Have you seen the first backstage footage from The Man in the Moon?

June 22, 2013

Writer

Man in the Moon is just a few short weeks away, and yet only a few bits and pieces of information about the event itself have been revealed. In fact, until today only the storytellers at the American Dream Labs working on the show and a few select members of Glenn Beck’s staff have seen any of the production elements from the event. Earlier today, Glenn decided to publicly release a trailer for the event put together exclusively for a small number of movers and shakers in the film, technology, and entertainment industries that were personally invited to attend Man in the Moon.

For the past year, Glenn has been working alongside a small team in Salt Lake City led by Ben McPherson, who has been leading the creative production The Man in the Moon. The team has pioneered several new methods of stage production in order to tell their story, including projecting video onto a three-dimensional surface. The testing of this technique can be glimpsed in the trailer when the face of the moon is seen on a large white balloon while other video elements are projected on a flat screen behind the moon itself. The balloon seen in the trailer is roughly 20% the size of the balloon that will represent the moon during the actual performance.

It has been difficult for The American Dream Labs team to find a rehearsal venue for the show due to the sheer size of the production elements. The Salt Palace, a 10,000 seat arena was considered for a short time, but they team ultimately decided to rehearse with the smaller scale pieces as a cost saving measure.

"No one has seen the staging yet and what you will see in the video is only a fraction of what will be seen at any given time. The stage itself has been completely redesigned and plays a role as does the entire venue when the show officially launches," Glenn explained.

The trailer hints at some of the dazzling special effects, but Glenn has always emphasized the importance of the story itself over empty spectacle.

“Mercury Radio Arts and the American Dream Labs and TheBlaze boil down to one thing: We're storytellers. Be it news or fiction-based-in-fact, television, film, Internet, TV or radio,” Glenn said, “I have built a company that is uniquely equipped to use the hard facts and the truths that helped build this country and tell the story of what man has done and what they can yet do to become a beacon of light and hope for all the world to see.”

Some have been confused by Glenn’s moves into entertainment and culture, as they are not the traditional spaces occupied by political commentators. But Glenn has always maintained that he is not only interested in simply commenting on the news of the day, but also on spreading a message about hope, inspiration, and the power of good that exists in mankind. From D.C. to Israel to Dallas, TX, his summer events have always aimed to empower ordinary Americans to stand up and reach their full potential and by extension restore America as a beacon of freedom and greatness to people all over the world.

“The ballot box is the last stop. The first stop is the culture and teaching it to our kids and getting them to understand the story. If you get them to understand the story then their whole life will be set. My job as I see it is to tell the story in such a way that it just sears it on their heart,” Glenn said in an interview about Man in the Moon.

Glenn has always seen himself as a storyteller above all else. His first real professional attempt was The Christmas Sweater stage show in 2008, where he toured the country acting out the story of the novel in a one-man show. But he has always had the gift of storytelling, and it’s one of the reasons he has had such unique cross-platform success. Glenn says he inherited the gift from his grandfather.

“Most of my life I didn't know what my gift was, and I certainly didn't see a purpose behind it if I did,” Glenn said. “This one I truly love. It is the gift of storyteller. And I got it from my grandfather. Heaven to me, heaven to me will be able to be to sit with my grandfather under a tree with my family and just remember, to study and watch, watch him weave the stories of life for all those to hear and maybe even a few that will really even listen.”

The story behind Man in the Moon is still mostly shrouded in mystery. Recent promos on TheBlaze have shown some pieces that didn’t make the cut – most notably the “current wars” between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. But the trailer shows that the story will span thousands of years, with Biblical stories like Noah’s Ark and the Tower of Babel playing an important role, as well as key moments in American history like Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Glenn has also said that World War 2 would play an important role in the story, and production staff were known to be working with actual planes from that era as part of the early planning for the show.

Whatever happens on July 6th, there is no doubt that Glenn and his team will once again put together an experience unlike anything that has been done before on stage.

On Wednesday, Glenn travels to the American Dream Labs in Salt Lake City to begin final tweaks on film, score and visual effects, and will also work with the stage performers and acrobats who are part of the show. He will then head to Flying by Foy in Las Vegas, the rehearsal space of Cirque du Soleil, where they have been developing and rehearsing never before seen fly by wire segments.

