Al Jazeera English sponsors Encounters Documentary Festival

Encounters to host Al Jazeera showcase, including multi-award-winning Bahrain: Shouting in the Dark and African-themed docs

Presentation by Al Jazeera series producers and commissioning editors

Opportunity for SA industry to pitch leading broadcaster

Al Jazeera English has signed on as one of the sponsors of this year’s Encounters South African International Documentary Festival, running from 7-24 June 2012.

As part of the deal, Africa’s most prestigious documentary festival will host an Al Jazeera showcase.

“Al Jazeera English is the leading news channel in the world, producing some of the most acclaimed documentaries anywhere,” says Mandisa Zitha, festival director at Encounters, pointing to a string of recent accolades for the broadcaster, like being named The Royal Television Society’s 2012 News Channel of the Year and winning a Peabody, the oldest award in electronic media, for its ground-breaking coverage of the Arab Spring. “We’re very excited to be partnering with them.”

Encouter’s Al Jazeera showcase includes Bahrain: Shouting in The Dark, about the 2011 Arab revolution that was abandoned by the Arabs, forsaken by the West and forgotten by the world. The controversial documentary won The Foreign Press Association Documentary of the Year, the George Polk Award for Excellence in Journalism, and the Scripps Howard Jack R. Howard Award for Television Reporting, among other accolades.

Watch the promo

On YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTtPH-FSDfA

The five other Al Jazeera English films on the programme demonstrate the broadcaster’s commitment to covering Africa’s stories.

Libya: Through The Fire focuses on Mohammed Nabbous, who returned from exile to set up an independent satellite television station to alert the world to Benghazi’s increasing peril. This remarkable and heart-breaking documentary embodies the story of the Arab Awakening and carries viewers through the historic events in Libya on a very human level.

Watch the promo

On Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ2nf9WlPZo

Africa Investigates was a world-first, giving some of Africa’s best journalists the resources and opportunity to pursue high-level investigative targets across the continent. Two episodes, Fool’s Gold and Spell of the Albino, will screen together as a double-header at Encounters.

Watch the promo

On YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0GwRxV2zZI

In Fool’s Gold, legendary Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremayaw Anas goes undercover to expose a group behind the scams and confidence tricks that accompanied Ghana’s gold rush.

Spell of the Albino puts the focus on Tanzania, where albinos are still being savagely mutilated and murdered for their body parts – falsely believed to have magical properties.

Bitter Root goes to Northern Uganda, where two ex-commanders in The Lord’s Resistance Army, responsible for numerous brutalities against unarmed civilians, ask the tribal elders to implement Mato Oput, a traditional system of restorative justice involving perpetrators and victims.

Watch the promo

On YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWolvdVgzGs.

The Nigerian Connection investigates the trafficking of young girls from Nigeria to Italy for the sex trade, exposing how juju or black magic is used by organized crime to keep the girls in fear for their lives.

Watch the promo

On YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRcz5vZwngk

South African Clifford Bestall, who won the Audience Award at Encounters in 2010 for The 16th Man, is also screening his Hillbrow-themed Between Heaven and Hell, which he shot for Al Jazeera English last year.
Watch the promo

On YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXnVY2b0rH0

Al Jazeera will also host an Industry Presentation on Monday, 11 June 2012 from 5-7pm at Protea Hotel Fire & Ice, New Church Street, Cape Town. Osama Saeed, head of international and media relations at Al Jazeera English, and Al Jazeera English commissioning editors Diarmuid Jeffreys, Dominique Young and Jon Blair will explain Al Jazeera’s approach, followed by a Q&A and informal drinks. Blair is a South African-born Oscar, Emmy and BAFTA-winner.

Both presentations have limited space available, so Encounters encourages industry to book early by emailing manager@encounters.co.za .

Al Jazeera English will also be hosting a pitching forum for African filmmakers (see attached Call).

For more information, visit http://www.encounters.co.za or call 021 465 4686.

