the stylist episode 2

ah, fashion...

charles is not so in charge.

when i was little i took an acting course at john casablanca's school for models and actors. i left with this really amazing piece of video-taped theatre-craft...

from CHARLES IN CHARGE

the stylist episode 1

I have recently become obsessed with the carcrash-like BRAVO show "the rachel zoe project." everyone on the show seems to speak the same way. in some bizarro "valley girl-meets-kelly ("shoes")-meets-exotic squaking bird" accent. it's hard to pinpoint exactly, but rachel and her staff's emotional devastation over dresses, blouses, jewelry, and shoes is absolutely hilarious to watch. here's my loving riff on her...

Voice Talkers

Maybe it's just because I work as a sound recordist and used to record audiobooks for a few years, but I find this hysterical. The group POYKPAK is hilarious and you should check out their youtube channel here.

good gay vs. bad gay 7-16

alright. some things are just too gay. i'm not sure how or why. i generally don't feel anything can be too ethnic or too artsy or too... whatever. if something is done well it can't be "too" anything.
but things CAN be TOO GAY. and when they are tooooo gay, they are BAD GAY. when they are queer enough to be recognizably gay and somehow are better for it, they are GOOD GAY.

let me give you a quick intro to the concept utilizing popular music:

GOOD GAY:

















BAD GAY:















got it?

today's official GOOD GAY/BAD GAY entry concerns two music videos and asks you to vote on a third.

GOOD GAY:
this new moby video is great. the music itself is total throwback to that sparse, fun house music of the 90's. moby uses a vocal that is (surprise!) NOT an old, sampled voice, but a newly recorded vocal by shayna steele, who's incredible at recapturing a very specific era with her voice (the jazzy stuff on her myspace page is also great- listen to "what R we giving"). not only is this video funny and totally DIY, it manages to be a very gay-ish dancefloor anthem while still making a statement about massive corporate food chains (KFC anyone?)



BAD GAY:
wtf is this crap? ultra nate has been around a long time and has always trafficked in making her circuit boys happy. but she's kind of like that "f*g hag" nearing her 30's that still hasn't established her own identity, boyfriend, social life etc. i know that girls and boys alike enjoy checking out hot people in various states of undress, but the guys in this video are just depressing. perfectly sculpted dudes alone in different spaces obsessed with getting off to their laptops and seemingly ignoring each other and the desperately voguing diva performing for them. the over-acted "climax" at the end makes me laugh my ass off but i think it's supposed to be sexy.
plus... the original by the pointer sisters is better (and somehow gayer- GOOD GAYer).



So... GOOD GAY/BAD GAY question of the day...
the new cyndi lauper video. her new album "bring ya to the brink" is really quite good- a combination of sentimental pop (with references to several of her 80's hits) and electro/dance (check out "echo" and "grab a hold"). the best track by far is also the newest single from the album- "into the nightlife." it's a great crunchy club track with a brooding, sexy verse that explodes into a stunning, bright, sing-a-long chorus that will be in your head for days.
all good, huh?
but WTF is this video all about? did they only have 2 hours in the basement of pyramid club to make this? and have you ever seen a more literal take on a video? "uh, the song's, like... uh, about dancing and, uh, stuff. why don't we just, like, uh... film people out... dancing... at night?" and why is her head sometimes hovering in a field of black life someone in a cirque de soliel show? is she a french mime? why is most of the song sung from what is apparently the tiny, dank bathroom of the club? and where's all that water coming from on the dancefloor? are they all on a cylon rebirthing ship? is there a leak in the upstairs toilet? ick! i don't wanna dance under that! (but apparently porn stars don't mind dancing under scary leaks.)
i must admit i like when she does that witchy "i'm casting a spell on you" shit with her hands towards the end. aww, cyndi... you're funny!

