Wilder Women ~ Watercolours

Seriously, making the effort to listen to new music is so rewarding. Check out this beyond beautiful track by Watercolours.

(via Hungry and Frozen)

This song makes me want to fly.

Wilder & Tamer

WILDER

~ King Kapisi's new(ish) song Crush, with Rakaa Iriscience.

~ Holding myself to higher standards.

~ Pickle Eating House. I was fortunate to finally eat here recently for a friend's Hen's Night, & we tried the Dinner Party menu. It was AMAZING! Sooo much good food & drink. I really want to recommend that you go there, but alas, they are closing soon due to earthquake strengthening, so y'all best hurry up.

~ Line drying a load of washing on a crisp winter's day. This requires precision timing in terms of getting the washing out & in, & when you nail it it is so satisfying.

TAMER

~ Television Spoilers. I HATE spoilers, but I'm not prepared to give up the internet in its entirety to avoid them. Sigh. Conundrum.

~ I saw a woman on the street heading home after work with a dozen beer when the carton broke open & all the bottles fell onto the pavement. Stink buzz! On the Wilder side, a bunch of people stopped to help her pick them up & clean up the mess.

Wilder Web

36 Things Vinyl Collectors Love. It's all true, people! (via Matt)

The incredibly talented Unna threw her son Leo an impressive first ever birthday party.

There has been so much good thought provoking stuff floating around the interwebs lately. Don't tell me to love my body is another great piece. 

"The problem is someone else telling me how to feel. The problem is being told that there is a standard of beauty, and I should ignore it. I should ignore it despite the fact that everyone is still holding me to it. I should ignore it and create my own. As long as it makes me feel pseudo-good, and makes other people feel okay with how I pretend to feel about me. But while we’re pretending the real-world standards don’t exist, the real world continues judging us..."

You listen to This American Life, right? Right??? So you should know that they recently had their 500th episode, in which the producers & host, Ira Glass, discussed their favourite episodes. You can find the episode here, along with links to every episode mentioned.

It's official ~ I've developed a blog crush on Hungry and Frozen. Read about Laura's trip to Boulcott Street Bistro to try their award winning T-Rex Burger.

Did you miss out on the A.P.C. & Kanye West collaboration? Never fear, you can make your own for a zillionth of the price! Instructions here. (via Naiomi)

More of This American Life! I haven't listened to any of the episodes listed here as being among the podcast's best. I'm gonna remedy that asap. For the record, my all time favourite episode was Middle School.

One woman's struggle to reuse her penis cake pan. (via Dooce)

Prima Donna? Or Pre-Madonna?

Success After 30: 11 Famous People Who Made It Later.

You know the song Blurred Lines, right? The super catchy Robin Thicke number features Pharrell, & has, as Caitlin Moran calls it, an "INFURIATING TITTY VIDEO". Seattle's Mod Carousel have made a gender swapped version that is pretty great.

The Scariest Babies in Renaissance Paintings = Nightmares!

And, in response to all the shaky shaky Wellington's been experiencing, I give you the divine Tori Amos ~

100 New Recipes ~ Chocolate Slice

Part of my Life List challenge to make 100 Recipes, here's number eight ~ Chocolate Slice.

Here's how weekend mornings usually go in my household: Koko wakes up. I wake up. I lay in bed for as long as I can until a) Koko gets LOUD, or b) I really, really have to pee. We get up. I make Koko her bottle & plonk her down with it on our old brown corduroy beanbag. Then I pour myself a glass of grapefruit juice, add a cap full of apple cider vinegar, & settle in on the couch with the laptop, where I spend a good portion of the morning perusing the interwebs until I am ready to wake up properly, shower & face the day.

However, one cold Sunday morning in recent times, I was mid-way through the morning routine when I came across a random recipe that a cousin had shared on their facebook page. It caught my eye with its simplicity and promise of chocolate-y, sugary goodness. I scanned it quickly - yep, we had all the ingredients in our pantry (more or less). And then, a miracle happened. I rose from the couch immediately and headed to the kitchen to whip up a Sunday morning treat. It was quick and easy. It filled the house with the aromatic glory that is chocolate goods baking. It roused Apa from his hibernation, & he lumbered out of his bed den to see what strange happenings were at play in the kitchen. In short (because I've already waxed lyrical on this heavenly slice for long enough) it was a success. Simple, no frills, tasty goodness.

