A few of Aisling Kett’s favourite things this fortnight.
Landfill Dogs
Okay, if you’re going to read this column regularly you need to know that I am obsessed with dogs. The fact that I’m a student (responsibility, ugh) prevents me getting a puppy but that does not stop me from being super broody for one. Seriously. Which is why it’s a good thing that this project is based in North Carolina because I want to adopt every single dog.
Landfill Dogs is a project by Mary Shannon Johnson who photographs dogs from her local animal shelter at a nearby landfill site (where the dogs will be buried if they don’t find a home). The Facebook page is always updated with new dogs available for adoption and when a lucky dog is adopted. You should definitely give it a like, the pictures are awesome. And if you ever decide to get a dog please, please adopt one from a shelter.
Foxes, Youth
The video for this song was online over two months ago but the EP was only released last week. Now I don’t really understand that but it’s a good enough excuse to draw attention to one of my favourite artists. Foxes a.k.a. Louisa Rose Allen is an English singer and songwriter who records fabulous pop songs and counts Katy Perry as a fan. Youth is a song about chasing dreams and grabbing chances with a fantastic dance beat at the end. If you haven’t heard the song before but it sounds really familiar that’s because Debenhams used it for their latest ad campaign. Her album, titled ‘Glorious’, is due for release in March 2014. One to watch.
Conscious Commerce
Set up by actress Olivia Wilde (of The O.C. and In Time fame) and creative director Barbara “Babs” Burchfield, this newly launched site helps people make ethical decisions when spending their hard-earned cash. Whether it’s choosing to buy from a company that are environmentally friendly or one that donates money from sales to charity any products mentioned are stuff you would probably buy anyway. With interviews from people like actress Gillian Zinser (Ivy in 90210) and recipes for homemade beauty treatments this site is totally up my street (last month was my six year ‘I’m now a vegetarian’ anniversary). I know we’re all poor, constantly broke students and the ethical choice can sometimes be the more expensive one but even being aware of ideas for living ethically can’t do anyone any harm. Plus the site’s really pretty.
#positiveireland:
Always late to jump on any bandwagon I only discovered this Twitter hashtag (though it’s more of a movement, really) the other day – Budget day as it happens. Basically it’s an account on Twitter that tweets good news like new job announcements or positive economic news and encourages everyone to do the same.
So using the hashtag people tweet about things like the opening of a new café in their area or random acts of kindness or finding a room full of puppies (what? Dreams can come true). There is always so much negative news on the radio, the TV and yes, in the papers so it’s great to hear about things like this.
Aisling Kett
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