Band Recommendation: Of Monster and Men

Band name: Of Monster and Men
Genre: Indie Folk/ Pop
Website: http://ofmonstersandmen.is/
"This Icelandic six-piece pull off a neat trick: They make whimsical sound tough. Their debut is full of familiar indie-pop gestures: wintry, finger-picked guitars; lyrics full of woodsy imagery; tunes that swell into campfire-style singalongs. But Of Monsters and Men put muscle behind their prettiness, turning songs from cute to grand, and their dippy hippie-isms – "The forest of talking trees, they used to sing about the birds and the bees" – sound mysterious, and vaguely menacing." - Jody Rosen

Of Monster and Men has been playing since 2009 as a quardret (Nanna, Raggi, Brynjar and Arnar), but it was only during 2010 when they won the annual battle of the bands in the native Iceland, Músíktilraunir, and became famous overnight. Soon, two other members(Arni and Kristjan) joined their group.
Their song 'Little Talks' caught my attention straight away when I first listened to it from a music recommendation website. It stuck in my head for days - weeks. I learnt more about them and their first debut album, 'My Head Is An Animal'. From that song, I decided to explore more into their music. Soon, before I realise it, I was already a fan.
The music they create,  like Jody Rosen said (above, with such precise usage of words), tunes into campfire-style signalongs. Their music is like one you would sing during a trip in the woods, with a bunch of friends and around the fire. It would be lovely to listen to their album during a long car trip and sing out loud along your spirits whilst waiting to arrive to your destination.
If you haven't about them, you are missing out. There are advertisements everywhere nowadays of 'Of Monster and Men', on Facebook especially for me (I don't know if Facebook ads varies to us all) And I would strongly recommend you all to listen and buy their album!
You can buy 'My Head Is An Animal' here!

Mingling of the Senses

How a synesthete would perceive certain letters and numbers

Have you ever came across the term synesthesia? If you haven't, here's a brief explanation: it's the mingling of the senses and causes you to feel at least 2 of your senses at the same time. For instance, you hear a certain sound, and what you see are shapes or colors about a few inches from your face. That's synesthesia.

Synesthesia is involutary, congenital (meaning you're born with it), and hereditary. But it may be induced using drugs. It comes in different kinds: letter-color synesthesia, digit-color synesthesia, sound-color/shape synesthesia, and a lot more.These kinds vary between synesthetes, but the common ones are letter-color and digit-color synesthesia.

Those who were said to have had the condition are: Franz Liszt (composer), Stevie Wonder (singer), Vladimir Nabokov (author), Marilyn Monroe (actress, model, and singer), Billy Joel (singer/songwriter), and more.

To learn more about synesthesia, visit http://www.mixsig.net/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia.

Anti-mainstream playlist

There's this word called mainstream and a lot of people hate it, including me. That's why I'm making an Anti-mainstream playlist, which is a playlist with not-so-mainstream songs. These are actually really good songs and they're not something you hear everyday. I'm actually a big fan of One Direction, but I actually tried my hardest not to place their songs here, so I hope you listen to these songs wisely!

1. The Riddle by Five For Fighting
2. 100 Years by Five For Fighting
3. Pretty Little Angel Eyes by Curtis Lee
4. Life On The Nickel by Foster The People
5. Standing In Front of You by Kelly Clarkson
6. I Can't Lie by Maroon 5
7. Champagne Supernova by Oasis
8. Wonderwall by Oasis
9. The Call by Regina Spektor
10. Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder
11. Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol
12. Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's
13. A Good Day For Love To Die by The Wanted
14. Peter Pan by Jacqueline Emerson (Foxface from The Hunger Games!!!)
15. Rules by Jayme Dee
16. Avalanche by Marie Digby
17. L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole
18. Lisztomania by Phoenix
19. Passenger Seat by Stephen Speaks
20. Only Hope by Switchfoot

Inspire yourself

THXTHXTHX (A Thank You Note A Day)

Hello, I’m Germaine (aka WearingGnome from Lost In Sunshine;) and I am a brand new contributor of Pencil Rubbings. Today, I want to share tips of creating a journal that inspires you.

Do you have a day you feel awfully miserable and nothing seems like it went your way? Do you have a day when you feel hopeless and maybe even, attempt to suicide? No more, dear. No more. Make your inspirational journal today and all your worries will just walk away! (I sound like an advertisement, but I encourage everyone to do this.)

So what is an ‘Inspirational Journal’ anyway? It’s a journal where you keep track of your happiness and wonderful moments that occurred to you, so when you are older(or not very old) you look back and feel the joy splashing at your face all over again. And I hope, you'd look at it when you are sad, and from there, smile again.

Here are some tips I recommend to make your inspirational journal:

1.         Get a book. A premade notebook, a notebook you made yourself doesn’t matter.

2.         Decorate your journal. Flowers, ribbons, stickers, whatever! As long as it makes you smile and you could write comfortable on it, go ahead!

3.         Write in detail interesting moments of your life. You know those ‘lol’s you saw on the Internet? Remember those hilarious moments you and your friends made? Oh perhaps your crush asked you for an eraser?  Write them down! And quick too, in case the memory and why you laughed upon it has gone away over time.

4.         Attach other sources on it. When I say other source, I mean photos, quotes, items that reminds you about that certain event. Like a scrapbook! To support how hilarious those moments are.