UPDATE: THE EMBED CODE KEEPS GETTING PULLED. SO HERE'S THE DIRECT LINK (trust me- it's worth it... the judging part, i mean.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivaXI7TIoL8


Into The Nightlife Video

So is it GOOD GAY or BAD GAY?

these are the children i am currently in line to adopt. (should i gain any regular, well-paying employment, a nanny, a new home and a doctor that hands out anxiety medication prescriptions without asking me a lot of questions.)

hospital 2008

so this episodic play i'm doing is getting some rave reviews, which is awesome. it's called HOSPITAL 2008 and it's playing at axis company on sheridan square in NYC.

http://axiscompany.org/index2.php

here are the nytheatre.com reviews.

Martin Denton · June 5, 2008
Episode 3 (July 3, 2008)

This series just keeps getting better and better: Episode 3 is more intense and more all-consumingly involving than its predecessors. The opening prologue on film—which I think provides enough information so that any newcomer to Hospital 2008 can follow the story, even if s/he missed the first two episodes—contains some footage we've already seen plus some new footage; what I was aware of, throughout, was a sense of mortality. I thought: what would it be like to realize that the day you're going through was the last day you'd spend on Earth fully conscious and alive?

The live action scenes that follow, in the tunnel and then in the hospital, are now all clearly the distorted memories of the play's protagonist, a man in a coma who is revisiting that last day I just alluded to—revisiting it in his mind while a team of doctors perform a surgery on him that does not go well at all.

Director Randy Sharp and her remarkable collaborators (on and off stage) balance an eerie dark humor with a mood that's at once supremely frightening and richly (and oddly) life-affirming, especially in the burlesque-of-a-hospital scene that occupies the center of Episode 3 (and the actors portraying the hospital staff give performances that are accordingly deeper and more resonant than in prior weeks; particularly Laurie Kilmartin's human, oh-so-fallible Nurse). This evocation leads us brilliantly into the final sequence of the evening, in which the recurring strangers in the tunnel (see below) appear once again, this time in the guises of Charon, Hades, and Persephone. Our hero is starting to understand what his fate is, following his catastrophic accident. I, for one, am ready to return for the final chapter of Hospital 2008, to experience it through his eyes. I sense transformation ahead...
Episode 2 (June 21, 2008)














Episode 2
Episode 2 of Axis Company's Hospital 2008 is even more riveting than Episode 1 was. It's spookier too; one of the most astonishing things about this serial show so far is how effectively it renders, in an intimate indie theater space, the complete netherworldly phantasmagoric environment that is inside the protagonist's sub/un-conscious memory.

We acquire some new information about what happened in the catalytic tunnel accident. And we learn more about the comatose traveler's state of mind at the time of the accident with the visitation of two new characters in a scene set in the tunnel—the legendary John Henry himself, with an assistant in tow, providing clues about the way out of danger. (Of course, this probably isn't actually John Henry.)

At the hospital (still rendered, ingeniously and eerily, on the same tunnel set) we meet someone who the doctors and nurse think is applying for a job. But she is obviously trying to find out what's happening to the man in the coma. And we understand, better than in Episode 1, that everything the doctors and nurse say is being filtered through the limited processing capability of said man in coma.

George Demas plays John Henry and is at once frightening, funny, and ineffably sad. Britt Genelin is the "applicant." Other cast members are as in Episode 1; all are spectacularly good.

Director Randy Sharp and the rest of the folks at Axis have created something that's entertaining, engaging, and—so it now seems—utterly addictive. I'm looking forward to Episode 3!

Episode 1

Axis Company's annual serial Hospital has been going on for nine years, and somehow I had never seen it until now. The first episode of this year's four-part play, which is set inside the mind of a comatose man seriously injured in the collapse of a tunnel (part of New York's underground water system), is arresting, thrilling, tantalizing, and—in terms of its physical production—spectacularly impressive. So far, I'm hooked.

