Universal Goes Green

In my profession as a wardrobe stylist, I see so much waste on a daily basis, it’s sad. There’s not much you can do about it. I’m sure as hell not walking up into Yves St. Laurent or Chanel on Rodeo Drive with my reusable Whole Foods bags and saying “please use these instead.” I shudder at the thought of the reaction I would get from some of the snooty hags salespeople that work in those stores.

Anyway, I almost creamed my bamboo panties when I went to one of my favorite costume houses and saw their “go green” signage. Usually when you pull for TV, you pull ALOT! I’m talking truckloads. The clothes are on hangers but all the shoes and accessories go into plastic bags. Well now Universal has taken a step in the right direction and got these reusable fabric bags for the accessories. I Heart Uni!

My friends always ask me what the costume houses are like. It’s a huge warehouse with rows upon rows of clothing, costumes, shoes, hats, jewelry, props and everything under the sun from all different eras. You name it, they’ve got it and in every color, version and size you can think of. These pictures don’t capture the massive size of the Universal costume department. I’ve spent countless days in there over the years and I still have not seen everything there is to see.

We buy clothes all throughout our lives and eventually, they get thrown out. The items they have in a costume house live on forever. It’s like recycled apparel heaven and it’s one of my favorite places to go to.

Seriously, remember that movie Mannequin, when they get locked in the mall every night and Emmy (Kim Catrall) gets to wear all those fabulous dept. store clothes? Well, fab for the 80′s. I have dreams of getting locked in Universal or Warner Bros. and dressing up in Marie Antoinette gowns, 70′s fits and authentic vintage dresses from all around the world. Sigh.

Posted by thuy

Planet In Peril

The latest “Planet in Peril” with Anderson Cooper (aka Mah Boo or the Silver Fox) and CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta looking for the potential outbreak of the next AIDS epidemic with “virus hunter” Dr. Nathan Wolfe. They trace the rising consumption of “bush meat” in central Africa, where a virulent disease could easily jump species, with global implications. In fact, it already has, in the form of AIDS and monkey pox.

Catch it tonight. Click here for more info.

Posted by thuy

Kahi Lee: Unlock The Cure

Props to my girl Kahi Lee, a truly talented interior designer and host on HGTV’s “Design on a Dime.”

Kahi has teamed up with Botanist/Orange22 to unveil a new eco-friendly furniture line named “Unlock the Cure,” which benefits the Cancer Research Institute. The line consists of a cocktail table, bench and an end table with a cut out key design.

Kahi’s inspiration:

“I call my design “Unlock the Cure”. Cancer has affected far too many people in my life and I’m committed to doing something about it. The cure is out there, we just need to find the key. The light-reflective and luminous quality of the metallic finish symbolizes hope and optimism.”

Well, I too have a thing for keys..and a thing for being eco-friendly and I, like many, have been affected by a loved one suffering from cancer. Thanks to Kahi, for designing these beautiful pieces to remind us all to keep hope alive in finding a key to the cure.

Source Treehugger

Posted by thuy

GOOD Magazine Office Launch

One of my favorite reads, GOOD Magazine, has just opened their new office space and not just for their employees, but for us, the GOOD peeps of LA. Friday night was their first out of a series of 19 events for the month of December.

Check their calendar for their upcoming day and night events. Also, the boys of Dublab.com will be broadcasting live from the spot this upcoming Tuesday. Tune in.

Posted by thuy

Blush- Get Addicted!!

Not sure if this is classified as green but it’s on the Lifetime Channel so that must count for something. Plus one of my BFF’s, Jojo, is the Executive Producer of the show so it’s my humanitarian duty to tell you to tune in or DIE!!

What- Blush: The Search For The Next Great Makeup Artist- Hosted by Vanessa Marcil, contestants compete for a contract as a professional artist with Max Factor, a cash prize of $100,000 and the opportunity to be the makeup artist for an upcoming In Style photo shoot.

When- Premieres Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2008 from 10pm-11pm et/pt

Why- Guaranteed to be your next guilty pleasure!!!

So tune in for the next 6 weeks and be prepared to be addicted!!

