From Martha to McConaughey | By Sarah van Schagen, Sarah Kraybill Burkhalter | Grist | The Grist List

From Martha to McConaughey

06 Apr 2007

Photo: iStockphoto

It's a green thing

It's almost Easter, and you know what that means -- a bunny dyed on a cross. Or something like that. For Sunday's festivities, color your eggs naturally, the ~~jailbird~~ Martha Stewart way. They're sure to be crazy-popular -- or so says our insider tipster.

Death becomes you

One day you'll be pushin' up parsley. Kicking the oxygen habit. Immortally challenged. But "ashes to ashes" is so last week. Ashes to pencils and bird feeders and Keith Richards' drug habit is more like it.

Photo: iStockphoto

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Miller time

Sienna Miller has put aside her trouble with the Law to focus on helping kick off a global warming film contest with Global Cool. We just wish she'd kick off those leggings.

Making Trax

Recognizing that decision-making is perhaps not its forte, General Motors is soliciting the opinions of the public for its upcoming mini-cars. Whaddya think: the Beat, the Groove, or the Trax? We vote for: The Bike.

Photo: GM

We don't think you're ready for this jellyfish

Filming on Fool's Gold was halted last week in Australia when scientists spotted deadly jellyfish in suspiciously warm waters. Star Matthew McConaughey, who maintains a staunch anti-shirt policy, was especially at risk. In other marine news, just follow these steps: 1. Cut a hole in a box, 2. Put Lloyd in that box ...

Photo: Jean Baptiste Lacroix / WireImage.com

Seen something weird, wacky, or wonderful in the environmental world? Think it deserves a place on The List?

Grist does not testify to the quality of consumer goods, guarantee the pop-cultural significance of trends, or vouchsafe the accuracy of news stories featured in this column. For all you know, we just made it up. Use it at your own risk.

Sarah van Schagen is Grist's assistant editor.

Sarah Kraybill Burkhalter is Grist's editorial assistant.

Comments: (5 comments)

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Ashes into ....

Every now and then something in the Grist List surprises and delights me... expands my thinking... and the pencils and bird feeders from ashes took me to new heights! I didn't realize how limited my view was in thinking about green burial or being eaten (hopefully, after I'm truly dead) by animals a la Dave Foreman's wish to be eaten by weasels [I think it was Foreman- I have a copy labeled My Living Will in my metal box of important papers]. My thinking is now expanded and in the nick of time! Thanks....

An ounce of practice is worth twenty thousand tons of big talk. -Vivekananda

by karenc at 2:11 PM on 06 Apr 2007

Those puns - be careful!

Alright Sarahs,

What's up with this passage you put into your April 6 Grist List email:

It's a green thing
It's almost Easter, and you know what that means -- a bunny dyed on a cross. Or something like that. For Sunday's festivities...

A bunny dyed on a cross. Or something like that. Wow. I am not a religious person--far from it, and in private conversations and appropriate forums, I might debate the trappings of any belief system. But Sarahs, you have a certain responsibility in publishing your mass-delivered email newsletter. It even includes a responsibility to your own mission. Don't assume that everyone who is interested in your mission shares all the aspects of your personal view of the world or relishes your pun-oriented, clever humor as applied to deeply held beliefs. Now, if your site and its newsletters are geared only toward a certain slice of Green folks, and you're charged only with preaching to the choir (so to speak), then my comments are irrelevant. But if you are charged with using the amazing tool of the Internet to reach out far and wide on behalf of your mission, then please be cognizant that there might be a lot of people who hold religious beliefs and who also care about preserving the planet. And then there are those who are on the fence about global warming, etc., and whom you'd do better to welcome into the fold (so to speak). So don't come across as Us and Them, okay? Your work is too important.

by josephine at 12:04 PM on 08 Apr 2007

You don't have to be conventionally religious...

You don't have to be conventionally religious to be offended by the "bunny died on a cross" comment in your egg dying article. I was offended, because whatever else one believes, the horrendous death of Jesus was probably a historical event, and even on that level should not be turned into a bad joke.

I often forward Grist, but there is no one I'd risk sending this out to!

by dbwjw at 6:22 AM on 09 Apr 2007

Easter

Okay, did anyone else think it was actually a joke on the cheapening of the holiday? As in, it's supposed to be about Jesus being crucified and coming back to life, but it mostly just gets associated with surreally-colored eggs and a magical candy-bearing rabbit?

Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't call pointing out the commercialization of most holidays "offensive," so much as "true."

by Pathos at 3:56 PM on 09 Apr 2007

Take a deep breath

Ok folks before we start a holy way here over the bunny on the cross comment, lets all take a deep cleansing breath. Go ahead. I'll wait. Feel better? I thought you might. Now what Sarah was trying to point out was the hilarity of what Easter has become. Easter used to be about how Christ died for our sins and then rose again, the celebration of a miracle. Easter is now about fluffy marshmellow peeps, Cadbury eggs, and artificially colored eggs most people throw away rather than eating. So what Sarah was trying to do was point out how a simple religious observance has been turned into yet another corperate holiday, much in the same way that Christmas is now centered around Santa, presents and bonuses at work. It's up to you to decide if her pointing out this irony is in good taste or not, but it is a matter of personal opinion. I think it is hilarious!! I spent many hours in church on Sunday and am not the least bit offended.

by econpolyeco at 5:16 PM on 09 Apr 2007

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