Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard
Together with Taiwan Watch and the Taiwan Green Party we have produced the kanji character subtitles for Annie Leonard's brilliant, succinct and basic lesson on what's been going on in America during the last half century and what we around the world seem so very eager to emulate. The three Taiwan groups will be visiting leading economists in Taiwan to encourage support for a public debate about the advisability of stimulating consumption through consumption coupons and other measures the government has recently promoted. For the original video, please go to their website: http://www.storyofstuff.com/.
Already nearly five-million viewers have watched the 20-minute clip and we at Wild are very pleased to be part of the program's presentation to kanji (the traditional Chinese characters used in Taiwan) readers around the world. For more information in kanji on this video as well as a full translation of Annie's well-researched notes, please see Taiwan Watch Institute's site: http://www.taiwanwatch.org.tw/sos/sos-01.htm.
Cheat Neutral
The humor of this one http://www.cheatneutral.com/ seemed to have escaped one Taiwan blogger who said he/she just didn't get it, but appreciated the “hard work and creativity”. That may be more a reflection of the tight cooperation of our businesses with government/academic/parliamentarians than the blogger's education and experience. Franny Armstrong, the producer/director of McLibel, Drowned Out, Baked Alaska and most recently the Age of Stupid, recommended the short film to us a year ago and we contacted the producers and obtained permission to subtitle and put up the clip. A companion article to Cheat Neutral is George Monbiot's Selling Indulgences that appeared in the Guardian 18 October 2006. This will also be published soon in kanji on the Wild site with the permission of the author.
Wake Up, Freak Out, Get a Grip
Wake Up, Freak Out is the third video in this series on consumption and climate change. With help from a number of people on the translation, and permission from the film's producer, Leo Murray, we are also happy to have a hand in bringing to Taiwan this clear, concise explanation of complex feedback systems that are taking us to the tipping point of climate change. This 12-minute animation begins with the challenging statement that it really isn’t about saving polar bears, a slap in the face of those who would prefer we remain distracted by poster children. While the subject is overwhelming once one has “woken up” it delivers the message well that we need to, and can, deal with it. That is if the turds in power who control all the means to do something will let us know what’s going on so we can wake up.