good design

My cousin sent me an Airside calendar last year for Christmas, and it's so awesome that I use it as a coffee table book. I was just checking out their website, and I just can't get over their design. One of my recent favorites is the site they created for Yakult. Only in London (so jealous of how ahead of us the UK is in terms of pro-environment, sustainable, healthy, etc. goods) would there be a probiotic drink next to the milk.

Anyway, as far as good design goes...I've always been somewhat thrifty when it comes to clothes, because, unlike my steelcase bookcase that I plan to use forever, clothes just don't last. And if they do, they go out of style. I have a Trina Turk outfit made from a vintage pattern that I thought would never go out of style, and this year I thought about wearing it as a Halloween costume...oops. But today I gave in to a silly consumeristic urge and bought myself a pair of very fancy shoes.

Every now and then, Nordstrom Rack puts out a few pair of "worn and refurbished" shoes, which, for all intensive purposes, might as well be brand new. Today, I happened upon a $475 pair of Moschino's for a mere $70. On my non-profit salary, $70 still seems like a lot, but after getting literally six compliments when I tried one on (okay, so some of the people weren't exactly complimenting them...I believe most of the compliments ended with, "what size are those?" and a fairly aggressive, "are you going to buy them?") I decided to take the plunge and buy them. After all, I do have 30 days to take them back. What do you think? Are they keepers?


***Update***
I took them back. :)

Yet another way the U.S. is falling behind

Al Gore demonstrated how our fuel efficiency lags behind China, and now the Communications Workers of America have taken up the cause of broadband access. Take the test--the results may surprise you.

Forget Borat!

So I haven't seen Borat yet, and frankly, I don't have much interest. But from what people tell me, it's all about Ali G encouraging people to say things that are racist, degrading and otherwise offensive--showing the "true colors" of Americans.

This documentary is certainly not as slick, but if you get your jollies from watching ignorant people say shocking things, check out Red State.




The clips on the movie's website are even better (or worse, I guess you could say) than the trailor above. Check out the nice lady from Jackson, Mississippi and the dude from Boise who thinks his state is covered in the Blood of Christ.

I just ordered a copy of the film...stay tuned for a thumbs up or down.

My favorite campaign website

On a lighter note...

While researching judges this afternoon, I came across Hayden Zacky's website, and I must say that he really out did himself.

Another candidate for Superior Court Judge, Deborah Sanchez, has the kind of website one might expect. But not Hayden...

Hayden's site may not have a Flickr photo gallery on the home page like our Governor, but he has something better: sound effects! (make sure you roll your mouse over the fancy menu bar.)

You're slick Mr. Zacky! Check it out.

Election Freakout

Ok, so the Dems are winning nationally, and that's great and all, but as of 10:25pm, Prop 90 is winning.

Proposition - 90 Eminent Domain - California 7736 of 25231 Precincts Reporting

	Name	Votes	Pct
	No	1,314,840	50.02
	Yes	1,313,614	49.98

That stinks. Stinks, stinks, stinks. I don't think people really understand how bad it will be if Prop 90 passes.

I know some Democrats are doing well, but if you look at the CA race, just as many seats are going to the GOP. Looks like McClintock will win by about 2.5%...but don't worry, the Green Party candidate got almost 3% of the vote! Okay, so it's not exactly the Green's fault, but what's wrong with California?

Allegations of Schwarzenegger's sexual assault are swept under the rug in the same breath that voters decide that people convicted of sex crimes should wear GPS tracking devices for the rest of their lives. (In defense of California voters apparent hypocrisy--the sex crimes proposition won't really be effective--it encourages sex offenders to live in close proximity with others of similar pathology, and wastes a ridiculous amount of money on tracking devices that don't prevent offenders from molesting the people they are most likely to take advantage of--family members.)

