True Colours: The British Paraorchestra
Today at Buckingham Palace during the Queen’s Christmas Day Message the National Anthem was performed by the British Paraorchestra. They have become a well respected and familiar part of British music, but before the 2012 Paralympics very few people had even heard of them.
In the 2011 TED Talks video below, Conductor Charles Hazlewood speaks about the inspiration behind the orchestra, and introduces them as they make their first ever public performance.
Hazelwood talks of the universal power of music to communicate across language and cultural barriers, and asks why our musical culture excluded women from its major platforms until the 1960s, and why it still excludes disabled musicians today.
Where, he asks is their voice in society and why have they been rendered invisible.
It was in order to break this culture of exclusivity that Hazelwood formed the British Paraorchestra, the world’s first ensemble of professional disabled musicians. The quality of their music has inspired tens of thousands in Britain and beyond since they stepped into the international limelight with their performance during the closing ceremony of the 2012 Paralympic Games.
Even at their very first public performance, Hazelwood throws down the gauntlet to other countries saying: “Here’s our Paraorchestra, where’s yours?”
True Colours
The solo voice heard at the beginning and end of the track belongs to Lyn Levett, from the Paraorchestra. Lyn has cerebral palsy and cannot speak. With state-of-the-art technology she sings through her computer in True Colors, for the very first time.
- to enable The Kaos Signing Choir for Deaf & Hearing Children set up a new Saturday Signing Choir and
- to fund their next signed song DVD, and
- for the future growth and development of The British Paraorchestra.
Non-Profit Organisation:
Support the British Paraorchestra
“The British Paraorchestra is a non-profit organisation. We survive through donation and support from a variety of people and institutions. If you’d like to support us through donation please use the Paypal process on our website it’s secure, guaranteed and easy.
Most of our funding goes into facilitating travel and accommodation for our players, many of whom are dependent on full time personal assistants and travel with wheelchairs and other special equipment. As you can imagine that’s often a major challenge of logistics and accessibility.
We’re working hard to make every penny count and always welcome enquiries from people who want to help. Do contact us if you would like to talk about structural, corporate or institutional donations.
You can donate online, by cheque, bank transfer, credit or debit card and by post. Do get in touch if you need any other way of making a donation. Please make cheques out to British Paraorchestra, contact us for postal address.”
12/12/12 One Day On Earth
O
ne Day on Earth – 一緒に記録しよう 2012年12月12日 from One Day on Earth on Vimeo.
Get your videos out today and be part of a unique film made by people right across the planet.
Some details below:
https://www.facebook.com/onedayonearth
Thank You For Your Participation! Every Nation, 24 hours, and You.
On December 12th, 12.12.12, across the planet, documentary filmmakers, students, and other inspired citizens will record the human experience over a 24-hour period and contribute their voice to the third annual global day of media creation called One Day on Earth. Together, we will create a shared archive and a film.
Founded in 2008, One Day on Earth’s first media creation event occurred on 10.10.10. and the second on 11.11.11. The 10.10.10 collaboration was the first ever simultaneous filming event occurring in every country of the world. One Day on Earth collaborations create a unique geo-tagged video archive as well as an annual feature film.
Together, we are showcasing the amazing diversity, conflict, tragedy, and triumph that occurs in one day. We invite you to join our international community of thousands of filmmakers, hundreds of schools, and dozens of non-profits, and contribute to this unique global mosaic. One Day on Earth is a community that not only watches, but participates.
http://www.onedayone…age/participate
- What is the goal of the project?
To create an open shareable archive and documentary film of the world on 12.12.12. We hope to enlighten, teach and benefit humanity through global collaboration and inspired media creation. We seek to find a deeper understanding of life on this planet. - Are there rules to using the site?
Yes, please review our Do’s and Don’ts under the How Do I Participate? section above. - Is this a one-time event?
No. The first One Day on Earth was 10.10.10, the second 11.11.11, and 12.12.12 will be the third and we hope to have many more down the road. - Why 10.10.10, 11.11.11 and 12.12.12?
It’s easy to remember. We needed to pick a day that people could remember and gravitate towards for their own reasons. 10.10.10, 11.11.11, and 12.12.12 are as unique and normal as any other day on Earth. - Does everything need to be created on 10.10.10, 11.11.11 or 12.12.12?
Yes, for all official submissions. But this is a community, so please feel free to share anything you’d like on your profile, discussion, or group pages before or after 12.12.12 and into the future. - How can I help?
