Author Archives: breen

be in a movie about pittsburgh

i just received this information in an email:

“IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD”
BE PART OF A FILM SHOOT
SATURDAY JULY 1, 2006
5:00 PM
AT THE POINT

On Saturday July 1st at 5 p.m., Pittsburghers, past and present, near and far, are invited to join Mr. McFeely (David Newell) to sing “It’s A Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood” at The Point.

This once-in-a-lifetime event is part of the grand finale of “A TALE OF TWO CITIES”, a movie we are making about Pittsburgh– the city which built America with its steel, cured polio and invented everything from aluminum to the Big Mac which now is being challenged to reinvent itself.
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e house

one of the many hip shops on carson street in pittsburgh’s bustling south side is the e house. not only is it hip, but it’s also green. e house is one of the few places in this city where you can buy organic household products, all natural clothing and accessories. e house also takes recycling, particularly some tricky items like battreries. to go back to the hip comment, some of the stuff they carry is just really creative. they carry products from pittsburgh-based littlearth- you know, the company that makes belts out of recycled tires and bottle caps. they’ve also got bags made from old billboards and serving dishes from traffic lights. it’s a great place for the stuff you need and for finding the right gift. check them out: 1511 east carson street.

ps- according to a 2003 article in the pittsburgh business times, littlearth, “contracts with two plants in China that manufacture a majority of its products.” i thought that those of you interested in supporting local businesses and living a life with minimum environmental impact would want to know.

pps- you can calculate your eco footprint here.

pittsburgh’s great blizzard travel game

while shopping at capo’s furniture in beaver falls recently, i came upon pittsburgh’s great blizzard travel game. produced in 1978 by c.p. marino, this game comes with a two-sided board, destination cards, weather cards, blizzard cards, cars [player pieces] and 2 dice.

according to the rules, the point of the game is to land on each of the five “destination circles”: bank hardware, food store, work and drug store. the tricky part of the game is that if you land on a “weather” square and select a weather card that says blizzard, you have to flip the game board over from the sunny side to the blizzard side. in the midst of a blizzard, the game gets more difficult.

the game board is labeled with major roads from the city such as penn avenue. however, that seems to be the only way that pittsburgh comes into the game.

anyway, it’s neat to have a another vestage of the late 70s that celebrates our city.

the fish that saved pittsburgh

so i was just flipping around on cable and this movie caught my eye. with pittsburgh in the name, how could i resist? it turns out that this 1979 sports spoof is about the pittsburgh pythons, a basketball team that isn’t very good until they turn to astrology. starring julius erving, this film comes with plenty of gym shorts with contrast piping, striped kneesocks and a groovy theme song. it also features shots all over and city trash cans with the slogan “pittsburgh’s on the move.” whether or not you’re into the late 70s formula comedy, it’s worth seeing a glimpse of our city back in the day.

artemis

artemis


and you thought home depot was your only option. tisk, tisk. for environmentally responsible building materials, visit artemis. right on butler street in lawrenceville, linda and janice will make your green renovation dreams come true. they have options for every part of your house, and the stuff looks really cool too. go check them out and learn something about how you can decrease your impact.

artemis’ website is: http://artemisenvironmental.com/