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yumitsukiyoru · 5 days

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The Journey of a Novice Weed Grower: From Seeds to Harvest

Exploring the World of Home Cannabis Cultivation

What if I told you that it’s no longer necessary to suffer from “anxiety” or “migraines.” That you can dispense with finding innocuous emojis to help launder those quarterly $60 Venmo payments to your “friend” from college. That the days of relying on the charity of an elderly in-law undergoing cancer treatment have passed.

While the City of Fredericksburg will hold Earth Day festivities on Saturday, for many of us April 20 has always signified a different — if not wholly unrelated — holiday.

As of July 2021, the Virginia General Assembly passed into law 4.1-1101, making it legal for a person over the age of 21 to cultivate up to four marijuana plants “for personal use.”

A year later, I decided to take our fine legislators at their word.

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The Journey Begins

It started with a white envelope, no larger than a business card, with the words “Banana OG” scrawled on the front in red pen. Inside were approximately 20 seeds, generously gifted by a fellow teacher at my wife’s former school.

My dad always likes to proclaim that the internet is “the seat of all knowledge,” and when it came to growing weed, he was absolutely correct. The first stop on my informational journey was r/microgrowery, a subreddit dedicated to the small-scale cultivation of cannabis. Inside the community’s sidebar, you’ll find a “beginner’s guide.”

At this point, I find it necessary to make a few disclosures. I’m not exactly a novice when it comes to growing things.

Each summer, the small strip between my driveway and fence line teems with tomatoes, peppers, and — when the pollination gods gaze favorably upon me — zucchini and other assorted squashes (including an accidental pumpkin patch whose harvest coincided nicely with this past Halloween!). My herb garden stands as a testament to the potency of Fredericksburg’s feral cat colonies as fertilizer (wish I were joking).

I largely understand sunlight, water, airflow and soil as a growing medium.

So, in March 2022, I asked myself: “How different could weed be?” The next six months would hold the answer to my folly.

The Germination Process

Back to the white envelope.

I plunked a few seeds into a mason jar filled with tap water, having first allowed the water to sit undisturbed for a day to allow any chlorine to dissipate. The idea here is to soften the seed’s outer shell to expedite the germination process.

After approximately 48 hours, I saw one of the seeds start to… do something. A taproot had emerged. From there, I followed the advice on r/microgrowery of putting the primed seed in a disposable cup with a small amount of potting soil and placing it under a cheap plant light.

These nascent stages of life took root in my wood-paneled “three-season porch,” a room so thickly layered with tobacco as to resemble the age rings of a tree trunk. It felt like the right place for the seedy task at hand.

If you glean nothing else from this column, remember this: marijuana plants have two stages.

Vegetative stage begins when seeds sprout. Fan leaves develop and the plant, well, grows. It needs at least 18 hours per day of continuous light (up to as many as 24 hours) during this stage.

Each time the plant outgrows its container, you simply transplant it to a larger one.

The second stage is flowering. This can be triggered in one of two ways. If you’re growing indoors (usually in a reflective tent with a dedicated lighting setup), you switch to a 12/12 cycle, with 12 hours of light and 12 hours of total darkness.

By contrast, I didn’t have the space to grow indoors. Actually, I’m lying. As I’m wont to do when acquiring a new hobby, I “invested,” purchasing a cheap grow tent and lighting rig off Amazon.

As I write this, the box has sat unopened for three years.

The Art of Stealth Growing

Virginia’s law states that a home grower must “ensure that no marijuana plant is visible from a public way without the use of aircraft, binoculars, or other optical aids.”

In June I parked my plant, which had grown to occupy a five-gallon planter by this point, on the concrete slab next to the shed in my backyard. The denizens of Stuart Street were none the wiser as to my operation. To be clear, it’s one plant we’re talking about here.

Like Fight Club, the first rule of growing weed is you do not talk about growing weed. Silence is theft prevention at its finest. (Side note: it also aids your cause when every adjacent neighbor is 4/20 friendly, and, in one case, doing their own parallel grow).

Your weed plant needs training to be a good girl. And she must be a girl; at the first detection of male pollen sacs — which are a bit too on the nose as a gender identifier — the plant becomes instant trash. Training can consist of tying branches down or topping, a process that involves cutting off the top of a stalk to split it into two new ones.

I knew none of this during my maiden voyage.

