Welcome to my blog - a scrapbook of memories, ideas and inspirations.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Hungry for Change

Food, Inc. is a must see film for anyone who eats food in America. 

It is not a sensational expose or a one sided campaign against eating meat. It is an eye opening, intelligent, educational and compelling investigative journalism.  


This film delivers hard facts about American food industry that are designed to show us how to make positive changes in our eating habits.

There is nothing gory in this film, but you will see some  disturbing images of fat grain over-fed, cows and overweight chickens that are unable to walk or breathe in the windowless coops. 


You will also learn that the entire food industry is controlled by a handful of mass-producing companies, which are driven by profit and mechanization rather than by nature or people’s health. The film also reviews lack of government policies on food testing and resulting widespread epidemic of E.coli and dangerously escalating rate of diabetes.

One of the most compelling stories in Food, Inc. is told by Barbara Kowalcyk, who petitioned Congress to pass food safety law after her 2 year old son, Kevin, died from E.coli poisoning from eating a hamburger.  


Think about this for a second: how often do you eat a hamburger? How often do you feed fast food to your children? Do you know how it is made? Do you know how it is regulated? If you answered no to any of these questions, you must watch Food, Inc. or at least go the this website and watch the trailer.


According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 76 million Americans are sickened, 325,000 are hospitalized and 5,000 die each year from food-borne illnesses.   Although Kevin's law is not in Congress right now, there are other national food safety legislation and advocacy programs that all Americans should support. 

After you watch this film, it is unlikely that you'd ever want to eat conventionally raised meat again. The alternative is grass-fed, free-range organic meat. Cows that eat grass and walk around outside in their natural environment do not produce tainted meat. Chickens that are exposed to sunlight do not suffocate from lack of fresh air. Healthy meat builds your body and fights disease. Get it at your local whole foods store, at the farmer’s market, food co-op, or order online

Please watch this film and get hungry for change

Californication

I rarely watch TV, but  I watched Californication last night on Netwflix.  


I found it entertaining, but could not help wondering why certain speech segments seemed forced and plot so unnatural. 


 I like shows about egocentric males, but this one did not ring true with me.  Most men, no matter how witty or self involved, do not speak the way Hank Moody does. 


A friend of mine wrote for this show when it first started, so it was fun to see some of the traits of my friend reflect in Moody's early character, down to the black T Shirts paired with dark denim jeans and a leather jacket.  


Nonetheless, this show is overrated.  I may be biased because I am not from [hel]LA, but more likely, I am just more critical jaded than most when it comes to reality.  I tend to side with this negative review by Nathan Rabin.  


All that said, I may still watch it tonight. (I never said I was not a hypocrite.)

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

All he ever wanted - a book review

I picked up All He Ever Wanted at the airport.  Having nothing to read, this book by Anita Shreve seemed intriguing.  It was described as an emotional tale of unanswered love of a man for his wife.  


Set in the last 19th and early 20th centuries, it is a story of Van Tassel and Ms. Bliss, which begins with them going to teas, taking walks and exchanging books. During this proper courtship,  Van Tassel grows with desire, which eventually turns into an obsession. 


Though I am not a fan of the romance genre, I found this romantic novel to be well written. Shreve is especially good at painting details by describing clothes, furnishings and architecture in a way that is appealing and light. 


The story develops slowly at the beginning but gains momentum somewhere towards the middle, proving  to be an engaging study of passions of the mind. 


Below are a few quotations on point: 

"How much of love is a trick of the mind, a mere feat of verbal acrobatics, to accomodate persons who just happen to cross our paths and who suit our needs at one particular moment in time?" 

"The heart may love, but the mind does not. The heart has no mind and the mind has no heart. They are two separate organs, often at war with one another." 

"Passion both erodes and enhances character in equal measure, and not slowly but instantly, and in a such a manner that what is left not in balance but is thrown desperately out of kilter in both directions. The erosion the result of the willingess to do whatever is necessary to obtain the object of ones' desire, even if it means engaging in lies or deception or debasing what was ones treasured. The enhancement a result of the knowledge that one is capable of loving greatly, an understanding that leaves one, paradoxicaly, with a feeling of gratitude and pride in spite of all the carnage." 

"Love, which just moments ago I had thought too domestic and tame a word for my nearly transcendent feelings, was replaced by something for which I have never been able to find a suitable name: the helplessness that descends when a  cherished object has been stolen, the anger that one feels when one has been deceived."

