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A blog dedicated to the interesting, scandalous, useful and cutting edge in the world of men’s style, fashion and grooming.
MTV just launched the web-video branch of its empire, with its whole archive available to stream and embed for bored office workers and link-happy bloggers everywhere. They’re still ironing out the kinks—meaning half the videos will simply refuse to load—and it has the same problems MTV has always had (too mainstream, too much R&B, nothing by the Buzzcocks) but it’s worth spending a few minutes digging the archives.
At least, if you have a set of headphones handy…
Dance Off: The world record for simultaneous reenactment of the Thriller video has broken once again. We can only hope this escalates into an arms race of some kind. [Daily Intel]
Clean as Soap: The best shaving soap in the world, courtesy of Portland’s finest. [Winn Perry]
A Good Vintage: A look into advertising’s past. But, you know, not on television. [Blog001]
The Vote has been Rocked: Make sure you’re registered before Tuesday rolls around. [Can I Vote]
Kanye’s seen the future, and it is Velcro.
These Kris Van Assche ankle leather sneakers prompted his Yeeziness to title a post, “2009 is all about the straps! I know we’ve seen straps but this year it’s going to be crazy,” which moved us to battle stations.
As fashion predictions go, it’s pretty ominous, but hopefully we can dodge the horrible future Kanye foresees. This isn’t 1988, and he isn’t Michael Jackson, so let’s hope he forgets this one before the next tour.
If he’d really meant it, he probably would have typed it in all caps.
Now that Guitar Hero and Rock Band have catapulted music into the video game sphere, everyone’s getting in on the game…and the results are getting pretty ugly.
Microsoft Songsmith, for instance, is meant to make songwriting accessible to everyone with a computer and a non-metallic ear, but it’s turned into a near-endless supply of 90s soft-rock shmaltz. And, unfortunately for Mr. Gates, it’s far better as comedy than music.
The result is a long string of previously beloved songs—“Creep,” “Roxanne,” and “Beat It,” for a start—digitally chewed up and spat out until almost unrecognizable. But a good music video always helps…
Of course, if JFK isn’t quite your speed, there’s always more recent royalty to pick through. For instance, the king of pop.
Michael Jackson has fallen on hard times lately—after all, lawyers ain’t cheap—and he’s putting a few of his less essential purchases up for auction. The result is a peek behind the scenes at one of pop culture’s strangest creations, sequins and all. For a good chunk of the 80s, the glittering epaulette look was the coolest thing anyone had seen. The plastic aviators may be the only thing that survived.
Refinery29 just posted an item entitled The 12 Most Stylish Album Covers of All Time, and we have to call them out on a few slip-ups.
Exhibit A is Thriller. Anyone sporting Jacko’s get up these days would be closer to the American Idol outtake reel than a spot on MTV. But “P.Y.T” is amazing, so we’ll let it go. Adam Ant is a bit harder to swallow. Guyliner and face paint may be taking off among the tweens, but we doubt it’s anything Refinery wants to endorse.
And as far as sins of omission go…whatever happened to Roxy Music?
Our dreams of owning MJ’s sequined glove were dashed today as Jackson succeeded in blocking Julien Auction House from auctioning off a few of his more awesome personal effects. Instead, the slate of items will be exhibited and then possibly shipped off to form a kind of Michael Jackson museum.
We’re going to contain our excitement, except to say this: a museum would easily be the best thing M.J.’s done since Dangerous. Consider us first in line.
Leafing through the Julien catalogs is bizarre enough—gaudy, heartbreaking, and creepy by turns—but seeing the items in person would be nothing short of amazing. Race, celebrity, childhood traumas and interior design trends all get mixed together into one glorious nouveau riche trainwreck that should beat anything you’ll find in the MoMa.
At least until they open up their pop culture wing.
The Fabulous Ms. Fox: Esquire’s latest hi-tech cover wants to make Megan Fox more animated…as if that were possible. [Esquire]
Party Hard: Andrew W.K. revolutionizes New York nightlife. Time to party, indeed. [NYMag]
A Pontiac for All Seasons: With the car company gone the way of the Edsel, Jalopnik counts down their ten greatest creations. [Jalopnik]
I’m Sorry Mr. Jackson: More wreckage from the Michael Jackson’s estate. [Boing Boing]
Featherlight: No, we’d never heard of Sophie Vlaming before either. [Refinery29]
Two Man Band: Five minutes with Band of Outsiders’ Scott Sternberg are almost always well-spent. [W Magazine]
It was a Dark & Stormy Cardigan: John Ray crafts a remarkably well-dressed short story. [Esquire]
Bad News: Fare thee well, Michael Jackson. More on this tomorrow. [L.A. Times]
Along with the rest of the internet, we’re taking a brief moment for Mr. Jackson.
For the past 25 years, he’s been one of the most broad-reaching cultural figures on the planet…for better and for worse. And while Thriller and “I Want You Back” are forever, it’s hard to ignore how limited the scope of his life was—limited by money and the suffocating effects of fame. More worthwhile thoughts can be found here, here and here but we’ll let Youtube speak for itself»
Glamor Shots: Vogue Italia introduces us to Ms. Viktoriya Sasonkina. [Cyana Trendland]
The Man in the Mirror: MJ gets an appreciation from the gray lady. [NYTimes]
Public Enemy #1: The style wisdom of Mr. John Dillinger. [WSJ]
The Urge to Merge: The owner of Uniqlo may take over the Gap, resulting in a resurgence of avant-garde crew necks. [The Cut]
Michael Jackson’s posthumous single, “This Is It,” debuted online Monday, but after a little legal wrangling, it looks like it’s going to be a grand comeback for more than just Jackson. In what has to be the unlikely pop culture development of the new millennium, jinglemeister Paul Anka will be taking home half the royalties, thanks to a co-writing credit.
Apparently “This is It” was originally planned for Anka’s 1983 album, but Jackson slipped away with the demo tapes after they were recorded. We’re not surprised he ran off…but we’re a little surprised Anka got him in the studio at all. Jackson was still riding a shockingly long string of #1 singles and Anka was certainly no McCartney.
With due respect to the man who wrote “My Way,” it looks like Jacko held him in higher esteem than just about anyone in Los Angeles—and we have no idea why. If you’re so moved, you can dig through Anka’s back catalogue to try to figure it out, but we prefer to chalk it up to creative eccentricity.
Christmas Lights: Mme. Moss graces a few holiday Topshop spots. [Les Mads]
Boo!: Halloween costumes from the fashion crowd. 70s Rod Stewart may be a stroke of genius. [Refinery29]
A Matter of Taste: The Ed Hardy Boyz go viral. The name pretty much says it all. [Racked]
Anka Lives: Michael Jackson’s last stand turns out pretty well after all. [The Projectionist]