Instead of a sturdy, bushy, plant tailored to maximize yield, I grew a marijuana tree. Seriously, by the time the changing of the seasons triggered flowering, it stood more than three feet tall and required a creative scaffolding of string and tomato cages to prevent it from collapsing under its own weight.

The Harvest

Fast forward a few months. An early November frost has turned my plant’s fan leaves from army green to a pleasing shade of purple. It’s time to chop.

I know this because, for weeks, I’d been using a jeweler’s loupe (basically a pocket magnifying glass) to check the trichomes on my plant’s buds. Trichomes look like dew drops; they’re very pretty. During the flowering stage, they change color from clear to cloudy to amber.

Depending on the desired effect, you chop between cloudy and amber. My harvest was closer to the cloudy end of the spectrum, as I was worried about powdery mildew due to fluctuating humidity levels and figured better-safe-than-shortness-of-breath.

I’d arrayed newspaper broadsheets (and we had no shortage of it due to my employer at the time) on our picnic table and had at the ready a standard-issue pair of Fiskars scissors. A third accessory that came in handy was a pair of gardening gloves — sticky icky is a rather crude but apt description for the not-yet-finished product.

The process as I elected to go about it is referred to as a “wet trim,” since it’s done before the buds are dried. I started with the large fan leaves, placing them in a bowl as I went. If you’re into hemp products, this is the material used to make goods.

The racks of a food dehydrator work nicely for drying the buds, a process that takes anywhere from one to two weeks with a fan running constantly for ventilation. This stage and the subsequent cure took place in my home’s second novelty space, a poorly retrofitted darkroom my wife and I refer to as the “murder room.”

And let me tell you, I killed it on my first try. After curing the dried buds in Mason jars for an additional two weeks (good things come to those who wait), my first harvest came in at a whopping *redacted for legal reasons* grams.

It’s been nearly two years, and the conception and subsequent writing of this column has served to reawaken my holiday spirit.

Who knows, maybe in a damp paper towel somewhere, seeds of future inspiration lie in wait.

Happy 420.

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oliviaknightley2110 · 1 month

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Olivia Knightley is the engaging blog writer for Personal Chic, the go-to website for personalised gifts that add a touch of individuality to every occasion. With a creative flair and a keen eye for the latest trends, Olivia curates content for the blog, offering insightful gift ideas, comprehensive guides, and thoughtful suggestions for a variety of celebrations and holidays. Having joined Personal Chic in 2021, Olivia has dedicated herself to becoming a connoisseur of all things gift-related, ensuring that every piece of content she crafts is both informative and imbued with a personal touch. Her background in creative writing and marketing, combined with her passion for celebrating life's moments, big and small, resonates through her engaging and relatable writing style.

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ear-worthy · 3 months

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Play On Podcasts: Shakespeare Reimagined

Friends can fill many important roles in people's lives, such as support, companionship, enjoyment, and sharing feelings. One contribution a friend can make is to guide you to TV shows, movies, books, and podcasts that are worth your time. I'm still upset at my buddy Gene for recommending Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

As a counterpoint to Gene (who also recommended Velma and The Idol), a business acquaintance -- Andreea Coscai from Tink Media -- recomended Play On Podcasts. What you have to know about Andreea is that she's never been wrong about a podcast she's recommended to me. It's automatic now. If Andreea recommends it, I listen to it. Sure, maybe I'm not that interested in a podcast about 12th Century footwear fads. But if Andreea recommends it, I know it's ear worthy.

Andreea Coscai is a digital marketer and podcast producer passionate about multicultural investigative reporting. Her latest podcast is titled Who Holds Up Half the Sky. In 2020, she founded the first NGO that promotes leadership and networking for young women, Her Time Romania. She spent her childhood in Romania, lived in China for two years, and moved to the United States in 2018. The podcast she recommended, Play On Podcasts, is simply genius. It reimagines Shakespeare's timeless tales, featuring original musical compositions and the voices of extraordinarily gifted artists. It's remarkable that the podcast is superb in so many ways. The original music is delightful and enchanting. The acting bristles with emotive energy. The plays they re-enact are much more Laurence Olivier in Hamlet than Mel Gibson in Hamlet. The scripted plays facilitate Shakespearean humor, wit, and sarcasm to flow through them.

Most important of all, the plays are scripted in modern English verse for modern audiences. Therefore, the age-old excuse that you don't like Shakespeare because you can't understand the words has vanished.

