Of course, it is mucho important to support your local scene in day to day life, for many reasons. But sometimes, like when we are really busy / intoxicated / getting married, it becomes easy to forget this.

LPK’s Culinary Groove makes it a delight to spread the love on a grand scale, no matter how lazy (or drunk) we may be. When it comes to wedding cakes, LPK provides a variety of bad ass, eco-friendly customary creations to suit laid back souls and bridezillas alike.

This quaint bakery prides itself on being Toronto’s “first organic pastry and chocolate shop”. Using fair trade, organic ingredients, LPK is conscious of keeping a minimal carbon footprint - the store is run on Bullfrog power, using LED lighting and gas powered convection ovens. LPK also accommodates vegan, gluten free, and kosher diets, so your wedding cake can be heart healthier, AND earth savvier. Their vegan products incorporate super delicious, fresh ingredients, so not even the most discerning soul will be able to tell the difference.

All this and they make a mean date square - something I really appreciate in a bakery. Yeah, you heard me.

Palm-Ella loves seals.

And so do I.

Peta does too. So much that they throw pies at things to save them. (How they reckon this will save said seals is a mystery, but apparently such behavior has merit.) Peta has a lot of money, fame and support, but continuously relies on publicity stunts to achieve their goals, which are centered mostly on animal rights. Human rights, however, are apparently completely disregarded in their attempts to banish animal cruelty, as made clear in the ongoing controversy around PETA’s campaigns.

A 37 year old member of PETA was charged with assault after she shoved a pie into the fact of fisheries and oceans minister Gail Shea in Burlington in January. As Shea began her speech at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters in Burlington, the PETA member came up to the podium and clobbered her with a tofu cream pie.

In the past, PETA has effectively covered Lindsay Lohan for wearing a fur coat in Paris, written a formal letter to Ben and Jerry’s asking them to switch to breast milk to make their ice cream, asked the Pet Shop Boys to change their name, and a myriad of other ludicrous measures. These things are stupid, not radical, and won’t do shit.

In art theory, to be radical involves a harkening back to that which we cannot return – the past – as well as importing techniques from across genres, like taking something from dance and incorporating it into film. If we simply keep doing brand new things and consider it shocking, we simply get louder and louder. And that won’t prove anything.

What needs to replace eco terrorism is eco creativity. Besides, maybe someone should first feed Lindsay Lohan some flour before anything else, so she’ll have some meat on her bones and won’t need a fur coat to stay warm. Get to the root of the problem, I say ! Think about people first ! We’re smarter than animals, right?

PETA executive vice-president Tracy Reiman said the pie in the face wasn’t as bad as the blood on Gails hands. PETA reckons it is time Canada banned the seal hunt, that the commercial fishing industry is environmentally destructive – and lots of Canadians agree with them, including myself. Yet, this doesn’t mean I’m going to waste a good pie on some woman named Gail.

First Nations people hunted seals 4000 years ago and valued every part of the creature – the pelt, the meat, the ceremonial aspect of the kill, it’s symbolic meaning in a young dudes life. Now, you can get a seal pelt for 14 dollars and kill one by raking its eyes out without even leaving your boat - not exactly the ritual the First Nations had in mind. We’re killing increasingly more and more seals year after year, too, and loving every bloody minute of it?

This is where Gail comes in. A former provincial cabinet minister, she has stated that her department, the fisheries department is not a department that will have many ribbon-cutting ceremonies. I sense a lament for the not quite glamorous role she has in the seal hunt, unlike Palm (above).

And it sho' is bloody. Long poles with metal hooks are the weapon of choice from what I gather, they are hauled on board the boats and then beaten to a pulp. There is pretty much no way to convince someone this isn’t a ridiculously inhumane practice. (Vladimir Putin said so himself. And I don’t think he would fuck around. Russia banned the slaughter of Harp seals under a year old) However it’s still legal under Canada's Marine Mammal Regulations. The Canadian government has ignored the crazy amounts of criticism and under the amended Marine Mammal Regulations, the practice will continue.

In 1987, Canada was compassionate enough to halt the slaughter of “white coats” (young specimens who aren’t coloured yet) but seals lose their white fur around 2 weeks of age, so this means most are shot before their third month of life (they can’t even swim yet and they have to try and get away from the hunters. )
During Canada’s annual commercial hunt, as many as 300 000 seals are shot or bludgeoned.

And to be sure, the costs of the seal hunt outweigh the economic benefit. After all, this shit is subsidized by our tax dollars. My precious rivets ! I’m a vegetarian I didn’t agree to this shit ! If we ended the hunt, Canada would have a minimum of $6.9 million doll-hairs every year ! That means we could all be walking around with canes and grills and fake fur ! But Gail seems pretty adamant that the economic benefits are as lucrative as a money tree. Guess what, Gail. Seals don’t grow on trees anymore.