The one-act drama plays out in three scenes plus a filmed prologue. This prologue is fascinating, interweaving scenes in what appears to be the apartment of the protagonist (where various details and seeming trivialities foreshadow what's to come) with scenes in the tunnel where the protagonist (called "Traveller" in the program) works. What follows is a quick and alarming representation of the accident: we don't know its exact nature, but we do know that afterward, the Traveller plus two of his colleagues are lost in the dark, underground. They radio for help but it's not clear that any is forthcoming.

The play then cuts to a hospital room, which is depicted on the same tunnel set simply by the arrival of a pair of doctors and a nurse; it's also shown to us on three video monitors above the stage that alternately provide the comatose patient's P.O.V and his heart monitor. This scene melds the eerie surreal qualities that permeate the edges of what we've already witnessed with a more blatant absurdity. When we return to the tunnel, characters from Alice in Wonderland turn up—the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, and the White Rabbit—and the Traveller, though surprised to encounter new people down here, is nonchalant vis-a-vis their startling identities.

It's all very discombobulating and very magnetic. Nothing is entirely clear and yet the elusive nature of a subconscious dream state is thrillingly conveyed. There's a cliffhanger ending, inviting us to return for Episode 2.

Director Randy Sharp's expert story-telling is only the beginning of the roster of remarkable accomplishments on display in Hospital 2008. The cast does expert work, with Brian Barnhart, Ian Tooley, and Marc Palmieri entirely convincing as the possibly abandoned (and, in some cases, possibly deceased) tunnel workers; George Demas, Edgar Oliver, and Britt Genelin are wonderfully daffy and creepy as the Wonderland figures; and Laurie Kilmartin, Paul Marc Barnes, and David Crabb are comically off-kilter as the hospital personnel.

The film work—by cinematographer Ben Wolf and editor Laura Weinberg—is exceptional. And the design work for the live stage production are exemplary, among the best of its kind I've seen for theatre in any sector in NYC. Kyle Chepulis has transformed the stage into a believable tunnel, with craggy and convincingly damp stone walls and nooks and crannies leading off rather spookily. David Zeffren's lighting and Steve Fontaine's sound complete the ambience, combining realism with horror-film scariness in a manner that keeps us engaged and on the edge of our seats throughout. Matthew Simonelli's costumes—whimsical for the Wonderland characters, naturalistic for the Travellers, and somewhere in between for the hospital staff—are excellent.

The overall effect is to transport the audience to a world we've never been to for about 35 minutes...and to leave us hungry for more of the experience. Check back here for a report on Episode 2 in a couple of weeks.

Roses are Red, Valentines are GREEN

Send a little eco-love to your valentine!

Share some love with the earth by checking out these great green
postcards to send to all your loved ones!

You can also check them out and send them to your loved ones here.

X-Games

This month, ItYourNature went to Aspen to cover the X-Games. They've got quite a system set up as far as their recycling, composting, and sustainability goes. The event leaves behind almost no carbon footprint.
In this video, 3-time X Games gold medalist Gretchen Bleiler shares her tips for stopping global warming and protecting the sport she loves.
X Games Gretchen Bleiler and Global Warming

Add to My Profile | More Videos
Here's an excerpt from the article located at ItsYourNature:

"The Ski Industry has been hurting for some time now because of Global Warming. In Aspen/Snowmass alone, winter has started 18 days later and ended 10 days earlier over the last 50 years. In addition to less snow and fewer ski days, other changes include canceled races/events and fewer jobs for resort employees, which means higher unemployment and less tax revenue for important services such as health care and education. Now Aspen/Snowmass is one of the lucky mountain resorts with their base elevation at almost 8000 feet, but they are not immune to the effects of GW. Ski-resorts in low-lying mountains are putting more and more money into their snow-making programs, some as much as 20% of their overall budget. Internationally, glaciers throughout the Alps are reportedly losing one percent of their mass every year to warmer temperatures; two-thirds of the world-wide skiing market is found outside of the United States. The resorts rely heavily on the glaciers to provide the best international skiing and snowboarding possible, so more time and energy are put into making snow. As we all know, Global Warming affects us all. But for Skiers and Snowboarders, they take it personally. And they're doing something about it."