Oluko
Encounters International Documentary Festival
1st Floor,
27 Caledon Street
Cape Town
oluko@encounters.co.za

http://www.encounters.co.za

tel: +27 21 465 4686
fax: +27 21 461 6964

'A Basic Introduction to Raw' Workshop Thursday 24 May

We will be hosting 'A Basic Introduction to Raw' on Thursday 24 May @ 18h00.  
This class will cover the basics of making your own delicious nutmilks, dehydrating kale chips and creating nori handrolls.  

Cost of the class is R250 and you will receive notes and samples of the tasty treats we make in class.
The workshop will take place at In the Raw, 44 Stanley Avenue, Milpark and will run from 18h00-20h30.

Space is limited so book by Wed 23 May 12h00 at info@rawfoodandjuice.com or call Shelley on 074 1794 670.

There will be more classes in the future – keep an eye on our website http://www.rawfoodandjuice.com and our Facebook page for further details.

 To become a part of our In the Raw community visit our Facebook page and like us to receive updates.

Now you need to make it a career — but are perhaps a bit lost.

I have to admit I was there, only a few years ago, and three years later I’ve successfully done it, even if I’m a bit battered from the attempt.

It’s not easy — I’ll tell you that up front. If you hope to make a quick buck, or a fast million, you’ll need to find another guide. Probably one with lots of flashing ads in the sidebar.

So you have your passion picked out? Here’s how to turn it into a living.

1. Learn. Read up on it, from blogs to magazine articles online to books to ebooks. Look for the free stuff first. Don’t use this as an excuse to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars. Most of the important stuff is available for free. Find a mentor, talk to others doing it, ask questions. Go on forums and ask questions there — from experienced people. Find others who are doing it well and study them closely.

2. Do. Do not put this step off for months and months while you learn. You’ll learn most by doing. Start doing it for free. Do it for friends, family. Find clients who’ll pay a small amount. Start a blog and write about it. Put it online and let others try your products or service. As soon as possible, go public — you’ll learn the most this way. Continue to do step one as you’re doing this step.

3. Get amazing at it. This is just more doing and learning. Readthis post for more.

4. Start charging. As soon as you can do it well enough to charge, do so. You can start low — the main thing is to keep getting experience, and to get clients who can recommend you to others. You want to work hard to knock their socks off. Slowly raise your rates as your skills improve.

5. Keep improving. Never stop learning, getting better. Use client or reader feedback to help.

6. Build income streams. This is where the money starts coming in. You can start this step at any time — don’t wait until you’ve done all the other steps. Build as many income streams as you can, one at a time. Some examples:

• Regular consulting gigs.
• Freelance jobs.
• Ads or affiliate income from a blog or website.
• Ebooks teaching people how to do something you know how to do.
• A membership website that charges a small monthly fee (say, $9 or $20 a month) that will help others learn something you can teach them. This could include a forum, articles, videos, live webinars, other resources.
• An online course, similar to the membership site, but not requiring you to do live stuff or have a forum. Course could include ebooks, workbooks, videos, audio, online articles, other tools.
• Software or other downloadable products.
• Merchandise such as T-shirts, books, coffee mugs, etc.

There are, of course, many other types of services and products you can offer. Each income stream might only bring in a portion of what you need to survive, but if you continually build more income streams, you can eventually live off your passion. Congratulations.

Equipment and office? For most passions, you can probably do it from your home with minimal equipment (often just a computer). Avoid having to pay for office space or having any overhead that will make it difficult to start up or put you in debt. Start small, expand only as your income expands. Buy as little equipment as you can get away with at first.

Quit your job? If you can possibly afford it, yes. This might mean living on savings for a few months, or living off your spouse’s income, and cutting back on expenses. If this isn’t a possibility, make time to pursue your passion — before work, after work, on weekends.

Work for a company? If you get good at something, you’ll be in demand. You can then work for a company if you like. I recommend you try doing it on your own unless you need equipment you can’t afford or get an offer you can’t refuse.

