Maxwell Mann circa 1962

Maxwell Mann in 1962, after lunch with Don Draper.

Philip Crangi, the master of man jewelry

Philip Crangi always looks pretty fucking cool. Yes, I feel like "fucking" was necessary there.

Anyway, Crangi always has a badass haircut, cool clothes, and the best man jewelry ever.

Here's to the master.

Call me up, we'll hang out, I'm down for whatever... and Mark Ronson

Can't sleep because these songs have infected my brain.

Simian Mobile Disco's Cruel Intentions, turned dupstep BASS madness.



and the new one from Mark Ronson & The Business Intl featuring Q-Tip and MNDR-Bang Bang Bang



Also Mark Ronson is pretty damn stylish. Crazzy double breasted gold suit steez.

My new favorite thing

Recently, I became so sick and tired of hearing my favorite songs through the "not even visible" speakers on my laptop.

It was driving me mad that I couldn't hear the music I love so much in all of its glory.

I would like to thank my roommate Tristan for giving me this:



It's an old fashioned Sony stereo system, and it kicks ass.

Every song sounds warmer, richer, and deeper.

Hell, it makes me want to dance in my room all by my damn self.

Thanks for this piece of amazingness Tristan.

I Will Travel at the Proper Speed

There is a place that I want to get to.
I have tried to get there before, but my pace was far too fast.
I miss the fork, or the left turn,
and I end up further from my destination than ever before.
Still other times I have walked slowly in my attempts
to reach this grand locale.
Sometimes I've walked too slow.
So slow that I forget what journey I'm on,
and I end up in a zone that no man wants to be in.
I will travel this road many times,
and occasionally I will travel at the proper speed.

The most influential man in street style?

Pelayo Diaz Zapico--and his amazing blog--is really starting to gain attention.

I've seen him at the The Sartorialist, and on GQ.

While doing my photo marketing job for Lipton Brisk, I came across two individuals who clearly are Pelayo-influenced. I myself have taken cues from him as well. I bought a pair of Doc's, and I'm thinking about pushing the boundaries of the pompadour to Pelayo-heights.

Here's some shots of 'Prince' Pelayo Diaz Zapico, and those whom he's influenced.

A reminder

It's no secret that I love Scott Schuman's the Sartorialist website.

I think the man has my dream job. Although I'd probably write a little more than he does, but still...

Scott's blog always captures some amazingly stylish people, and I'd like to think I'm capable of doing the same--but with a way shittier camera.

When I was at Coachella--a little drunk--I saw this amazingly beautiful girl standing amongst the crowd. She was wearing a yellow terricloth jumper, and my goodnessss that figure. During the festival, I had been asking strangers for their pics just because I found them to be stylish, and also to add flavor to my own personal photo album. This girl though, she was so exquisitely beautiful; I knew my Coachella photo album would not be complete without adding her image, her aura--her swagger. I snapped one as I walked up to her, and then tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey can I take your picture?"

"Excuse me?" She responded in what was a damn cute, but somewhat regal, English accent.

"No, I just think you're really cute and stylish and I want to take your picture. It's nothing sketchy." Would I have said that if I wasn't drunk? Hmmm, I don't know but that's the shit that came out. I noticed her friend standing next to her, and I didn't want to make her feel bad so I told her to get in the picture as well. Admittedly, she looked pretty cool too.

"Sure!" She shrugged her shoulders, smiled, and cutely posed. Her friend stoicly joined in. Maybe I shouldn't have asked her to be the picture.

"Okay ready? One, two, three!" Yes, my stupid ass actually counted down before taking the picture. Like I said a little drunk.

I walked away, pleased I had added this amazing girl to my Coachella experience. While I was on my way back to my group of pals, my friend Ricky noticed--and later informed me--the guy she was with, thought it was quite funny that I held my drunk fingers out and counted down for the pic. (God that was embarrassing). Apparently, my terriclothed clothed beauty also pondered who I was, and why I was taking the shot.

