Ratatat-It’s magic, look it up.

So a couple of weeks ago we went and saw a band called Ratatat in concert. Now, we liked their music alright. It is sort of a instrumental electric rock. Sorta. They defy genre-ization. So we all tumbled onto the metro one Thursday night into DC, semi-excited to see this band. I mean they were cool. We suffered through the first 2 bands (pretty bad) and then Ratatat came on. And blew our minds. They are definitely a band that you need to see live. Here is a sample of their music. Probably one of my favorite songs. The visual part of this video is boring but that’s okay.

The music was loud, the bassist (in the video he is the one on the right) was hott, and you just lost yourself in the beat. We came home freaking out how amazing it was. Best show ever.

So we went and saw them that Sunday in Baltimore. Which happened to be their last show on their tour so it was a bit more celebratory (and the crowd was a bit more rowdy). Still amazing. Their studio cuts don’t do them justice.

Moral of the story: if Ratatat is playing near you, go see them. You owe it to yourself.

Being Vegetarian

Per request of my sister, how is my choice of being a vegetarian going? Well first I’m not a strict vegetarian. Apparently I’m a pescatarian, which is to say I still eat fish, which is also know as a Semi-vegetarian. So I’m not really that hard core. Just cut out beef, poultry, lamb, etc. My husband and I decided to try this out for 2 weeks about a month ago. We decided to do it mainly because we are trying to be as eco-friendly as possible and cattle is the number one producer of carbon, even more than all the cars in the world combined. I think Time wrote an article on it. The second and more obvious reason is health.

Health is really the only one we, as individuals, can measure. There really isn’t a good way for me to measure the demand for meat. Overall not much has changed in our health other than having more energy. We were already pretty healthy.

Now you are wondering, I bet, doesn’t it suck not to eat meat. The answer is not really. Yeah you miss out on all the good BBQ and you can’t have that foot long hot dog at the ball game, but overall it hasn’t been that big of a shift. Now I will say it is tougher when you are out especially if you are looking for a quick bite, i.e. Wendy’s. If you don’t like salad there really isn’t much there. Although I’m okay with fries and frosty as lunch. But making your own dinners and eating out at sit down restaurants there are still plenty of options.

Do I still crave meat? Only if I’m extremely hungry. Like stomach is clawing up through my chest cavity hungry. Other than that most of what I like about meat seems to be the salt content. Nothing some chips and salsa can’t solve. Speaking of which…

Another benefit is our grocery bill is, on average, less. Some weeks we buy fish and some we don’t, but we are still saving money overall. I mean think about it, chicken runs about 8 or 9 dollars for 4 boneless skinless breasts. You could save some money and get the whole chicken but that requires a lot of work. Ribs? Depending on the type could cost you $11 a pound. Now add that up for at least 4 of your 7 dinners (including going out twice) that is quite a bit.

So overall I endorse it! The only really sad thing about it is no more taylor ham, sigh.

Rocking out with Ronald

Recently found this guy, Ronald Jenkees, on You tube. He comes up with some pretty rockin songs. This is one of my favorites. I’m thinking about getting his CD. Enjoy!

 

The search for the Golden Prius.

So I was driving home from work today, just thinking. Naturally my thoughts turned to cars. As a blue prius flashed in and out of my vision I thought “you know I don’t remember seeing a prius any other color other than blue.” Kind of like school buses are always yellow, GTI’s are black, and taxi’s all have a signature color.  I had to find out if some outside force was at work here, so I did some prius spotting.

Excitingly I saw other color priuses! Yes, there were a multitude of blue ones. But I managed to see a black one, 2 red ones, one of which was next to a green one, it was like Christmas. I also saw…are you ready for this? The ever elusive golden prius! I know exciting right?! My next goal is to see a white prius. Those are rare.

Stuff: it is so pervasive.

I recently found this video on The Green Workplace. Watching it really opened my eyes to how much stuff I have and how much I seem to think I need. Consumerism has run rampant in America. We can never have enough stuff. And in our blinding pursuit of stuff, we are killing the planet. Yeah, everyone knows “save the environment”, “go green”, etc. But what is amazing is it is the consumer that drives demand for more stuff, more THROW AWAY stuff. We are all guilty of it. We all buy new items and get rid of them in 6 months.  We must demand quality goods. Goods that will last for a long time, more goods that are worth fixing rather than chucking and buying a new one.

Annie Leonard makes a good point. Someone pays for each thing we buy. True we may get a great deal on something, but that doesn’t mean it was cheap to make. All those workers without health-care, without good wages. THEY are paying for our cheap goods.

So if we reuse and recycle and generally buy less stuff, what happens to all those workers who were manufacturing all that stuff? Well, maybe they learn the trade of repairing that stuff we already own. That keeps jobs in the community and the earth under our feet.

Which brings up another point in my rambling post. Community, local produce and jobs seems to be the new “green”. Organic is out, sort of, local is in. So maybe the global village isn’t such a good thing. Maybe the world needs to be big, and not small. Maybe globalization wasn’t such a productive idea. But I don’t that we should revert to the “old ways”. Progress is good, Responsibility is better. We must realize that we are making excuses. “Our neighbor will go green, so I don’t have to.” It is like a situation where a person is hurt and needs to go to the hospital. 40 people see this hurt person and no one calls 911 because everyone assumes someone else will do it. EVERYONE must take responsibility. Don’t assume that someone else will handle it.

So that is my recycled, sustainable soapbox which I will re-purpose as a window box for my herbs.

As I walk on by…

Have you ever just sat and watch people walk by? But instead of watching them go about their business, chatting, etc, have you ever watched them walk? Walking is such an unusual looking action. Its almost awkward. Like when you say a word too many times and it just sounds and looks funny, walking is much the same. Really walking is just a perpetual state of falling. We lean forward, put one foot out to stay upright, lather, rinse, and repeat.

And no two strides are exactly the same. Some people’s gaits have a story behind them, fought in a war, battled an illness. Others betray emotions, the fast staccato of a woman’s heels who is stressed or the slow shuffling of a man who feels belittled. Or even the uneven beat of someone who is excited.

Obviously I had a chance to observe this in action today while waiting for someone. It was truly amazing. That and the variety of shoes.

Another Review: I am Legend.

So I saw I am Legend with Will Smith a couple of weeks ago. I thought I’d tell you about it. First of all, go see it. Second, it was intense, thrilling, and believable. Third, did I mention you should go see it?

The acting was amazing. Similar to Cast Away with Tom Hanks, Will Smith pretty much had to talk to himself the whole movie, with exception of his dog Sam. I have to say, he did it better than Tom Hanks.

The story was so compelling. I know, as humans, we are consumed with our own extinction. How will we make our end? This movie places the blame squarely on our own shoulders. Well and cancer in a round about way.

Like in Cast Away Will’s character has to find ways to cope with the fact that he is alone, if you ignore the thousands of zombie/vampire/rabid “people” running around at night. Its an interesting statement that human beings are, at the base, social creatures. No matter how much of a loner someone is, we all need companionship.

Unlike most horror movies where the fear comes off as a little forced, this movie really makes the fear of the “zombies” palpable. In one scene, where Will (is it horrible that I forget the character’s name?) goes into a dark space after his dog, you can almost taste the fear. This movie makes it believable.

Lastly, tourism in New Hampshire/Vermont is going to benefit from this movie. You will understand that once you see it.

I thought this movies was one of the best I’ve seen all year, I hope it wins some Oscars.

Hello world!

Moving from my old blog.