Super windy road in Marin County, in the mountains north of San Francisco

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Beastie Boys at McCarren Park Pool 08.09.07 - First show ever in Brooklyn

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The craziest ride in Coney Island

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Congratulations, Mr. President.



-Lyrics-

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ........... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --

Yes. We. Can.

Guest appearances -

will.i.am - 0:01
Scarlett Johansson - 0:05
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - 0:21
Common - 0:23
John Legend - 0:32
Bryan Greenberg (guitar) - 0:37
Kate Walsh - 0:44
Tatyana Ali - 0:44
Harold Perrineau, Jr. - 0:49
Aisha Tyler - 1:01
Samuel Page - 1:03
Enrique Murciano - 1:07 "Si, podemos" - 1:17
Maya Rubin - 1:08 "כן אנו יכולים (Qen Annu Yecholim)" (Hebrew)
Esthero - 1:10
Eric Balfour - 1:23
Nicole Scherzinger - 1:30
Taryn Manning - 1:40
Amber Valletta - 1:52
Auden McCaw (in Valetta's arms) - 1:52
Kelly Hu - 1:52
Adam Rodríguez - 1:56 "Sí se puede"
Eric Christian Olsen - 2:02
Sarah Wright - 2:02
Shoshannah Stern (American Sign Language) - 2:05
Ed Kowalczyk (guitar) - 2:19
Fonzworth Bentley (violin) - 2:38
Amaury Nolasco - 3:24
Hill Harper - 3:27
Nick Cannon - 3:36
Herbie Hancock (piano) - 3:41
Johnathon Schaech - 3:45
Austin Nichols - 3:50
Tracee Ellis Ross - 4:00
Fred Goldring (guitar) - 4:03
Anson Mount
Alfonso Ribeiro
Cliff Collins
Vera Farmiga

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This is the most impressive fight sequence I have ever seen that contains no edits. From the movie "The Protector", featuring Tony Jaa (of Ong Bak fame), this stedicam shot lasts over 3 min. I wonder how many times it took to get this shot right! Simply amazing!

After watching the behind the scenes extras on the DVD, here is some additional info that filmmakers and martial arts film fans may appreciate:

The director calls this "the most dangerous long take scene ever." A 4 minute stedicam shot featuring a variety of martial arts.

The crew spent over 1 month preparing and choreographing before they were able to get a perfect shot. When it came time to shoot, they could only do 2 takes per day because of the set repairing and prop replacement that needed to be done. It took 5 takes to get it right. A foreign cameraman was needed because the stedicam mount was built for american / european operators who are typically much larger than asian operators.

The foreign operator they hired could only do two flights of stairs at a time and simply gave up. They decided to use a Thai stedicam operator who physically prepared for a month for this job.

The reason the shot is 4 minutes is because reels of 35mm film are only about 4 min in length.

They shot the first take which had a number of problems with stuntmen cues, and even a stuntman bumping into the stedicam operator. After choreographing more dynamic action, an increase of extras and improving the set, the next take they did was 17 days after the first take.

The second take was better but when the stuntman was supposed to be thrown from the 3rd story, the safety mattress was not completely in place yet so Tony Jaa stopped the shot and saved the stuntman's life.

The third take was just about perfect but just before Tony Jaa was supposed to bust through the last doorway, the film ran out. The director finally decided that instead of simply cutting there, they would try again for perfection.

They thought the fourth take was perfect but after review there were some parts that weren't as good as the pervious takes. They decided on one more try.

On the fifth try, it was almost perfect. But there were 2 miscues. On the 2nd floor, Tony Jaa slams a door into the head of a stuntman and the small glass window on the door was supposed to break. It failed to do so, so they used CGI to fix this. The 2nd issue was the fight just before the sink gets thrown. The timing was off as planned but the end result looked natural so they decided this was the take to use in the final film. Simply amazing.

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