World History Episode 15: The Crusades

Jump to this episode’s Thought Bubble on The Crusades.

We’re the graphics team for an ongoing YouTube-funded series, part of YouTube’s Original Content Channels for the year of 2012. We create a 1-2 minute Thought Bubble each week for John Green’s World History episodes, delving into everything from the Agricultural Revolution, to China, to The Dark Ages, Rome, The Crusades, and beyond. We also create the illustrated/typographic elements on-screen throughout each 10-13 minute episode, and we branded the show; including the logo design, overall look and feel, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter pages.

Read more about our involvement with Crash Course here.

To learn more about the Crash Course World History series, or soak up some history for yourself, check out the playlist on YouTube and subscribe!

China’s Race to Power

Another cool thing is a new program we’ve rolled out called our Bubbleship Program. As cute as it sounds, it’s a serious, dedicated partnership to non-profit organizations that sign on to a series of Thought Bubbles rather than just one. In this kind of arrangement, not only can we create several Thought Bubbles committed to the ongoing message of one organization (for a lower cost might I add), but we’ll also inherently give exposure to a lot more issues on our youtube channel, which is great news to our supportive bubbly audience. We love our youtube audience, and they always ask us to make more Thought Bubbles. Well this is one way we’re going to try to do that. If you’re interested in the Bubbleship Program for yourself or your organization, shoot us an email and we’ll tell you all about it. We have a neat little PDF package that explains it too.

As you may already know, we’re also partaking in the production of a feature documentary film called Sapience, and that’s been keeping us busy both on and off work hours, for almost 18 months. We’re so excited to launch a Kickstarter campaign for the film this coming week, which I promise you’ll hear about very soon.

And finally, there’s Crash Course. If you’re a long time Thought Bubble fan, you might recall one of our first Thought Bubbles for John Green, on the topic of healthcare reform. That was, and continues to be our most successful Thought Bubble in terms of view counts and reception. Well now we’ve teamed up with the Green brothers (Hank and John), on a new YouTube series they’ll be hosting called Crash Course. Smart Bubble’s the graphics team for John Green’s episodes on World History; contributing graphics to his weekly show with a 1 minute Thought Bubble, as well as supporting graphics outside of it. His brother Hank’s series is on Biology, and he’s got his very own graphic team who we’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with. Both shows are representative of Crash Course as a YouTube series that will educate audiences in a fun, engaging way. It’s no wonder we’re thrilled to be involved!

You can read a great article in the LA Times about John Green and Crash Course here, and be sure to check out the first episode of John Green’s World History on Crash Course which launched today! Hank’s first Biology episode will air on Monday. We won’t be posting these episodes on our channel, but you can subscribe to Crash Course’s channel and see our featured Thought Bubble in John’s show every Thursday.

So needless to say, we have big things in the works, and we couldn’t be more grateful and appreciative of the continued love and support from our audiences!

Until next time,

Bubble Out.

The Mozilla Story

Sound Design and Music Composition by Allan Levy

More info on this Thought Bubble.

Ecojustice Talks About Source Water

Sound Design and Music Composition by Allan Levy

Illustration and Animation by JinKyung Myung

http://theaquaticview.com/

More info on this Thought Bubble.

When I first met Jonathon and Suzanna (founders of Thought Bubble), there were a handful of things we had in common; the books we’d read, documentaries we both liked and our love of Democracy Now! Soon the conversation turned to authors and activists we admired and I quickly told them how much I respect Naomi Klein. Seeing Naomi in The Corporation and reading No Logo opened up my eyes quite a bit as a teenager and led me onto the path where I am today. I was very pleased to find out Jon and Suz were fans too. After that, we often talked about creating a Thought Bubble for Naomi as soon as we could. Two months ago, the opportunity arose when a video was published of Naomi giving a speech where she spoke of how absurd it was that Canada’s Tar Sands oil had begun to brand itself as ‘ethical oil’.

You might have heard it before (and if you haven’t, it’s worth looking into), but Alberta’s Tar Sands are a true embarrassment for us Canadians: a human rights crisis for the Indigenous communities living in Alberta and British Columbia and an environmental disaster of epic proportions. Many pipelines transport this dirty oil all around North America, and our exports make us the United States’ biggest provider of oil. In the last few years, a new extension to a current pipeline has been proposed to carry Tar Sands oil all the way to Texas, putting some of North America’s most fragile ecosystems and waterways in serious peril. Recently, Bill McKibben and his team at 350.org helped spearhead a movement called Tar Sands Action and enlisted the help of people all over the US and Canada willing to express their dismay and anger about a possible new pipeline. As of November 6th, thousands of people have risked arrest, standing in front of the White House, as well as Canada’s Parliament in Ottawa, to protest.

When we heard this impassioned speech that Naomi Klein delivered at the Washington, DC Tar Sands Action Rally back in September, we knew it should be our next Thought Bubble. We hope this video will help spread this message and pay homage to all of the people fighting this cause. And for those who know little about it, we hope you will do as much research as you can and decide if the Tar Sands represent a healthy future for us and the Earth.

