The Story of Stuff

This concise, 20 minute long video is very informative and funny (in a kind of sad, ironic way). However, it does present some fascinating facts about the procession that stuff (a.k.a products) takes through our society and the world.

Although the concept of buying nothing is basically impossible, especially for people who live in or near cities or thickly populated areas, where the demand for processed resources is high due to lack of forested, workable land, it is still a good aim to have.

the story of stuff

Tiger-Saving Link

Please sign this. WWF needs many more people to reach its goal! Thank you.

http://wwf.panda.org/how_you_can_help/campaign/ac_detail.cfm?ActionUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fbuffy.bluegecko.net%2Faction%2Fc57a60d3-c75f-4ed3-abaa-0205b64252d0#oneMoreStep

(Copy and paste the link into your browser)

Gulf Spill Photographs

It's so difficult not to become angry about what's happening in the Gulf of Mexico, even though, in some highly ignored part of my mind, I know that frustration and ranting (however much ranting helps me) isn't going to accomplish anything. It's very hard to know how much is getting done in terms of rescuing and cleaning birds, because it seems that once they are released back into the wild, they have no place to go, and simply get covered in oil again.

I suppose optimism would be saying, "well, BP made a huge mistake, but there's nothing we as a people can do to change the past, so we must deal with whatever comes." But how can we actually help? For myself, I'm too far away to help firsthand, which is what I would like to be doing. Maybe refusing to use gas would be a good start, but my immediate family uses so little anyway, and I can't block it out completely.

This is a terrible time to grow up in. To not get bogged down in the details of the tragedies people (largely big companies, with money-making their single goal) commit, however mistakenly or ignorantly, against a planet that is the most beautiful and the only home we have, is a real effort. I'm not good at that myself, because it often seems hopelessly out of control. Although becoming a successful scientist or naturalist orator would be good, I do not think I would want to give my life to that, which is selfish I suppose, but I have my own goals to take into consideration and work toward as well.

I do think that if everyone does their own small part that the masses can make a difference, but the long standing problem of countless causes is this: how to reach the masses in an effective, knowledgeable way. Here, Facebook plays a major role, and however much it can be irrationally addicting, it seems to be the biggest online community network in the world, with over 400 million users worldwide, and 70% of these users are outside the United States.

The following is a sad link, but we might as well become as aware as possible, and maybe if this is posted on Facebook, people will pass it around and find solutions. Please e-mail me back about this disaster, if you have updates on the Gulf Oil Spill, or ideas about how to help at a distance. I have also provided a link to nationalgeographic.com, with some short, fun quizzes that offer tips on how to save water, energy, and gas in your everyday life. It isn't that hard to make small changes in habit, whether it's bringing your own cloth bags to the store or driving at 55 mph.

Gulf Spill Photographs

Nat Geo Site

AVATAR Movie Review

AVATAR Directed by James Cameron

AVATAR is unlike any movie I've ever seen. It has so much in it, that you need (and will want) to watch it a few times to absorb it all. I'm not going to go drawing parallels between what happens in the movie, and what is happening in our world today, and where we're heading, because, firstly, people will doubtless realize that they exist themselves, and secondly, because I think the movie should stand, untouched, on its own as a masterpiece and a work of art.

The world, Pandora, has the most incredible creatures, plants, and geological features. This film clearly had an outstanding cast of crewmembers and actors who were able to collaborate and brainstorm successfully together.

Similar to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy in its wide scope and visions, (many of the props, costumes, weapons, and chiefly visual concepts were also created by WETA Workshop/Digital) the scenery for this movie was inspired partly by on-earth landforms, languages and constructions, including jungles in Hawaii, China’s Huang Shan mountains (the floating Hallelujah Mountains in the film), oil-drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico (for the Unobtainium mission headquarters), and various dialects.

I know many people consider Wikipedia to sometimes be an unreliable source of information, but there is an article which has many citations, which I have included the link to here. The section titled ‘Themes and Inspirations’ has interesting facts and thoughts about the film.

Life of Pi

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Life of Pi is a phenomenal book. It is terrifying, awe-inspiring, ironic, and extremely original, both in style and subject matter.