My first play on Play On was Othello, which began in September 2023. The play was broken up into seven episodes of about 35 minutes per episode. Then, Play On releases bonus content, typically with the playwright who reimagined the Shakespearean classic in modern verse or one of the actors. The October 13, 2023 bonus content of Othello with playwright Mfoniso Udofia was inspired, with Udofia explaining how to handle the conversion of words from old English to modern language, especially the racial epithets.

Then, Play On released the full play of Othello in one episode, which lasted over three hours. Their current series Romeo & Juliet was just released during the holidays. Play On is currently on episode two of Romeo & Juliet. I just finished listening to it, and I can't wait for episode three next week. I hope the couple finds a happy ending, like in a Hallmark Christmas movie.

In episode one of every play, Play On recommends that listeners use headphones or earbuds for the best listening experience. It's a recommendation I urge you to follow. The plays are rich in sounds that can captivate your ears. There is the dialogue -- crisp and understandable. The background sounds -- horses, wagons, merchants, nature -- can layer you into the play like being an avatar in a video game. The show has a voice and text consultant, an equipment and recording engineer, a sound effects assistant, and a production assistant. That's a lot of resources and a lot of money. As a listener, you hear that excellence.

The music strikes at your emotions, ratcheting up intensity, fervor, and excitement. In Macbeth, the show even has a bagpipes' musician.

As I've mentioned before, acting in an audio only format is incredibly difficult. Facial expressions, body language, and physical movement become irrelevant in an audio only drama. These actors from Play On are masters manipulators of voice -- intonation, insinuation, and implication reign supreme in their audio realm.

Play On podcasts began in April 2021 with Shakespeare's masterpiece Macbeth. It's a great play to begin with, and Play On's treatment of the classic is masterful. In my one and only foray into acting, I played Macduff in a high school play. I thought I was a solid Macduff. In Play on, an actor named Chinaza Uche played Macduff. Mr. Uche was a superlative Macduff, and I doff my hat to him. Here are their own words about Play On: "Welcome to the Play On Podcasts from Next Chapter Podcasts. This is where theater meets podcasts, combining the modern-day audio phenomenon with the power of live performance. Play On Podcasts is an epic audio adventure reimagining timeless tales, featuring original music compositions and the voices of extraordinarily gifted artists. Past seasons included Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Love Labor's Lost.

Next Chapter is an independent podcast production house dedicated to original, authentic storytelling. Next Chapter proudly informs us: "We are a progressive organization looking to make the world a better place, and lift up marginalized communities through the spoken word. We are a team of producers and sound designers, engineers and artists with unique experience to excel in podcast production from concept to creation."

You can subscribe to Play On Premium to get exclusive access to ad-free episodes, full plays, merch, and hear full interviews with the artists, producers, and engineers who brought it all to life.

Check out Play On Podcasts. To paraphrase William Shakespeare, who once wrote in Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 2, "Friends, podcast listeners, and Shakespeare fans, Lend me your ears and listen to Play On Podcasts."

#podcast #podcasting #shakespeare

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coll2mitts · 4 months

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#12 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Merry Christmas! I had to get a little creative since I'd blown through the explicitly Christmas movies on this list back in 2021. A few years ago Leena Norms released a Non-Christmas Christmas movies video which highlight movies that are not set during Christmastime, but give you that same cozy feeling when you watch them. I came up with my own list and lo and behold amongst the three Hugh Grant movies sits one excellent musical:

Where the Heart Is

About a Boy

Sense and Sensibility

Pride and Prejudice

Music and Lyrics

Under the Tuscan Sun

Moonstruck

Waitress

Pitch Perfect

Gentleman Prefer Blondes

I'm a child of the 90s; I don't have to defend why Mr. Grant's awkward blinking is comforting to me.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a yearly Non-Holiday Christmas staple in my household. It's fashionable, uncomplicated, catchy, and hilarious. I first sought out this movie somewhere around my 50th time of watching Moulin Rouge and I was overwhelmed with the instant love I felt for Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe. They're both incredibly funny, with Jane's quick wit and biting comebacks and Marilyn's smooth talking manipulation. And oh my god, not to beat a dead horse, but I couldn't help but notice they're absolutely gorgeous. If it weren't for Ernie Malone being the dumbest person for Dorothy Shaw to fall for, this film would be perfect. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Fair warning that every single song is a certified banger. It's no wonder - Jule Styne, who wrote the music for the original musical, also worked on Funny Girl. Hoagy Carmichael and Harold Adamson, the two who wrote the movie-originals, "Ain't There Anyone Here for Love" and "When Love Goes Wrong (Nothin' Goes Right)" similarly had prolific writing careers. You will be humming these tunes in your head for days, sorry not sorry.