Later, after uploading all of my images to facebook, I found out this stunning young lady was singer Corinne Bailey Rae. Of course this explained the confusion amongst her and her friends. How the hell could this stranger--me--not have any clue who he was taking a picture of? It was just a day earlier that she performed, and now there was this idiot asking for a pic.

Anyway, I'd like to think there was a part of her who thought it was cool that somebody, who didn't recognize her, asked for her picture just because he appreciated her beauty and style. Perhaps I secretly made her day.

The reason why I'm telling this story though, is because Scott Schuman's latest blog post reminded me of Corinne.

Here's Scott's post.



And here are my pics of Corinne. I guess we appreciate good views yes?

My morning coffee makes me wanna chase after...

The Pursuit of Happiness, Kid Cudi/Steve Aoki style!

BASS MUZZIC

You can feel the bass in this one, and it feels damn good.

Star Eyes & Pharaoh - Cry Baby by Trouble & Bass

Can't stop the music posts lately.

'80s steez

Loving this song right now

Givers-Up Up Up



Sorta makes you happy yes?

You know that I'd make her say ooowhooo ooowhooo ooowhooo ooo!!!

Godd these dudes are funny.

A summertime chunee

Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes by nzemi

Goo downloaddd foolzz

One of my old homies from college is now a super dope DJ.

You may have heard of him, DJ Skeet Skeet. He's done all sorts of cool ass shit, like remixing Katy Perry, Weezy, Ke$ha, etc... to DJing Blow Up, SXSW, WMC, and much more.

Anyway, here's his new remix of Broken Social Scene-All to All

Broken Social Scene - All To All (Skeet Skeet Remix) by skeet skeet

I want to dance with you

What are you doing right now?

I'm listening to some Drop the Lime jamzz, and thinking we should dance yes?

BASSS!!!

Battle of the Bayyy!

Okay only the pre-season version.

Let's just consider this a prelude to the real one on Oct. 17!

Go Raiders, "just win baby!"

Tonight's ode to style... the '60s

Damn men looked sharp in the '60s!


Michael Caine


Sean Connery

Some old stuff

Can't sleep. Listening to tunezz and this came on.



One of last year's best remixes yes?

And so was...



Actually, this remix makes this song one of my all-time favorite jamz. You hear this and you can't help but think about meeting somebody beautiful, and then dancing and being with them all night long.

Incredible.

Song of tonight

Passion Pit-Cuddle Fuddle

Next weekend...

I'll be in LA but you know I want to see Machete.

No matter how bad this movie is, it'll still be good. Like amazingly badly good. Robert Rodriguez, Danny Trejo, Robert DeNiro, Jesscia Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, and Lindsay Lohan as a nun. This has to win!



Also, these are sooo sick, and I want them badly. Who wants to buy me some Dr. Marten's brogues?

RAGE!!!!

Rage Against the Machine was my favorite band when I was in 8th grade/freshman in high school.

When they broke up I was devastated, and when the remaining members formed Audioslave I cringed.

RAGGGEEEE!!!

The appeal of football

I was scanning the internet today when I came across these pics (all but one are from Sports Illustrated).

Every year, around this time, the entire nation is "gearing" up for the start of what has become one of America's greatest traditions--football season!

From late August, to the first week in February, millions of Americans are engulfed in the religious fervor that is fandom.

I'm a fan, I definitely know what it feels like to cheer with religious like zeal. Fandom is great, it gives many of us a respite from our daily monotony.

But the fan experience is not why I love football, and will forever be connected to it.

I grew up surrounded by this game. My dad coached, his friends coached, and my friends played on my teams.

To me, football isn't about smashing heads, being tough, or--in its most basic sense--fucking somebody up.

It's about relationships.

I'll always think about football as a way to connect with people.

