09 May 2008
Pangea Day: 5 films win grants from Participant Productions
(Above: Scenes from the filmmakers' reception Thursday night in Los Angeles. We were asked: "Raise your hand if you came from outside the United States to be here.")
Last night in Los Angeles, Participant Productions honored 5 films from around the world by giving their filmmakers $5,000 grants. The grants are awarded by Participant, makers of Charlie Wilson's War and the new Standard Operating Procedure and other amazing films, as part of its Outstanding Filmmakers Awards Program. Learn more about the 5 grant winners -- each film links to a page on PangeaDay.org >>
From Africa, DEAR MANDELA (documentary) by Dara Kell and Christopher Nizza (South Africa)
From Asia/Australia, I REMEMBER LEBANON (documentary) by Zeina Aboul Hosn (Lebanon)
From Europe, MY MOTHER’S DAUGHTER (documentary) by Saleyha Ashan (UK); pictured left.
From North America, MOVING WINDMILLS (documentary) by Ari Kushnir (US)
From South America, PAPIROFLEXIA (animated) by Joaquin Baldwin (Paraguay)
08 May 2008
Who's blogging from Pangea Day?
(Above: a scene from Thursday's tech rehearsal on the Pangea Day set)
UPDATED: You can follow news from Pangea Day on the Pangea Day Blog -- and get updates from bloggers at screenings and viewing parties around the world. If you're going to be blogging Pangea Day as well, write to us with the subject line "Blogging Pangea Day" and we'll add you to the list!
Hosting Pangea Day events and blogging:
+ At the Ammarin Bedouin Camp in Beidha/Petra
+ Pangea Day Dharavi/Mumbai
+ A New York City screening hosted by the Acumen Fund
+ Friends of Pangea Day Vancouver
+ Pangea Day Cambridge UK
+ Pangea Day Milano
+ At Wide Awake Living
+ Jack Hidary
+ Na Lua Nova will blog in Portuguese (from a birthday party!)
08 May 2008
Dance + physics = juggling: Michael Moschen on TED.com
Michael Moschen puts on a quietly mesmerizing show of elegant, even artistic juggling. Don't think juggling is an art? You might just change your mind after watching Moschen in motion. (Recorded March 2002 in Monterey, California. Duration: 37:02.)
Watch Michael Moschen's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
Read more about Michael Moschen on TED.com.
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07 May 2008
Pangea Day bloggers touch down in Mumbai, Rio, LA
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Pangea Day bloggers are on the ground at the 6 live broadcast locations around the world, and reports are starting to come in.
Reporting from Rio de Janeiro, Saralena and Claire write,
We just touched down after an overnight journey from New York City -- and are completely struck by the beauty of the city. A meeting with the Pangea Day team in Rio proved that we are more than ready to have a fantastic celebration on Saturday.
The event will be at the top of Morro da Urca. The only way to get there is by a cable car (see pic, left) that can carry no more than 100 people at a time. During the hours it will take the cable car to carry the 1500+ attendees to the top, some amazing pre-show entertainment is planned -- including screenings by the Nosdomorro Film School (a Favela Cinema organization), dance performances, and musicians.
Meanwhile, Tom in Mumbai writes,
After the 15-hour flight, Virginia and I have arrived in Mumbai. It's the perfect Indian city for Pangea Day -- huge, diverse, and rapidly changing. Over the week we'll be promoting the event, encouraging the press to participate, and capturing many of the Friends of Pangea Day events.
Our friends the KaosPilots are organising an event in Dharavi, one of the largest slums in Asia. This is a real example of how Pangea Day is including an audience that wouldn't otherwise get to participate. (See more details of the Dharavi initiative here.)
And from Virginia, also in Mumbai:
We arrived last night, exhausted and exhilarated by our wild taxi ride through Mumbai. It felt like I'd fallen right into a Rushdie novel. I can't wait to learn more about this amazing city that is so completely new.
