Monthly Pop Culture Round-up - June

Monthly Pop Culture Round-up is a new feature - because I've found that I like writing about pop culture. It will feature, you know, a round up of the pop culture goodies from the month. This is stuff I, personally, discovered in June. Some of it may be ancient. WARNING: SPOILERS (for Game of Thrones, True Blood, and Doctor Who).

Fassender Meets McAvoy - X-Men: First Class

Photo courtesy of LA Times’ Hero Complex Blog

I am not going to lie. I like X-Men movies. As far as superhero franchises go, they are often leaner and meaner than the competition. Well, X-Men: First Class, in some ways, suffered from the bloat that plagues many superhero movies. However, it had much to recommend it: cool sets, Kevin Bacon, January Jones in white mini-skirts... and Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy. They have such an easy, sexy chemistry that I started to think they should be in every movie together. Hooray, (or possibly hoyay!). The universe apparently agrees with me; there's news they may both appear in Danny Boyle's next film.

Baelor - Game of Thrones

I knew exactly what was coming. I'd read the book. And still, the moment when Ned Stark was beheaded in front of the Sept of Baelor was a stunning moment; it made one realize the power of TV as a narrative medium. When Game of Thrones began, it seemed like another stylish HBO show with amazing production values. Its ostensible hero, Ned Stark, was played by Sean Bean, one of the most famous actors in the ensemble. Even if you knew that Ned Stark was going to die, you might have wondered if HBO was really going to kill off its most well-known name. Of course they did. It was a moment of strange beauty, when all sound disappeared except the rasping of Ned's breathing as the sword was about to come down.

Speaking of which ...

Song of Ice and Fire, by George R.R. Martin

I love HBO for putting a complicated fantasy series like Game of Thrones on the air. I love them more because the show introduced me to George R.R. Martin's epic Song of Ice and Fire series of novels. I've always been a geek, but fantasy has never been my thing. I read the entire series of Lord of the Rings and the entire time I called it "the frickin' Lord of the Rings" (except I said a swear). I started reading Game of Thrones because I was a little confused by the many characters in the HBO series. Very soon, I had gone beyond simply trying to get a hold on the characters to become completely immersed in Martin's world. While the story is medieval, the psychology of the characters is modern, and the narrative forces you to consider who we are as people, how we relate to one another, and how individual moments shape politics.

Turn to Stone: So You Think You Can Dance

I almost wrote a whole treatise about the role of SYTYCD in reviving dance in the American psyche. But really ... just watch.

Shallow Summer TV: Multiple networks

White Collar. Leverage. Those are my cheap summer thrills. You might have different ones. Maybe you like Covert Affairs. Or that one show about the therapist for football players. Who cares? USA and TNT have a whole slate of summer junk TV that transcends junk. These shows are stylish, savvy and shallow. Watching them is a lot like going to a state fair and eating a funnel cake ... summer TV is funnel cake for your brain. And funnel cake is the MOST DELICIOUS THING EVER.

When A Good Man Goes to War ...

... demons run.

Recently a friend asked me why Doctor Who is suddenly so popular. The episode A Good Man Goes to War is the answer. The Doctor is a man for our time - a man who both sees the perfection of our humanity and the evil that humanity can wreak. Oh yeah ... and it's completely action-packed and fascinating. Plus ... Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill and Alex Kingston have created four characters who might just be the great mythic heroes of the 2000's.

Bill and Eric market vampires to America: True Blood

True Blood is back! The Season 4 premiere had lots of surprises (Jason's a cop! Tara's a lesbian!). But the best moment of the episode was when we got to see how vampires Bill and Eric are attempting to sell their kind to the American public. With ribbon-cutting ceremonies and public-service announcements, they managed to be both menacing and charismatic. That's what vampires are all about.

