I first came across Helen Russell’s book The Year of Living Danishly in my local library. Her experiences of immersing herself in a very different climate and culture are at times amusing, enlightening and will almost certainly make you reassess your priorities. I cannot listen to Barry White now without conjuring up memories of her tale of a Danish swimming pool session!
As a child I spent many summers in Denmark so have fond memories of my trips over there. My dad (now 86) went to stay with a Danish family as a teenager on a school exchange and kept in touch with them. One of the daughters from that family came to visit last month which prompted me to re-read the book and write this blog.
This is a talk Helen did for the wonderful people Action for Happiness.. and includes a Q and A session at the end. So grab a coffee, a pastry and watch this curled up on a comfy sofa to get a slice of Danish hygge.
Simple stuff but it really is true. I am involved in various community projects and it is wonderful to see that sense of connection making such a difference to people’s lives.
They have been a huge influence on many artists and musicians and are very rarely interviewed.. so it was lovely to see Mark Lawson talk to them about their lives, work and routines. Mark seemed a bit star struck and this adds a nice almost reverential air to the interview.
Well worth a watch.. and if you haven’t come across Gilbert and George before there is more on their website about them and their work – be warned – they like swear words! <a href="http://www.gilbertandgeorge acheter viagra pharmacie ligne.co.uk/” target=”_blank”>http://www.gilbertandgeorge.co.uk/
This was an Arena programme broadcast to celebrate Moore’s 80th birthday and is a collection of several films collated by John Read who interviewed and filmed Henry Moore six times over a 28 year period.
There is a decidedly old fashioned and almost reverential tone to the programme but it is a times a beautiful ‘fly on the wall’ documentary and a wonderful insight into the life and work of Henry Moore.
His huge sculptures can be found all over the world but many of his large pieces are actually not far from us at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park near Wakefield.
I think my favourite part shows the laid back attitude of Henry Moore. He goes off for lunch on his bike while a team and a crane are trying to move an enormous sculpture out of the workshop. It breaks in various places and Moore returns to find chaos and panic – his response to months of work being damaged was beautiful – ‘it can be mended’ 🙂
Hardly a week goes by without some story of dodgy behaviour from big banks so it may surprise you to discover that many credit unions and some banks are actually doing great things with their clients money. Understanding more about how this works gives you the knowledge to make an informed choice about what you do with your own money.
The 5 week course is free and runs on the edx.org platform and starts mid-April 2016 but you can register any time and work at your own pace.. blurb from the course page says..
What do you know about banking? Do you know what your bank does with your money? The recent financial crisis highlighted some of the most fundamental issues with the mainstream banking system.
This course looks into banks that operate differently, namely, “just banks” that use capital and finance as a tool to address social and ecological challenges.
This course is for anyone who wants to understand the unique role banks play as intermediaries in our economy and how they can leverage that position to produce positive social, environmental, and economic change.
The instructors of this course have worked for over 10 years with just banks from around the world, as well as in the fields of community development, economic democracy, and social change.
No previous knowledge of finance or banking is needed to take this course.
This is the first of several spin-off courses from the original U.Lab course and by 2017 there will be more from the same team of people on a range of topics.
This is a brilliant TED-Ed resource for anyone interested in the Periodic Table or Chemistry. The Periodic Videos team at Nottingham University have done short videos for each element so far discovered.All these videos are created by video journalist Brady Haran, featuring real working chemists from the University of Nottingham. See Periodic Videos for more about the team behind the films.
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you responded to those spam emails? Well .. comedian James Veitch did exactly that.. and this TED talk is an entertaining story of his correspondence with some of these spammers.
I discovered Films for Action a while ago and can spend hours on their site watching fascinating documentaries or reading thought provoking blogs. They describe Films for Action as a community-powered learning library for people who want to change the world viagra generique maroc.
Over the last 8 years, they have watched hundreds of social change documentaries and cataloged the best of them on the site. There’s now so many that they decided to create a list of the very best 100 fims hand-picked for their quality, insight and potential to inspire positive change. The films cover a wide range of topics including finance, permaculture and gardening, food, energy, democracy and politics, war, happiness, community, education, architecture, media and more.
All of the films have been selected because they are either free to watch online, or can be rented online. Click on the image below to see the list of 100 films.
I love these Philosophers Notes book summaries from Brian Johnson. I came across them a few years ago and must confess I ‘tested’ Brian when I first discovered them. You used to get a free book of your choice to try and I deliberately picked one I knew well to see what he made of it.
I chose ‘Loving What Is’ by Bryon Katie as my freebie and was very pleasantly surpised. I first read the book when I was doing a course in Focused Mindfulness with Absolute Specialists and learned about ‘The Work’ which is a very powerful technique she uses.
When I read the book there were several key points that stood out, but when I heard Brian’s summary he also picked out something else which I hadn’t initially realised was so significant, but after using the techniques for a while it was clear to me how important it was.Watch Full Movie Online Streaming Online and Download
So.. I decided I liked Brian, his notes, and how his mind worked and signed up for them all!
There is absolutely loads of free stuff on the Philosphers Notes website including podcasts and short video summaries of the books. You can get 3 free notes for signing up to Brian’s daily or weekly email dose of inspiration so why not give them a try.
If you want access to everything he offers a brilliant deal of $10 a month for all the Philosophers Notes, 10 new notes a month as well as Optimal Living 101 videos on all sorts of topics like Procrastination, Confidence, Action, Optimism and much more.
I do get a bit of commission if you become a paid up member and find his site through this page.. but I wholeheartedly recommend what he does.
The Ecstacy of Wilko Johnson is a film by Julien Temple updating the remarkable story of the Dr Feelgood musician. Reflecting on his impending death following his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, Johnson muses on the transformative power of mortality. Determined to live out his remaining months playing music, he records an album with Roger Daltrey in a mere eight days and embarks on a series of farewell tours. Yet, there is an unexpected twist in the tale, captured here by Julien Temple and interwoven with remarkable archive footage and music.
You really don’t need to be a Dr Feelgood fan or even know anything about Wilko. This is an extraordinary film about acceptance, humility, gratitude and one of the most powerful things I have seen in recent years.
click on the photo above to go to the film
I called it The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson because Wilko was able to describe how he could see everything in a very revelatory way. It’s like the medieval saints when they have the revelation of God and eternity, but in the head of an atheist. Julien Temple
<a href="http://www.ecstasyofwilkojohnson 