Posts Tagged "Awards"

People’s Climate March: Ubuntu: We Have a Duty to Persuade Our Leaders

Posted by on Sep 21, 2014

 “Never before in history have human beings been called on to act collectively in defence of the Earth.”

 “Who can stop climate change?

We can. You and you and you, and me.

And it is not just that we can stop it, we have a responsibility to do so that began in the genesis of humanity, when


God commanded the earliest human inhabitants of the Garden of Eden,

“to till it and keep it”. To “keep” it;

not to abuse it, not to make as much money as possible from it, not to destroy it.”

— Desmond Tutu —

http://peoplesclimate.org/

Extracts  from an article by Desmond Tutu writing in the Observer on the day of the biggest global call-to-action on Climate Change in history.

Marches and protests took place worldwide. Organisers in Manhatten said some 310,000 people joined the march, including Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon.

“This is the planet where our subsequent generations will live,”
Mr Ban said: “There is no ‘Plan B’ because we do not have ‘Planet B’.”

The People’s March has been organised just ahead of the United Nations Climate Summit in New York next week. Campaigners are demanding curbs on carbon emissions along with changes in law which would prevent a continuation of the unprecedented levels of damage currently being done to humans and the environment by unfettered psychopathic and antisocial corporate greed.
(Comment by RZ, not Desmond Tutu)

The complete article can be read here: Desmond Tutu: We fought apartheid. Now climate change is our global enemy

“As responsible citizens of the world – sisters and brothers of one family, the human family, God’s family – we have a duty to persuade our leaders to lead us in a new direction: to help us abandon our collective addiction to fossil fuels, starting this week in New York at the United Nations Climate Summit.”

“Just as we argued in the 1980s that those who conducted business with apartheid South Africa were aiding and abetting an immoral system, we can say that nobody should profit from the rising temperatures, seas and human suffering caused by the burning of fossil fuels.“

“We can boycott events, sports teams and media programming sponsored by fossil fuel companies; demand that their advertisements carry health warnings; organise car-free days and other platforms to build broader societal awareness; and ask our religious communities to speak out on the issue from their various pulpits. We can encourage energy companies to spend more of their resources on the development of sustainable energy products, and we can reward those companies that demonstrably do so by using their products to the exclusion of others.”

We can encourage more of our universities and municipalities, foundations, corporations, individuals and cultural institutions to cut their ties to the fossil fuel industry. To divest, and invest, instead, in renewable energy. To move their money out of the problem and into the solutions.

People’s Climate March Design Contest

Contest Finalists

Winners

We can urge our governments to invest in sustainable practices and stop subsidising fossil fuels; and to freeze further exploration for new fossil energy sources. The fossil reserves that have already been discovered exceed what can ever be safely used. Yet companies spend half a trillion dollars each year searching for more fuel. They should redirect this money toward developing clean energy solutions.

We can support our leaders to make the correct moral choices and to avoid undue industry influence that blocks the political will to act on climate change. Through the power of our collective action we can hold those who rake in the profits accountable for cleaning up their mess.”

The good news is that we don’t have to start from scratch. Young people across the world have identified climate change as the biggest challenge of our time, and already begun to do something about it.

Once again, it is a global movement led by students and faith groups, along with hospitals, cities, foundations, corporations and individuals. It is a moral movement to persuade fossil fuel companies away from a business model that threatens our very survival.

My prayer is that humankind takes its first tangible steps in New York this week – as a collective – to move beyond the fossil fuel era.

“There is a word we use in South Africa that describes human relationships: Ubuntu. It says: I am because you are. My successes and my failures are bound up in yours. We are made for each other, for interdependence. Together, we can change the world for the better.”

 

People’s Climate March Design Contest Winning Designs
The contest had two winning designs which  will form the basis of a creative NYC subway ad campaign that will highlight both the depth of the climate crisis facing us, and the hope that organized people power can push our governments to take bold action. The winners are:

 James Jean with “Winds of Change”, and Ellie and  Akira Ohiso with “The Next One won’t be Biblical”

Climate March Poster Design Contest Winner - Winds of Change
Climate March Poster Design Contest Winner - The Next One Won't Be Biblical

 

 

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Joanne Harris: Changing The World One Story at a Time

Posted by on Jul 12, 2014

  “You don’t write because

someone sets assignments!

You write because you need to write,

or because you hope someone will listen

or because writing will mend something

broken inside you or

bring something back to life.” 

— JOANNE HARRIS —
Blackberry Wine

Author Joanne Harris describes the Butterfly Effect of a story she once read in a dentist’s waiting room, which would help save lives decades later, half way across the world.

She  has always had a particular interest in the power of words, having been brought up with French as a first language among a Yorkshire family who spoke no French and a Breton family who spoke no English.  