Piscine Molitor Patel (known to all as Pi) is a sixteen-year-old Indian boy living in the town of Pondicherry, one thousand miles South of Delhi, and with a population of 9,73, 829 ranging over 480 square miles of lush land. Pi loves swimming, animals, and God. He wants to, and does, practice three different religions: Hindu, Christian, and Muslim.

His family owns a large, colorfully variegated Zoo.

One impressive thing about Martel’s writing is his smooth, practical way of convincing you to leave some opinion behind you and take up another readily within the span of a half page. For example, my opinion of zoos (good ones, at any rate) has changed dramatically since reading Life of Pi.

The Pondicherry Zoo holds any number of animals, from Indian Rhinoceros, lions, leopards, and sloth to ostriches, swans, spotted deer, and goats. But when different times, the collapsing of the “New India”, and hope for a better life calls, Pi’s family, excepting many of their animals, decides to move, aboard a cargo ship crossing the Pacific, to Canada. They embark, and then, out in the middle of the ocean, an accident occurs, sinking the ship and most of its passengers.

The remaining survivors are Pi and the few animals caged and being transported, from the zoo to one in Canada, on the same ship: a hyena, an orang-utan, a wounded zebra, and a four hundred and fifty pound, magnificent Royal Bengal Tiger.

What ensues is a survival story in the most raw, un-romanticized sense. This book raises unique questions about humanity, faith, and fiction in the most simple, yet profound ways, and usually provides universal, wonderful answers to them.

The conclusion of Life of Pi will have you reconsidering things, and leave you feeling amazed, with a greater impression of what exists inside yourself and the outside world.

Movie List

Just a few movies that I found very interesting and thought-provoking (and some funny ones, too).

The Hangover

Sin Nombre

Valkyrie

The Children of Huang Shi

Slumdog Millionaire

I Know I'm Not Alone

I've Loved You So Long

Sunshine Cleaning

Up

Cold Comfort Farm

Guys and Dolls

Hairspray

Missing

Berkeley Square (series)

John Adams (series)

Julie and Julia

The Cat Returns

Nixon

An Ideal Husband

Defiance

The Man Who Never Was

To Sir, With Love

Becoming Jane

Pride and Prejudice

Newsies

The Prestige

The Illusionist

Once

The Man from Snowy River

As You Like It (set in 19th century Japan. Incredible costumes and very talented up and coming actors.)

Much Ado About Nothing (Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson, need I say more?)

Frost Nixon (based on the famed interview. Very interesting.)

Sherlock (series)

the Hound of the Baskervilles (Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce)

All Creatures Great and Small (series)

The Pelican Brief

The International

Empire of the Sun

Jane Eyre (2011 version, Cary Fukunaga. Definitely my favourite adaptation. Horror/romance/mystery. Captures the atmosphere of the book perfectly.)

Au Revoir Les Enfants (This director does not get enough credit in the world, but he's truly amazing.)

Welcome (don't watch if you're in the mood for a happy family comedy. It's educational and heartbreaking at the same time. Gee, what educational movie isn't these days? Hush, self.)

Anna and the King

The Sting

Judgement at Nuremburg

Dirty Dancing (NOT the old one. This one is called Havana Nights and it's so much better.)

Northern Exposure (series)

Leap Year (Just...see it. 39 Steps modern day, brilliant.)

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

True Grit

The Brothers Bloom

The Grocer's Son

The King's Speech

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Alec Guinness or the new one, which I haven't seen, but Gary Oldman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth....you really can't go wrong there.)

Easy Virtue (funny romp. Based on the Noel Coward play.)

No One Knows About Persian Cats

Never Cry Wolf

Departures

Greenfingers

Frozen River (another gritty documentary style film. Have your hankies ready.)

The Migrants (based on the Tennessee Williams play. see description above. Still, everyone should see movies like these once on a while. Just so they know that not everything is fine and dandy.)

Mostly Martha

Bridget Jones's Diary (top favourite!)

Ghost Writer

Roman Holiday (Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn and an awesome sidekick. Lovely movie.)

Micmacs (don't be alarmed at the beginning, just stay with it. Wonderful and quirky. Same director as Amalie.)

A Very Long Engagement (See above description.)

Seven Days in May

Manchurian Candidate (old version)

To Kill a Mockingbird

Smiley's People

Captains Courageous

The Bucket List

The Young Victoria (costumes! And amazing-ness.)

