Posted by Elena del Valle on August 4, 2021
Crypto Wars
Photos: Kogan Page, Erica Stanford
Fraudsters and scammers are conning millions of people out of their life savings every year using cryptocurrency scams, according to Erica Stanford. She says an underworld of dirty dealing and scams has opened around cryptocurrencies. Those behind the frauds are relying on a variety of strategies such as cult-like tactics, celebrity endorsements and events filling Wembley Arena in London, United Kingdom; it’s shockingly easy to be deceived she says in Crypto Wars Faked Deaths, Missing Billions and Industry Disruption (Kogan Page, £14.99). The softcover book was published July 1, 2021.
It took Stanford a year to research, write and edit the book. In it she shares the stories behind the biggest scams on record, including a death faking Canadian founder who escaped with millions, a so called Cryptoqueen on the run from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a $50 million dollar prank gone wrong. When asked if she received compensation to include or exclude anyone she clarified, via a publicist, that she “did not receive any form of compensation to leave anyone out of the book.”
When asked what is the primary target audience for the book she replied: “Anyone! It’s intended to be fun, light reading, giving an easy-to-read overview of the worst scams and craziest stories of the crypto space.”
Erica Standford, author, Crypto Wars
“It was the publishers’ idea!,” she replied when asked why she wrote the book and how she will know if she was successful. “They approached me with the idea to write about the biggest scams in crypto. Successful – gosh, just finishing it, I was happy! I’d never done anything like that before and still can’t quite believe I’ve actually written a book, that it’s published and so many people are buying it! When I saw it in a shop for the first time, WH Smiths in London had made it as their business book of the month. I couldn’t quite believe it when I saw it really prominently displayed on shelves in a shop.”
Regarding the means and specific channels in which she promoted the book she replied, “The publishers have been a great help in this and have got the book listed with retailers and Amazon, as well as organising some PR. I have shared the book widely on LinkedIn and with all my connections in our Crypto Curry Club community, who have been very supportive and helped share it with their networks and in our Crypto Curry newsletter. I also reached out to some podcast hosts, as well as being asked to be on many podcasts and interviews with show hosts who wanted to talk about crypto scams. Most of the time trying to promote the book has been guest appearances on podcasts and writing articles for publications and newspapers who have been keen to feature it.”
When asked what, if any, impact the pandemic continuing may have on cryptocurrencies she replied, “It has raised awareness! More people than ever before, especially younger people, are looking at crypto, aware of some of the failures of fiat, of money printing and inflation and losing trust in governments, and it seems people have also just had more time to look into it.”
“Do an awful lot of research before looking at going anywhere near crypto!” she said when asked what she would advise readers seeking to understand blockchain and cryptocurrencies and considering investing in them. “Andreas Antonopoulos has an incredible book giving insights on Bitcoin called The Internet of Money, it’s a great read.”
According to her biography Stanford is a crypto entrepreneur and expert, who founded the United Kingdom’s biggest crypto network, and a lecturer at Warwick Business School in the United Kingdom. Kogan Page is an independent publisher of business books and content, according to a press release.
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Filed Under: Books
Posted by Elena del Valle on July 27, 2021
Latest OECD employment and unemployment numbers – click to enlarge
Graphic: OECD
According to an embargoed press release from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the OECD area employment rate rose to 66.8 percent in the first quarter of 2021 from 66.7 percent in the previous quarter; wide disparities across countries are visible. The organization defined OECD area employment rate as the share of the working-age population with jobs.
In the first quarter of this year in the United States employment was 68.4 percent compared to 66.9 percent in the euro area, and 77.6 percent in Japan. It is notable that the Netherlands had a 79.3 percent employment rate, the highest in the region, and Greece 59.9 percent, the region’s minimum.
The press release clarified the following: Methodological changes to the European Union (E.U.) Labour Force Survey blur the comparison between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021 for EU countries. In addition, a large part of the increase in the third and, to a lesser extent, fourth quarter of 2020 reflects the return to work of furloughed workers in Canada and the United States, where they are recorded as unemployed, whereas in most other countries, they are recorded as employed.
Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is “a global policy forum that promotes policies to preserve individual liberty and improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.”
