Democrat Barak Obama is the first African-American president of the United States of America and the 44th commander in chief. On Tuesday November 4th Americans demonstrated that they can change the direction that their country has been taken in the past 8 years.
Barak Obama is the first Democrat since Jimmy Carter to win a majority of the popular vote, a vindication of his “50-state strategy” that even members of his own party once viewed as quixotic. Before the end of Tuesday, America that had been solid red in the recent elections has undergone a dramatic change where all 50 states have become one, where it has become the true United States of America!
Today, there are more democrats registered than Republicans.  Republicans have dropped from 37 percent of the electorate in 2004 to 32 percent today, as the number of Democrats and independent has increased.

“Change has come to America” said Obama in this acceptance speech last night! But he also acknowledged the tough climate of the task he faces. “For even as we celebrate tonight,” Obama utters,  “we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime – two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.”
Obama is a charismatic leader whose appeal transcends partisan politics. Obama has built his support on a “three-legged stool” made up of African-Americans, Hispanics, and young voters of all races.  In North Carolina polls show 73 percent of 18-29 year olds voted for Obama, even though McCain was stronger among every other age group. In Virginia, too, Obama was ahead with every age group except those 65 and older.  There are 1.6 million more Hispanic voters this year, including a half-million newly naturalized citizens and they chose Obama over McCain by a margin of 2 to 1. And so New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada, Ohio, and Iowa voted for Obama. States like Virginia and Indiana had not voted for a Democratic president since 1964, which means that Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 has become a Moment in History!
In his speech, Obama also reached out to McCain’s supporters: “I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your president, too!”
The Election 2008 embodies the American dream! In his acceptance speech, Obama mentioned 106 year old Ann Nixon Cooper from Atlanta, born a generation past slavery, at a a time when she could not vote because she was black and woman.  Ann Nixon “through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.”

The theme for this year’s Channel O Music Video Awards was “Uniting Africa Through Music” and Africa’s leading music channel has gone to extra lengths to ensure that this year’s event was bigger, better, and more spectacular than ever.
And it really was a spectacular show on October 9 at the Big Top Arena, Carnival City, Johannesburg! Performers from all around Africa came together to entertain the continent and they were duly rewarded! The Channel O MVAs recognizes excellence and contributions towards developing music on the continent.
Top Nigerian artistes who won laurels at the event include: Ikechukwu (Best Male Video), P Square (Best Duo or Group) and (Video of the Year), M-Trill (Best African West), and KC Presh (Best Hip Hop Video), Lizha James (Mozambique) – Best Female Video; Buffalo Souljah (Zimbabwe) – Best Newcomer and Best Ragga Dancehall Video; Lady May (Namibia) – Best Dance; Gal Level (Namibia) – Best R & B Video; The Dogg (Namibia) – Best Kwaito; Freshly Ground (South Africa) – Best African Southern; and Witness ft Fid Q (Tanzania) – Best African East.
The two VJs’ that hosted the big event are the effervescent Kabelo “KB” Ngakane, who has been with Channel O since 1998, and his chic co-host Nonhle “Diva” Thema.
The Channel O music Video Awards are distinctly African and the winners are entirely chosen by the viewing public across the continent and not by a panel of judges. This means that fans really can make a difference between artists being a nominee or a winner and give countries the chance to fly the flag high for their own nominees.
The Channel O Music Video Awards are also the first Pan-African television awards ceremony to celebrate distinctly African music.
Jimmy Dludlu paid tribute to his friend and mentor, George Lee Larnyoh, who received the 2008 Special Recognition Award on September 16th.

The gay community will have its own online TV channel, dedicated to “the life and problems of the gay community” in Romania, on October 1^st, 2008.

The channel is launched by the “Be An Angel” group in Cluj and it will include gay news, gay music, entertainment, and films. The anti-discrimination group “Be an Angel” already runs a co

mprehensive website focusing on entertainment and political issues in Romania. The founders assure its audience that homosexuality is not contagious. It says viewers will be informed but “nobody will become homosexual if you look at our programs.”