Taken from: http://zenhabits.net/passionguide/

Many people are calling this a social media bubble, and expect to see some crazy things happening. I’m a geek, not a investor type personality, but it will be interesting to see how these developments pan out over the next few months.

Check what my best forex affiliate site thinks about the Facebook IPO

Dai Ko Myo

After an email conversation with a subscriber, I realised just how little I’m promoting Reiki, which was the first healing I did and created a site about many years ago.

So I’m returning back to that original love, and offering you a free distant healing. All you need to do is leave a comment below and tell me what you’d like reiki healing for.

After many years of trying I have finally been allocated budget for PDCs. Could you please quote me on a company letterhead? I cannot give you quantities just yet so please quote on 1 person; including meals & accom. I also need dates for the next course. Could they take place here at our little nursery in Addo (preferably!!!!) or do they have to take place at your place? And note that a Xhosa interpreter would be required as well

Megan G. McCarthy
Assistant Cluster Manager ISCU
Working for Water & Working for the Coast – Frontier Cluster,
South African National Parks (SANParks)
Cellular: 082 89 44422
Office: 046 – 653 0610 E-fax: 086 590 6010
E-mail:meganm@sanparks.org
Web address: http://www.sanparks.org
http://www.dwaf.gov.za/wfw/

P.O. Box 50 Alexandria 6185 ~ Treat the Earth Well, It Was Not Given to You by Your Parents, It Was Loaned to You by Your Children ~ Indian Proverb

This post on the eleven forgotten laws is especially for Natalie, and I hope that she remembers the conversation we had discussing good ol’ Bob Proctor and I suggested that she sign up for his affiliate program. Now here I am doing the same and promoting his work.

Especially coming so soon after my post on the law of attraction, this program comes at just the right time.

If you’d like to join in, then please leave a comment and let’s get started:

Do you remember that first spark of hope you felt when you first watched The Secret? I clearly remember the desire that filled my heart, knowing that – Yes, I can make my dreams come true –FINALLY!

But how many of you soon saw that hope dwindle into frustration? I know I felt like there was something missing from the puzzle. How many of you (and be honest now) started muttering things like:

- “It seems to work for other people, but I just can’t get it right.”

- “I’m frustrated that sometimes I can get it to work, but sometimes I can’t. What’s the trick?”

- “Why am I having so much trouble?”

- “I think the universe is against me.”

- “I’m trying very, VERY hard but still nothing is happening!”

Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Like me, about 97% of people also couldn’t make the Law of Attraction work for them the first time round. Think about it, just like anything else, you have to practice many times before you see success. A child doesn’t learn to walk without falling over a couple of times, right?

But in practice, everything is easier said and done. When you’re frustrated, it’s hard to stay positive. And it’s especially harder to stay positive when the evidence all around you is screams negativity like the unstable economy or senseless acts of violence such as those recently seen in Mumbai.

And do you know what happens when you fail to stay positive? That’s right – you start attracting negative things in to your life.

So how can you make the Law of Attraction work for you – without getting frustrated? How do those who successfully implement the Law of Attraction do it with such confidence and finesse?

Well, here’s three quick tips so you will never feel frustrated or tired of begging from the universe, because you know how to start manifesting like a pro.

1. Allow Yourself To Receive

Just like a lost child who approaches a police officer and asks, “Excuse me Sir, can you tell me how to go to the post office? Can you? Can you? Can you? Can you? Can you?” Well, if the child goes on and on asking, the police officer can’t even give an answer, right?

Well, it’s the same thing with your mind. If the only thing your mind is doing is transmit, transmit, transmit, the universe — which is trying to respond — can’t give you a single thing because you’re not allowing yourself to receive!

So, have the confidence in yourself and stop exhausting yourself by running around person to person begging for riches, and then wondering why nobody is dropping a penny in your cup (Hint: It’s because you’re running away too fast for them before they can even reach for their wallets).

