Food is, of course, the most basic of our needs beyond water and air (and toilet paper!). Isn’t it funny how we take these simple things for granted? You breathe in and out, you pull on the roll, you turn on the tap, you pop a Lean Cuisine into the microwave, or answer, “Yes”, to “Fries with that?” Easy, automatic, instant. But of course, it’s not. All of these things, with the exception of air, require a complicated combination of infrastructure and workforce to get to us. We only think about it when the system breaks down (imagine a toilet paper factory worker’s strike!), or when we pay our bills.

TweetDue to constant traveling, I have been homeschooling my son for the last few months. We have gone through different stages where he enjoyed it or didn’t, and I’ve had a few struggles getting him to listen and to actually like doing work, especially math. My son is seven years old and officially in first [...]

TweetI found this book at the free store and almost didn’t take it. It looked kind of cool, a hand with candy sprinkles all over it. But the description, about a man with an addiction who goes through rehab didn’t sound that exciting. I’ve read a few of those, and they’re mostly over-Christiany, “feel sorry [...]

TweetI finally got the chance to watch this, and I was very impressed. This has to be the cutest robot movie I’ve ever seen, and it is one of the best movies for kids that I’ve seen in a long time.  Rated G – now how often do you see that anymore?  Truly funny, not [...]

Tweet Unless you work from home, transportation is a necessity. But it need not be expensive. You don’t need three cars. You probably don’t even need two cars. And you could likely get by with no car at all, especially in the city. If you live in a larger city, you probably have a bus [...]

Tweet I’m not really feeling the disastrous effects of the “depression” that we’re experiencing.  Yes, things are tight, but for someone like me, they’re always tight.  In the news, I keep seeing all these sob stories about comfortable white people feeling sad because now they can’t afford their laptops, ipods, cellphones, and three cars without [...]

TweetWhale Rider is a lovely little movie about a rural Maori town in New Zealand and their search for a leader. It’s about the struggle for a little girl to be accepted, about the struggle between tradition and modern ideas, fulfilling your dreams, and about love within a family and within a community. It introduces [...]

TweetI started watching this movie, expecting a documentary from BBC or the Discovery Channel about sleep and dreams. It was definitely not that, but something much better. A Michel Gondry film. The director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, many of Bjork’s music videos, and several other amazing works, Gondry is known for thought-provoking [...]

TweetI absolutely love to see Jim Carey in a serious role. I think that Kate Winslet is beautiful. Charlie Kaufman (screenwriter for Adaptation and Being John Malkovich among others) is brilliant. And I think that Michel Gondry is an absolute genius. It also has Elijah Wood and Kirsten Dunst stoned in her underwear (jumping on [...]

TweetThe subtitle for this book is Quick, Low-fat, Low-Calorie, Vegetarian Meals. And it should be noted that they are also vegan: no eggs, no milk, cheese, butter, or other dairy, and of course, no other animal products. Most of her recipes include some kind of tofu, or other soy product. Which is great if you’re [...]