PoliticsOnline is starting a social-activism Web site called Hope Plus, a virtual global community for those who want to take action and make change.

BBC News reports:

Founder Phil Noble was interviewed by UK e-democracy newsletter E-Government Bulletin about the plans for the site. ‘The idea is to create a world online Peace Corps or a global eBay for caring,’ Mr Noble told the newsletter. The concept was in part inspired by Mr Noble’s previous work with the BBC. He was a key advisor to the now defunct BBC Action Network, a nationwide portal for community activism. ‘I’d been throwing out the idea for a global network… and the consensus was - now was the time,’ he told E-Government Bulletin.

Noble has invited Barack Obama and Bill Gates to support the venture, which is scheduled to launch in December at the International Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. So far it seems like a promising project, especially if Noble can get those two big-names on board. Stay tuned for more on Hope Plus.

Help make a difference by making a movie. The YouTube Video Volunteers program gets users to help raise awareness for causes you care about and compete for recognition of your work on the YouTube homepage.

Each month, the channel will feature a different relevant issue on the Video Volunteers channel with a new guest curator. This month the issue is hunger, so YouTube is seeking submissions of homemade videos about organizations that are working to address hunger in America. Submit your under-three-minute video by November 21 to get a chance for a spot on the YouTube homepage. The top three videos will be featured at the end of the month.

To get you inspired, check out this video David Arquette made for the program:

Just yesterday, we talked about how it seems that Congress won’t be passing a climate change bill prior to Copenhagen, and we noted how that could be an impediment for the climate change talks to take place there. Unfortunately, it seems like the United States’ reticence to get its act together on a bill will, in fact, greatly diminish the possibility of a binding, enforceable treaty on climate change this December.

Though many members of Congress have been very cautious on the progress of the climate change bill, I had been holding out a very slim and naive hope that perhaps our negotiators might go ahead and pull a fast one in Copenhagen and agree to a treaty that hadn’t been approved by Congress. Nope. From the Guardian: Read the rest of this entry >>

Glenn Beck is almost always frustrating to watch.  And while I try not to post about too often because it seems like it would just be giving him more of a platform, I was so enraged by his rant on vegetarianism and Meatless Mondays last week that I couldn’t help but respond with a post.

Well, I’ve calmed down a bit since then but I couldn’t hide my joy at Jon Stewart’s clever and right on Glenn Beck impersonation from last night’s Daily Show.  In the skit Stewart takes on the subject of Glenn Beck’s recent appendicitis and uses it to show how ridiculous Beck is night after night after night.

It might just be the perfect segment to get your weekend started right.

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Going into Howard Hawks’ Hatari! at BAM this past Wednesday night I had a feeling I would like it.  I mean the film’s description is kind of amazing:

“John Wayne has never been better than as the leader of a pack of big-game hunters on the African plains who tackle rhinoceroses, elephants, and giraffes to sell to American zookeepers. Hawks’ late-career masterpiece is funny, tender, and thrilling, with some truly awesome scenes of capturing wild animals.”

However, even knowing that I was going to really enjoy the film, I was still surprised by  how much I truly really loved it.  Simply put Hatari! is kind of like hanging out with great old friends for 2.5 hours with occasional bursts of action and animal capturing.  Wayne, Red Buttons and the entire crew are warm, funny and make you want to be a part of their world.  And that world is where we get to the issue part of this post, capturing animals to be put in zoos. Read the rest of this entry >>

I love pets and dream one day of having a lifestyle and an apartment that will make is possible for me to have a dog.   And when I do I want to get awesome cool things for them, like Etsy seller Handmade Green’s Vintage Elevated Dog Feeder.

This Etsy Pick of the Day is made out of two one-quart stainless steel bowls and a reused vintage wooden crate, which are, in the words of the seller, “98% recycled materials, just reused parts and sweat equity.”  This makes the feeder not only good for the environment but also really nice looking.  Read the rest of this entry >>

One of my favorite films at this year’s New York Film Festival, Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon, was something I was really surprised to like as much as I did.  I thought I might appreciate but I never guessed that I would enjoy it as much as I did, despite the pessimism inherently in the film, it is fascinating to watch. From my review this past October: Read the rest of this entry >>

Shake Hands With the Devil is a movie based on Roméo Dallaire’s novel Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, and is about Dallaire’s experience in 1994 during the Rwandan genocide. Dallaire was a part of a peacekeeping force that was in Rwanda and during his time there he had a hard time getting done what he thought needed to get done.

The trailer for the film looks pretty good, I like that there are no huge celebritities in it, sometimes I find that this really allows you to think about the reality of a situation.   And the story sounds simple amazing. Read the rest of this entry >>