War of the Virals: My pro-Obama song battles McCain and Clinton videos on Youtube's main page. Cast your vote!

On Tuesday, our video "Si Se Puede Cambiar" was chosen by YouTube to represent Obama in their first ever "Trendsetter Tuesday". We're featured on their main page along with Hillary and McCain videos. We're still there. You can also find us at their Political Highlights page. Here's a link to their blog entry about it. Our video has been beating the opposition in both views and rating. Thanks for voting!
You can still rate us if you go directly to our page
 Incidentally one of the people who contacted me through youtube, offered to do a German translation of my song, and you can find that video here. Here are links to a Korean , version, another one in Vietnamese , in French , in Chinese and a multilingual version in eight languages.

Thanks to all the people volunteering to translate it into different languages and very special thanks to Captioned for Obama . You can contact them if you wish to translate my video or any Obama video into any other language.

Here's the multilingual one:



Here's the original posting of the video:


Thanks!

VIDEO: How would you react to blatant discrimination?

Here's an ABC video posted by Eric Byler a few days ago. ABC conducted an experiment on how people would react to public discrimination and bigotry. This is the result, shocking and even disgusting at times, when people endorsed such blatant attacks on civil rights and dignity, and even moving and profound as when the young woman stands for her friend or when the older man, father of a US soldier stood up for equality and decency. Brought tears to my eyes, please watch and share...

Texas, here we come! Sen. Cedillo and Si Se Puede Cambiar Artists to join forces for Obama

I'm pasting the United for Obama press release below:


8:40 AM - MEDIA ADVISORY: Obama Viral Video Artists Travel to Houston

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 28, 2008

OBAMA VIRAL VIDEO ARTISTS TRAVEL TO HOUSTON
Latino/Asian American Artists Behind "Si Se Puede Cambiar" Arrive Tomorrow

HOUSTON, TX – The artists behind the viral music video "Si Se Puede Cambiar" (Yes We Can Change) will fly to Houston, TX this weekend to volunteer for Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign. "Si Se Puede Cambiar" has now been posted to the internet with English, Vietnamese, and Korean subtitles, where it has been viewed more than 80,000 times in six days.

Singer/songwriter Andres Useche (30), an immigrant from Colombia whose father lives in Houston, will arrive in Texas on Saturday morning. He will volunteer on Latino outreach with California State Senator Gilbert Cedillo, who makes a cameo in Useche's video.

Useche said of his new hit song, "I felt disillusioned and powerless for many years as I watched our government fail us. But Obama's message awakened me. While volunteering for him, I experienced the spirit of renewed enthusiasm that has touched so many people, and this inspired me to write the song."

The opening words of the song — "For too long we have been sleeping, but we have been afraid to dream" — came to Useche while door-knocking in East Los Angeles with film director Eric Byler (36). The two began shooting the music video two days later on Super Tuesday, while Useche was still memorizing the lyrics. Byler, best known for South by Southwest award-winners CHARLOTTE SOMETIMES and AMERICANESE, said his favorite thing about the video is the volunteerism it captures. "We are a team that includes some talented artists, but more importantly we are a group of citizens who feel a responsibility to help move this country forward."

Byler and Annabel Park (39) fly to Houston on Friday morning from Baltimore, MD. Both are Asian American filmmakers who work closely with Latinos on the immigration issue. Park and Byler are co-directors of 9500 LIBERTY, an on-going series popular on YouTube documenting the politicization of the immigration issue in Northern Virginia. 9500 LIBERTY has generated 394,000 hits since October, including 132,000 for a video in which Park compares the Latino immigration experience to her own.

"The obstacles facing the Latino community today mirror my own immigration experience as a Korean American," said Park, who moved with her family to Houston at the age of nine. Tomorrow's return to Houston will be her first in two decades.

Park and Byler began their latest YouTube series, "United For Obama," on January 14th in Las Vegas, NV. The series chronicles road-trips, canvassing, and in-language phone calls (over 20,000 to Virginia from cities around the nation) on behalf of Sen. Obama. The videos include such celebrities as Kal Penn, Kelly Hu, Kerry Washington, and Tatyana Ali. But their most popular video by far is Useche's moving ballad.

Useche joined "United For Obama" after coming across their videos on the internet. "The internet has been a crucial component in this movement, and in our case in particular," Park said. "YouTube and Facebook have allowed us to collaborate with volunteers from around the country."

