Spring is here!

These photos make me excited for the warm weather! They also make me want to travel! 

Photos via: Flickr

The Trustworthiness of Beards

My dear, sweet, beard loving friend Dionne showed me this helpful scale. Look at the facial hair around you, now look back at the chart...do you need to remove yourself from anyone's presence? 

(Click on the picture to make it larger)

Room Inspiration

Have some color confidence!!

Via: The Decorista

I want that.

From fieldguided

Perfecting Fee

Perfecting Fee from Toby Ross-Southall on Vimeo.

Perfecting Fee tricks you. I don't like being tricked but this short film is so intriguing. The deception in this story starts off so subtly and only when you believe the narrative does it start to shift. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything so you could watch it innocently and be surprised. Alas, see what you think.

Also, Perfecting Fee was the winner of the Smoke & Mirrors 48 Hour Film Competition 2010.

Via: Messrs

Gifts from SXSW

Throughout SXSW many bloggers, magazines, music sites, friends and neighbors have been sharing the best shows they saw in Austin. Here are a few of the artists that have been frequently mentioned.

I love the harmonies from Denton, Texas band Seryn. Paste Magazine said Seryn was their favorite performance of the festival.

NPR's Tiny Desk Concert relative, Tiny SXSW Concert, highlights the group Typhoon. The song starts off slowly making you wonder what the majority of the 11-piece band is there for but then builds and it wonderful. It's worth the wait.

Middle Brother ♦ Me Me Me from Brandon Tauszik on Vimeo.

To be honest, Middle Brother is a group I heard about a few months before SXSW. They garnered a decent amount of buzz at the festival and their great so I figured they should be included. A veritable indie super group, Middle Brother consists of the lead singers of Delta Spirit, Deer Tick and Dawes. 

Admiral Fallow was described in one article as a mixture of Frightened Rabbit, Mumford and Sons and The Middle East which makes them rather appealing. The Scottish accent doesn't hurt either!

Whenever a group incorporates strings, horns, and a chorus of people all singing together I tend to like them. Lost in the Trees does just that in A Walk Around the Lake. I also like All Alone in an Empty House.  

There were hundreds of concerts throughout the festival so there are probably many more best of lists to stare at for hours along side constant googling of bands. Let me know if you find anything good!!

Jessie Ware and Sampha - Valentine

Sweet and simple. Jessie Ware's voice is as clear as a bell.

School of One - Hybrid Schools

GOOD Magazine just wrote an article about increasing prevalence of hybrid schools with this incredibly interesting video. The School of One uses a myriad of technological tools to tailor each child's education to what will make them most successful. There have been a lot of discussions of education reform going around and there are many cases being made for restructuring how students are taught at the most basic level. As someone with a job involves very specific education plans for each student, it's really amazing to see how The School of One recognizes and embraces all the students different learning styles. Unfortunately, most schools in America don't have the type of money to get this amount of technology in a classroom. Would parents support such a different way of learning? Could entire districts succeed in this way?

Dance Assassin

If this happened to me I might be paranoid for weeks to follow. But watching it happen to other good natured people is quite hilarious. The Dance Assassin's face is covered but if you got a chance to see it you might recognize him as Robert James Hoffman III from Step Up 2 or She's The Man. 

Left Brain or Right Brain?

My roommate and I were recently talking about being left or right brained and which side held which characteristics. We couldn't remember so the conversation didn't last very long. Luckily, through IC's blog, I now have this amazing Mercedes Benz ad to sort it all out for me! (You can see a few more versions of this ad campaign here.)

Given that these two descriptions are rather opposite from each other I'm not surprised to not fit either exactly. Which one are you?