Check it out and make sure to sure to sign IYN's global warming petition here.

crabbtown at itsyournature.org

hello all,

my new blog area at NRDC's itsyournature.org is up and running. you can find it at:

http://www.itsyournature.org/crabbtown

NRDC is awesome because of what they do:

1. Taking on corporate polluters and government indifference in court;
They sued the U.S. Navy and stopped them from blasting the world's marine mammals with deadly hi-frequency sonar.

2. Helping companies and institutions see the 'green' light;
They've partnered with Warner Music Group to revolutionize their music label into the greenest on earth. They've also "greened" this year's Grammy and Oscar ceremonies.

3. Making smart sustainable policies the law of the land;
We ensured that a half million kids in California are getting tested for lead poisoning every year.
If you're into environmentalism, check it out. If not... then check it out.

-peace

Vincient, Buddhist Part 1

Here's a fun video in which I play Vincient Haroldson, an unorthodox and sometimes hypocritical Buddhist, who teaches (badly) how to attain enlightenment.

His first lesson: inner growth through volunteering

directed by Daniel Califf-Glick

OK Polluters: Radiohead

This is an article by Ben Jervey from www.itsyournature.org. They've got a great blog at their myspace page. Ben's a great writer and I just haven't quite gotten my fix of heaping compliments on the world's best band. Enjoy.

OK Polluters: Radiohead, a band that gets global warming
by Ben Jervey

Radiohead's an easy band to love. Not just because their the best rock band on the planet (IM-not so-HO), but because they take serious issues seriously, and talk about them with candor, intelligence, and thought. Like global warming.

Consider these tidbits:

--For their upcoming US/European tour, they're partnering with the Oxford-based company Best Foot Forward to reduce the ecological footprint of the band's tour--right down to the collective impact of fan's travel. From a Treehugger post:

After gathering lots of information about their own environmental impact, Radiohead wanted to include their fans' footprint too. Best Foot Forward has analysed the two different types of tours Radiohead recently did in Amercia; the big gigs held out of town versus the smaller ones in city centres. This way they could find out which type of touring has the lowest impact 'per person entertained' as bassist Colin explains on their web site, based on transportation, food consumption and waste left behind by the fans.

Because the transport mode of the fans makes a big difference when it comes to carbon emissions and environmental impact, Radiohead encourages people to use public transport to get to their shows. They therefore have decided to play as many gigs as they can in cities because those provide better transport possibilities and don't require private cars to get to the event.

--Or Thom Yorke's conversation in Wired with David Byrne, during which they touch upon these same touring concerns:

Yorke: ... [At] the moment we make money principally from touring. Which is hard for me to reconcile because I don't like all the energy consumption, the travel. It's an ecological disaster, traveling, touring.

Byrne: Well, there are the biodiesel buses and all that.

Yorke: Yeah, it depends where you get your biodiesel from. There are ways to minimize it. We did one of those carbon footprint things recently where they assessed the last period of touring we did and tried to work out where the biggest problems were. And it was obviously everybody traveling to the shows.

Byrne: Oh, you mean the audience.

Yorke: Yeah. Especially in the U.S. Everybody drives. So how the hell are we going to address that? The idea is that we play in municipal places with some transport system alternative to cars. And minimize flying equipment, shipping everything. We can't be shipped though.

--Or, more metaphorically, Yorke's comments about "sustainable urban planning" through the lens of record contracts:

Signing a new major-label contract "would have killed us straight off," he added. "Money makes you numb, as M.I.A. wrote. I mean, it's tempting to have someone say to you, 'You will never have to worry about money ever again,' but no matter how much money someone gives you -- what, you're not going to spend it? You're not going to find stupid ways to get rid of it? Of course you are. It's like building roads and expecting there to be less traffic.

