Carousel: It’s March, Baby!

Gumballs!

You know you’re getting old when you regularly feel the temptation to talk about how much “time is flying”! Either way, age be damned, how is it March already?!

Now, for all of you who were panicked about the lack of weekly Carousels, never fear! Here it is, in monthly format, and you’ll notice that it’s a biggie! I like doing it this way… It makes it feel more special!

Alright, go make yourself a cup of tea, and then dig in!

This is one of the weirdest things I’ve ever heard: Desperate Measures? Bloggers Faking VIP Status By Paying For Their Own ‘Swag’. Wow!

In other blogger news, Youtube is introducing paid subscriptions, which I think is great! An excellent way for bloggers to create another stream of income, and have fun at the same time.

I like Isaac’s advice to a parent whose daughter has been scouted as a model. Should I let my teen daughter become a model? (I watched Girl Model last year and it has haunted me ever since.)

Veronica wrote about the keys to adventure.

Helen Mirren, speakin’ out for childless women everywhere!

From Autumn: The impermanence of beauty work nudges us to be in the moment.

Can you imagine if America was connected by a modern rail network? This makes it seem so real… Too bad it will probably never happen!

Here are 30 DIY photo projects to try!

How do you feel about strip clubs? Do you ever go to worship at the temple?

If you’ve ever wanted to know how to moonwalk properly, this is the guide for you!

This made me laugh: 7 things I would rap about if I had any musical talent. How about you?

Danielle LaPorte writes about our common ground of suffering (and why not to be star struck).

Here’s how to never give up on being an entrepreneur. Great graphic!

Deborah Needleman put a beautiful 79 year old woman on her first cover for T magazine. I love this quote…

“I think we’re sort of post-everything. We’re post-race, post-feminist, but I feel like we’re not quite post-age. And we should be.”

Austin is one of my favourite cities, and if you’re planning on going, you should definitely give Jane’s guide to Austin a once-over!

Kim lets us know that we will be rejected. And that’s okay.

I love any and all features on Frank Ocean, so this New York Times piece is no exception.

I need this: Mailbox. I signed up, but there are still 140,000 people ahead of me in the line… Man! I hope it’s worth the wait!

Have you ever had to deal with an imitator? Jess Lively wrote about what it means, and how to switch your thinking about it.

This profile on everyone’s favourite astrologer, Susan Miller is fantastic.

Are women less shallow than men? Should you choose a partner who is sweet but not attractive? Should we compromise?

Girls are allowed to care what men look like, to appreciate beauty in a man, whereas women are not.

Are the Frenchreally that much better than us?!

Cuteeee… Origrami is a new way to print Instagrams!

Kate wrote about being thin to make up for everything else.

When you end codependency, you find out who you really are.

Ever wondered what your favourite Daria character says about you?

For bloggers: 73 things I learned at Alt Summit.

Why do relationships fail? Here are four tips to make love last.

Independent Fashion Bloggers asks, do blog readers care about fashion week?

I loved these enormous piece on the making of Pulp Fiction, from Vanity Fair.

These photos of the Gowanus Batcave are captivating.

This piece on the inherent weirdness of the fashion industry is very real.

Here are 100 books by black women that everyone should read… and 100 books by white women everyone should read!

Deepak Chopra and Oprah are doing a 21-day meditation challenge starting March 11! It’s perfect for beginners, so if you’ve ever thought about giving meditation a try, you should sign up and get into it!

When I read about the extraordinary science of junk food, I have never been more thankful to be on the Clean Program in my entire life. This is absolutely a must-read.

This is an eye-opening read: social work in the Tenderloin will kill something inside of you.

Shauna tells us the one thing she wishes someone had told her when she started blogging. Good stuff!

Kat wrote about taming the email monster, and TRUST, you should read this. She is the fastest emailer I’ve ever met!

What’s the secret to connecting with people?

In February, these neon love messages were all over Times Square.

Naomi and her family are making an effort to unplug on Sundays. Would you ever do the same?

50 Awesome Pre and Post-Workout Snacks for gym bunnies comme moi!

Um, if you want to be scared away from childbirth forever, read this. I wish I had never clicked on it, but hey… !

Do you make this exercise mistake? I’m not sure how much of this I agree with, but I don’t think there’s any value in killing yourself at the gym every day! Just have fun with it.

Kris Atomic went to some very cute shows at fashion week!

19 things you should stop doing in your 20s. Do you agree with this list?

This is one of the best things I’ve read in ages: What Are You Going to Do With That?

“The kind of imagination I’m talking about is moral imagination. “Moral” meaning not right or wrong, but having to do with making choices. Moral imagination means the capacity to envision new ways to live your life.”

“Moral imagination is hard, and it’s hard in a completely different way than the hard things you’re used to doing. And not only that, it’s not enough. If you’re going to invent your own life, if you’re going to be truly autonomous, you also need courage: moral courage. The courage to act on your values in the face of what everyone’s going to say and do to try to make you change your mind. Because they’re not going to like it. Morally courageous individuals tend to make the people around them very uncomfortable. They don’t fit in with everybody else’s ideas about the way the world is supposed to work, and still worse, they make them feel insecure about the choices that they themselves have made—or failed to make. People don’t mind being in prison as long as no one else is free. But stage a jailbreak, and everybody else freaks out.”

“It is one of the great testaments to the intellectual—and moral, and spiritual—poverty of American society that it makes its most intelligent young people feel like they’re being self-indulgent if they pursue their curiosity.”

This piece on celebrities, the red carpet and judging one another’s looks, is fascinating.

