Buy Local

There are so many trends these days with regard to the foods we should and should not eat. Trends toward organic, raw, whole, all natural, gluten-free, vegan, homegrown, grain-fed, free range, pesticide/hormone-free foods have gotten people into a veritable frenzy. It's difficult to even go grocery shopping without tremendous guilt from the time you enter the door until you leave. If I take my items to the checkout counter, and I put hormone-injected chicken up there next to organic peanut butter, I look like a fool. You can't just put one good thing next to a bad thing... they negate each other. It's simple math.

*SIDEBAR* So, here I am enjoying this very delicious red wine, wondering to myself, "Why isn't this post writing itself right now?" I could write a post just on the benefits of red wine... and now getting back to my point:

Rattle This

It's true that I am often an open-book. It would be difficult for me to be anything different, but this sometimes gives people the impression that they know more about me than they really do. It's easy to take the sum of my mannerisms and things I say and decide that I am like this or like that. Please allow me to set the record straight.

Art is Art

Have you ever been so inspired by something that it just keeps coming back to mind time and time again? It might have been a film, a song, a view, a dream, a place... or even a person. This has happened to me more times in my life than I can even dare to count, but one such catalyst for inspiration was discovered unexpectedly at a guest art exhibit at the Frist Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. The artist was Lalla Essaydi, and the effect was long-lasting. On that little day trip, I was with my sweet friend Samina, and it was such a great trip that I even remember the very wonderful ahi tuni salad I ate in the café at the entrance of the museum. Good times. :)

Internet Killed the Printed Media Star

On May 24th, things changed. There was an announcement that The Times-Picayune, New Orleans' daily paper since 1837, would discontinue its daily service - reducing to 3 publications per week - in favor of focusing more attention toward the newspaper's website, nola.com. Now, naturally people in NOLA are upset, but there's definitely more to the story than might at first meet the eye. When they called it the Big Easy, they weren't referring to this city's ability to embrace change.

Now, before I delve into a full-on editorial, when it comes to highly sensitive issues like this one, I try to visit both sides and really know the heart of each. That stated, I don't have a concrete opinion formed on this one... at least not one that will lead to a hysterical rant. It's just not that simple...

Wouldn't it be better if...

Quantum Psychology

Let's get straight to the moral of the story: When you observe something, it changes. It no longer behaves the same way as if you hadn't observed it. Is it possible that we give too much power to circumstances in our lives by focusing on them too much?

And now for the science:

Movie Review: Win Win [2011]

For this Sunday morning post, I've chosen to share a review I did of the movie Win Win from 2011 starring the great Paul Giamatti and the very charming and humorous Amy Ryan. I first saw Win Win at a small film festival in Memphis in 2011 and was mostly just going to hang out with a friend of mine... but certainly got much more than I bargained for.

Before I'd seen it, I honestly couldn't remember the last time I had genuinely enjoyed every moment of a movie. This film, which I went into with virtually no expectations - with the exception of knowing I’d see yet another stellar performance from Paul Giamatti - breathed new life into my affinity for movies and raised the bar for other films I'd see. It’s a drama, it’s a comedy; it’s dysfunctional, but sometimes it just works – it’s life. The script and the acting were so honest that it was hard to not be drawn in almost immediately.