--And let's not forget Yorke's 2006 solo effort, The Eraser, which was entirely inspired by global warming. Or, actually, on the lack of political action to address it. As he told the LA Times:

In the paper one day, [Friends of the Earth activist] Jonathan Porritt was basically dismissing any commitment that the working government has toward addressing global warming, saying that their gestures were like King Canute trying to stop the tide. And that just went "kaching" in my head. It's not political, but that's what I feel is happening. We're all King Canutes, holding our hands out, saying, "It'll go away. I can make it stop." No, you can't.

IYN is no stranger to bands that back up their beliefs with action, and we're pretty fired up to see that one of the most influential and (to be blunt) awesome bands of our era is so hip to the real issues of our times. Maybe we'll catch them at All Points West. It is, after all, just a short train ride from IYN's NYC HQ.

canvas bags... the rock opera

i found this video on youtube and discovered a really awesome musician/comedian. the guy's name is Tim Minchin and you should check out some of his other performances on the net. they're not to be missed.
i love this video because it's such a great way to talk about an important but really boring issue- using canvas bags instead of plastic. at itsyournature.org, we're always trying to make people aware, but it's hard to get folks to remember the basics and make being green a part of their day to day lives. maybe we just need to write more pop songs. this track is so damn catchy that anyone who hears it will find themselves humming "take your canvas bags to the supermarket" over and over again.
and that's gotta count for something. watch and laugh. (give it a good minute... wait for it.)

taking heads

There was an odd exchange on CNN the other day.
CNN "Open House" host Gerri Willis was discussing the economy and joked with anchor Kyra Phillips that if she could predict the stock market, she and Phillips could run off to an island, prompting Phillips' co-anchor, Don Lemon, to ask not to be left out of the girls' getaway. This resulted in the following exchange:

Gerri: Alright Don, you come too.
Kyra: We could bring him along with the girls.
Gerri: Come on!
Kyra: He's paying! Thanks, Gerri.
Don: A little sandwich!
Kyra: Ooh!
Gerri: Whoa, I have to go now!
Kyra: Yeah, good time. You don't want to talk about the reverse oreo!

Willis was obviously embarrassed by Phillips' joke, though Lemon seemed to enjoy it, laughing out loud and announcing, "Oh, she said it! I'm glad she said it."



No one seemed particularly angered by the joke. Actually, everyone involved quite enjoyed it. Now, I hate to come off like some kind of Puritan, but my question is: Was it appropriate? This is the news (yeah... "news") and I can't help but feel like the people delivering it should have some sense of decorum when it comes to interacting with each other.

I remember in the early nineties watching CNN and feeling like I was really watching journalists at work. Even the anchors seemed somewhat invested in what they were saying, occasionally reviewing their notes and spontaneously changing up the way they imparted information (This could be seen most obviously by anchors on Headline News who had to recite the same loop every ten minutes.) Now, they just stare at that damn TelePrompTer and say the exact same thing over and over again. Watching Headline News for too long is like a bad acid trip. It's just impossible that these people aren't robots. I think "How can they be reading this text and saying these words yet again with such precision blandness?"

Watch CNN midmorning and you'll experience the saccharine coma of Christi Paul- a bobbing blonde head styled to within an inch of her life. Whether it's a fatal car crash or a feel-good story about found puppies, her tone never really changes. If you watch her for long enough, you begin to go numb. And just when you start to take her seriously, she'll say something like "Welcome back friends. I am so happy y'all are spending the morning with me." AAAAHHHHH. Shut up and tell me about Obama and Britney already. She does to me Mary Hart did to Kramer on that hilarious episode of Seinfeld.
Here she is in a silk blouse that has apparently been glued to the undersides of her breasts.



Watch CNN in the evening and prepare yourself for the fresh hell of Glenn Beck. I'm not sure that I've ever seen a man who's own opinion of his sense of humor is at such odds with the reality of how genuinely boring he is. The only compelling thing about him is shady sense of humor. He occasionally makes jokes that get you thinking he might have a naked girl trapped in a well beneath his basement. This guy is like your best friend from high school's creepy new stepdad who just can't stop trying so hard to be accepted.



