PowerPoint: At the fountain

-We're always impressed by well used scarves, but better than that is the hair and the glasses.

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PowerPoint: Nikon Love

-We were both walking with Nikons on so I had to snap.

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Design Major

Earlier today, Gawker showed us a picture of this sculpture, which was discovered on 9th street in New York's East Village. It turned out to be a homework assignment for an NYU sculpture class. We think it's brilliant, and a prime example of collegiate creativity. more

MultiMedia: Homecoming

-We're bored here with rain killing our snaptime , but weve got some really great stuff coming up as soon as it gets sunny later this week.

-So anyway, this is Kanye's video for Homecoming, which I think may be the most stylish music video in the last 8.7 years. There's not much I could add about Kanye, he's been a style icon since the first time he stepped into the public eye.

-Going decidedly un-hip-hop in this video with the scarf/vest combo Kanye raises it to another level. We're not big Chris Martin fans, but what can you do? The video overall is shot incredibly well. Directed by Harold "Hype" Williams




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Dress Code: More shades...

Sun is rare here in the Upper Left, so buying shades can get tricky. If you want to find a balance between Rite-Aid and Marc Jacobs, we recommend you check out the new Ray-Ban collection. They have almost every style you could Imagine (except for the Lennons, ironically). I recently repurchased one of my old favorites, the Ray-Ban Aviator. I've had several pairs of these over the years, and, despite their recent popularity on Greek Row, my dedication will not waver.
Keep your eye out for more on sunglasses as the weather gets nicer. more

Environmental Studies: Tons of Rain=No New Photos

= Here are some of my favorite photos from the evening festivities of the last 2 months:

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Intro to Cinema: A Spike Lee/You Joint

According to FilmDrunk, Spike Lee is jumping on the pomo bandwagon. Mars Blackmon himself recently hooked up with Nokia to make a movie filmed exclusively with cell phones. All the footage will be submitted by everyday folks according to online assignments.
Much like Do The Right Thing's archetypal Radio Raheem, we at Class Act are caught in the struggle between love and hate. We love the idea of making filmmaking accessible to everyone, but we are not quite sure about the grainy footage and corporate tie-ins. Stay tuned. more

Required Reading

‘Young author’ is a strange term. While it is thrown around liberally in descriptions of Dave Eggers and David Foster Wallace, both are well over 35. Even “wunderkind” Jonathan Safran Foer has eclipsed 30. Not only is this terrible news for English majors, it also shows that the literary world has changed quite a bit since Bret Easton Ellis took interviews in his dorm room.
Cue Joshua Ferris. His debut novel, a workplace satire entitled Then We Came to the End, was a 2007 National Book Award finalist. The darkly humorous look at the 1990s dot-com boom has received high praise from critics, as well as authors such as Stephen King and Nick Hornby. The New York Times Book Review called it one of the top 10 books of the year. While Ferris is pushing 34, it is still encouraging to see a debut garner so much praise. more

Intro to Cinema: Forget 'Sarah Marshall'

'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' is a damn funny movie, and you should go see it. While that may seem contrary to the title of this post, we can say with confidence that 'FSM 'is an above-average romantic comedy. And therein lies the problem.
We at CA have been avid fans of the Apatow camp since 'Undeclared', the collegiate sitcom that launched the careers of many of his regulars. As an aptly themed publication, we have always felt the need to recognize 'Undeclared' for being a refreshingly realistic portrayal of college life, and we were sad to see it canceled. We were equally impressed with Apatow's subsequent films, and still watch 'Superbad' weekly. However, the fresh ideas that kept his work original seem to be slipping away in 'Sarah Marshall'. The hilarious unknowns have been replaced by A-list actresses (we shouldn't complain: Mila Kunis looks better than ever), and the rare improvisation looks forced. All in all, it's better than any run-of-the-mill Matthew McConaughey vehicle. It's the fact that it even compares that is disappointing. more

Geography 101: Exclusive Seattle Kicks

-I'm not sure of the ethics of taking information or pictures from other blogs, so I'll just tell you to check out this hypebeast article, about some super fresh Puma x No Mas Seattle inspired kicks, that will be on sale in limited quantity exclusively at Goods in Seattle on Wednesday.

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PowerPoint: Cloudy Day on Campus

-I like snapping when the weather is riding the line between winter and spring because we get to see how people navigate the semi-cold with style.

-This fellow just has style. People who can take things that seem outrageous but make them work as a part of a well constructed lesson in nonchalance get my vote.



-Modern Mario: I dig the rolled jeans and colorful kicks.



-Sydney and Max are consistently stylish folk. Mid-laugh and holding too much stuff. I like his use of various sleeve-pant lengths to play on his height, and her boots and bandana.


-The lightweight pea coat and a little bit of sweater showing, great navigation of weather. Also, little details like the headphone wires and bright kicks set it apart.



-The money here is in the detail shot (below). The flower in the button hole, and the little bit of collar under the distressed sweatshirt. And Cheetos. Good stuff.

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Economics 101: High Grade Shades?

-On Style.com today there was an article about fresh new sunglasses. We respect the site and the shades they chose, but most of the shades (like those pictured below) were in the $300-400 range. 

-Given that we are college students and aim to inform college students, who generally don't have large quantities of expendable funds, I'm asking if designer sunglasses are really worth that much cheddar?

-Now, if you're in the market for ill shades on a budget, Blacktooth¹, the apparel extension of Portland artist Carey Haider, has some fresh pairs (like those pictured below) for between $10-20.

1-More on Blacktooth in the near future

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Required Reading: Believe it.

Having already finished all of our short novel recommendations, you are surely awaiting more CA-approved reading material. Well here you go. We at Class Act are devout followers of philanthropist and literary superhero Dave Eggers, whose expansive body of work we will examine later on. For now, we turn our focus to The Believer, the semi-monthly magazine put out by Eggers’ publishing company McSweeney's. While it is considered a literary magazine, The Believer doesn’t limit itself by any means. Along with essays and columns by writers like Chuck Klosterman and Nick Hornby, the magazine features music and film reviews as well as interviews with everyone from ?uestlove to John Kerry. Even when the magazine is hindered by McSweeney’s trademark indie kitsch, it is held afloat by vivid artwork, brilliant interview material (see UGK’s Bun B discussing the work of Larry David), and an enlightening advice column from the hilarious and terribly underrecognized Amy Sedaris. While the cover price seems daunting, back issues are dirt cheap.

Don't stop Believing.

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PowerPoint: More on Cycle Hipsters Soon

Class Act has a pretty strong stance against cycle-hipsterism, which is heavily prevalent in the PNW.

But we've got nothing against actual bikes, we respect their ability to transport people without destroying the environment. I liked the color combo on this bike so I snapped it.

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Design Major: Manik Skates

This post is a marvel of synergy. Today we were pondering both our crew's return to our adolescent pastime of skateboarding, and how to assert that our aim with this blog is to be northwest-centric. Eighty's Fresh hooked us up by bringing this to our attention: Manik skateboards, a Seattle based (and ill as fuck) skateboard company, just released these decks, which are hand-sketched and represent a Chinatown blockscape. Freshhh. Check out Manik, their decks take skateboard artistry to another level.
In other skate-style news, I purchased these kicks today. They're simple, and were only 50 bones.

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PowerPoint: Bloggers Unite

This girl runs the similarly baller photo-blog, streetstitch, which can be found in the other blogs section of this page.

The jacket is fresh, especially the rolled sleeves. The necklace and the hair and the entire construction. Grade-A bomb bettie to boot. Dude is working it too. (click to enlarge)

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Plagiarism

Again, we turn our attention to The Stranger. This time, however, we are referring to the infamous alternative weekly that claims to be "Seattle's Only Newspaper". This week they introduced "Worn Out", a fashion annual filled with street shots of stylish Seattleites. While at first I was disappointed to see my hometown weekly boldly encroaching on CA's own model, it is always refreshing to see northwest style that doesn't involve REI.
Check out the annual here, and remember that CA has your back daily. more

Required Reading

A few weeks ago, the New York Times ran an interesting essay on love and literary taste. What struck us about the article was the graphic of a certain Camus classic in the back pocket of some 501s. The book in the back pocket is a time-honored method; my own father pocketed Norman Mailer’s An American Dream more than 30 years ago. Of course, the jury is still out on whether the back pocket novel is just a pretentious way of showing off your literary preferences, or simply a convenient way to keep a good book close at hand. Regardless of your motive, you can find a shorter novel worthy of your pocket on this Guardian list, or check out one of our personal favorites:

CA’s Top 5 Pocket-Worthy Short Novels
-The Stranger by Albert Camus
-Night by Elie Wiesel
-Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
-Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
-Dubliners by James Joyce more

PowerPoint: Oversized sweater

Love the huge sweater with the bit of color peaking out the bottom. 

