On the 20-year anniversary of his groundbreaking masterpiece Roger & Me, Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story comes home to the issue he's been examining throughout his career: the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default, the rest of the world). But this time the culprit is much bigger than General Motors, and the crime scene far wider than Flint, Michigan. From Middle America, to the halls of power in Washington, to the global financial epicenter in Manhattan, Michael Moore will once again take film goers into uncharted territory. With both humor and outrage, Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story explores a taboo question: What is the price that America pays for its love of capitalism? Years ago, that love seemed so innocent. Today, however, the American dream is looking more like a nightmare as families pay the price with their jobs, their homes and their savings. Moore takes us into the homes of ordinary people whose lives have been turned upside down; and he goes looking for explanations in Washington, DC and elsewhere. What he finds are the all-too-familiar symptoms of a love affair gone astray: lies, abuse, betrayal...and 14,000 jobs being lost every day. Capitalism: A Love Story is both a culmination of Moore's previous works and a look into what a more hopeful future could look like. It is Michael Moore's ultimate quest to answer the question he's posed throughout his illustrious filmmaking career: Who are we and why do we behave the way that we do?

First Blender, now VIBE.   What a bummer that all these mags are done.   Vibe was founded in the early 90's by Quincy Jones and started out with Jonathan Van Meter (VOGUE) as the editor in chief.    Jonathan is a good friend and amazing writer.   Chances are if you read the cover stories in Vogue on beautiful leading actresses he was written them.  He recently wrote an obit for VIBE in Ny magazine about his struggle with Quincy not to put Michael Jackson on the cover.    At the time, the latter was in his "wacko jacko" phase.    Now he has been martyred so it would have seemed appropirate.    Oh well.    I didn't really read it at the end because I wasn't that into the editorial vision, but as a photographer I am always sad to see another publication close.     I'm just dredding the day when Rolling Stone shutters its doors.

I would definitely recommend taking some time to take a look at the film "Human Zoo" by Rie Rasmussen. Every once in awhile a film comes along that makes you take a good hard look at society and our norms making you realize that the world is a complicated place, and "Human Zoo" is one of them. Set in Serbia and Kosovo in the beginning and then in France, the story follows the main character from a life filled with war and violence to a life of being an illegal immigrant in a mob-style environment. Check it out!

Kohler has launched an amazing project with their campaign to try and raise awareness for water conservation. They have enlisted the help of some of the world's leading photographers to create visuals showing just how important of an issue water conservation is. One of those photographers is Colin Finlay, (whose images of dissapearing glaciars are below) , is a renowned nature photographer. (The others photographers are William Abramowicz (landscapes and interiors) and Sebastian Copeland. You should also hop over to SaveWaterAmerica and take a quick quiz that will donate $1 to habitat for humanity to help them use water saving products in their homes. Spread the word and save some water!!   Image ran in Vanity Fair magazine

MC Yogi (Nicholas Giacomini) grew up in Northern California painting graffiti and listening to hip hop.  He spent much of his high school years in a group home for at-risk youth then at the age of 18 he discovered yoga which changed his life.  By combining yoga with his love of hip hop music, MC Yogi brings the wisdom of yoga and peace to his music and now has an internet hit on his hands with "Vote For Change".



Over 150,000 people have watched your "Vote For Hope" video on You Tube and for many young people this is the first election where we feel that there is a candidate that speaks to us and will hear us and protect our future.  How has this election changed you?

I think what has occurred to me and a lot of other Americans is that voting for Barack Obama in this election is not just voting for a Democrat over a Republican. It's about voting for a paradigm shift. Our country has gone so off course in the last eight years with unrestricted corporate corruption, an imploded economy, and this unjust war. Barack Obama is a smart man with sound values. Qualities that our head of state desperately needs. In making "Vote For Hope" I am adding my voice to the voices of so many other young people calling for change. It gives me hope to think that I can get involved in the political process through my art.   

Does the world of viral videos and marketing make it easier to get your music out or is it a crowded market?  And if so what do you do to get noticed like you have with "Vote For Change".  How did digg.com help your video spike recently.

To be honest, this is the first video I have ever made. I wrote the song and my record label supported the project by printing 15,000 hard copies of it which we gave away, mostly on the streets of Denver during the Democratic convention. I knew that having a visual to the song would make the message even more powerful, and started designing the artwork for the video. I had no idea how I was going to fund the video, I just had faith. I started to raise some money from my community, and then out of no where an amazing man contacted me and donated the bulk of the funds we needed to pay for the animation and production. It all happened so fast, maybe a week from start to finish. As soon as the video was done, we sent it out to our email contacts through the yoga studio that my wife and I run, I sent it out to my friends on Facebook, the other people who worked on the video sent it out to their personal email lists, and then BOOM! It spread like wildfire. We posted it on vimeo and youtube. For the first week I was logging in every few hours to see how the views were escalating by the thousands. It was an amazing thing to witness. When digg posted it on their homepage the views almost doubled overnight. It had a huge impact. As I write this there are over 250,000 views between youtube and vimeo combined in only a couple of weeks.

I learned more about Mahatma Ghandi from your "Be The Change" song that I did in school how did you become so influenced by Indian culture? Why is Ghandi's message still so relevant today?

Mahatma Gandhi has been a hero of mine for a long time now. I loved the movie Gandhi and watched it over and over when I was a teenager. Then I got into yoga and traveled to India to study with the masters. The idea of  being a non-violent revolutionary, a spiritual warrior, had a huge impact on me.  I think Gandhi's message is so relevant today because he believed that true change can only begin with ourselves. Today, we are so disillusioned with our leaders and our government, we are starting to realize that if we want change we have to make it happen. We can no longer pretend that someone or something outside ourselves is going to do it for us.

Hip Hop gets generalized as negative or having a negative impact yet you've found a way to enlighten people to not only eastern sounds but concepts such as non-violence, vegetarianism, meditation, history and a true message from Obama without the spin.   What do you think is the future of hip hop?

Barack Obama actually said one of the coolest things about hip hop I have heard in awhile. In an interview given earlier this year he said, "hip hop is not just a mirror of what is, it should also be a reflection of what can be." This basically sums up my purpose for being an emcee.

How has meditation changed your life?

Meditation continues to be one of the most valuable practices I've found. It has helped me to realize the Truth that underneath all the layers of separation there is Oneness.   

Obama is going to have a tough job ahead. If you were djing and had to pick a victory song (other than your own of course) for Obama on the night of the 4th what would it be?

Harold Melvin "Wake Up Everybody" and Bill Withers "Lovely Day"

Do you have kids?

Not yet. Our "baby" right now is our very spoiled, very beautiful, rescued pitbull mix named Mo, short for Mahatma (which means 'great soul' in sanskrit). In fact my wife, Amanda, just illustrated a children's book about Mo's adventures called "Mo Smells Red" . Check it out on www.MosNose.com. A portion of proceeds from the book are donated to help animals in need.

The album ELEPHANT POWER is available on itunes, www.mcyogi.com and the next video "Be The Change" about Mahatma Gandhi is coming soon.