Meet Dorothy Shaw (Jane Russell) and Lorelei Lee (Marilyn Monroe), two stage performers the studio executives didn't dare try to pass off as sisters. Each are guided by one thing - Lorelei is trying to marry her way into security and Dorothy just wants to get laid a lot. Big mood.

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Their mid-tier notoriety has allowed Lorelei to attract a wealthy beau, the precious Gus Esmond Jr. (Tommy Noonan). His father, who bankrolls his behavior, doesn't approve of the match, which is why Lorelei has concocted a plan - They will set sail on a boat to Paris and get married in Europe, far away from his father's influence. If Gus gets cold feet about the marriage and bails last minute, Lorelei and Dorothy will disembark regardless, only to return to the states when Gus comes to his senses and makes a commitment that matches the massive piece of ice on her finger.

As Lorelei predicted, her and Dorothy are soon escorted on the boat to Europe, France for their non-romantic voyage. Gus has funded this entire endeavor of course and is counting on Dorothy to wrangle Lorelei and prevent her from getting in trouble. Dorothy takes her responsibilities to Lorelei incredibly seriously, but immediately befriends the entire USA Olympic team to entertain herself.

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It takes everything within Gus to leave Lorelei on that boat, bribing her with gifts while pleading for her to be a good sport. She responds by placating his anxieties, "Daddy! Sometimes I think there's only one of you in the whole wide world!" This only proves that Marilyn was the only person who is allowed to say "Daddy" without us all collectively cringing.

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I would absolutely lose my mind if Marilyn looked at me like that. The syrup in her voice kills me.

Marilyn had an acting coach, Natascha Lytess, that annoyed the director Howard Hawks because Marilyn constantly deferred to Lytess instead of him. It got to the point where he booted Lytess from set because clearly Marilyn didn't need the coach since she had perfectly crafted her image and executes on it flawlessly. Lytess eventually returned after a one-week hiatus after Hawks determined it wasn't worth the fight and humored Marilyn by letting her do extra takes without telling her there wasn't film in the camera.

The second the boat leaves port, Lorelei gets right to work trying to find a "suitable escort" for her friend by casing the passenger list for those who are most likely loaded. Dorothy scoffs noting, "I like a man who can run faster than I can," before Lorelei scolds her for not considering she may be destitute in the future if she settles for a man who is pretty and nothing else. Dorothy takes this advice to heart by wandering over to the gym to ogle the athletes in their swimsuits.

Is Dorothy really here for love? Because that boner in her pants really suggests she's only here for a good time.

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It actually was an accident that Jane was pushed into the pool by a low-flying dancer, but they left the mistake in the movie because it played so well. Neither Jane nor Marilyn had danced on film before Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Jack Cole (assisted by Gwen Verdon) was hired as the choreographer, and Jane reveals that while Mr. Cole was slightly terrifying to work for if you were a professional dancer (I can't imagine the conversation that happened with that man after dunking Jane), Jack had enough patience to teach Jane and Marilyn how to dance. Furthermore, Jack took the lead in directing the musical numbers since Hawks realized his lack of experience in musical theater would hinder the film. This is most likely why they're so flippin' good, because if we've learned anything from Gene Kelly, choreographers tend to frame musical numbers in a way that features the talents of the performers.

While everything seems fine and dandy on the SS FindARichMan, there is a fella on board hell-bent on exposing Lorelei for the gold-digging hussy that she is. Ernie Malone (Elliott Reid) is a private investigator hired by Mr. Esmond's father and is tasked with providing hard evidence that Lorelei is fucking around on Gus. Since Dorothy and Lorelei are easily the most attractive people on board Malone finds them immediately and even overhears Lorelei making grand plans of ensnaring the heir of a whole state - a large one, like Pennsylvania or something - but misunderstanding this task is for the benefit of Dorothy. His opinion of Lorelei is further tarnished after eavesdropping on her blackmail-adjacent conversation with the head waiter to get said state-heir Henry Spofford III seated at their dinner table.

