Boing Boing TV News
Academy Award-Winning Composer and Technology Pioneer Join Forces to Celebrate a Japanese Tradition
SANTA MONICA, Calif., May 20 PRNewswire — Today Boing Boing TV (tv.boingboing.net) commemorates its 150th episode with a mini-documentary featuring internationally recognized technology pioneer, Joi Ito (joi.ito.com), accompanied by an original score composed by Grammy, Academy Award, and Golden Globe-winning composer, Ryuichi Sakamoto (sitesakamoto.com).
This special episode marries art, music, tradition, cuisine, and community in an extraordinary tale as told by Joi, an American-educated Japanese activist, entrepreneur and venture capitalist, who is also the CEO of Creative Commons (creativecommons.org). Joi is also the founder and CEO of Neoteny, a venture capital firm focused on personal communications and enabling technologies. He has created numerous Internet companies including PSINet Japan, Digital Garage and Infoseek Japan.
The video follows Joi as he sets off in a bamboo forest near his home in the heart of Japan, in search of a seasonal delicacy, takenoko (bamboo shoots). The video reveals the secrets on how this ancestral dish has been prepared and presented in Japan, set to a modern composition by one of today's most important global musicians. Ryuichi's interest in the story underscores his passion as an outspoken environmentalist — his recent initiative, "More Trees" (www.more-trees.org) supports the planting of more trees to help offset carbon emissions.
"Technology enables us to communicate and connect in many ways, but sometimes we get so caught up in the flood of new information, we forget to stop and appreciate experiences that remind us of our history," said Xeni Jardin, co-founder and co-host of Boing Boing TV.
"Without technology, the larger public may never have had the opportunity to take this journey," said Boing Boing founder and Boing Boing TV co-host Mark Frauenfelder, "It was an honor and a privilege to share this unique and personal glimpse of tradition with the millions of Boing Boing followers."
Since its debut in October 2007, Boing Boing TV has won the hearts of fans, as demonstrated by the recent nomination as an "Official Honoree" for the 2008 Webby Awards, in the Online Film and Video category. Boing Boing TV's innovative model and premium content has also continually attracted major brands; including IBM, Dell, BMW, Verizon, Amazon, Adobe, Samsung, SanDisk, and JCPenney. Boing Boing TV is available on tv.boingboing.net, as well as Apple iTunes, YouTube, and in the inflight entertainment system on board Virgin America planes (www.virginamerica.com).
Boing Boing TV is produced in partnership with DECA, a digital entertainment studio that finances, develops, markets and distributes unique, high-quality digital entertainment properties including BushLeague.TV (www.bushleague.tv) and CNET's Dog and Pony Show (www.dogandpony.com).
Boing Boing TV is represented by International Creative Management (www.icmtalent.com), one of the world's largest talent and literary agencies.
Federated Media Publishing (www.federatedmedia.net) connects marketers with Boing Boing TV, and has helped the property attract sponsorships that include in-stream video advertising, pre-show announcements and millions of blog ad impressions.
About Ryuichi Sakamoto:
Ryuichi Sakamoto (Sakamoto Ryuichi, sitesakamoto.com) is a gifted composer, musician producer, actor and environmental activist. With multiple Academy Awards, Grammy nominations and Golden Globes, he is ranked as one of the top 100 most influential musicians by HMV.
Ryuichi got his start as a session musician, then formed the internationally successful synthpop trio Yellow Magic Orchestra, with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi.
Ryuichi's talent doesn't stop in the realm of creative arts; he's also an avid global activist, passionately assisting in the fight against global warming. His latest project More Trees, which began in 2006, seeks to support and promote special projects that allow for the planting of trees as a measure of carbon offsets. The organization has vowed to plant seven billion trees by 2009. To-date, 2 billion trees have been planted mostly through work with country governments including Turkey, Ethiopia and Mexico.
Ryuichi attended the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, where he earned a B.A. in music composition and an M.A. with special emphasis on both electronic and ethnic music. He is based in New York and Tokyo.
About Boing Boing TV:
Boing Boing TV ("BBtv", tv.boingboing.net) is a daily online video program featuring eccentric, adventurous, colorful, and provocative glimpses into undiscovered realms of technology, art, and culture. In addition to "mini-documentaries" featuring Boing Boing editors online and out in the world, BBtv has welcomed a diverse roster of guests including Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, author John Hodgman, "Matrix" and "Speed Racer" effects wizard John Gaeta, and a webcam glimpse inside the making of a "South Park" episode with Matt Stone and Trey Parker. BBtv is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/).
About Boing Boing:
Boing Boing (www.boingboing.net) is co-edited by Cory Doctorow, Mark Frauenfelder, Xeni Jardin and David Pescovitz. Boing Boing Gadgets (gadgets.boingboing.net) is edited by Joel Johnson, Rob Beschizza, and John Brownlee. BoingBoing.net launched in 2000, and Technorati's list of most influential blogs — based on how many other sites link to that blog — now places Boing Boing at #1 in popularity and #5 in authority. By Comscore's measure, Boing Boing is among the five most-visited blogs on the web. According to Google, more than a million other sites link to Boing Boing. Forbes voted it "best of the web" among tech blogs, as did BusinessWeek. AdRants, ad exec Steve Hall's blog, said that if Boing Boing covers your ad campaign, it's gone viral. It was a 2006 Bloggies winner for Best Group Blog and Lifetime Achievement and a 2006 and 2007 Webby Awards nominee. In a 2006 article, The New Yorker described Boing Boing as "a technology blog that is read by geeks the world over."
About DECA:
DECA (www.deca.tv) was founded in 2007 by experienced entertainment and Internet executives who previously held senior roles at Sony Pictures, ABC, and Yahoo! Music. DECA uniquely identifies, funds, markets and distributes next-generation digital entertainment properties, bridging the gap between Hollywood, Madison Avenue and Silicon Valley. Based in Santa Monica, Calif., the company is backed by Mayfield, General Catalyst, and Atomico.
About International Creative Management:
International Creative Management, Inc. (ICM, www.icmtalent.com) is one of the world's largest talent and literary agencies, with offices in Los Angeles, New York and London. A cornerstone of the entertainment industry for more than three decades, ICM represents creative and technical talent in the fields of motion pictures, television, publishing, music, live performance, commercials and new media.
About Federated Media:
FM (www.federatedmedia.net) believes great voices attract great audiences, and supports those voices by connecting them to great marketers, as well as providing a suite of services that let authors focus on what they do best: make compelling media. In so doing, FM creates federations of respected voices that prosper on their own terms. Current federations include Sports, Technology, Automotive, Business & Marketing, Media & Entertainment, Video Gaming, Graphics Arts, News 2.0, Mobile, Lifestyle and Parenting.
Media Contact: Kathy Johnson Consort Partners deca@consortpartners.com Tel: +1 415 823 9566
SOURCE Boing Boing TV
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