Here's the recipe (lifted directly from the original facebook post) ~

First preheat oven at 180c then combine in a bowl - 1 cup of coconut & 3 crushed Weetbix & 1 cup flour & 1 teaspoon of baking powder & 3/4 cup sugar & 1/4 cup cocoa - stir and mix well then pour into this mixture melted 180gm of butter and then 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence - finally mix this all well and put this on a lined slice pan press to make even - bake for 20 minutes or until firm - when cooked - allow to cool and then put icing on and top with sprinkling of coconut - yummy never fails - first batch all eaten.

My Crushes ~ The Top Five

The ultimate finale in the series of beautiful beaus who have graced the walls of my bedroom & my mind over the years. Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4.

MOS DEF

Mos Def is my ultimate. My number one. My ideal man. I mean, just look at those dimples! But more than deep dimples & glowing skin & a cheeky smile & a dapper dress sense, this man has won my heart with his mind & his skills. After all, girls like guys with skills. Mos Def is an incredible musician, MC & freestyler. His rhymes & beats are awesome. He can act. He's a poet & a thinker. A political activist. He's vegan. And he plays Super Mr. Superhero on Yo Gabba Gabba. SWOON!

JOHNNY DEPP

The first magazine I ever bought had Johnny Depp on the cover. That was almost 20 years ago, & Johnny still makes my list. Beautiful. Interesting. Talented. 

BRAD PITT

I just think he's gorgeous, okay? Jeez, stop making me explain my choices already!

CHRIS ISAAK

If you think about it, Chris Isaak was kind of the original hipster. He wears cheesy suits and slicks his hair into a quiff. He sings Roy Orbison covers & Mexican folk songs. He is witty & dirty & rough, but unbelievably pretty at the same time. In my dreams Chris Isaak serenades me while cooking breakfast. Sigh.

JAMES FRANCO

I adore that irreverent smirk of his. This man broke my heart in Sonny. He is an eternal student, much like I would like to be. He's a published author & an Academy Award nominee. I once had a daydream that James Franco proposed to me on a Brooklyn rooftop at 1am (like the PJ Harvey song). And with that embarrassing confession, the top five is complete.

Feel free to share your top five list. I always love hearing who makes the cut.

Wilder Web

Oh, Ellen Page. Let's be friends. 

"But how could it be any more obvious that we still live in a patriarchal world when feminism is a bad word?"

6 Ways You Can Avoid Gender Stereotypes of Your Kids. 

"We applaud the messages we now send to girls in middle school that "of course girls can do math and science." But these messages are often way too late. New research finds that even when girls say they believe this message, they don’t really believe it. Too often, they just know what parents and teachers want to hear."

Kanye West 'Yeezus' lyric or Lucille Bluth quote? A surprisingly tricky quiz. (I say that because although I've not listened to Yeezus yet, I thought I knew Arrested Development pretty well.)

I was already a fan of Dustin Hoffman, but this? This made me love him all the more.

So Many Kinds of Longing ~ Rookie talks to Judy Blume about honesty, censorship & masturbation. 

"Before all the hormones start raging, it’s the emotional longing that is most important, and boy, you have to learn to figure it out."

Oh Goddess, I LOVE this! ~ How To Raise Girls Who Love Their Looks.

The Spark Deck looks like it could be a good tool to get you kickstarted on writing when you have a block.

I am Very Fond of Yasiin Bey, aka Mos Def, so watching this video of him being force-fed to draw attention to Guantanamo Bay procedures was pretty hard going. In fact - confession time - I couldn't watch the whole thing.

Bernard Beckett is a smart man. Here is his response to the criticism's being leveled at Into the River being awarded New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards Book of the Year.

Warning: Watching this glorious Twin Peaks montage will cause an urgent need for cherry pie & a damn fine cup of coffee ~

(via Hungry and Frozen)

True Stories Told Live

I've been feeling depressingly poor in recent times. My poverty has been more pained than positive. The cure for this strapped-for-cash induced grimness = free stuff! 

