Art and Beauty go hand in hand...

This post will hopefully become a showcase of art pieces from well-known to newer artists. I intend to help others discover new artists as well as appreciate the ones we are familiar with.

Art is the definition of beauty. It can be everything and nothing at the same time, because it means something different to every single viewer. I can't even begin to express how much art means to the world. I mean, it is so important. It helps us form different point of views and to communicate without speaking. It is a document of what that specific artist was thinking/ feeling/ observing/ remembering at that moment in his/her life.

Just like yesterday's proposal, I am open for any suggestions you might have. Send me an email with a genre, artist, or art piece that you'd like to share with the community. Or even if you have an art piece you'd like to share. Send it all to me and I will post the piece and credit it to you. (I will make sure to credit all the art shown on here it its rightful creator.)

*If you would like to send in a piece, be sure to include your name or the name you'd like to credit, a brief description about it or an interesting fact. You can find my email to your RIGHT under the heading "Let's Do It".

Here is an example so you get a visual of what I'm talking about...

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The Lovers • Rene Magritte

In 1912 Magritte's mother committed suicide in the Sambre River.When they found her body, her nightgown was wrapped around her head, covering her face. Many art enthusiast believe these paintings (as he has other similar ones.) were a reference to her death -even though Magritte never admitted it himself.

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Gargoyles • Michael Parkes

Parkes is an artist who favors color stone lithography... Yeah, this is a carving. And in case you can't tell what it is the gargoyle is reaching for, it's a stray bubble that the little girl blew. I really like this one. I suggest checking out some of his other works.

Easy enough, right?

Alrighty then, thanks so much for your time and remember: you're awesome.... true story.

Music is Beauty...

Music, what would we do without it?

Well, some people might not necessarily be going ape shit if music fell deaf on their ears, but this page is for those of us who would go insane without it. These days it seems harder to find decent music so let's help each other out!

I'll do my part by posting daily (perhaps weekly if it gets to be too much) a featured band or song (and maybe even the music video along with it if it's worth showing) that I think we can benefit from discovering. I'll try and vary the genres so we build a good selection, but for now since I'm a little new to some genres I'll just stick to the ones I feel comfortable with. Feel free to suggest a genre or band that you would like to share or have me look into. Most likely, you'll see it on this page sooner or later. But remember to visit often (if you want) so that you can discover a new band that you may or may not like. And that's ok if you don't like it because sometimes what sounds like summer in one person's ear may sound like death in another's.

For the overall music-lover who has iGoogle, there is a really nifty gadget-thingy that you can add to your page. It's titled simply FREE iTUNES DOWNLOADS. This let's you know everything on iTunes that is free. It updates automatically and lets you browse through music, videos, clips, games, and books that iTunes is trying to promote by making them free. *side note: the books and videos are either behind the scenes, excerpts, commentary, and other little things that don't really interest me, but maybe you'd like! But there are full pilot episodes of new series such as Parenthood and full length music videos and other cooler things. The songs are always full length by the way.

moving on...

This is for all you indie/alternative fans. Urban Outfitters (is a clothing store for those of you are unfamiliar with it) has a blog where they upload 20 FREE songs periodically. It's 100% legal so don't worry about it. They also have a thing called Music Mondays which is when they upload a list of 5 FREE songs that -guess what- you can download. So all in all, if my math is correct, thats 25 FREE indie/alternative songs!!

The only downside to these tracklists is that you cannot download the songs individually. It's either all or nothin'. Oh! And after a certain amount of time goes by the tracklists "expire" meaning they are no longer for free, but you can still buy them on iTunes. Check the below link weekly for new songs.

URBAN OUTFITTERS' MUSIC

Hopefully I will have more tips about how to get more music for less to no money. Afterall, we are in a recession.

In the mean time, here is our first song... much more to come.

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Alternative • Bright Eyes • Lover I Don't Have To Love • 4.17.10

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Indie • The Wombats • Here Comes The Anxiety • 4.18.10

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Alternative • Creature Feature • Greatest Show Unearthed • 4.18.10

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Alternative/Pop • The Limousines • Very Busy People • 4.18.10

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Electronic • Dan Black • Symphonies • 4.19.10

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Instrumental • Vitamin String Quartet • Snow (hey oh) • 4.20.10

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Alternative • Matt & Kim • Daylight • 4.21.10

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Folk • Laura Marling • New Romantic • 4.22.10

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Alternative • Black Lab • This Night • 4.23.10

it's been 17 years since my first breath...

16 of them were spent running through time with simple routines that kept me busy and essentially blind . I never really thought to, not necessarily stop, but at least slow down to grasp each day with the understanding that life was much bigger than what I thought it to be.

A year ago I found a pattern in the seamless fabric of time: when people underestimate the value of their life they loose the will to live it.

I really don't want to make this about me because I sincerely want to make all my material relative to you and people in general so that you may find some hope, or maybe just a little understanding, but in this case I think my story is common and I think (i hope) that you can relate to it and be inspired to change. I will make this as brief as I possibly can be (lucky for you I wouldn't even know how to tell my story even if I wanted to so you don't have to worry about that, haha.)

I had started to devalue life as a child, which actually isn't that long ago... Anywhoozle, One thing after another happened - good and bad. But because I was going so fast through the motions I didn't have time to see the good, only time to feel the bad. Every now and again I felt the joy you get from being with friends and the comfort you get from a hug on a crappy day, but it always seemed overcast by all the built up pain. So with every step closer to rock bottom I ignorantly took my time on this earth for granted, until one day I had seemingly completely lost the will to live.

I need to start seeing the beauty in life and document it as proof. We all need to do this. Wether it be by writing, typing, painting, recording, or just taking the time to think it through, we need to remember. I chose to forget the good things and held onto the bad things because it was easier. But convenience is the devil's advocate and tempts us to live life numb. The truth is, Life is bigger than most of us can comprehend and there is beauty in everything...

...even a plastic bag.

"It was one of those days when it's a minute away from snowing

and there's this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it.

And this bag was, like, dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me to play with it. For fifteen minutes.

And that's the day I knew there was this entire life behind things, and... this incredibly

benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever.

Video's a poor excuse, I know. But it helps me remember... and I need to remember...

Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world

I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in."

(American Beauty)