Photojojo wrote an excellent guide to using Vine, with plenty of creative ideas to make your Vine more fun!

I love this couples shoot: From sunrise to sunset, a day in the life of us. I want to do one that’s similar!

A study has shown that the American diet causes early puberty.

Here’s why you should research as you go.

The 5 Reasons Girls Type Like Thissss is pretty funny… And eye-opening!

If I were to write a love letter to my dad. Beautiful.

You can read the first draft of Hugh McLeod’s new book, The Art Of Not Sucking, if you click right there.

Don’t Call Lena Dunham ‘Brave’… She’s a baller.

You can buy heroin online. A fascinating piece about internet drug forums. There’s more info here.

Turn your Polaroids into erasable to-do lists! Cute.

Leo’s advice to his kids is sweet.

Social Media And The Rise Of The Internet Validation Culture

Reddit’s Ask Me Anything threads are brilliant. Especially this one: I Am Astronaut Chris Hadfield, currently orbiting planet Earth.

Here is a statistical analysis of 10,000 porn stars and their careers. And yes, it is quite interesting!

My boy Dhru put all his excellent Facebook posts in one place. Brilliant stuff.

Alexandra Franzen gives us 5 ways to write a blow-your-mind manifesto. This is a must-read for anyone with a blog or an online business!

More women are taking their husbands’ last names… Sort of. (I love that Jay-Z changed his last name to Knowles-Carter. I mean, damn. That is so cool.)

This piece on getting models into fighting shape is a pretty eye-opening read.

Brilliant: In Praise of ‘Fake’ Women.

The most “inauthentic” female entertainers should be heralded as celebrity spokespeople in the crusade against imposter syndrome because their shape-shifting is so visible, and because they’ve accrued so much wealth and power as a result. But the fact that these women all found success after changing themselves is used as a way to discredit their work.

None of us are in a position to allege what’s “fake,” especially when we’re talking about people who make their living — a very good living — entertaining us. Nicki Minaj puts it another way: “And if I’m fake, I ain’t notice cause my money ain’t.”

Finding The Next Bryanboy: “Becoming a famous fashion blogger is less about peacocking at fashion week than, well, having an actual talent and something new to say.”

Let’s Stop Pretending To Care About Messed-Up Celebrities. Agree?

Wow! Fake internet girlfriends are a lucrative business. Who knew?!

This is absolutely amazing & so inspiring: 6 rooms into 1: morphing apartment packs 1100 sq ft into 420. And I agree with what Graham says, that the skill of this century is editing- or life editing. He believes that if you edit your stuff, space and even friends you can have more money, health and happiness.

If you get more sleep, your partner will like you more. Not so surprising!

Have you ever given yourself a virtual makeover?

An interview between Miranda July and Lena Dunham = awesomeness.

DUNHAM: People sometimes have this idea that there’s something schizophrenic about wanting to apply your artistic energy in different places, but I think there’s a new definition emerging of what it means to be an artist that is almost more about having a point of view than about having a mastery over a particular material.

JULY: I do have to say, when interviewers want to spend a lot of time talking about how curious it is that I work in different mediums, I feel like it really dates them—I think, “Oh, you’re an old-timey person.” Which is fine.

Top 10 Awkward Celebrity Interviews. Ahhh my god. YES.

Darren from Problogger tells us Why No One Wants Your Free Download (And 5 Steps to Make It a Must-Have).

Cute: 29 Dates To Go On With Your Best Friend.

Here are a few feng shui basics on how your space can affect your mood.

Autumn’s piece on models, eating disorders and labor is excellent.

I’m completely fascinated by Sophia Amoruso, and her $100 million company.

You can make a flipbook from your Vine videos now!

I absolutely love this piece: 10 Reasons Why 2013 Will Be The Year You Quit Your Job.

Don’t believe me. Stay with a boss that hates you. A job that is keeping you locked on a chain around your neck, tantalizing you with incremental increases in pay and job title. Stay in a culture that is quietly replacing the entire middle class. This is not anyone’s fault. These are the tectonic plates of economics destroying an entire suburban culture that has lasted for almost 100 years.

At Thought Catalog, they’re advising us not to write about the people you have loved. What do you think? (I think the world of literature would be a sad place if people didn’t tell those stories.)

If you’ve ever advertised on a blog — or want to give it a try in the future — Kat’s post, 10 ways to make sure your blog advertising works, is a must-read.

New York magazine investigates why women hate Hathaway but love Lawrence. It’s a weird phenomenon. I don’t get it. But then, I don’t care much about celebrity culture, either!

One of my favourite rappers, Blueprint, says that if you hate your job, you should get a different one… He’s right, of course!

Veronica knows everything about how to be glamorous on the go. Here are her secrets!

I loved this piece from the Daily Beast: Our Insincere Pointless Cult of Apology. Amen.

As best I can tell, everyone on the Internet is upset, their tender feelings inflamed by insensitive jokes, panting with exhaustion from the endless search for new outrages, demanding that people they don’t know offer them abject apologies for saying things they don’t like.

Harville Hendrix, legendary marital therapist, tells us two simple ways to upgrade your relationship… And who couldn’t use a little upgrade?!

I took a second to check in on Susannah Breslin’s Forbes blog this morning, and thought these pieces were worth sharing: This Is Why You Can’t Market Yourself, and Why Working Out Is More Important Than Working.

Some of my friends at the Clean Program made this fascinating video about how food is information. Definitely worth a watch.

So inspired by these videos…

Phew! See you on the flipside!