Stupid links

I call the age of lemmings, as they leap towards the cliff of climate change chaos...lots of stupid links here and buy tomorrow's soaraway Morning Star for my review and detailed discussion of stupid environmentalism...


Morning all,

A massive cheer from Team Stupid to everyone who helped spread the word about the premiere. The Film Council (who lent us a few quid for the event) carried out an official survey at three of the cinemas and were totally bowled over by the results, which are way, way better than for a normal film: 98% of viewers liked the film (56%: excellent, 31%: very good, 11%: good, 2%: fair, 0%: poor), 98% said they would recommend it to their friends and.... wait for it.... 75% of them had heard about the film from word of mouth (as opposed to our non-existent advertising, reviews etc). Hats off to all you word-of-mouthers. What a team effort.

Yes, the cinema release starts today. No, we still haven't got our act together compiling all the details. 15 extra cinemas came onboard after the premiere - which is of course fantastic news, but meant we had to scrap all our artwork/flyers/webpages and start again, so we got a bit behind. But I'll break our own rules by sending another message later this morning with all the final screening/speaker details for you to pass on, if you would be so kind. Everyone from Ed Miliband, Nick Stern & Ken Livingstone to Pete Postlethwaite, Jason Isaacs & Jeremy Hardy will be attending screenings over the coming week.

Apologies for the five repeat messages last time (our server can't cope with how big this mailing list got - we're moving soon) and also for not writing earlier: complete exhaustion set in the second the lights went down at the premiere. Speaking for myself, that is - I couldn't even stand - but the young 'uns managed to party for 14 hours straight.

Even bigger apologies to everyone who was trying to watch on the webstream, which was the only element of the whole event which didn't work. Well, that and the Eden project link-up, which was part of the same non-functioning web operation. Oh well, we tried our best. (And you can watch the Eden video here.)

Premiere Videos
Maldives message: http://vimeo.com/3661849
Postlethwaite vs Miliband: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5RCHXLW93E
Eden Project: http://vimeo.com/3668540
Kids Premiere: http://vimeo.com/3698238
Franny's Dad's report: http://www.oneclimate.net/2009/03/17/the-worlds-greenest-movie-premiere/
Eco-Tube report: http://www.eco-tube.com/v/NEWS/Age_of_Stupid_Premiere.aspx
BBC news: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7945283.stm
Channel 4 news: http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/arts_entertainment/the+green+premiere/3032062
New Zealand news: http://www.3news.co.nz/Video/CampbellLive/tabid/367/articleID/95785/cat/56/Default.aspx#video
Sky News: here

Premiere Photos
All of them: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ageofstupid/
Ed and Franny make up: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ageofstupid/3362941402/

Premiere Feedback
We've had over 1000 responses, which Katie is busy compiling for the website. (I broke my personal record yesterday morning while trying to sort through my own 2652 outstanding emails: 300 outgoing emails sent by 11am. Previous record: 4pm). Here's a few quotes to give you a flavour:

>> A big massive well done on the biggest climate change event in the UK ever!!!!!!
>> The youth premiere was blazing
>> Your film changed my life completely, it's hard and scary but I've been converted to full on activist status!
>> My fifteen year old twin sons watched the film at The Fulham Vue for the first time and were both totally blown away. They're now going to try and persuade their school to hold a viewing for all the pupils.
>> It was amazing and inspiring to come from organising with people in their sitting rooms, church halls, community centres and climate camp to be then organising with 260 people in a massive cinema linked up to about 14,000 to 16,000 people UK wide! and the President of the Maldives of course.
>> Just wanted to say a massive WELL DONE! I was at Greenwich Odeon and the film went down a storm. It was great being linked up to events in town and you got lots of cheers and claps. I was with some none politically active friends who pledged there and then to march in December and to come to climate camp in a few weeks time – brilliant result!
>> I just want to say a massive thank you for offering me the opportunity to be part of something so massively powerful. You have created a movement that has brought people together in a way that no one else in the climate movement has done before. Despite the general message of doom about climate change, you have created a massively inspiring, positive energy around this film and the campaign. And it’s because you have worked with 100% honesty and integrity, an ability to see a “no” as a challenge not an end, and you have followed your dreams.
>> What a massive impact that has had on me. I work for a large Corporate so I went back into the workplace on Monday filled with passion to make a difference and have set up a host of meetings to do just that.
>> The only drawback - I spent so much time discussing it on the 'phone on Monday I didn't have time to do my French homework for my class that night BUT, my teacher at City Uni told all the students to go and see it this weekend so we can discuss it at our next lesson.
>> A very very welcome boost forward for the debate in this country. Now let's get on the streets!
>> The build up before the film with the satellite links and attempting to take blurry camera-phone photos beforehand gave us in the audience a real sense of coalition and purpose.
>> What a goosepimply great night! I had seen previews and the Making Of mini-film beforehand, and there was already a buzz in the air that this was going to be a really important moment in film history. It felt important to be part of it. Nothing else has ever made the issue clearer, the solutions more obvious, and the urgency more acute. Nothing else has ever shouted more loudly. I challenge anyone to watch this film and not feel compelled to take action.
>> I'm ecstatic; have already emailed my son's school (City of London) to say they MUST show it to the pupils
>> It was a fantastically great evening and well worth the journey through most of Cheshire to get to Cheshire Oaks.
>> Having listened to all the incredible speakers in the second satellite broadcast, seen the fear on Ed Miliband’s face, and the passion in Pete Postlethwaite’s, I abandoned my carefully rehearsed script on the night (papers went on the floor!) and went for a more personal heartfelt talk...about feeling afraid but positive and confident we can as a group take action. As Ashok Sinha said at the NW FoE meeting in Preston, “they can’t ignore all of us!”
>> Last night was amazing. You made a staggeringly powerful message.
>> I gathered my 9 friends at Vue Islington to watch the premiere this evening and we had a great time - everyone was impressed and moved. Bottom line - it starts with individual action and you have provided a perfect example of how to take something personal (i.e. your enthusiasm to spread the word about climate change) and make it contagious! I hope I (and all your supporters) can do the same!
>> Everyone was fully attentive and reacting appropriately from time to time with applause or groans or laughter.
>> If I were the Queen I'd have the young women who made it in the Honours List [Hmmm, did they miss the bit where Pete said he'd give back his OBE?]
>> We thoroughly enjoyed an admittedly extra-cinematic experience here in Newcastle-Under-Lyme. It was like a three-course meal and perhaps can be done more often, with live link ups both to London and the Maldives!
>> The other day a young chap wrote to us out of the blue saying he really wanted to help organize local support for wind farms. He said he realised he had to get involved after seeing your film.
>> I went to your premiere in Bath. It's great to see people conveying a real sense of urgency about climate change and I loved watching Ed Miliband be put on the spot!
>> Mum brought me tea this morning and burst into tears on my bed. She had been up since 5am thinking about the film, and how we live, and getting upset. She and P were going to go to Nepal in a week, but Mum has decided not to go [non-refundable tickets and all]. The atmosphere in the house this morning feels a bit like we have all been to a funeral. And it IS a bit like that - I really think Mum and P have watched their lifestyle, preconceptions and framework for understanding their world, die. And as their daughter, it is unsettlingly like observing the loss of innocence that I imagine a parent experiences when they watch their children growing up. It is happy but also sad at the same time. But we aren't feeling (too) overwhelmed, but quite empowered. I think this film has acted as a tipping point. I have been banging on about this for years (quite ineffectively I now realise), but the film acted to distill, and make stark, the totally misplaced and confused framework through which we value things. So I think there will be quite a few positive changes around here. So, all of that is just me wanting to let you know that it really hit the soul of this household.
>> In this world where the forces against good are phenomenal, we need a great many more people to follow your example.
>> I was full of admiration for you both in leading the whole thing, and the way you pinned down Ed Milliband in a non aggressive but very forceful way.
>> I was at the Aberdeen showing and there was a definate buzz about it's hoped success. Many of the attendees were local activists which was a brilliant opportunity for people to all get together and have a bit of a chin-wag.
>> You left us normally loquacious lot speechless. It was BRILLIANT. The whole team worked like a smooth flowing super-efficient bunch of genii – at least that’s what it looked like! How DID you all do it?
>> We were in Wimbledon, and saw every second of the live feed from Leicester Square – and apart from some quite novel SciFi feedback FX of the like I’ve never heard live before (looked like you were hearing it too), it all worked brilliantly. The session after the film was riveting, especially putting Ed Milliband on the spot.
>> Saw it at The Light (Leeds) one of the sold-out cinemas. It was great to be "with you" at Leicester Square, and afterwards.
>> Now I've run out of superlatives. Simply, an unforgettable evening. I was awake half the night thinking about it.
>> The folks I took to Exeter were suitably moved and left the screening wanting to change their lives. Even go on the march in December! These were decent 'ordinary' people, not converted activists.
>> Thought you might enjoy hearing about our little Tuesday morning action... www.soilassociation.org/todaysnews.... Partly inspired by our viewing of the People's Premier of The Age of Stupid on Sunday in Bristol!
>> The world seems a little different today, in the lovely spring sunshine.


More Reviews
>> Entertaining one from Taiwan attached. God knows what it says.
>> News of the World - FOUR STARS - "A Deeply Inconvenient Kick Up the Backside... you won't see a more important film this year"
>> Financial Times - FOUR STARS - "lectures us sternly and pitilessly - but also intelligently and provokingly"
>> The Times - FOUR STARS - "the most imaginative and dramatic assault on the institutional complacency shrouding the issue"
>> The Telegraph - FOUR STARS - "Bold, supremely provocative, and hugely important.... a cry from the heart as much as a roar for necessary change."

Newboy Matt is doing his best trying to get all the reviews onto the site: http://www.ageofstupid.net/press_reviews


Help Needed Today
Rhiannon needs volunteers to help pack more activist packs in London today. Anyone free? Contact rhiannon@ageofstupid.net


The Amusements Continue
>> Some very naughty people calling themselves the Clever Crew have been up to all sorts of photogenic shenanigans involving petrol stations, RBS, train stations and wind turbines: http://clevercrew.wordpress.com/
>> Four publishers have contacted us wanting to publish the Book Of The Film. We're definitely going to take one of them up on the offer (though where I'm going to find a spare three months to write a book before July, I'm not quite sure)
>> Martin Durkin (Great Global Warming Swindle filmmaker) and I traded blows for Newsnight yesterday. Surprisingly, no actual fisticuffs were involved, even when I gave him the first ever Stupid Certificate. Watch on Newsnight Review, 11pm tonight, BBC2. (Alongside the Pet Shop Boys, my favourite ever band - yahey)

See you
Franny