Regardless, she is pretty proud that Canada is a world leader in the seal hunt. The government website says this. Are we meant to feel proud of this factoid? Minister Shea (always referred to as “honourable minister” on the site) assures us that Fishery’s officers will be closely monitoring the hunt this year to make sure of compliance with regulations. (So if they’re not around, the hunters will go crazy and start killing everything in sight?) The fisheries department website states:

“Our government will continue to defend the rights of Canadian sealers to provide a livelihood for their families through our lawful, sustainable and humane hunt, said Shea. We are extremely disappointed that the European Parliament has called for a disruption of the trade of seal products and our position remains that any ban on a humanely conducted hunt, such as Canada’s, is completely without merit. We will continue to explore all legal and diplomatic options and Canadians can be assured that we will exercise our rights to their fullest extent under international trade laws if and when it becomes necessary and appropriate."

For one, I’m pretty sure a humanely conducted hunt is an oxymoron.

For two, I disagree that not clubbin seals has no merit.

And is it really so diplomatic, sensitive and tactful to rip baby seals to shreds for money (using vegetarians tax dollars?)

The whole thing is pretty disgraceful, but you have to be pretty wack to pie a middle aged woman making a speech in front of hundreds of people.

But I guess Lindsay has to get those coats somewhere, right? And who am I to tell her she can’t have whatever she wants? Her dad was like, a real clown. She can have all the fur she wants.

"Why pop a viagra when veggies will help you rise to the occasion?"

Rachel McAWESOME

Ok so I thought her role in Sherlock Holmes was relatively anticlimactic, (I would have sprung for Maggie Gylenhall or Niaomi Watts, personally) but Rachel McAdams is still a top notch honey with shit on lock.

I say this because aside from being a stone fox and a good actor (in a world of questionable ones), she runs a website called greenissexy.org. (One of these days I will understand how to blog properly and you can click right on that shit and be taken there instantaneously.) At any rate, her website has a bunch of tips on how to greenify your life, complete with clever antecdotes and witty headings.

They have a "small change = big impact" mantra, which underlies their numerous daily tips to lessen your carbon footprint, one of my favourites being a template to write letters to your most hated corporations. (They say it themselves - if we like something, we’ll tell 3people, but if we hate it, we’ll tell 12. True that)

Its also just a really pretty website. Damn I love a woman who is not just a pretty face.

LED lighting uses up to 90% less energy than conventional lighting and has the advantage of allowing a nearly infinite colour range.

They also contain no mercury or filament, making each light more durable, easier to handle, and a longer lasting. Performances lit on 5 kilowatts (about 5 spotlights) arranged in the “right way” can do wonders, and shows that it’s possible to have effective lighting and still reduce consumption.

LED lights are gaining in prominence across the globe – 8,000 Starbucks across the U.S. have switched over, and Radiohead’s last tour was lit by these energy saving specimens.

Either way, I still loathe starbucks and feel like slashing my wrists when I listen to Radiohead.

This is not to say I don't participate in supporting both these enterprises regularly. However I probably wouldn't let Thom Yorke have unprotected sex with my sister regadless of how meritous his environmental positions are.

And if Starbucks thinks they are going to get all friendly neighborhood joint on all of us, they are fucking mistaken. This is precisely what Snapple tried to do and now look at it. Union square was flooded with the sticky goo of their enormous popsicle, costing their PR people at least a testicle on the black market, making make perfect asses of themselves.

This has nothing to do with environmentalism I just think Snapple and Starbucks are pretty much on the same page and serve to show us that before we know it we're going to be eating dead people in wafer format in all primary colours. I don't want to be around for that shit unless I'm rolling on soy vanilla lattes and sugar high on the great popsicle of life.

The first button I have ever made ... what a fucking masterpeice !

Whoever said arts students were doomed to failure ??

Not me, bitches !

And neither did Ben Todd, the creative director of the Arcola Theatre.

Opened on credit cards in a reformed factory building in east London, the Arcola Theatre is an inspiration for students wishing to change the world via the arts. Commitment drove it all the way from the first production lit by candles, to generating its own sustainable energy onsite. The Arcola theatre thrives today because it stuck to its core values – integrating several strands of specialization to lead the way toward change in arts organizations.

What is so special about the Arcola theatre is that it marries art, engineering, community and sustainability. Ben Todd, the executive director of the theatre, spent 10 years as an engineer before he decided to commit to the arts five years ago. When he joined the Arcola Theatre, he joined a mission to shift the culture in London toward a more sustainable one.

