Wilder Web

Picture is 'El Alamein, a toast to fallen friends' by my very talented brother-in-law, Matt Gauldie. You can see more of his work here or here.

Agreed. Yeah Yeah Yeahs launch pre-emptive strike at phone-wielding gig-goers. (via Noush)

This list of The 25 Least Visited Countries in the World is pretty fascinating. (via Yes and Yes)

I've just discovered that Bonzai Aphrodite, one of my favourite blogs, is back in business after a year of silence. Sayward's reflections on the Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival are pretty intense & well worth the read.

The 10 most annoying Facebook users. "Remember that time where you'd whack together a really impressive meal and you'd take it over to your neighbour's house to show them? Yeah. Neither do I. Nobody cares what you're eating."

Facebook's "I F*cking Love Science" does not f*cking love artists.

In my dream house there would be a spot somewhere for this Diagram of Movie Monsters.

This interview with Denise Scott Brown will make you furious about sexism in architecture. Read it anyway. (via Jessica Valenti)"My ideas went where I couldn’t go, you could say. My ideas were credited, but they were credited to Bob."

Bernard Beckett on returning to paid work. "The fact is, until I had children, I had absolutely no idea what hard work was. Sure, I done a lot of things that I’d considered difficult. I’ve juggled full time teaching and writing careers, worked twenty hour days on film shoots, climbed mountains, cycled a hundred miles fully laden with touring gear in the rain, that sort of thing. But that, it turns out, is all easy stuff. You grit your teeth, put your head down, get the hell on with it and then, before too long, you get a break. You reach a hut, or a holiday break, or a completion deadline, you get to sleep."

A Te Reo version of Hallelujah that is pretty wonderful ~

Wilder Women ~ Julia Stone

My friend Tagi alerted me to this stunningly beautiful cover of 'You're The One That I Want', and also to the similarities between made over Sandy & Dolly Parton. Awesomeness abounds!

Wilder Web

Japanese Schoolgirls Perform Superhuman Energy Attacks (via Kimya Dawson). Okay, I know I'm probably late to the game here, but this is awesome.

Tarantino screenplays as classic Penguin-style book covers. (via Dooce)

Yes! An intelligent response to the appointment of Dame Susan Devoy as New Zealand's Race Relations Commissioner (via Rachel) "So I came up with a list of what actually is STUPID:

-a Race Relations Commissioner who cannot articulate a view on race relations."

More on Susan Devoy, with some great insight into how the role of Race Relations Commisioner works.

10 things you should buy used and not new (via Sarah Wilson). And on that note, I've set up a new tumblr to show how I've spent very little money to dress my baby, relying mostly on gifts, hand-me-downs & op-shops.

On art & feminism & feminist art & female artists ~ Some of my best friends are women (via Ange). "Isolated instants of women’s achievements should not be taken as opportunities to sit back and pat ourselves on the back. Julia Gillard’s prime ministership, for example, has actually underlined not how much progress we’ve made, but how deep the fear and hatred of women runs in this country."

This teacher deserves a medal ~ The Day I Taught How Not to Rape. "“Ms. Norman, you mean a woman walking down the street naked is not her inviting sex? How will I know she wants to have sex?” A surprisingly bold voice came out of a girl in the back “You’ll know when she says, you want to have sex?!”"

It's not often that I like something that's been featured on stuff.co.nz, but this is one of those rare gems.

This one's for the parents ~ Reasons My Son Is Crying. (via Chanelle)

Sarah of Yes and Yes is a kindred spirit, in that my love for Dolly Parton is also 100% unironic. Going to Dollywood and seeing Ms. Parton in concert are on my life list.

More Dolly! Dolly Parton & Graham Norton sing Islands in the Stream while on the Lazy River ride at Dollywood. Seriously. (via Naiomi)

Wilder Web

(Matt Bors)

It's okay to ignore your children and read this. (via Blue Milk) "...moms deserve time when they're not tending to kids, and that no one has a right to say how moms spend that time — no one gets to decide what's worthy and what's wasted."

More books to read ~ Darren Shan's top 10 books about outsiders for teenagers.

Fit and Feminist takes on the disturbing notion of girl jealousy. "The whole notion of jealousy arises from this idea of scarcity, that there’s only so many crumbs of attention and power and sex to go around, and so we should do what we can to get as much of it as possible lest we get screwed out of getting any at all.  In the process, we end up screwed anyway, because we get so wrapped up in trying to get one over each other that we fail to notice that we are in fact fighting over crumbs."

Can I use The N-Word, B-Word, C-Word, F-Word, etc.? (via Yes and Yes)

Super cute mega adorable handmade leggings for babies. I want ALL of them! (via Casey Leigh)

I love this sweet story of a father bringing his son's favourite book to life.