Proposition - 83 Sex Offenders - California 7911 of 25231 Precincts Reporting

	Name	Votes	Pct
	Yes	1,907,644	70.29
	No	806,146	29.71

Apparently, Californians also want young people to start smoking and don't want the auto industry to ever catch up with China's emissions standards.

Proposition - 86 Cigarette Tax - California 7844 of 25231 Precincts Reporting

Name Votes Pct No 1,479,988 53.84 Yes 1,268,938 46.16

---

Proposition - 87 Alternative Energy - California 7844 of 25231 Precincts Reporting

	Name	Votes	Pct
	No	1,557,334	56.98
	Yes	1,175,805	43.02

But seriously, the campaign finance prop? Isn't anyone else sick of all the crap we get in the mail before every election? I don't watch commercials anymore, thanks to my DVR, but I hear those are pretty darn annoying too. Why the heck wouldn't we want a cap on election spending?

Proposition - 89 Campaign Financing - California 7769 of 25231 Precincts Reporting

	Name	Votes	Pct
	No	1,990,751	73.91
	Yes	702,861	26.09

All in all, I'm disappointed. Again.

My Voter Guide

Californians - Here's how I'm voting in the upcoming election. No time to give detailed explanations about why on each one, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask me!

I'm voting Democrat for all elected officials.

Propositions:

Yes on 1A

No on 1B
1B will lead to more sprawl and pollution. More info from Urban Habitat

Yes on 1C
YES to more affordable housing near transit!

Yes on 1D
New school construction to relieve overcrowding

Yes on 1E
Disaster preparedness

NO on 83
Takes the justice system further in the wrong direction -- away from rehabilitation and towards GPS monitoring for life. Similar laws in other states have proved unsuccessful. Here's an editorial about it from the Sac Bee.

Yes on 84
Clean water and coastal protection.

No on 85
No on parental consent for abortion. Seriously, I don't think a no vote needs explaining on this one. No matter what your stance is on abortion, in my mind, this proposition just makes life more difficult for kids who already have bad parents.

Yes on 86
Raises the tobacco tax.

Yes on 87
Supports alternative energy.

No on 88
While most democrats are voting "No" on 88, there are some liberal groups like Working Assets and San Francisco Young Democrats that have endorsed it. I will most likely vote No, but I haven't done a lot of research on this proposition.

Yes on 89
Limits campaign contributions. Just take a look at who is against this prop at the bottom of this page: http://www.cleanmoneyelections.org/ and I think you'll have an idea of who this proposition will hurt.

No on 90
This is one of the most important initiatives on the ballot. If it passes, it will render environmental and community groups useless against harmful development. More at http://www.noprop90.com/

Bioneers Part 1

I went to the Bioneers conference for the first time this past weekend, and it did not disappoint. There about 20 things I want to write about, but I'll start with the issue that is the most pressing: Election Fraud.

I saw clips of the following documentaries and recommend that everyone try to see them.

Hacking Democracy, a film exploring the vulnerability of electronic voting systems and the growing evidence that recent elections have been manipulated. Premiering in November on HBO.

American Blackout, which chronicles the recurring patterns of disenfranchisement witnessed from 2000 to 2004 and exposes the contemporary tactics used to control our democratic process and silence political dissent.

Voting Rights (2006) a sobering look at one man's struggle to ensure that African Americans have their fair share of political power at the ballot box and beyond.

Or at the very least, watch this clip:



If you have a video camera, you might want to consider signing up for Video the Vote.

Halloween Dilema

It's just Halloween right? Carlos Mencia says it might as well be called "Dress Like A Whore Day."

I feel more pressure than ever this year to dress up in a "sexy" Halloween costume. In the past, I seem to have bypassed it fairly well--sure I've looked cute or attractive in some of my costumes, but so far I've avoided the French Maid ensemble. This year, it seems to be a bit more difficult for some reason. Since when were Little Miss Muffet and Alice slutty?!

I remember when I was in middle school, one of the white teachers at school dressed up as a Klansman for Halloween. I'm not sure he ever quite understood the magnitude of his error in judgement.