Nowhere in Africa

You Can't Take It With You

Hamlet

paris 36

Atonement

Is Anybody There? (Have hankies again.)

The Importance of Being Ernest

Pray the Devil Back to Hell

The Invention of Lying

Miral

The Wave

The Ghosts in the Darkness

Bliss

A Very Long Engagement

The Last Detective (series)

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (parts of this lag, but it's worth it for the caves in France, which contain wall paintings from over 35,000 years ago!)

Downton Abbey (series)

Blame It on Fidel

Smoke Signals (if you love Northern Exposure you'll love this)

Inherit the Wind (the classic courtroom drama about religion and and evolution, stars Spencer Tracy)

Fair Game

The Man from Snowy River

The International

And, the Alfred Hitchcock List (it deserves it's own)

Under Capricorn

Spellbound

39 Steps

Stage Fright

I Confess

Saboteur

North by Northwest

Notorious

Suspicion

Torn Curtain

Shadow of a Doubt

Psycho

Family Plot

Dial M for Murder

The Trouble With Harry

Rear Window

To Catch a Thief

Vertigo

The Man Who Knew Too Much

The Birds

Young and Innocent

Lifeboat

Rebecca

Marnie

Cook's Illustrated (also seen on TV on America's Test Kitchen) writers/testers have a website that is very nice for finding recipes at. They actually put the recipes up without asking you to subscribe or pay, although you can get the 14-day free trial if you want to see the full recipe cache. Here is the link:

Cook's Country

I haven't tried these recipes yet, but they are created, found, and tested by the same people who write Cook's Illustrated, which is a growing, popular magazine, with no adds, tasty recipes, product reviews, kitchen tips, etc.

Matisyahu-One Day

This is a catchy song with a great message and very optimistic lyrics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRmBChQjZPs

Mushrooms Can Save the World!

Here is a great video. Mycologist Paul Stamets discusses the 6 ways that mushrooms could potentially help re-green the planet, and save old forests. Here is the link:

Mushrooms

The roots of the mushrooms are like the internet!

One square foot can hold 300 miles worth of mycelium root-ways.

The video might seem a bit long, but it is worth 18 minutes of your time.

The Boston Tea Party

Here is an interesting link to an alternate story of what was going on leading up to the Boston Tea Party in 1773. It is very interesting when compared to what is happening in present-day America, so maybe think about that while watching:

Here

Illustration of the Boston Tea Party

Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
So-this post is the first in what I hope to be a string of book reviews. The subject is Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen.
It follows the tale of an "unlikely heroine" named Catherine Morland. She is invited from her country home to accompany her neighbors into Bath, the fashionable, posh city bustling with trivial activities such as excessive socializing, attending balls, theatres, and shops, and visiting the "Upper and Lower Rooms", huge, decorated halls with the purpose of giant meeting places for friends and gossipers. A good part of the book takes place here, telling of the wonder and experiences Catherine's first time in the city evoke. She meets a young clergyman named Henry Tilney, the son of a wealthy, widowed General. Henry and his sister, a delightful, kind young lady named Eleanor, invite Catherine to their home, Northanger, an ancient Abbey that has been re-modeled and preserved, complete with wandering, extensive gardens, orchards, and old vaults and rooms.
Here, Catherine is amazed by the Abbey, always having had a very conclusive, rapid imagination, and explores it at night. Then there is a major misunderstanding, involving a turned-down suitor, a prior, deceiving friend, and the General himself. The resolution is the classic Jane Austen ending.
In the beginning, Catherine struck me as being ignorant and irritating, but once she began to express her views more, I respected and agreed with her character. The book includes wonderful characters, such as Catherine's mother and father, and her godparents, Mr. and Mrs. Allen (Mrs. Allen is constantly providing comic relief with her self-absorption, and her obsession with fashion). As in Austen's other novels, each and every character is memorable and unique. The gossiping which takes place in the Upper and Lower Rooms of Bath is really quite amusing, and somehow keeps you interested, as no gossip (at least in my case) has done before.
Northanger Abbey was published posthumously, in 1817.
Some people consider it to be her most "Gothic" of plots. This means the Gothic Romance novel period, which included "tales of the macabre, fantastic, and supernatural, usually set amid haunted castles, graveyards, ruins, and wild, picturesque landscapes" (The Oxford Companion to English Literature, Fifth Edition). Although the last few characteristics are met in the book, I did not find it to be terribly macabre or supernatural. It was surprisingly scary (for Jane Austen's writing) at some points, but generally kept sunny and nice. There are many references, however, to Mrs. Radcliffe's "The Mysteries of Udolpho", and Walpole's "The Castle of Otranto", Gothic novels that were apparently popular during the late 1700's and early 1800's. I haven't read these, but now am very curious due to Catherine's imaginings.
Jane Austen's family had a town house in Bath, which must have contributed to the relatively vivid descriptions of its society and buildings.