5.         Date your notes. I always date my notes. I think it’s important to know when you’ve written it tells you when did it happened, and how long has it passed.

6.         Negative events are a big no-no. When you look back, you sure do not want to remember those embarrassing moments that occurred to you, do you? But if your embarrassment are within a laugh, sure, put it down!

7.         Update regularly. This may be the most important and the point most people ignore at all times. Many people has abandoned journals because they never update. And then they forget. Always take a day in the week to write something funny in it, but the more days you update, the better!

When I started my journal, my friend asked me why don’t I do it online? And I told her as simple as, It won’t be as interesting. Don’t anyone think looking at your handwriting defines the mood you are at during those moments? I feel like that too. And that’s why I choose to write my journals on paper than the Internet. I hope you feel the same way too.

See you next time!

Clove's Training Hair

Clove's hair

Front

If you want to 'fancy up' your hairstyle in PE class and if you're also a fan of The Hunger Games, then Clove's ponytail is for you! It's easy. It's basically some sort of hair that a Japanese warrior would wear. You're going to need five/six (elastic) hair bands (preferably the color of your hair).

1. On each side of your head (above your ear), make two small pony tails; one on top and one at the bottom. (If you're having a hard time tying, then tie the top ponytail first then clip it to the back of your head then do the bottom ponytail. Unclip when you're done.)
2. From the back of your head, divide your hair into two parts; one on top and one at the bottom. Tie the strands on top (the one on the side of your head) to the top hair and tie the strands at the bottom to the bottom hair.
3. If you find tying your hair in two ponytails in the back hard, then you can just tie all of your hair into one ponytail.

Back-easy

There you have it! Clove's ponytail. Easy, right?

If you want to learn how to do Katniss' braid in training/games, click here!

Adventure Totoro, anyone?

Imagine if Studio Ghibli and Frederator Studios worked together to make this adorkable movie. Finn would be Satsuki, Jake would be Totoro, and Beemo would be chibi totoro! And the whole story would follow the plot, but then the Adventure Time setting and characters would have to be squished in. 

Honestly, that would be so cool! I'd definitely watch it.

Artwork from adventuretimeisland on Tumblr.

Katniss Everdeen's Braid

Katniss' braid

I know that most girls are dying to learn Katniss' braid from The Hunger Games. It's basically a dutch braid or the opposite of a french braid. It starts from the upper right part of your head and runs down diagonally to the lower left of your head.

My Katniss braid (my camera is a mirror)

For those who know how to do a french braid but not a dutch braid, it's simple. Just do the steps of a french braid but instead, braid it under. For example, if you cross your three hair strands over each other, you have to cross them under each other.

1. Get a section of hair from the upper right part of your head and divide it into three strands, just like a normal braid.
2. Take the left strand and cross it under the middle strand.
3. Take the right stand and cross it under the middle strand.
4. Add a section of hair to the right strand then cross it under the middle strand.
5. Add a section of hair to the left strand then cross it under the middle strand.
6. Repeat the adding of hair and crossing under until it reaches the end of your head.
7. When your done braiding on your head and reached the end of your head, braid it normally over your right shoulder (remember, cross under).

There you go! It's not easy, right? But guess what; just keep practicing and practicing until you get it right. If you do it by yourself (like me), your arms will ache, but it worth it/the try.

What to read?

Don't know what to read? Try these two books (and watch their movies!).

Flipped by Wendelin van Draanen is a book for teens and tweens. It's about a girl named Juli who's been crushing and stalking on her neighbor and schoolmate, Bryce. Bryce is doing everything to make Juli to stop; going out with the school's prettiest girls, hurting her feelings, etc. The reason why Juli's been crushing on Bryce is because of his dazzling eyes. Juli starts to look at Bryce's personality and realizes that  she doesn't really like him as much because of the things he's been doing to her. On the other hand, Bryce starts to fall for Juli. How will this turn out? Read the book to find out.

The movie released in 2010 with Madeline Carroll (Farren from The Spy Next Door) as Juli and Callan McAuliffe (Sam Goode from I Am Number Four) as Bryce.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold is about a girl named Susie, who's been raped and murdered by George Harvey, a serial killer. After she dies, she watches her family and her friends from her own heaven as they struggle to get over her mysterious death. I recommend this book for teenagers, because this book has a lot of realizations and life lessons.

The movie released in 2009 with Saoirse Ronan (Briony Tallis from Atonement) as Susie and Stanley Tucci (Caesar Flickerman from The Hunger Games!!!!) as George Harvey.

Album review: Human Again

Ingrid Michaelson's fifth studio album Human Again has definitely struck me. This redhaired lass has done it again! With catchy tunes and heartfelt lyrics, she has captured every essence of the songs she's been singing.

Ingrid has also done covers of Somebody That I Used To Know and Can't Help Falling In Love. I suggest you give those a listen along with her songs from the said album, those I like best being "Black and Blue," "Blood Brothers," and "I'm Through."

The album's cover artwork has been specially painted for by Joe Sorren, who has done numerous illustrations that have appeared in New York Times, Rolling Stone, Time, and has also made the cover artwork for the Tweaker album The Attraction To All Things Uncertain.


Human Again is available on iTunes for download. Give it a listen and decide if it has been worth regretting.