Congrats Joj!!! xx

Posted by jen

Ladies Night

Thanks to Remy for sending over this flick of the GG&S girls and Anna Griffin at the Coco Eco magazine launch at the D&A Green Market.

Get your green fashion dose here.

Posted by jen & thuy

SNL Does It Again

Will Ferrel & Tina Fey. It doesn’t get any better than this. Happy Friday!

Posted by thuy

Two Wheeling Kung Fu

Dang! Boss lady got skills.

Treehugger via Cyclelicious

We Save A Tree, Me Name Ali

Ali G. takes to the streets of London to find out why it’s bad to cut down trees. Innit?

Posted by thuy

Fey/Palin & Poehler/Clinton On SNL

Love love love Tina Fey.

In Beavis & Butthead voices, “she said ‘boner shrinker’, huh huh. I want to bone her”.

Update* NBC pulled all the versions of this off youtube. Hopefully this one will stay up, if not, find it on hulu.

Posted by thuy

Michael Moore Says Get Out & Vote

For the 2004 election, Michael Moore went on a 62 city tour to rally young voters to get out and vote. It was documented but not with the intention of being released- until now.

The movie will premiere online at the low cost of zero dollars and zero cents, for three weeks, beginning September 23rd and I cannot wait to see it.

Follow this link to sign up for the download of Slacker Uprising.

via pure/roker

Posted by thuy

Flow The Movie

Irena Salina’s award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century – The World Water Crisis.

Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world’s dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel.

Interviews with scientists and activists intelligently reveal the rapidly building crisis, at both the global and human scale, and the film introduces many of the governmental and corporate culprits behind the water grab, while begging the question “CAN ANYONE REALLY OWN WATER?”

Beyond identifying the problem, FLOW also gives viewers a look at the people and institutions providing practical solutions to the water crisis and those developing new technologies, which are fast becoming blueprints for a successful global and economic turnaround.

Check the following link for theaters and dates: FLOW

Posted by thuy

WE: Can Solve It

To our leaders. Free us from our addiction to oil. Save our economy. Give us truly clean energy. There is a solution. There is no time to waste. We want a better future. The American people are no longer asking. Thanks for your time. Peace out.

via The Tastemakers Society

Posted by thuy

Toxic: Garbage Island From VBS.TV

Previously I posted a video from VBS about the pollution in Linfen, China. All of the vids from the Toxic series are equally interesting to watch, but this one shows the mystery that is known as Garbage Island.

The vast expanse of debris – in effect the world’s largest rubbish dump – is held in place by swirling underwater currents. This drifting “soup” stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan.

Charles Moore, an American oceanographer who discovered the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” or “trash vortex”, believes that about 100 million tons of flotsam are circulating in the region. Marcus Eriksen, a research director of the US-based Algalita Marine Research Foundation, which Mr Moore founded, said: “The original idea that people had was that it was an island of plastic garbage that you could almost walk on. It is not quite like that. It is almost like a plastic soup. It is endless for an area that is maybe twice the size as continental United States.”

Press play. Watch the series. Learn. Try to be more aware of your plastic intake and the effects that it has on our environment and our health. REDUCE- REUSE- RECYLE!

“We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Posted by thuy

Pool Shark

Who isn’t loving Michael Phelps right now? Let me not state the obvious (8 gold medals) but I just read that in his downtime, Phelps unwinds by watching the wildlife documentary series Planet Earth. His coach Bob Bowman reveals watching animals and plants enhances his performance by helping him to relax before a swim.

Wait, hear that sound? That’s my heart going pitter patter. Jen and I have had a few date nights together watching this Emmy award winning, BBC nature documentary series. It took 5 years to shoot and is the first of it’s kind to be entirely filmed in high definition. A truly inspirational view of our planet as a whole. We only have one, let’s try not to mess it up.

We still have a few more to watch and I’ll just tell you right now Jen, if you see me dreamily looking over at you one night, it’s probably because I’m picturing Phelps (shirtless of course and maybe with Johnny Depps face instead) snuggling up on the couch & watching furry animals and the deep blue seas with me. Minus the tub of ice cream and kit kat bars. Planet Earth and The Blue Planet are definitely ones to get for your collection.

