Movie to See: Eat Pray Love

Eat Pray Love is one of my favorite books, and so I was so excited when I heard that they were making it into a movie. And with Julia Roberts portraying Liz Gilbert, I knew it had to be good.

I talked a friend into going with me on Saturday night, and I was not disappointed. The movie stayed true to Gilbert's experiences that she shared in the book as she journeyed through Italy, India and Bali, hoping to find herself again although the way. The supporting characters were equally superb.

Liz Gilbert's story is definitely inspiring. Go see the movie if you have the chance!

Movie to See: Despicable Me

Chris was in town this weekend, and we had the chance to go see Despicable Me, the new Steve Carrell animated movie. Steve plays Gru, a villain, who just can't seem to find success in his feats nor meet the expectations of his mother. He is further troubled by competition from fellow villain Vector, who is played by Jason Segel. To assist him in stealing a shrink ray from Vector, Gru adopts three young orphan girls and finds himself with a whole new life as villain dad, while also managing an army of minions.

It is definitely a new story that we haven't seen before. The preview does give away some of the better moments, but I'll just say that there is a great scene with a kids book that made me tear up at the end. I won't give the rest of the story away, but will just say that it is super cute and worth a trip to the theater.

Watch This: Food Inc.

I just took the opportunity to watch Food Inc., a documentary by Eric Schlosser (who wrote Fast Food Nation) and Robert Kenner that looks at the food industry in the United States. It takes aim at the large corporate farms that produce almost all of the food that we consume. The large-scale industrial production is shown to be harmful to the environment and to the people eating it.

Beyond that, the film shows that it is cheaper to eat unhealthy food like fast food, soda and candy, than it is to eat fruits and vegetables, contributing to the obesity of our county, especially among the lower economic classes.

It was also interesting to see that many of the organic companies that we see at our grocery stores have been bought out by the larger agri-business companies. Did you know that Kellogg owns Kashi and Morningstar Farms? Or that Tom's of Maine (organic soap) is owned by Colgate-Palmolive and Burt's Bees is owned by Clorox? Odwalla is owned by Coca Cola. Even Ben and Jerry's is owned by Unilever. It makes sense that the giant corporations would want to buy out these products, which are seen to be the good ones. But it is important to know that's where they are coming from.

The film, although controversial, does raise a lot of questions about what we are eating. The answer seems to be a lot of corn. While I don't do a very good job about eating organic and eating local, this does make me want to make more of an effort. I have great resources around me, including a great Farmer's Market. While it may take a little more effort and a little more money, it seems to be a much bettter choice in the long run.