If art is the means by which cultural change can be brought about, then it must encompass more than simply its performance aspect. Todd points out the fact that the artists he knows are more one trick pony’s. He believes that artists, unlike any other specialist, are a select group who can take an idea and make it a reality in a matter of months. However, in order to maximize the power of invention, artists need to extract from their other faculties. Da Vinci for example, a Renaissance man in his many abilities, was an architect, a poet, an engineer, an anatomist, a musician. His influence on the world is unparalleled, and remains impressive to this day because he was able to harmonize his artistic abilities with other passions.

If artists don’t see the need to restrain themselves and their consumption habits, they fail to see a priceless creative challenge - one that would look great on a CV, make an organization more interesting, more marketable, and more prolonged. Of course, it is also increasingly necessary. While the carbon footprint of a theatre is negligible compared to that of a hotel, (theatres representing 2% of London’s total carbon emissions) they have to get involved with the cultural players if they wish to shift the culture.

The Arcola’s emphasis on community work makes it a vital facet in the district of Dalston. The area in east London is becoming progressively more and more gentrified, adding more affluent inhabitants to its arts oriented environment. The theatre acts as a mediator between the newcomers, who like to come to the theatre and drink organic beer, and the remaining original population who share the edge that the theatre had maintained since before property prices swelled. Taking pride in its status as a welcoming place, the theatre boasts a variety of groups for different crowds, including 50+ groups, Turkish & Kurdish groups, youth and writers groups.

Green Sundays are one of the many examples of local projects the theatre has organized. The monthly open house welcomes ecologically interested supporters of the theatre to share their ideas on environmental issues. This is done through film screenings, poetry readings and discussion, and also includes a “swap shop” for books and clothing, drum circles and DIY workshops (past topics have included cake decorating and home-made toiletries). Green Sundays show that environmental issues don’t have to be uninteresting; instead they aim to get people involved in their community and invoke the questions that will lead to a hopeful future.

I reckon this is something you could do with an arts degree. I know everyone wants a sweet job and creative stuff like this doesnt come along so often. But elbow grease (and a few proper blowjobs) are certainly not to be underestimated. I look at all my friends in Arts and Contemporary studies and I'm amazed at how inspirational(and attractive) everyone is. I'd say we all have something to offer the world. If worst comes to worst, I'd have no qualms with scrubbing toilets at this magnificent establishment.
I cannot guarentee, however, that I wouldnt be drunk while this was happening, nor can I guarentee that I wouldnt throw the scrubber directly at my managers face on occasion. For some reason I picture myself in this career with lots of colourful chest tattoos and cornrows.

OK I take it back, I wouldnt scrub toilets at the Arcola theatre.
But the point is, I applaud the soul who does.

Fuck you, artificial intellegence.

During our narrative in a digital age class, our proffessor brought up the digi-book. Macey was like "I saw a poindexter on the subway reading one of those"

This is notable because:

a) I have a strange fixation with the term 'poindexter' and all it stands for.
b) This blog is a testament to narrative in a digital age, obv.
c) I loathe digi-books.

Print will never die. I know this sounds like a niave stance, but I really believe those lame ass digi-books are like the 8 track of the print world. They will crash and burn and I will stomp on their firey grave and damn them to hell.

Chances are, this adorable little creature wants to kill you. For a lot of reasons.

Most notably, for the frivolous earthy habits that are destroying his comfy home in the Arctic.

Sure, I mean life is all well and good when you're hanging in a basket in the German Zoo and all, but this little guy's brederens in Alaska are probably pissed.

In 2005, scientists found evidence for the first time that polar bears were drowning due to the recession of the Arctic ice shelf. This, of course, is a symptom of global warming. Four carcasses, just like our friend (above) were found floating in one area off the north coast of Alaska.

Polar bears rely on ice year round as a platform on which to raise their young and hunt food. They typically eat one seal every 4 or 5 days.These mother fuckers can consume up to 100 pounds of blubber in one sitting. Wowza ! (and you thought your all you can eat sushi skills were impressive ...) As the ice retreats naturally in the summer, the bears travel between ice floes to continue hunting in areas such as the shallow water of the continential shelf off the Alaskan coast, where there are lots of seals.

In 2005, the ice cap receded about 200 miles further than usual, forcing the bears to undertake way longer voyages. Short swims are a peice of cake for these large furry masters of travel. But one or two of them might have to swim up to 100 miles, (thanks to the fact that my father can't seem to live without an SUV.)

So people say Al Gore lied about this shit ... which I disagree with. Ale Gore is the man and I refuse to believe he would fuck around like that. (Did you see the part in "An Inconvinient Truth" where he is pensively staring out at Goerge Bushes screaming fans with a look on his face like - "you silly mother fuckers, you just made the mistake of your lives and now I'm going to play hard to get FOREVER" ) Arctic ice shelves are melting due to global warming and they won't be back, because they contain unique ecosystems that took a really long time to form.