Just think of your desires and leave it out there, go away, and trust that your cup will be filled with gold coins (or whatever it is you asked for) when the time is right.

2. Be Patient With Yourself

Receiving takes time.

Sadly, many people give up just a couple of steps before the finish line because they’ve decided that if it’s not working by now, it’s never going to work at all. Worse still are those who throw in more and more energy because they think that with more resources, the results will come faster.

This is like expecting 9 mothers to conceive and deliver a baby in 1 month. You also can’t bake cookies in half the time by doubling the temperature. You’ll incinerate those cookies to ashes!

In simple terms: Everything in this world has a natural development time, and this fact will not change no matter what resources you throw at it.

So relax and be patient. Remember that you too, as part of the universe, are also governed by the laws of the universe, and you cannot change the natural development time.

If you remember this, you will less likely work yourself up into frustration, or worse, push yourself into a downward spiral of negativity.

3. Support and Educate Yourself

Like the child who is learning how to walk, you need support. You also need to guidance on how to do it, and also the role models to look up to.

Many people give up because they think that “The Secret” is the “be all and end all” solution. Well, it’s NOT. “The Secret” is just a small portion. It was never intended, and has never been, the whole answer.

Coming to the conclusion that the Law of Attraction doesn’t work when all you ever did to educate yourself was watch “The Secret” 19 times (without looking at changing the habits of other areas of your life) is like coming to the conclusion that exercising is not an effective way to lose weight because all you did is run on the treadmill for 2 hours a day (but you’re still stuffing yourself with fried foods and cheesecakes).

So seek and be hungry for new knowledge. Also, make an effort to be amongst people or communities where you can support each other, learn from each other and also share new knowledge that you have found.

While the Law of Attraction is not an overnight delivery service, it will indeed deliver, if you do your part too!

Check out the site here – go to http://www.the11forgottenlaws.com

The Law of Attraction simply says that you attract into your life whatever you think about.  Your dominant thoughts will find a way to manifest.  But the Law of Attraction gives rise to some tough questions that don’t seem to have good answers.  I would say, however, that these problems aren’t caused by the Law of Attraction itself but rather by the Law of Attraction as applied to objective reality.

Here are some of those problematic questions (all are generalizations of ones I received via email):

• What happens when people put out conflicting intentions, like two people intending to get the same promotion when only one position is available?
• Do children, babies, and/or animals put out intentions?
• If a child is abused, does that mean the child intended it in some way?
• If I intend for my relationship to improve, but my spouse doesn’t seem to care, what will happen?

These questions seem to weaken the plausibility of the Law of Attraction.  Sometimes people answer them by going pretty far out.  For example, it’s been said by LoAers that a young child experiences abuse because s/he intended it or earned it during a past life.  Well, sure… we can explain just about anything if we bring past lives into the equation, but IMO that’s a cop-out.  On the other hand, objective reality without the Law of Attraction doesn’t provide satisfactory answers either — supposedly some kids are just born unlucky.  That’s a cop-out too.

I’ve never been satisfied by others’ answers to these questions, and they’re pretty important questions if the Law of Attraction is to be believed.  Some books hint at the solution but never really nail it.  That nail, however, can be found in the concept of subjective reality.

Subjective reality is a belief system in which (1) there is only one consciousness, (2) you are that singular consciousness, and (3) everything and everyone in your reality is a projection of your thoughts.

You may not see it yet, but subjective reality neatly answers all these tricky Law of Attraction questions. Let me ‘splain….

In subjective reality there’s only one consciousness, and it’s yours.  Consequently, there’s only one source of intentions in your universe — YOU.  While you may observe lots of walking, talking bodies in your reality, they all exist inside your consciousness.  You know this is how your dreams work, but you haven’t yet realized your waking reality is just another type of dream.  It only seems solid because you believe (intend) it is.

Since none of the other characters you encounter are conscious in a way that’s separate from you, nobody else can have intentions.  The only intentions are yours.  You’re the only thinker in this universe.

