This isn’t necessarily the newest of news, but somewhat recently Billy Crystal and David Letterman teamed up to create their own We Can Solve It “commercial.”  We’ve discussed the commercial Pat Robertson and Al Sharpton made, as well as the New Gingrich/Nancy Pelosi pairing, but I’m going to say that the Crystal/Letterman one may top those.  Observe (pretty okay for the young folks aside from one mildly blue reference - we’ll call it PG regardless):

I enjoy the fact that Letterman, really, at this point doesn’t care what people think anymore, and his show definitely is the better for it.  I mean, “Will It Float?“  Brilliant.

You can takepart here to go to the real We Can Solve It page.

Blair post’s about creating timelines got me all excited to make my own - so I did!

Instead of focusing directly on a social issue, I focused on a sequence in a film I love - Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Lola. The film is a satirical critique of greed, development and capitalism, which relates to quite a few social issues of the day.

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The already cool Flip Video, just got cooler - Meet the Mino :

Spec wise it takes video @ 640 by 480 @ 30 frames a second. The files are MPEG-4 AVI and it has low light sensitivity. PLUS! say goodbye to DoubleA batteries with this one, the mino has an internal battery that charges WHILE you upload your video!

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Clean My Ride is one man’s quest, documented on YouTube, to get cleaner fuels available to us at the gas station. The episodes are quirky, features celebrities such as Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Jason Biggs, and extremely clever. Also, quite funny. Here’s episode one (warning: some dirty words and whatnot).

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The new trailer for City of Ember is out and since I know how much everyone here at TakePart likes Dystopian Cinema I thought I’d go ahead post it:

The film stars Bill Murray and everyone’s favorite actor/activist Tim Robbins:

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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. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie Halper:

Necklacing Returns to South Africa, Tutu Calls for Peace, and History Repeats Itself

Ted Kennedy’s Malignant Brain Tumor: Sad News, But the Work Goes On

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Nicole Hughes:

Bush’s Food Aid Package Promotes Use of GMOs

Gas Prices Exceed Those of 1973 Oil Crisis

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Andy Kondrat:

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Could Cost US 38 Trillion Annually

USDA Budget Squeeze Forces Agency to Stop Tracking Pesticide Use

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Jon Popham:

Brooklyn Bridge Birthday Celebration!

Smokey the Bear: Environmental Icon

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Giulia Rozzi:

Suicide Tourism in New York City

Kristin Davis and Her Solar Powered Home

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Gina Telaroli:

Media That Matters Film Festival Premieres on May 28th

Top 10 Ways Indiana Jones Saved the World: Part #1

Smokey the Bear perseveres to this day as one of the greatest environmental icons of American popular culture. Remember back when some fool you met at a party in the early 90’s was yammering on about Neil Young being the Godfather of Grunge? Or some other fool (or maybe the same one but this time rolling on ecstasy) in the late 90’s couldn’t stop talking about how Brian Eno was the pioneer of electronic music? Well when it comes to being influential, neither can hold a candle to Smokey the Bear, whose storied career in environmentalism began over 60 years ago - and that ain’t no foolin’!

Created by The Ad Council in 1944, Smokey the Bear stands at the center of the longest running public service campaign in the history of the United States. The furry cartoon character has been educating the young and old alike on forest fire prevention, conservation and environmentalism since the days of WWII in media including posters, magazines, radio spots PSAs, and in his own show, the intro to which can be seen below:

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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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It’s May 16th, I’m Gina Telaroli and this is TakePart.com’s look at the week in social action…

“Deluxe” is a new exhibit of photographs, video and sculpture by visual artist Stuart Hawkins. The installation presents the stark contrast between the developing world and the elite vacation resorts found along coastlines and elsewhere in many developing countries.

Hawkins worked with local artists in Kolkata, India to create oversized prop sculptures of items typically found at a luxury resort, such as the giant hotel bed seen in the photo, enormous tennis courts and rackets, and a supersized beach umbrella. The props are then placed in less opulent settings indicative of the developing world and photographs are taken of local Kolkata residents doing improvised performances with the items. After the shoot, the materials from the props were taken apart and recycled back into the community in Kolkata as carpets, insulation, tents and tables. According to the press release:

“The realm of the elite is re-contextualized, resituated, and re-built with the hands of many and not a few.”

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