This morning we're looking out onto the Arabian Sea talking with Katie, "Decibel" Dave, and Yeshish about spreading the word about Pangea Day over the next three days. We're excited to reach out to local organizations and filmmakers to fill up the seats and make Mumbai '08 a lively event.
Meanwhile, our Los Angeles team sends this photo from the Sony soundstage in progress (left). See more photos from LA on OVI.com/pangeaday and look for lots more news from LA in the days to come, including reports from the May 9 filmmaker retreat, where 100 filmmakers from around the world will meet to talk about their art.
Check the Pangea Day Blog for frequent updates from Cairo, LA, Kigali, and London. (And if you're participating in any pre-Pangea Day activities, let us know at blog@pangeaday.org!)
07 May 2008
James Howard Kunstler's novel of a long emergency
"We are sleepwalking into the future," author James Howard Kunstler said in his biting 2004 TEDTalk, envisioning a bleak post-oil era for sprawling suburban America. His predictions come to life, now, in spite of the controversy surrounding them: Kunstler has written a novel, titled World Made by Hand, which details life in the "Long Emergency." On the book's website you can find a video trailer for the novel, an interview with Kunstler, as well as a sample chapter.
Following the likes of other TEDTalks favorites (such as Aubrey de Grey), Kunstler recently appeared on the Colbert Report to promote his book.
The novel follows a character named Robert Earle -- a carpenter who was once a corporate executive.
07 May 2008
Celebrating the new AIMS Research Centre in South Africa
2008 TED Prize winner Neil Turok sends these great photos from the new AIMS Research Centre, which is set to open May 12 in Muizenberg, Cape Town, South Africa. AIMS -- the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences -- promotes math and sciences education throughout Africa. Its goal is, quite simply, to find the next Einstein in Africa.
During a two-day festival starting this weekend, Neil Turok, AIMS director Fritz Hahne and the students of AIMS will dedicate the new AIMS Research Centre -- and launch a drive to build a dozen more AIMS schools all over Africa. At the party: the head of NASA, two Nobel laureates, poets and musicians, and the 25 amazing students at AIMS, as well as Stephen Hawking, who's expected to give his first-ever lecture in Africa. Look to the TED Blog and to TEDPrize.org for more reports!
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07 May 2008
Can we domesticate germs? Paul Ewald on TED.com
Evolutionary biologist Paul Ewald drags us into the sewer to discuss germs. Why are some germs more harmful than others? How could we make the harmful ones benign? Searching for answers, he examines a disgusting, fascinating case: diarrhea. (Recorded February 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 17:52.)
Watch Paul Ewald's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
Read more about Paul Ewald on TED.com.
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06 May 2008
Help Myanmar (Burma) rebuild, with Architecture for Humanity
Following Saturday's devastating Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (Burma), Architecture for Humanity is asking for help in rebuilding the country over the long term. They write:
While the media will focus its attention on the loss of life, there will be millions displaced in the coming weeks -- and like most natural disasters, there's no plan for long-term sustainable reconstruction. Large aid agencies like Oxfam and Care will be knee-deep in immediate delivery of aid. How will the country respond to the long-term strategic need to rebuild the country?
We will need to raise a minimum of $10,000 to provide design services to communities affected by the disaster. This is a small start, but could affect tens of thousands of those displaced.
In the first 6 hours of this drive, AfH raised $4,000 from over 120 donors. Learn more about this appeal >>
06 May 2008
TED.com wins 3 Webby Awards
TED.com has been awarded Webbies in 3 categories:
+ Podcast
+ Best Navigation/Structure
+ Best Visual Design - Function
06 May 2008
6 ways mushrooms can save the world: Paul Stamets on TED.com
Mycologist Paul Stamets studies mycelium and lists 6 ways that this astonishing fungus can help save the world. Cleaning polluted soil, creating new insecticides, treating smallpox and maybe even the flu ... in 18 minutes, he doesn't get all the way through his list, but he has plenty of time to blow your mind. An audience favorite at TED2008. (Recorded February 2008 in Monterey, California. Duration: 17:44.)