Rome: Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi, feat. Jack White and Norah Jones

Ever wanted a soundtrack for the movies you create in your mind? So does Danger Mouse. But since he's a genius, he got a bunch of other geniuses to contribute to his soundtrack - and it will sink you into a dreamy haze that might change the cinematography of your thoughts.

Recipe - Golden Summer Sangria

One of my favorite things about summer in the Northwest, where I'm from, is that you can sit on your porch for long evening hours, soaking in the golden sunlight drifting through the leaves until nine or later.

I tried sitting on my Houston porch the other night, but there were little flying cockroaches buzzing all around. I went inside.

Still, for those lazy evenings when you and your friends are sitting around (on the porch or just pretending) this is the perfect drink. It's easy to make and tastes like summer.

A couple of notes: sangria is best when it has some time to sit, so tryto make this at least 4 hours before you want to drink it - but if you don't, it will still be good. Also, as you know, your recipe will be greener if you use organic ingredients. Even if you do use organic, wash your fruit in a mixture of vinegar and water to remove badness.

Golden Summer Sangria

This recipe should serve 5 or so friends. Cut it in half, add more, use different fruit ... it's very forgiving.

Ingredients:

white grape juice

blueberries

1.5 cups of gin or vodka

1/4-1/3 cup simple syrup (I used lavender-infused, but you can make your own by boiling one part sugar with one part water.)

2-3 nectarines

2-3 plums

1 lemon

1 lime

2 bottles sauvignon blanc or dryish white wine

club soda

Step 1:

Fill an ice cube tray with the white grape juice and drop 2-3 blueberries in each space. Put these in the freezer (They are not going to turn completely firm - they will be a little slushy, like homemade popsicles)

Step 2:

In a large pitcher or punch bowl, mix the gin or vodka with the simple syrup. Then cut up all of your fruit - the nectarines and plums into eighths, the lemon and lime into thin slices. As you're cutting, put the pieces into the alcohol to soak.

Step 3:

Pour the wine into the pitcher. Stir, and then put the whole thing into the fridge for at least 4 hours.

Step 4:

Serve with the white grape-blueberry ice cubes (to keep the drink from getting watered down) and a splash of club soda in each glass.

Step 5:

Keep an eye on your guests! The fruit soaks up a lot of alcohol; I've known folks to get a little loopy after eating the fruit in the bottom of the punch bowl. Make sure that all of your guests are responsible with their keys. Summer is always better when everyone is safe.

Favorite Gadget!

This looks:

a) slightly obscene,

b) like a medical device, or

c) all of the above

The answer is ...

d) none of the above!

It's a Kitchen Spritzer from Pampered Chef.

Before I met the Kitchen Spritzer, I thought my favorite kitchen gizmo was my 2 oz. angled measuring cup. And I still love you, 2-oz Angled Measuring Cup.

I just might love the Kitchen Spritzer more.

You see, there's nothing easier than using olive oil spray (PAM, or the equivalent) while cooking. Cooking-oil-in-a-spray-can is one of man's great inventions, along with fire, TV, and electric kettles. It's just ... wasteful.

That's where the Kitchen Spritzer comes in. It's a re-usable gadget that you can fill with the oil of your choice (olive, canola, sunflower, grapeseed, sesame ...), and then spritz to your heart's content! Just like the kind you buy at the store, only

a) real oil has calories and fat. Sorry, kids. Because it's natural.

b) you're not creating a bunch of garbage.

And that is A-Ok! (If this was an ad, a little twinkle would have just shimmered off my incisors)

Light Green + 2000 Dollar Wedding = Beautiful Music

Hey, there! I just wanted to let you know that I have a guest post featured on 2000 Dollar Wedding today! No, I'm not getting married. The post is about being intentional in thinking about your bridal party -- because I'm an expert at being a bridesmaid.

In case you're not familiar with 2000 Dollar Wedding, it's a blog about creative, fun, community-oriented and environmentally-friendly weddings; basically, it's a perfect fit for Light Green. Even if you're not getting married, I highly recommend it as a place to go for DIY and entertaining ideas, as well as ruminations about making space for intention in your life and relationships.

