Complimenting Strangers

A shiny happy video showing how strangers react to random compliments:
“Just having fun being friendly to strangers, hoping to brighten their day! ”

Watch the video here.

Primitive: A New Multi-Platform Media Artwork

Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s new multi-platform media artwork Primitive was commissioned by FACT in partnership with Haus der Kunst, Munich and Animate Projects, London. The work is a combination of:

• a multiple- screen video installation
• a music video
• a short film for cinema
• an online film
• an artist’s book.

“This will be the first solo exhibition in the UK by the Thai artist, which forms part of the AND Festival, Primitive is set in Nabua in the Renu Nakhon district of Thailand, which suffered violent clashes between communist communities and the Thai military in the 1960s. Communist suspects were brutally tortured during attacks and those who managed to escape fled to the jungle where they disappeared forever. Nabua’s story undeniably has echoes with the current political turmoil in Thailand, as freedom of expression is still restricted and Thai security forces continue to engage in extrajudicial killings, torture and arbitrary arrests, with new cases of ‘enforced disappearances’ emerging during 2008.”

Read more about Primitive at FACT.

Open Call – New Life Happening

Propose a happening or event for 10.000 participants in Copenhagen during the UN Climate Conference. Your concept should involve collective action and will be implemented alongside New Life Happenings by artist groups Superflex (DK) and Signa (DK/A) among others. The Submission deadline is October 1st 2009. The official Opening of New Happenings is December 7th 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. To submit, please visit: www.wooloo.org.

Legal Case Against God Dismissed

“A US judge has thrown out a case against God, ruling that because the defendant has no address, legal papers cannot be served.

The suit was launched by Nebraska state senator Ernie Chambers, who said he might appeal against the ruling.

He sought a permanent injunction to prevent the “death, destruction and terrorisation” caused by God.

Judge Marlon Polk said in his ruling that a plaintiff must have access to the defendant for a case to proceed.

“Given that this court finds that there can never be service effectuated on the named defendant this action will be dismissed with prejudice,” Judge Polk wrote in his ruling.

Mr Chambers cannot refile the suit but may appeal.”

Read more at BBC News.

Moby On Animal Production’s Impact On Global Warming

Moby checked in with fans on his blog at MySpace on Thursday (August 20), talking about his participation in the concert for the European Union and MTV and the neglect many in the climate change movement have in mentioning animal production’s impact on greenhouse gases. Moby writes:

“It’s a concert to draw attention to and benefit the European Union’s climate change initiative. Which I’m happy to talk about as long as no one minds me mentioning that 24% of climate change is the result of animal production (according to a United Nations report a few years ago).

I asked Al Gore about why he didn’t mention this in an ‘inconvenient truth’ (as animal production is responsible for more greenhouse gases than every car, bus, truck, bus, plane, boat on the planet COMBINED). He answered honestly, basically saying that getting people to drive a hybrid car isn’t that difficult. Getting people to give up animal products is almost impossible. I appreciated his honesty. So I guess I’ll be talking about climate change tomorrow, and I guess I’ll have to mention the most inconvenient of inconvenient truths, that you can’t talk seriously about climate change and global warming without looking at the role of animal production (animal production being responsible for 24% of greenhouse gas emissions and also the #1 cause of deforestation in the rainforest)”

More from Moby’s Journal

Also worth checking out, is Food.inc.  You’ll never look at dinner the same way!

Moby on Twitter @thelittleidiot.

Civil Disobedience Database

A million copies of a fake paper have been distributed worldwide by thousands of volunteers in order to show what could be achieved at the Copenhagen climate conference that is scheduled for Dec. 7-18, 2009.

The real conference scheduled for later this year, has been criticized for too little, too late!

The fake paper describes in detail a powerful (and entirely possible) new treaty to bring carbon levels down below 350 parts per million – the level climate scientists say we need to achieve to avoid climate catastrophe. One article describes how a website, http://BeyondTalk.net, mobilized thousands of people to put their bodies on the line to
confront climate change policies – ever since way back in June, 2009.

Although the newspaper is a fake (its production and launch were coordinated by Greenpeace), the website is real. Beyondtalk.net is part of a growing network of websites calling for direct action on climate change, building on statements made in recent months by noted political figures. (For example, in September Nobel laureate Al Gore asserted that “we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants.”)

Further information:
* Civil-disobedience database: http://BeyondTalk.net
* PDF of printed newspaper: http://iht.greenpeace.org/todays-paper/
- Online version: http://www.iht-se.com/
* Video: http://iht.greenpeace.org/video/ (coming soon)
* CONTACT:
- The Yes Men, mailto:press@theyesmen.org
- Mark Breddy (Greenpeace), mailto:mark.breddy@greenpeace.org
- Lawrence Bogad, mailto:l.m.bogad@gmail.com

earth 2100

In an unprecedented television and internet event, ABC News is asking you to help answer perhaps the most important question of our time — What could our world look like over the next one hundred years if we don’t act now to save our troubled planet?

The world’s brightest minds agree that the “perfect storm” of population growth, resource depletion and climate change could converge with catastrophic results.

earth 2100 wants you to bring this story to life — to use your imagination to create short videos about what it would be like to live through the next century if we stay on our current path. Using predictions from top experts, we will feed you detailed briefings from the years 2015, 2050 and 2100 — and you will report back about the dangers that are unfolding before your eyes.

Your videos will be combined with the projections of top scientists, historians, and economists to form a powerful web–based narrative about the perils of our future. We will also select the most compelling reports to form the backbone of our two–hour primetime ABC News broadcast: Earth 2100.

http://earth2100.tv/