I have to agree with everything on Design is Mine's Ten Things I'm Loving post. 'Pirate Printed Tights Narwhal Tattoos' has to be the most perfect product description ever.

You know that thing where you read something & you think "This person is me!"? Well, this. Sharks. Me. (via Hungry and Frozen)

And from Hungry and Frozen herself, a most excellent post on pop culture comfort food & demi-lasagne.

Want!!! 

I was totally stuck for a video to post this week. Stuck I tell you! So, as it's New Zealand Book Month, I'm gonna go with this fantastic old short by the New Zealand Book Council ~

Seven Days of Koko

Morning playtime.

This dress didn't stay on long. It wasn't the most practical item of clothing.

The host of a baby shower we were at pulled out a big box of costume jewellery to keep Koko & her cousin entertained. It worked.

Playing in the shade at a stunningly beautiful Abel Tasman National Park beach.

Finding new play spaces at our bach.

Picton pub meal.

Crashed out at our hotel on our last night of holiday.

Wilder Web

You Are My Wild is a weekly portrait project that brings together 14 photographers to document how they see their children. (via Dooce)

Damn you, Joy the Baker! Your New Orleans post has me missing the place like crazy again!

Unreleased Celebrity Fragrances. (via Nubby Twiglet) "Fryday I’m in Love by Stephen Fry: Well-worn corduroy mixes with notes of mahogany, pear brandy, and stilton in this comfortable, woody blend. Perfect to wear while reading Dickens or lecturing friends on Salic law. Caution: will make the wearer almost unbearably delightful."

Yeesh! What Coke Contains. (via Dan) "A much smaller proportion of the syrup is flavors. These include vanilla, which is the fruit of a Mexican orchid that has been dried and cured for around three months; cinnamon, the inner bark of a Sri Lankan tree; coca-leaf which comes from South America and is processed in a unique US government authorized factory in New Jersey to remove its addictive stimulant cocaine; and kola nut, a red nut found on a a tree which grows in the African Rain Forest..."

Casey Wiegand is kind of the sweetest.

48 Hidden Images in Black Swan. (via Cinematic Paradox)

A Critical Take on Red Carpet Fashion Reviews. (via McQuillanatorz) "and seriously, do you EVER describe any of your friends outfits as “breathtaking?” do they look “radiant” or do they positively “glow” when wearing thousands of dollars worth of conflict diamonds? can we just stop?"

And so my reading list grows...& grows. 100 Books by Black Women Everyone Must Read & 100 Books by (White) Women Everyone Must Read (via Gala Darling). So far I've read 8 from each of those lists. And if I were to add an author it would definitely be Patricia Grace.

A post-partum list of 10 Things They Don't Tell You (also via Gala Darling).

I'm in love with this look. So styley.

This piece brilliantly sums up the reality of what it is like to lose a long term partner. The analogy to the loss of a "daemon familiar" in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials books really hit home for me. (via Benjamin Law)

Hello, new dream home. (via Jo Hubris)

Uh, so, turns out this is a thing that actually exists ~

(via Morgue)

Wilder Web

Our Sea of Plastic by the marvelous Craig Santos Perez. (via Tagi)

I went to the Playboy Mansion (& it was kinda depressing). "Wandering through the house gave me a feeling not too dissimilar to when a relative dies and you have to go to their place and figure out what to do with their things. Except for, in this case, that dead relative was the magazine industry. Or something. I don't really know what I'm talking about. But the mansion was really, really sad. And it smelled like old man." 

24 Places That Look Not Normal, But Are Actually Real. (via Buff Dan)

A great piece by Jemima Khan on Julian Assange. (via Morgue) "I don’t regret putting up bail money for Assange but I did it so that he would be released while awaiting trial, not so that he could avoid answering to the allegations."

I have a new hero in Kristine Holmgren who backed out of a blogging deal when she was told not to use the word "feminist".

To My Male Relatives on Facebook Who "Like" Sexism. I think we all have a cousin or two who should read this.

I watched this trailer for An Abominable Crime, a documentary on Jamaica's violent homophobia, & was moved. I donated what little I could to the kickstarter set up to finish the film. You should too. (via Yum & Yuk)

HOLY SHIT this was a close call!!! (via Dooce)

What 13 People Wore to their interviews with Anna Wintour. (via A Cup Of Jo)

Wow. Just...WOW! Beck put together a 157 piece orchestra to perform his reimagining of David Bowie's Sound & Vision. Prepare to be amazed by the genius that is Beck.

Here's your heart warming happy tears story of the week ~

 

(via Mighty Girl)