For those of you who were interested in seeing Lemonade the Movie but who’ve been trying to hold off on buying the DVD, it’s now available for viewing online via Hulu if you’re willing to sit through the short commercials.

I highly recommend it for anyone who needs a quick shot in the arm of inspiration.

A few months back, I ran the trailer for Lemonade The Movie.  If there ever was an uplifting film about the current economy, folks, this is it.  I strongly believe that anyone who’s been sweating the possible loss of their job and everyone who’s already experienced it, needs to sit down and watch this short documentary, which espouses “It’s not a pink slip.  It’s a blank page.”  Preferably a couple of times.  I’m convinced we’ll all be a hell of a lot better off five years from now if we do.

Lemonade is a documentary created by Erik Proulx and directed by Marc Colucci which interviews sixteen advertising professionals who were laid off and follows what happens to them afterward.  The answers are widely varied, sometimes hugely surprising (like the ad exec who opted to have a sex change), and entirely uplifting.

Back when I was gainfully employed working as a massively stressed out consultant in the banking industry, I watched the initial trailer repeatedly and cried happy, wistful, telephone commerical type tears.  It just touched a deeply truthful chord in me.

Then, I was laid off myself back in October and I replayed the thing a million times trying to ask myself what my own, best response to being laid off should be while trying to resist the urge to freak out and grab the nearest available $10-an-hour job just so I could say I was gainfully employed.

Then, I found work again in a field similar to my prior work experience and, a week later, the roughly 30-minute movie was finally finished. And, man, it’s got me asking all sorts of interesting questions.

You can now buy Lemonade online for $10 + shipping.  And it’s worth every penny.  I’ve watched it multiple times.  I’ve shown it to my friends.  I’m half tempted to order more copies and send them out as late Xmas gifts to friends and former coworkers who are still looking for work.

It’s good, guys.  It’s human, funny, and deeply touching.

I’ll be quick to say Proulx doesn’t have all the answers waiting for you wrapped up in a neat bow.  But I think the movie will help you get in touch with the right questions to be asking to find that answer for yourself.  And give you the chance to get to know some people who are on a similar course with their lives.

If you’re looking for additional inspiraiton, there is also a fantastic interview Jonathon Fields did with Erik Proulx which you can listen to here.

And, Eric, before you track down this post, too, and spend time saying thank you.  You really don’t have to.  It’s brilliant.  Just keep doing good work that people can draw strength and inspiration from.  You and the other people on the project have earned some major good karma from this thing.  Hopefully it’s already  headed your way as I type...

I cannot wait to watch this!  This is a documentary which features people in the ad biz who were laid off and discovered it was an opportunity to take back their lives.

This project is the creation of Erik Proulx, founder of Please Feed the Animals a website which focuses on the recently laid off.

The documentary website can be found  here.

Quick note: I’ve just been told this video only plays for viewers in the U.S.  If someone knows of an alternative source that’s friendly to other locations, please let me know and I’ll gladly swap it out.

In the spirit of my media-free week, this Saturday’s video is a short one.  Besides, I couldn’t resist sharing.

Summer is here, gang.  Step away from the computer and go enjoy!

This video is getting a little dated but, as a tiny-houser, I still found it interesting.  Christopher Deam is an architect and designer who drew national attention in 2000 when he redesigned the American icon, the Airstream trailer.  In 2002, he presented an overview of the project to TED.

I imagine Deam’s redesign looks less radical to our eyes in 2009 than it did in 2000.  But it’s interesting to me to see some of the solutions he came up with.  Like most of the architects I admire, he is concerned with purpose, utility, and authenticity.

This video runs only 7 minutes which seemed like a good length for a holiday weekend.  Happy Memorial Day weekend for those of you in the States!

Christopher Deam has also designed for Herman Miller and Target.  For further information on his work, please visit his website.

James Howard Kunstler is not a fan of suburbia.  In fact, he pretty much considers it the tragedy of modern society.

He wrote his book, The Geography of Nowhere, “Because I believe a lot of people share my feelings about the tragic landscape of highway strips, parking lots, housing tracts, mega-malls, junked cities, and ravaged countryside that makes up the everyday environment where most Americans live and work.”  He continues the discussion in Home from Nowhere: Remaking Our Everyday World for the 21st Century.

Below is an entertaining video presentation by Kunstler covering some of what he finds distasteful in modern civic design.

Additional information on Kunstler and his books can be found on his website.

As part of the materials Greg Johnson provided to the writer for Flyp Media, he created a new video introducing the Small House Society.  I’m really impressed by how well it’s put together and the amount of information Greg was able to cover in under ten minutes.

This is the best introduction to the tiny house movement I’ve seen.  You can check it out below.  The video is also available on Blip.tv, Vimeo.com.

Additional information on the Small House Society can be found on ResourcesforLife.com.  If you are interested in becoming a member, the annual cost is $5.

As part of their most recent issue Fly Media has just released an interactive article on the Small Home Movement by Amy Van Vechten.

Greg Johnson from the Small House Society and ResourcesforLife.com and Tammy from RowdyKittens.com are both featured  in the article.  (I spent several hours being interviewed as well but apparently landed on the cutting room floor.  Them’s the breaks.)

This is the first interactive article I’ve seen on tiny homes and I think they did a wonderful job putting it together. It includes some wonderful photography and media content.

Please take a moment to check it out and also forward it on to people you think might appreciate it.

Blatant self-promotion usually makes me cringe.  However, the Small Living Journal (and to a lesser extent me) received a really nice write-up in the latest Small House Society newsletter.  I just had to share it below.

If you’re not familiar with the SHS newsletter, I encourage you to take a look.  It comes out once a month and contains all sorts of information that is of interest to people who are fans of tiny homes.

Small Living Journal – An Update. The recent launch of the Small Living Journal at www.SmallLivingJournal.com was a huge success. The journal was launched on 23 March 2009 with it’s first issue, and since then thousands of people have visited the site and hundreds signed up for the RSS Feed. In the most recent edition, the SLJ began delivering video streams of news about the small living movement – which makes it the first (and only) online video broadcast channel dedicated to the small living movement. I believe the Small Living Journal is a significant development in the small house movement because it’s the first initiative that brings together the many voices of the movement in one unified and collaborative online publication. It represents a very necessary next step in the evolution of the movement. The Small Living Journal began as a simple idea put forth by Stephanie Reiley (of ComingUnmoored.com). Stephanie contacted many of the writers (and leading voices) within the small house movement; people who are regularly sharing their own small living experiences on blogs and websites. She brought these writers together, one by one, to join in a kind of collaborative writing project that would be the Small House Journal. Already admired and respected in the movement, it didn’t take Stephanie long to gather a significant base of support, and the dream became a reality. Please take a moment now to visit the Small Living Journal and subscribe to the RSS Feed