-I've noted my unequivocal love for Sperry a number of times, and more casually, I've dropped a couple lines about my appreciation for Modern Amusement. For a long time in high school I wasn't really pumped on slip-ons, but I was already a huge Sperry fan when I saw bought these in 2006. They're showing a good amount of wear but I still like them for the simple task of hopping on my skateboard and cruising to class on a sunny day. I got them for $75 at Nordstrom, and in the three years that I've owned them, I've never seen anyone else with the same pair. All in all, a great buy with a couple years left to enjoy.
-After the release of his third album, Deeper Than Rap, yesterday's New York Times featured an excellent profile of Rick Ross. The coke-rap icon/former corrections officer's recent beef with 50 Cent (see the above video) made headlines and brought Ross's credibility into question. Still, he managed to come back with a more polished lyrical style to create what many consider his best record yet. In my opinion, 50 hasn't made a good record since his debut. He already got rich, but with Ross on the rise he might actually have to start trying.
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- The Secret Handshakehit us with a well-timed release, My Name up in Lights, today. The songs were made for summer weather and I kept the album on the pod while enjoying a beautiful day on campus. TSH's One Full Year is one of my most played albums, but the new album is a nice move toward a lighter sound. Lights mimics the TSH live show, which in its simple goal of getting people to jump, strips the intricate synth progressions down to basic dance beats and funky bass lines.
-The second-best track on the album, 'TGIF,' recounts the glory of 90s sitcoms, referencing Boy Meets World and Full House among others, which should bring pop-laden smirk to the face of anyone who grew up in the 90s. I was a little disappointed there wasn't at least one slower song, but every track on the album, especially 'Saturday,' has the potential of becoming the type of essential underground summer anthem that 'Summer of 98' was last year.
-If you're not already acquainted with the wonders of Sriracha sauce, I suggest you make the effort to become so. I was unaware of Sriracha until this year, but there is a cult following among college students and gourmets alike. I was weary at first, I'm not that big on hot sauces, but I took a suggestion from one of my roommates, all of whom swear by the stuff, and put it on my rice. From that point on I started experimenting with other applications: In onion ring batter, bean dip, stir fry. The glory of Sriracha isn't just its intense heat (a few drops adds more than enough heat to any dish,) its in it's unassuming ability to amplify any thing you put it in. It doesn't overpower and it doesn't have an overly Thai flavor, it's just simple heat and flavor. Click the photo for a better view of the classic label.
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-My knowledge of street art is fairly limited, so whenever I pass a mildly subversive piece of art pasted onto a wall in New York or Los Angeles I am inclined to wonder if it was done by Banksy, the English graffiti artist who manages to be the face of the street art movement despite never actually showing his face. However, my first confirmed sighting took place on my recent trip to LA, when I happened upon these pieces on Beverly Boulevard and Melrose, respectively. These were cool to see, but unfortunately not as cool as the Guantanamo detainee Banksy put inside Disneyland's Thunder Mountain Railroad on his last trip to California. more
-Glenn O'Brien's article Too Cool for School from City Magazine a couple years ago explored the frivolousness of expensive clothes for kids. With humor and characteristic Style Guy wit, the article made the obvious points: Children get dirty, grow quickly, and can be dressed respectably without spending a great deal. Though I often note budget as my primary sartorial concern, I've recently been overcome with a desire to have my kids look as badass as possible. For no reason at all I've assembled some clothes that make me wish I was 7 years old, above, from Polo and below, from Little Marc Jacobs.
-Yes Lookbook.nu is hipster self-indulgence at its peak, but I'm addicted, and occasionally there are looks that inspire me. This look from Mister S. reminds us to embrace the color palettes of spring and how one well-chosen accessory can make a look.
-You check out our Lookbook page to check up on whether or not we practice what we preach, and to check looks we've hyped. Spring looks coming soon.