Posted by Elena del Valle on July 21, 2021
Inspector Rex
Photo: Mhz Choice
The first season of Inspector Rex (Kommissar Rex) in German with English subtitles is available on Mhz Choice, a subscription streaming service with mostly European programming. After Rex, a police dog, loses his partner in the line of duty he becomes despondent, refusing to eat or drink anything. Seeing the dog’s situation a recently divorced cop adopts him.
An all male cast, staring Tobias Moretti as Richard Moser and Karl Markovics as Ernst Stockinger as well as Gerhard Zemann and Wolf Bachofner, solve crimes in and around Vienna in the 1994 series. Each episode is 45 minutes long. According to IMDB.com the series ended in 2004. The website lists Reginald von Ravenhorst, born in 1991 in Bavaria, Germany and died in 2003 in Germany, as Rex.
Posted by Elena del Valle on July 12, 2021
Filmmaker Karla Legaspy
Photo: Betsy Martinez
A podcast interview with filmmaker Karla Legaspy is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing and Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. She discusses her short film The Daily War with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
Karla is a Los Angeles based director and producer. She is a Two-Spirit MeXicana content creator, actor and film programmer. She is the writer, director and producer of the short film Gold Star, winner of the Latino Public Broadcasting New Media Grant and the 2016 People’s Choice Award for the PBS Short Film Festival. Karla co-produced AdeRisa Productions feature film Bruising for Besos about domestic violence in a lesbian community.
To listen to the interview, scroll down and click on the play button below. You can listen by looking for “Podcast” then select “HMPR Karla Legaspy” and download the MP3 file to your audio player. You can also find it on the RSS feed. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the July 2021 section of the podcast archive.
Posted by Elena del Valle on June 30, 2021
The Latino Experience (from left to right) shorts: Body and Spirit in Times of the Pandemic, Pasos de Valor and The Blue Cape.
Video, photo: PBS SoCal
Southern California PBS station PBS SoCal and KCET is scheduled to air The Latino Experience, a three-part series of short films in English and Spanish, by Latino filmmakers beginning Tuesday July 6 and Wednesday July 7 at 9 p.m. P.T. Five of the 13 films were made by Southern California-based filmmakers. Two of the short films, Body and Spirit in Times of Pandemic; and The Daily War, are set in and around Los Angeles. Scroll down to watch a video trailer of The Daily War.
What criteria was used in selecting the films? “PBS announced a call for submissions for scripted and unscripted projects of all subjects, but were particularly interested in projects that focused on contemporary Latino/a/x culture produced and created by Latino/a/x persons,” a PBS spokesperson responded by email. Filmmakers were eligible for support grants between $5,000 and $25,000. She explained that “Successful submissions needed to include: a clear story arc; confirmed access to the story and participants; a unique perspective on contemporary Latino/a/x culture; an engaging formal and aesthetic approach.”
According to a press release the films for the series were selected ”by a panel of experienced filmmakers” from entries received by PBS following a call for submissions in August 2020. The press release also indicated “The shorts received funding support as well as a national broadcast as part of the series.” The names of the judges and their affiliations were not identified. Bill Gardner and Wendy Llinas are listed as executives in charge for PBS for the series.
When asked what channels PBS used to announce its search for submissions the PBS spokesperson said,”PBS announced the project on PBS.org, through social media, and through their network of member stations. In addition, PBS producing partners such as Latino Public Broadcasting and NALIP also shared the announcement.”
PBS received more than 240 entries. PBS decision makers expanded the series to three hours from the two-hour special they had planned to accommodate “the overwhelming response to the call for submissions.”
When asked to identify the source(s) of funding (public, private, which grants) the spokesperson replied, “The Latino Experience was funded by PBS. Additional funders contributed to the production of some of the individual films.”
Some of the films of the series are: The Blue Cape written, directed and produced by Alejandra López and produced by María José Delgado; Body and Spirit in Times of Pandemic directed and produced by Andrés Caballero; Pasos de Valor written, directed and produced by Natalia C. Bell; The Daily War, a co-production with Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB), directed and produced by Karla Legaspy and co-produced and written by Adelina Anthony; Noche Buena written, directed and produced by Andres Rovira. It was also produced by (and starring) Ray Tezanos.
