California Story by Mark Stradley
November 9th, 2011
Video: Pioneers! O Pioneers! by Walt Whitman
A promise to California,
Or inland to the great pastoral Plains, and on to Puget sound and Oregon;
Sojourning east a while longer, soon I travel toward you, to remain,
to teach robust American love,
For I know very well that I and robust love belong among you,
inland, and along the Western sea;
For these States tend inland and toward the Western sea, and I will also.Walt Whitman – Leaves of Grass
California Story by Mark Stradley
October 3rd, 2011
The Peasant and the King of New Media
“And my entire business model is saying it’s not about me, it’s about you. It’s telling you that for the last 15 years the internet has developed to be the number one tool of what I think is going to be that which saves the United States of America, because it’s going to do an end run around ABC, CBS, NBC, New York Times, Washington Post, you name it, Politico, all of them.” – Andrew Breitbart
Andrew Breitbart’s Big Hollywood
Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government
Andrew Breitbart’s Big Journalism
Breitbart TV
Breitbart.com
Mighty Oak Trees
Andrew Breitbart is known as the King of New Media because of the undercover ACORN videos. Syndicated radio host Michael Savage called this “the biggest corruption scandal in 50 years, half a century in this country, I don’t know of a bigger one, you’d have to go back to the Teapot Dome scandal to come to something like this.” ACORN was defunded by congress as a result of this brand of Citizen Journalism.
Citizen Journalists James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles, who created the ACORN videos, met with great success because of what Breitbart called ACORNs ubiquity. That is to say, ACORN was so corrupt, you could point a camera in any direction and reveal it’s true nature. Of course, this success is tied to the internet.
Breitbart emphasizes the point:
“And my entire business model is saying it’s not about me, it’s about you. It’s telling you that for the last 15 years the internet has developed to be the number one tool of what I think is going to be that which saves the United States of America, because it’s going to do an end run around ABC, CBS, NBC, New York Times, Washington Post, you name it, Politico, all of them.”
The King has spoken.
The Peasant
Now, I was a Citizen Journalist before I had even heard the term. My local media had long pointed their cameras at good guys and called them bad and at bad guys and called them good. I felt I had no choice but to take my cameras, point them at the bad guys, and make every attempt to show people what they were really like. To show the public what the bad guys actually said, did and believed.
It didn’t take long for my efforts to be noticed by those who want to hide their agenda. Soon, these chameleons were marching downtown and to the congressman’s office, demanding that my very first video be taken down from Youtube. (You can follow this story as it unfolds here.)
Mark Stradley and Andrew Breitbart on the set of
“Courage, New Hampshire.”
So, when I met the King of New Media at Riley’s Farm, the first thing I mentioned was my video, and the story behind it. He seemed very interested and asked me to forward it to him. Consider the implications.
I was at Riley’s Farm that day to be an extra in episode 2 of the ongoing series, Courage, New Hampshire. Wardrobe outfitted me as a New England farmer (peasant) and Andrew Breitbart outfitted as the High Sheriff.
Below: Andrew Breitbart in his screen debut, Sons of Liberty, Episode 2 of Courage, NH.
James Patrick Riley and I on the set at Riley’s Farm
Culture War
“I want a Center-Right nation to fight for it’s soul, and it’s soul is represented in the arts, it’s soul is represented in a world in which media is everything. … I want the Right to enter the world to the extent, and invest in the media the way that the Left does.” ~ Andrew Breitbart – Hoover Institute Interview
The proposed 500 episode television series Courage, NH is the opening salvo in the Culture War launched from Colony Bay Productions. Colony Bay is headed up by Tea Party patriots Jonathan Wilson and James Patrick Riley. Their website describes them thus:
Colony Bay Productions is dedicated to telling the adventurous, heroic and exceptional story of America in a way that both challenges and inspires the audience. We’re a small group of professional filmmakers, writers, actors and editors who love the independent way of bringing the story to the public, and you can help us continue to do that by purchasing our stories and subscribing to our web “back stage.”
Below: Producer/Director Jonathan Wilson on Fox News.
Keep Your Day Job
Pressing matters require my attention, so I must finish this article in part 2.
This is the official opening day of my new website and it is incumbent upon me to solicit your contribution.
I sign off with this video of James Patrick Riley suggesting why you should buy a copy of Courage, New Hampshire.
On the set of Courage, New Hampshire, August 27th, 2011. A sign of things to come…
The Peasant and the King of New Media
California Story by Mark Stradley
October 3rd, 2011
A Native Son Recounts His Tale …
To begin my story I record that I was born in Southern California in the late 1950′s. But this California Story isn’t just about me. It’s about friends, family and those Californians who came before us and those who will follow.
“The flashing and golden pageant of California,
The sudden and gorgeous drama, the sunny and ample lands,
The long and varied stretch from Puget sound to Colorado south,
Lands bathed in sweeter, rarer, healthier air…” ~ Walt Whitman
My Brother and I amongst the California wild flowers….(Early 1960′s.)
Over time, here in this blog, in bits and pieces, one post at a time, I shall tell the California Story.
To give you some idea of the California I experienced as a young child, I present the following videos:
1950s
1955
1956
1960s
Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief.
~William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Keep up the good work!