5.21.2011
[Art] The Northern Ballet - Cleopatra [Review]
As part of my goals for this month, I decided to do something new in London every weekend. Last night, I saw Cleopatra at the Sadler's Wells Theater. The Sadler's Wells theater happens to be literally across the street from me and it is a shame that I have just taken advantage of that :-/
But enough of the Debbie Downer-ness because Cleopatra, directed by David Nixon OBE, was effing amazing. In fact, I don't even know where to start with my thoughts. Obviously, the dancers were some of the best I have ever seen. But I wouldn't really expect anything less, especially from the lead. And of course, because I am a fashion fiend, the costumes had to go through an extremely skeptical and thorough evaluation. The verdict: the pared-down Monique Lhuillier royal costume with the glorious white chiffon and beaded bodice had me at first glance. And the summer look with the teal shorts made me wishing that it came in a ready-to-wear bikini style. (I freely admit I sound on the brink of idiocy right now, but you know you love it, so shush.)
Onto the music, which was specially composed by Claude-Michel Schönberg (Miss Saigon, Les Misérables) and played live by the Northern Ballet Sinfonia, was a little up and down for me. However, I really enjoyed the heavy, active beats of the scenes with the Roman soldiers as well as the scene with the Senate members and the doomed Julius Caesar. The slower, melancholy pieces seemed to drag out a little, although all in all, the music seemed a perfect fit for the story line, alternating between upbeat tempos of passion and violence, with the slower, introspective breaks.
The set and lighting impressed me to no end. I loved the interplay of shadows and minimalist set pieces. Every moment framed the bodies of the dancers in lit frames and silhouettes. The most stunning was the blindingly white ending scene, which just now reminded me of Black Swan's ending scene. The stark, harsh scene abruptly brought Cleopatra to a close in a beautiful way.
I also have to say that the ballet was a perfect length and didn't drag on, which sometimes happens to me. And the theater is world-famous for a reason with space for mingling, multiple bars on multiple levels, and of course, a plethora of places to chill at after, such as Exmouth Market and our favorite pub, The Harlequin. Ending the week with a pint and cheeseboard after an amazing ballet? Priceless.
5.20.2011
[Friday Link Round Up] Bon Iver, Bleubird Lunches, Babies and Lingerie
1. Review of Bon Iver's new album. It doesn't really matter because I'd love anything Justin Vernon did anyway, but at least we're keeping up with pop culture :-) plus there is a sneak peek at another song on the album...
2. Miss James from Bleubird Vintage is starting a feature on her children's lunches.... I should do a grown-up kind for when I start law school.
3. Do you hear that sound? ... It's the sound of my biological clock ticking after this freakin' adorbz post by Naomi from Rockstar Diaries - how cute are these babies?
4. Check out this gorgeous lingerie form ZInke... Now I just need someone to model it for lol
2. Miss James from Bleubird Vintage is starting a feature on her children's lunches.... I should do a grown-up kind for when I start law school.
3. Do you hear that sound? ... It's the sound of my biological clock ticking after this freakin' adorbz post by Naomi from Rockstar Diaries - how cute are these babies?
4. Check out this gorgeous lingerie form ZInke... Now I just need someone to model it for lol
5.19.2011
[Green Thursdays] Two Fascinating Blogs from the NYT Green Blog
Thought-provoking snippets on global food crises and the climate issues in the US.
MAY 13, 2011, 8:02 AM
One-Third of World’s Food Wasted, Report Says
By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF
ReutersA vendor in Khartoum, Sudan, where a surge in food prices has led to hardships.
The world may be on the brink of another food crisis, but it isn’t from a lack of food.
Fully one-third of all food produced globally — a staggering 1.3 billion tons — is lost or wasted every year, a new study released on Wednesday by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization finds.
The report determined that overall food loss was divided about equally between the industrialized and developing world, although waste in rich countries was far higher on a per capita level.
In industrialized countries, food losses were most often caused by retailers and consumers who threw “perfectly edible foodstuffs” into the trash, the agency said in a statement. By contrast, losses in the developing world were driven primarily by poor infrastructure and low levels of technology in harvesting, processing and distribution.
Limiting such losses in the developing world could have an “immediate and significant” impact on food security, the study’s authors concluded.
The report comes at a time of heightened concern over global food prices, which are at or above levels not seen since the 2008 food crisis, when the soaring cost of basic commodities set off riots across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
In the last year, oil prices over $100 a barrel and crop losses due to extreme weather have driven a benchmark U.N. food price index to record highs, and have sent more than 40 million people into poverty, the World Bank said recently.
A further 10 percent climb in the index would represent another 10 million people in poverty, the agency said.
Food riots across North Africa this year are also thought to have helped set off the revolutions that overthrew governments in Egypt and Tunisia.
The F.A.O. report, which was produced by the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology, found opportunities to reduce food waste in the developing world all along the chain of production. Improved harvest techniques, farmer education and better storage and cooling facilities could all make a substantial difference, it concluded.
Nevertheless, the researchers found that little effort was being made to study the problem or develop solutions.
“Further research in the area is urgent, especially considering that food security is a major concern in large parts of the developing world,” they wrote.
MAY 18, 2011, 9:00 AM
You’ve Got to Start Somewhere: A Climate Prescription
By JOHN M. BRODER
Associated PressThe W.A. Parish power plant in Thompsons, Tex., which has coal- and gas-fired units.
Hoping to find a way around the current political impasse on climate change and energy policy, a former top adviser to President Obama has devised a policy proposal to drive down greenhouse gas emissions from the utility industry over the next 20 years.
The plan, “Promoting Clean Energy in the American Power Sector,” borrows from a range of policy proposals, including President Obama’s latest clean energy policy, the cap and trade plan that foundered in Congress last year, and state-level clean electricity mandates. The proposal sets goals based on emissions intensity — the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of electricity generated — an idea pursued both by the Chinese government and by former President George W. Bush.
The plan’s author, Joseph Aldy, a professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and a former White House staff member on energy and economic issues, said that his proposal could help untie the political knot that has doomed all previous attempts at a comprehensive energy and climate policy.
It would give utilities incentives for converting to cleaner forms of electricity without top-down mandates from the federal government or penalties for failure to comply.
It would require Congressional action and would take the place of Environmental Protection Agency regulation of power plant emissions, a program that has generated intense opposition from Republicans in Congress, utility companies and manufacturers. It would also pre-empt the clean energy mandates adopted by 29 states and the District of Columbia.
Mr. Aldy is presenting his plan, drawn up under the auspices of the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution, at a symposium in Washington on Wednesday.
The proposal would set progressively stricter standards for clean electricity, eventually reaching 0.2 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per megawatt hour by 2035. (The current emissions intensity is nearly three times as high.) Companies that exceed their targets would be allowed to bank their credits or trade them to utilities having trouble meeting their goals.
As a last resort, high-emissions operators would be able to buy credits from the federal government, with the proceeds used to finance clean energy research or pay down the deficit.
“These goals are stretch goals,” Mr. Aldy said. “We would actually need innovation in clean energy technology to bring down the cost to reach them.”
He said that his hybrid proposal provided neither the absolute certainty about emissions reductions of a cap and trade program nor the price certainty of a carbon tax.
“We’ve been trying to get the perfect system for too long,” Mr. Aldy said. “We’ve got to get the ball rolling in the right direction.
“This is clearly not sufficient to deal with the problem of climate change in the long term, and it just focuses on one sector,” he said. “But it allows us to start sending the right signals for investment and innovation in the power sector and provides a stepping stone to a more comprehensive approach down the road.”
MAY 13, 2011, 8:02 AM
One-Third of World’s Food Wasted, Report Says
By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF
ReutersA vendor in Khartoum, Sudan, where a surge in food prices has led to hardships.
The world may be on the brink of another food crisis, but it isn’t from a lack of food.
Fully one-third of all food produced globally — a staggering 1.3 billion tons — is lost or wasted every year, a new study released on Wednesday by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization finds.
The report determined that overall food loss was divided about equally between the industrialized and developing world, although waste in rich countries was far higher on a per capita level.
In industrialized countries, food losses were most often caused by retailers and consumers who threw “perfectly edible foodstuffs” into the trash, the agency said in a statement. By contrast, losses in the developing world were driven primarily by poor infrastructure and low levels of technology in harvesting, processing and distribution.
Limiting such losses in the developing world could have an “immediate and significant” impact on food security, the study’s authors concluded.
The report comes at a time of heightened concern over global food prices, which are at or above levels not seen since the 2008 food crisis, when the soaring cost of basic commodities set off riots across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
In the last year, oil prices over $100 a barrel and crop losses due to extreme weather have driven a benchmark U.N. food price index to record highs, and have sent more than 40 million people into poverty, the World Bank said recently.
A further 10 percent climb in the index would represent another 10 million people in poverty, the agency said.
Food riots across North Africa this year are also thought to have helped set off the revolutions that overthrew governments in Egypt and Tunisia.
The F.A.O. report, which was produced by the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology, found opportunities to reduce food waste in the developing world all along the chain of production. Improved harvest techniques, farmer education and better storage and cooling facilities could all make a substantial difference, it concluded.
Nevertheless, the researchers found that little effort was being made to study the problem or develop solutions.
“Further research in the area is urgent, especially considering that food security is a major concern in large parts of the developing world,” they wrote.
MAY 18, 2011, 9:00 AM
You’ve Got to Start Somewhere: A Climate Prescription
By JOHN M. BRODER
Associated PressThe W.A. Parish power plant in Thompsons, Tex., which has coal- and gas-fired units.
Hoping to find a way around the current political impasse on climate change and energy policy, a former top adviser to President Obama has devised a policy proposal to drive down greenhouse gas emissions from the utility industry over the next 20 years.
The plan, “Promoting Clean Energy in the American Power Sector,” borrows from a range of policy proposals, including President Obama’s latest clean energy policy, the cap and trade plan that foundered in Congress last year, and state-level clean electricity mandates. The proposal sets goals based on emissions intensity — the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of electricity generated — an idea pursued both by the Chinese government and by former President George W. Bush.
The plan’s author, Joseph Aldy, a professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and a former White House staff member on energy and economic issues, said that his proposal could help untie the political knot that has doomed all previous attempts at a comprehensive energy and climate policy.
It would give utilities incentives for converting to cleaner forms of electricity without top-down mandates from the federal government or penalties for failure to comply.
It would require Congressional action and would take the place of Environmental Protection Agency regulation of power plant emissions, a program that has generated intense opposition from Republicans in Congress, utility companies and manufacturers. It would also pre-empt the clean energy mandates adopted by 29 states and the District of Columbia.
Mr. Aldy is presenting his plan, drawn up under the auspices of the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution, at a symposium in Washington on Wednesday.
The proposal would set progressively stricter standards for clean electricity, eventually reaching 0.2 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per megawatt hour by 2035. (The current emissions intensity is nearly three times as high.) Companies that exceed their targets would be allowed to bank their credits or trade them to utilities having trouble meeting their goals.
As a last resort, high-emissions operators would be able to buy credits from the federal government, with the proceeds used to finance clean energy research or pay down the deficit.
“These goals are stretch goals,” Mr. Aldy said. “We would actually need innovation in clean energy technology to bring down the cost to reach them.”
He said that his hybrid proposal provided neither the absolute certainty about emissions reductions of a cap and trade program nor the price certainty of a carbon tax.
“We’ve been trying to get the perfect system for too long,” Mr. Aldy said. “We’ve got to get the ball rolling in the right direction.
“This is clearly not sufficient to deal with the problem of climate change in the long term, and it just focuses on one sector,” he said. “But it allows us to start sending the right signals for investment and innovation in the power sector and provides a stepping stone to a more comprehensive approach down the road.”
5.18.2011
[Food + Drink Wednesday] Mini Southern Desserts
As part of my month-long goal to teach myself the art of Southern baking (from Southern Living, Paula Deen (but lighter), Nathalie Dupree, and my own dearest mother), I am embarking on a quest to make tiny southern delicacies. Here is my go-to inspiration board. Now to tweak a few things and share the wealth soon...
Clockwise from top left: Mini Cobblers, Homemade Crust Pecan Pies, Banana Pudding Shots, Cream Cheese Crust Pecan Pies, Pecan Pie a la Mode, Berry Tart, More Pecan Pie, Mini Banana Cream Pies, Pralines
5.17.2011
[Get Involved Tuesdays] Porn and Community Events? Just another day in SF.