What has happened to the televised news industry? Is it just me or does every anchor seem like a failed actress or male model from a J.C. Penney catalog? Who are these castrated automatons? How can so many bloated egos lack any distinguishing character definition? Where do these people come from? Do they have broadcasting backgrounds? And...
Why do any of them think it's okay to refer a fellow black coanchor as part of an Oreo?

Oh wow.

I could go on about this article and racism, but I'll let Alec Baldwin do it instead. The original story scans below aren't that great, so please click on the pic to enlarge the image and read the story.
Reprinted from the huffington post

The Ascendancy of Barack Obama in Small Town America
by Alec Baldwin

For those of you wondering how the Obama ascendancy is playing out in Small Town America, I offer you this column from the Independent, a weekly newspaper published on the East End of Long Island by Jerry Della Femina, the former advertising executive turned restaurateur and columnist. This particular piece was written by Rick Murphy under his weekly "Low Tidings" column. Murphy is also credited as a publisher of the Independent.

This article has caused quite a stir in East Hampton and beyond. So much so that the paper has pulled it from their website and Murphy, a regular antagonist of the Democratic Party, both locally and nationally, and the Clintons in particular, has replaced it with a brief apology. The Independent is considered the more right-leaning and Republican-endorsing paper of the East End community. Della Femina himself is regarded as one of the great Hillary-Haters in all of the world.

On the heels of Barack Obama being endorsed for the presidency by the normally close-to-the-vest Caroline Kennedy, whose invocation of her father's enduring legacy carries, in some people's hearts and minds, more weight than any ten such endorsements by others, please read what the local Republicans in my home town are thinking, and publishing, about Senator Obama. This is, quite clearly, not to be believed.

my january 2008 hero of the month

this is the most awesome beatboxer in the world, maybe better than Rahzel of the Roots. this is a clip of him performing on the French "Idol" show. he was one of the finalists.

crabbtown blog 1-25-08

Whole Foods/Plastic Bags

This is what you get for shopping at the Wal-mart "bakery."

Read the cake first:


Customer: "On the cake I would like written: "Best Wishes Suzanne." And underneath that "We will miss you".

Wal-Mart store by Ruskin, FL

Sad but true. This actually happened.

Goldfrapp, my favorite kinda Dingbat

This new Goldfrapp video is bonkers and lovely. To quote my friend Seth at his blog http://www.sparrowhall.com/blog/ someone's been watching "Legend" again.

crabbtown blog 1-20-08

i wanna...

In the early 90's a lot of really wonderfully awful dance music was written and produced. it was silly and trite and vapid, but in ways that were way more inspired than any of the craptastic-ly boring dancepop that gets cranked out nowadays. Whenever i talk about this era of music and my foggy memories of it, I always mention a song that was literally called "I Wanna F*ck You In the A**." Whenever I mention it, people say "Oh, David... You're such a kidder!" I laugh and insist I'm telling the truth and no one believes me.
Who knew that one day this very song would be used... in a commercial! So here, thanks to some brilliant Dutch advertisers, is that wonderful song reborn!

Bush Administration Rejects California’s Global Warming Clean Cars Rules

At what point did our politicians STOP supporting state's rights? And who is employed by the EPA these days? I'm reposting this from www.itsyournature.org

Here's the NRDC Press Release:

EPA Sticks Thumb in Eyes of Governors Representing Half of All Americans, Says NRDC

