10″ Elephant Dung Heels By INSA

The INSA Elephant Dung Heels were created in response to artist Chris Ofili (New York artist whose “The Holy Virgin Mary” painting was done using elephant dung and then nearly banned Guiliani from Brooklyn Museum) done for the British Tate.  Learn more on how they were made at Insaland.

The Lipstick Diaries

Refurbished Kicks By Gabriel Dishaw

Nike shoes made from tossed computer bits and electronics.  Junk art at its finest.

Gabriel Dishaw

Recycle Obsolete CD’s (And More) At Best Buy

I’ve dropped off batteries for recycling at Best Buy before but I didn’t know they accepted other items such as cd’s, vaccums and fans.

From their website:

Regardless of where you bought it, what brand it is, or how old it is: bring it to us. We’ll make sure it’s properly and safely recycled. It’s all part of our Greener Together™ program.

And we’ll take just about anything electronic, including TVs, DVD players, computer monitors, audio and video cables, cell phones, and more. Most things are recycled absolutely free, with a few restrictions.

• Three items per household per day.
• Nearly everything electronic, including tube TVs and monitors up to 32″, flat-panel TVs and monitors up to 60″, peripherals, DVD players, home and car audio, cell phones, MP3 players, and cables.
• Desktop or laptop computers with the hard drive removed. See this Geek Squad video for Do-it-Yourself instructions, or we will remove it for $9.99.
• Small electrics, fans and vacuums.
• No cost to the consumer.

What about the plastic cases that the cd’s come housed in?  Check out Green Disk to learn more about getting rid of tech trash.

Santa Monica Restaurant Busted For Selling Endangered Whale Meat

Typhoon Restaurant Inc., which owns The Hump restaurant, and 45-year-old Kiyoshiro Yamamoto of Culver City, were charged Wednesday with illegally selling an endangered species product.

Two undercover diners working with the producers from “The Cove” requested whale from the “chef’s choice” menu and were served 8 slices of it for $600.  Yes, six hundred mother effin’ dollars!  WTF?  The diners bagged a sample of the meal and testing confirmed it was indeed sei whale.

Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, it is illegal to sell any kind of whale meat in the United States, and sei are listed as endangered. Sei whales are the third-largest baleen whale, behind the blue and finback whales.

Hooray for the Oscar winning doc, The Cove and BOO to Typhoon!

Google Maps Adds Bicycle Paths

Google spent the past six months tweaking its mapping service so it could recommend routes that would steer bicyclists away from big hills and heavily congested streets. The feature can be used to pinpoint bicycling trails in more than 150 cities.

Huffington Post

Plastic Kills

There’s some scary creatures in the ocean… none more scary than plastic.

Rise Above Plastic for more info.

Recycle Your Denim At Gap

March 5-14th, bring in your old denim, doesn’t even need to be from Gap, and get 30% off any regularly priced denim (35% when you use your Gap Card.)

Gap will use the recycled denim to turn into eco-friendly housing insulation. Valid in stores only at Gap, Gap Kids and Baby Gap.

Thanks Claudia!

Gap

Coco De Mer Sale

Valentines day is over but sexy times is year round.

Coco de Mer is one of my favorite stores in LA and they’re having a sale starting this week and it’s not to be missed.  This might be the time for me to pick up that sustainable rubberwood paddle I’ve been wanting.

Oh god!  I just went on the website to pull some pictures and I found my new obsession.  A jade cock ring!!!  To be worn as a bracelet, of course. ;  )

Happy Double V-Day!

The more popular name for the Vietnamese New Year is Tet, where as the formal name is Nguyen-dan. Tet is a very important festival because it provides one of the few breaks in the agricultural year, as it falls between the harvesting of the crops and the sowing of the new crops.

The Vietnamese prepare well in advance for the New Year by cleaning their houses, polishing their copper and silverware and paying off all their debts.

It’s customary for elders to give lucky envelopes with crisp new bills to the their  younger relatives for good luck.  Thanks to my procrastination, all the banks I went to were wiped out of new bills so I got rolls of brand new dollar coins.  Not exactly baller status, but hey, we’re in a freakin’ recession!

Happy Lunar New Year!  Chuc Mung Nam Moi!   Gong Xi Fa Cai!

And here’s our prez wishing us the same!

Oh and for that other Vday celebration, here’s a little treat from Grist.  A DIY guide to making your very own non-toxic love juice, made from water and flax seed.  Yeah, that stuff you get a Trader Joe’s to sprinkle on your cereal.

You try it first and get back to me.  Thank me or hate me later.  ♥ ♥ ♥

Year Of The Tiger 2/14/10

Vietnamese/Chinese New Year is just a few days away and many of us are cleaning our homes for the festive period.  Here are a few tips to having a red + green new year.

When house cleaning, be sure to use cloth or old rags that can be washed and reused instead of disposable paper towels which are convenient but wasteful.

It is a tradition to buy new clothing and new stuff to replace the old ones, but think twice before buying new stuff. Do you really need them? Consider donating old clothing and items instead of throwing them away. And recycle where possible.

Reunion dinners are a time when family members get together to have a feast. While cooking, make sure that you have sufficient but not excessive food. Too much food not eaten ends up as waste. Remember that the quality of eating dinner together is more important than the quantity of food.

While visiting relatives and friends or going sightseeing, try to take public transpo or carpool. Share your car with others and spend time together. Also, reuse old red packets or hongbaos to make art decorations and lanterns for your home. Be creative and have fun.

Wishing everyone a green and happy Vietnamese/Chinese New Year! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Below is a pic of my long drawn out project of lessening my load of “stuff.”  I chose to start off with the most dreaded section= my electronics.  I went through all of my chargers, usb cords, random plugs, cell phones, batteries, ear pieces, mp3 players, old keyboards, dvd players and more.  I organized what would be kept, what was broken, what could be recycled or donated.  The pic below is some of the stuff I’m distributing out.  It feels good to get rid of the clutter.  Next up, my closet.  Oi vei!