The truth is our time is running out. We should seize the moment and demand that we come off of dirty oil and push our politicians to hear our voices: No to the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Please take a look at Naomi Klein’s Thought Bubble and feel free to spread the video around, we’d sure appreciate it!

Naomi Klein’s Thought Bubble: Ethical Oil?

Speech by Naomi Klein

Original Speech Edited by: Julia Nadeau

Sound Design and Music Composition by Allan Levy

Illustrated by: Nick Counter

Animated by: Alexey Terehoff

More info on this Thought Bubble.

It got me wondering: How have people become more engaged with celebrities and Hollywood trivia than what is occurring in their own country? Why does Perez Hilton probably get more daily hits than most local newspapers? How is it that we as a society have become so disengaged from politics? When did we stop believing that as a collective, we have the ability to change and shape the way our country is run? I’m not talking about the many people who do still believe this (and thank god for them), but I am thinking of the more than half the Ontario population who are so disconnected from politics that they felt no reason to participate in this past provincial election.

When Barack Obama was running for President of the United States only a few years ago, almost every single Canadian I talked to was, in some way or another, following the U.S. Presidential elections. On the night he was inaugurated, my Facebook was inundated with quotations of inspiring comments from the first black American President. I recall wishing that Canadians would one day soon be as inspired by one of our own leaders as we were about our neighbour downstairs. Fast forward a few years to our 2011 Federal Election, which saw Jack Layton and his NDP team make history by surging ahead to become the official opposition. Although voter turnout was still a dismal 61% of the population, there was clear evidence that Canadians wanted change. Jack Layton became a political superstar, especially so for many young Canadians, who seemed to be able to relate to the NDP’s platform more than any of the other parties’.

When Mr. Layton unexpectedly passed away later this same year, social media was again inundated with memorials and inspiring quotes from the influential leader. I saw Jack Layton as somewhat of a Canadian Obama, one who had the charisma to draw people in, but also the genuine care and passion to really get things done. With the upcoming provincial election looming, I had high hopes that my fellow young Canadians would turn out in droves to support their beliefs, voting for issues at the forefront of politics. Encouraging youth (age 18-24) in particular to vote has been a challenge for years now, as historically, they comprise the lowest voter turnouts. I felt hopeful that Mr. Layton, more than anyone, could increase voter turnout among young Canadians.

Unfortunately, we broke a new record here in Ontario during this past provincial election, and not in a positive way. The election saw the lowest voter turnout since Confederation (1867). According to estimates from Elections Ontario, a record-low ratio of 49.2% of eligible voters cast a ballot in the 2011 provincial election. If you take a closer look at the numbers, you’ll discover that the Liberals earned 37.5% of the vote, which means they managed to return to power with the support of only about 18% of eligible voters. Regardless of which party you support, that number is disconcerting.

A look at some of the reasoning behind those who failed to vote is even more disturbing. Excuses ranged from “The parties are all the same anyway” to “What difference would it have made if I voted?” The difference would have been huge. For one, perhaps we would have a government with a majority, which itself is huge, regardless of what party you support. We should all be looking at the legitimacy of our provincial government when they hold less than a quarter of the population’s support. We live in a democratic country, but that number doesn’t speak of democracy.

So how do we convince more people to vote? How do we convince the apathetic individuals that not only is it their right to vote, but also their civic responsibility? How do we get the message across that because we live in a democratic country, we have the right to vote in every election, and we should most definitely exercise this right? People across the globe are still fighting each and every day for something that so many of us take for granted.

I used to wish that voting be mandatory, that every single eligible voter be made to vote because it was the law. But recently I took a step back. I realized this is not the best option. These people who don’t vote would do nothing beneficial for the system if they’re so uninvolved as to not even know the name of their MPP or what each running party stands for. The problem needs to be addressed at a much deeper level. We need to ensure citizens are not only interested in issues, but also informed.

Most importantly, this transformation needs to happen at the youth level. We need to garner more interest from an early age, encouraging young people to become involved in issues that are important to them and to keep informed on matters occurring throughout the country. Just as the U.S. 2008 Presidential election targeted youth, Canada also needs to instill some large-scale programs to do the same, but not just temporarily. This should be embedded in school curriculum and in initiatives that attract young people to the causes. The movement needs to be led by local governments and schools and also by non-profit organizations. We need to do as much as possible to ensure that people, youth included, understand that voting is not only a right, but also a responsibility.

As Jack Layton believed, young people in this country are one of the most important groups to listen to, draw inspiration from, and encourage. In his final letter to the country, he specifically targeted young Canadians, saying that we “need to be at the heart of our economy, our political life, and our plans for the present and the future.” We are the generation that will face some of our country’s, and world’s, greatest challenges. Mr. Layton felt that the energy, vision, and passion for justice shown by young Canadians are what our country needs today. If Mr. Layton believed we have the power to change our country, why does it seem we don’t believe in ourselves?

Oh, and for the record, Bieber’s favourite is purple.

{This article originally appeared on Sapience Film}