WASHINGTON (Dec. 19, 2007) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today denied California's request for routine permission to implement its clean cars law (AB 1493). This rejection represents bald-faced political interference with California's decades-long authority to enforce its own clean air rules, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
Following is a statement by David Doniger, NRDC Climate Center Policy Director:
"The California standards are the single most effective step yet taken in the United States to curb global warming. By blocking the California standards, the administration has stuck a thumb in the eye of 18 governors from both red and blue states who have led the way on global warming by adopting these landmark rules.
"California and the 17 other states have led the way to cut global warming pollution from new automobiles. Their right to do so has been affirmed by three federal court decisions this year, including the Supreme Court's landmark ruling that carbon dioxide is an air pollutant, just like any other. The new energy law signed by the president today explicitly preserves this Clean Air Act authority.
"The EPA administrator claimed the new energy law sets a standard of 35 miles per gallon and thereby precludes California's more effective standards. That is just plain wrong. The energy law only sets a fuel economy floor. It requires the administration to set standards of 'at least 35 miles per gallon,' expressly giving the administration the power to go farther. And the law expressly preserves California's authority under the Clean Air Act to set independent, stronger standards to meet the challenge of global warming. Let's be clear: the California standard is stronger and more effective than the 35-mile-per-gallon floor established in the new energy law.
"EPA Administrator Steven Johnson's claim that California lacks 'compelling and extraordinary conditions' is completely indefensible. California is suffering severe impacts from global warming. Mr. Johnson's 'policy preference' for a different approach is exactly the kind of illegal free-lancing the Supreme Court rejected in its landmark April decision on global warming."

She Blows.

This clip just kills me. It seems like the laughs are over after the first minute, but they return again and again in waves. Did this woman have a pageant coach or a music instructor? Are all the beauty pageants in Arizona this bootleg? What happened? How did it all go so wrong?
Ah... but it's so right.



An interview and more info about the poor girl (now a grown mother of two) can be found here:

http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2007/10/stacy_hedger_revealed.php

It's kind of amusing.

Recharge That S*#t!

For Christmas I got an Energizer rechargeable AA battery pack. Now that I have it, I'm like "Why the hell aren't rechargeable batteries the only kinds that are sold?" It's so obvious when you think about it... Why wouldn't you spend 25 bucks on a charger and 4 double-A batteries that you would NEVER HAVE TO REPLACE?!?!
It goes without saying that it's the ecologically responsible thing to do (dead batteries take up space in landfills and leak mercury into the ground that contaminates the earth's water supply), but what about the savings? It's so much cheaper than buying battery after battery and just throwing them away. So buy yourself rechargeable batteries and save some cash... and a little landfill space.

green thom

I've always loved Thom Yorke as an artist, but I'm appreciating him more lately as he becomes increasingly involved with environmental action groups, most recently "The Big Ask"- an ever-expanding British organization fighting for better climate change legislation. In this interview Thom talks about global warming and his son as his eyes blink endlessly out of synch with each other. I love this guy.



The new Radiohead album "In Rainbows" is out now. It contains what might be my favorite song of their career, "All I Need." Here's the first video from the album- "Jigsaw Falling Into Place."



Mor info about "The Big Ask" can be found here:
http://www.thebigask.com/

Green in the New Year

Kate Finklea, my awesome cohort at ITSYOURNATURE.ORG, reposted this great blog entry from http://www.simplesteps.org about going green in the new year. If you haven't yet checked out our page and blog, find us here:

http://www.itsyournature.org

and here on myspace:

http://myspace.com/itsyournature

It's Resolution time again, and as we all struggle to reform and renew our personal pledges, take a moment to think about how your individual improvements can create a greater worldwide impact. Thanks to our friends at simplesteps.org we have some help for those looking to act a little greener in the new year.

"Resolutions for a Greener New Year"

This year make a few resolutions that are easy to keep. Pledge to take a couple simple steps, one at a time, to live healthier, reduce waste and tread a little more lightly. Do one or do them all but each is a beginning, a small step to a more balanced life. Start by eating well, then take a couple steps to simplify your life and cut down on clutter.

Eat well!

Buy organic <http://www.simplesteps.org/content/view/1/103/37/> when you can particularly peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines and strawberries, which commonly contain the most pesticides.