So maybe being a slutty nurse isn't as bad as the KKK, but it's still sending a message about women and their value in society that I wouldn't support on a day to day basis. I don't shout my praises of the Bush Administration on the 4th of July, so why is it that I, and many of my friends who normally stand against the sexual objectification of women, feel pressure to show up looking "hot" at the Halloween parties we attend?

Sofia Quintero spoke at the Bioneers conference yesterday and she said something along these lines: Women in our culture basically have two choices--to be invisible or be a target. If you walk out of the house dressed in normal clothes, you will be ignored. If you walk out in a tube top and mini skirt, you will get attention, but if you receive unwanted attention or advances, then you were asking for it.

I have a party to go to on Friday night and no costume yet. Any ideas on how I can be neither invisible nor a sellout to womankind?

Ford Anson Theater and Cheese Pastie

I feel like I’m always complaining about the music venues in LA. They’re too far away (Molly Malones), too expensive (Largo) too drafty (Spaceland) not enough seats (Hotel Café) too big for the ticket price (Greek Theater or Staples). Tuesday night, I finally found a place I can't wait to go back to.

Alex won tickets to see Ladytron at the Ford Amphiteater. It was awesome. It’s general admission, so there’s no sitting in those far away $30 seats, wondering if you should have spent $100 to actually see the band. It’s small enough that no seat is bad. They hand out plastic cups for the wine people "sneak" into the show. And the theater itself has that great old Hollywood feel. I just loved it. Ladytron’s songs all sound sort of the same, but they were fun, and I think anyone would be good at the Ford.

One more bonus, we took the park ‘n’ ride from the Universal metro station so we didn’t even have to pay for parking or deal with traffic. Doesn’t get any better than that.

Plus, Universal is near my favorite pub, Fox and Hounds. I had a yummy Cheese and Onion Pastie with salad and a Snakebite, and Alex had the super hot wings and a Boddingtons. Our favorite Tuesday and Saturday night musical entertainer, Bob Cowsill (of the Cowsills), was there, singing the Beatles, the Eagles and more. Couldn’t have been a more perfect night! (Well maybe if we both didn’t have to go to work the next morning.)

Feminism and Porn

I feel like I've had a lot of conversations lately about why I find the rampant spread of internet porn so problematic, and why I don't really find stripping to be an empowering profession for women.

Ariel Levy, author of Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture, was on the Colbert Report the other day, and she said this during the interview:

"...strippers, like Porn Stars...those are women whose job it is to fake lust, and so I think that if we're going to have sexual role models, as women, it should be the women who have the most pleasure in sex, not the women who get paid the most to pretend they're engaged with it."

She continued,

"...if we start as women who aren't pros, imitating women whose job it is to fake lust, so we're imitating an imitation, I think we are getting pretty far from any authentic expression of sexual liberation."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

The full interview is on the Colbert Report website as Ariel Levy Pt. 1 and Pt. 2.

I recently checked out Pornified and Net.seXXX from the library, so expect more writings on this topic. :)

Kind of like a union for the unionless

I just learned about Barbara Ehrenreich's new organization United Professionals. Yearly dues are $36.50, so I think I might join...
I also plan to check out her new book, Bait and Switch. Her previous book, Nickel and Dimed is a must read about the working poor in this country. Bait and Switch is about people like me! Organized labor is taking such a beating these days, and I don't have the option to join a union in my current job, so I'm thinking UP may be the next best thing.

A couple of weeks ago, I watched the PBS Point of View episode, Waging a Living. Not only did I have to hold back tears for the entire episode, thinking about all the good, hardworking people who are being screwed by the widening gap between rich and poor, but I also thought about my own situation. According to the Ginnie Mae calculator, I can afford a $128,000 house. Right....a piece of property in Los Angeles for $128,000.
I have a college degree, a job with full benefits, and no real prospect of owning a home. Even if I purchase a house with someone else, the median home price in Los Angeles is $600,000. Apparently, I'd have to go in with three or four other people to afford that two bedroom house we'd all be living in together. That'd be way better than paying rent for the rest of my life.