There is no feeling like being on a team working together, suffering together, laughing together, and then ultimately succeeding or failing together. Football is a game of passion, of emotion, and the bonding experience; the sharing of achievement and failure amongst others with whom you can call call brothers is irreplaceable.

The game will always be apart of my being, because there is true beauty in a diverse group of individuals becoming one to achieve something special.



Jerry Rice proving that you gotta look good to play good.


The graceful Gale Sayers.


Prime Time vs The Playmaker


The legendary Jim Brown


Brady and Manning, two of the greatest of all-time.

Factory Girl

Tonight, a photo album reminded me of this: Edie Sedgwick was stunningly beautiful and stylish.

Way ahead of her time.

Zombieland!

Zombiez took over downtown San Jose tonight! Shitz was crazy!

Rococo

This song is haunting.

Start questioning...

I've decided...

...that I'm going to be a street style blogger somehow.

I definitely need a better camera, but I don't think that should stop me.

Personally, there's just something special about how somebody expresses themselves through the way they dress. Even if you're somebody who "doesn't care" about what you wear, you're still expressing something about yourself. Right?

So the question then becomes is personal style a form of art? Art is expression through some sort of medium right? Can your clothes be your paints, lyrics, instruments, voice, etc...?

What do you guys think?

Until then, enjoy some cute couples from Scott Schuman's Sartorialist blog.

¡Abrazame!

This song is catchy as hell!

Latin muzic lovers, electro lovers, hip-hop lovers, Bay Area lovers, etc...we can all get in on this one.

Let's make it biggg!!!

Scandinavian Legs

I so wish my job was to walk around and take these kinds of pics.

Kudos to you Gordon Von Steiner!

I wrote a real Shakespearean sonnet once

So a little known fact about me. I'm into writing poems. I'm not sure how good I am at it, but I like it. Sort of therapeutic...or something. This one is a Shakespearean sonnet, written in iambic pentameter and everythinggg!

Drops

At times I think our thoughts go on with hope.
They run like drops of water trickling down.
Into caverns where surely they will float.
Or maybe they will go and die and drown.
It's sad to know our drops will cease to live.
They cling and merge into their lives to say,
we can't, we won't, fuck it, we won't forgive.
Stand back, let us just die and go away.
So we can turn our drops into a pool,
and we can swim, and we can splash and shit.
These thoughts think that these thoughts are really cool.
Like water merging it sounds like a fit.

But no, we know that time will fuck it up.
They'll take our drops and drink them in their cup.

Okay so I like Katy Perry

And I'm so serious too! Her music doesn't take itself too seriously. Its ironic and witty, and funny as hell. I can get with any tunezz with a sense of humor.

Might buy her album, I heard its scented.

See what I mean? Sense of humor!

When I can't write

Sometimes I start the writing process too damn late.

In these instances, I'm just going to post a pic of something, or somebody beautiful. The pic above is from Scott Schuman, aka the Sartorialist's blog. He held a vintage photo contest and this photo was submitted.


Enjoy.

An old poem

I wrote this when I was still in college.

My Professor Sucks

If I could be anywhere I'd be in bed with her.
Away from this professor, and his monotone of inexperience.
Unsure, his swagger lacking lecture destroys the class' attention span
like a vicatin kills off pain.

I'd rather be just waking up with her.
Holding her delicately clothed self
and taking in the sweet warmth from her chocolate skin.
Feeling her breath and her little twitches
and awaiting our awakening so that we can be
each other's morning caffeine rush.

Afterwards, when her black like coffee hair
is draped on my pillows, and we're done living inside of us
I'll open my eyes and be back in class.
Thinking about yesterday in its majesty, and looking toward tomorrow.
And plotting my map to explore every inch of her being.

The three things I can't stop wearing

I love shoes.

Perhaps that wasn't a manly statement, or depending on who you ask, maybe it was.

Most sartorially correct men do, in fact, love shoes.

