Sustainable Santa

The Hollywood Kids star in a holiday commercial from Brave New Foundation and Meet the Bloggers

Rev. Billy: Stop Shopping!

I've probably shopped more than my due...

Black Friday becomes Buy Nothing Day

True confession: There have been lots of years when I've gotten up early on the day after Thanksgiving or the day after Christmas and driven from mall to mall, store to store, searching for those really great half-off, marked down, must go deals. I have loved shopping the way some people must love tennis or a rare orchid. I haven't only pursued the great deals; I've also spent hours in used bookstores, in Goodwills and antique stores. I would say I have been if not a true shopaholic, then a periodic over-shopper.
But shopping and spending and using credit cards just seems ridiculous to me now - in the middle of an economic meltdown, at a time when our resources are severely strained, and after I've taken a big pay cut to pursue to new path in my career. I want money to be my servant, not my master, so I'm just not interested in shopping. Not like I used to be.
That makes it easy for me to follow Rev. Billy's advice and "stop shopping." I saw the documentary, "What Would Jesus Buy" last year, and I don't think I can ever really look at an outlet mall quite the same way. Rev. Billy and Savitra D talk about the upcoming Shopocalypse and how we have to stop using up this planet on Meet the Bloggers (MeetTheBloggers.org). Another person on the show is Latoya Peterson from Center for a New American Dream (newdream.org). She says that 90% of what we buy in this country ends up in a landfill in six months. That's horrific!
My reasons for "buying nothing" on Black Friday are personal as well as political, but no matter what the reason, it really is time to STOP SHOPPING!

Recount, a Cautionary Tale

A few weeks ago, a Hollywood mom who works for HBO gave me a screener of Recount, starring Kevin Spacey, Denis Leary, Tom Wilkinson, and Laura Dern, among others. At the time, I thought I couldn't wait to see it, but then it sat in the little Shabby Chic box with all the other unwatched DVDs from Netflix and Blockbuster (Season 3 of The Wire, Argentinian heist film Nine Queens). "Oh well," I reasoned, "at least I'm NOT paying to NOT watch this one."

Then, last week, after Governor Sarah Palin's address at the Republican National Convention, as I became more disturbed with the substitution of half-truths for facts and spin for substance, I found myself not only watching Recount, but hoping the Obamians are watching it, too. In this climate of single-issue voters, netizen bloggers, and swift-boating campaign strategists, this movie feels like a spooky harbinger of what's ahead on November 4th. What felt inevitable in 2000 now seems anything but. Gore could have fought harder, better, and sooner; he won. What no one seemed to know then is that the race wasn't over, but by the time they got back in the game, it had ended.

In a close contest - and that's what we're in - the first side to flinch, blink, or back down will lose. Every time Obama gives a little more, it feels like he's drafting his concession.

Both Recount and the real-time movie-for-television that is the Palin candidancy feature the Republican version of a femme fatale - someone who, in conservative political circles, passes as a babe and is so steadfastly Christian, that she routinely seeks guidance from the scriptures. In the film, Katherine Harris finds the strength to do what she believes she must by following the life of Queen Esther. According to the New York Times, Esther is also a role model for Palin. As Jon Weiner writes in the Huffington Post points out, this could be bad news for the modern day inhabitants of Persia, now known as Iran, since Esther sanctioned the vengeful slaughter of 75,000 of them.

Recount is playing throughout the coming weeks on HBO and has also been released on DVD. Someone ought to Netflix it for the Obama express.

Truthiness Hurts

from The Onion:

Bus stops in the middle of Sunset!

Who thought it was a good idea to route a bus - much less a double-long one - around a hairpin turn from Sunset to Santa Monica, straight through the heart of Sunset Junction? This poor unfortunate bus is in a photo snapped by Blaire-with-an-e, one of the many Hollywood friends. This was taken and sent from a Blackberry, not an iPhone. I just want to make that clear. No rational reason for this - just pointing out that we liberals are not all Volvo driving, latte sipping, iPhone twittering lemmings; some of us have T-Mobile.

In the photo, we see another example of how the people who work for the MTA and with bus routes and schedules and public transportation don't actually understand public transportation - most of them don't even actually ride the bus. It's always in the L.A. Times when a public official or a reporter experiments with public transportation. (This is part of the reason I felt it imperative to stop my subscription to the Times - which I subscribed to since college. I just couldn't stomach one more reporter telling us how he rode the bus all the way to work from the West Side and it took him two whole hours!)

Mayor Villaraigosa should appoint grass roots organizer and environmental activist Ann Bradley to a new post: czarina of mass transit. She truly knows this system because she's been a dedicated bus rider for years. She's my own personal "commuter concierge" - the person I call for the up-to-date information on fares, points of interest along the route, how to transfer, etc. It's sad that in L.A. we have to to have a bus riders union to make known the needs of the people who ride the bus. In any other business, the people who use the product or service are called "customers." Shoppers don't need a union to make their needs known at Nordstorm's, eaters don't need a union to get service in restaurants, and drinkers don't have to organize to demand fair treatment at bars. In successful businesses, the needs of the clients are anticipated, not met with begrudging acquiescence.

So here's this bus, looking like a broken down "picture car" from a remake of Speed. No idea what happened or why. There were plenty of firemen around but no passengers. It was around 1:28 p.m. on Friday, 08/08/08. Send any further illuminating details...

