Youth Minutes

Another quiet evening in New Jersey and Im browsing the site theoneminutesjr.org , one minute videos made by youth from across the globe. Supported by the European Cultural Foundation and UNICEF, this project embodies much of what we videobloggers were always hopeful about – that through making and sharing their own videos, people (in this case kids) all over the world could better communicate and understand each other.

Seems like a great project with more meaning than your average video up on youtube of cats falling off chairs or someone singing along to their favorite music. Not that all that has no meaning, it just seems that oneminutejr says alot more about culture and life in very simple and diverse ways.

ctrp321 Wendell Potter’s Health Care Wisdom

During his long career as a public relations professional in the health insurance world, Wendell Potter lived a luxorious life far removed from the realities of uninsured people throughout the country. Until the day he turned up at a free healthcare fair where thousands of people lined up to receive the most basic care which they could otherwise not get. It was at this point that Wendell decided he had had enough and after leaving his job, dedicated his life to telling the world what he had done and how the insurance companies function to keep things just as they are.

Beyond listening to this interview, I highly recommend this interview which appeared in Guernica Magazine.

Plane is Boarding, Good Films

As I type this I can see the people lining up for my flight to Newark via Paris. Yes it is that time of year again, time to float off to the US and A. In the days leading up to my departure, I had the chance to see several documentaries at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam. For whatever reason, my person theme this year was the internet-spam-inspiring world of so-called sexual disfunction.

I use the term “so-called” because 20 years ago this condition did not exist. So of course neither did the now famous blue pills and their descendants. This fact was one of the main points underlined in both Michael Schaap’s hilarious and informative film “The Erectionman” (aka The Viagraman in the Netherlands) and Liz Canner’s Orgasm Inc.

Michael’s film focuses on the male universe as it relates to the erection. I’m sure some people squirm at the topic, but it is no secret that since the dawn of time human behavior and human history has been highly influenced by that all-important phenomenon. Indeed during this film Michael takes us back in time to how different civilizations related to erections and generally the occurrence of impotence. Eventually it brings us to the present where even the word impotence is now taboo. Replaced by the pharmaceutal industry and doctors affiliated with the industry, by the term erectile disfunction. Why the new term? For both marketing and regulatory purposes. The marketing part should be obvious, there is plenty of embarassment connected with the term impotence, so if you make a more scientific name there will be more willingness to come forward.

The regulatory function of inventing a new condition is the most interesting aspect of both of these films. In the case of erectile disfunction, in order to market their famous blue pill Pfizer and other pill makers needed it to be approved by the FDA. However the FDA will only approve the drug if it treats an actual condition. Enter the multipronged communications and marketing strategy by the big drug companies. With their legions of doctors and funny ads that make people believe that there is a condition involving men’s erections that plagues society and can be cured with help from their pills.

Liz Canner completes the equation of this manufactured industry, by looking at the development of female viagra. She again looks at what companies are doing in their quest to develop a drug that will enable women to have orgasms who have until then been unable. The name of the new condition in order to justify the development of the drug – Female Sexual Disfuction (FSD).

Surprisingly at the conclusion of the film we learn that female viagra, known specifically as Intrinsa, got rejected by the FDA in the US. Yet somehow the drug has been approved by the European Union, though it has only been used in some very specific and extraordinary circumstances.

Perhaps my favorite conclusion that in many ways applies to both films was put forth by Michael as he lamented something like “.. at some point I realize I’m entirely dependent on commercial entities in order to have pleasure… “

Remix at VlogEurope2009

Over the weekend a modest but passionate group of European Videobloggers got together for the 5th time in 5 years.  While the world of video online didn’t quite turn out how we had hoped or perhaps how we had thought, we still gather to discuss issues as well as reminisce about the past and what may come.

Instead of trying to further explain it, I’ll end on a lighter note, with a video of me being remixed by my good friend and videoblog veteran Raymond who was in town from Norway.

ctrp320 The Arctic as a Personal and Global Challenge

He does what? – People often ask whenever I mention Lewis Gordon Pugh. He swims the arctic, I tell them again.  Why? – is always the next question.

When you sit across from Lewis Gordon Pugh for just a few minutes, you understand why immediately.  You also understand you’re in the presence of someone who puts his entire life on the line for a global problem he is passionate about tackling.

Lewis’s concern about climate change and the urgent need to do something about it take him beyond the freezing waters of the arctic, as he explains in this interview, he is also concerned for the rapidly melting ice in the Himalayas, water that 1/5 of the world’s population lives on.  Thus setting the stage for his next swim, a lake formed from a melting glacier on Mount Everest.

If you enjoyed this interview and want to learn more about Lewis’ work, visit his website. I highly recommend seeing the video of his arctic swim.

Azeri Video Bloggers Update

A recent podcast on this site was dedicated to telling the story of the Azeri videobloggers/youth activists who were attacked, arrested and held on a hooliganism charge. At that time their sentence had still not been decided.  In this past week the verdict was handed down, Emin 2.5 years, Adnan 2 years in prison.

In an analysis of this verdict and its impact on freedom of expression and the press, especially for bloggers and different types of citizen journalists, Ali asks the questions:

How do Azerbaijani youth activists and citizen journalists feel? Are they scared? Will this verdict cause them to be less outspoken and critical in the future?

According to Ali, when their sentence was handed down, Emin declared to the court that it was an honor for him to be imprisoned for his ideals.