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Goals for June - Amber
Yo yo yo,
So as you already know, Carrie and I have been feeling a little unfocused, a little unmotivated, a little un-everything. I think that I am in a slump mainly due to constantly studying but not really accomplishing anything. The best word to describe me right now is agh. So I'm really digging this goal thing. In fact, I'm like it so much, I'm currently making a list of 24 before 24 and 30 before 30. But one step at a time! So here are my two goals for this month:
1. Do something new every weekend in London. I only have six weeks left and I need to make the most of it and of course, break up my mundane life of studying. This weekend, I am finally getting around to seeing a show at the Sadler Wells theater, which is world famous and across the street from my apartment. Yay! I haven't figured out the other three weekends, but I think one will be exploring the South Bank, since I haven't done much of that since I've been here.
2. Make sure I do a daily blog post on my personal blog and ensure we have a daily blog post for BohoBeat. Blogging is a stress reliever and a creative outlet for me, so I shouldn't lose sight of that in the midst of all my reading.
(Also on a side note, I want to maintain my healthy exercise routine, but setting that goal is like saying I have a goal to finish my finals. It has to happen so it will and there is no point in making a goal for it :-) )
Do you have any goals for the next four weeks?
xoxo
So as you already know, Carrie and I have been feeling a little unfocused, a little unmotivated, a little un-everything. I think that I am in a slump mainly due to constantly studying but not really accomplishing anything. The best word to describe me right now is agh. So I'm really digging this goal thing. In fact, I'm like it so much, I'm currently making a list of 24 before 24 and 30 before 30. But one step at a time! So here are my two goals for this month:
1. Do something new every weekend in London. I only have six weeks left and I need to make the most of it and of course, break up my mundane life of studying. This weekend, I am finally getting around to seeing a show at the Sadler Wells theater, which is world famous and across the street from my apartment. Yay! I haven't figured out the other three weekends, but I think one will be exploring the South Bank, since I haven't done much of that since I've been here.
2. Make sure I do a daily blog post on my personal blog and ensure we have a daily blog post for BohoBeat. Blogging is a stress reliever and a creative outlet for me, so I shouldn't lose sight of that in the midst of all my reading.
(Also on a side note, I want to maintain my healthy exercise routine, but setting that goal is like saying I have a goal to finish my finals. It has to happen so it will and there is no point in making a goal for it :-) )
Do you have any goals for the next four weeks?
xoxo
5.16.2011
Goals for June
Those are words to live by. Today, both Amber Lee and I were in the midst of life crises, which we shared via the Internet from our respective workspaces across the world from one another. Instead of merely whining, we decided to set one concrete goal each. We must achieve these goals by June 16, exactly one month from today. Mine is to practice making my favorite southern desserts so much that, by the end of the month, I have a signature dessert that I will submit to the taste-testing at the Underground Farmer's Market. Amber Lee's got about a million of her own goals to whittle down to one.
There are raindrops tapping on my window, and I look forward to doing more of what makes me happy tomorrow. For tonight, I am doing my research and eating cookie dough ice cream under two down comforters. Life is good, even in its simplicity.
Image via Chris Pino.
[Music Monday] Bon Iver - Calgary
I mean, not that Bon Iver could do any wrong, but I'm loving this shiz.
5.15.2011
Bay to Breakers 2011
We apologize (yet again?) for the non-posting. Amber's working on finishing up her master's program in London - she's such a smarty pants - and I really have no excuse other than the fact that I've been preparing for ridiculous events like Bay to Breakers.
Bay to Breakers is one of San Francisco's premiere party weekends, and it's truly worth all the hype. My friend Marie (who raises the chickens among other things) and I went as Minnie Mice. You can pretty much dress up as whatever. So it's Halloween x 10,000, and it all starts at 7 am. Welcome back to college, Carrie. You did not do party hard enough the first time. No, but seriously, I didn't.
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| Marie and I in our costumes |
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| These dudes went as bacon. They forgot that chicken nuggets are the new bacon in SF. Bacon is so last year. |
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| Some people actually run the race too. This is a view down Fell. |
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| The view from a house party we stopped in at in Hayes Valley |
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| A legit DJ |
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| That Sesame Street sign is part of someone's costume. |
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| People do this a lot. It is just downright vile. Vile, I say! |
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| The view from a rooftop party on Divisadero just before you hit the Panhandle. Legit. |
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