Confectionery is the new black

Another great product of Sweden. Photographer Therese Aldgard and stylist Lisa Edsalv created this fabulous display of high fashion cupcakes inspired by Chanel, Louis Vuitton along with other designers.

For those of us who can't afford the fashion, we'll find a way to afford the calories.

More designer dessert

Proof that alcohol really is your friend

I can’t help but feel like a hack for allowing a commercial to introduce me to a new band or artist. The hipster in me loves to already hate whatever song is playing in the latest iPod ad. But a mojito may have changed all that for me. The moment I heard the song playing in the new Bacardi spot, I fell in love, and needed to hear more.

Moments later and with minimal effort, I discovered the song I crushed on was called ‘Daylight’ by Matt & Kim. Ah, google. Solving all life’s quandaries one search at a time.

Turns out the talented rum-enthusiasts, Matt Johnson (vocals/guitar/keyboard) and Kim Schifino (drums) hail from Brooklyn and joined forces under the Matt & Kim moniker back in 2004 while both attending Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute.

With two albums out since then, and upcoming gigs everywhere from Stockholm to Sao Paulo, it's safe to say these Brooklynites have done quite well for themselves in just half a decade.

Listen to Daylight and more of the pair’s brand of punk-tinged indie pop on their sophomore album, Grand. (I don’t know how to upload music files yet - it’s part of this whole blog exercise for me to educate myself on such matters. But for now, I will remain primitive and offer you… myspace. I believe that minor setbacks like these will make the evolution of my blog that much sweeter. And besides, the wheel’s the shit!)

If you dig their sound, you can learn more about Matt & Kim here.

Don’t you just love stumbling upon new music? It’s like making a new friend, taking an accidental shortcut to work, realizing you do like the taste of whiskey after all. It’s an exciting little discovery you make about yourself that broadens that multicolor spectrum making a more colorful, beautiful, vibrant you. And let’s face it. As beautiful as we all are, it never hurts to brighten ourselves just a teensy bit more.

Oh yeah, and check out the Bacardi commercial below. It's awesome. Seems as though a zeitgeist of generations past is in vogue at the moment. Perhaps more on that topic in the future.

The geeks were right

I’ve become quite the fan of socialnerdia.com lately. Social nerdia is a new blog about the convergence of technology + marketing + social media, and the cultural influencers who make it all happen. Sort of an ongoing analysis of what they like to refer to as “the mindblasting explosion that is social media.” I would refer to it as the modern big bang theory.

I recently went from fan to mega-fan since their interview with Alex Bogusky, co-chairman of culturally progressive ad agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky. I've come to find that anything this guy has to say just makes you feel good about advertising, and life. He really has that whole, “life is simple, just do what you love” inspiration down to a science. And how can I not give accolades to the person who decided to expand his wonderful circus of an agency to my hippie college town just in time to land an internship by senior year?
Be sure to check out the interview. His answer to question 10 will make you smile.

What I like most about this blog is that while they embrace this cultural phenomenon, they remind us not to get carried away with it. And as serious as social media can be, it should never be taken too seriously. After all, the more social we become in this digital world, the more antisocial we may find ourselves out there in the real world. In the end it’s no more than just, well... nerdia. That being said, explore the wonders of this new technology. Play with it, learn from it, utilize it, laugh at it, don’t feel like you need to be an expert at it, and for God’s sake, give it a rest sometimes. Close your macbook, go outside and get some fresh air. Well, first check out socialnerdia.com. Then go.

Killing me brightly

If you're like me, and you too have reoccurring dreams of running wild through the Nevada Desert with Brandon Flowers, being held by his statuesque 5 ft 9 frame, gazing deep into his perfect liner applied eyes... relishing a melodramatic sensitivity that only Conor Oberst could attest to, then there is a 78% chance you will enjoy this:

The Killers - Four Winds (Previously Unreleased)

Flocking hilarious

Um.. is it weird to have a virtual crush? These days, probably not. Is it weird if it's a girl crush and no information is known of this woman other than one hysterical blog entry? Are you intrigued...

Please enjoy this entertaining observation of the male psyche via facebook. And thank you MissLisa for introducing me to my future BFF. Seriously Meg... can I buy you a drink?

2birds1blog: The 20 Male Poses of Facebook

Bienvenido a nourishment

When I was a sophomore in college, a guest motivational lecturer named Kevin Carroll came to speak to my Principles of Advertising class. I remember at one point he asked the class, “Raise your hand if you’re an artist.” Out of a lecture hall of nearly 260 people, maybe 3 hands went up, mine not included. Then he said, “Now, if you were in kindergarten and your teacher asked you to raise your hand if you were an artist, who would raise their hand?” The entire classroom’s hands shot up without question, mine included. So what’s up with that? Why is it that when we’re 5, and barely have the motor skills to stay inside the lines of a coloring book we believe with all sincerity we are the next Renoir, but when we grow up, unless we have a degree from Parsons and a featured exhibit at the Met, we question whether we can even determine the difference between a pencil and a pastel?

Is it that when we are children the taste of sweet sweet ignorance is injected into our bloodstream at such a high concentration, we live on a continuous high believing we are not only capable of anything we set our sights to, but can do it at an expert level? Or, did we really just have it right all along? That if you truly love something, with all your heart, and you’ve got the passion and determination to stick to it, you can have it. You can be the famous singer or the brilliant doctor or the next president or... the talented artist. I’ll take the latter approach; not because I have concrete evidence that it is the truth (because I don't), but because I believe it is the way we should think, like we did when we were five, and we didn’t second guess what else we were competing with in that big ol' world out there.

That being said, welcome to my blog. I’ve decided to call it nourishment, because sometimes we all need a little something to get our blood going, wake us up, just something to hold us over... at least for a few hours. Think of this as a healthy snack. And it is my hope that at least a tiny bite of this content will refresh the way you think, help you discover something new, or change the way you look at something that was there all along. Or hell, at least something to pass the time while you're at work.

And yes, I would not fancy myself a blogger persae. There are certainly more qualified bloggers out there, that's for sure. But I’m gonna try it on, have some fun with it, and see what happens. Because that is what the 5 year old Shana would do, and I think we could all take a tip from the 5 year old versions of ourselves every once in a while.