Lucian Dunareanu, the president of Angelicus, hopes that the audience will be quite responsive to the programming, hitting 100 visitors by next year. 

Lion Productions is going to Cannes, France, to promote its current projects at MIPCOM 2008. MIPCOM is the world’s largest exhibition and conference dedicated to creating, co-producing, buying, selling, financing, and distributing entertainment content across all platforms.

Lion is looking to sell and develop entertainment content, whether it is a TV series, a feature movie, or short documentaries. Among its projects are “Din State”, a TV series about living the American dream, with its sacrifices and satisfactions, not only from the emigrant’s perspective, but also from average Joe’s. “Din State” is ready for distribution worldwide.

“Spaghetti vs Lasagna” is a romantic, but sardonic comedy about frustration, passion, control, culture clash, and lust. The women’s brain is like a bowl of spaghetti, where everything is twisted and has no end, while the male’s brain is one straight fat, gooey layer of lasagna. “Spaghetti vs Lasagna” is in the production stage.

“Out Here” is a 30 min documentary about what it means to be gay in the US, how open-minded Americans are about homosexuality, gay marriage, gay adoption, and most importantly, the entire emotional process of coming out in different parts of the US. While “Out Here” can be perceived as educational, it is very entertaining; it makes you laugh as much as it makes you cry. It will challenge you. The documentary is ready for distribution.

“Back to the Future” is a half hour documentary about the lives of the Amish people. The documentary is ready for distribution.

Lion Productions represents Romania along with the main Romanian  TV stations TVR, Antena 1, ProTV, Realitatea TV, B1TV, as well as 20 other production companies. 

MIPCOM takes place between the 13-17^th of October at the famous Palais des Festivals. 

The biggest companies use online videos to build brand, maximize coverage, and generate Internet buzz. Video veteran, Douglas Simon, talks about how you can increase your visibility, through corporate online video in an one hour webinar, on Thursday, September 10th, 2008.

PR and marketing professionals who want to discover the latest practices for creating viral video with a “long tail” to build brand and increase impressions can learn practical strategies at the webinar from Bulldog Reporter’s PR University: “Web Video Bonanza for PR: How to Incorporate Online Video into PR Programs to Drive Brand, Buzz and the Bottom Line.” Attendees will come away with actionable steps to create powerful video campaigns that can be posted on the corporate website, YouTube and other consumer-generated media sites.

This exclusive webinar takes place on Wednesday, September 10th, at 1PM EDT with a nationally recognized traditional and Web video producer who has created video campaigns for the nation’s biggest brands: Douglas Simon, President & CEO, D S Simon Productions Inc.

In this 90-minute interactive call, Simon will reveal hard-won best practices–from technology requirements, practical first steps, and secrets of killer online content, to cost-saving production tips and viral distribution techniques. The conference will also give public relations and marketing professionals inside tips, techniques, and skills for measuring video’s value and proving it to management. Here are some of the practical and immediately applicable techniques attendees will cover in this webinar:

·      Convincing Data: Stats and changing online viewership behaviors that prove the opportunity–and help sell web video to management and clients

·      How to think strategically about incorporating streaming video and Web 2.0 tools into traditional communications plans

·      Ten essential questions every PR agency or in-house communications department must ask–and answer–before jumping into web video

·      Practical Case Studies: Concrete examples you can take to your execs to show how web video targeted to consumers can build brand and the bottom line

·      The talent and technology you must have on hand to ensure success–a checklist of off-the-shelf hardware and software necessary to launch your streaming video efforts

·      Production Checklists & Guidelines: What qualifies as web video–and how to make sure your campaign uses the most popular formats and delivery methods

Attendance at Bulldog Reporter’s PR University webinar costs $299 per telephone site. Participants in the 90-minute call will be able to pose specific questions for the panelists at several junctures during the discussion. Attendees of PRU University webinar receive one credit toward PRSA accreditation maintenance. Registration also includes an up-to-the-minute conference manual and a full transcript. For more information on taking part in the event, phone toll free: 1-800-959-1059.

Lion Productions is listed on ProductionHUB.com in Producers - Film in Boston, Massachusetts