covered in stardust: at a glance

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at a glance: The PianoGuys

Okay, so another little spotlight on something I love: ThePianoGuys
Yes, I know, I'm hardly discovering something new, these guys are pretty popular now. All the same, it's an excuse to spend time listening to their music.

They're basically these five guys who mix classical music and modern pop songs (with some pretty incredible results) then team it with awesome videos. The instrumentalists are Jon Schmidt, on the piano, and Steven Sharp Nelson, on cello. Along the other three; Al van der Beek, who works in the studio, as well as co-writing and music arranging, and Paul Anderson and Tel Stewart who produce and edit the videos
You can read about their story on their about page or watch The Story Behind The Internet Sensation.
It's pretty interesting the way that the whole thing started up.

"The guy on cello is the best mix of Hawkeye from the Avengers and Mr Bean" - youtube comment
They're a very likeable, pretty funny, set of guys, as demonstrated in the video below

"Back when I was in biology a long time ago, I heard that the human body is mostly water. But if you took a cross section of me, Steven Sharp Nelson, you would probably find that I'm mostly music."
- Steven Sharp Nelson

To the music; I won't say that I chose my favourites, because that would be way too hard for me to do. So I just chose a few to post, and I'll recommend that you go to their youtube channel and listen to the rest.

at a glance: upcyclette

upcyclette is an awesome website that sells sustainably and ethically manufactured products made by designers from all around the world.
Every piece is made from upcycled material, from Swiss army blankets to retired German fire hoses, which is pretty cool.

A couple of my favourites;

VuerichB sunglasses Transition n° 473. Made from a skateboard.

Helveticus - Ladies Bowling Bag. Made from vintage Swiss army blankets/

ad:acta Handbag Gleitzeit brn. Made from a castoff A5 ringbinder.

Feuerwear Bag Larry W. Made from recycled fire hoses.

at a glance: bedrooms

Am I the only one who gets kinda sleepy and just wants to curl up and go to sleep after looking at a really comfortable looking bed? Is it just me, I wonder, or do other people also have this visually triggered sleepy syndrome?

Psychological self examination aside, it is surely an undisputed fact that the bed is the most important object in one's sleeping quarters. However, there are some other things that can also have a reasonably profound effect on such a space; things like light, colour, ornaments, soft furnishings.

I've actually recently been doing a little work on my own bedroom; before Christmas I did a major overhaul and got rid of a lot of junk, put away a lot of ornaments that I still feel attached to but didn't want to display, and generally tried to follow the philosophy of Mr William Morris, who said "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." I didn't necessarily completely succeed (because getting rid of stuff is hard, man!) but it's a definite improvement. Doing all that means that there is some room for new decorations, so I've been making some cushions for my little couch, planning to make some art for my walls, and keeping an eye out for some interesting ornaments.
Unfortunately, the one thing I can't improve in my room is the light. But the whole house is on the dark side (hahaha!) so there's no use worrying about that.

Anyway, cue sparklingly inspirational bedroom photos!