Source: Treehugger

e2 Series

Are u a PBS junkie? Do u love the soothing sound of Brad Pitt’s sexy voice or Morgan Freeman’s for that matter? Do you care about the economies of being environmentally conscious? Well then the PBS e2 series might be right up your alley.

Narrated by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, these 30 minute episodes chronicle efforts to solve ecological challenges around the world. The series document innovators whose work is reducing humans’ impact on the environment.

Copies of the series are available on PBS Home Video or at e2-series.com.

Posted by jen

Could you smoke 3 packs of cigarettes a day?

Well that’s what the air quality is compared to for those living in Linfen, China, also known as one of the world’s most polluted cities in the world. Even though Linfen is nowhere near the Olympics in Beijing, I can see why China has put so much effort in trying to clean up their air quality for the past three years.

My friend Greg turned me onto this site, VBS.tv, a web-based channel created by the peeps of Vice magazine. Yea, that’s what I thought- Vice, covering environmental issues? Their amateur reporters brave the streets in various states and countries to save us from the crap on television and bring us actual, non-biased news.

I’m loving the series called Toxic, which shows us the ugly side of pollution, deforestation, and oil, to name a few. One to definitely watch is the 12 episodes about the floating toxic plastic island, twice the size of Texas, known as the Pacific Garbage Island.

Posted by thuy

That’s Not A Pink Elephant

Here’s a promo that Britney shot with Russell Brand for the MTV VMA’s. I guess the concept is supposed to be “there’s an elephant in the room?” That’s the best they could do? An unnecessary use of an animal for human entertainment, and all for the sake of promoting a music award show and this train wreck? She may be looking better these days but I think she needs to work on loosening up her weave and putting down the Starbucks Frappuccino’s. Something still isn’t right in the head.

Posted by thuy

Rock Vs. Rap

This Sunday night at 10 p.m., Battleground Earth will premiere on Planet Green. Tommy Lee and Ludacris will rival in a 30 day competition. The concept finds Bridges and Lee traveling across the country while participating in different challenges that are intended to highlight green issues. Whoever wins the contest will be the headliner at an eco-concert performed at Griffith Park to benefit its renewal after it was devastated by wildfires. The loser, will be the opening act.

Source: Treehugger & Movieweb

Posted by thuy

Booyakasha

We’ve been out of commission for the past few days, we’ll be back up soon. In the meantime, we leave you with this clip from the classic Ali G show, with the topic being: Environment. Respect!!!

Thanks Shahram! xx

Posted by thuy

Save A Tree Or 10 Or 100

My obsession with magazines started at a young age. Who remembers Tiger Beat, Bop, or Teen? As I got older, I upgraded to the fashion mags. I loved opening a new one, feeling the crisp pages, excited to see all the beautiful women in exotic locations, decked out in clothing and accessories that I could only dream of one day owning. I’m sure all that fantasizing is what eventually led me to my path in the fashion biz but it also made me an excessive consumer, purchasing and collecting a very large selection of glossies, every single month for 15+ years.

I never really gave a thought to all the paper being used, but now that I imagine the thousands of publications that have passed through my hands- I shudder. Sorry Treepeople, I now see the light and although I can’t promise I’ll never buy a magazine again, I have definitely scaled back significantly and the ones I get from here on out, will always get recycled. Thanks to that handy thing we have these days called the internet, I can do my research online and have peace of mind that I’m not wiping out a small patch of forest somewhere.

Posted by thuy

All Day Every Day

Woody Allen once said, “In Beverly Hills, they don’t throw their garbage away – they make it into television shows.” Well, Planet Green debuted today and I will gladly waste my time watching anything on this channel about garbage, composting, recycling, gadgets, food, drinks, cars, beauty, fashion…I’ll stop here but basically, it covers EVERYTHING under our beloved sun about going green and it’s on 24/7. The one show I really love is Alter Eco, with Adrien Grenier. It’s really informative and covers a lot of ‘green’ spots in L.A. It’s about time. Floss Angeles, RISE UP!

That’s about all I can write for now…need to get my sustainable crack fix and get back to the boob tube. Yea, it’s that serious.