Blog Updates!

Hey Light Greenies!

I just wanted to draw your attention to a couple of updates I've made to increase functionality.

• Recipes Tab: Note that up above, there's now a tab where you can find all of the recipes that have been featured on Light Green, organized by category (and almost all of them are vegetarian!). When I add recipes, I will also link them on the Recipes tab.
• Searchability: OK, the blog has actually been searchable for quite awhile, but I just wanted to note it, because I didn't at the time I added that function.
• Follow Me on Twitter! Yes. I'm now on Twitter. I admit that I don't necessarily get Twitter, but I'm on it. You can follow me by clicking that cute birdie to the right. I link to blog posts and also tweet a lot about TV. 'Cuz TV is my drug of choice.

Let me know what you think of the changes, or whether you'd like to see anything else here on Light Green.

Wind Power

In Texas, we use a lot of green energy, especially wind. (3% of the energy - or enough to power a million homes - is produced by wind in Texas; Houston is the country's largest municipal consumer of green energy).

When I was driving across my home state of Washington (where hydroelectric power has long been king) earlier this week, I was psyched to see the Wild Horse Wind Farm outside of Ellensburg, Washington. It has 149 turbines and produces enough energy for 80,000 homes.

I snapped a few pictures - it was a beautiful day and a beautiful sight to see all of that green energy being produced.

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

When I was in Santa Barbara for my grandmother's birthday a couple of weeks ago, my mom and I went hiking at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.

As you might know, I believe that one of the most important ways to get people excited about protecting the environment is to get people outdoors. Why save something you don't love?

I owe the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden a lot - as a child, visiting the botanic garden sparked my imagination and provided me with the backdrop for my childhood storytelling. As I was reading and I visualized Narnia or Middle-Earth, I was picturing the botanic garden - probably because I'd spent so much time in the Northwest woods that the California version seemed a sylvan wonderland where faeries or gnomes might lurk in the pools or under the rocks.

The garden has undergone some renovations recently, which apparently have been controversial, as a lot of the overgrown wilderness has been scaled back to make way for manicured trails. Still, I'm pretty sure that there were elves lurking in the shadows.

You Gotta Laugh...

... is what I thought to myself when I returned home from a business trip at 1 a.m. last night to find that I had no toilet paper. You see, because of my light green project, I don't have paper towels or Kleenex in the house. As I wiped my bum with a birthday napkin (thank God that a couple of times I decided to use paper napkins for parties!), I thought that a good sense of humor is crucial to the eco-lution.

Greenies are always described as "humorless." What's that all about? I have a perfectly good sense of humor. I think Fox and Friends is hilarious ... oh wait... that's not supposed to be a comedy?

But seriously, if we can't laugh while we're rummaging for a TP-facsimile in the middle of the night, we're not going to last long.

Speaking of being able to laugh at ourselves, I love this video about the more ridiculous side of trying to be green (thanks MG for sending!)

Grammy's Birthday

My grandmother had her 85th birthday in May!

The whole family got together at my Aunt Debi's house for an "Al Fresco Birthday Luncheon". It turned out to be a beautiful day, with family, friends, and good food.

My aunt's vision for the lunch was an Italian theme, and she has a big patio in the hills above Ojai, California, so it was easy to pretend we were actually in Italy.

There were also lots of ecologically-friendly touches throughout the day. It struck me that you could use similar strategies to increase the greenness of any party - even a small wedding.

Tables and Chairs

There was one long table outside; it was just a bunch of smaller tables put end to end. Since the party was going to have a relaxed vibe, it didn't matter that the chairs and tables didn't match. It seems like the desire for entertaining perfection, fueled by all the lifestyle magazines out there, is the enemy of green living, because it forces people to consume more. If you want everything to match, then most of us aren't going to be able to use the stuff we have on hand.