Malone, figuring it would be easier and less conspicuous to move in on the obviously single Dorothy to gather information, makes a pass at her by pretending to be rich. When Dorothy sends him a look that would melt the flesh of his bones he changes his strategy by suggesting that someone told him that Dorothy was interested in men with stuffed pockets and instead it must have been Lorelei they were talking about. Dorothy concedes, especially after Malone witnesses Lorelei making fast friends with Sir Frances Beekman, affectionately referred to as "Piggy". He's an elderly man who owns a diamond mine in South Africa, so clearly he's a morally great dude who certainly doesn't deserve to be robbed blind by Lorelei. It isn't until Lady Beekman, wearing more jewels than a magpie can horde, reveals she owns a diamond tiara that Lorelei officially makes her mark.

Later that night with their sights set on glory, the girls arrive at their very expensive dinner table while attracting absolutely no attention at all in their hideous gowns.

While we all know Marilyn as a sex symbol, Jane Russell also was pigeon-holed into "the girl" roles as well. Discovered by Howard Hughes, Jane was never able to escape how he marketed her. Even well into her 80s, Jane was asked by interviewers about her large breasts and the "special bra" Hughes designed for her to wear while shooting The Outlaw to hide her corseting (that she subsequently threw under her bed and he never noticed). She's also inevitably asked about her and Hughes "romantic" relationship because much like Ann-Margret with Elvis and Rita Moreno with Marlon Brando, a woman can't just talk about her career without some dumb dude taking part of the spotlight away from her. Similarly, Jane would always be asked about her and Marilyn's friendship with questions about how she acted on set, if she committed suicide, if she would have survived if she had a better support system... it's pretty disgusting, really. While the public is neverendingly fascinated by the circumstances of Marilyn's death, her persona and likeness was continually marketed after she died, picking her body apart like a vulture and selling each of her belongings to anybody who wanted to own a piece of her (including proximity to her literal corpse which is so violating and gross it makes me physically ill to think about). Both of these women, while beautiful, were also incredibly talented, and it's disheartening that their careers are remembered either by their scandals, their fate, or their cup size.

Once seated, Dorothy is amused that Malone is conveniently placed at their table, incorrectly assuming he's there for her and not her friend. The dinner continues to devolve in Malone's favor after it's revealed that Dorothy's blind date, Mr. Henry Spofford the Third, is barely older than a toddler.

"How am I doin'?"

Newly distracted by a diamond tiara and resigned to the fact her thinly-veiled plan to make Dorothy Mrs. Pennsylvania was a bust (If he were 16 or 17 you could marry him in Tennessee), Lorelei leaves Dorothy to get closer to Mr. Malone. Every and all attempts Malone makes to bash Lorelei to his new pseudo-girlfriend are quickly and thoroughly rebuffed because Dorothy is a good friend, but not good enough not to make out with Ernie's face when the opportunity presents itself.

Dorothy's romance with Mr. PI is short lived, however, when she catches Malone conspicuously taking pictures of Lorelei and Piggy through the porthole of their state room. Instead of decking the dude on site, Dorothy immediately confides in Lorelei they have been duped. When Lorelei's first attempt at stealing the pictures by breaking into Malone's room (and subsequently getting stuck in a porthole trying to escape it) doesn't prove to be fruitful, they hatch a scheme to steal the film from Malone's pants by getting him incredibly drunk and drugged up on sleeping pills.

Once developed, Lorelei innocently uses the photos as leverage with Piggy to gift her Lady Beekman's tiara. After obtaining the goods Lorelei and Dorothy are confronted by Malone, now armed with a tape recorder, who comes clean about his scheme and his intentions to ruin Lorelei. Unfortunately he also reveals to Dorothy that he is, in fact, in love with her. Barf emoji.

Once docked in France, Dorothy and Lorelei use Mr. Esmond's line of credit to go on a shopping spree. When they arrive at the hotel they encounter Lady Beekman, an insurance agent, and Mr. Malone. Mrs. Beekman is under the impression Lorelei stole her tiara since Mr. Beekman is a coward who lied about the gift and absconded to Africa to avoid the inevitable fight with his wife. Lorelei refuses to return the tiara on principle, which gets her and Dorothy kicked out of the hotel. Adding salt to the wound, Mr. Malone also reveals Mr. Esmond has cut off Lorelei's financial support leaving her out on the street. He then tells Dorothy what hotel he's staying at because he's a horrible person who seems to be on a personal mission to separate her from her loyal best friend.

