happykatie :: katie rocks out the interwebs

Water Balloon Throwing (slow motion elegance)

Slow Motion Water Balloon Throwing. from Nick Campbell on Vimeo.

Cupcake Monday: Vegan knitted cupcake toppers

A video how to (with frigging MARTHA STEWART) on a great VeganYumYum knitted cupcake topper post that I saw last year - somehow I missed that she was hanging with the Martha.  Awesome!

Life drawing for fashionistas

Ever get that fashion design bug or incredibly strong desire to draw random outfits on random people?  Check out this great Threadbanger how-to fashion sketching video from their recent visit to the Simplicity design headquarters.  Awesome.

Nothing like a Japanese Greaser

Peter Bjorn and John "Nothing To Worry About"

Thanks to deneyterrio for the link, always had a fascination for the Yoyogi Park greasers (check out this great rockabilly Flickr set here for more great stuff).  I really need to go to Japan.

Wednesday Video: Cupcake and Butternut Squash Love Story (stop motion style)

Big thanks to Britt Bravo for pointing out this really super video.  It's a stop motion animated love story about a cupcake who falls in love with a butternut squash.  It's a wonderful thing.  Although my favorite part might actually be the beautiful way they treated the water - so enchanting.

(and hopefully, by knowingly reading a girl's Blog called 'happykatie', you expect weird, wonderful and random things like this)

Big picture thinking - visualizing excess in the United States

This land is your land, funky funky funky

 
And if Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings said it, you KNOW it's true.  End of story.

noneck shines the light on China with Qik / live video streaming

Continuing on the power of Qik motif (see Congressman Culberson's live video activity here), Noel Hidalgo (aka:  @noneck) has been off changing the world again, this time stirring up trouble (in all the best ways) in China during the Olympics.

He and John Hocevar (founder of Students for a Free Tibet) were interviewed by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now about their experiences as citizen journalists during the Olympics in Beijing -- and their consequent deportation:

AMY GOODMAN: And when did the authorities catch you, deport you? Or did they stop you each time, at each protest?

NOEL HIDALGO: I was not stopped. I was actually—I was harassed by local Chinese every single time. I was told that I was a demon, I was a devil, for showing China in this particular light, because they saw me capturing this footage. On the third protest, where the students unfurled their banner at the ticket office where John and I were both detained, I just happened to have a high-definition consumer camera, and I was thrown up against the wall, my arm was twisted behind my back, and I was subsequently detained for being a Westerner who was capturing this footage. I wanted to show the rest of the world what exactly was going on in China.   

Also, be sure to check out Noel's live video of a Free Tibet protest in Tianamen Square.  I heart Social Media.

Saturday Silliness: Not Second Life, but similarly Sim-y

A little New Pornographers music video gone Sims style.  Dorky, yes.  But that's kind of what makes me happy.  Thanks to Adam for uncovering this YouTube gem.  :)

YouTube gives me agua de beber

I have a ridiculous amount of love for a certain song - Agua De Beber (aka:  Water To Drink) - as sung by Astrud and Joao Gilberto.  There are few languages that have that kind of sex appeal like Portuguese and few rhythms as sultry as the Bossa Nova -- and this song showcases both perfectly.

So on that gushy note, I am beside myself to happen upon this cute little Spanish family (Los Foulkes) covering not only Ague De Beber in a most spectacular fashion, but also covering one of my fave Billie Holiday songs:  You're My Thrill.  Everyone with me now, LOVE YOU YOUTUBE!!

And in further YouTube awesomeness, I also managed to score a German guitar teacher's lesson on how to play Agua De Beber and the lyrics (which are in their entirety after the jump - LOVE!).