2. Sandra van Nieuwland – Keep Your Head Up 

3. Ed Sheeran – Give Me Love

4. Porcupine Tree – Lazarus

5. Coeur de Pirate – Fondu au Noir

6. Tom Waits – Hold On

7. The Postal Service – Such Great Heights

8. Mumm-ra – She’s Got You High

9. Lana Del Rey – Born To Die

10. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – O Children

Everyone probably has some opinion as to who would be considered “fat” and who would be considered “skinny”. I have read incredible amounts of posts in magazines or online about how it is not healthy to be as ‘skinny’ as the people whom we are presented with in advertising or the media in general and that those bodies we see are not realistically achievable.

But things are changing, opinions are shifting. For instance, Israel banned adverts featuring extremely skinny models in March 2012. In May 2012, fashion magazine Vogue has declared that they will no longer knowingly work with models under the age of 16 or who appear to have an eating disorder. These actions have been taken because they understood that young people may be influenced in a bad way if things continued like they used to be.

Unfortunately, this trend towards promoting women who are larger than the average woman portrayed on the billboards has brought along some other issues. Lots and lots of skinny women have been told they “should eat more”, even though some of them simply cannot seem to be able to gain weight. I have belonged to that category for quite some years, and it is really embarrassing and insulting that you are being accused of deliberately eating less than average or that you are even having an eating disorder. Recently, I have seen and read more posts about how “real women have curves” and I cannot help but feel offended at reading something like this. It is not up to you to decide whether someone is a “real woman” or not, simply based on the fact if they are skinny or curvy.

I am all for equality in accepting all types of bodies, but let’s not get lost in this “curves-are-beautiful” idea. Curves are beautiful, but so is someone without them. This discrimination works both ways and we shouldn’t let that happen.

2. Dub FX – Love Me Or Not

3. Placebo – Special Needs

4. Asaf Avidan – One Day (Reckoning Song)

5. Destiny’s Child – Say My name (Cyril Hahn Remix)

6. Porcupine Tree – Arriving Somewhere But Not Here

7. Massive Attack – Teardrop

8. Lana Del Rey – Video Games

9. deadmau5 ft. Rob Swire – Ghosts ‘n Stuff

10. Hybrid – Disappear Here

A friend of mine is a big-time fan of anime and he urged me to start watching this new anime called “Sword Art Online“. I gave it a try (mostly because he couldn’t stop talking about it - if you’re reading this, you know I’m talking about you, mister) and I turned out to like it so much more than I had initially expected. The fact that I like it so much has probably also to do with my recent addiction to Guild Wars 2, but I think many others will enjoy it too. 

The story takes place a little bit further into the future (the year 2022) and a new game called Sword Art Online launches. Unfortunately for all players logging in, they cannot log out and they are trapped inside until they beat the game. The series follow Kirito, a solo player who tries to survive and help others survive in the game.

I know this sounds really geeky and me liking this anime so much is really casting doubt upon my maturity, but hey – it’s a good way to escape the endless list of dull essays and papers I still have to read. Anyway, if you’re into anime and like MMORPG’s, you should check it out!

(img source)

On a different note: there have been a lot of birthdays in the past week and on top of that, my boyfriend and I got to celebrate our 4-year anniversary last Friday. I cannot believe it has already been 4 years, time goes by so fast. There is another birthday coming up next Saturday: my little sister is turning 19 that day.

October has been a lovely month so far and I’m hoping it’ll get even better.

Just a couple of lovely artworks featuring typography, made by artist Matthew Kavan Brooks. Click through to see some more.

You should also take a look at his other artwork, which can also be find on his website. Also, you can purchase some of his work in print on Society6.com.