When you have the true air of effortlessness everything looks good. And being gorgeous doesn't hurt either.

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PowerPoint: Rocking Workout

This girl was f2d*.

Workout shoes and shorts, ill leather jacket, alaska tee, but the gold headphones make the whole thing.

She was pointing at someone when I snapped, didn't feel like taking another, I like it.(click to enlarge)

*fresh to death

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PowerPoint: DPW

Dennis Porter Whitcomb is badass professor of philosophy.

 Today he took a break from his usuall suit-jacket/jeans combo and rocked this ill sweater and confused expression. 

Don't worry about my shadow on the bricks.

Sorry I only went to class once a week. more

Design Major

 This is a Secret Handshake t-shirt, and I think it's effective.  The Secret Handshake, if you're unaware*, is a solo synthmo outfit from Texas, that just may bring the autotune emo pop movement thats blowing up in the myspace subterranean, to the masses. At least, I think he's got a better chance than that other Texas based musician of the same genre. Great shirt, nonetheless.

*aka old and totally unhip

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PowerPoint: first male shot

I really like the guy on the right's get-up. The sweater thats longer than the members only jacket (which is coming back tough). Just the color and the proportions.

Dude on the left isn't really my style, but I admire anyone with the balls to wear wacky stuff. 

They were good sports. (click to enlarge)

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MacroEconomics: Who puts the holes in your jeans?

I thought this was an interesting photo.

Kids (or maybe just small men) in China using belt sanders to distress jeans. I hope those aren't Levi's.

Photo from Time, brought to my attention by Eighties Fresh.

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Extra Curricular: Party Photos

Occasionally, most likely when the weather doesn't permit shooting on the street, I'll post worthy photos from my occasional party snapping. Example here, click to enlarge.

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Dress Code

You’ve already heard enough about Vampire Weekend. With the hype machine in full effect, the (apparently) buzzworthy Ivy Leaguers recently became the first band to shoot a Spin magazine cover without ever releasing an album. That, coupled with the fact that Spin is always eager to champion the young and talentless, made us a bit wary. That is, until we realized that their Caribbean by way of Cape Cod pop is actually pretty good. In addition, we fully support their devotion to the Sperry Top-Sider, the unofficial official shoe of CA. It’s time that the Top-Sider gained a substantial following outside of the yacht club, as it’s damn classy and, as one of our editors has proven, can stand up to the Northwest winters as well as anything L.L. Bean will ever make. Look for more on Sperry in the near future, and check out Vampire Weekend here. more

Teacher's Note

Just to clarify to those interested, this page is managed and maintained by two author/editors. We will try to post at least one photo (with commentary) or pertinent piece each day, but may end up posting a few different items per day. Make Class Act part of your routine. more

PowerPoint: first shot! (on campus)

Lovely young lady, I told her to look 'cool'.  

I love the geometric patterned sweater and the just-off primary colors. 

Also, I like the choice of brown boots because I think black would have been less effective.

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The Dean

In addition to promoting the creative ventures of the college set, we here at CA believe a lot can be learned from our predecessors. Those who came before us can offer a great deal of guidance, and thus will be the focus of our Faculty profiles. Though the subject of our first profile left school 55 years ago, he embodies all of our core values: artistic prowess, impeccable style, and a revolutionary approach to his craft.

As one of the foremost practitioners of New Journalism, Gay Talese is best known for his unconventional journalistic style and his perfectly tailored suits. His 1966 Esquire profile of Frank Sinatra is often called the best magazine piece ever written, as Talese's masterful literary technique allowed him to construct a vivid portrait of Old Blue Eyes without ever conducting an interview. Thus, "Frank Sinatra Has A Cold" became a lasting benchmark for the New Journalism movement. The son of a tailor, Talese's dress has always been as precise as his writing, and the suits that got him teased in high school have become his trademark.

Required Reading:

  "Frank Sinatra Has A Cold", Esquire, 1966

New York: A Serendipiter's* Journey

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