Recent Posts Tagged With 'books and films'

• THE SLOW LIFE: ECOVILLAGES AND OTHER INCARNATIONS OF COMMUNITY

  Posted on Tuesday November 17th, 2009 at 11:15 in ecovillage, Simple living, environmental action, books and films, intentional communities, community action, the slow life, los angeles ecovillage, phinney ecovillage, simple living books, slow is beautiful: new visions of community leisure and joie de vivre, synchronicity la

    m o r e (purposeful places) I recently read Slow is Beautiful by Cecile Andrews, a beacon of the Voluntary Simplicity movement. Her critique of modern existence and presentation of how slow and beautiful life could be got me thinking about a lot ...

• ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE

  Posted on Monday November 9th, 2009 at 12:06 in agriculture, healthy food, grocery shopping, farmers' market, barbara kingsolver, growing food, books and films, backyard garden, the 100-mile diet, organic recipes, organic cooking, animal vegetable miracle: a year of food life

    m o r e (backyard or patio abundance) Reading Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver is one of the things that solidified me as an eco-conscious person. Lent to me by my previous farmers' market buddy (who is also now a veritable small farmer, canner...

• BUY*OLOGY

  Posted on Friday October 16th, 2009 at 12:50 in Martin Lindstrom, neuromarketing, books and films, conscious consumption, buyology

  m o r e (truth behind branding)I recently read Martin Lindstrom's Buyology, curious as to the tagline of what it is that makes us buy. After all, I'm an advocate of buying less and buying better, so I wanted to get the scoop on how these decisions wo...

• RAPT: ATTENTION AND THE FOCUSED LIFE

  Posted on Tuesday September 15th, 2009 at 11:30 in meditation, attention, Simple living, books and films, rapt, focused life, winifred gallagher book

  m o r e (really paying attention)Winifred Gallagher is already an established social observer and after a cancer diagnosis which she dealt with (and conquered) by learning to live in and love the moment, she set her sights on attention. And it turns ...

• THE COVE

  Posted on Wednesday August 26th, 2009 at 12:40 in books and films, environmental documentary, the cove, ric o'barry, best documentary 2009

  m o r e (saving cetaceans)My husband and I were the only people in the theater where we saw a Friday matinee of The Cove  during its last weekend in Los Angeles. Being isolated in the dark, cavernous space only added to the suspense and horror of wh...

• THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE MICROWAVED

  Posted on Friday August 14th, 2009 at 11:24 in sustainable agriculture, farmers, books and films, food and farmers, wild fermentation, food inc., food movement, the revolution will not be microwaved

  m o r e (real food revolution)With Food Inc. out in full force, food is on the brain. And it makes perfect sense. Food is a logical place for people to enter into the simple, slow, green life. After all, most of us eat at least three squares a day wi...

• KIDS + MONEY

  Posted on Friday July 24th, 2009 at 11:39 in kids, books and films, lauren greenfield, kids + money, kids and money documentary, los angeles documentary, materialism documentary

  m o r e (looking materialism in the face)I recently watched the fascinating (and pretty hard to take at times) documentary Kids + Money on my latest installment of Wholphin. It's a look from Lauren Greenfield at a gamut of kids in Los Angeles and the...

• BEAUTIFUL BIRDS

  Posted on Wednesday July 15th, 2009 at 10:05 in birds, birding, bird species, bird art, books and films, jeffrey fisher, bird book, bird illustrations

  m o r e (winged whimsy)Happened on the illustrated book, Birds, by artist Jeffrey Fisher in a local crafty store (I have three such stores within biking distance!). It is a spare compilation of 46 different birds (some commonplace and some surprising...

• MINDFUL AWARENESS

  Posted on Friday July 3rd, 2009 at 08:37 in meditation, mindfulness, Simple living, jon kabat-zinn, spiritual books, books and films, meditation books, zen meditation, coming to our senses, peter h. reynolds, so few of me

  m o r e (engaged selves and senses)I'm reading Jon Kabat-Zinn's latest book on mindfulness, Coming to Our Senses at the moment. It's quite a tome, but luckily each chapter is more like a short reflection and the content is so ancient and engaging tha...

• FOOD INC. AND MORE RESOURCES FOR YOUR TABLE

  Posted on Tuesday June 23rd, 2009 at 12:05 in sustainable agriculture, factory farms, Green Living, monsanto, environmental action, books and films, food and farmers, environmental documentary, green movie, environmental living, humane meat, righteous porkchop

  m o r e (fair fine food)My plead: See it, see it, see it!See Food Inc. (in a theater now or if it's not playing near you, on DVD later) for a perfect primer on the true face of food in our country.See it to go behind the scenes of factory farms and c...

