(Video link here.) Open Culture’s The Best Music To Put You To Sleep: Minimalist Composer Max Richter, Pop Phenom Ed Sheeran & Your Favorites put us onto some great resources for relaxing music that would be great for working, winding down at the end of the day or to help you fall asleep. We’ve been listening as…
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Recently, a reader left us a query in Tinypass, our membership platform, and included this comment: “I paid for a subscription to support the writer and I think she has enough support at this point so she doesn’t really need mine.” Yikes!
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After we accidentally sacrified our trusty-ancient-unwieldy speakers trying to counteract the bed vibration that woke us up each morning, we went on the hunt for great sounding wireless speakers. We ended up getting two variations because music is so essential to us. It fuels our work when energy levels are low, helps us chill out, and even…
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(Video link here.) Tai Chi is not only a martial art but a form of moving meditation, where the practioner is meant to be “present” and aware of each move. Like all forms of meditation, that part is difficult; the mind loves to wander. In 1984, the great poet Allen Ginsberg wrote a poem about himself practicing tai chi…
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How many times have you had your shoemaker polish your shoes, only to find the rough blims and tears on the scuffed toes pop up after the first wearing, making your shoes look as old as they really are? Having never found a shoemaker who solved the problem, we decided to experiment on a few…
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Recently, we woke up really low and found ourselves mired, tired, unable to think our way out of our sad mood. It occurred to us to ask “What’s good here?” Then we started writing.
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We spent a lot of time and thought devising a pot rack that would make our decades of pots easily accessible AND sleek-looking, rather than a weighty mass hanging above our kitchen island. So we were intrigued by two ideas found rummaging through Boffi‘s “Kitchenology“, pdfs of their latest offerings.
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(Video link here.) NASA recently released beautiful enhanced color images of Pluto‘s largest moon Charon taking during the New Horizon mission’s approach to the Pluto system last July. They used the images create this astonishing flyover video of Charon. It definitely gives us an expanded view…
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This is the best method I know for making perfect roast chicken. Even novice and/or terrified cooks find it foolproof, and it has become a staple of many of my friends. By some mysterious chemistry, roasting a chicken with a lemon in its cavity guarantees exceptionally crisp skin, moist, flavorful flesh and abundant pan juices:…
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Lately, we’ve gotten into NBC’s Blindspot, a television series about a beautiful woman who is found completely tattooed and naked in a duffel bag in Times Square. To promote it, NBC has rolled out a massive tattoo-driven marketing campaign, including a “Tattoo Yourself” image generator app on their website. You choose a tattooed male or female body,…
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A new study provides further evidence of the beneficial effect of trees on well-being. Being among trees can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. British sculptor Max Lamb’s recent installation shows how powerful trees are INDOORS as well. Yoko Ono expands the view.
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Some of the most inspired gifs — and acts of appropriation — we’ve seen lately are Segawa Atsuki’s incredible animations of pre-modern Japanese prints here. We find this version of The Great Wave, Hokusai’s iconic woodblock from the 1800’s curiously soothing, as though we were IN that boat riding waves. We imagine ourselves on that boat riding the waves…
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Patti Smith is very much in the news these days, largely due to the release of her new memoir M Train, which New York Times’ Michiko Kakutani called “An eloquent — and a deeply moving — elegy for what she has “lost and cannot find” but can remember in words.“ Penelope Green in the Times…
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We’ve watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s many times and never noticed the very makeshift decor of Holly Golightly’s apartment: the crate coffee table…luggage storage bins…and…the wonderful clawfoot tub sofa. THAT set us on the hunt…
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Lately we’ve come across two compelling photographers whose images boldly portray an essential message about Instagram: the pretty picture you see is not the WHOLE picture. They show the unpleasantly real context from which the pretty photo was plucked, to become an aspirational ideal that messes with our heads. They help to antidote social media’s portrayal of the perfect lives we don’t have.
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“Something boldly improvisational and cheery going on in this house in Australia” wrote Susan Dworski in an email as she described the home Ruth Bruten, writer of Gourmet Girlfriend blog, shares with her husband and five boys. It is delightfully REAL and colorful, and packed with ideas. Here are Susan’s favorites, and ours:
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On Labor Day it was like a cosmic switch was flipped: suddenly we could smell fall and a chill crept into the air. We’re totally down with Thoreau and thinking of ways to spark summer’s lovely feeling even in the dark days of winter.
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(Video link here.) The Kids Should See This is a site full of wonders for kids AND adults. Dig this beautiful short video of what ACTUALLY happens when a kernel of corn POPS. I had no idea the stuff I threw into my trusty Presto PopLite Hot Air Popper is so magical. I’m thinking that browsing through The Kids Should See This‘ awesome videos while eating…
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At a birthday celebration at our friends’ house, we were delighted by the festive streamers festooning the living room, made even more FAB by the bold use of painter’s tape to stick them up.
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(Video link here.) We found this lovely video at The Cloud Appreciation Society’s website. We’ve long been a fan of Cloudreporter, where people post wondrous sightings of clouds from all over the world. Who knew there was a SOCIETY, with a very wise and useful Manifesto?:
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