And perhaps somewhat ironically, a lot of men who are into hip-hop/sports love shoes as well. They are also the men who pretend to be the most manly, so maybe not loving shoes is what is non-manly.

Anyway, it's not like it matters, but shoes kick ass.

Recently, I've been wearing a select rotation of my collection of shoes.

The first one being a pair of Dr. Marten's boots. I never thought I'd love these as much as I do, but damn I'm into them now. Hell, I even want the cherry red ones, the snakeskin ones, and the metallic ones. Anyway, I need to beat these up some more--and get a job--before I invest in some more Doc's, but I've been wearing my black ones a lot.

I've also really been wearing the hell out of my Air Max 90 "infrareds" and my Air Jordan III's. I'm a sucker for sneakers, and these may just be my two favorites of all-time. Maybe I like them so much, because I was a little kid when they first came out, and they remind me of shit like Hot Wheels, Legos, and Looney Toons.

Those were the days. So much fun!

Let's get Old Fashioned

The Old Fashioned.

When this is made properly--and it rarely is--there may not be a better example of what a great cocktail can be.

The one pictured above was something of an eye opener. It's from a speakeasy bar called Single Barrel, in downtown San Jose. The bartender, Cash, was quick to engage me in conversation once he found out that I was ordering the Old Fashioned.

"When was the last time you had an Old Fashioned?"

"Last night!" I said.

"You didn't put any muddled fruit in your drink did you?"

"NO!"

"That a boy!" And he continued making my drink. We went on a little further, and like me he uses simple syrup instead of a sugar cube, but sort of quizzically he squirts a dash of soda water in it. Not much just a dash. His opinion is that there should be some in it, but I think he feels like its necessary to do so, because he does not stir the drink with traditional ice. Instead, he drops a big ball of ice in the middle of the drink. Anyway, it seems like the soda water just gets the bitters and simple syrup mixing, and doesn't dilute the whiskey as much as regular ice would. (There is something to be said about the whiskey he used though--goddamn)! But the big debate of the night, was whether to use a lemon peel or an orange peel to garnish the drink with. Cash felt that a lemon peel really brought out a bigger taste in the drink, especially with the aroma. He also rightly pointed out that a lemon peel was the OG garnish back when the drink was first invented. I think the bigger aroma came from his brimming of the glass with the peel; and that the same could be achieved with an orange. But I think I'm going to need to test that theory for myself.

Anyway, there's no better spot in SJ for quality cocktails. Here's to Cash, Single Barrel, and the Old Fashioned.

Cheers!!!

Sleepy

Eva Green is beautiful right?

I want to write tonight, but I also want to get my ass to bed. I think bed wins, I'll talk to you guys tomorrow.

I like characters

Tonight my roommate and I bought a bunch of liquor.

We had no real reason for it, other than it seems somewhat retro-gentlemanly to have a liquor cabinet.

Anyway, I LOVE mixing cocktails so a nice stash of liquor also enables my hobby. Tonight, I had an Old Fashioned and I made my roommate two Vesper Martinis. He should definitely sleep nicely tonight.

In case you were wondering the "Vesper" is the infamous James Bond cocktail. The OG recipe calls for something like this:

3 parts Gordons
1 part Vodka
1/2 measure of Lillet
Shake over ice and garnish with a lemon peel.

First off, this is a massive cocktail. It's also a badly balanced one. The gin overpowers almost everything in the drink, and you're not left with much but big glass of gin. Of course this is okay if you a gin advocate.

But after a bunch of experimenting, I've come up with something which I feel is a much more elegant, balanced, cocktail.

1 oz Gin
1 oz Vodka
1/2 oz Lillet
couple of dashes orange bitters
STIR (all clear ingredients should always be stirred) with ice
garnish with a lemon peel.

Personally, I think this ratio allows the gin and vodka to work well with each other, and the orange bitters and lemon really bring out all the citrus in the cocktail. Try it at home. I'd make you one, but that's sort of tough over the interwebzzzz.

