Spout Blog has a pretty good list up of movie that made a difference. Their list has 5 very different films that not only impacted cinema but also the world.

It is also a great primer for an exciting series we are starting at TakePart tomorrow that you’ll definitely want to come back for.  For now though, check out a TakePart favorite from their list and takepart to read the entire thing!

An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

Davis Guggenheim’s film of Al Gore’s Global Warming presentation didn’t bring about a lot of change or legislation in the U.S., but it did have a significant effect in terms of breaking ground on discussion of the issue. However, it was apparently instrumental in the passing of a law to curb greenhouse gases in California. Meanwhile, elsewhere, it has been employed in school curriculum and it certainly helped Gore win the Nobel Peace Prize. Because not all films can be as direct and quickly effect as The Thin Blue Line and JFK, though, we’ll need more than the past two years to fully see the difference made by this one.

From the fabulous CauseCast:

takepart with No Proposition 8 in California
takepart With No on proposition 2 in Florida
takepart With No On Proposition 102 in Arizona

What an inspiring trailer! Gus Van Sant’s name alone would be enough to get me into a movie theater but combine that with a compelling true activist story and an amazing cast (Sean Penn, James Franco, Diego Luna etc..) and you get one of my most anticipated films of the fall. This film will be the first fictional portrayal of gay rights activist Harvey Milk and it looks great!

Read the rest of this entry »

Moooove over rBGH, Monsanto wants to get rid of you. As Gina reported earlier, reports that Monsnato is looking to getter a better image and “gain consumer acceptance,” They are going to need an awfully good publicist. Let’s be honest, Monsanto controls our food chain and they are the furthest thing from a good corporate citizen.

But any step in the right direction has to be celebrated- especially one that brings us closer to rBGH-free milk

takepart with Food and Water Watch and sign their petition to help maintain this momentum.

Related:

Hungry for Change

Monsanto Looks to Sell Dairy Hormone Business
Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear

Robin Wright Penn and Sean Penn have called off their divorce (Now what are they going to do with all those invitations and registries?) That’s, of course, very exciting great news. But more exciting is the fact that Sean Penn will be playing slain gay rights activist Harvey Milk, California’s first openly gay elected official, a San Francisco supervisor, who was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone by San Francisco Supervisor Dan White. The film, entitled Milk, which is in post-production, is directed by Gus Van Sant and stars Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin and Diego Luna. Of course, this is not the first film Penn has starred in which explores a serious and important issue. Penn’s other socially conscious films include The Assassination of Richard Nixon, The Thin Red Line, Dead Man Walking, Casualties of War, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High (just kidding.) And Penn has directed political films as well including 11′09”01 - September 11 and Into the Wild. Penn also uses his celebrity to highlight the causes he believes in and has criticized the War in Iraq, toured Iraq to observe the war there and helped rescue workers with door-to-door searches for survivors after Hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans.

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By Giulia Rozzi

Looks like more hard times for low income mother’s and their kids.

According to Feministing Bush’s proposed spending on the Womens, Infants and Childrens Program (which provides food vouchers to low-income women and their children up to age 5) would leave roughly half a million people in the lurch.

Meanwhile prices for milk and cheese have increased leaving many WIC members struggling.

For more on the WIC program visit http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/

By Giulia Rozzi

Sadly I am one of those people who can’t digest dairy.

It’s particularliy hard this time of year, when I am being teased by a platter of brie at one of the many upcoming holiday soirees I plan to gorge myself at. To be honest, I’ll probably eat it anyhoo because let’s admit it, dairy is dreamy. From pizza to pastries, dairy makes the world smile (and for some like myself really, really uncomfortable and bloated)

However according to evidence exposed on Vice Magazine’s blog it seems that right now the world is against dairy.

Gasp!

 You mean lactose tolerate folks are choosing to stay away from cheese, glorious cheese? That’s like a person with perfectly good vision refusing to open their eyes or some sort of better clever analogy.

I suppose dairy’s positives and negatives are worth a look but really after so many years of milk doing a body good, can it suddenly really be so bad?

 Don’t answer that.  I’m just finishing up my Swiss and egg sandwhich.