Monday, October 26, 2009

Where sadness roams

Originally only 338 words long, but with vivid illustrations, Where the Wild Things are uses pithiness to convey the frustration of young Max, who is sent to bed without his supper.

To cope with such cruel punishment, the boy escapes into the depth of his imagination, where he is free to misbehave and even gets rewarded for acting wild and crazy by being made a king of the wild things.

The new Spike Jonze's film expands on this story, taking it to another, sadder, dimension. The film chronicles Max’s film adventures in a way that projects his yearning for a wholesome family unit, where everyone is equally happy and free of stress. Thus, he embarks on a poignant journey of confusing childhood emotions to a land where unhappy wild things roam. At first, the monsters are cautious towards the new creature amongst them and even want to eat Max.

Max sympathizes with the poor depressed creatures and attempts to cheer them up with the aid of his imagination. Delighted, they crown him a king and genuinely believe in his power to lead them to happiness. Thus, they gladly follow Max’s instructions and build a beautiful new home, where everyone could be happy and would sleep in a big pile together.

Albeit, the happy moments of Max’s reign as the new king of the wild kingdom are short lived, and the monsters get sad again. This time, Max cannot come up with a way to make them happy and the wild things realize that he has no super powers and is just a little boy, who promised to protect them from loneliness, but could not shield them from sadness. Although they had eaten all of their previous kings who failed to fulfill their duty, the wild things decide to let Max go. By then, Max is eager to leave the carefree island, where wild things cannot overcome their issues of sadness. He finally realizes that it may not be such a bad thing to just be a human boy instead of being a wild and crazy little thing. Consequently, Max returns to reality, where he is rewarded with a great supper.

Jonze’s film is a well fashioned and valid version of the original story. Only, I wish it was happier. Nonetheless, with its fantastical set design and moster costumers, the film is well worth seeing on the big screen.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

On secret clubs and mixed tapes




It's early.  I'm not a fan of eating so early.  Especially not when I have to eat airport food of egg and cheese taco and Schepps orange juice.  I feel a rather uneasy quiver inside. 

I don't even know why I got up so early.  But being late for the plane is worse than waiting, so I'll wait.  I like waiting actually. I used to hate it, but now it gives me a chance to enjoy the moment. 



It's quiet at the airport.  it was also quiet on the road.  I enjoyed the mystery of being one of a few lonely people driving  in the dark.  It's like belonging to a special club only few dare to join and no one talks about.   It's better than Fight Club.

When I was much, much younger, I used to go on random midnight rides, just to be alone with my thoughts.  I even once had a boyfriend follow me around, trying to figure out what I was doing.  Poor chap thought I was driving off to see a secret lover.   I just wanted to be by myself on the road, alone with myself.

I don't go on midnight drives anymore, but I do miss them occasionally.  I like driving in the dark.  Part of its allure is ability to be completely free of everyday minutia, submerged inside thoughts, which entwine with the road, the music inside or the sound of wind outside.



Sometimes the music is just a sound of the road and early morning birds.  At other times, I listen to CDs. The manmade music always sounds clearer, somehow crisper in the dark.  While the body is still waking up, the brain is already at work, enjoying the sound, processing the furtive lyrics, tapping to the rhythm. 

The music must be right.  It cannot be a random radio station; it  must be something special.  Something made just for me, either by me or by someone who knows me well. 

Today I pulled out just the right mix, made last fall by someone who loves me.  Almost one year old, it is aged to perfection.  Not too outdated for pleasure and not too familiar. It had just enough time to sit around in my car, waiting to be re savored. 



It's a rather eclectic mix of a few ballads and some silly songs thrown in just for kicks.  I skipped over the silly stuff and went directly to the beautiful Society by Eddie Vedder: 


Oh it's a mystery to me.
We have a greed, with which we have agreed...
and you think you have to want more than you need...
until you have it all, you won't be free.

This is perfection: "We have a greed, with which we have agreed"



Nothing is better, except for the tune.  It envelopes me in nostalgia like no other song.

There're a few other relics on this CD.   Listening to them in the dark, balms my soul in the magic of early morning.  No one else in sight,  just me, the road and the music of silent joy.



Thursday, October 8, 2009

Some of my artwork


beloved, watercolor


dolce far niento, watercolor



still life, oil



nude, pencil

Ludmila, watercolor