Sign up. Invite friends and family around the world. Participate on 12.12.12. If you want to get more involved emailinfo@onedayonearth.org. If you’re feeling charitable, we need help, all donations are tax-deductible – Donate - Do I get a copy of the final film?
Yes, If you participate and contribute at least 1 minute of legal content to the project you will receive online access to the final film. - I am part of a non-profit, how can we collaborate?
Please visit www.onedayonearth.org/cause to find out about our initiative to support causes around the world. - I am an educator and would like to participate. Where do I find out more information about your educational program?
Please visit www.onedayonearth.org/education. - What do you want me to film or document on 12.12.12?
It’s up to you. Check out our causes & events page for inspiration. - I would like to report abuse of the One Day on Earth site or project what do I do?
We strive to sustain a positive and supportive community that is interested in the public good. We take any abuse of our community infrastructure very seriously. Please feel free to report any grievance to the Report an Issue Page. Please include links and a detailed explanation of the issue. - I wish to document a controversial subject, what is your stand on censorship?
We do not desire to censor content. However, certain subjects carry both legal and logistical issues that could be harmful to our network if not properly regulated. You are responsible for your own content. No sexually explicit material or ****. No videos that incite hatred, include hate speech, defamatory or discriminatory speech or videos depicting unlawful acts or extreme violence. If you believe you have a special topic that is important, but fear it may violate our guidelines, or present a personal safety issue in crediting you to the content please email info@onedayonearth.org with the subject heading “special topic”.
—————————- Submission Guidelines
- Save all your original high resolution content: given that compressed video and photo files hosted on our site are not of a high enough quality to use in a motion picture, broadcast, or print, it is critical that you save all your original high resolution elements.
- Should my video be edited? There is no requirement for editing. In fact, if you intend to edit, we ask that you upload and share you best selection of footage before you do a fully sculpted edit. This will increase your chances of being prominently featured.
- What is the maximum video size and length? Vimeo is our video services partner. All technical specifications are in line with their requirements. In accordance with Vimeo, upload file size is limited to 500 MB. However, you are welcome to upload multiple clips within the limitations of your Vimeo account.
- Should I compress my videos before uploading them? Possibly. It could mean you can submit a longer upload of equal quality. Please see Vimeo’s compression suggestions for the best advice on how to do it.
- What video formats are accepted? As per Vimeo’s guidelines we accept all resolutions in the following file types: asf, asx, avi, divx, dv, dvx, m4v, mov, mp4, mpeg, mpg, qt, wmv, 3g2, 3gp, 3ivx and 3vx.
- Who owns my content? You do. You will retain ownership and rights. In order for us to create a film and other creative projects you will need to agree to grant One Day on Earth the nonexclusive royalty free license.
- What is the submission deadline for content? Uploaded or post marked by Januaruy 15th 2013. If you know in advance that transportation of content may be difficult or tardy based on regional resources please feel free to email us atinfo@onedayonearth.org with questions or concerns.
- Photo Submission Specifications: Photos may not exceed 10MB in size. We support photos in .jpg, .gif, and .png formats.
Love Thy Nature: A Film About Who We Are
What we fall in love with, we protect.
When we fall in love, we transform.
Through loving and protecting nature,
we can heal ourselves and ensure
a future for our children. ”
— Sylvie Rokab —
A film in the making by award-winning documentary film maker Sylvie Rokab
who says of it “this is the film I was born to make,”
“As far as we know, only our planet gives birth to life
and among all species on earth ours is the most gifted
But have our gifts taken us too far away from what sustains us?
Take a journey through the new era of human evolution
where our hearts and minds are inspired by the wonders of nature…”
The film is currently on Kickstarter and has 10 days to go to reach its required funding
Love Thy Nature demonstrates how communion with the natural world transforms us as individuals and communities.
And that transformation encourages us to not only restore our ecosystems, but also to embrace our role as a species of double-wisdom: as stewards of our planet, including our human family.
Read MoreRare Prints on Sale
Posters have always been sources of inspiration for me and they have been a powerful means of conveying ideas over time. An email arrived in my inbox notifying me of a sale of rare prints and some of the images are old favourites of mine, so I took a look.
It can be interesting and often enlightening to see what value an item has at a particular time, and looking through the lots reminded me of how valuable prints can become.