It’s important to correctly define the YOU in subjective reality.  YOU are not your physical body.  This is not the egoic you at all.  I’m not suggesting you’re a conscious body walking around in a world full of unconscious automatons.  That would be a total misunderstanding of subjective reality.  The correct viewpoint is that you’re the single consciousness in which this entire reality takes place.

Imagine you’re having a dream.  In that dream what exactly are YOU?  Are YOU the physical dream character you identify with?  No, of course not — that’s just your dream avatar.  YOU are the dreamer.  The entire dream occurs within your consciousness.  All dream characters are projections of your dream thoughts, including your avatar.  In fact, if you learn lucid dreaming, you can even switch avatars in your dream by possessing another character.  In a lucid dream, you can do anything you believe you can.

Physical reality works the same way.  This is a denser universe than what you experience in your sleeping dreams, so changes occur a bit more gradually here.  But this reality still conforms to your thoughts just like a sleeping dream.  YOU are the dreamer in which all of this is taking place.

The idea that other people have intentions is an illusion because other people are just projections.  Of course, if you strongly believe other people have intentions, then that’s the dream you’ll create for yourself.  But ultimately it’s still an illusion.

Here’s how subjective reality answers these challenging Law of Attraction questions:

What happens when people put out conflicting intentions, like two people intending to get the same promotion when only one position is available?

Since you’re the only intender, this is entirely an internal conflict — within YOU.  You’re holding the thought (the intention) for both people to want the same position.  But you’re also thinking (intending) that only one can get it.  So you’re intending competition.  This whole situation is your creation.  You believe in competition, so that’s what you manifest.  Maybe you have some beliefs (thoughts and intentions) about who will get the promotion, in which case your expectations will manifest.  But you may have a higher order belief that life is random, unfair, uncertain, etc., so in that case you may manifest a surprise because that’s what you’re intending.

Being the only intender in your reality places a huge responsibility on your shoulders.  You can give up control of your reality by thinking (intending) randomness and uncertainty, but you can never give up responsibility.  You’re the sole creator in this universe.  If you think about war, poverty, disease, etc., that’s exactly what you’ll manifest.  If you think about peace, love, and joy, you’ll manifest that too.  Your reality is exactly what you think it is.  Whenever you think about anything, you summon its manifestation.

Do children, babies, and/or animals put out intentions?

No.  Your own body doesn’t even put out intentions — only your consciousness does.  You’re the only one who has intentions, so what takes precedence is what YOU intend for the children, babies, and animals in your reality.  Every thought is an intention, so however you think about the other beings in your reality is what you’ll eventually manifest for them.  Keep in mind that beliefs are hierarchical, so if you have a high order belief that reality is random and unpredictable and out of your control, then that intention will trump other intentions of which you’re less certain.  It’s your entire collection of thoughts that dictates how your reality manifests.

If a child is abused, does that mean the child intended it in some way?

No.  It means YOU intended it.  You intend child abuse to manifest simply by thinking about it.  The more you think about child abuse (or any other subject), the more you’ll see it expand in your reality.  Whatever you think about expands, and not just in the narrow space of your avatar but in all of physical reality.

If I intend for my relationship to improve, but my spouse doesn’t seem to care, what will happen?

This is another example of intending conflict.  You’re projecting one intention for your avatar and one for your spouse, so the actual unified intention is that of conflict.  Hence the result you experience, subject to the influence of your higher order beliefs, will be to experience conflict with your spouse.  If your thoughts are conflicted, your reality is conflicted.

This is why assuming responsibility for your thoughts is so important.  If you want to see peace in the world, then intend peace for EVERYTHING in your reality.  If you want to see abundance in the world, then intend it for EVERYONE.  If you want to enjoy loving relationships, then intend loving relationships for ALL.  If you intend these only for your own avatar but not for others, then you’re intending conflict, division, and separation; consequently, that’s what you’ll experience.