Posted by thuy

Boys We Heart: Joaquin Phoenix

This Golden Globe and Grammy Award winning actor, director, producer and social activist makes my heart go pitty pat. On Jan 2nd, 2008, I fell head over heels for Joaquin after watching a movie called “Earthlings.” It wasn’t his dreamy blue eyes or the sexy scar above his lip that did me in because he doesn’t even appear in the film. It was his voice. Over the course of two years, Joaquin worked on the narration for EARTHLINGS which is a feature length documentary about humanity’s absolute dependence on animals (for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and scientific research) but also illustrates our complete disrespect for these so-called “non-human providers.”

With an in-depth study into pet stores, puppy mills and animals shelters, as well as factory farms, the leather and fur trades, sports and entertainment industries, and finally the medical and scientific profession, EARTHLINGS uses hidden cameras and never before seen footage to chronicle the day-to-day practices of some of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit.

I commend Joaquin for being the voice to the ones that do not have one. It was a rude awakening for me, but one that was needed and as my friend Raymond said recently, ” I would rather embrace truth than hide from it.” You don’t have to turn vegan or stop wearing leather, but if you watch this movie it may open your eyes to what you have been putting in and on your body as well as the injustice these animals are served for our own pleasures and comfort. I bought the DVD so I can lend it to friends that are interested in watching it, but it is also available to watch online here.

Thanks Karen, once again. xx

Posted by thuy

Message In The Waves

One night while channel surfing, I came across a BBC documentary called, “Message In The Waves.” It was filmed in Hawaii and showed the impact of plastic debris & litter that ends up in the oceans and affects marine life as well as a native bird to the islands, the Laysan Albatross. Thanks to our “throwaway society”, these beautiful birds ingest lighters, golf balls, plastic drink tops, etc., as well as feed foreign objects to their young, mistaking it for food. After a period of time, the birds and chicks die from starvation or dehydration. It also showed turtles mistaking plastic bags for jellyfish and swallowing the debris, which eventually leads to them dying slow deaths by suffocation.

A camerawoman from the film, Rebecca Hosking, was so touched and saddened by what she saw over the course of filming, she returned home and started a movement to have all the establishments in her community, ban plastic bags. Click here to read about how she got Modbury to be the first town to ban plastic bags in the UK.

Mahalo to Abe Vandenberg, who co-created the original music for the film, along with Christopher Candito, and was kind enough to send me a copy of the documentary on DVD. I have watched it a couple times now and it has definitely made me think twice before buying unnecessary purchases that will later be tossed into a landfill or end up floating around in the ocean.

Posted by thuy

Greenopia X Eco-Bling

If you are confused about where to get your green lifestyle on, look no further than Greenopia. This handy little book is a consumer guide filled with local listings for green retailers, service providers and organizations. This will become your new bible to organic restaurants and grocery stores, sustainable building suppliers, eco-friendly dry cleaners etc. Throw it in your fashionable reusable tote and all of your green desires will be right at your fingertips.

Note: Recycling Symbol “bling” ring shown above, modeled by Thuy!

Posted by jen

Do You Want To “Be Like Ed” (Begley Jr.)?

Although many of you grew up wanting to “Be Like Mike“, this is the year 2008 and there’s a new sheriff in town . These days I’m trying to “Be Like Ed (Begley Jr.)” Although Ed may not have the flash and flair of Michael Jordan, his guide to living green will definitely make you feel like a superstar. For all of you out there looking to make some eco-friendly changes, a good place to start is with Ed Begley Jr.’s book Living Like Ed: A Guide to the Eco-Friendly Life.

A long time veteran actor, Ed, has been an environmental activist for over 30 years and lives by the motto that he “lives simply so others may simply live.” This book is an easy read filled with tips from Ed’s own firsthand experience. He breaks down what works and what doesn’t, as well as shows the reader ways to be green and save money at the same time. This book shows you that you don’t have to compromise comfort or aesthetic in an effort to go green. His wife Rachelle, a co-author to the book, believes in “style with a conscience,” and gives her tips on how to keep the chic in eco-chic… it’s a match made in green heaven!!

Posted by jen