The iPhone Kids Racing Commercial – The Music and a Fatal Error?

Apple is telling GoPro to GET OUT MY WAY! Well, I kind of made that part up but Apple is advertising their “steady cam” capabilities in their new ad. A boy is running and his mom tracks his every step with the steadiest of video shots. Take a look then scroll down for the music and what might be a critical mistake.

The Music. A great song choice for this commercial, it’s Tadashii “Get Out My Way” featuring Lecrae. Here’s the full track, then scroll down for a scandalous take on the making of this commercial!

But he’s fast, right? This commercial shows us that the one main kid featured is the fastest in the group. He starts out slow but by the end he crosses the finish line in first place. Atta boy! But then at the same time, we’re expected to believe his mom, running sideways and halfway concentrating on recording her son running, is keeping up with him? One of two things must be true: the boy is actually very slow, or his mom is (or was) an Olympic runner. I wouldn’t call this a fatal error in the commercial but it certainly leaves a lot of room for questions.

One thing is on full display, though, in spite of the logical error explained above. If these clips come out steady and crisp, the iPhone 14 is no longer a phone with a camera. It’s a camera with a phone!

Till tommorow, y’all…

-Out of the Wilderness

Anywhere At Any Time

As 2023 started, it dawned on me what a great situation I’m in. A couple of dogs, a camper and a truck. It would be a shame to forget that I can go anywhere at any time. In fact, I can go to all the wheres. Here’s a where. There’s a where. Over there, over here, go go go! Inspired by this jolt of inspiration, the opportunity opened up for a campsite at a state park in central Florida. Where, where, where is it you might be asking? I’ll have a full recap of this first camping trip of 2023 tomorrow so be sure to come back at 1pm central, but for now, here’s a picture from the campground!

If you can guess the park, you get 100 points! After this park, I’ll head over to Orlando to see family and watch the college football championship. Oh, plus on the way to Orlando I’m stopping at a Harvest Host location, a farm east of Tampa and I can’t wait to share more about that! I guess I’ll save it for another post but here’s a picture to whet your appetite…

This year’s theme is “real and deep” which is going to include a subtitle, “Anywhere at any time.” I MUST remember a couple of things: Don’t take life and health for granted (a big reminder was the situation with NFL football player Damar Hamlin) and secondly, take opportunities to go anywhere at any time!

See you all tomorrow with a recap of the first camping trip of 2023…

-Out of the Wilderness

The power of prayer a million times over

This week so many people saw the injury to Buffalo Bills defense player Damar Hamlin on live TV as it happened. In fact, it was the most watched NFL game on ESPN in years, something like over 22 million were watching. It just so happened that this heavily watched game included an injury unlike any in recent history. I’m sure you know the details about the CPR and the AED and how both teams pretty much immediately and totally forgot about football as they all rallied around Hamlin. Well, across the nation people rallied in the form of prayer. A radio show host I listen to brought up a profound point: this might be the most “prayed for” person simultaneously in world history. In other words, all at the same moment, millions of people were praying for Damar Hamlin. There was also a prayer prayed on ESPN.

The more I thought about the amount of unified prayer happening all at once, the more remarkable it was to grasp. I prayed too, but not very eloquently. All I could say is, “God, you HAVE to come through. We NEED you to come through. PLEASE come through.”

So let me be clear, I wasn’t telling God he has to do this, as if I’m giving HIM a command. Like, you have to do this or else! I would never, ever do that. Here’s what that prayer meant… because of the amount of people praying, so many counting on God to come through, it became a matter of reputation. God’s reputation is/was on the line. If he weren’t to come through, how many folks would say something like, “See, God doesn’t care. God isn’t real.” But then, God has shown that he DOES care. God IS real. He was in a situation I think he loves to be in. One where a gigantic mass of people were desperate for him to act, and he could’t NOT show up.

Of course, we can also be extremely grateful for the expert medical staff from the beginning of the injury all the way through to this very second. Praising God isn’t ignoring the highly skilled people who were part of the miracle that’s happening. They are to be revered and respected, without a doubt! But along with them, it was the prayers that moved God to act, too.

It’s just a very cool situation coming out of a very tragic situation. Of course, Hamlin not suffering the way he did would have been great, too. The game would’ve went along as planned. One of the teams would have the W. People would have turned the TV off and gone to bed. But because of the crazy event that night, look at the life being breathed back into the spiritual world. The comradery among the players, coaches, etc, and sports fans everywhere. Unification across the country.

I, for one, won’t forget these moments.

See y’all tomorrow…

-Out of the Wilderness

Ambulance Movie Review – Race, Homosexuality, and Unrealistic Driving

The white guys are rich, arrogant, naive or aloof. The white woman is a lesbian. The hispanic woman is always angry. The black woman is a loving and devoted wife. The black men are righteous, heroic, family oriented, and that’s including the guy who’s one of the main criminals! Can you guess which movie I’m talking about? It could almost be any Hollywood movie these days, but I just watched Ambulance. In this movie, there’s more time spent on praising the criminal as a hero, culminating in the scene were the white cop is asked to point to the guy who shot him (which was the black criminal, not the white criminal). He lifts a weak finger up, points to the black guy and says, “He saved my life.” It’s also the same guy who shot him twice but who’s counting?

What I enjoyed in the movie is that they used humor to balance out the action and intensity of shootouts and car chases. Plus, the dog was a big hunk of cuteness. But the list of what I didn’t like is a lot longer and includes most of the scenes including a clunky ambulance, go figure, being driven around like it’s a Maserati. I’m sorry Michael Bay, but this would’ve lasted about one, maybe two police blockades in real life. Showing the ambulance and the two criminals outwit dozens and dozens of police officers, along with their sporty cop cars, is just too much to “make believe.”

I forgot to mention another of the white characters. To wrap it all up with a perfect little politically correct bow, the FBI agent is portrayed as the all-wise, all-knowing authority figure… and, of course, he’s as gay as the day is long.

See y’all tomorrow…

-Out of the Wilderness

More about Lainey Wilson “Heart Like a Truck” Music Video

I came across this song in a roundabout way as I was looking for a tune to use in the background of a Facebook story video. On Spotify it’s listed on the “hot country” playlist. I’m not exactly in tune with country music anymore so I have only inklings of an idea about who or what song’s popular in any given week. Hey, I’m not Grady Smith over here… but I wanted to watch the music video because I’m definitely interested in how they interpret the song visually. If you haven’t watched it yet, take a look then scroll down for my thoughts.

I saw the horse in the first few seconds of the video and I was locked in. I won’t be diving deep into the connections between the song lyrics and the taming of a wild horse but gosh, aren’t horses such beautiful creatures?

I had a post recently showing off favorite horse pictures from my gallery (check that post here) so this video was a real nice reminder of how much I love them. What horses have to do with a heart and a truck, I don’t really know but I’m glad I watched the video. My only critique is really just a pet peeve of mine in music videos. At the very end of the video it’s the “hero shot” where the camera pulls back and the singer stares at the lens with their best “blue steel” impression. It was fine in the 90s but do we really need it now?

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See y’all tomorrow!

-Out of the Wilderness