These are a few of the items offered for sale:
Suggested Bid: $4,800
Artist: PRIVAT LIVEMONT (1861-1936) Size: 37 1/4 x 50 3/8 in./94.5 x 127.8 cm Imp. J. Barreau, Paris “In 1902 and 1903, Livemont created several posters for the Automobile Club of France and its shows, personifying the organization with his delicate Art-Nouveau women. Here, the figure is seated on a throne in front of the Grand Palais exhibition hall, drenched in roses and hints of an international throng come to admire progress. As was Livemont’s custom, he gives the auto goddess a white outline, this time adding a halo resembling an automotive flywheel” (Gold, p. 56).
Estimated Price: $6,000 – $7,000
Suggested Bid: $3,200
Artist: JEAN DROIT (1884-1961) Size: 30 3/4 x 44 7/8 in./78 x 113.9 cm Imp. Hachard, Paris More than 3,000 participants from forty-four countries descended on Paris during the late spring of 1924 for the VIIIth Olympiad. From the 150 sketches submitted in the poster competition, the French Olympic Committee selected two — this one and another by Orsi (see PAI-XXVIII, 465).
“The revival of the Olympic Games in 1896 had been one manifestation of the late-nineteenth century preoccupation with physical culture and ancient Greek ideals of physical beauty; by the early twentieth century an awareness of the healthy body and an enthusiasm for sports and physical prowess had developed yet further.
It found particular expression in modernism, in which an emphasis on the active and perfectible body, and on individual and collective fitness, was crucial to the movements social agenda. The espousal of mass physical culture became a source of national pride and strength, as perfectly exemplified in Jean Droit’s image: the group of male athletes, right arms raised in a demonstration of unity and heroic endeavor, is pictured amid laurels of victory, the red, the white and the blue of the Tricolour and the Paris coat of arms” (Olympic Posters, p. 35).
Cycles Gladiator ca. 1895
Estimated Price: $4,000 – $5,000
Suggested Bid: $20,000
Artist: ANONYMOUS Size: 54 3/4 x 39 5/8 in./139 x 100 cm Imp. G. Massias, Paris Arguably the most famous of all bicycle posters, this image of a redheaded sylph being propelled through the sky by the unparalleled speed of her Gladiator cycle appears on everything in contemporary culture from wine labels to our company’s blog. And yet the design itself remains uncredited, despite the presence of the faint initials L.W. in the lower right corner. A lithographic masterpiece.
Estimated Price: $25,000 – $30,000
London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony
The long awaited London Olympics got off to an inspiring start with a very successful opening ceremony under the direction of British film director and producer, Danny Boyle, known for films such as Slumdog Millionaire and Trainspotting.
Instead of trying to compete with previous Olympics, Boyle turned this into a uniquely British production, virtually producing a movie using the British people as his cast.
Introduced as “Isles of Wonder” and starting in the green and pleasant rural past, the storyline moved through the industrial capitalism that tore up the tranquility and the earth and its people and raised steel mills and generations of miners and migrants. It told the story of how the Olympic Rings were forged and how the cauldron was created and lit, while telling the story of the people themselves. The design of the torch or cauldron was a reminder that the two threads are inseparable.
The show took 284 rehearsals by 7,500 people who each put in 150 hours… and the energy of Danny Boyle and his ability to forge relationships with everyone from Sebastian Coe to the volunteer meant it all paid off in an amazing production.
Rehearsals took place during some of the worst summer weather in living memory – which often made complex changes of scenery impossible and saw volunteers wringing out the water from drenched hoodies
Boyle made a point of making this a true British production all levels and of the 737 manufacturers and suppliers used, 96% were British.
The rich multi-media production managed to draw in threads from all parts of the fabric of British life, from favourite soap operas to the Beatles and Mr Bean, from inspired dance and music to James Bond and the Queen, paying tribute to some of the great contributions the British have made, including a special tribute the man who enabled a quantum leap in cultural evolution and could have become one of the richest people in the world. Fortunately for all of us Tim Berners Lee, inventor of the internet chose to give his invention to the citizens of the world for free.
Choosing a combination of British childrens literature and the NHS as two main themes was very appropriate as these games are all about inspiring future generations, and British writers are a priceless mine of creative wealth, and it is the imagination that opens doors to the future. In a similar vein, the NHS is a beacon of inspiration of what a nation can achieve if it works together for the greater good and believes in higher gods than that of money.