• HANDMADE MODERN

  Posted on Monday June 22nd, 2009 at 12:06 in home, DIY, Simple living, home projects, books and films, handmade furniture, todd oldham, mid-century modern furniture, handmade modern, diy book, diy modern

  m o r e (sleek DIY)Happened on this book at a local crafty store recently and immediately thought of at least two friends (you know who you are) who would fall in love with it and perhaps could've written it themselves.Handmade Modern:A DIYers dream ...

• ZEN BOOKS FOR COOL KIDS

  Posted on Tuesday June 9th, 2009 at 12:59 in kids, kids books, books and films, best children's books, zen shorts, buddhist picture books, jon muth, simple kids books, zen picture books, zen ties

  m o r e (beautiful, mind-bending books)I first saw one of Jon Muth's extraordinary picture books at a book fair this spring. Just the title and cover art were enough to make me make a note of it and put a hold on all of his books I could get a hold o...

• THE NEW COFFEEHOUSE INVESTOR + GIVEAWAY

  Posted on Thursday June 4th, 2009 at 11:20 in news, Simple living, index funds, books and films, bill schultheis, mindful investing, simple investing, the new coffeehouse investor

  Enter to win a copy of The New Coffeehouse Investor! Simply send an e-mail to danielle at lessismorebalanced dot com with Coffeehouse Investor in the subject line by 11:00 a.m. on Monday, June 8th. I'll pick one entrant randomly and we'll have ourse...

• HANDMADE NATION: THE FILM

  Posted on Wednesday June 3rd, 2009 at 12:26 in DIY, crafting, social activism, Simple living, books and films, handmade nation, crafting book, crafting movie, green living simple living, handmade nation film

  m o r e (made it myself)There's a documentary afoot that's based on the popular book Handmade Nation. The author turned director, Faythe Levine, independently produced an hour long doc showcasing devoted crafsters in 15 cities.No DVD as of yet, but t...

• SOCIETY

  Posted on Friday May 29th, 2009 at 11:48 in society, eddie vedder, into the wild, chris mccandless, books and films, into the wild soundtrack, society song

  m o r e (music to move you)I mentioned Into the Wild (the film) without mentioning the incredible soundtrack courtesy of Eddie Vedder. Here's a sample, complete with a shout out to "less is more." ...

• INTO THE WILD

  Posted on Thursday May 14th, 2009 at 12:22 in nature book, into the wild, chris mccandless, jon krakauer, books and films, adventure book, sean penn film, wilderness story

  m o r e (examining)On our recent road trip to Sedona, my husband and I took along the audio version of Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild. We'd seen the Sean Penn directed film, which was astoundingly beautiful in its construction, and it had sparked enoug...

• CHANGE THE WORLD FOR TEN BUCKS

  Posted on Monday May 4th, 2009 at 12:23 in Green Living, Simple living, environmental action, books and films, environmental tips, we are what we do, simple living tips, simple actions, change the world for ten bucks

  m o r e (little changes, big happiness)I happened on this simple book when the Festival of Books came to town a couple of weekends ago. I love the streamlined concept--each spread is something small and surprising you can do to change the world. The...

• STAR-BELLIED SNEETCHES

  Posted on Thursday April 30th, 2009 at 17:09 in kids, consumerism, Dr. Seuss, Simple living, books and films, the sneetches and other stories, classic kids books, dr. seuss video, star-belied sneetches

  m o r e (Dr. Seuss)Gotta love Dr. Seuss. There just isn't any other writer for tykes like him--funny, whimsical, wildly creative, and, sometimes, incredibly incisive. I'm a big fan of the enviro-classic, The Lorax, but was recently told, to my deligh...

• STUFFED AND STARVED

  Posted on Saturday April 18th, 2009 at 11:50 in sustainable agriculture, Green Living, green eating, organic farming, books and films, food system, fair trade farming, stuffed and starved

  m o r e (farmers sustained)Stuffed and Starved is no light read. Raj Patel's tome is a sibling of Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma, but takes as its subject not just our food system, but that bedrock, cornerstone, source of it: the farmer and his/her plig...

• WORLD TAI CHI AND QI GONG DAY

  Posted on Friday April 17th, 2009 at 12:20 in news, health, meditation, yoga, alternative health, healthy living, Simple living, qi gong, tai chi, books and films, healing modalities, the healer within

  m o r e (mindful movement)World Tai Chi and Qi Gong Day is Sunday, April 19th. While both are yoga's cousins and just as ancient, they're much more off the radar. And they need not be. Both are 2,000 year old Chinese healing modalities that include s...