United for Obama's "Si Se Puede (cambiar)" Press Release

By Eric Byler

For Immediate Release
February 25, 2008

LATINO, ASIAN ARTISTS UNITE FOR OBAMA VIRAL VIDEO
***Spanish Language Obama Video Goes Viral With Mainstream Audience

LOS ANGELES, CA -- A pro-Obama music video intended for
Spanish-speaking voters in Texas has caught fire with a mainstream
on-line audiences across America, racking up over 56,000 hits in less
than three days, primarily from English speakers.

"Si Se Puede Cambiar" (Yes We Can Change)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ky8Hvq-F0U

"For too long we have been sleeping, but we have been afraid to
dream." So begins the Spanish language song "Si Se Puede Cambiar"
(Yes We Can Change) by Andres Useche (30), an immigrant from Colombia
living in Los Angeles. The song's emotional arc expresses Useche's
despair over the failures of the Bush administration, and the feeling
of empowerment and civic responsibility inspired by Senator Barack
Obama's candidacy.

"The lyrics were thoughts that have been growing within me, and I'm
sure, many others," explained Useche, who is fluent in both English
and Spanish. "Volunteering for this campaign focused my thoughts into
words that came out in a matter of hours."

The video was produced by "United For Obama," a team of Asian American
and Latino volunteers who have organized road-trips, canvassing, and
in-language phone calls (over 20,000 to Virginia from cities around
the nation) on behalf of Sen. Obama. Shot in five different states,
the video documents a wave of boots-on-the-ground volunteerism spurred
by its producers, Eric Byler (36) and Annabel Park (39), both Asian
American filmmaker/activists who work closely with Latinos on the
immigration issue. A swish-pan dissolve links Useche's Latino
outreach in East Los Angeles with Park's Korean American outreach in
Northern Virginia. The video was also shot in Maryland, New York,
and Nevada and features brief cameos by Asian American celebrities
Kelly Hu (X-Men 2), Kal Penn (Harold and Kumar), and Ken Leung (The
Sopranos).

"We don't want our communities to be the last to embrace this
movement," said Byler, a mixed race Chinese American best known for
the indie hit Charlotte Sometimes. "For various cultural reasons, we
probably will be the last statistically. But every person we bring
into the process is precious to us and precious to America, so this is
a precious time."

The video was co-directed and edited by Chinese American filmmaker
Warren Fu (32), who, like Useche, connected with Byler and Park
through YouTube. Fu, who directs music videos for such bands as The
Strokes, sent a YouTube message to YouTube.com/UnitedForObama after
seeing a video featuring actress Hu. Park responded suggesting he
edit the video being shot by Byler and Useche.

Fu points to unity across ethnic lines as an essential goal in his
artistic and political life. "We're Asian Americans collaborating
with Latino Americans with the goal of electing an African American
President," he said. "That in itself speaks volumes about the power
of this movement."

Webcastr CEO Tim Devine promised to promote the video sight unseen
based on a chance encounter with Useche. "I recognized his passion
for what he was doing, which I knew would show through to our Webcastr
viewers in the video he made," he said. Thanks to English subtitles,
the video received more than 19,000 hits on webcastr.com over the
weekend, and more than 36,000 on YouTube (despite the fact the video
sharing website was inoperative most of Sunday). The largest number
of hits were from English language websites like DailyKos.com.

"Although our target was Latino voters, it's exciting to see so many
English speakers embracing the message and sharing the video with
friends," Park said.

Si Se Puede Cambiar Launch report

Hi everyone and thank you so much your support for our music video! Thanks for the messages and comments on Youtube. It's very inspiring to connect with so many that like us believe in Barack Obama's quest to stop this war, claim the government for the people, not the corporations, fight discrimination of all kinds, offer better opportunity to the underprivileged and engage with the world in a more humane and honest way.

Obama wins ten states in a row

It was a good night. I was working on the editing of the music video for my pro-Obama song Si Se Puede with Eric (Byler, director of Charlotte Sometimes)and remotely with Warren Fu (who's up in San Francisco also working on the new Indiana Jones film) when we heard the fantastic news that Obama was the projected winner in Wisconsin and then Hawaii, and the margins just kept growing after that. What a night.I'm tired now but we hope to have a final cut on our music video by tomorrow night.
In the meantime here is two clips to celebrate.