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Instead of rolling over and admitting defeat, the girls quickly get a gig at a local bar. As if on cue, Gus travels by airplane to reunite with Lorelei, only to get the cold shoulder in return. While money is important, trust is more valuable to Lorelei. Mr. Esmond has only revealed himself to be like any other man in Lorelei's life - showering her in gifts when times are good, but the second things get hard, they sell her out or drop her flat.

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This scene is by far the most famous in the movie, if not the most famous of Marilyn's career. Countless musical artists, movies, and even playmates have referenced "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" with varying levels of media literacy about what its ultimate message is. Most of the time it is used as shorthand for love of materialism, but in this context it is Lorelei's way of getting under Mr. Esmond's skin. If this is all you think I am, this is all I will be to you.

I love Marilyn's distinctive vibrato (beautifully showcased in "Bye, Bye Baby"), but she was not the only one to sing on this song. Howard Hawks credited Gloria Wood for the more operatic parts in the beginning, and the ghost singer to end all ghost singers Marni Nixon has also claimed she dubbed over some of the lines. I honestly don't even mind - the majority of what you're getting is Monroe herself with the others giving her a boost where it went a little beyond her skills.

Also according to Hawks' biography "The Grey Fox of Hollywood", the test run of this number Mr. Cole staged was with Marilyn "wearing nothing but diamonds with a little horse's tail coming out of her ass with a little diamond horsefly on the tail", which like... I'm sure this is somebody's fetish, but how the fuck does that fit in this movie? Could you imagine if they would have asked Carol Channing to do that??

ANYWAY, after Lorelei finishes the number, the cops show up to arrest her and take back the tiara. She quickly discovers it has been stolen out of her room leaving her with only one option - getting Mr. Esmond to pony up the funds and get her out of a jam. The end of The Saga of the Tiara is pretty convoluted, but here's the short of it:

Dorothy poses as Lorelei and gets arrested by the cops to give Lorelei some time to wrangle 15k dollars

Malone meets up with Mr. Esmond Senior at the airport as he's travelled there to fish his son out of a French nightclub

Malone also bumps into Piggy at the airport, giving the game away that he is not, in fact, in Africa, while also pretty much admitting he's the one who ratted out Lorelei

Malone and Mr. Esmond Sr. head to the courthouse to watch Lorelei get stomped on, only to be confronted with Dorothy in a wig

Malone decides not to expose Dorothy because she admits she loves him and resigns from working with Mr. Esmond Sr. while relinquishing his salary

When Dorothy/Lorelei tells the judge the tiara has been stolen Malone knows where it is and hauls Piggy to court to play hot potato with the headpiece

With the tiara "returned" to Piggy, the girls are off the hook.

After Lorelei is informed everything has been resolved she tells Gus to take a hike. Instead of accepting Lorelei's rejection, Gus confronts his father and goes to bat for their relationship. Lorelei, finally getting some reassurance from Gus, convinces Daddy to let her marry Sonny for his money.

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Of course, this film made in the 1950s ends with a double marriage - Dorothy to Ernie and Lorelei to Gus - proving that wedding rings really are a girl's best friend. Whomp whomp.

Lorelei and Gus seem like a good match. He loves doting on her and she loves feeling appreciated. His timid disposition is partially what attracted Lorelei to him, but his willingness to fight for her and prove he won't be a complete jellyfish when it comes to important matters really sealed the deal in her eyes. Ernie and Dorothy, however... what is the appeal? I feel like she settled for another useless pretty boy. He lied to her the majority of the time they were together in order to make money off her friend's personal business. While he began to earn some good faith by resolving the problem he took part in creating, he seems quick to judge and has proven he can't be trusted. How exhausting will it be for Dorothy to live with a man who never has anything nice to say about the people she loves? I give it a year. Dorothy's animal magnetism cannot be tamed.

I am absolutely smitten with Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. It's fluffy without being frivolous, good-natured, entertaining, and fun as hell. I giggle incessantly at every Dorothy comeback and every statement Lorelei makes with sincere severity. Not to give the game away too early, but it is going to be incredibly hard to top this movie on my own Best Movie Musicals of All Time list.

