This is a brilliant commercial from Bacardi. The man cuts across the club in search of a drink. And as he does, he cuts through time as well, going through the 60s, the 50s, 30, 20s, etc. until he ends up with a bartender who looks like he is from the 19th century.

What struck me was three couples: at the beginning, the main character leaves what appears to be a mixed race couple who are almost easy to overlook (they are only in the shot for 3 seconds). They are together in a very casual way. Midway through the ad, there is a black man dancing with a white woman in around the 1950s: they are very close.  (Though interestingly, she wears gloves.) This is in contrast to the black and whilte couple towards the end of the commercial: a black piano player with a white flapper from the 1920s, where there is a greater separation of the pair.

It’s a highly impressionistic commercial, and it is an advertisement, not a history lesson. But it does flash moments of history in the spot, and I was struck by these three couples. It could be happenstance, but the strong historical sense in the ad got me thinking otherwise.

Anyway, watch the ad and see what you think.

Over at the very cool site TRANSRACIAL, they are highlighting that…

“This weekend marks the anniversary of the historic Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia — which in 1967 removed all legal barriers preventing mixed-race marriages.”

And to celebrate this event, the wonderful named Loving Day is being celebrated around the world. You can lean more about it at their site, including reading this post,  WE SALUTE: Loving Day. You can also go to Wikipedia and learn more about the case of Loving v. Virginia. There you can read, among other things, this very timely quote from Mildred Loving on the 40th anniversary of the decision:

“Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don’t think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the “wrong kind of person” for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.”

Amen.

It’s alot harder than you think, what with all this new Web 2.0 technology! The following is a funny take on how much harder it can be to promote a book these days. See:

Watch this. Be happy. 🙂

P.S. I love the light in this video. It perfectly captures the light of dusk in late spring, summer.

(H/T: andrew sullivan)