Wow that was a long ass lead in.

What I really wanted to write about was Up in the Air, a movie I re-watched tonight. I really think this was the best movie of last year; and yes even better than Avatar and Hurt Locker. Don't get me wrong, I really liked those movies, but my favorite movies--and TV shows--are those "slice of life" type stories. I want characters with pain/problems that I can feel, who have interesting stories. The George Clooney-Ryan Bingham character was one of those. Hell that character even inspired me to write the poem that is below this post. Like personally, Inception and A Single Man deal with very similar subject matter, but in different ways. Inception is a sci-fi action movie, whereas A Single Man is straight drama; but both are about how losing a loved one can affect your entire being (the physical and the mental). Both deal with this subject well too, but to me A Single Man resonated more, because the movie focused more on characters rather than spectacle. Give me characters over effects any day.

Getting Home

How do you get home when you've never had one?
You take classes to get there,
but they lead to mere missed opportunities.
Those crappy codes were meant to
crack a safe that can only be opened by a specific key.
Cocktails, bikes, chat rooms, etc...
they've all worked as road maps
for many weary travelers, but not for all.
Perhaps the answer lie not in the sprawl,
but deep in a meadow where music is infinite
and mixed company conjugate.

The map is mysteriously missing.
Creativity seems to be the clue.

Arcade Fire and Mad Men

I promise that I'm going to start keeping this up regularly.

Tonight I watched "Scott Pilgrim Versus the World." I have to admit it was pretty damn funny. Michael Cera played Michael Cera again, and Jason Schwartzman continued his run of slimy despicable characters. Also Aubrey Plaza was fucking hilarious. She's like the hipster update of Janeane Garofalo.

But I also watched the latest Mad Men again...

I'm sure there's a lot of you who don't watch Mad Men--and that's okay--its sort of a geeky English major-type show. Like one of those shows where you can watch an episode two or three times and still catch stuff. I was an English major, so I sort of geek out every episode.

Anyway, shitzzz (so intellectual I know) is getting "heavy," (McFly) and Don Draper (the protagonist) is spiraling into a dark dark place. Here's a man who I really think is a good person--or at least wants to be--but he's too afraid of his own emotions to be that person. He feels, thinks, and knows the right things to do, but he's too trapped being this identity that he's created to become anything different. Lately, he's comforting his pain with everybody's old pal Bourbon, but I wonder how long he can continue with this spiral into addiction and suffering. Somebody, or something, has to bring life back into this guy at some point this season.

This got me thinking though--about a lot of stuff.

Especially about Arcade Fire's new album. The Suburbs, is like a social commentary for our times, but it's also appropriate for the '60s era of Mad Men. The album thumps, wails, hums, beats, and haunts of what a life of conformity can do to our soul. It speaks of connections without touching, of how life takes us away from each other, how our 9-5 internet connected lives can kill our creativity--our passion. Is this 2010 or 1965? I couldn't help but think how resonate this subject matter is with the world of Mad Men. How the album mirrors the life of Don Draper, and the sadness that has enveloped that character. The man is literally a slave to his job, and what's worse is that he's so afraid to let anybody know who he really is that his work is all that he has. Sort of a paradox in a way. He's successful at his job, he's good at it, but the deceitful nature of it (he's in advertising) seems to further the lies of his life; and yet its only at work where he seems truly comfortable.

Maybe this is just my youth thinking, but somewhere along the line--in college or in high school--I think I lost my creative passion. I used to draw and paint every waking hour of my spare time as a kid, but during my adolescence this escaped from me further and further. Somewhere i got this notion that I had to "make something" of my life, and that art wasn't going to make me happy. I can't even put my damn finger on it--where that fucking thought came from (perhaps Leo DiCaprio incepted it in me)--but as I think I'm starting to find myself I realize that art, passion, things that celebrate life and all its complexity, are the things that I've always wanted to do and be apart of.