Media & Entertainment For Good
From WikiForGood
Contents |
Ways to Find Quality Entertainment
Matacritic.com Metacritic compiles reviews from respected critics and publications for film, video/dvd, books, music, television and games. Their unique Metascores show the critical consensus at a glance by taking a weighted average of critic grades.
Movies
Born Into Brothels, "...was winner of the 77th annual Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, Born into Brothels is a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in the red light district of Calcutta, where their mothers work as prostitutes. Zana Briski, a New York-based photographer, gives each of the children a camera and teaches them to look at the world with new eyes."
Syriana, is the first major motion picture to be “climate neutral” by offsetting 100% of carbon dioxide emissions generated by the production during filming – an estimated 2,040 tons – with investments in renewable energy.
Ben Goldhirsh (24 Sep 05) is 26 and running Reason Pictures which produces movies that will sell at the box office while also providing social value. If only more of Hollywood thought this way!
Dealing Dogs (A documentary film.) "Each year, 42,000 dogs are sold to veterinary schools and research labs by Class B dealers, who are required by federal law to buy the animals from pounds, shelters and small breeders and to treat them humanely. However, many Class B dealers violate the law. DEALING DOGS exposes the abuses that took place at one of America's most notorious Class B dealers - Martin Creek Kennel in Arkansas. Premieres on HBO, Tuesday, February 21 at 10pm (ET/PT). The film is based on 15 years of investigative work by Last Chance For Animals.
Article on the growth of environmental film festivals (15 Mar 2006).
Who Killed the Electric Car (a documentary): The New York Times said: "The Sundance audience, one of the most passionate I've ever encountered here, was certainly fired up by the story of a promising technology quashed, in the filmmaker's view, by greed and timidity. As the film chronicled General Motors's shutdown of its electric car line — the company reclaimed every single vehicle it had sold, and destroyed almost all of them — a woman behind me exclaimed, 'That's crazy!'"
An Inconvenient Truth This is a documentary due out in May. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and is narrated by Al Gore. The official Sundance Film Festival guide calls the documentary a "gripping story" with "a visually mesmerizing presentation" that is "activist cinema at its very best." The director Davis Guggenheim brings in the science of global warming and combines it with the personal experiences of Al Gore and his commitment to reversing the effects of climate change. The film was produced by Participant Productions, a film company with a mission to make the world a better place.
Internet Videos
The Meatrix Stop factory farming!
Victoria's Dirty Secretdocuments protests against Victoria's Secret for not having higher recycled content in their catalogues. According to protesters, the company sends out 1 million catalogues per day and the recycled content is less than 10%.
TV Shows
“Random 1” on A&E cable TV network. The film-makers stop strangers and offer to help resolve some problem in their lives. 10 episodes.
Break the Addiction "Are you ready to commit to changing? Join Break the Addiction's 12-step, 12-month action plan for fighting global warming and the effects of overconsumption in your environment and your world. Each month, learn new ways to make a big impact."
Charity Jam on The Tennis Channel features the charity events of tennis celebrities.
Social Change IPTV projects
visionOntv is a growing environmental/social change IPTV project coming outa undercurrents in the UK. They provide a wide spectrum of channels that you can embed on your blog or website which will automatically be updated with radical and inspiring new video stories.
Music
Music Matters works to reduce the negative environmental impact of music industry operations by working with artists, tours, venues, festivals, and others to: waste less, cool down, choose wisely, spread the word.
They Paved Paradise and Put Up a Parking Lot .... lyrics to the environmental anthem by Joni Mitchell.
Radio
Living on Earth hosted by Steve Curwood on National Public Radio. Pod casts available. This is a terrific weekly program on environmental issues.
This American Life from NPR's WBEZ, this difficult-to-characterize program is just the BEST! Trust me. Here are the program's producers trying to describe it: "There are people in dramatic situations where things happen to them. There are funny moments and emotional moments and – hopefully – moments where the people in the story say interesting, surprising things about it all. It has to be surprising. It has to be fun." They forgot to say, it has to add meaning to your life, and it does. It really does.
Books
PaperBackSwap allows users to swap paper back, hard back, audio, text books and more for free. Register, post 10 books you want to give away, and get 2 free credits to request a book from another member. For each book you send, you recieve another credit. A great way to keep your library fresh and your bookshelves from overflowing.
Sustainability_Book_List Recommended reads.
Internet Games
Fold It Gamers have devoted countless years of collective brainpower to rescuing princesses or protecting the planet against alien invasions. This week researchers at the University of Washington will try to harness those finely honed skills to make medical discoveries, perhaps even finding a cure for HIV. A new game, named Foldit, turns protein folding into a competitive sport. Introductory levels teach the rules, which are the same laws of physics by which protein strands curl and twist into three-dimensional shapes -- key for biological mysteries ranging from Alzheimer's to vaccines. (From Science Daily)
FreeRice.com is a joyfully addictive vocabulary game. You are give a word to define and four possible definitions. If you select the correct definition, the web site owners donate 20 games of rice through the United Nations to alleviate hunger. This donation is payed for through advertising. Brilliant idea very well executed!
PowerUP, a free, online, multiplayer game that allows players (and teams of players) to investigate the rich, 3D game environment and learn about the environmental disasters that threaten the game world and its inhabitants. Players take on the role of engineers, working together designing and building energy solutions to save the world.
Video Games
A Force More Powerful "is the first and only (video) game to teach the waging of conflict using nonviolent methods. Destined for use by activists and leaders of nonviolent resistance and opposition movements, the game will also educate the media and general public on the potential of nonviolent action and serve as a simulation tool for academic studies of nonviolent resistance."
Darfur Is Dying is a game available for free download. Yes, it's a video game, and a popular one, to boot. For various opinions see the article in the Washington Post or the write up at seriousgames.com
Food Force is a free video game that educates kids about hunger, has been downloaded by more than 1 million people from more than 40 different countries. What a great idea!
PeaceMaker is a game about the Israel Palestinian conflict in which the players adopt the perspectives of politicians. The game was featured prominently in the New York Times.
Serious Games is an article from the Washington Post which provides an overview and details of this growing industry.
SnowWorld is a game for pediatric burn victims that distracts them during daily wound scrubbing.
Sports
Right To Play was founded by legendary speed skater Johann Olav Koss to improve the lives of children in impoverished, war-torn areas. The group already has reached more than a half-million kids and hopes to double that soon through the money that's started flowing in recently after Olympic medal winners began donating their prize money to the group.
External Resources
Here's an article on the accelerating greening of the media.
