About Us: The Barely Political Team
BarelyPolitical.com puts up weekly videos. Our debut video, Crush on Obama, was recently named one of 2007's 10 best videos by Newsweek, People Magazine, the AP and YouTube.
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| Creator: Ben Relles |
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Ben was born in Wisconsin and raised in Philadelphia. After college, Ben co-founded MarketVision where he was a partner from 1997 - 2002. Later, Ben received his MBA from the Wharton School, and has spent time working for Omnicom agencies. Ben created the YouTube hit "Box in a Box", then "I Got a Crush on Obama". He lives outside Philadelphia with his wife, and twin kids. He likes fantasy baseball. Email him at benrelles@gmail.com. |
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| Obama Girl: Amber Lee |
 | Originally from Hazleton, Pennsylvania, Amber moved to New York to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology and after graduation began to seriously pursue her acting and modeling career. Recently Howard Stern's Girl of the Month, Amber has appeared in hundreds of publications including Maxim, Stuff and FHM. Now known around the country as Obama Girl, you can visit Amber at amberleeonline.com. |
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| Writer/Producer: Rusty Ward |
 | A New York City based comedian and writer, Rusty has performed at clubs and colleges across the country, as well as on Comedy Central's Premium Blend. He currently lives in Brooklyn, NY and is the head writer/producer for Barely Political. Be sure to check out his recently released first CD, "Learning to Touch Yourself". |
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| Director/Editor/Graphics: Tom Small |
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Tom has directed plays in New York, Chicago, and London, including: The Iliad, The Oresteia, Julius Caesar, and Much Ado. He has directed dozens of short films and three full-length features; his prize-winning adaptation of Macbeth was shown on the BRAVO channel. He has edited two full-length docs: We Also Dance, soon to be seen on PBS, and Live From The Hook, about the Virginia music scene and Dave Matthews Band. He currently shoots and edits the official podcast of the NYPD. See his work at tomsmall.net. Now that he works for Barely Political he takes himself far less seriously.
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| Vocals: Leah Kauffman |
 | Benefiting from classical piano lessons, Leah taught herself how to play guitar at a young age and began to write her own music and perform at local coffee houses and talent competitions before going on to study with some of the country's best instructors at Berklee College of Music. Leah was recently named one of Blender magazine's top 100 artists of 2007. In 2005 Leah released her first full-length album entitled "Folk and Fantasy" and continues to perform locally in the New York area. She can be found at LeahKauffman.com. You can buy her song Crush on Obama here. |
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| Music Producer: Rick Friedrich |
 | A producer in Philadelphia at Pork Fried Productions, Rick divides his time between work in the studio and performing with a number of bands and musical projects. If you love music, chances are you'll love Rick. You can check out his latest work at myspace.com/rickrube. |
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| Actor/Writer/Singer/V.O. : Mark Douglas |
Mark was born in Alexandria, VA. Since arriving in New York in 1996 to study acting at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts he has been a writer, singer, stand-up comic, and a sketch comedian, and has played Hamlet completely drunk. For seven years Mark was half of the musical comedy duo “The Rob and Mark Show” which released their CD, “The 3rd and 7th Hardest Working Men in Show Business” in 2006. TheRobandMarkShow.com In 2006 Mark co-hosted the show “Geek-Ray Vision” on Spike TV. You can hear Mark doing many of his impressions on this site including, Giuliani, Edwards, Kerry, McCain, and Michael Caine. |
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| Directors: Larry Strong and Kevin Arbouet |
In 2006 Larry, an award-winning producer of short films, teamed up with experienced manager Kevin, to produce and direct their first feature length film, Serial. They were honored with The Best Screenplay Award at the 2006 Long Island International Film Expo and The Best Director Award at the 2007 Mocumentary Film Festival and are currently co-producing the film Stream starring Whoopi Goldberg and William Sadler. |
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| Media relations: Melissa Klein |
 | Melissa Klein and San Francisco based LaunchSquad handle Media Relations for Barelypolitical.com. Melissa's efforts at LaunchSquad have have resulted in feature coverage in major business and technology trade publications including CNET, Financial Times, The LA Times, The New York Times, the Associated Press, Reuters and Forbes. A native of Washington, D.C., Melissa has a keen interest in all things political. She is best known, however, for her heartfelt performance of Madonna's "Like a Prayer" at Do Rae Me karaoke in San Francisco. |