See Seven McDonald's LA Weekly "24/7" column about Ann Bradley: The Unconsumed Life.

10 things I learned from the MADONNA book...

.. and they're all about author Christopher Ciccone:

1. He's a big ol' victim with a capital V.
2. If you break up with him, even if you've been his house-husband for years and he has already supported you completely, he will give you thousands of cash money in palimony.
3. He worked for years without a contract or formal agreement and always just expected Her Madgesty to do right by him.
4. He believes there is a blood test that measures drug addiction and alcoholism. He passed, so no problem. He considers using cocaine on a regular basis "recreational." It's not addicting as long as he restricts himself to doing "bumps" and not "lines."
5. He thinks there's a difference between bumps and lines.
6. Even after his sister outed him in the Advocate, he continued to serve as her lackey, demonstrating the depth of his need for Madonna's approval and acceptance.
7. He's a hypocrite. He gives pseudonyms to all of his lovers but names names of every celebrity he's ever met. He tells tales about drug use by Donnatella Versace and Courtney Love, rats out Bruce Willis for flirting with young waitresses, and tells of Demi Moore's chain-smoking and serial Red Bull consumption, all the while positing himself as somehow above them all. Yet, he's the one catching a free ride on Demi's jet, snarfing up Courtney's coke, and phoning the restaurant to try to procure the waitress for Bruce. Either you're in or you're out, Chrissy.
8. He's two-faced and petty. He keeps making nice with Ingrid even though he calls her a "sycophant" and is supposedly furious at her for telling M that he has a drug problem. As recently as two years ago, he allows Ingrid to throw a party for his birthday - then he and friends storm out when he thinks he isn't being given the royal treatment.
   
9. He does have some scruples: when Kate Moss asked him for champagne and a line just after she left rehab, he said no.
10. He's sad and somewhat desperate. He allows Madonna, the woman he believes has cheated and betrayed him to pay for his therapy.

Javarator: Best & Worst Coffee in L.A.

Before we begin rating and berating the various coffee options in town, let's agree that when we say "coffee," we mean all iterations of the bean: drip, espresso-based drinks, iced blended specialties - whatever.

Best Coffee Chain: Peet's
Best Peet's Location: (limited to L.A., remember?) Larchmont. Superior in every respect - a great product, easy access, nice place to hang out, plus I was once customer-of-the-month. Runner-up is Sunset Blvd across from Book Soup (enjoy the valet parking!), and the one by Loyola Marymount.... what city is that?
Worst Peet's: (tie) Santa Monica (probably too busy with tourists to be really kept up) and Pasadena (no excuse!)
Most "Hail, fellow well-met" Out-of-Town Peet's: (Tie) Manhattan Beach (the Cheers of coffee places, where everyone inside seems to know each other from the PTA at their good-enough-to-be-private public schools)and La Jolla.
Most Likely to be Mistaken for a Library Out-of-Town Peet's: Tustin, next to the Trader Joe's. Deadsville.

Best Coffee in a Restaurant: Urth Caffe - all locations - Beverly Drive, Melrose, and Main Street in Santa Monica. Their coffee is just superb: treat yourself to an Italian cappuccino, vanilla latte, or "over the counter" drip. Where "organic" means "delicious."

Runner up: Aroma in the Valley - which deserves its own special category since it includes the bookstore and gift shop, Portrait of a Bookstore - and its "sister" restaurant, The Alcove on Hillhurst. Not coincidentally, Aroma and Alcove are owned by a fabulous and talented couple, Mark and Tom.

Worst Coffee in a Restaurant: This is a tough category, since there are so many contenders, but I'm going with Fred 62. I'm not sure if it's their choice of raw materials or the fact that they produce an unmanageable amount of menu items around the clock. Everyone can do a few things well, but no one can do everything well, and they suck at coffee.

Others in this unfortunate category include, ironically, The Coffee Table - bad in Silver Lake and worse in Eagle Rock.

The one I most hate to mention is Dusty's in Silver Lake. I have tried repeatedly to get a drinkable latte out of this place, and I have to admit to my innermost self, it's not happening. Someone needs to gently pull Dusty's aside and gently whisper in their ear that their coffee is just NG - no good.

Hippest & Best Micro-Chain: Intelligentsia, which should certainly win a design award in addition to serving a really great latte. This is Intelligentsia's first outpost beyond Chicago. Based on the overwhelming success they're enjoying on Sunset Blvd, it's probably safe to bet there will be more of them throughout the country soon.

Most Likely to be Mentioned as the Setting for a Vanity Fair Interview and Best $8 Cup of Coffee: LAMILL. With table-side barista service, specially-designed-for-coffee organic milk, and the best example of Beverly Hills Regency in Silver Lake, LAMILL is the best place to take your friends and family when they visit you from out of town. They also have excellent and interesting food, although the portions are teeny tiny. It's the perfect place for a tasty morsel. A great answer to the perpetual question, "Where should we meet?"

Best Place to Go with Kids: Swork in Eagle Rock, which has a kids' play area, gelato and lots of kid-friendly drinks. While you're there, shop at Owl Talk, sisters Kathy and Sharon Kroner's consignment shop, and Twerp's a fun toy store.

Best Coffee in a Gas Station: Magic Gas in Echo Park.

Best Coffee Across the Street from a Gas Station: Chango

Stay tuned for more updates, ratings, and random thoughts on coffee...