Forget about Kickstarter, try IndieGoGo in Canada UK Australia Asia?

Sept 24, 2013 update: Kickstarter has finally launched in Canada earlier this year and you can find some Canadian projects here.

July 15, 2015 update: Since my 2013 update, I’ve used Indiegogo and like it. Worth investigate it for yourself and decide for yourself if it is a good enough crowdfunding site for your use.

***

After waiting for close to three years and trying to push a little, I am giving up on the idea of waiting for Kickstarter to come to Canada! Unfortunately, no more illusion for me. Kickstarter’s inaction/inability to find an alternative payment solution for Canada or non-US countries is inexcusable and can only be put as they don’t give a beep. To them, US is a big enough market for them to serve? After three years of waiting, I’ve given up caring. Quoting Kickstarter’s FAQ (emphasis added)

“Am I eligible to start a Kickstarter project?

To be eligible to start a Kickstarter project, you need to satisfy the requirements of Amazon Payments:

Be a permanent US resident and at least 18 years of age with a Social Security Number (or EIN), a US bank account, US address, US state-issued ID (driver’s license), and major US credit or debit card.”

I am NOT paid by IndieGoGo to write this article! Judging from IndieGoGo‘s press articles and mention, they seem to be legit (I don’t know). A local friend has used IndieGoGo and I haven’t seen any complain from him.

I am sadden to write this article but then again, three years of Kickstarter inaction is inexcusable, enough is enough.

Can you share your experiences using IndieGoGo?

If you have used IndieGoGo to raise funds, can you please share your experiences good and bad? Both good or bad experiences are very much welcomed at this point. May be take a look of projects on IndieGoGo. And if they are worthy of your support, give them a try and let us know how things go? And if you are going to use IndieGoGo to raise funds, tell us how successful (or not) your experiences are.

P.S. To be fair, Kickstarter is doing good for permanent US resident. Even though I love my US friends, I just think Kickstarter sucks in helping projects initiated by non-US citizens around the world.

Video of Rupert and James Murdoch at the select committee

Guardian has done a great job in posting the video and transcript plus insightful commentary, “Rupert and James Murdoch at the select committee – interactive presentation – Video and text of Rupert and James Murdoch’s appearance before the culture select committee, with commentary from Lisa O’Carroll“

Webcast of Rebekah Brooks, Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch testifying in front of UK Parliament Committee on Tue 19 July 0730MST/0930EST

FYI. Assuming Canada hasn’t been geo-blocked for viewing by UK Parliament (which I think shouldn’t and I hope wouldn’t). [HT Jeff]

UK Parliament HOC CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT COMMITTEE Tuesday 19 July – Meeting starts on Tuesday 19 July at 2.30pm [7:30am MST , 9:30am EST]

“Phone-hacking Witnesses:

Rebekah Brooks, Chief Executive Officer, News International Ltd, Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, News Corporation, and James Murdoch, Deputy Chief Operating Officer and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, International News Corporation”

Breakfast at Richard Branson’s

I’ve admired Virgin Group’s main man Richard Branson for years (since I read his autobiography “Losing my Virginity” one quiet Christmas/New Year holiday). Since then, I’ve tried to learn from Richard whenever I can.

Have a read,

* “Breakfast at Richard Branson’s”

* “Entrepreneurs quiz Richard Branson“

Bob Dylan music podcast – UK Guardian

“Music Weekly podcast: Bob Dylan special – As Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday approaches, Emmy the Great and the Guardian’s Stephen Moss join guest presenter John Harris in choosing their favourite Dylan tracks” – UK Guardian

Quite interesting to listen. Highly recommended.

Curveball’s Lies and History

For the record and a chance to learn from history, here is UK Guardian exclusive interview and story of Curveball‘s admission of WMD lies that triggered the Iraq War.

* “Defector admits to WMD lies that triggered Iraq war (with video interview of Curveball)
• Man codenamed Curveball ‘invented’ tales of bioweapons
• Iraqi told lies to try to bring down Saddam Hussein regime
• Fabrications used by US as justification for invasion”

* “Curveball’s lies – and the consequences – Details of what the Iraqi defector said about WMD, and how it was used by Germany and the United States”

***

Feb 17, 2011 Update: UK Guardian, “Colin Powell demands answers over Curveball’s WMD lies – Former US secretary of state asks why CIA failed to warn him over Iraqi defector who has admitted fabricating WMD evidence“

Actor Pete Postlethwaite, 1946-2011

From NPR Actor Pete Postlethwaite, 1946-2011 (with 1997 radio interview),

“Actor Pete Postlethwaite, who was virtually unknown in America until his Oscar-nominated role in the 1993 film In The Name of the Father (a film I love), died Jan. 2 after a long battle with cancer. He was 64.”