Having the Nationl Health Service as a major theme at this point in time was a stoke of genius. It is Britain’s largest employer, provides free healthcare to all and is one of the greatest public institutions ever forged in the UK. It is also under real threat at present of being privatised which would eventually make its services only available to the wealthy.
Boyle did not use actors to portray the NHS, but invited NHS workers to represent themselves. Betsy Lau-Robinson, 59, a senior nurse at London’s University College Hospital was one of them and said “Danny reached out to us, we got an email asking NHS volunteers to audition. When we first started, most of us had two left feet. By the end of it, my children said they had no idea I could dance like that.”
Writer on the project, Frank Cottrell Boyce said Boyle’s team could throw out ideas unencumbered by practicalities “Some were easy, sending rings into space is just cameras on balloons and the cycling doves are straightforward. But the chimneys? Yes, I still don’t know how they pulled that one off. The Queen was easy.”
Sebastian Coe was sent to Buckingham Palace to get permission for the scenes with James Bond and the Queen. They expected to be using a double to play the Queen, but she proved she had a good sense of humour and was happy to deliver the immortal line “Good evening, Mr Bond” herself and even brought along her own corgies to the filming which took place earlier this year at the palace.
It was far less easly to get permission to fly and film the helicopter along the Thames and through Tower Bridge, and the biggest headache was getting permission fror everything – from extracts of poetry and plays to music – not because the artists were unwilling to participate but because of the amount of time it required.
One of the many impressive things about the production was the fact that it was such a well kept secret. In a time of Wikileaks, telephone tapping and kiss and tell stories, 10,000 people were sworn to silence – and all kept it.
It was kept so well that 18 year old Jordan Duckitt, one of the young people who lit the cauldron came to the ceremony alone, as his parents had flown off on holiday, unaware that he was involved in any way.
One of the secrets that stayed intact was what the Olympic Cauldron would look like. Over the years it had been getting bigger, higher and taller with each new Olympics Ceremony. Thomas Heatherwick, the designer of “Betty” as the British cauldron was codenamed decided to take a different approach.
Secrecy wasn’t easy and testing was done at 3am when all volunteers had left and there were no helicopters over London. “We’re normally designing buildings,” Heatherwick said. “It is like the biggest gadget that anyone can make in a shed but this shed is the most sophisticated shed in Harrogate. It was like the Bond gadget workshop.
Cottrell Boyce said it did not surprise him that 10,000 people had managed to keep the secret “Those volunteers redefined the nation for me,” he said. “We’re told people need to be paid great sums to get results, but those who are motivated by money cock up. Because they’re crap. People who are motivated by things like love, family, friendship and humanity are the ones who have something to offer.”
Read MoreGood Books Change Lives
Books can be entertaining, educational, escapist and sometimes life-changing.
There is even an online bookshop that will ensure that the next book you read (that is bought via their bookshop) will be life-changing – if it doesn’t change your life, it will definitely be helping to change someone else’s life.. for the better.
Good Books works together with Oxfam so all profits from their books go to funding Oxfam projects. It also gives its customers free international delivery
This charitable website is called UseGoodBooks.com and they explain the simple concept behind their project:
“The Good Books model is simple. Every time anyone buys a book through the Good Books website, 100% of the retail profit from every sale goes to support communities in need through Oxfam projects”
As a result, charitable donation is built into an everyday activity at no extra cost.
No one at Good Books is paid and we have zero operating costs. All time, professional services and resources are donated.
Good Books is about creating positive and enduring connections between commercial worlds and wider, less advantaged communities. Rather than fight a system that privileges a few over many, we wanted to transform it from within to constructive effect. Now, each time you buy a book through us you challenge traditional barriers that prevent commercial involvement in reducing poverty.”
Good Books “Metamorphosis” from Antfood on Vimeo.
This video by creative Agency Antfood uses two main sources of inspiration – the wonderfully evocative imagery that well crafted words on a page can conjour up in our minds, (in this case stepping into Franz Kafka’s “Metamorphosis”) and the paradigm shift that people like those at Good Books are working to promote – that commercial activity need not be exclusively about maximising profits to benefit a few, but can have a direct role in ending poverty and creating a better life for all.
“We dug through the darkest recesses of our minds and studio to create original music and sound design for this Buck masterpiece. Working with squirming, analog-tape leeches, moaning coeds, screaming guitar goats, and brain-exploding psychedelia, we were certainly in our element. Plus, it’s always fun to rock out and get a little weird for a good cause!”
Read More