Msg from Earth: You’re Amazing
Msg from Earth: You’re Amazing
For All Those Who Stood Up for the Health of the Planet and its Inhabitants
Via its Warriors at Greenpeace:
“You are incredible. Thanks for everything you’ve done in 2012. Let’s do it again in 2013.”
Read MoreLove 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 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 MoreKONY 2012: Do It Now
“Its hard to look back on some parts of human history because when we heard about injustice we cared, but we didn’t know what to do
Too often we did nothing, but if we’re going to change that we have to start somewhere”
Invisible Children uses Film, Creativity and Social Action to end the use of Child Soldiers in Joseph Kony’s Rebel War and Restore Communities in Central Africa to Peace and Prosperity
Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army
Joseph Kony, a former Catholic alter boy from northern Uganda formed what he called “The Lord’s Resistance Army” in about 1987 – originally called the United Holy Salvation Army (UHSA).
The Lords Resistance Army demanded that Uganda be ruled according to the Biblical Ten Commandments.
Kony formed his army mostly of children kidnapped and abducted by LRA, girls are taken for sex slaves and boys as fighters. Kony is thought to have more than 80 wives as he and his senior commanders take their pick of the abducted girls.
The LRA has abducted possibly over 100,000 children.
The children are forced to perform almost unimaginable acts of cruelty, including often being forced to kill their own parents.
————
Kony received a surge of attention in early March 2012 when a 30-minute documentary titled Kony 2012 by film maker Jason Russell for the campaign group Invisible Children Inc was released. By the 17th of March it had been viewed by over 80 million people.
The charity “Invisible Children” hope to raise Kony’s notoriety enough to provoke a massive overnight poster campaign, planned for 20 April 2012
Money and Power Dictate to Governments
It’s always been that the decisions made by the few with the money and the power dictated the priority of their governments and the stories in the media. They determine the lives and the opportunities of their citizens.
But now there’s something bigger than that. The people of the world see each other and can protect each other.
It’s turning the system upside down. And it changes everything.
We are living in a new world, a Facebook world in which 750 million people share ideas, not thinking in borders. Its a global community, bigger than the U.S.
“Joseph Kony was committing crimes for 20 years and no-one cared. We care.”
A Turning Point in History
We have reached a crucial time in history, where what we do, or don’t do right now will affect every generation to come.
Arresting Joseph Kony will prove that the world we live in has new rules, that the techology that has brought our planet together is allowing us to respond to problems of our friends.
We are not just studying human history, we are shaping it
Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.
Three things you can do:
1. Sign the Pledge to Show Your Support
2. Get the Bracelet and the Action Kit
3. Sign up for Tri to Donate a Few Dollars a Month
and join our Army for Peace
http://www.kony2012.com/
To see real time reports on LRA activity in the D.R.Congo, Central African Republic and South Sudan visit: http://www.lracrisistracker.com/
To learn more about Invisible Children’s recovery efforts in the post-conflict regions of northern Uganda AND our work with communities currently affected in D.R.Congo, Central African Republic and South Sudan visit: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/programs.html
To view our response to common critiques to the KONY 2012 film and campaign visit:
http://www.invisiblechildren.com/critiques.html
To see our worldwide youth mobilization initiatives:
http://www.invisiblechildren.com/movement.html
Learn More: http://kony2012.com
Donate to Invisible Children: https://stayclassy.org/checkout/set-donation?eid=14711
For official MEDIA and artist REPRESENTATION ONLY: Christina Cattarini cattarini@sunshinesachs.com
DIRECTOR: Jason Russell LEAD EDITOR: Kathryn Lang EDITORS: Kevin Trout, Jay Salbert, Jesse Eslinger LEAD ANIMATOR: Chad Clendinen ANIMATOR: Jesse Eslinger 3-D MODELING: Victor Soto VISUAL EFFECTS: Chris Hop WRITERS: Jason Russell, Jedidiah Jenkins, Kathryn Lang, Danica Russell, Ben Keesey, Azy Groth PRODUCERS: Kimmy Vandivort, Heather Longerbeam, Chad Clendinen, Noelle Jouglet ORIGINAL SCORES: Joel P. West SOUND MIX: Stephen Grubbs, Mark Friedgen, Smart Post Sound COLOR: Damian Pelphrey, Company 3 CINEMATOGRAPHY: Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey, Laren Poole, Gavin Kelly, Chad Clendinen, Kevin Trout, Jay Salbert, Shannon Lynch PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: Jaime Landsverk LEAD DESIGNER: Tyler Fordham DESIGNERS: Chadwick Gantes, Stephen Witmer