So I guess I'll give UP a shot. People have the power, right?

Buy Blue, Buy Green, Buy Less

I saw the Inconvenient Truth last night and I was surprised by how much it freaked me out. I've always believed that global warming was happening and I care about the environment, but I guess I didn't fully grasp the magnitude of the damage we are doing. Nicely done Al Gore! For a list of fairly easy things you can do to reduce C02 emmisions, check out the What You Can Do section of the site.

This morning I woke up to the latest from Free Range Films, an expose on PVC plastic. I read about PVC in college and spent a few weeks worrying about it, but just as we Americans seems to be slow to respond to global warming, I've been pretty complacent about making sure not to buy things made from PVC. I try to avoid plastic in general, but I rarely check for PVC alternatives when I do buy something made from plastic. No more! Consider my future purchases 100% PVC-Free. (The opposite of the cool green faux leather jacket that I bought in Oslo that reads 100% PVC. Yikes!)

All in all, I'm trying to be better about making sure I Buy Blue, buy green, buy local and buy less. As I find good alternatives, I'll post them here!

P.S. My friend Andrea just sent me this article, Energy Diet--A great read for people who don't want to change their lifestyles very dramatically, but still want to make a difference.

IMDB here I come!

Ok, not really. But some friends made a promo for their Halloween swing dance and I'm in it a couple of brief moments here and there. :)

Fantasy Congress

I just received this email from a list I'm on b/c of the Udall Scholarship I got in college. I don't know much about Fantasy Football, but for any policy wonks out there, this seems to be a fantasy, fantasy game. :) Read on!


My fellow Udallers,

Some of you know that I have been working diligently for the past summer on creating a website where people can "play politics." In my freshman year, I dreamed of a free website just like fantasy football or fantasy baseball, where you draft and manage a team of members of
Congress and you would play against your friends. The hope was that students in high school and college would be able to get more involved in the legislative process and the on-goings of Congress. Teams would be awarded points based on the progress of legislation. I initially
started with a pen and paper, but found it to be much too difficult to keep track of legislation.

After winning a business grant, I along with my fellows Claremont students during the summer created Fantasy Congress. For those worried about a partisan bias, I (the Democrat from Colorado) worked with my Republican professor (jack pitney) to refine the system. Knowing that we've taken too long and reached the penultimate stages of dorkdom, our beta version is finally up and ready to be played: www.fantasycongress.us.

Since Congress will adjourn next Friday for election recess, we have set the game so that you can draft before Monday, and we will run the game on Monday for the month of September. From then on, the game will update on a daily basis, and will continue past the election recess
when Congress reconvenes for its post-election session. So feel free to join the game and draft Mark or Tom Udall anytime you want. The strategy occurs every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (when Congress doesn't do anything), you can go ahead and redraft your players (and
see if you can get better weekly points).

Additionally, this is the first political science measure that ranks legislators on their performance in the legislative process, so it's a wonderful assessment of the 109th Congress. You can browse the Congress and see who the top performers have been throughout the past two years (it's really interesting!).

Please take a look at the website and send me any comments about the website or questions about sleeper picks. Feel free to start a Udall league or just play for right now in the public league. We're going to expand for the next legislative session with exclusivity, so you cannot draft the same members as the rest of your league, and we will try to include other measures of political science (vote counts, cosponsors, poole-rosenthal, and media).

Please tell any government teachers, high school teachers, family, bloggers, or friends that may be interested and feel free to also start your own league for your schools or clubs (just remember to activate the league before Monday). If people paid attention to the ongoings of our Congress, perhaps we wouldn't have as many problems! I think Mo would have enjoyed the humor and goal of this game, so please try it out and tell us how to improve.