I was fortunate in that my hard times coincided with Te Wiki o Te Reo, & by extension, the latest edition of True Stories Told Live. True Stories Told Live is run by the New Zealand Book Council, & features interesting people telling interesting stories. It's as simple as that. For Te Wiki o Te Reo the NZBC teamed up with City Gallery to present an evening of storytelling, set against the backdrop of Shane Cotton's latest exhibition. This sounded like it could be a brilliant night out, a perfect combination of things that I adore. I love free stuff! I'm so interested in Te Reo Maori & Te Ao Maori that I studied it at University! City Gallery is awesome! And hearing a good yarn being spun is heavenly to me. This is how I came to be hanging out with friends on a Wednesday night, drinking wine, devouring tasty nibbles, viewing beautiful (& slightly bogan) works of art, & listening to the inspiring korero of some truly awesome people. 

The first speaker of the night was Tama Kirikiri. I was particularly struck by this statement that he made: "If you don't pronounce a kid's name right they won't fully engage." Eep! My daughter has a Maori name (Kowhai) that is often mispronounced. Have I cursed her? No! I knew when I gave her that beautiful name that she would face a lifetime of having to correct people's pronunciation. I will raise her to be a Te Reo Warrior, & will train others, one teacher at a time, to get it right! 

Chief Executive of the Maori Language Commission Glenis Philip-Barbara was up next. When she said "I would not speak Te Reo without Kohanga Reo" I felt reassured. I'd love for Kowhai to attend Kohanga Reo to learn the language of her whanau. The fact that neither her father nor I speak Te Reo makes this idea pretty intimidating. Glenis gave me the hope & courage to go ahead and face the fear for Kowhai's sake. If I send her to Kohanga Reo our whole family will be richer for it.

Tanea Heke talked about taking New Zealand writers to the Frankfurt Book Fair, and being amazed at the reception they received from the Germans, who wanted to know as much as they could about New Zealand, Maori culture, and kiwi writers. And they wanted to learn all of this in a ten hour forum! When Tanea mentioned that one of the writers who was participating was someone I had studied with as an undergrad, I experienced that horrible worthless feeling you get when you compare yourself to someone else. "He's had a book published and has taken it to Frankfurt! What am I doing?" Yuck. Nothing like a bit of jealousy and competition to fuel the writing spirit. 

I was fascinated to learn that Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei picked her name when enrolling for high school, going from Leanne to Metiria in "an attempt to mark myself as Maori in the world." Names are powerful, & I love the idea that you can rename yourself to become who you want to be. What a Wilder Woman!

Rangimoana Taylor spoke about feeling different while studying at the New Zealand Drama School (now Toi Whakaari). It was a difference that has "nothing to do with colour, it's something inside." When he floated his idea of a Maori Theatre & was questioned with "Who will come?", his response was: "Well probably half a million people actually." Thank the Atua for people like Rangimoana. Another powerful statement that he made was "Some of you live on real estate. I live on land!"

I related so strongly to Awhimai Reynolds' story of selecting subjects at school and being told "Never mind Maori. Where's that going to get you?" She ended up learning French & Latin, neither of which she has ever used. Awhimai also said "Wherever you are on your [Te Reo] journey, there are challenges."

The session finished up perfectly with Glenn Colquhoun. His talk focused, among other things, on the manuscript Nga Moteatea, a selection of works collected by Apirana Ngata. Glenn said, on receiving this book as a gift: "I thought I knew the history of New Zealand poetry. What I knew was the New Testament, and here was the Old Testament." And: "Juxtaposed on the page was Te Reo Maori and Te Reo Pakeha, and it seemed like a metaphor for how we might communicate with each other. I was stuck by the equality on the page." Glenn's spine-tingling performance of one of the oriori he has written for his daughter was a wonderful was to end the night.

I encourage you to keep an eye out for events like this*. They are free or cheap, & happen all the time. This evening was the perfect cure for my money woes. It's hard to be blue when you are feeling so inspired.

*I heard about this event via City Gallery's facebook page.