Eat more locally grown food <http://www.simplesteps.org/content/view/1/192/37/> . In season produce that hasn't flown half-way around the world will be fresher, tastier and cuts down on pollution.

Stop buying tomato-based canned food and drink less soda. The linings of the cans leach BPA into your food and drink.

Avoid fish high in mercury and choose fish that are sustainably caught to ensure a steady supply for years to come.

Simplify!

Grab that stack of holiday catalogs and log onto Catalog Choice <http://www.catalogchoice.org/> to put a stop to unwanted catalogs <http://www.simplesteps.org/content/view/1/195/37/> .

Don't spray pesticides to control pest in your home. Safer alternatives are more effective and longer lasting.

Carry a reusable bag and refuse plastic bags -- no more breaking, tearing or blowing in the wind.

Save!

If you're leaving a trail of 12 oz. plastic water bottles in your wake, buy an aluminum reusable bottle instead.

Take a couple simple steps to save a lot of energy. Start by disabling your computer's screensaver and setting it to 'sleep' after 5 minutes of activity. Shut it off when you're done.

Don't buy clothes that need to be dry cleaned. Many fabrics can be safely washed or spot cleaned at home, even if the label says 'dry clean only'. Almost all dry cleaning uses toxic chemicals that linger on your clothes and in the air <http://www.simplesteps.org/content/view/1/198/41/> .

Clean your home with natural products, just about anything can be cleaned with vinegar, lemon juice, baking soda or Borax.

Reuse and Recycle!

Every piece of paper, bottle and jar counts. Every TV, answering machine and old computer really counts by keeping toxic chemicals out of our air and water.

Before tossing something, donate it or offer it to others.

I've been Overpowered by Roisin.

But please don't save me.
I discovered this awesome singer recently named Roisin Murphy. (It's an Irish name pronounced rosh'-een.) She was with a band called Moloko that had a hit in the 90's called "Fun For Me." Her new album is called "Overpowered" and is the kind of disc Madonna would cut if she wrote deeper lyrics and had a sense of humor. While "Confessions On A Dancefloor" wants to get in your pants and pass out, "Overpowered" wants to seduce you over a martini and cook you an exotic breakfast. I love this chic's phenomenal voice and her wacked out asthetic.

Her newest videos are kind of the beginning of a longer story about a popstar who never stops being a popstar. From the club and on the way home in "Overpowered:"



In a common little diner on an otherwise boring day in "Let Me Know:"


The best two tracks on the album are "Primitive" and "Dear Miami." This live performance of "Primitive" is killer- seductive, intelligent, a blisterig guitar workout at the end. Roisin's my new girlfriend. She just doesn't know it yet.

Oh, Christmas Tree...

I'm allergic to just about everything that grows. So when I enter a warm, cozy, Holiday dinner party and get that first whiff of a 6-foot Pine, I want to run for the hills. Preferably, Pine-free hills.
Not only am I allergic, but one time when I was 8, I was attacked by a Christmas tree. I was asleep on our sofa bed waiting for Santa Claus, when I woke up with a sharp pain in my legs. Our cat, Maggie, had climbed to the top of our tree, sending it falling on it's side and smack down onto my legs. My mom picked about 30 needles out of my legs as I sneezed and puffed up like a Christmas turkey.
I...
don't...
like...
Christmas trees.

But if you have a real tree, there are some environmentally-minded ways to dispose of it come the new year. I found a great resource at:

http://earth911.org/green-your-holidays/treecycling/

There, you can find out why and how it's good to recycle as many of the 35 million real Christmas trees sold in North America this year. The onetime symbol of your holiday joy gets smashed up and the remains of it get used for:

1. Chipping (chippings are used for various things from mulch to hiking trails)
2. Beachfront erosion prevention
3. Lake and river shoreline stabilization
4. Fish habitat
5. River delta sedimentation management

You can also check out http://www.christmastree.org for more info.