It’s June 27th, I’m Gina Telaroli and this is TakePart.com’s look at the week in social action

The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Nicole Hughes:

U.S. Media Ignores Link Between Midwest Floods and Global Warming

Top 10 Houseplants for Removing Indoor Air Pollution

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Andy Kondrat:

Dubai to Build Rotating Positive Energy Tower

Bioethicist Peter Singer Tackles World Food Shortage

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Jon Popham:

Americacorps Workers Assist Flood Ravaged Town

Australians “Out-Fat” Americans

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Giulia Rozzi:

Progressive Book Club

Oprah Recommends “A New Earth”

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Gina Telaroli:

Human Rights Watch 2008 Film Festival Update

SilverDocs 2008 Update

So the first week of Human Rights Watch is almost over so if you’re in NYC, catch something while you still can. I’ll be posting reviews of the remaining films in the next few days before they screen so keep checking back. Each film’s screening times will be listed and I’ll leave a schedule of reviews to come here.

Also in case you’re just tuning in now, here’s a little refresher on what’s already played:

• Human Rights Watch 08 : Calle Santa Fe
• Human Rights Watch 08 : The Beytrayal (Nerakhoon)
• Human Rights Watch 08 : American Outrage
• Human Rights Watch 08 : A Promise to the Dead

Here’s what’s ahead:

• Under the Bombs : http://filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/hrw08/underthebombs.html
• The Sari Soldiers : http://filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/hrw08/thesarisoldiers.html
• Traces of the Trade : http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/hrw08/tracesofthetrade.html
• Letter to Anna : http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/hrw08/lettertoanna.html

After all is said and done I’ll post a comprehensive piece full of Takepart links that will let you connect to the issues in the film!

A Promise to the Dead ( Director: Peter Raymont, Country: Canada, Release: 2006, Runtime: 92)

Screening Fri Jun 13: 6:30 and Wed Jun 18: 1:30

Peter Raymont’s portrait of the life of exiled writer and activist Ariel Dorfman takes us on a tour of the places that defined his life and combines the present with the past to provide a captivating reflection on revolution. Dorfman’s life was never static as he was born in Argentina, moved to the US when he was a young boy and then moved to Chile when he was 12. From 1970-1973 he served with radical Chilean president Salvador Allende and become enveloped in a time of revolution and political change. The military coup of September 11th, 1973 that ended with General Augusto Pinochet coming into power led Dorfman into a life of exile, writing and the constant search for “home.”

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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. Want to learn our top eco-kinky tips for ‘greening up’ your sex life? How about the top 10 ways to take action against AIDS?  Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie:

Annie Lennox & Top 10 Ways to Take Action Against AIDS

Somewhere Over the Rainbow: American Idol & Yip Harburg

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Nicole:

Top 10 Ways to ‘Green Up’ Your Sex Life

Top 10 Global Warming Myths Debunked

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Giulia:

Mortified Makes Movies

What a Bunch of Boobs

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Gina:

Top 10 Immigration Films

Boarding Gate’s Empty Adventure of Capitalism

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Say Hello to Our Guest Bloggers!

Jon Popham wrote:

Young At Heart Hits the Silver Screen

Death and the River

Andy Kondrat wrote:

Top 5 Things You’ll Love About Planet Green

Leonardo DiCaprio Does Everything For the Environment, Ever

Oliver Assayas’ latest film Boarding Gate has gotten mostly negative reviews but being a fan of his work I decided to see it anyways and I’m happy to report that I actually liked it quite a bit. The film tells the noir-esque story of an ex-corporate whore of sorts named Sandra (played by the fabulous Asia Argento) as she comes back into the life of one time lover and employer Miles (Michael Madsen). We meet them after their love has ended, after the passion is gone and after the whoring out of Sandra to Miles’ clients has stopped.

From here we go on a very Assayas journey to the apartment of Miles for a deadly S&M session, to transient airports and finally to the streets and warehouses of Hong Kong. Along the way we meet businessmen and business women, although like Miles and Sandra we never really know what they’re doing. The cast speaks awkward English as they talk about their business ventures in overly general ways and text each other.

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Jia Zhang-Ke’s Still Life makes me proud to be cinephile. I see a lot of movies and often times folks ask me for recommendations. This always makes me nervous, as movies are expensive and most folks don’t see a lot of movies, so when they do, they want it to be good. Thankfully, good is somewhat of an understatement when describing Still Life, as a pal put it, the film is “98% a masterpiece.”

The film came about when Chinese director Jia Zhang-Ke came into contact with the town of Fengjie and the Three Gorges hydro project. The project has caused that part of China to undergo serious change and the visual landscape of the land is one of a slow destruction and a slow climb to modernization.

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Reports of mental illness in both children and adults has doubled in English-speaking countries since the early 1980s. Have we really gotten sicker over the last 20 years? Is it simply that a burgeoning therapy culture made us more willing to accept our diagnoses? In his book, The Selfish Capitalist, Oliver James draws parallels between this increase in mental disorders, the increase in wealth of the top 1% of earners in English-speaking nations, and the stagnation (or in the case of the US, the decline) of the real wage since the early 80s.

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