One of my favorite scenes from any movie is the last scene in “The American President.” It’s amazing because even though that movie was made 15 years ago, the message rings so true today. Take this quote from Michael Douglas (it’s at about the 2:23 mark in the video clip):

“We have serious problems to solve and we need serious people to solve them and whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only – making you afraid of it and telling you who’s to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections.”

Now watch this latest ad from Ben Quayle:

Besides being for lower taxes and decreased spending, he doesn’t say a single thing that he’d actually do if elected. The ads spends two seconds on what he’s actually for and the other 29 seconds telling you who to be afraid of in this election. Are we really that short on leadership that we have to entertain electing the candidate that makes us fear something the most?

To be fair, I’ve seen Democratic nominees do this as well. How about dedicating air time to explaining how you’d solve problems instead of who’s to blame for them?

We’ve been hearing so much in the news in recent days about a string of teen suicides in the U.S. – some because of cyber-bullying, some because of sexual orientation. No matter the reason, children killing themselves is not OK. With that on my mind, I was struck by this piece about a class in South Korea where young people are learning about the process of dying in order to better appreciate how to live.

Maybe they’re onto something…

Dying To Live from Matthew Allard on Vimeo.

While I was disappointed in the folks at Sesame Street for pulling Katy Perry’s appearance, they have sort of redeemed themselves with this parody of the Old Spice ads. I wonder if someone, somewhere will find something offensive about this spot.

I found this short film today and I was pretty touched. It’s a story about a 4 year old named Jacob with Down Syndrome and his journey through his first teeball season. As a father, I find my myself connecting more and more with these types of stories. I guess at the end of the day we all want the same things for our children: happiness, love, acceptance, etc. I think this story really captures that.

October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month. You can check out the Jacob’s Turn web site to learn more about his story.

We all remember the “Evolution of Dance” video that was so popular on YouTube years ago. This week, Jimmy Fallon teamed up with guest, Justin Timberlake and his house band, The Roots, to turn out “A History of Rap.”

Apple unveiled “Ping” today during Steve Jobs fall announcement in San Francisco. Ping marks Apple’s foray into the world of social media using iTunes as it’s shell. But, instead of continuing their journey of innovation and improving the customer experience, Apple has jumped the shark with a “me too” copycat version of Facebook.

I posted a 140-character version of this rant on Facebook this morning and got the attention of Amy Vernon. She posted the following:

I thought about what fired me up so much about this Ping announcement and I recorded my thoughts below. It’s very stream of consciousness, but I think you get the idea.

What do you think? Will you use Ping, or will you stick to Facebook and Twitter? Please leave a comment below.

The Onion News Network never fails to make me smile.

In The Know: Are Tests Biased Against Students Who Don’t Give A Shit?

It’s not often that the tables get turned on me and I find myself on the receiving end of an interview. While I was in New York, CT Moore caught me at a weak moment and got me talking about my views on the latest trends in social media. He was gracious enough to edit the segment to cut out my babble and make me sound somewhat intelligent.

Am I right in my thinking? How do you view what’s happening in social media – especially Twitter’s latest foray into advertising?

I’m a huge fan of Tosh.0. I think the writing is really sharp and most of the time it’s just laugh-out-loud funny. If you haven’t seen it, please accept this teaser as my Wednesday gift to you.

Seriously, how did I miss this? I nearly spit out my coffee. The rebuttal video is just as funny. Unfortunately, Best Buy didn’t think so and they nearly fired the person that created it – even though he never mentions Best Buy anywhere in the video. It’s too bad companies can’t have a sense of humor once in a while. And for the record, I love my iPhone 4.

Update: While Best Buy didn’t share Brian Maupin’s sense of humor, it appears that Paramount Pictures does. Nicely done Brian!