Ask the right questions.

Proposition 8: A Play about the Fight for Marriage Equality.

Featuring an incredible all-star cast with brilliant performances from Martin Sheen, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Lynch, Kevin Bacon and others, “8” is a 90-minute play written by Academy Award winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (Milk) and directed by acclaimed actor and director Rob Reiner. 8 (or 8 the Play) is an American play that portrays the legal argument and witness testimony of the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial, which led to the overturn of California’s Proposition 8. It was created in light of the federal court system’s refusal to allow release of video recordings from the trial and to give the public a true account of what transpired in the courtroom. The play is written in the style of verbatim theatre reenactment, using transcripts from the trial and journalist records, along with interviews from the plaintiffs, defendants and proponents involved. “8”, first opened at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in New York City in a one-night-only ‘fundraising’ reading with another incredible cast like Morgan Freeman, Anthony Edwards, John Lithgow, Cheyenne Jackson, Campbell Brown, Christine Lahti, Rob Reiner and Larry Kramer on September 19, 2011, and later broadcast worldwide from the Ebell of Los Angeles on March 3, 2012. The presentation, which raised over $2 million for marriage equality, was also live streamed on Youtube. It really is an impressive reenacted powerful account of the case filed by the American Federation for Equal Rights (AFER) in the U.S. District Court in 2010 to overturn Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that ridiculously eliminated the rights of same-sex couples to marry in the state of California. Framed around the trial’s historic closing arguments in June 2010, 8 provides an intimate look what unfolded when the issue of same-sex marriage was on trial. See above or click here for a brilliant Martin Sheen as Theodore Olson, Lawyer for the Plaintiffs. For the full 90-minute play, click here. Keep in mind that in the US alone more then 1 million marriages fail a year, that’s 3000 per day. And that for us in The Netherlands it’s weird for a federal and state government to intrude or even intervene on the way how you want to live your life. 

Netherlands from Above.

Netherlands from above was a ten-part documentary series produced by Dutch Public broadcaster VPRO. And aired from December 2011 throughout February 2012. With footage from helicopters, balloons, airplanes and satellites, interviews on the ground, data animation by UK’s based 422South, infographics by US based Stamen Design, and commentary from Roel Bentz van den Berg, it provided the viewer an overview of the Netherlands, its inhabitants and their activities. The series was inspired by BBC’s 2007 epic ‘Britain from Above’ and Germany’s ZDF ‘Deutschland von Oben’. The series reached more than 1.1 million viewers. Next to that the series was awarded with a Geospatial Excellence Award in the category ‘Application of Geospatial Technology in Mass Media’. All footage was made public to download and edit with. Some interesting results: ‘Holland The Movie’, ’The world is just a little town’, tilt-shift and Traffic. Editor Boudewijn van Galen created 6 great video’s: Urban life, Sky, Art, Industry, Landscape and Leisure time. And Leisure time was the one that grabbed my attention. It really captures the Dutch, The Netherlands and our average 30 summer days a year. Watch above or click here. Highly recommend all 10 Episodes. 

Palme D’Or 2012 - De Rouille Et D’Os ?

Last Thursday a possible 2012 Palme d’Or winner ‘De Rouille Et D’Os’ (‘Rust And Bone’–Sony Pictures Classics) by my personal favorite French Director Jacques Audiard (Un prophète) already hit the screen and became an instant buzz in Cannes. The powerful love story based on Canadian author Craig Davidson’s first collective of short stories and loved by Bret Easton Ellis was actually filmed in Cannes and the next-door town of Antibes. The film got a rousing 10-minute standing ovation. It features a ‘tour-de-force’ performance by the always brilliant Marion Cotillard as a whale trainer who becomes a double amputee after a tragic accident. The critics are already stating that this remarkable portrayal could put her in strong contention for a prize in Cannes as well as another Oscar nomination. Co-starring beside Marion was Matthias Schoenaerts, the Belgian actor who starred in last year’s Foreign Language Oscar nominee ‘Bullhead’. He too gives a powerful performance and could put him in awards contention as well. Sony Pictures Classics co-president Tom Bernard states that although they haven’t officially dated the film yet he is aiming for Thanksgiving US distribution and an Oscar run. Click here for the Cannes 2012 Conférence de presse. Can’t wait to see this one! 

Last Call at the Oasis. 

By looking at the trailer of Participant Media’s ‘Last Call at the Oasis’ by oscar-winning Jessica Yu it feels like we have another essential ‘water’ related film for everyone to see. With the 2011 released Spanish feature film ‘Even the Rain’, the free French online documentary ‘Home’, the brilliant interactive documentary ’Waterlife’ and the 2008 ’Blue Gold: World Water Wars’ (full film online) it looks this Documentary is again an overdue wake-up call for us and the world politicians. The Water topic in Documentaries has surpassed a total of 40 already. FACT: the global water crisis will be the central issue facing our world this century. We as a species can manage this problem, but only if we are willing to really act. Whether you consider yourself an environmentalist or not, it’s time to speak up for clean, safe water. You may not think the politicians will listen, but try it and see. Have a look at this 3min. video to find out what your daily water footprint is. Act now behind your laptop by joining organisations like Jointhepipe or thewaterproject. Or from your own house by using a reusable water bottle and using less water on your lawn or garden. (more plants die from overwatering than under watering anyway) Don’t let the water run while you wash your dishes. Eat less red meat. Sorry, meat-lovers, but it takes 1,800 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, more than three times that of chicken or pork, and exponentially more than vegetables. Like-and-find-your-screening! 