She considers the inconsistencies in the ways we are taught to regard the power of words, and the power of story telling in our lives. She also shares shares the wisest thing she has ever been told.

Joanne achieved world wide recognition with her third novel, the award-winning Chocolat which translated into the hugely popular film starting Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. Since then, all her books have been best sellers in the UK.

Joanne Harris is a patron of the charities Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and Plan UK, and has travelled to Togo and to the Congo to report on their work. An account of her visit to the Congo was published in Writing on the Edge, a collection of essays by noted literary figures, with photographs by Tom Craig, in 2010. She has also donated short stories to a number of charity anthologies, notably Piggybank Kids, the Woodland Trust, the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition and Breast Cancer UK.

In 2013 she was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

http://www.joanne-harris.co.uk/ 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Stories featured in the following anthologies:

  • Magic (2002)A collection of stories in aid of Piggybank Kids.
  • Bosom Buddies (2003)A collection of stories in aid of Breast Cancer UK.
  • Journey to the Sea (2005)A collection of stories in aid of Piggybank Kids.
  • Mums – a Celebration of Motherhood (2006)A collection of stories in aid of Piggybank Kids.
  • Dads – a Celebration of Fatherhood (2007)A collection in aid of Piggybank Kids.
  • In Bed With… (2009)A collection of erotic stories by well-known female writers.
  • Because I am A Girl (2010)Charity anthology in aid of Plan UK.
  • Stories (2010) A collection of fantasy tales, edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio.
  • Writing on the Edge (2010): A collection of eyewitness

Awards and Honours

Harris’ books are now published in over fifty countries and have won a number of UK and international awards, including:

  • Chocolat: Creative Freedom Award (2000); Whittaker Gold Award (2001). Shortlisted: Whitbread Novel of the Year Award (2000), Scripter Award (2001); film version nominated for 8 BAFTAs and 5 Oscars.[7] Whittaker Platinum Award(2012).
  • Blackberry Wine: 2000 Winner of both the Foreign and International categories of the Salon du Livre Gourmand (France).
  • Five Quarters of the Orange: Shortlisted: 2002 RNA Novel of the Year; Author of the Year 2002; WHSmith Award 2002 (UK).
  • The French Kitchen: (a cookbook with Fran Warde): 2005 Winner of the Golden Ladle for Best Recipe Book (softcover) in the World Food Media Awards.[8]
  • Gentlemen & Players: Shortlisted for the Edgar Award, 2007 (USA)[7] and the Grand Prix du Polar de Cognac (France).[9]
  • Flavours of Childhood: (a piece co-written for the Radio 4 series First Taste with poet Sean o’Brien) Winner of the Glenfiddich Award, 2006.[10]

In 2004, she was a judge for the Whitbread Prize (now the Costa), and in 2005, was a judge for the Orange Prize.[11]

In 2013 she was on the judging panel of the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science [12] and chaired the Desmond Elliott Prize.[13]

She is the holder of honorary doctorates in literature from the University of Huddersfield and the University of Sheffield, and is an Honorary Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge.

 

She works from a shed in her back garden [15] and is active on Twitter, where she is known as @joannechocolat, and tumblr, ( http://joannechocolat.tumblr.com/ ) which she uses, along with her website’s message board, to answer questions from her fans. She is married, and lives in Yorkshire with her husband Kevin and daughter Anouchka.

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Rebirth of Gaea: A Visual Love Letter

Posted by on Apr 1, 2013

Artist Jesse Michael Newman calls the “REBIRTH of GAEA” “A visual love letter for my daughter.”

“This video provides a layer-by-layer deconstruction of “Flowing Meditation,” a small part of REBIRTH of GAEA.”

See an excerpt from the video on vimeo.com/36092192

“REBIRTH of GAEA is an epic visual tapestry delicately interweaving reflections on the environment and spirituality through the rich imagery of Greek Mythology. My daughter Emma has had a deep connection to the environment for as long as I can remember. As she grew older and became enchanted with Greek Mythology, I decided to show my support for her interests by creating REBIRTH of GAEA, depicting her as the Goddess of Earth.”

As Newman immersed himself in Greek Mythology, his eyes were opened to a seemingly endless supply of wonderfully vivid inspiration. The scope of the project slowly evolved from a few-week-exploration into an all-encompassing creative undertaking spanning six years so far. Since the project began, Emma welcomed two younger siblings who dovetailed perfectly as other figures in the piece: her brother as EROS (The God of Love) and her sister as the NEBULAIC EMBRYO (the Birth of the Universe).

Newman hadn’t originally considered that Rebirth of Gaea would be seen outside of his daughter’s bedroom and was caught off-guard when some close friends wanted to purchase a print. They encouraged him to show it publicly, which he did for the first time in 2012. Ultimately, he aims to continue transforming the passion he has for his children into a way of life, with his artistic expressions allowing his love for them to echo long after he is gone.

