I love this horse commercial from Samsung Galaxy and AT&T

Lately I’ve been repeating, “…got me feeling like a big ol’ cowboy.” And for sure I’ll be saying it again after this post because the actor puts so much drama into it. If you’ve seen the Samsung Galaxy / AT&T commercial, you know what I’m talking about. Check it out below then scroll down for more…

There’s another part of the commercial that I appreciate so much from a quirky humor angle. It comes after the father decides to go to the waiting room. As he turns the horse around, the wispy tail brushes directly over his daughter’s face and it’s needless, and amazing. I love it. Even the dentist pulls back as a reaction to the horse’s tail whipping by.

The guy is using a Samsung Galaxy Flip 5 to take a selfie, and the outside screen is the phone’s most recognizable feature. I have the Flip 4 and I love it for its functions but also the conversations it sparks with family, friends, and strangers. I have a feeling I’ll be upgrading to a new Samsung flip phone when I pay the 4 off.

My only hesitation with the 5 (or future versions when that happens) is the entire purpose of the outside screen. With the 4 (and previous versions), the idea of folding your phone was the benefit of disconnecting from technology to be present in the moment. Not distracted, as all of us now and then, by our phones. But with the 5, the outer screen is much bigger than the 4, which draws us back in to using the phone as much as if it were folded open. This is in conflict with that idea of the original Galaxy flips.

But one thing most people can agree on: Horses are awesome.

-Out of the Wilderness

Music Video Labels Are Out of Control

Who else gets excited to find a new pet peeve, just me!? I’ve uncovered another one recently and it has to do with music videos. It’ll be added to my list of pet peeves which includes: 1. When people say “right” the wrong way, 2. the phrase “pay their fair share”, 3. people stopping in the middle of the grocery aisle, completely oblivious to shoppers around them, 4. high wasted jeans… but wait, there’s more! We must be in the wild, wild west of music video labels. Do a search for your new favorite song and you’re probably going to see 4 different versions, all with labels like the following:

Official Audio Video

Official Fan Video

Official Lyric Video

Official Studio Video

Official Video Visualizer

Official Visualizer

Official Video

Audio

Video

Lyric Video

These artists and record companies need to get a grip. What happened to the good ol’ days when there was an artist who releases a song and then music video and that’s it? Fans can simply enjoy it for what it is and then look forward to the next one.

I was inspired to write this post today after seeing a new video from Maddie & Tae. They both seem like great people and that’s all well and good. But what’s with the high-waisted Daisy Duke jean shorts? I don’t know any guy who likes high-waisted jeans so this adds evidence to my theory: Men dress to impress women. Women dress to impress women.

It’s a weird thing and ladies, high-waisted jeans do nothing for your figure. Also, if you’re posting a video with your latest hit song, we don’t need an official audio, visualizer, performance visualizer, or anything else except for the music video. Keep it simple!

-Out of the Wilderness

Why I Support A Woman’s Right To Make Choices About Her Own Body

There are a lot of differences in the platforms of the Democrats and Republicans, one of the biggest is reproductive rights. While Donald Trump was in office, the Supreme Court sent the abortion issue back to each of the 50 states so residents can vote how they see fit for their state. In the last few elections, Democrats have promised to make the results of Roe vs. Wade into law and presidential hopeful Kamala Harris has done so, as well. In fact, reproductive rights are one of the pillars of the Harris / Walz campaign. From their website…

This might not be what you expect to hear from a conservative man, but I actually agree with Kamala and Tim on the first line of their statement: Vice President Harris and Governor Walz trust women to make decisions about their own bodies, and not have the government tell them what to do. There are two parts of that statement and yes, I agree with both. The latter is great; The less federal government involvement, the better. That’s part of why sending this issue back to the state (and local) level is a win. I’m not sure Harris or Walz see the irony of their statement, though, since they want to bring abortion back to the federal level. The first part of that– women making decisions about their own body– yes. I fully support that. I trust almost every woman I know. Women, in general, have amazing intuition and the ability to empathize, encourage, nurture, and strike fear into people at will. They’re amazing. But it’s a woman (and her doctor, instead of the father, for some reason?) making decisions about the baby’s body that I cannot, and will not, support. My loyalty remains with Scripture that says we are created in our mother’s womb, and the right all of us have to life.