More from Guardian “Pete Postlethwaite obituary“,

ITN news report

Ai Weiwei: Sunflower Seeds – Tate documentary

I love the Tate documentary of Ai Weiwei: Sunflower seeds. Good art and good documentary make you think, make you question, and make you want to understand more.

I am a sentimental man at times and I got a bit emotional watching the Tate documentary, thinking about the plight of people living/working in Jingdezhen (景德鎮), Chinese people in general, and the Chinese political and economics systems.

See “Ai Weiwei, 100 million sunflower seeds, house arrest” for more.

More stills from documentary.

Made in Dagenham – CIFF Review

Made in Dagenham, starring the award winning actors Sally Hawkins and Bob Hoskins, is one of the film I watched and enjoyed at 2010 Calgary International Film Festival.

Here is an excerpt of the polit at Wikipedia.

“The film is a dramatisation of the 1968 Ford sewing machinists strike at the Ford Dagenham assembly plant, where female workers walked out in protest against sexual discrimination and the desire for equal pay. The walkout was instrumental in the Equal Pay Act 1970.”

It was fun for me to see what lead to the the Equal Pay Act 1970, and I think you will have fun watching the film as well. I especially love one scene between the characters played by the beautiful Rosamund Pike and Sally Hawkins. Rosamund, playing a Cambridge/Oxford educated smart woman who was reduced to a “supportive wife” role by her husband and partly by herself, encouraged Sally to keep up the fight as Sally was doing what Rosamund dreamt of doing but never had a chance of doing much after her university education.

Here is a film trailer.

Herding 100 Cats – an IKEA UK ad/”experiment”

Ads that are fun are viewed more and spread more (like on blog like this). [HT Gizmodo] Check out this Guardian article where the ad agency Mother London’s creatives talk about the idea behind the ad. Enjoy.

Not surprisingly to me, an interesting observation is the “making of” YouTube video clips currently has about 10 times more viewing numbers than the ad itself.

The ad.

The “making of”.

Lost in Austen – Great UK ITV series

My expectation of “Lost in Austen” (fantasy adaptation of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen) wasn’t high but I ended up quite enjoying it. If your library has the DVD or you can rent it, check it out.

How To Report The News

UK Guardian columnist Charlie Brooker has this interesting and funny take on the news language, and “How To Report The News” in the following clip.

Here is an excerpt from Charlie’s column “‘Take Me Out is a cross between Blind Date and Boots’ Here Come The Girls campaign’”

If you’re not familiar with the [TV show] format (maybe you had harpsichord practice last Saturday), it’s a studio-based cross between Blind Date and Boots’ mortifying Here Come The Girls campaign. I’m willing to bet Here Come The Girls was a working title. It’s hosted by Paddy McGuinness, who arrives on the studio floor by descending down a huge glittery pipe, like a showbiz turd being flushed into the nation’s lap. He introduces 30 women – yes, 30 – who march in jiggling their tits and blowing kisses at the camera, cackling and screaming and winking like a hen night filling the front row at a Wham! reunion. It’s a crash course in misogyny.

The girls line up behind a row of illuminated podiums, and the first of the men arrives, sliding down the same pipe Paddy used earlier (if you’ll pardon the expression). Said bloke must impress the women by speaking, dancing, performing party tricks, and so on, like a jester desperately trying to stave off his own execution at the hands of a capricious female emperor. If he does a back-flip and six of the girls didn’t like the way his buttocks shook as he landed, they switch their podium lights off, thereby whittling down his selection of available mates, and by extension, the gene pool.

[…] The clever bit – in format terms at any rate – is that the girls return each week, so we get to know their “characters”. And they’re all “characters”. There are mouthy ones, stupid ones, sweet ones, gothic ones, young ones, old ones, and identical twin ones. All human life is here, apart from anyone you’d actually want to spend the rest of your days with. Or more than about an hour on a Saturday night, come to that.In summary: yes, it’s horrible. But that’s its job.

Companies to shape the decade: China Mobile

UK Guardian has a “Companies to shape the decade” series, the China Mobile article is an interesting one to read.

Social Media – A Force for Good (Repost)

Check out this insightful forum discussion (video via Fry) with the following three insightful participants plus host.

Stephen Fry, Biz Stone, Founder and Chief Executive of Twitter; and Reid Hoffman, Founder and Chief Executive of LinkedIn will discuss the phenomenon of social media and its future impact. [Location: London, UK]

P.S. For those that only know Stephen Fry as a funny man (of which he is), Stephen was exceedingly insightful and eloquent in this forum sharing his perspectives on things. Go check out the video. For those that care about social media and social networking, it is a must watch. Enjoy.