For some reason I’m fascinated with people’s “happiness” so when I saw the trailer for this documentary I had to order it to hear more. After I watch it I’ll of course blog about what I learned. The following are details on the documentary from the YouTube site: ”Economic globalization has led to a massive expansion in the scale and power of big business and banking. It has also worsened nearly every problem we face: fundamentalism and ethnic conflict; climate chaos and species extinction; financial instability and unemployment. There are personal costs too. For the majority of people on the planet life is becoming increasingly stressful. We have less time for friends and family and we face mounting pressures at work.
The Economics of Happiness describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, government and big business continue to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, all around the world people are resisting those policies, demanding a re-regulation of trade and finance—and, far from the old institutions of power, they’re starting to forge a very different future. Communities are coming together to re-build more human scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm — an economics of localization.
We hear from a chorus of voices from six continents including Vandana Shiva, Bill McKibben, David Korten, Michael Shuman, Juliet Schor, Zac Goldsmith and Samdhong Rinpoche – the Prime Minister of Tibet’s government in exile. They tell us that climate change and peak oil give us little choice: we need to localize, to bring the economy home. The good news is that as we move in this direction we will begin not only to heal the earth but also to restore our own sense of well-being. The Economics of Happiness restores our faith in humanity and challenges us to believe that it is possible to build a better world.” >> www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org/
A man strong enough to bend a penny with just his fingers, Stanless Steel reaches middle age, career disappointments and difficult personal relationships that begin to test his strengths and force him to struggle with the weaknesses around him – including his own. Written by Zachary L
Over the Christmas break I was able to see The Fighter which I was dying to see. Full disclosure, I’m a huge fan of boxing movies. I can watch the Rocky training clip over and over and do about 10 push-ups and say “oh yeah eye of the tiger, oh yeah” about a hundred (OK one or two) times a day. So when I saw the trailer for The Fighter I was really excited to see it. I won’t give anything away in this review and all I can say is if you like boxing or motivational movies, you’ll like The Fighter. Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale do an amazing job playing Micky and Dicky Ward (the now even more famous boxing brothers from Boston). I give the movie a solid 8 out of 10.
“In a country where 58% of African American 4th graders are functionally illiterate, The Lottery uncovers the failures of the traditional public school system and reveals that hundreds of thousands of parents attempt to flee the system every year. The Lottery follows four of these families from Harlem and the Bronx who have entered their children in a charter school lottery. Out of thousands of hopefuls, only a small minority will win the chance of a better future.
Directed by Madeleine Sackler and shot by award-winning cinematographer Wolfgang Held, The Lottery uncovers a ferocious debate surrounding the education reform movement. Interviews with politicians and educators explain not only the crisis in public education, but also why it is fixable. A call to action to avert a catastrophe in the education of American children, The Lottery makes the case that any child can succeed.” Source: http://thelotteryfilm.com/about
One of my favorite documentaries is Who Killed the Electric Car. I love following what Elon Musk is doing and it looks like this documentary is going to look at things from a modern day perspective. It should be great…