The incredible music, “You’re Too Late Satan” by Worm Is Green, is available on iTunes and Amazon.

Above Artwork: “Chaos” by Jesse Newman

“Before all things came CHAOS, the vacant and infinite spacewhich existed previous to the creation of the world and from which all gods and men arose Anthropomorphized by Newman using his wife as a model, the universal energy forms the mind of the cosmos.”

Some of the highlights of his career that he notes on his website are:

—– Accepted into permanent collections of the MOMA and Whitney Museums
—– Academy Award short list, Best of Show at SIGGRAPH, Official selection for Cannes, Sundance and LA Film Festivals (ONE RAT SHORT – lead flame artist)
—– Best Visual Effects by AICP (MMs Kaleidoscope – lead flame artist)
—– BDA Gold for SciFi “If” and Paramount’s “Unexplained Mysteries”
—– Feature Film work includes FLUBBER and ARMAGEDDON — nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects
—– BFA in DESIGN, UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME

New York-based artist JESSE MICHAEL NEWMAN has built a career as a visual effects artist on award-winning projects including many films. Since turning his focus to his personal art and premiering at the International Art Expo in March 2012, he has been recognized by Art Business News as a Top 50 Emerging Artist and his art is now in private collections on four continents.

Location: New York, NY

http://www.jessenewman.com/gaea/
Website: http://www.facebook.com/Rebirth.of.Gaea
http://www.whoscreative.com/jessenewman

 

 

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The Oscar 2013 Winners

Posted by on Feb 26, 2013

The Oscars 2013 Award Ceremony was held on Sunday 24 February

 

The Winners

Best Picture: Argo

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis
Lincoln

Best Acress: Jennifer Lawrence
Silver Linings Playbook

Best Actor  – in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz
Django Unchained

Best Actress – in a Supporting Role: Anne Hathaway
Les Misérables

Best Animated Feature Film: Brave

Best Cinematography: Life of Pi

Best Costume Design: Anna Karenina
Jacqueline Durran

Best Directing: Life of Pi
Ang Lee

Best Documentary Feature: Searching for Sugar Man
Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn

Best Documentary Short: Inocente
Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine

Best Film Editing: Argo
William Goldenberg

Best Foreign Language Film: Amour
Austria

Best Makeup and HairstylingA: Les Misérables
Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Best Music – Original Score: Life of Pi
Mychael Danna

Best Music – Original Song: “Skyfall” from Skyfall
Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth

Best Production Design: Lincoln
Rick Carter (Production Design); Jim Erickson (Set Decoration)

Best Short Film – Animated: Paperman
John Kahrs

Best Short Film – Live Action:  Curfew
Shawn Christensen

Best Sound Editing: Skyfall
Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers

Best Sound Mixing: Les Misérables
Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes

Best Visual Effects: Life of Pi:
Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott

Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay: Argo
Written by Chris Terrio

Best Writing – Original Screenplay: Django Unchained
Written by Quentin Tarantino

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Make Good Art: Neil Gaiman’s Commencement Address

Posted by on Feb 11, 2013

 When things get tough, this is what you should do:  Make good art.  

I’m serious.       Husband runs off with a politician — make good art.      

Leg crushed and then eaten by a mutated boa constrictor — make good art.      

 IRS on your trail — make good art.      Cat exploded — make good art.      

 Someone on the Internet thinks what you’re doing is stupid or evil or it’s all been done before    — make good art.

— Neil Gaiman —

 

Above: Neil Gaiman giving his commencement address at the University of the Arts Class of 2012

We’re moving into a New Galaxy in which we have the ability to discover the realm of the Legendary Beings – the RainbowZebra.

It is very appropriate that the people that have the privilege of opening the doors to the new realm are all those that keep the spirit of Creation alive within – and express it in their lives. The Artists, the Writers, the Musicians, the Storytellers, the Dancers, the Architects and all those that love the Creative Spirit.

One person who has kept this creative spirit alive more than most, is Neil Gaiman and in this video he shares some good advice for anyone interested in following the creative path.

Neil Gaiman started reading at four and always wanted to be a writer

His commencement address at the University of the Arts Class of 2012 is a classic. The author, who admits he never had a career path planned out, says he just had always made sure he was heading in the right direction to get to the “mountain” in the distance in his mind, that he wanted to “climb”.

Addressing the appreciative audience Gaiman says he just left school and started writing…and continued to write as a journalist, novelist, poet and graphic novelist most famous perhaps for his series of Graphic Novels: Sandman

If you wonder whether this strategy paid off for him, use the link to view a bibliography of his work, and scroll through the list of awards he has received, below.

 

 

http://www.neilgaimanbibliography.com/allmenu.html

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