• EARLY BOOKS FOR EARTHY KIDS

  Posted on Monday April 13th, 2009 at 13:04 in kids, books and films, the lorax, follow the line around the world, earth day books, green kids books, 10 things i can do to help my world, eco-kids books, environmental children's books, green picture books, theo and the plastic ball

  m o r e (eco-aware early readers)Here's the lowdown on kids books I love that have an earthy twist (I am a huge fan of picture books):*Follow the Line Around the World by Laura Ljungkvist is a chance to see the animals of Africa and the Arctic by si...

• IT'S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY

  Posted on Wednesday April 1st, 2009 at 12:04 in books and films, brent kessel, indiebound, it's not about the money, finance book, money archetypes

  m o r e (financial consciousness)In these times, I imagine one sale going up is financial advice books. It's Not About the Money is not a conventional financial advice book. It's more like a financial approach that combines spirituality with the m wo...

• SWEET!

  Posted on Friday March 27th, 2009 at 12:43 in natural sweeteners, books and films, food and farmers, natural sweetener cookbook, sweet! from agave to turbinado

  m o r e (natural sweets)Love sweets? Hate sugar? Lovingly referred to by my friend C as the white death, sugar is not so nice. Other, natural sweeteners are easy on the blood sugar and my muffin staple ingredient, agave, is actually sweeter than sug...

• YOUR VINTAGE BOOK = TYLER BENDER'S RECYCLED JOURNAL

  Posted on Thursday March 26th, 2009 at 12:03 in home, Services, recycled books, recycled journals, books and films, vintage books, tyler bender, vintage journals

  m o r e (vintage rewares)Tyler Bender will bind you a vintage book into a new (though recycled) journal. (Or provide you with one he's found in the stacks.)Just send him your old, cool-covered book and he'll send you back a journal according to your ...

• FLOW

  Posted on Wednesday March 18th, 2009 at 12:00 in water pollution, flow, water rights, books and films, charity: water, water documentary, blue gold, flow the film

  m o r e (resources preserved)Yet another film that I think every American should see. Flow is all about water, or Blue Gold as its referred to in the book (soon to be released film) by Maude Barlow, an amazing woman who figures in the movie.It tells...

• THE OPEN ROAD (TO INDIE DIVES NEAR YOU)

  Posted on Friday March 6th, 2009 at 14:12 in independent bookstores, dalai lama, books and films, shop local, the open road, pico iyer, indiebound

  m o r e (spirit)I just read Pico Iyer's The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. It's a layered look at this man who is a monk and the leader of Tibet and its exile community at the same time. It's all about paradoxes: an ancie...

• OLDIE BUT GOODIE: GORILLAS IN THE MIST

  Posted on Wednesday March 4th, 2009 at 11:23 in environmental action, books and films, gorillas in the mist, dian fossey, indiebound, gorilla fund, mountain gorilla conservation

  m o r e (primates living primo, long lives)I watched this oldie but goodie a few days ago. I hadn't seen it since I was a grade schooler, but Gorillas in the Mist stands the test of time (well, minus the cheesy music anyway). I watched it and remembe...

• FOLLOW THE LINE AROUND THE WORLD

  Posted on Wednesday February 25th, 2009 at 11:04 in picture books, books and films, world books, earth books for children, follow the line around the world, laura ljungkvist

  m o r e (tracing the world with your finger)I found this book, Follow the Line Around the World by Laura Ljungkvist, at an independent bookseller near me.And what a treasure it is! The Amazon, the Sahara, Kenya, Greenland--each spread is a new place ...

• TALES FROM THE HIVE

  Posted on Friday February 6th, 2009 at 12:47 in Bees, nova, books and films, food and farmers, tales from the hive

  m o r e (bees abuzzing)Long before Colony Collapse Disorder was on the radar, Nova put out this amazing romp through a beehive filled with amazing bee behaviors, queenly competition, and struggles against rain, moths, and bears.  My favorite part is...

• JANE GOODALL

  Posted on Friday January 23rd, 2009 at 11:23 in jane goodall, environmental action, books and films, roots and shoots, jane goodall institute, jane goodall movie

  m o r e (chimpanzees and other creatures)I watched the IMAX film (albeit on a very, very small screen) Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees this week.It's an amazing look at the work Goodall has done in Gombe National Park in Tanzania and the chimpanzees ...