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| Creative Advisor: Kenny Dunn |
 | Long-time creative partner with Relles, the two first teamed up in 1986 in a critically acclaimed version of Grease's "Summer Lovin" as part of the Sandy Run Middle School annual talent show. Despite placing 5th place out of 6 participants, the duo managed to stick together. Dunn was a co-creator of the Christmas hit, "My Box in a Box" and currently sits around thinking of ways to make politics a tiny bit sexier. He also likes goofy, white sunglasses. |
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| Content Developer: David Schrager |
 | An entrepreneur by profession, David teamed up with Ben Relles in 1997 to co-found MarketVision, an event-marketing company which he ran until 2006. He then created UrbanPueblo, www.urbanpueblo.com, an online marketplace for clothing and artisan jewelry, which he currently oversees. For BP, Shrager wears many hats including casting and new character development. He found two equally matched crews for the Obama Girls vs Giuliani Girls showdown, each with the right combination of charisma, a passion for politics and pillow fighting skills. |
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| Writer/Contributer/Editor: David Feingold (Fat Jewish Guy) |
 | Known around San Diego as "Fat Jewish Guy," comedian and lover David Feingold writes a daily blog on fatjewishguy.com and posts hilarious videos as well. We don't know exactly what he does for BarelyPolitical, but we do know that our lunch is missing from the refrigerator. FatJewishGuy.com |
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| Marc Boxser |
 | Marc Boxser is the network manager for ideas and politics for Next New Networks. He is a former producer for Charlie Rose and CNN and lives in Brooklyn with his wife who is much smarter than he is. |
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| Michael Stevens |
 | Michael is a senior at the University of Chicago majoring in Psychology and English. He is currently working on his senior honors thesis, but always makes time for a good fart joke. Besides video, Michael has also directed for the stage, notably the Midwest premiere of David Alford's "Ghostlight." You can view his video work at myspace.com/digitalnonsense (or youtube.com/campain2008) and please, feel free to ask him about his leopard print robe. |
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| Correspondant: Jenn Themelis |
 | Jenn Themelis is an actress and comedienne in New York City. Born in Canada and bred in Baltimore, she brings her unique Greek-Canadian-Baltimorean perspective to all that she does. Some would call her Pangean. Jenn is also a semi-avid blogger. Her first film, One Down, will be released in late 2007. Make sure to hit her up on MySpace. |
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| Giuliani Girl: Adelina Kristina |
 | Adelina is a model, a photographer, who can also edit photos. She has ventured into Make-up, but mostly she thinks of herself as a Muse. A muse for your art, your thoughts and your camera. She has a passion for the art of photography and everything that comes along with it. |
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| Obama Girl Clan: Sena Khoda |
 | A NJ native who graduated first of her class in college, Sena Khoda is a former dare-devil stockbroker now turned entertainer. While currently pursuing an acting career in NYC, she is also signed with two of the top agencies in the area for dance and modeling. www.senakhoda.com |
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| Obama Girl Clan: Amina Sade |
 | Amina has been modeling for almost 2 years now and has done a little bit of everything from spokesmodeling to runway to print. Amina has been dancing since she was 3 years old. She is professionally trained in ballet, gymnastics, jazz, tap, baton, lyrical and hip hop. She also does professional hip hop dancing for numerous clubs in NYC, LA and Miami as well as the nationwide tour with Hot Import Nights as an official GoGo Dancer. |
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| Giuliani Girl Clan: Rebecca DiPietro |
 | Rebecca is an American model who worked for World Wrestling Entertainment on its ECW brand as a backstage interviewer. Rebecca's modeling credits include Stuff Magazine cover girl and model, and Miss Hawaiian Tropic USA 2005. |
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| Giuliani Girl Clan: Ashley Beach |
 | Originally from Winston-Salem, NC, Ashley is a model who has worked for various fashion and commercial clients. She enjoys tennis, art and being with friends and family. You can visit her on myspace at myspace.com/ashbnc. |
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| Eric Anderson |
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Eric stopped playing World of Warcraft long enough to join our team. When not fighting druids and buying 20 sided dice, he helps maintain our site and is currently interning for Romadel as he finishes up his degree in creative writing. (we mean graphic design on the West Coast) |