MUSIC CREDIT:
Original Instrumental Scores by Joel P. West http://www.joelpwest.com/
“02 Ghosts I” Performed by Nine Inch Nails, Written by Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor, Produced by Alan Moulder, Atticus Ross, and Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails appear courtesy of The Null Corporation
“Punching in a Dream”, Performed by The Naked and Famous, Written by Aaron Short, Alisa Xayalith, and Thom Powers, Produced by Thom Powers, The Naked and Famous appear courtesy of Somewhat Damaged and Universal Republic
“Arrival of the Birds”, Performed by The Cinematic Orchestra, Written by The Cinematic Orchestra, Produced by The Cinematic Orchestra, The Cinematic Orchestra appears courtesy of Disney Records
“Roll Away Your Stone”, Performed by Mumford and Sons, Written by Benjamin Lovett, Edward Dwane, Marcus Mumford, and Winston Marshall, Produced by Markus Dravs, Mumford and Sons appear courtesy of Glassnote Entertainment Group LLC
“On (Instrumental)”, Performed by Bloc Party
Written by Bloc Party, Produced by Jacknife Lee, Bloc Party appears courtesy of Vice Records
“A Dream within a Dream”, Performed by The Glitch Mob, The Glitch Mob appears courtesy of Glass Air
“I Can’t Stop”, Performed by Flux Pavilion, Flux Pavilion appears courtesy of Circus Records Limited
Read MoreJason Silva: To Understand is to Perceive Patterns
“True comprehension comes when the dots are revealed and you get Steven Johnson’s Long View…put simply: Everything is connected… Chance favours the connected mind…”
These are some of the ideas film maker Jason Silva shares with his usual enthusiasm on the fastest growing network in TV history – “Current TV”.
INSPIRATION:
The Imaginary Foundation says “To Understand Is To Perceive Patterns”…
Albert-László Barabási, author of LINKED, wants you to think about NETWORKS:
Networks are Everywhere
“Networks are everywhere. The brain is a network of nerve cells connected by axons, and cells themselves are networks of molecules connected by biochemical reactions. Societies, too, are networks of people linked by friendships, familial relationships and professional ties.
On a larger scale, food webs and ecosystems can be represented as networks of species. And networks pervade technology: the Internet, power grids and transportation systems are but a few examples.
Even the language we are using to convey these thoughts to you is a network, made up of words connected by syntactic relationships.”
‘For decades, we assumed that the components of such complex systems as the cell, the society, or the Internet are randomly wired together. In the past decade, an avalanche of research has shown that many real networks, independent of their age, function, and scope, converge to similar architectures, a universality that allowed researchers from different disciplines to embrace network theory as a common paradigm.’
Steven Johnson, author of Where Good Ideas Come From, writes about recurring patterns and liquid networks:
The Cities of the Seas
“Coral reefs are sometimes called “the cities of the sea”, and part of the argument is that we need to take the metaphor seriously: the reef ecosystem is so innovative because it shares some defining characteristics with actual cities.
These patterns of innovation and creativity are fractal: they reappear in recognizable form as you zoom in and out, from molecule to neuron to pixel to sidewalk. Whether you’re looking at original innovations of carbon-based life, or the explosion of news tools on the web, the same shapes keep turning up… when life gets creative, it has a tendency to gravitate toward certain recurring patterns, whether those patterns are self-organizing, or whether they are deliberately crafted by human agents”
Patrick Pittman from Dumbo Feather adds:
Everything is Connected
“Put simply: cities are like ant colonies are like software is like slime molds are like evolution is like disease is like sewage systems are like poetry is like the neural pathways in our brain. Everything is connected.
“…Johnson uses ‘The Long Zoom’ to define the way he looks at the world—if you concentrate on any one level, there are patterns that you miss. When you step back and simultaneously consider, say, the sentience of a slime mold, the cultural life of downtown Manhattan and the behavior of artificially intelligent computer code, new patterns emerge.”
James Gleick, author of THE INFORMATION, has written how the cells of an organism are nodes in a richly interwoven communications network, transmitting and receiving, coding and decoding and how Evolution itself embodies an ongoing exchange of information between organism and environment.. (Its an ECO-SYSTEM, an EVOLVING NETWORK)
“If you want to understand life,” Wrote Richard Dawkins, “don’t think about vibrant, throbbing gels and oozes, think about information technology.” (AND THINK ABOUT NETWORKS!!)
