Blogumentary [chuck olsen]

Minnesota Senate Recount Update

It's always nice to get featured on the YouTube after working on an UpTake video all night:

I spent all day at the Hennepin Country Elections Warehouse... "where good votes go to die." Kidding! It was interesting to see the very guts of the democratic process. We'll be posting raw video from recount locations at Record The Recount, starting with everything I shot on Day One in Minneapolis. Transparency, and all that jazz.

Below, my favorite image from the recount so far from MPR photographer and cool dude Bill Alkofer:

Here are my recount photos.

Followed by tiny red televisions

Photographer James Cooper, via rolu dsgn

ªrt_dªte_11_13_08

For #artdate, I made this video:

Ocean Brain from chuckumentary on Vimeo and YouTube.

Lorika made this currently-untitled painting:

I should think about MOBILE and BUBBLES

Both found at Fallon Planning

Time Out 4 Fun!

I'm gradually posting long forgotten vlog-era videos to the YouTubes. Here's one now.
Original uncensored version (with cock!) is on Vlog Deathmatch.

Another day making the sausage

Actually WHAT REALLY HAPPENED is my man Tom Elko headed down to a noontime presser at Coleman HQ in St. Paul.
FIGHT THE POWER I told him, later corrected to ACCESS THE POWER. This is how it turned out (predictably):

Yeah, we don't have much time for it either. I'm sure we're quite the joke down at the Coleman HQ. Heck, we're quite the joke down at The UpTake HQ. (Come to our fundraiser, for $100 we'll have you thrown out of a political event of your choosing!) Still, this was the third time we'd been kicked out and I wanted to do something. A bit too dramatic? A stunt? Maybe, but it felt right. I had a live "press conference" of my own, but I was muzzled.

I put up various messages like "The UpTake Muzzled - This could have been live Coleman coverage" while playing other clips of us getting kicked out, along with interview footage with Prof. Jane Kirtley saying that sort of behavior has not held up in the courts. I started editing more press freedom-related clips as I silently protested, and tossed them into rotation. It was sort of improv political theater protest - yeah, something as pretentious as that I'm afraid.

People noticed, though, which was the point. MNspeak, Greg Swan, Minnesota Independent, and Digital Journal – and a bunch of other cool people on the twitters and stuff – you guys rock and I kiss your butts hard.

“We’re part of this struggle to legitimize the future of journalism” + “What happens to one journalist happens to all journalists.”

Obama's Win = Racial unity among children

"Awesome picture of two kids at a rally and a poignant image of American history, one which marks the historic presidency of Barack Obama. "

read more | digg story

this is really what i'm going for

James Jean, congratulations! You are apparently extremely awesome.

By the way, did you hear everything in the known universe is moving at 2 million mph in the same direction, and that this phenomenon is called "dark flow"? Yeah. Now they tell us.

America says YES to Barry (!!!!?!)

Emma Flemming must've been dancing tonight.

Emma Flemming, who marched with Martin Luther King, is joyous on the day of Barack Obama's DNC acceptance speech. But, in this interview with Salimah Ebrahim, she says we'll only realize Dr. King's dream when we can see beyond party lines.

Here's a taste of the Obama-mania in Times Square. This is calm compared to Brooklyn and Harlem I hear.

Tune in to The Chuck Show for (?) !

That's right, friends – my friends – I will be streaming video live on election night
from CNN Grill at Time Warner Center in New York. They tell me "Internet reporter Abbi Tatton will do live hits (and possible blogger interviews) on CNN" and a very heavy programming presence for CNN.com Live. Live hits, do they mean she'll do drugs on-air?

If I can hear Abbi Tatton's English accent while I drink excessively on CNN's dime, America wins. A brighter tomorrow is just around the corner, especially since I'll have my kickass Obama doll and a surprise McCain creature doll.

My longtime friend and videoblog superhero / citizen journalist Steve Garfield will also be there, doing what he does best: Being Steve, on video, with the people. We have long threatened "The Chuck and Steve Show" (or was it The Steve and Chuck Show?) and oh yes, it will happen. Of course my massive ego filled up the entire logo I made, but I must keep up the cult of personality - you do understand?

Anyway, that's probably the very least interesting thing you can expect from The UpTake's live nationwide coverage. We've got vote chaser's in several hotspots and Noah Kunin is down in Chicago with Citizen Kate, Global Pundit Steve, and about 2 million hopefully-not-rioting revellers. Come fuckin' hang out with us!

(Disclaimer: Logo is a demonstration of the Logobama tool and not meant as an endorsement or any other connection by The UpTake. It's just me being silly, honest. Though I did already vote for "That One - shh.)