-We're as weary of Urban Outfitters as any other style conscious folks, citing its propensity for attracting doucher-hipsterati, but the brand continues to gain credibility with solid collaborations. A couple weeks ago ACL uncovered an Urban project with legendary PNW outdoors label Filson, and today we heard about another Urban exclusive tee (above left) by our friends at the Portland based Blacktooth Clothing. Then I saw (and impulse bought) this short trench by Lark & Wolff by Steven Alan. As always when buying online, I used retailmenot to get a 10 percent discount. If you're not aware of the fabulous utility of retailmenot, look into it before you buy anything else online.
-The long awaited new Jadakiss record dropped yesterday and I kept it on the pod throughout my day. I'm still a little unsure how I feel, it has been so long since I've heard any new Kiss it's hard for me not to like the entire disc by default. I'm a little disappointed in the number of tracks with R&B hooks (my hip-hop pet peeve, I like my shit gritty,) especially since Kiss called out 50 for putting out a disc of radio hits and love songs ("Bunch of love songs, just somethin' to break up buds on.") But I can't fault the man for wanting to put out a disc that sells well, even if he has to turn to Ne-Yo and Weezy, considering all the label bullshit Kiss has dealt with in his career.
-Overall the beats are solid, the flow is solid as expected, and appearances by Ghostface, Styles P, Swizz, Raekwon, Pharrel and Jeezy among others add enough variety to keep me interested in the whole album. Kiss spits a little more like a veteran with an appreciation for the amount of work it takes to succeed in the business and he spends a little less time talking about slinging rock. And even though I knocked both these themes a few sentences ago, one of the best tracks is "Smoking Gun," a song with a pervasive female lead hook and some pretty heavy subject matter (killing your girl's abusive step-father.) On "Death Wish" Wayne drops one of the most solid, least-nutty verses we've heard from in awhile.
-According to Hypebeast, Levi's will be releasing a vibrant new series of 501s for the warmer months ahead. I have been devoted to 501s since a stole a pair of my dad's back in high school, and I was a big fan of the new washes they came out with earlier this year. While I don't quite share my co-editor's affinity for colored denim, I love the fact that Levi's never ceases to keep the world's first jean looking fresh as hell.
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-I've been feeling Diamond since I bought one of their hoodies on Crailtap in 9th grade. I have since lost the sweatshirt, but Diamond has undergone quite the transformation, starting as a small hardware company before becoming a streetwear powerhouse in recent years. They still sponsor everyone from Koston to Stevie Williams, only now they have a slick Fairfax storefront with ridiculous gear and service that doesn't suck. I was upset that we missed an impromptu appearance by Rick Ross by only two days, but it was nice to rediscover an old favorite and replace that sweatshirt.
-Bellingham's own Death Cab for Cutie released The Open Door EP on Tuesday, an upbeat and optimistic collection of songs that they deemed unfit for their last record, Narrow Stairs. Despite a few good songs, Stairs was probably my least favorite Death Cab record. However, the new EP is an impressive return to form, and it has me excited for the band's long-awaited return to Bellingham later this month.
-Most people who only know Jason Lee from My Name is Earl (or Alvin and the Chipmunks, which I watched one day on HBO and it wasn't as bad as you might think,) are probably unaware of the fact that Lee was a pro skater before turning actor. Lee was part of a group, including Guy Mariano (click this for one of the best video parts ever), Mark Gonzales and Rudy Johnson, that really pushed the explosion of skate popularity in the early 90s. I ran across Lee's part from Spike Jonze's famous Video Days on Club Mumble and just thought I'd share. In Lee's part you can see what was then the forefront of technical street skating and a lot of the stuff he was doing, even looking at it almost 20 years later, is nuts.
-This is a collection of some of my favorite essays. The only high school required reading to ever catch my attention was The Stranger by Albert Camus and I've been enthralled by existentialism and existentialist theory ever since. I think most of you will find it fits pretty well with the overall mood of your college years. You can get it almost anywhere.
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Angelo and Tim write this blog. They are journalism and creative writing students from the Pacific Northwest. They have good style. Here, they share their bits of style advice, critiques and other tidbits of random but maybe-useful/entertaining information. Enjoy and return often.
