Social Action + Cinema Videos of the Day:

1) Burma: It Can’t Wait- Myanmar Celebrity Campaign PSA Montage

For the Cinema YouTube Video of the Day, Click here >>>

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I’ve been keeping up with most of the Burma Can’t Wait videos (we’ve previously blogged about videos from Sarah Silverman , Will Ferrell, and Ellen Page) and I really like that they are using humor to discuss a heartbreaking issue.  Check out this recent video featuring Hank Azaria and Billy Baldwin.

takepart and visit http://www.burmaitcantwait.org to join the cause.

Social Action and Cinema YouTube Videos of the Day:

1) Jennifer Aniston & Woody Harrelson Burma: It Can’t Wait

For the Cinema YouTube Video of the Day, Click here >>>

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It’s so easy nowadays to get caught up in “world issues”. By this I mean stories so dynamic they instantaneously traverse the globe through media. Burma is big and surely Cyclone Nargis victims need the world’s help (TakePart), but Myanmar also makes for great copy. An hour ago Associated Press carried its ruling junta lashing out at aid donors over all the chocolate.

But, what about less pithy or vogue causes, ones which do not shake the globe with their very mention? Do juicy/event-driven stories cause us to overlook smaller/more generic, but less urgent causes?

Cue “Sex and the City” moment: at this point I couldn’t help but ponder. Should we also spend time doing good in mundane ways?

How about sending Blind or Autistic children to Summer camp? It’s not life or death, but it sure seemed to matter to the children profiled in two very similar articles published in the L.A. Times California Local section this week. Credit the Times for shamelessly plugging their cause in the guise of newsworthy articles, and I mean that.

Donations to their L.A. Times Family Fund help give low-income children a summer to remember. The McCormick Foundation matches 50% of every dollar donated to the Summer Camp Campaign.

You may also wish to check out the American Camp Association, a non-profit with the mission of “enriching the lives of children, youth and adults through the camp experience”.

Mundane, yes. Good, also yes. Just some food for thought for all who TakePart in this sort of thing.

We’ve been featuring some videos from the Burma Can’t Wait campaign including those from Sarah Silverman and Will Ferrell. Yesterday’s video starred Ellen Page from Juno sharing a powerful message about dictator Than Shwe and how he has terrorized the people of Burma behind closed doors (his most recent crime is denying aid to desperate victims of the Burma cyclone).

 and visit http://www.burmaitcantwait.org/burmaitcantwait/ to join the cause.

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As we shifted our attention from Burma to China in the past week, I think it’s good to focus our attention back on Burma(but not necessarily away from China). Giulia did a great post about “Burma, It Can’t Wait” last week - so I thought I’d go ahead and post another video from the series so folks don’t forget…

Will Ferrell makes a great point (and even mentions my home state…) about the nature of the problem in Burma and how you can help.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Mother’s Day is this Sunday (don’t forget!), so be sure to take a look at some of the great posts we’ve put together in celebration of moms everywhere! Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie Halper:

Top 10 Mother’s Day E-Cards

Hillary Andrews Will Not Lick Bob Stokes’ Swizzle Stick

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Nicole Hughes:

Top 10 Green Gift Wrap Ideas For Mothers Day

Peak Oil Strip Tease

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Andy Kondrat:

Tornado Devestated Town Rebuilds As Green Model Community

Radiohead Attempts An Eco-Friendly World Tour

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Jon Popham:

Nepalese Art Photography: Rubin Museum of Art

America’s First Wind-Powered City

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Giulia Rozzi:

Women For Women International Celebrates Mothers Day

Even More on the Kentucky Derby

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Gina Telaroli:

Video Blog: The Week In Social Action

The War Now Tomorrow and Forever

Every day in the month of May a new celebrity is posting a video for the Burma: It Can’t Wait Campaign. They want 1 million signatures by the end of the month. So far, they have 38,653 and counting. Today’s video features actress Julie Benz. Previous videos have included messages from Will Ferrel, Jenifer Aniston with Woody Harrelson, Jason Biggs, & Jenny Mollen, and Sarah Silverman:

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After taking us to a POW camp in Laos, director Werner Herzog has his sights set on war town Burma in the late 1800’s for his next project. The Piano Tuner is being billed as a “a lush Victorian-era drama about a Brit’s journey to war-torn Burma” and will be released by Focus Features.

Based on Daniel Mason’s 2002 debut novel, the story centers on Edgar Drake, a man sent to a remote village in the late 1800s to repair an eccentric military man’s piano. Drake falls in love with a Burmese woman and her country, but as the officer wins over locals through music and medicine, things grow treacherous when his troops begin to suspect him of treason.

“Tuner” is right up the intense helmer’s alley. Herzog has directed several films about men venturing into exotic locales (”Rescue Dawn,” “Grizzly Man,” “Fitzcarraldo”), but this will be his biggest English-language costume drama in more than four decades as a filmmaker. [The Hollywood Reporter]

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