Posted by Elena del Valle on June 16, 2021
A scene of Caravan of Death
Photo: Mhz Choice
Beginning this month Caravan of Death (entitled Ecos del Desierto in the original Spanish release) a suspenseful, violent and dark four episode fiction mini-series based on the life of human rights lawyer Carmen Hertz in Spanish with English subtitles, should be available on Mhz Choice, an international streaming service. According to the program credits it was based on the court files of the Caravan of Death case well known in Chile. It recreates a brief period at the end of Hertz and her husband’s life together as well as incidents from 1973 and the military coup that deposed Chile’s president.
The series showcases the work of the lawyer and the tense political situation before and during the Augusto Pinochet era; as well as the human rights violations, rape and murders she accuses the military and the government of committing illegally. Each episode of the mini-series, which according to online source website ChileNovelas Wiki first aired in Chile in 2013, is approximately 50 minutes long. The English subtitles were provided by Mhz Choice. According to promotional materials this is the first Chilean series available on the streaming service.
The series was directed by Andres Wood and produced by Wood Producciones and Chilevision with a mix of actors and archival video from sources such as the Institute National de l’Audiovisual and Chile Films. Actresses, Aline Kuppenheim and Maria Gracia Omagna, portrayed Hertz at two stages of her life. The executive producers were Alejandra Garcia and Carolina Zuñiga and the producer was Alejandro Fernandez.
Posted by Elena del Valle on June 7, 2021
Jon Lieff, M.D., author, The Secret Language of Cells
Photo: Rocco Coviello
A podcast interview with Jon Lieff, M.D., author, The Secret Language of Cells, is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing and Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. He discusses why cell communication is important for our health with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
Jon is a neuropsychiatrist and lecturer, active on social media. After completing his studies at Harvard Medical School, he pioneered integrated treatment programs for the elderly, medically ill, and brain-injured patients. For the past ten years, in his blog Searching for the Mind, he has discussed the latest scientific findings in neuroscience, animal behavior, cellular biology, immunology, and microbiology as they relate to the question of where mind can be found in nature. His book, The Secret Language of Cells: What Biological Conversations Tell Us About the Brain-Body Connection, the Future of Medicine, and Life Itself strives to explain the science of how different cells, bacteria and brain cells, blood cells and viruses speak the same language.
To listen to the interview, scroll down and click on the play button below. You can listen by looking for “Podcast” then select “HMPR Jon Lieff, M.D., author” and download the MP3 file to your audio player. You can also find it on the RSS feed. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the June 2021 section of the podcast archive.
Posted by Elena del Valle on May 26, 2021
It’s Not A Burden poster
Photo, video: Greenie Films
It’s Not A Burden The Humor and Heartache of Raising Elderly Parents, a new 90-minute documentary from Michelle Boyaner and Greenie Films spotlights the issues faced by the adult children of several elderly people. Some of them are living in assisted living facilities, some with dementia and or debilitating health conditions; some had passed away by the time the film was made. Boyaner and her mother feature prominently, often in video taken in the car. The emotionally charged 2020 film features candid conversations with the adult caregivers and their parents in several locations in California as well as Arizona, Georgia, Massachusetts and New Jersey. Scroll down to watch a short video introduction.
“Sometimes I pretend like she’s somebody else’s mother and that way I can be nicer to her,” Boyaner, who had been estranged from her mother until she made a promise to look after her to her sister, says in the documentary.
A bit later in the documentary one of the adult women who is her mother’s full-time caregiver asks, “Who’s going to take care of me?” when she gets old like her mother since she has no children. The producers found participants among their circle of friends and their friends. When asked about the goal of the documentary a spokesperson explained by phone that they hoped to remind viewers that when they look at their aged parents they remember who they were and that they are still those same people inside.
Made with the fiscal support of The Film Collaborative and Kickstarter funding. The film was written, directed and produced by Emmy®-nominated filmmaker Boyaner (Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson). Barbara Green (A Finished Life: The Goodbye and No Regrets Tour) served as cinematographer, editor and producer. Katie Ford (Miss Congeniality) and Wendy Zipes Hunter (Voices of Parkland) were producers. The original score composed by Joanna Katcher (Nice Manners) featuring songs by Danielle Ate The Sandwich. Maxine Lapiduss, Aaron Lustig and Barb Held were executive producers.
Gravitas Ventures (North American), a Red Arrow Studios Company, will distribute the documentary due to be released on video on demand (VOD) in the United States June 1, 2021 on iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, and Vimeo.
