anyone can grow up to be president, and that sends the message that the truth is something else. I just don't buy the "experience" argument anyway. I'm looking for good judgment, character and the ability to make effective decisions by listening to people with different viewpoints and then doing what you think is best, often before all the facts can be known. I'm looking for someone who can then explain those decisions to us in a way that increases our solidarity as a country and not put more distance between us.

President Barack Obama will send a message to the world that America is a new, more hopeful place. It will send a message to Americans that the racial divisions which have plagued our country can begin to truly heal. Hopefully, by being on the ticket, even the election can be about something besides red state-blue state distrust and acrimony. We need a clean break from the past.

The election of Obama, however, won't simply be a message. He's a bright thinker and he brings people together. We've been looking for someone to embody the spirit of John Kennedy for as long as I've been an adult. That's Barack Obama. There is no other candidate in this race for whom that comparison is even possible.

Like John Kennedy having to deal with issues like missiles in Cuba, history won't let Obama simply be the man who opposed the use of force in Iraq but will throw other challenges at him. He will have his own thorny issues to deal with, notably Islamic extremism directed at the U.S., but there will probably be a few we don't even see coming now. From what I can see, he'll be a cool head in the White House and I trust him to make the call for me.

I hope his journey across America during this campaign will allow him to transcend the boxes people want to put him in, and allow him to grow into a leader who will represent all of us.

Anyway, we all know this campaign can't be about who's got the best collection of issue statements and legislative agendas and plans. For me, it's about - "Who do you trust?"

I trust Barack Obama and, for what it's worth, I'd ask you to consider doing the same. Thanks.

FINAL NOTE:  "Ready to Believe" is the title of the rock-anthem I co-wrote the lyrics to that was recorded by LA alt.rocker Cherish Alexander and released a few days before the California primary (while I was on strike for the WGA, no less).  This song has been well-received everywhere from YouTube where it's had over 100,000 plays to iTunes where you can get a quality MP3 of it.  But, because you read to the end of this, you can also get a free copy by clicking here.