Rookie

Sady
Life is hard. Sometimes you just need to chill with a baby walrus in a wading pool. Coincidentally, here’s a baby walrus in a swimming pool.

Stephanie

I have been watching this on repeat for a few different reasons: 1. The song is gorgeous. Oh the singer’s voice just gives me good chills. 2. I’m missing the West Coast this week, and the sights of San Francisco are so pretty and totally hitting the spot. 3. The story the video tells… I’ve been that guy, wanting to just run and strip away everything. It’s cathartic.

I am also super excited about seeing Bikini Kill celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of their first EP (it came out in October 1992). They’ve got a great website up with new merch, and in November they will be reiussing their debut on vinyl with all sorts of cool extras, like a fanzine. But the best thing from them this week was Kathleen Hanna’s blog post where she talked about her bandmate Tobi Vail’s writing, Tobi’s new song for Pussy Riot, and her thoughts on the next generation of feminism.

Dylan
I don’t know if I can even write about this because I can’t even breathe OH MY GOD BABIES.

Naomi
The story of Malala Yousafzai, a really brave girl from Pakistan who was shot this week by the Taliban for blogging, really puts things in perspective and reminds me how important it is to help young girls all over the world.

Alexa Chung is beautiful and smart. But seriously, here is another perfect example of calling out people who won’t shut up about women’s bodies. It’s really coherent and refreshing. Go Alexa!

Arabelle

So Julia Gillard is not a perfect politician, but regardless of her other policies her smackdown in this video is AMAZING and inspiring. I just wanna frame this video on my wall and salute her.

Anna
Mallory Ortberg’s literature correspondence series at the Hairpin is equal parts smart, silly, and hilarious, and this week’s “Texts From Little Women” does not disappoint. She gets the personalities of the characters DOWN in just a few short texts.

Amy Rose
Jarvis Cocker of Pulp, one of the world’s best bands, reviewed a new collection of John Lennon’s letters and simultaneously stole my heart, as he does whenever he sings or writes or breathes. I haven’t read the book yet, but the review is golden on its own.

Emma
Harris Savides died this week. Even if you don’t know his name, you know his work–he was a cinematographer for Sofia Coppola, Woody Allen, Noah Baumbach, Gus Van Sant, and more of your favorite directors. The world is decidedly less good-looking now.

Anaheed
In May This American Life did a live show, “The Invisible Made Visible,” that was simulcast in movie theaters in the U.S. and Canada. It included an amazing story by a guy named Ryan Knighton about getting lost in a hotel room (he’s blind). Ira Glass, who hosts that show (and who is my husband, but don’t worry, I’m not about to plug something of his), sent the cartoonist Chris Ware a map of the actual room, and asked if he could make a drawing of what it would look like if you were standing in it; the plan was to project this drawing behind Ryan as he spoke. I’ll let Ira explain from here:

This is an example of the overachieving, leave-no-detail-untouched simplicity and beauty of Chris Ware’s work. He agreed to draw the backdrop as a favor to me. I asked if he could make two drawings—one daytime, one nighttime. One day later, he handed in this gorgeous little animated film, which, as you’ll see, goes so much further than my idea. Typical. Amazing. Weirdly emotional for a drawing with no living things in it.

This week someone on Reddit asked Ira what it was like to work with Chris, which led his radio show to post the video on YouTube: