Like Bradgelina

photo scanned by www.pittcenter.com

As reported widely, it was Brad Pitt himself who suggested that W magazine shoot a photo essay starring him and Angelina Jolie playing husband and wife. Brad didn't let those nasty rumors--which he and Angie have been denying--get in the way of 60 pages of photos.

Well, I have an idea. This is an open letter to any glossy. Despite the rumors that Owen Wilson and I are an item--which we both continue to vehemently deny--I volunteer to pose with Owen for the same type of 60-page photo spread. Let the rumors fall where they may. We're really not a couple! Honest!

My Drawing of TV's Dan Abrams

MSNBC's Dan Abrams

I drew this of Dan Abrams when he covered the OJ trial.
Now I'm watching him covering the Michael Jackson trial.
I'm watching Michael's fans release doves outside the
courthouse as the not guilty verdicts are announced.
This is great news! Justice!!!

I've Got to Make Some Edible [Raw Food] Books!

Peter's Book of Lasagna
Photo by Paul Heydenburg


Take a look at some gorgeous creations at The 6th Annual Edible Book Show and Tea held at The Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts.

I'm so excited to find out about this yearly competition for edible books.
Since I'm both a foodie and a writer, this is sort of perfect!

Now to put my chef's hat on and make some edible raw food books! Yessssssss!

Here's info on how you can participate in next year's event!

Are Movie Theaters On Their Way Out?

Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban has a long post on his blog asking what's going to become of movie theaters in an increasingly crowded media marketplace. I posted a comment on his blog suggesting two main things:

(1) There ought to be more theaters that have built-in cafes, like The Angelica on Houston Street in Manhattan. An on-premise cafe (with a nice assortment of interesting food, including raw vegan recipes) would create a sense of community and would attract people.

(2) Megaplexes ought to dedicate one or two of their screens to indy films, ones less likely to get distribution.

As a writer/director, I prefer to watch movies in theaters, as there's something magical about an experience shared with a large audience, not to mention the larger screen and top-notch sound.

But there are a few things that bug me:

(1) When we're paying $8 to see a film, we shouldn't have to sit there watching commercials.

(2) It used to be that films would have long runs, but now they're here and gone in a flash. The window of opportunity to see a film in a theater has become way too small.

(3) There's just not enough intelligence and wit in most theatrically distributed films. Hollywood keeps sliding downhill--maybe it's the mud?--and we wind up with dreck: RawStyle

(4) There are lots of films that get made that don't ever find distribution. Google will soon be showing people's films online, and that will make a huge difference in the quality of films that are out there and widely available. https://upload.video.google.com/

China Issues Ban on Naked Fish-Dish Girls

A naked sushi girl at work

China Bans Restaurants From Serving Sushi on Naked Young Women

Using women this way is going too far. Ever wonder how the women felt who had the job of being living dinner plates?

It's still going on in Seattle. And apparently also in NY and LA. And probably Las Vegas.

Here's a London magazine that features some polls on the topic. But online polls are self-selecting, so they're not worth much.

And here's something about a "raw" (but not raw foods) catering company that riffs on the idea. Anything for a buck, huh.

Standardizing Beauty Digitally

Hollywood is digitally reducing breast size on some actresses

I have two responses to this development (excuse the pun). The most glaring offense is that Hollywood is making well-endowed women feel there is something wrong with the way nature made them. As we know, the culture has been doing that to overweight women for a long time. But overweight is something a person can do something about, by exercising and choosing what to eat; and overweight is not good for one's health.

Unlike fat, bust size (for those women who are "born that way," without surgical enhancement) is a given. By digitally remaking a woman's chest, Hollywood is thus telling women that if they are more than an A or B cup, they are to be looked at as nothing more than a sex object. There is something seriously wrong with this picture.

How would men feel if their genitals were on display to be judged by the culture? (Since men are free to go topless, their penises are the part of their body most parallel to women's breasts.) I don't think men would like that! The author Eldridge Cleaver (Soul on Ice) once designed jeans for men that had a penis-shaped pocket that would display their organ the way a bra or bikini top displays the shape and size of breasts. Maybe we need to start sending these jeans to Hollywood moguls and insist that they wear them from now on.

My other response is that Hollywood's decision to digitally reduce starlets' breast sizes opens the door for actors of all sizes and shapes to play the coveted high-paying lead roles in films. So what if your face isn't symmetrical, you have double chins, you're a midget, you have a paunch or a big butt? Digital artists can make you, too look like a supermodel, or like the flavor of the month, whether that be big boobs or small ones. They can even make you into the other gender, if you really want a certain role.

The Birth of a Blog--Why and What

When I first created this blog, I thought it was going to be about the search for pure cosmetics and everything related to style in all realms--especially things designed with materials beneficial to ourselves and the environment. I created it because I don't see why there needs to be a gulf between design/fashion/architecture on the one hand, and health on the other. Unfortunately, the standard seems to be on the one hand, for designers to ignore healthful materials and on the other hand, for those makers who focus on health to ignore forward-thinking design.

I wanted to deal with topics like: "What constitutes a pure ingredient in a cosmetic?" and "Do raw foodists need to shun cosmetics and style?"

But then this blog developed a mind of its own, much like characters do when you write something creative. This blog wanted to include certain pop culture elements as well, whenever they touched upon raw food or healthful lifestyle. My other blog, sketchgrrl, which was born first, encompasses raw food, topical observations and humor. It would seem now that both of my blogs are veering in the same direction. Not a huge surprise, since are both coming from my imagination. But they already have their own links out there on the net, and to combine them would cut one of them off from from potential viewers. So as they develop, I imagine they will eventually have more distinct identities.

I refrained from creating any blogs for a long time, not seeing the point, as I've had an online magazine, Raw Foods News Magazine, since March 2001. I didn't understand why blogs were getting so much more media attention than online or print magazines. I still don't completely understand, although I can see three distinct advantages to blogs--it's easy to see what's new on them, it's easy to subscribe to their "feed", and it's easy to link them to other blogs. So--not wanting to be antediluvian--I jumped onboard. Feel free to post your comments or trackbacks any time.