Friday Find: Rachel Ryle

I forget how I stumbled across Rachel Ryle's Instagram account, but I was immediately hooked. She is a gifted artist who posts gorgeous, fun, short animations that have me watching on repeat and scratching my head as I try to figure out how they're done. (Stop motion, that's how.)

Her most recent video:

We've all been here! We say things we regret or we do things we shouldn't do. Worst of all, there are times that our actions let someone down. I made this animation for when you want to tell someone that you're sorry! Life's too short to stay in a fight, and being bitter doesn't make you better!

One celebrating Instagram's new logo:

Springtime in New York:

I know I'm not alone when I say that I love springtime in New York! With every new budding flower, and each new little leaf, the city comes to life in the best of ways! Winter can be brutal, but it's beautiful sunshiny days (like today) that make the memory of all the rain & snow melt away.

Springtime in Paris (my favorite city!):

Packing for Jamaica:

Coffee:

Aren't they mesmerizing?!

Friday Find: Piggly Wiggly

Today's gem, which I watch on an endless loop while laughing until I cry, was brought to me by my dear friend Andrea, who is one of the reasons the Friday Find exists, and without whom my life would have a dearth of funny clips and Tim Riggins gifs.

Enjoy!

here is a fun clip of sleeping pigs, think they like amy winehouse... or possibly not.

Friday Find: You Can Set Anything to Music, Basically

Language rant alert!

Certain big words seem to get thrown around a lot these days, and in doing so their oomph gets watered down. For instance, I'm willing to bet your trip to Paris was amazing, but I doubt your chicken dinner eaten on a paper plate was. The birth of your child was probably incredible, but that mall Starbucks Frappuccino... Anyway. I actually don't believe in 100% prescriptive language, because language is a living, breathing thing that changes and evolves - as it should. But that's another topic for another day.

My point is: this is truly mesmerizing. It's pretty amazing. Technology is cool and seeing ideas from other people's fascinating brains come to life is not something I expect to tire of, and it often amazes me. My husband introduced me to this site, once again proving that he is cooler than I am.

In their own words: "Listen to the sound of Wikipedia's recent changes feed. Bells indicate additions and string plucks indicate subtractions. Pitch changes according to the size of the edit; the larger the edit, the deeper the note. Green circles show edits from unregistered contributors, and purple circles mark edits performed by automated bots. You may see announcements for new users as they join the site, punctuated by a string swell. You can welcome him or her by clicking the blue banner and adding a note on their talk page."

Give it a try. It's very soothing, and I sometimes keep the tab open in the background while I work. It makes me feel like I'm at a spa. Which I clearly need sometimes, when I get het up about language.