For the love of Mo!- Andrew

P.S. I hope you enjoy the Stephen Colbert-like picture on the About Us page. Apologies in advance for cross-posting to other list-servs.

--
Andrew Lee
Claremont McKenna College '07
742 N. Amherst, Box 709
Claremont, CA 91711
W: 909-621-8159
H: 909-607-3493
C: 509-552-6211
ALee07@gmail.com
__________________________

Artivist Film Festival

Calling all LA peeps...
This festival is usually somewhat poorly organized, but the films are always awesome. It's totally worth going to see at least a couple flicks. It's where I first saw The Corporation! Anyone wants to join me for a film or two...let me know!

Jesus Camp

New movie coming out soon...
Check out the trailer on the site.

Lay Down Your Bacon.

The other day, while searching for a recipe I came across this hilariously gross recipe for a "Mack Daddy." I've pasted it below, making sure to leave in all the typos and kinds of meat.

Mack Daddy
Recipe #184981
My Husband is always wanting breakfeast food from McDonalds or bk well, I cant stand there food.
by Happyfrog

3 servings
30 min 10 min prep

Ingredients:

• 3 big bagels
• 4 eggs
• 4 slices bacon
• 3 country sausage links
• country gravy
• hash browns 1/2 cup of shredded cheese

Preparation:

1. Scrabble eggs.
2. melt cheese on eggs.
3. fry all your bacon and sausage.
4. cook your hashbrowns.
5. make your gravey.
6. Butter your bagels.
7. lay down hasbrowns
8. lay down your eggs.
9. lay down your bacon.
10. lay down you sausage.
11. Top with your gravy.

You can see the original here.

Olbermann

I'd never really heard of Keith Olbermann before a couple of weeks ago, but watching his weekly commentary on YouTube (I don't get MSNBC) has become my favorite non-comedy-central editorial. Here is a fairly recent comment from Count Down that I appreciated.

Bush Owes Us an Apology

The Corporation - I recommend!

Last night I saw The Corporation for the second time, and it was even better than I remembered. I definitely recommend it.

The film points out that corporations have the same rights as individuals under the law, but don't subscribe to any of the moral, ethical, human ideas that guide the lives of real individuals. The documentary compares corporations to psychopaths and criminals, and when you think about it, if you knew that a person engaged in various illegal activities (theft, blackmail, arms dealing, acts of violence) would you continue to associate with that person? Probably not. But we continue to support (financially) and identify with companies (wearing logos) that have repeatedly been found guilty of breaking the law--many of them over and over again.

As long as corporations retain the same legal rights as people, why shouldn't we treat them like everyone else? The neighbors wouldn't stand for it if I started dumping all my garbage in the street because I decided that I'd rather pay a fine than go to the trouble to dispose of my waste properly. And I wouldn't be friends with someone who repeatedly lied to me, or who knowingly exploited children for his/her own benefit. So why do we give corporations a free pass?

The documentary highlights the company Interface as having true environmental ethics. CEO Ray Anderson hopes his company will be 100% sustainable by the year 2020. When I buy a house (ha!) I'll definitely purchase my rugs and carpet from Interface! (Interface is also Bentley Prince Street.)

Does anyone know of other companies that I should add to my list of friends? :)

Breathing Earth, Solar Plant, Eco Footprint

My cousin sent me this cool CO2 emissions simulation, which led me to the Eco Footprint Survey. It only takes a minute, and it's pretty interesting. I knew that driving to work everyday isn't such a good thing, but I hadn't really thought about the environmental impact of having my own apartment...

My food "foot print," while smaller than my shelter foot print, also surprised me, since I try to make an effort to buy locally and not eat much meat. Makes me think I need to make trips to the farmers' market more regularly! If you are interested in places where you can "Buy Local" check out Food Routes and Local Harvest.