Thanks for reading on tumblr! If you’ve enjoyed this post, please consider helping me fund this project by donating to my ko-fi :)

#unwarranted opinion #things i'm obsessed with #100 best musical movies of all time rotten tomatoes #Youtube

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chorusfm · 5 months

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2023 Holiday Gift Guide

Each year I put together a small gift guide post full of things that I think make great gifts and are a lot of fun to give or receive for the holidays. Everything on the list is something I’ve used and enjoyed and recommend. I have recommendations posts for software, headphones, and miscellaneous stuff around the house, so the things on this list will be more focused on stuff not included in those posts and geared toward things I’ve come across in the past year or so and think would make good gifts. I used my Amazon affiliate link when the product showed up there, which gives our website a slight percentage back if you make a purchase and therefore helps fund our continued existence. If you’d like to get me a gift, becoming a supporting member or gifting another user a supporting membership for a year would mean the world to me. And, if you’re looking for something in just about any price range with a Chorus.fm or AbsolutePunk.net logo on it, check our merch shop. Under $25 Where Are Your Boys Tonight?: The Oral History of Emo’s Mainstream Explosion A great book detailing the history of emo and pop-punk from 1999-2008. Holiday Funko I recommended these in 2020, but there’s even more now! There’s a bunch of new super-hero and Star Wars Funko Pops in various Holiday costumes that are lots of fun if you’re into that sort of thing. Under $50 EUFY Home Security Camera I know some people have had issues with Apple Secure Home Video, but it’s worked great for me. Knowing the video is secure and only records when we’re not at home gives me peace of mind. Nomad MagSafe Compatible Charger Hannah’s new phone going to USB-C this year meant I could finally upgrade our old docks on the bedroom side tables. These have the benefit of matching our bedframe and look great. I’m a big fan of standby mode during the night and love how these look. MIIR Drinkware We have multiple products from Miir and they’re all fantastic. Vinturi Wine Aerator I’m not saying I can tell the difference when it’s used, but all my wine nerd friends swear by it. Band Hoodies During the winter I spend almost every day in Mack Weldon sweatpants and a band hoodie. Under $100 Grovemade: Desk Accessories From their planters (I have two on my desk) to various desk accessories, I love everything they make. Website Subscriptions These days there are a bunch of websites and newsletters that have membership programs. The holidays are a great time to gift one of these memberships to a friend or family member, and trust me, as someone that runs one, it goes a long way to helping your favorite website as well. Some of the websites I recommend checking out their membership packages include: MacStories, Relay.fm, SixColors, Popular.info, Last.fm, and ATP. Over $100 Bearaby Weighted Blankets Hannah asked for one for her birthday this year and has given it rave reviews. On Running Waterproof Shoes My go-to shoe for navigating the city during the fall/winter season. I love how easily they slip on, and the waterproofing is greatly appreciated in Oregon. I still think streaming services are a great yearly gift. Apple Music, Disney+, or one of the services you don’t have is a great way to gift a year of entertainment. Any Amount Ask your friends and family to donate to the ACLU, National Bail Fund Network, EFF, or other non-profits of your choice. Subscribers to the weekly newsletter will probably recognize some of these items because I write about them throughout the year when I find something I like and enjoy. So, if you like reading things like this, plus getting my weekly thoughts on music and entertainment, you should signup. Archive * 2022 Gift Guide * 2021 Gift Guide * 2020 Gift Guide * 2019 Gift Guide * 2018 Gift Guide * 2017 Gift Guide * 2016 Gift Guide --- Please consider becoming a member so we can keep bringing you stories like this one. ◎ https://chorus.fm/features/articles/2023-holiday-gift-guide/

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16sasha · 8 months

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Eco-Friendly Christmas Tree: A 2022 Guide to Sustainable Christmas

When you think of Christmas, you probably think of exchanging gifts, eating delicious cuisine with your family, and marveling at the beauty of a brilliantly decorated Christmas tree. Many of us have probably already started thinking about which Christmas tree to buy. The most eco-friendly choice is to use a real Christmas tree that has grown in the streets. Most people celebrate Christmas without giving any thought to the toll it takes on the planet's resources.

For instance, whether you opt for a real, artificial, or potted Christmas tree, it still leaves a carbon imprint. What about the ornaments you adorn it with? Indeed, those are not a pure form of existence either.

The holiday season is here, and ready to enter. The celebrations have arrived, and with them, the enthusiastic beginning of celebration preparations. The annual tradition of cutting down millions of trees to use as Christmas decorations results in widespread forest destruction and the release of glasshouse gasses. However, you may do your part to protect the earth by adopting the practice and looking out for options on how to make an eco-friendly Christmas tree.