Place Settings

Rather than use paper, plastic, or even bamboo, we used china plates and real silverware. How did we have enough place settings for everyone? Simple - Aunt Deb borrowed a set of dishes from my mom. Again, it didn't matter if everything matched. I thought it looked as beautiful as something out of Martha Stewart, even if it wasn't "perfect."

They rented wine glasses, but didn't go overboard being green. With a bunch of cousins under the age of 10 running around, there were plastic cups on hand for the little ones. Of course, those can be recycled!

Centerpieces

The centerpieces were white roses from my aunt's garden, as well as framed pictures from my grandmother's life. Family members brought the pictures they already had on hand, which meant we weren't printing new ones or buying new frames.

Flowers produced commercially can be extremely damaging to the environment. Use the ones you grow yourself, and you know exactly what chemicals were used -- plus, they haven't been refrigerated and transported over thousands of miles, saving energy costs.

Food and Family

We cooked the feast ourselves, and everyone had a great time. It was so fabulous to be together, and it was great knowing that the our celebration wasn't harming the Earth.

Entertaining doesn't have to be an excuse to increase consumption. Just a few simple steps, and a willingness to prioritize joy over perfection, can mean a celebration that everyone can enjoy without feeling any green guilt in the morning.

Sprout Watches

When I was visiting my mom last week, she had the cutest little sport watch. It looked great with everything she wore and has the kind of simple design that doesn't go out of style.

It turns out, the watch is even better - it's a Sprout Watch! Sprout Watches are made out of eco-friendly materials. My mom's was made out of corn

resin. That means that it will compost if she puts it in the compost bin. Cool.

Sprout also uses organic cotton, mercury-free batteries (no neurotoxins!) and other earth-happy products. The fancier watches even have diamonds and mother-of-pearl - but all conflict-free and never from endangered species.

Another added bonus - they are incredibly reasonably-priced. Many are in the $20-30 range.

It's always fun to find a new product (and a good-looking one) from earth-conscious companies.

2011 Learn Go Do - May Reflection

Have I ever mentioned that I'm prone to freak accidents? Well... I am. There was the whole Drill Bit Incident of 2007, the Bathroom-door-handle Shenanigans of 2009. Good times. Good times.

So, last night, I was watching So You Think You Can Dance while sitting cross-legged on the couch. I was also on the computer. I got up to put the computer away and as I stepped down I realized my foot was totally asleep. I mean totally. It was as if toes had ceased to exist. You can imagine what happened. My foot rolled weirdly to the side, I threw my weight weirdly backward to avoid dropping the computer, and then felt the worst pain I'd ever felt, along the side of my foot. Much worse than having a drill bit jammed in your toe, let me tell you. You know how doctors say: on a scale of 1-10, how much does it hurt? I realized that the worst I'd ever felt before was probably a 5.

So now I'm RICE-ing (Rest-Ice-Compression-Elevation-ing) like a champ, but the real bummer is that in the month of May, I'd worked out 5 days a week every week! I had been so psyched that I'd met my goal (included in my 2011 Learn Go Do list, an ongoing list of goals). Even on vacation, I hiked and beach walked and continued my exercising.

Luckily, I think my ankle is not sprained, just badly bruised. I'm going to monitor it and see if I can do some light walking on Saturday (and Mom, if you're reading this, don't worry. I will NOT over-exert myself).

Here's the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens, where my mom and I went hiking, pre-disaster.

And here's a really big pelican that Mom and I saw when we went walking on the beach.

As for the rest of my goals - well, I've been doing pretty well on my lace-knitting and sustainable-eating goals, because they are embedded in my daily habits. However, work has been killer lately, which means that almost everything else has gone by the wayside. Obviously, I haven't been blogging 3X a week, although I do have a lot to say! Look for more posts soon.

I do see the light at the end of the tunnel though. I'm looking forward to things slowing down a bit and doing some summertime re-direction of my life.