Gina Telaroli
December 31, 2008 | 9:24 am EST
While the demise of rock is perpetually predicted, it seems like downtown Manhattan is really running out of places to kick out the jams. Just as gentrification and rising rents tossed the infamous CBGB’s to the curb, The Knitting Factory has been forced to relocate to Brooklyn; bidding it’s raucous farewell on New Year’s Eve with Akron/Family, Deerhoof, and the Dirty Projectors. While I’m a big fan of Brooklyn, and happy that the historic rock venue has a new home (unlike CBGB’s), it saddens me to see further proof that Manhattan is losing it’s teeth, favoring souless homogeniety and luxury condos over passionate diversity and creative outlets.
The last time I was at the Knitting Factory I even pondered how the gritty club maintained amidst the shine of it’s newer neighbors. I would have loved to have been there for the final hurrah, which was surely a wild event given the bands. Here’s Joan Jett to remind us how to properly rock out:
via even*cleveland a beautiful video to welcome 2009.
even cooler - takepart to see how the made the video!
Eating less processed food is something I’m always working at and depending on my stress level and my schedule, sometimes I make decent progress. However, after finally watching the documentary King Corn last night and with the new year upon us, I think a more concentrated effort is needed!
Processed food more or less is food that needs to be put together, food that is man made. It is full of high fructose corn syrup, something that I and the rest of the TakePart team don’t like very much. Put simply, high fructose corn syrup is a man made sweetener made of corn that has no nutritional value and adds empty calories to everything that it is in. Processed foods also often contain hydrogenated oils, which like high fructose corn syrup, increase your chances of getting type II diabetes and often contribute to weight gain. Hydrogenated oils also increase your chances of heart disease.
With all of that (which I knew but hadn’t confronted in quite awhile) it seems that knocking out processed food is the only way to go this New Years. Plus I bet if more folks took this on as their New Years resolution, they would also be taking care of another resolution most folks have - to lose weight.
takepart to contact the President of the Corn Refiners Association and let them know that you are against High Fructose Corn Syrup
Audrae Erickson - President - Corn Refiners Association - 1701 Pennsylvania Ave., NW - Washington, DC 20006-5806 - pressinquiry@corn.org and then takepart by going to the Eat Well Guide to see where you can find local, sustainable, food.
And also give a look to the trailer for King Corn below:
Tis almost New Years Eve, which means that 1) people will be buying alcohol and 2) it will probably be cold out.
With that I give you an old Errol Morris commercial that has an idea that I think we should all take into the New Year.
via A Continuous Lean
Miller High Life — Alternative Fuels from Michael Williams on Vimeo.
How right he is! Read the rest of this entry »
And in the spirit of the New Year and Errol Morris, takepart and get involved with his latest film, Standard Operating Procedure and help stop torture. Also, go after the jump for one more snazzy idea from Errol Morris about winter.
After the Fourth of July this year, we discussed the impact fireworks had on the environment, and I thought it might be a good idea to revisit the topic in preparation for New Year’s Eve. Back in that post, we highlighted the fact that fireworks are pretty much awful for the environment, so now, why don’t we see what some people are doing to try and clean up this mess?
The San Francisco Chronicle wrote an article a few months back in which the issue of green (not literally) fireworks was discussed. The most important thing to note, I think, is that none other than the United States military is looking for cleaner fireworks, and their money should be able to drive some pretty good research.
However, no less patriotic an institution than the U.S. military is seeking more eco-friendly pyrotechnics. The same environmental concerns are common to both fireworks and military equipment such as signaling flares and airborne weapons. Defense agencies are financing research by scientists, including…explosives experts at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Among the concerns is the cumulative contamination of military testing grounds and training sites.
As we noted in our original post, Disney has worked to make their fireworks shows much greener, some of that stemming from environmental concerns, and some from simply needing quieter and less smoky fireworks (Disneyland, after all, is in Anaheim, right there in Orange County). But it appears that an industry around more environmental fireworks won’t evolve unless regulations are tightened.
Read the rest of this entry »
No one can accuse the Times Square Alliance of dropping the ball on energy efficiency; when the clock strikes midnight tonight, a brand-new New Year’s Eve ball will light up Times Square and give the world a dazzling display of kaleidoscopic, cutting-edge LED technology. A hundred years ago, the first-ever Times Square New Year’s Eve ball—a 5-foot-diameter iron and wood contraption lit with 100 25W light bulbs—was dropped down a flagpole. The ball has been upgraded five times since then, most recently in 1999, when a Waterford crystal ball was created to commemorate the millennium.Tonight, we’re getting a New Year’s Eve ball that’s truly suited to this energy-challenged century; it’s still made of Waterford crystal, but the halogen lights have been replaced by LEDs that are twice as bright but use only a fraction as much energ–equivalent to 10 toasters, according to the AP. What’s next, solar panels on the White House roof? Oh, wait! Jimmy Carter already tried that, like, thirty years ago. Too bad Ronald Reagan took ‘em down. Talk about a dim bulb.
Read the rest of this entry »
Two years ago I had one of the best New Year’s Eves I can remember. My dreary boyfriend at the time, and two friends of mine went to Prospect Park in Brooklyn and rang in the New Year with a 5k race at 11pm, followed by fireworks and hot chocolate in the park when the clock struck midnight. At the exact moment when everyone yelled “Happy New Year!” my boyfriend was nowhere to be found. I was alone, starring up at the exploding lights in the sky with a cup of steaming hot cocoa in my hand, feeling healthy, sober, and happy.
