aka The ATX, the City of Ideas, Silicon Hills
Okay, I admit it may seem slightly over picky, insisting on custom made icons for your computer’s desktop, but given how many hours of our day we spend on these machines, I’d argue that a little handmade touch could add just a little joy to your computing experience. So I went ahead and downloaded these meticulously crafted hand-drawn Mac icons from graphic designer Nina Azzarello.
“Best friends are a natural phenomenon seen all over the world,” starts a voice over in the tradition of great natural science narrators like David Attenborough. We see two smartly dressed girls in a New York park focusing intently on their tai chi. This little film directed by Lena Dunham for Rachel Antonoff’s Fall 2013 line is a charming ode to the BFF that showcases Natonoff’s classic colors and lines against Dunham’s sly humor.
I have been hung up on this triple disk album for a couple months now without knowing much about it. Trilogy, released in 2012 by Canadian artist The Weeknd is some mixture of R&B with a heavy hip hop influence, with sparse arrangements and incredibly soulful and almost tortured singing.
They’ve become the ubiquitous, “looks great on everybody” brand of glasses. Almost every time I ask someone where they found their awesome frames they tell me Warby Parker. For only $95 Warby Parker will let you pick out five frames from their website, send them to you post haste, and allow you to test drive them in the comfort of your own home before making your selection.
While the whole world coos over Drake and Kanye showing their sensitive sides by admitting that there’s a dark side to girls, cash and fame, there are female rappers getting even realer, talking about repression, abuse, and personal revolution. With just one EP and a mixtape out Angel Haze dives headfirst into personal stories that expose her rawest nerves. Read More
I originally took Sophia Rossi’s Twitter bio at face value: “Bossy Tween.” Little did I know that she seems to be a media maven and force to be reckoned with. She’s hardly a tween, but on the cusp of her 30th year and has girl culture in her back pocket. She’s a freelance producer and the brains behind the website Hello Giggles which she started with actress Zooey Deschanel and writer Molly McAleer. Read More
I just finished a pretty kick butt online course in web design through my new favorite web start-up, Skillcrush. Skillcrush was developed around the premise that “Learning about tech doesn’t take special powers. We will teach you everything you need to know.” It started as a community of tech sharing, by women for women, with the goal of changing things in a dude dominated field. But Skillcrush serves everyone, regardless of gender. Read More
South By Southwest is drawing to a close this week, with three separate and overlapping festivals happening over ten days: Interactive, Film and Music, it’s hard to know where to focus. Although I’ve long coveted a SXSW Interactive badge I’ve never been able to attend, but living in Austin I stay up to date with what’s happening. This year one of the most interesting theater companies in town presented an exciting interactive crime drama that unfolded before participants eyes as well as on their smart phones.
Honky tonks are nothing new around these parts. There are a few venerable ones in Austin, The Broken Spoke, Ginny’s Little Longhorn, Donn’s Depot, and until recently these far flung outposts were the only game in town if you wanted to hear great country music and take a turn on the dance floor. That was until recently when the White Horse, effectively a hipster honky tonk, opened up on Austin’s East Side.
Lox on Baguette at Hillside Farmacy
Last night I had a meal at a swank hotel downtown (we had a Groupon). Besides some pretty stellar smokey Scotch cocktails what made this place special is not only does it buy local vegetables, it employs a fulltime forager who goes around to local farms and artisinal edible makers to source the best of what is in season in Central Texas. What is great to see at Trace is that the local/slow foods movement has reached the mainstream.
Meal prep at a Feast for Days dinner.
A friend of a friend recently launched a great new concept in meal sharing. Feast for Days seeks to give folks a social way to prepare meals in order to make eating good more economical, more fun, and a better learning experience. The idea is that one person schedules a meal, other people register for the date, pay a little bit to cover costs, and show up with an empty stomach and Tupperware to bring home leftovers.
Fresh basil and mint lemonade in front of the In.gredients garden.
I feel like the luckiest girl in the world these days, a very special, tiny little grocery store has opened up about half a block from my house. I’m there just about everyday (sometimes early in the morning in my PJs) to pick up coffee, fresh okra, homemade quiche, bunches of basil, and just about anything else your tummy could want.
I’m a girl, but I am ridiculously pumped for this razor service and I do believe I’m gonna sign myself up. The ridiculous overstyling, rampant hyperbole and downright propaganda used to sell razors to both men and women happens to be a pet peeve of mine (could you tell by my zealous use of adjectives??). But really, it just bugs me, not to mention the insane price-point of most razors and refills.
Rihanna on SNL
In case you missed it, apparently Seapunk is dead, Rihanna killed it. Or that’s what the internet is saying. Seapunk is a music/art/fashion movement that is only a little over a year old. I actually like a lot of music that would be labeled Seapunk, and a lot of Seapunk aesthetics. But the Rihanna performance on Saturday Night Live last week is a pretty good example of turning a “look” into a gimmick.