On an only slightly related note, I got a kick out of the Solar Plant Flash Movie. Too bad it looks like they are only for sale in Japan. :)

Going to see The Corporation for the second time tonight. My college advisor shows films like it every Monday night, so if you are in LA, check out the schedule, and let me know if you'd like to join me some time!

Real ID Act

As of October 2006, all new passports will be issued with RFID chips inside them. You know, like lojack for people!

The Real ID Act includes a provision that could lead to RFID chips embedded in drivers licenses, which, in worst case scenarios, could lead to problems such as making identity theft even easier (one little scan of an ID gives the thief access to your entire life) and the government (and hackers) being able to monitor the whereabouts of any citizen via satellite. Yikes! Even though the Real ID Act has already passed, there is still time to define how it's going to be implemented. Watch for states choosing to opt out. The ACLU has a good site about all this: Real Nightmare.

Identity Theft!

I attended an interesting forum on identity theft and the Real ID Act today. I learned that I can shred everything and never shop online and if a thief decides to drive a truck through the back wall of the DMV to steal a database, I'm outta luck.

Personally, I've already had my debit card stolen online and my second debit card cloned and used to buy $1,000 worth of stuff at WalMart in a Chicago suburb. (I told the guy at my bank that there was no way I could have made those purchases--not only because I wasn't in Illinois, but because I would never shop at Wal-Mart. His response: "You don't shop at Wal-Mart? Well that's just unAmerican!" I was speechless.)

But I thought one of the most interesting parts of the discussion centered on who is committing this identity theft. Apparently, drug addicts and gang members are moving away from the drug dealing business and choosing identity theft instead. It's much less dangerous, it doesn't really feel like you are hurting anyone when you comb through their garbage for their bank statement, and police don't have a lot of options for arresting you.
(Why'd you pull me over officer? Well, I saw you had some mail in your car....)

The penalties are also significantly less stiff for identity theft than they are for drug dealing. The LA County DA's office showed us a letter from a convicted identity thief bragging about spending a mere 47 days in jail.

The legislation that the speakers asked us to support (CA AB 2886) calls for stiffer penalties for identity thieves. While I understand that identity theft is a serious crime, I can't help but notice that as soon as identity theft went from a high-tech, white-collar crime to something that "gang members" have added to their repertoire, we decide the penalties should be harsher. Maybe tougher prosecution and more tools for the police will help...I just hope that stealing bank statements from the garbage doesn't become yet another non-violent third strike crime.

I'll write about the Real ID Act later--it's a doosey.

In Honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day...

Whether it was Johnny Depp and his Black Pearl, internet piracy sites like Pirate Bay, or something else entirely, there's no denying that pirates' coolness factor has been on the up and up.

At first, it was skull & crossbones popping up on hipster t-shirts in Silverlake boutiques. Then the people I play beach volleyball with started hanging a pirate flag to mark our court. (Okay, so I'm the one who bought the flag...but celebrating Talk Like a Pirate Day at the beach this Sunday isn't my idea.)

But after awhile, pirate clothes made it to Hot Topic, the second Pirates movie was painfully bad, and it seemed like maybe the pirate thing was getting kind of tired.

But don't worry--it's not over for the pirates yet! Hal Willner has put together a compilation of Pirate songs featuring Nick Cave, Sting, Bono and more. Check out the clips on the NPR website. And with Talk Like a Pirate Day receiving national news coverage and a new book just out on Pirattitude...I'd say it's about time you downloaded a Pirate ringtone to you cell phone.

FTT!

Blogging...

I half-heartedly enter a "blog" on MySpace from time to time, but everyone knows how crappy and annoying myspace is.

We also have a blog at work that I write for occasionally, but it's just too much pressure. Plus, I can't write about fun things like Oprah's latest exploits in gas pumping.


Thirty gallons in that car? Really? Can't Oprah afford a hybrid?

So here I am, giving a real blog a shot. We'll see how long I last...MySpace held my attention for at least a month.