There is also a fairly recent movie version of the book. I thought it was okay. The acting could have been a little better, but the film stuck closely to the book in scene progression and characters' attitudes, beginning and ending with the original Jane Austen narrative (except they switched "something will and must happen to throw a hero in her way" to "...throw adventure in her way"; however, this is a very small complaint. On the whole, I enjoyed it very much. I would recommend reading the book beforehand, though (this is my advice for all books that are made into movies; I think it's very good to be able to create your own images before seeing someone else's.)

The film version (2008) was made for BBC television.

return post

Good evening, readers!

I've been away, so haven't been able to post anything recently. Hopefully the posting will resume sometime soon, once I have things to add.

Speaking of which, please refer to the previous post, which contains a link to stop aerial gunning of wolves in Alaska, the Northern Rockies, and Yellowstone. I am subscribed to the National Geographic Magazine, and the last issue (March 2010) had a very good article (Wolf Wars, which you can read  here ) explaining the tensions between ranchers/livestock owners and the wolves. If you don't have a subscription, you can ask your library to get one, or order it yourself (although, the library is a good place to share interesting articles with other readers.) The magazine is very informative, and always has well-written articles on varying topics around the world. The website is: www.nationalgeographic.com The website itself is a great resource to check out. It is also one of the few magazine sites that posts feature articles online, and does not tie you into getting a subscription.

(Note: for the ng website to work, just post it into your browser.)

Wolf-Saving petition

If you would like to help in stopping the mass aerial gunning of wolves in Alaska, Yellowstone, and the Northern Rockies, you can sign the below petition. Thanks! note: just click the orange "take action" button, and choose one of the three actions listed. 

link 

Title Explanation

I tried to think of good names, and came up with a few, but wanted something original. The idea came from the image of drawing water, or knowledge, out of a well.

Consumerism/wants and needs

Think about it-wants and needs have been completely switched. The only things one really needs for survival are clothes, food, and shelter, not electronics, large companies, and fancy restaurants (though the latter is nice). Today’s society, however, is completely programmed to buy things, completely centered on money: new clothes, shoes, and accessories before the previous ones are worn out, Wiis, iPods with more gigabytes, videogames, unhealthy food, popular music, new furniture. These are all based on wants. There is a major difference between “I need that new computer” and “I want that new computer”. In everyday conversation you will hear ‘need’ being used in ‘want’s’ place. Advertisements are directed toward making you want things.See:http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=C58AE7D1E8681076&search_query=the+century+of+self&rclk=pti Edward Bernays, the man who “created want”, was the first to break down the minds of the people. The British Broadcasting Corporation’s television series, “The Century of Self”, follows Bernays’s exploits in America, and how he changed the sense of democracy in this country. The series is very good, and has many facts about history in England and Germany, as well as America’s economic progression. I will try to find a link to the full series and post it.

Intro Post

The Well is an online blog, also being produced as an independent newspaper, which documents news that may or may not be getting into the mainstream media.
It is just getting started, and hopefully will earn a few followers. I also consider recommendations of topics; however, don’t count on them appearing in the blog. Please provide feedback on what you think! As long as you are not rude in expressing your opinion, you may continue to post. Also, if you find an article that you want me to look into, feel free to post the link or email the newspaper at: thewellnewspaper@gmail.com. This blog is a sort of experiment! It might have random posts, links, and videos. It is very small, so please don’t expect any huge stories or anything! I’m not a professional at writing newspapers, or a reporter, I just thought it would be interesting to write about things I would like to share with other people. I will write feature articles and reports when I can (which may not be particularly often). I appreciate comments! Thanks, The Well Staff