Glenn said that for weeks the Man in the Moon creative team literally thought he was kidding about the acrobatic portion of the show. When they discovered that he was serious the team spent several frustrating weeks trying to wrap their arms around how to not only create the vision but how to reduce the physical stress the performers bodies would need to endure for an incredibly challenging eight minute segment. Glenn will be seeing the final wire rehearsal in Vegas to approve the effects and scene before it is broken down and sent to join all of the other pieces of Man in the Moon to be constructed next weekend at the venue for five days of overnight rehearsals the week of July 4th.

Stay tuned to TheBlaze and GlennBeck.com in the weeks ahead for more on The Man in the Moon.

What will happen while Glenn is away on vacation?

As many of you now know, Glenn has taken off for a much-deserved, two-week vacation with strict orders not to watch the news. Well, two weeks is a long time in the news world, and a LOT can happen while Glenn is away.

What do you think will happen while Glenn is away? Will Biden take another fall? Will the government finally confess knowledge of alien lifeforms? Let us know what you think below.

Will the Government confirm the existence of aliens?

Is Biden going to fall again?

Will Kamala Harris become president?

Will Hillary Clinton announce her candidacy for president?

Will AI start an uprising?

Will World War III start?

Will Bud Light go out of business?

Will it be confirmed that Fidel Castro is Justin Trudeau's father?

Will California criminalize pianos due to their historic associations with the ivory trade?

Will Joe Biden give a speech where he recounts an encounter with Bigfoot?

How my family's Target boycott is affecting my wife (satire)

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If you've been tuning in this month, you'll know that my family and I have been boycotting Target since they released their problematic Pride collection. We are determined, but boy has it been difficult... particularly on my wife.

I'm not saying that I kept a diary of my wife's Target withdrawals... but I'm not saying that I didn't either.

Here are the "alleged" entries of my family's first week of boycotting Target.

Day 1

My wife began the day optimistic. Determined. She kept saying, "I can do it. I can do it. For the sake of what is right, I can do it."

For a moment there, I thought this boycott was going to be kind of easy. I thought she would bounce into action, and never look back.

At about noon on day one, she started to crack just a little bit. She looked at me and said, "The only jeans that fit me properly are from Target. Where am I going to get my jeans? What will I do without my favorite jeans?"

One weird thing. She has been speaking differently. It's almost like a nervous tick. Random words come out at random times. Day one, I kissed her good night and said, "I love you." She said, "I love Lindt Lindor Milk Chocolate Candy Truffles."

And I think that has something to do with Target, but I'm not really sure.

Day 2

My wife began laughing today... a LOT. But then, abruptly, her laughter broke into a disconcerting grimace that reminded me ever so slightly of a gargoyle.

I tried to remind myself, "This is going to be a good thing. This is going to make a difference," and my wife proceeded to give me a long-winded rant about how Satan tempted Jesus, and how this is my temptation in the desert. Shortly after, I found her reading her Bible in Matthew chapter 4, repeating, "40 days of THIS?!"

She tried to go to Walmart and even made it about 10 feet into the store... but then she sped home and took a shower for 45 minutes.

Day 3

Have you seen The Shining? The way Jack Nicholson slowly becomes unhinged?

It's beginning to feel like that on day three, at the house. Several times, I caught her petting picture frames. When I asked if everything was okay, she said, "I can't find gallery frames for an excellent price anywhere. You know. Think of the frames."

Later, I caught her piling bath bombs onto her side of the bed.

I said, "Honey, what are those for?"

And her answer was a little terrifying. I can't really remember. Only something about the onslaught of a war of sparkles and tiaras. So I don't know what that means.

And I didn't ask.

Day 4

The shakes have begun. Confusion has overtaken her eyes. Every couple of minutes she gasps and looks around, face full of panic.

She cries in agony, "WHERE will I find oversized blouses?" She gasps again, "What if somebody has a birthday? Where am I going to go? Where am I going to go? What if there is a birthday?"

Day 5

Midway through lunch, my wife shrieked, realizing she was only seven decorative pillows away from an empty bed top.

Our day somehow got worse when news broke that Chip and Joanna Gaines had just released their new candle trough.

That was day five.

Day 6

The rations have vanished.

The boycott now has begun to affect the family's food supply. This morning, I asked my wife, "Do we have any milk?

My wife whispered, "Don't you know where the milk comes from? Don't you know where I get the milk?"

I answered, my voice quivering, "Milk? What milk? I don't need any milk!"

She was almost out of Meyers soap and nearly caved when the revelation kicked in that she might have to go to Walmart.

To make matters worse, Target had just released their new Meyers fall scents, including, but not limited to pumpkin spice—and if you don't have pumpkin spice Meyers soap, who are you, really?

