Woke up and turned on CBC radio to the happy news that The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Insite Safe Injection site will stay open!
Insite is also featured in our friends at Kensington TV's fine film Raw Opium which had a special screening on PBS Newshour last night.
It's being a very busy health related month for us at Hello Cool World. Last week we hosted the Social Media and Health Promotion mashup as part of Social Media Week Vancouver. Check out Michelle's wrap up blog. We're still tweeting using #SMWhealth if you care to follow our conversation.
Today's the day that Raw Opium is launching a Twitter conversation around #DrugPolicy.
Hello Cool World partnered with Kensington TV to promote the DOXA premiere of Raw Opium just before Insite went to court, and Insite is a strong throughline in the documentary, which takes an international look at the drug trade and harm reducuction but begins on the streets of Vancouver and creates a compassionate portrait of Insite and the people who access its services. This is one of the reasons we felt the film would be such a strong tool in the international fight for harm reduction and drug policy reform. See our blog about our POV ad.
Check out TVOs footage of the panel discussion of the private premiere screening in TO moderated by Hello Cool World's founder Katherine Dodds.
Katherine Dodds AKA "Kat" is the founder of Good Company Communications and HelloCoolWorld.com. Trained in renegade advertising & branding through her work with Adbusters in the '90s, Kat's early induction into the possibilities of the web-world was inspired by the term hypertext, which she immediately found comforting. She is dedicated to cause-related communication and to the development and use of tools that promote democratic processes.
Hello Cool World has been at the forefront of grassroots health campaigns for a decade, and we can't tell you how excited we are for this afternoon. Download the program to see exactly what you have to look forward to, and if you can't catch us in person, join us through our livestream.
Bella is the newest addition to Hello Cool World, enlisting for the cause at the end of 2010. A graduate of BCIT's Broadcast Communications for TV program, she's worked in all aspects of production and has a knack for new media & technology.
The latest edition of Point of View magazine is hot off the press! Hello Cool World is quite literally all over it. First of all, check out the fantastic cover. The Surviving Progress artwork was mastered and created by Hello Cool World's very own designer Terry Sunderland.
Surviving Progress, a Canadian feature documentary executive produced by Mark Achbar (director of The Corporation) and inspired by Ronald Wright’s A Short History of Progress that looks at the deep-seated habits within human behavior that threaten our very survival. The film examines the consequences of economic and technical growth, and describes ‘progress traps’ – modes of action in pursuit of prosperity and security that lead to famine, bankruptcy, and the threat of human extinction.
This latest issue is all about the Toronto International Film Festival, making Raw Opium’s feature ad a natural fit. Raw Opium is a phenomenal documentary that looks into the American war on drugs, and sheds light and awareness on critical issues around addiction. While Raw Opium is not in this year’s festival, the film is being self distributed by Kensington Communications and a feature ad in Point of View offers fantastic exposure for the film. Check out Colette’s previous blog entry for more on this incredible project.
Also, take note of the inside back cover of this issue and you will see another beaming example of Mr. Sunderland’s immense talent and Hello Cool World’s strategic ad placement.
...LACE time! We're thrilled to be gearing up for Pap Awareness Week again this year! As you might remember, last year was a huge success. We're hoping to bring LACE to even more communities, clinics and women this year -- and we couldn't be working towards that goal without the support and participation of people all over BC who are spreading the word about the campaign.
We've been busy since Pap Awareness Week 2010 wrapped up almost nine months ago! We brought LACE to Vancouver Fashion Week, raised money for BC Cancer Foundation with the Underwear Affair, and met new friends and supporters at events around Vancouver. We were also honored to receive an award from the BC Medical Association for Excellence in Health Promotion. We had a great time at the award ceremony back in June!
Michelle is a freelance writer and anthropologist with a Master of Public Health from UBC. Her passions are promoting health and building community. She's worked in grassroots community organizations in Vancouver, Victoria and Oceania.
Orgasm Inc. is a fine and funny film about a subject that in 2011 shouldn't be shocking, but that still is. The shock factor, for me, was not in any explicit sex scenes, but in the revelation that after Kinsey and decades of feminism, not to mention South Park, too many women and men still have no idea how to find the clitoris! What should be shocking, but is intead business as usual, is how big pharma preys upon our desire for desire in order to pitch us more pills. Orgasm Inc. is playing in several cities this June - including Vancouver's Cinemateque. For details on upcoming screenings click here.
I went to to the film with friend and research associate Cindy Masaro when it was part of SFU's conference "The Medicalization of Sex". Then I caught up with director Liz Canner to do an interrview with her. We'll be posting clips of the interview as part of our Hello Cool World Vlog series. We'll also be talking to Cindy about her research and thoughts on the film. For more about the film, links to the trailer etc. read on...
Woke up and turned on 
Katherine Dodds AKA "Kat" is the founder of Good Company Communications and HelloCoolWorld.com. Trained in renegade advertising & branding through her work with Adbusters in the '90s, Kat's early induction into the possibilities of the web-world was inspired by the term hypertext, which she immediately found comforting. She is dedicated to cause-related communication and to the development and use of tools that promote democratic processes.
Surviving Progress, a Canadian feature documentary executive produced by Mark Achbar (director of The Corporation) and inspired by Ronald Wright’s A Short History of Progress that looks at the deep-seated habits within human behavior that threaten our very survival. The film examines the consequences of economic and technical growth, and describes ‘progress traps’ – modes of action in pursuit of prosperity and security that lead to famine, bankruptcy, and the threat of human extinction. 
Kevin Young is Hello Cool Worlds media buyer - and loves his job! He enjoys working with the media community and everyone here at Hello Cool World.