Politics is a lot like show business.

You have just watched the trailer for The Road We’ve Traveled. Already 2 months ago this incredibly well made 17 minute short film narrated by Tom Hanks about President Obama’s first term in the White House was made. Director Davis Guggenheim and Barack joined forces for the 2nd time. Davis also Directed Barack’s 2008 ‘A Mother’s Promise: Barack’s Biography’. This film played at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, prior to Barack’s overwhelming acceptance speech. Click here to watch the biopic. So now the director of the Oscar winning helmer of Al Gore’s global warming film An Inconvenient Truth returns with this great mini-documentary that eschews day-to-day headlines for a reminder of the perilous economic moment in which Obama ascended to the presidency, using sit down interviews with his closest advisers to paint a picture of a fearless leader tackling seemingly impossible problems. You can watch the full 17min. short by clicking here. And click here Never-before-seen footage of Elizabeth Warren. 

Bart Hendrikx - ‘It is What it is’ 

Through this incredible medium called Tumblr, I really want to thank Advertising expert Collette Crespin and her Blog ‘I Heart Tangerine’ for the incredible kind words she wrote about my Nonprofit ‘Ask the Right Questions’ blog. Click here to read the article. XBArt. 

Randy Pausch - The Last Lecture. 

The following quote from Randy Pausch really grabbed my attention this week: “find your passion and follow it. And if there is anything that I have learned in life, you will not find that passion in things. And you will not find that passion in money. Because the more things and the more money you have, the more you will just look around and use that as the metric — and there will always be someone with more. Your passion must come from the things that fuel you from the inside. That passion will be grounded in people. It will be grounded in the relationships you have with people and what they think of you when your time comes”. Watch Randy Pausch addressing the CMU 2008 graduating class here and using that brilliant quote. 

Despite the fact that you have discussed this over and over. And heard this many times over, this one felt different somehow. What I quickly discovered was that Randy Pausch was an American professor of computer science, human-computer interaction, and design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ‘Born on October 23rd, 1960 Pausch died from a pancreatic cancer on July 25th 2008. This at Age 48. Pausch learned that he had pancreatic cancer in September 2006, and in August 2007 he was given a terminal diagnosis: “3 to 6 months of good health left”. In these crucial months of his life where normally people would Kick the bucket Pausch decided to give a lecture titled “The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”. This lecture became such a popular YouTube video in 2007 that Randy even co-authored a New York Times best-selling book called The Last Lecture. Well I think you already felt it coming. A-One-To-watch and To-Read! 

Facebook’s IPO and Corporate Retail Roadshow. 

We all knew that Facebook was going to become the most valuable US Web company in History. In 2004 Google had a $23 billion valuation. Yesterday (15-5-2012) the current raised IPO share price gave the Menlo Park California-based company a value between $93 and $104 billion. Huffpost is stating today that If all the shares are sold at the high end of the expected price range, the offering could total more than $18 billion. That could actually make Facebook one of the largest IPOs ever. In August 2010 the Agricultural Bank of China had the world’s biggest initial public offering (IPO) surpassing the one set by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in 2006 of $21.9 billion. With Facebook’s IPO of 421 million shares , keep in mind that only a small share of company is having an IPO on Friday, we can easily do the math: $104 billion : $1 billion users=$100,-per user. The IPO of Linkedin was $12 billion : 34 million users= $235,- per user, Groupon $12.7 billion : 50 million users=$254,- per user, HomeAway $2 billion : 560.000 users=$3571,- per user. And don’t forget the faulting Dutch IPO of the WorldOnline deal €12 billion : 2 million users=€6000,- per user. Then the Facbook IPO is pretty ok wouldn’t you say? Facebook will trade under the symbol “FB” on the technology-heavy Nasdaq. Under a very smart dual-class stack structure, Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg will retain 57.3 percent of the voting power of the shares. On May 4th Facebook released a half-hour long, IPO roadshow video. This of course for potential investors, not for the common man I’m afraid. This hilarious scripted 30 minute video features CEO Mark Zuckerberg, VP Product Chris Cox, COO Sheryl Sandberg and CFO David Ebersman. If you haven’t seen it yet. It’s just 3 clicks away. Start here. Oooh! And Facebook Inc. co-founder Eduardo Saverin renounced his US citizenship around September 2011 and now lives in Singapore.

First screen Entertainment of the future. 

HDTV development and innovation has slowed over the last few years. Buyers are no longer shopping on specs as there is little visible difference between the high and low-end flatscreens. That’s where Apple, and perhaps even IKEA can step in and offer more value alongside the pretty picture. With the launch of Ikea’s Uppleva TV with built in Vimeo, Youtube and Daily motion Apps we are making progress. To give you all little bit of a preview of all the beautiful home made content we will be enjoying on our 1st screen in our living rooms soon, I want you to have a look at the incredibly talented Cinematographer Peter Simonite’s “Postcard From 1952” - Explosions in The Sky. Enjoy! 