Then things really spiraled when she needed to pick up Starbucks honey flat white and some new laundry detergent. For the first time in a long time, this was going to require TWO stops, and let me tell you, those two stops did not make her happy.

At bedtime, she locked herself into the guest bedroom and insisted on being left alone.

Day 7

For the first day, I have a little hope.

The whole thing was awful. Terrible. Miserable. Heartbreaking.

But still not bad enough to make me or any of my friends want to chug down a Bud Light.

Do aliens... EXIST? Or is it a distraction?

Rastan | Getty Images

Yesterday, whistleblower David Charles Grusch, a decorated Air Force veteran claimed the Department of Defense has a secret team aimed at "retrieving non-human origin technical vehicles, call it spacecraft if you will, non-human exotic origin vehicles that have either landed or crashed."

Talk about UFOs and aliens has typically been siloed to the realm of sci-fi and "conspiracy theories." However, in recent years, publicized evidence of UFOs and whistleblowers, like David Grusch, have brought the once fantastical subjects into the mainstream. Could it be that alien life forms do, in fact, exist? Have they already arrived and been kept secret underneath the government's nose? Or could this all be a ruse to distract us from more pressing stories in the news cycle?

We want to hear from YOU! Do YOU think aliens and UFOs are a distraction tactic, or do you think there's truth behind these whistleblowers?

Do you believe the government has intel about UFOs?

Do you believe the government has intel about alien life?

Do you believe the government is hiding this intel from the general public?

Do you believe alien life exists?

Do you think the media is using this story to distract us from other issues?

Remembering D-Day: We are called to the same standard

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79 years ago today, my grandfather jumped out of a plane. He was 17 years old when he joined the 101st Airborne Division, and at the ripe age of 18, he boarded a C-47 aircraft with the rest of his company destined for Normandy. On June 6, 1944, he jumped out of that plane onto Utah Beach, becoming a part of what would become the largest amphibious invasion in military history, Operation Overlord, or, as it's more commonly known, D-Day.

Though only 18, my grandfather was one of the oldest soldiers in his company. He recounted how many, like himself, lied about their age in order to have their shot at fighting for their country. As Omaha Beach veteran Frank Devita recounted:

We were all kids. We were too young to drink. We were too young to vote. And we were too young to die.

And many of them did.

On June 6, 1944, almost 160,000 troops from the United States, the British Commonwealth, and their allies began what would become the ultimate demise of the Third Reich, concluding one of the darkest chapters in human history. 2,500 of these soldiers were American boys who gave the ultimate sacrifice in Normandy, where most of them remain, their bodies never making it back home to the country for which they paid the ultimate price.

2,500 of these soldiers were American boys who gave the ultimate sacrifice in Normandy.

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In an age seemingly devoid of courage and virtue, it is natural to picture these soldiers as the greatest of men. And they were. However, we must remember these exemplars of manhood were boys, young boys, who exhibited the courage and virtue that we so seldom see in those twice their age today.

We must remember these exemplars of manhood were boys.

Remembering D-Day is not only sobering regarding the loss of life and innocence; it's sobering to consider how far our country has strayed from the ideals exemplified by the "greatest generation."

79 years ago, Americans knew what they were fighting for. As a Jewish man born in Berlin, witnessing the rise of fascism and socialism at the expense of individual liberty and the sanctity of life, my grandfather was eager to go back to his birthplace as an American soldier to fight for the fundamental principles of life and liberty that he and his family had been denied in Nazi Germany.

They were some of the lucky individuals who were able to escape—and there's a reason why he and his family chose America as their new homeland. The life and liberty they had been denied in Germany were regarded as sacred in the United States.

Yet, do we still regard these things as sacred?

JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER / Contributor | Getty Images

Most of the United States still hold that the sanctity of life is contingent upon convenience and circumstance. Economic policies continue to morph closer to the socialism adopted by the rest of the world in the 20th century, penalizing the success and merit that was once tantalizing to immigrants like my grandfather. Moreover, 2020 extinguished any doubt that the freedoms we hold dear are expendable at the whims of our ruling class.

This isn't the same America that provided refuge to my grandfather's family nor is it the same country that he and his brothers-in-arms fought for.

On this anniversary of D-Day, it is important that we remember the sacrifice given by the young American boys, who became the greatest of men, on the beaches of Normandy. However, perhaps it is just as important to remember that we are called to the very same standard as they so powerfully exemplified: to love our country and the principles of life and freedom that stand in stark contrast to much of the onlooking world and to have the courage to defend it, even if it requires the level courage that these young men were called to.

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