Young celebs are saluting Obama

From Dan DeLuca's "In the Mix"

» READ MORE: http://go.philly.com/inthemix

If there was any doubt that the Barack Obama campaign is the (young) celebrity cause of the moment, it's dispelled by the "Yes We Can" video posted on YouTube, which stars, among others, John Legend, Scarlett Johansson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Common, Esthero, Adam Rodriguez, Kelly Hu, Ed Kowalczyk (of the York, Pa., band Live), Kate Walsh, Herbie Hancock, Tatyana Ali, and Michael, the dude from Lost.

The senator from Illinois, it seems, is now officially more chic than helping eradicate AIDS in Africa by buying red T-shirts at the Gap. The "Yes We Can" clip, which began making the rounds on the Internet over the weekend and last time I looked, had been viewed more than 1.1 million times on YouTube, was pulled together by will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and directed by Jesse Dylan, son of Bob. It's a mash-up of a South Carolina Obama speech with spoken and sung vocals by the cast of celebs - including Johansson, who'll have an album of Tom Waits covers in stores soon - with musical backing in the form of strummed acoustic guitars and Hancock's gentle jazz piano.

As viral political marketing on the eve of Super Tuesday, it's pretty effective stuff. The black-and-white imagery conveys a sense of seriousness, Legend's gospel-soul vocalizing underscores Obama's message, and Johansson's flirtatious smile suggests that maybe if you like Obama, she'll like you, too.

Dylan has said that the video was made without the involvement of the Obama organization: "We didn't talk to anybody there," he told the blog Gothamist.com. "We just came together because it was an inspirational song about change coming out of his speech."

Even if the Obama campaign wasn't behind it, there's no question that it's been savvier about mixing pop culture (and pop music) with politics than the Hillary Clinton campaign, as is apparent from its choices of theme songs. Besides Oprah, Obama has Curtis Mayfield's "Move on Up," and U2's "City of Blinding Lights" in his corner. (For thematic unity, I'd suggest the addition of "Yes We Can" by the late, great New Orleans soul singer Lee Dorsey.)

Along with Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen on the campaign trail, Clinton has Celine Dion's "You and I." Though, to be fair, she also has some less painful selections on her playlist, including Tom Petty's "American Girl," Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" and The Police's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic."

And the Dems aren't the only ones mixing pop and politics. Some of the choices of the Republican candidates are rather suave: Mitt Romney uses Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation," and John McCain plays Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," and, more bizarrely, Abba's "Take a Chance on Me." Mike Huckabee doesn't have a theme song per se because, dude, he's in a band. As for Ron Paul, his DJ spins "Hope for America," a song written specifically for Paul by a supporter named Steve Dore.

Of course, the quality of campaign soundtracks might not have made a smidgen of Super Tuesday difference. Four years ago, a guy named John Kerry had the backing of a whole slew of high-profile supporters on the "Vote for Change" tour, including Bruce Springsteen, the Dixie Chicks, and R.E.M. And look where that got him.

From Carrie Rickey's "Flickgrrl"

http://go.philly.com/flickgrrl

Now that Juno, the love-it-or-hate it emo-flick about a pregnant high schooler, has passed the $100 million box-office milestone, its lovers and haters are getting louder.

Dave Kehr (davekehr.com), usually a sane voice, dismissed it in his recent Oscar analysis: "The stealth candidate remains Juno, the phony, feel-good comedy about teen pregnancy (as opposed to Knocked Up, the phony, feel-good comedy about twentysomething pregnancy), which racked up four key nominations - picture, director, actress, screenplay. This piece of cheese could still take it, as I imagine it's a film that the worried parents of the Academy would clutch to their hearts far more firmly than Atonement, a film that wears its sense of Oscar entitlement on its sleeve."

I honored Juno in my review, as did Roger Ebert, who rated it "about the best movie of the year."

Oscar analysts who prefer No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood - excellent movies both - worry that they will divide voters and Juno will crash the Best Picture party. Me? I'm guessing that given the Academy's antipathy to comedy, Juno will win a screenplay statuette for Diablo Cody, that No Country will take best picture and Blood's Paul Thomas Anderson the director prize.