Geoffrey West, from The Santa Fe Institute, also believes in the pivotal role of NETWORKS:
Network Systems Can Sustain Life at All Scales
“…Network systems can sustain life at all scales, whether intracellularly or within you and me or in ecosystems or within a city…. If you have a million citizens in a city or if you have 1014 cells in your body, they have to be networked together in some optimal way for that system to function, to adapt, to grow, to mitigate, and to be long term resilient.”
Author Paul Stammetts writes about The Mycelial Archetype: He compares the mushroom mycelium with the overlapping information-sharing systems that comprise the Internet, with the networked neurons in the brain, and with a computer model of dark matter in the universe. All share this densely intertwingled filamental structure.
To understand is to perceive patterns
An article in Reality Sandwich called Google a psychedelically informed superpowered network, a manifestation of the mycelial archetype:
Chance Favours the Connected Mind
“Recognizing this super-connectivity and conductivity is often accompanied by blissful mindbody states and the cognitive ecstasy of multiple “aha’s!” when the patterns in the mycelium are revealed.
That Googling that has become a prime noetic technology (How can we recognize a pattern and connect more and more, faster and faster?: superconnectivity and superconductivity) mirrors the increased speed of connection of thought-forms from cannabis highs on up.
The whole process is driven by desire not only for these blissful states in and of themselves, but also as the cognitive resource they represent.The devices of desire are those that connect,” because as Johnson says “CHANCE FAVORS THE CONNECTED MIND”.
Geoffrey WEST on The sameness of organisms, cities, and corporations:
http://blog.ted.com/2011/07/26/qa-with-geoffrey-west/
Stephen Johnson’s LONG VIEW
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/magazine/08games.html?pagewanted=all
http://dumbofeather.com/blog/post/on-slime-molds-and-sewage-steven-johnson-s-origin-of-the-idea/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/oct/19/steven-johnson-good-ideas?cat=science&type=article
BARABASI’s Scale Free Networks:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=scale-free-networks
Manuel Lima’s Visual Complexity:
visualcomplexity.com
Paul Stammets Myceilum is everywhere:
http://www.realitysandwich.com/google_and_myceliation_consciousness
***********
A collaboration of /Jason Silva and /Notthisbody incorporating:
/Aaron Koblin
/entpm
/Andrea Tseng
/Genki Ito
/ItoWorld
/Dominic
/Cheryl Colan
/TheNightElfik
/Paulskiart
/Grant Kayl
/blyon
/resonance
/gtAlumniMag
/Katie Armstrong
/Page Stephenson
/Jesse Kanda
/Jared Raab
/Angela Palmer
/elliottsellers
/flight404
/Pedro Miguel Cruz
/Takuya Hosogane
/kimpimmel
/Rob Whitwort
**and some original animations from Tiffany Shlain’s film CONNECTED: An Autoblogography about Love, Death & Technology
****
By @jason_silva and @notthisbody – Follow us on Twitter!
Our other videos:
Beginning of Infinity – http://vimeo.com/29938326
You are a RCVR – http://vimeo.com/27671433
****
Jason Silva
Jason Silva is a Venezuelan-American television personality, filmmaker and journalist who is the founding producer/host for “Current TV” the Emmy winning youth-oriented lifestyle cable network started by former US Vice President Al Gore.
“Current TV” is now the fastest growing network in TV history.
Silva was born in Caracas, Venezuela and now lives in Los Angeles, California.
Jason Silva earned a degree in film and philosophy from the University of Miami, Florida. Along with best friend, Max Lugavere, he produced and starred in a video documentary/performance piece called “Textures of Selfhood”.
“Max and Jason” have become a prolific hosting and producing duo on Current TV. Silva produced and directed a short documentary film “the Immortalists” which profiled scientists on the subject of merging technology and biology in ways to overcome our biological limitations.
This film was based the quote: “We are as gods and might as well get good at it.”
Pangea Day
Pangea Day was created by filmmaker Jehane Noujaim and TED curator Chris Anderson, with the goal of using film to unite the people of the world through the power of film.
Jason Silva along with his co-host on Current TV, Max Lugavere hosted the first annual Pangea Day on May 10, 2008, a 4 hour program of film, music and speakers that was broadcast worldwide to over 150 countries with a projected audience of over 500 million people.
Read More