....(Someone has to tell this little guy to deal with it.)

The Body Shop was founded in 1976 in Brighton, England by an Italian immigrant with a simple desire to save the whales. (I know, I know ... isn't that what everyone who opens up an enormous bath product company really wants?)

Thirty four years later, The Body shop is a multi-national business with some 2,500 stores in over 61 different countries. Anita Roddick, the woman behind the production, began selling skin care products in the interest of supporting her two daughters while her husband was absent, travelling. What started off as a small organization in between two funeral homes in England launched into a major corporation advocating for sustainability, women’s self esteem and human rights.

In the early days, Roddick started recycling simply because she didn’t have enough containers for her products. Eventually, the Body Shop would turn its resourceful values into a partnership with Greenpeace in 1986. After this, Roddick began to launch other promotions tied to various social causes, obviously attracting public attention to her products. For her, “campaigning and good business is also about putting forward solutions, not just opposing destructive practices or human rights abuses”.

Roddick has been referred to as “one of the country’s true pioneers”, campaigning not only for green issues, but also women’s self esteem. A 1997 advertising campaign utilized the familiar image of Barbie to make a statement that would earn them a lawsuit for copyright infringement from Mattel. A mascot for The Body Shop was created in the form of a doll in Barbie’s likeness, except for the fact that she was a size 16 and had red hair. The slogan for the ads in which she was depicted read “There are 3 billion women who don’t look like supermodels and only 8 who do”. Her name was Ruby, and she caused the Body Shop to be forced to rethink their ad campaigns. I always thought she was pretty cute.

Anyone who has visited the Body Shop’s website will be aware of their pride in a small ecological footprint. The company states an aim to reduce waste by 9 million bottles per year. All the packaging used is made with 30% recycled plastics, and a greater percentage is currently in the works. The ingredients used are a significant part of their sustainably approach to business. Their popular hemp line in particular demonstrates an effective use of this environmentally friendly crop. Hemp requires little fertilizer and no pesticides in its cultivation, due to few natural predators. The Body Shop makes note that hemp is one of the most environmentally friendly crops they have found yet.

Unlike palm oil, which entails incredibly destructive cultivation process. 90% of the palm oil we use is located in Malaysia and Indonesia, which is bad news for the wildlife that also resides there. The Body Shop was one of the first retailers to join the RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil), which promotes the growth and use of more sustainably cultivated palm oil. On top of all this, the Body Shop has never tested their products on animals.

While the company boasts a range of efforts pertaining to sustainability, their website leaves a lot to be desired. The ingredients are said to be “inspired by nature” – (a term almost as vague as “all natural”), and their corporate offices claim to be “energy efficient”, as well as some of their new stores. (What about the old ones?) They state a goal, on their website, to be carbon neutral retailer by 2010 ... this is now. I wonder if this has been achieved?

At least the Body Shop is making a genuine effort, which is more than can be said for most other corporations of its size. The woman behind all this is pretty inspirational any way you cut it. She is actually said to have single handedly shaped ethical consumerism. Her strong sense of values pertaining to human and animal rights and sustainability is one to be admired. I can get behind any organization that makes sure its personal massagers are certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council. Talk about self gratification you can truly feel good about.

The holidays were full of alcohol and I drank a lot of it.

I nearly died in Brantford, several times I’m sure.

I have ended 2009 on a ludicrously unhealthy note. Actually, just a ludicrous note. Fun times were to be had, but the fun times kicked my ass.

Hence, my desire to be confined in my apartment and read modest Victorian literature until I fall asleep on my couch at 10 o’clock.

The truth is, I’m kind of jealous of Jane Eyre. Her and her simple and complacent, bonnet filled life in a convent with a husband she has never had sex with (I’m on page 277 of the total 420 and they still haven’t boned. NOTHING interesting happens in this book). But I think I might be better off leading such a life:

Jane Eyre never wakes up in a cold sweat frantically wondering that the fuck happened last night, no one ever texts her alluding to some pent up unexplained anger resulting from something obscene and offensive she did when she was super drunk, and I’m pretty certain she never has to worry about vommiting in dishwashers.

Life is just so swell for those God fearing women of 19th century literature.
In reality of course, life is absurd and embarrassing. It is messy. I don't really believe in reservations, and I don't want to apologize for that.

So this year, 2010, I am resolving to:

- wash my hands more
- floss more
- stop being so fucking cynical
- definitely drink more alcohol
- finish Jane Eyre sometime this year, that literary fucking masterpiece
- figure out what I want out of this life
- become an overnight celebrity
- buy more plants
- eat more pancakes
- vomit in more dishwashers.

I think number 4 might be the biggest challenge.

New Years Day discovery: I'm awesome at critically assessing things.