Saw the Unforseen

I posted about this documentary a couple of times and now I've finally seen it. We watched it earlier this month on the Sundance channel. It was interesting. It is about the real estate development of Barton Springs in Austin. But, it doesn't focus on only the development's environmental effects, but also the way changing views and laws effect people and their livelihoods. Don't get me wrong - in the end it's the environmentalists who are the heroes and are shown to be correct. They have video of someone swimming underwater in the 70's (I'm assuming by the bathing suit style) and then current underwater video and the difference in water clarity is striking. I do have one complaint - they go back in forth in time quite a bit and are not clear at all about what is happening when. All in all - I recommend seeing this one.If you can find it again. I'm sure it'll be on Netflix soon if not already.

The Unforeseen

If you weren't able to make it to the Angelika for this showing - I didn't either - you can see it tonight on the Sundance channel. Right after It's Not Easy Being Green. See the trailer here.

Tuesday Night TV, My Favorite

So, yes, I do try very hard to be at home watching TV Tuesday nights at 8pm. Come on, I don't have a TiVo and I'm lovin' me some Sundance channel The Green. I would also love to be able to see Discovery's Planet Green channel (sweet website by the way), but alas DirecTV doesn't have that one on our plan and I'm not going to pay more for just one channel.

Anyway, The Green is three hours of great greenness. They have several shows and usually an interesting documentary, as well. My favorite by far is the show It's Not Easy Being Green. It's a reality show about this family in England who moved out to the country and is trying to live completely green and off-grid. They do some really interesting things, for example they built themselves a waterwheel to create electricity for the house. As Shinerman says though, they are able to do most of the things they do because of they're location; they have a stream AND a natural spring on their land. This week, they hooked up a wind turbine to run the battery for a pump that is taking water from the spring and supplying the house with water. I'm green with envy.

Of course it's a ton of work and they have a bunch of people who come and help, including two family friends who moved in with them to join the fun. They have two pretty cute kids in college – a guy (who is literally half-naked for the majority of the show) and a girl – for those who might be interested in something of that nature. See related image below. This next week they are supposed to be killing the pigs they've been raising. Mmmm, bacon…

Speaking of interesting Green viewing items, the Angelika is showing The Unforeseen this week. It is about the real estate development of Barton Springs in Austin. The director was on KERA's THINK Wednesday morning. I hope to be able to see the film, it sounded like something that should open up some people's eyes.