For environmental reasons, this doesn't mean you have to forego your traditional Christmas centerpiece. Let's look at the environmental implications of several types of sustainable X-mas trees and decorations to see how you can have a gorgeous yet eco-friendly tree in your living room this year. A lovely Christmas tree can be created from recyclable materials such as old newspaper stacks, cardboard, scrap wood, and other household discards while also being kind to the earth. This year, you can celebrate Christmas in a greener way with some of the following options.

Sustainable Christmas Tree Options -

Do you know, In 2021, 20.98 million real Christmas trees were purchased? Some environmentally conscious shoppers believed that purchasing an artificial Christmas tree was a more sustainable choice than cutting down a real tree for the holiday season.

The conventional knowledge of our time maintains that fake trees made with hazardous materials like lead and PVC plastics have a larger carbon footprint than a real tree that has been chopped down. However, In the United States, over 15,000 tree farms cultivate 350 million Christmas trees, providing employment for more than 100,000 people.

On the other hand, buying an apple or a Christmas tree from a farm that practices sustainable agriculture means making decisions along the same lines. When it comes to the impact on sustainable ecosystems, the question of whether or not to use native or non-native species is a significant one for certain people.

Think over the following choices while you figure out what's best for you:

Live Tree

If you want a fresh tree, purchasing a live tree is the most environmentally responsible choice you can make. The majority of live trees will only be able to withstand being brought indoors for 7–10 days before they begin to show signs of distress. After the holidays, planting and caring for your tree involves more expertise and commitment than simply drilling a hole in the ground. Consider whether the location and soil are suitable for the tree you intend to plant.

Plant a tree at home

Planting your Christmas tree between seasons and using it year after year is a terrific alternative. Buying them little means you can see the tree develop each year. Aside from its practical uses, the tree can also serve as a home for several species. Previous studies have shown that seven million Christmas trees are thrown away in January instead of being recycled, so it's important to remember to recycle your tree if you don't want to plant it. Depending on the variety, Christmas trees can take anywhere from three to ten years to mature and be ready for use in holiday celebrations.

Conventional Artificial Trees

Conventional artificial trees can have an environmental impact that is comparable to that of a real Christmas tree if they are utilized for a number of years. However, 90% of typical fake trees are manufactured in China using lead and PVC chemicals, and they do not degrade in landfills. Those trees cannot be recycled.

Reusing and Recycling Christmas Trees

Your Christmas tree can be recycled in a number of ways, and many local companies and towns offer these services. Check with the city or county where you live, or look for recycling options in the vicinity of where you live.

Wooden Trees

Consider wooden trees instead of plastic trees if you're looking for something different to reuse year after year. These are fantastic for decoration, but they also bring a unique touch to your home. There are some fantastic eco-friendly Christmas tree options to buy ahead of the festive season, ranging from little genuine trees to wooden substitutes.

Optional Man-Made Tree Replacement

You can now find some alternatives to traditional Christmas trees on the market that are better for the environment. Cardboard trees, trees made of plywood, and inventive do-it-yourself projects are among the available options. Before you whip out your credit card and buy one of those eco-chic Christmas trees that are now on the market, you might want to think about the carbon footprint.

Get a Tree on Rent

Perhaps you associate the holiday season with the lovely aroma of evergreen trees and garlands. You are not, fortunately, expected to do without it. Today, you can rent a Christmas tree from a growing number of retailers. For example, the business might have thousands of trees in cultivation all year long. When the tree reaches a certain size, it can be rented out. A tree can be "rented" for a few weeks. Experts gently dig it out of the ground, so it doesn't die. The business will replace the tree and take care of it till the next holiday season. For certain companies, you can even select the same tree for each holiday season.

Finding a Way to Get Along

Work that is worth doing includes being cognisant of one's impact on the environment and reducing waste. When one person makes a choice to forego having a Christmas tree and begin a new custom, another person may opt to prepare a holiday dinner using ingredients sourced from farms that practice sustainable agriculture, or they may choose to give a loved one the gift of a Canopy Tree.

Read More - How Businesses Can Improve Their Sustainability Performance With ESG.

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Final Thoughts

Let's choose eco-friendly Christmas ornaments, trees, and presents to make this the most environmentally responsible holiday season ever. We can make a big difference by making small adjustments to our behavior and consumption patterns this holiday season and every season to lessen our impact on the planet. Start a new eco-friendly custom with the family this year.

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A leader in ESG Consulting services, SG Analytics offers sustainability consulting services and research support for informed decision-making to all businesses. Contact us today if you need an efficient ESG integration and management solution provider to boost your ESG performance and ranking.

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