December 2011

You’ve probably heard about the massive floods in Southeast Asia that have left many areas underwater for months after annual floodwaters ordinarily subside. People in Cambodia have been particularly affected by the flooding, in a crisis that is worsening as the months go by, though it has not received much U.S. media attention.

At Cantankerous Titles, we’ve been following flood news from Cambodia with dismay. We believe in the importance of telling stories; we also want to help materially.

We will donate $1 to Cambodian flood relief efforts for each copy of our recent nonfiction release Cambodian Grrrl: Self-Publishing in Phnom Penh that you buy here between now and February 1, 2012.

Cambodian Grrrl: Self-Publishing in Phnom Penh
by Anne Elizabeth Moore

$7.95

Here is a statement from author Anne Elizabeth Moore: [click to continue…]

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Well then. You may be wondering why I’ve called you here.

You see, every so often a person needs to reinvent themselves. Or at least evolve.

After fifteen years with Microcosm Publishing, I’ve thought intensively about the things that have left me dissatisfied about the scene I’ve existed in.

I would like to issue a challenge. To myself and to the public.

I’m interested in telling the stories of what is going on in our world. What people are doing that is interesting, timely, and relevant. As well as how things got to be the way they are. And in a didactic political sphere it’s difficult not to cast things into simple roles of “good” and “bad” or worse yet, “right” and “wrong.”

For example, I’m familiar with plenty of reasons that I “should” boycott Starbucks, Wal Mart, or factory farming. But those individual boycotts do not make an effective political movement. Nor does an increasing volume of documentaries, zines, or “journalism” that tells the audience what to do without a proper examination and analysis of the nuances.

So I would like to challenge people to take on the Revenge of Print challenge but also accept the responsible journalism challenge. Tell the stories of the world around you and explain how complex the world really is. Show how important analysis of the facts is for media literacy and understanding the world around you. The scene and the world will thank you for it.

Cantankerous Titles is a small video production studio and publishing house founded in 2008. Check out some of our newest videos here.

We’ve produced three feature documentaries films, dozens and dozens of documentary shorts, and a half dozen books and zines. Right now we are hard at work on a new feature documentary about bicycle activism and its results in Portland, Aftermass

The time has come for a full website overhaul and we’re working hard to populate these pages and bring the coolest news about all of the things that we are up to!

Drop a line at joe dot microcosm at gmail dot com

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