If you stop thinking about something entirely, does that mean it disappears?  Yes, technically it does.  But in practice it’s next to impossible to uncreate what you’ve already manifested.  You’ll continue creating the same problems just by noticing them.  But when you assume 100% responsibility for everything you’re experiencing in your reality right now — absolutely everything — then you assume the power to alter your reality by rechanneling your thoughts.

This entire reality is your creation.  Feel good about that.  Feel grateful for the richness of your world.  And then begin creating the reality you truly want by making decisions and holding intentions.  Think about what you desire, and withdraw your thoughts from what you don’t want.  The most natural, easiest way to do this is to pay attention to your emotions.  Thinking about your desires feels good, and thinking about what you don’t want makes you feel bad.  When you notice yourself feeling bad, you’ve caught yourself thinking about something you don’t want.  Turn your focus back towards what you do want, and your emotional state will improve rapidly.  As you do this repeatedly, you’ll begin to see your physical reality shift too, first in subtle ways and then in bigger leaps.

I too am just a manifestation of your consciousness.  I play the role you expect me to play.  If you expect me to be a helpful guide, I will be.  If you expect me to be profound and insightful, I will be.  If you expect me to be confused or deluded, I will be.  But of course there’s no distinct ME that is separate from YOU.  I’m just one of your many creations.  I am what you intend me to be.  But deep down you already knew that, didn’t you?

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/08/the-law-of-attraction/

Off grid living is in my future because I’m moving to rural KZN, to live amongst the Zulu people, learn their healing art by initiation into being a sangoma and living with my love.

A dream come true, because we’ll be living next to a beautiful clean river, and without an Eskom line in sight. What pleasure!

The Nduna says that most people are leaving because the government is not bringing the electricity to them, but we’re looking for that in particular, and I’d like to continue a discuss here. In the comments section below, please share your experiences with Off-Grid living, and share any advice you may have for me.

More and more people are realising that you can still enjoy the modern urban comforts while enjoying the independence of off grid living. Being off the grid means being exactly that, off the grid.

• No power lines,
• no electric bills,
• and being free of utility grid demands,

not to mention their ever-rising rates. Off grid living is environmentally friendly and cost effective and it is an option available to almost any one owning a home.

The principles of off grid living may be applied to any home in the world, even those currently tied to the grid. From solar panels, hydropower and windmills, there is growing curiosity in off grid living and breaking free from fossil fuel burning power plants. The technologies have advanced and the costs have dropped greatly.

Even do-it-yourselfers can take leaps into off grid living with many kits, resources and manuals available for instruction. As energy demands increase globally, those living off grid can rest easy knowing their own energy costs are diminishing.

The idea of off grid living can be scary to some who believe they will have to give up some of their most prized possessions and electronic gadgets to achieve such freedom. This is very far from the truth. Off grid living is simply about learning to moderate your use of electricity. It can be as simple as turning off lights that are not really in use. Purchasing appliances that don’t use energy when not in use (like clocks on microwaves and stoves). Learning to unplug, not just turn off. Things like computers and printers, well anything with the little green light that is always on, these items are stealing precious energy and adding to your bill. Wanting to become part of the off grid living adventure, doesn’t always mean giving up everything, sometimes it just means getting smarter about the things you have.

Off grid living has gotten so popular that even completely re-locatable high efficiency homes are being produced to meet those needs. Very similar to mobile homes and travel travelers in layout and definitely only designed for a one or two person dwelling, these housing units use solar power, passive solar design and a small amount of natural gas to provide off grid living that you can take with you when you move.

If you are interested in off grid living, but need more success stories to drive you over the teetering point then start your research on the Internet. There are tons of great resources available and individuals who took the plunge into off grid living with great success telling their stories. Imagine, no more gathering around that one little candle when the power goes out, or having the neighbors over to watch their favorite shows when there is a blackout. Off grid living is obtainable for anyone and you too can enjoy the life of off grid living no matter where you make your home.