Watch Paul Stamets' talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
Read more about Paul Stamets on TED.com.
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05 May 2008
Maira Kalman on Alvar Aalto, in T Magazine
A lovely moment in the latest T Magazine, in this Sunday's New York Times: Maira Kalman writes about and illustrates her classic Alvar Aalto vase.
03 May 2008
Italy plays Tibet: A fan video from Pangea Day Milano
It's only a week now until Pangea Day -- the worldwide festival of film, ideas and music, happening simultaneously around the globe on May 10. Thousands of locally hosted events worldwide will share the program, and if you're in Milan, you're invited to join the local viewing party hosted by Pangea Day Milano -- see their webpage for details (in Italian). These Friends of Pangea Day have also made their own anthem video, in tribute to the "Imagine" anthem project that's part of the Pangea Day program. Check out these Italian horn players taking on the national anthem of Tibet! We found out about this fan video on pangeadaymilano's Twitter feed.
Watch "Italy plays Tibet" >>
01 May 2008
Vote for your favorite public intellectuals
Not to be outdone by the Time 100, the journals Foreign Policy and Prospect have together released a list of the Top 100 public intellectuals -- with voting. Many TEDTalks favorites appear on the list, and you can help choose the eventual top 20 by voting for your very own top 5. From Foreign Policy's site:
Although the men and women on this list are some of the world’s most sophisticated thinkers, the criteria to make the list could not be more simple. Candidates must be living and still active in public life. They must have shown distinction in their particular field as well as an ability to influence wider debate, often far beyond the borders of their own country.
TEDTalks speakers on this top 100 list include George Ayittey, Steven Pinker, Neil Gershenfeld, Malcolm Gladwell, Craig Venter, Al Gore, Richard Dawkins, Vilayanur Ramachandran, Larry Lessig, Steven Levitt, E.O. Wilson, Dan Dennett and Bjorn Lomborg -- and look for upcoming TEDTalks from others on this list, including Paul Collier, who spoke at TED2008 about "the bottom billion."
01 May 2008
Dick Clark on Jill Bolte Taylor
Among the many TEDTalks stars on this year's Time 100 list, Jill Bolte Taylor gets perhaps the coolest biographer: Dick Clark. He writes:
Through her writings and lectures, she has done perhaps more than anyone else to explain, both to the healthy and the stricken, what a stroke is.
01 May 2008
The power to connect the world: Hector Ruiz on TED.com
Hector Ruiz talks about his commitment to giving the world access to the Internet. Ruiz is the CEO of AMD, and through AMD's 50x15 initiative, Ruiz and his company hope to connect 50 percent of the world to the Internet by 2015. Sharing his own extraordinary life story, Ruiz makes the case that access to education is life-changing. (Recorded June 2007 in Arusha, Tanzania. Duration: 19:57.)
Watch Hector Ruiz's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.
Read more about Hector Ruiz on TED.com.
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Get the latest Pangea Day news on the Pangea Day Blog >>
Find Pangea Day photos and video on OVI.com/pangeaday >>
Watch Pangea Day online on May 10 >>
See who else is blogging Pangea Day >>
Watch Pangea Day online on May 10 >>
See who else is blogging Pangea Day >>
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Tips? Comments? contact (at) ted (dot) com
Blogs We Watch
>> TEDPrize.org | Updates on the 2008 TED Prize winners and wishes: Dave Eggers' wish blog; Karen Armstrong's wish blog; Neil Turok's wish blog
>> Thomas Dolby | TED Musical Director, blogging at ThomasDolby.com
>> Bruno Giussani | TED European Director, blogging at LunchOverIP.com
>> Emeka Okafor | TEDAfrica Director, blogging at Timbuktu Chronicles and Africa Unchained
TED Bloggers
Chris Anderson | Curator
June Cohen | Director of TED Media
Amy Novogratz | TED Prize Director
Tom Rielly | Humorist
Jason Wishnow | Director, Film + Video
Emily McManus | Editor, TED.com
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