Corporate owned cities. 

In the year 2050, about three quarters of the world’s population will live in the city. With the city as a huge growth market, large companies like Ikea (Landprop, BoBlok, Inter-Ikea Group), Philips, IBM (Smarter Cities), Cisco and Siemens (Masdar City and Wildpoldsried) have been focusing on this profitable market. Landprop Holding BV for example, is the company that manages all intellectual property, real estate development and profit of IKEA. Landprop is currently investing in 30 projects in e.g. Denmark, Sweden, Poland and Germany. But currently nothing is as big as the Strand East project. A $39 million dollars project where Landprop bought 26 acres (10.5 hectares) near the River Lea and Stratford High Street in East London. My questions are? Will these new ‘corporate’ bought and build areas in the city be like Andrew Niccol’s ‘Truman show’ ? Will our living environment in the future be shaped by these multinationals? Is Logorama really what we are heading for? And will we ever be able to use the expertise of these companies? VPRO Backlight asked Geoffrey West, the physicist that unleashed the laws of biology on organisms such as cities and businesses. And 3 time National Newspaper Award winner Doug Saunders, author of Arrival City, explains how urban sprawl can make proper use of human capital of newcomers. VPRO Backlight takes all of this under the microscope. For Dutch viewers click here to watch the Episode Making Cities: de stad van de toekomst. For all International viewers watch the TEDTalk Geoffrey West: The surprising math of cities and corporations here or above. 

The New TV Landscape. 

We all know that by now that the media landscape is evolving at a rapid pace. But who can really provide us with answers? I would say the current industry execs themselves. For this reason only I will always support industry initiatives that use that strategy. Think TV with 2020Vision is one of those. Think TV is a marketing initiative of Free TV Australia. Already in 2011 ThinkTV commissioned a documentary series to explore the Future of TV. This series had interviews with Jeffrey Katzenberg, Gary Carter, Melissa Lavigne-Delville, Andrew Robertson, Kevin Roberts, Tim Baxter, Bill Patrizio and more. Click here for all the interviews. Two Months ago the 2nd Series New TV Landscape was released. Mark Holden, Dan Wieden, Jonathan Mildenhall, Steve Hasker and David Poltrack give us their insight and vision this time. Click here for all the interviews. Watch the Dan Wieden interview above. 

New bullet time Ident Discovery Channel. 

Discovery Channel called on Italian design collective Nerdo to help create a breathtaking new ident. Important concept and story wise was to showcase the channel’s best-of series and documentaries. Complex camera-mapping techniques were deployed to capture the visual brand essence of the channel, all in glorious bullet time. Click here for the 3.0 Breakdown. Great job Nerdo! 

Thomas Azier - Red Eyes. 

This visually stunning fan made music video was created with Imovie by what looks like first-time illustrator and designer 3182Lesley. Incredible job Lesley! Lesly made the music video for Dutch born and Berlin based Artist Thomas Azier (24). Thomas released his first EP OO1 Hylas four months ago. His voice is hoarse, jazzy and sometimes even opera-esque. The EP really feels like it’s made in the eighties. A mix between synth pop and new wave. A-one-to-like! 

Jeremy Rifkin - The Empathic Civilisation. 

According to bestselling author, political adviser, ethical prophet and I personally think maybe one of the most influential thinkers of our time Jeremy Rifkin, two spectacular failures marked the end of the modern era and maybe our species. If you are interested in the whom, how and the what, I recommend a 52min. sitdown. For a shorter 10min. RSA Animate version click here. 

Gandhi’s Top 10 ‘Change’ fundamentals.

Mahatma Gandhi really needs no long introduction. Everyone knows or at least heard about the man who lead the Indian people to independence from British rule on August 15th in 1947. Personally I’ve always been a strong advocate of Gandhi’s Top 10 ‘Change’ fundamentals. They are as follow: 

1.) Change yourself: 

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

2.) You are in control:

“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”

3.) Forgive and let go:

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

4.) Take care of this moment:

“I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.”

5.) Without action you are not going anywhere:

“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”

6.) Everyone is human:

“I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.”

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”

7.) See the good in people and help them:

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

8.) Persist:

“I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others.”

“Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.”

“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.”

9.) Be congruent, be authentic, be your true self:

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

“Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.”

10.) Continue to grow and evolve:

”Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.”

While having these fundamentals in the back of my mind I ran into this video put together by Graham Bond. Graham basically put a bunch of voice-clips together for what he calls ‘nonprofit educational purposes’. Well thank you Graham! You are absolute right: “You really can do anything you want, we, as people are bound by nothing.” Think about what you are really passionate about? Let’s spend these 7 minutes well and listen to what Jiddu Krishnamurti (2X), Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting (written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck), Tiana Hux in Waking Life (written by Richard Linklater), George Carlin, Randy Pausch, Jeremy Rifkin, and Wayne Dyer have to say.