3 Smile-Worthy Things You've never Heard of

Amanda---

All the smiles! In no particular order

via Aikawa Ke

1) "Catherine the Waitress" by Teitur

I find myself humming the opening of this song all the time, but never in that Yellow Submarine, how-do-I-excise-this-melody-from-my-head kind of way. This song sounds like 5pm on a Friday.

So yeah. First up is Teitur  and more broadly Scandanavian Pop in general, although Scandanavian Pop is hardly a secret. (If you've never heard of it I know that last sentence sounds like a joke. Honestly, those Danes and Finns really know how to write clever lyrics.... in English. Go figure)

Here's a primer: Hello Saferide (the entire experience of being a dating female in a two minute song), Sondre Lerche (Fell in love listening to the  Dan in Real Life soundtrack), and Röyksopp (if you're into electronica )


2) Spaceteam- it's FREE and it's for  Apple or Android

Basically you have a control panel in front of you, but your instructions get sent to your teammates--so you have to yell "Engage Faraday Thrusters" and "Set Worpal Blade to 7" to each other while managing a screen of switches, buttons, and dials.

It makes you feel like Sally Ride and Maverick at the same moment.

Start the video at 1:00...there's a lot of talking.

Playing this game is truly the most joyfully stressed out I have ever been. The best part is both Halo sharpshooters and my mother like it, which is a feat in itself, and they happily played on the same team (which prior to this game, I thought was an impossibility.)

Seriously, go try it.

3) Science Says: Your Brain is a Mama Bear

Your brain reacts to threats to friends and family as if you yourself were the one being threatened. It's not just general empathy to human suffering. When a stranger was threatened, the opposite occurred--there was little overlap in brain activity to when the subject themselves was the one being threatened.

Neurologically, your relationships are a part of you. And I think that's lovely. I'm glad the brain agrees with the heart on this one.

Happy 4th y'all,
Stephanie