Ummm.... Not Yummmm - Elephant Sashimi

The Associated Press just released a very disturbing and distressing article about elephant sashimi. Yup, elephant meat! Where can someone find elephant meat on the menu? Phuket, Thailand!!! Elephants are already an endangered species (according to the Asian Elephant Foundation, the Asian elephant population has declined 90 percent over the last century). I thought poachers killed elephants for their tusks, not their trunks and sex organs (as the article discusses). Little did I know...

And Thailand is not the only country combating pachyderm poaching. Indonesia may soon loose the Sumatran elephant. The World Wildlife Fund has moved the Sumatran elephant from the endangered list to the CRITICALLY ENDANGERED list! And throughout the African continent, elephant populations are still in danger.

If you care about keeping these gentle giants alive for another 100 years, check these websites out to see how you can support and protect elephants.

The Asian Elephant Foundation http://www.theasianelephantfoundation.org/
Save the Elephants http://www.savetheelephants.org/home.html
Wildlife Conservation Society http://www.wcs.org/saving-wildlife/elephants/asian-elephant.aspx
World Wildlife Fund http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/finder/elephants/elephants.html

We have revered the elephant for centuries, let's make sure we can continue to appreciate these wonderful mammals for years to come.

Locals of Ubud, Bali preparing for a festival at the Elephant Temple

What Will The Year of the Dragon Bring?

January 23rd is the beginning of the new year in the Chinese lunar calendar. And this Chinese New Year is all about the Dragon making things happen. According to Chinese lore, The Year of the Dragon is the year to conceive new life. And the Chinese are wasting no time in finding Hollywood partners to develop new projects (some directors, producers and writers call their entertainment endeavors their babies). So without further discussion, here is a great Financial Times article about Chinese investors in Hollywood.

I personally see a great future between Chinese and American production houses/investors moving into internet entertainment and producing some great shows and movies for internet channels like Hulu.

Oh, and if you were expecting an astrological chart or some background on this new year, here are some links to help you learn about Chinese New Year and this one in particular:


http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/01/22/f-year-of-the-dragon.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16652555

http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/2012ChineseHoroscope.htm

And this is just cool... A double rainbow (which means good luck) in Singapore on the first day of the Dragon! http://www.asiaone.com/static/multimedia/gallery/120122_rainbow/

Do You Know About the Ballona Wetlands?

Turns out the Ballona Wetlands are in Southern California, and once included Marina Del Rey and Venice Beach! I didn't know that, and I spent part of my childhood in Southern California, and quite a bit of it at Marina Del Rey. I always thought most of SoCal was once desert before development. Perhaps I'm just ignorant. But if you didn't know this, too, and would like to learn more, take a look at this article from the Los Angeles Times about restoring the last vestiges of SoCal's wetlands.

Btw, I love the LA Times. They sometimes have great articles, and their in-depth reports and investigative series are wonderful. Here's a recent one about a new challenge facing Death Valley Students.

Be Silent, Or Pay Up

Think really hard to the year 1992... Remember anything different about dinners and dates? Can you hear it now? It's phone silence... Once upon a time we didn't worry about emails, text messages and phone calls during a night out. It just didn't happen. And if there was a phone call, it was most likely urgent. Fast forward 20 years, and everything seems urgent to us - especially when we're out to dinner and not in front of a TV or computer. Or perhaps we just have tech-induced ADD. Well, here's an article from the New York Daily News about one man's plan on how to reverse the trend. Let's get real - the 90s are cool again! :-)

Must Read - Latino Voters

I've been following this topic for some time, and I'm very interested how it will play out this election season. Here is an AP article about the Latino vote, which is really interesting.

Sunday Reading

Did you know the US is pulling out thousands of troops from Europe? Perhaps I'm very ill-informed, but I've only read about troop pullouts in the Middle East. Here's an interesting article from Der Speigel titled Thousands of US Soldiers Set to Leave Europe.


This is a great little Washington Post blog about Ann Romney, who may just be the next FLOTUS. Did you know that Mrs. Romney suffers from MS and is a breast cancer survivor?

Great New York Times article about the 1 percent today.

Do you love the great outdoors? I do, and I'm very sad to learn about potential state park closings in California. Check out this Patch.com article. 

And for all you Kindle lovers, here are a couple of links to help you either borrow e-books from Amazon Kindle (if you're a Prime member) and borrow e-books from your public library. And if you don't have a Kindle, but do have an e-reader, you can still borrow plenty of books from your local library!Just contact your local library to find out how to do it. Lastly, if you've ever wanted to print a page or more from your e-book, but don't know how to (or have hit the publisher's limit), check out this site that gives you software to convert your e-book into a PDF. I love e-books. And I love borrowing - cuts down on my reading spending as well as not turning my apt into a spinoff of the Collyer Brothers!

Motivation

Just watched an incredible documentary called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. It was absolutely inspiring and very touching. I highly recommend watching it if you are interested in doing a juice cleanse or just want to see how two men changed their lives. And if you need motivation on eating right and taking care of yourself, this documentary will definitely do that. I am now determined to eat more veggies and fruit :-)

What Is Yoga?

Love this New York Times discussion on yoga. Did you know that helping someone else is considered yoga??? Very enlightening debate :-)

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

Yes, Ren & Stimpy made me laugh...

The good news today is everyone is jumping on the Good News bandwagon!
Here's a list of sites that cover (or soon will be) the positive side of life:

The Huffington Post 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/i-have-good-news_b_1200481.html

Happy News
http://www.happynews.com/index.aspx

Good News Network
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/

Amazing News
http://amazingnews.org/

Optimist World
http://optimistworld.com/

Great News
http://greatnewsnetwork.org/

Gimundo
http://gimundo.com/


My two cents on these good news sites:
I love the idea of spreading hope and positive news to the masses. I even have aspirations to have my own site dedicated to people helping others.
However, it's quite clear that these well-intentioned sites have not made an impact on the mainstream media. Yes, all the networks dedicate at least a couple of minutes each week to highlight the latest cause celebre and/or a sweet story about someone on Main Street USA helping someone down in the gutter.  But why not more? Because being Good isn't Sexy! And sexy sells advertising, and keeps business afloat.
While working for a booking/story editor at a very famous television news magazine, I was continually told that if the story wasn't "sexy," it was not worth covering. So how do you make "good" sexy? One way is to have a gorgeous and/or famous person attached to the good deed. Another is to offer incentives like raffles and auctions that the media will want to cover. But there must be other ways to make good appealing. We need new ways to approach this old problem - how do you influence people to care about others and issues? Any thoughts?

Heavenly Hair Care from Thailand

Late last year I stayed at a the Shama Hollywood, a great service apartment in the heart of old Hong Kong island. A dear friend thought it would be the perfect place to explore and have all the amenities of a modern hotel without the hefty rates. She was right on all accounts, and it was fabulous. And it had wonderful toiletries from a Thai company called Thann. Unfortunately, I never had a chance to buy any regular-sized bottle of Thann shampoo and conditioner. And more unfortunately, Thann is not sold in the United States.
After trolling the web during one of my frequent bouts of insomnia, I found out Thann is sold in Canada and they will ship to the US. Right now they are having a sale (25% off of certain items when you use the code NEXTBIGTHINGMAG). This sale ends January 20th. I highly suggest you look at the site...
After I used their shampoo and conditioner, my thick coarse hair felt like imperial silk and it dried quickly even though Hong Kong was quite humid.
Their shampoo is no more expensive than some of the higher-end brands found in your local drugstore. However, their products are worthy of a five-star spa! I've tried the Aromatic Wood and Oriental Essence products - they smell amazing! Better yet - the products are all natural and bring the luxurious scents of a Southeast Asian rain forest into your urban boudoir!

Here's a picture of a lotus flower, which I saw at the Elephant Temple in Ubud, Bali:

Diner Deliciousness

Joyous news to my junk food ears! Daniel Boulud, the master chef who started the high-priced gourmet burger trend, loves Frito Pies! According to Food Republic's article, Boulud tweeted he had a Frito pie at a recent football game.
Living in Santa Fe, NM as a child, I salivated over Frito Pies ever time I went to the best five-and-dime store ever - Woolworth on the Plaza. I dreamed about Frito Pies. I begged my mother for Frito Pies. Unfortunately, my mother was a health nut and refused my constant requests for Woolworth's famous Frito Pie.
So, it wasn't until I was a rebellious teenager that I ever tasted one. And it was everything I had hoped it would be - salty, slightly sweet, crunchy, gooey, hot, spicy and greasy.  It was dime store deliciousness!
I hope Boulud brings the Frito Pie to new heights, but stays true to its roots. And I pray he won't price a classic Southwest diner dish as a Michelin-starred resto specialty. A girl can dream....

NYC Find

Ever wonder where to buy DIY closet necessities in NYC? Sure, our great city offers everything, but sometimes it's a little hard to know where that special something is. If you're into DIY projects or rather not spend too much money to make alterations to items in your closet, there's great place to go....

Manhattan Wardrobe Supply on West 29th Street near FIT.
They have everything you could imagine, and at great prices. It's where the tv/film/theater professionals go, and it's some place you'll definitely want to remember.

If you don't want to pay the steep NYC prices for repairing clothes and shoes, next time you're in Hong Kong you can have a man like the one below fix your clothes. And you'll find street cobblers, opticians, beauticians etc, too. I'm not saying this particular tailor or other street services are bad, but you might not like your clothes et al being mended en plein air...

Must Read Today

January 11, 2012

Lots to read today...But here's a few I've enjoyed so far:

If you want to learn about how reporters cover the campaigns, this article pretty much sums it up:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/journalists-campaign-trail-secrets-revealed/2012/01

This is very sad, but very real for families around the world... Parents abandoning their children because of economic circumstances. This story takes place in Greece:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2085163/Children-dumped-streets-Greek-parents-afford-them.html

If you're tired of reading about tragedy, here is a wonderful article about hope and humanity. It's a cake crusade:
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/136403943.html 


And here is just a funny picture I took many years ago in Kowloon, Hong Kong (I say anything that makes a smile or a laugh is a good thing). This made me laugh. I have no idea what is written and I can't tell exactly what this place is - a brothel, a Korean Spa where they thoroughly clean the lady bits, or a place for Happy Endings... Any thoughts?