When I was writing about this topic a few years ago, I found out that just 3 weeks after inception, the fetus has its own blood type, usually different than the blood type of the mother. That might not sound like a big deal. It didn’t to me, at the time… until I dug further. We’ve all been asked to donate blood at some point in our lives. I remember after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, there was a big push for blood donations. When you go in to donate, one of the first questions is “What is your blood type?” Why does that matter, though? Well, when I was researching, I learned that it’s fatal for one person to have 2 different blood types in their body. For example, someone who needs type A will die rather quickly if they get blood from a type B donor. So circling back to the pregnant woman, she’s either a freak of nature who can survive with mixed blood or the baby in her belly is just that, a separate human who just happens to be unborn for a little while longer.

Sometimes I can’t help but laugh at Democrat politicians. Harris and Walz are sticking with the lie, calling it reproductive freedom which is about as honest as calling a climate change bill the “Inflation Reduction Act.”

Here in Florida, I’ll be voting ‘no’ on Amendment 4… a vaguely written amendment trying to change Florida’s 6-week limit on abortions. And if you’re the neighbor who stole my sister’s “Vote No on 4” sign from her yard in Florida, you can kick rocks!

-Out of the Wilderness

Zach Bryan “Oak Island” – The Actors, the Location, and More

La Brea. Believe it or not this post starts about a mysterious science fiction show that aired 3 seasons on NBC and just one season on Hulu. It’s that latter fact that ticked me right off a couple of years ago. NBC switched all episodes to their Peacock streaming service (dropping from Hulu) so there I was in the middle of the series and not knowing how it went. Hell will freeze over before I conform to NBC’s diabolical plan to make me subscribe to Peacock! What the heck does this have to do with Zach Bryan? Well, watch his video for “Oak Island” and see if you can pick out how it relates to La Brea…

I wouldn’t have guessed it correctly because of the beard but starring alongside actor Casey Affleck (@caseyaffleck) is La Brea actor Jack Martin (@realjackmartin). Here are a couple of photos of Jack on the set and with Zach Bryan. I guess they’re best buds?

Was the video shot on Oak Island? No. Stop asking such silly questions. The video was filmed in Schenectady, New York… a few hundred miles north of Oak Island, North Carolina. Check out the last shot of the video right in front of the Museum of Innovation and Science, as seen in this Google Maps location.

Zach’s song reminds me of a couple of my favorite country songs. Zac Brown Band’s “Colder Weather” and Eric Church’s “Homeboy.” Those are from way back when but this Zach Bryan song is reminiscent of a family falling out of good graces with each other and maybe, just maybe, there’s redemption in the end… which is more than I can say for the series finale of La Brea BECAUSE I HAVEN’T SEEN IT YET!!!

The video was directed by the talented Matthew Dillon Cohen (Instagram: @itsbongoboy), who also directed this great video for Zach Bryan. I guess they’re best buds, too!

-Out of the Wilderness

The Classic Debate and Switch

Sometimes when you’re fishing you have to reel in your line, take the bait off and switch to a new spot. That is a classic de-bait and switch. But last night was another classic… the “Debate and Switch” featuring Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Kamala threw out a lot of bait and Donald generally took it. There was a lot of switching for Donald: Defending himself against Kamala and switching to defend himself against the moderators. Or Kamala switching her stance on things, though her “values haven’t changed.”

To sum up the debate would go something like this: Democrats will say Kamala won. Republicans will say Donald won. ABC definitely lost, if anyone were to be required to name a loser. They were almost in the realm of bullying with how they came at Trump and I’m sure most would’ve been fine with it if they’d treated Kamala equally. But they didn’t.

After the debate, another switch. Harris supporters quickly turned their attention to an endorsement everyone has been waiting with baited breath for… Taylor Swift. She’s finally offered her public support of Kamala Harris which can only mean a few things. One being that if she hasn’t recently ended things with Travis Kelce, she soon will. I explain why here. I have nothing but good experiences with Taylor. Working in country music brought me into circles of people and circumstances that included Taylor. Early on in my Nashville work experience I was part of her first music video, too. And no, she wasn’t the star. Would you believe that in this video, she’s basically only seen in the background? Check out a teenage Taylor before she become world famous here.

I think the debate was what most people expected, except for the idea that Kamala might implode or look like a fool. She didn’t implode and she handled everything well. Donald had a handful of zingers and Kamala made passionate appeals to Americans’ emotions. I suppose only time will tell if the debate helped anyone have a more clear selection for the election, or if Taylor’s endorsement was more important than any candidate interview or debate could ever be.

-Out of the Wilderness