Charlize Theron, Atomic Blonde
My favorite blonde ice pick is at it again as an MI6 agent in a slick & sick action thriller from the director of John Wick.
The Frustrating Truth About Luxury: It Just Looks Sexier
I get an email every morning from a popular online men’s magazine. It’s a digest of their newest content, consisting of posts about rare luxury cars, liquor, gear, getaways and whatnot. It’s bro porn.
Here’s the problem: I don’t drink, I neither have nor really want a car, and I don’t have any money. And I’m guessing that at least 99.99999% of the men on this website’s mailing list do not have the money for 99.99999% of the featured gear and getaways either. On rare occasions, the editors feature something fantastic that is actually affordable, which is nice.
So why don’t I unsubscribe? Well…
The Great White T-Shirt
Is there anything simpler or more iconic, accessible and essential in a man’s wardrobe?
The white t-shirt was originally an undergarment with roots in the military. The white tee started to get traction as a legitimate outer garment with the help of some iconic cultural tentpoles in the middle of the twentieth century, most notably Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
The March 2017 Playlist: ’80s R&B
Between 1980 and 1990, I aged from ten to twenty years old. The ’80s were the years I was most keenly tuned into radio and MTV, which was all we had back then. (I didn’t get into the alternative scene until I got to college.)
Much of what I loved in my teens was the R&B dance/pop music coming out then. I was a closet disco queen, which was unusual for a white boy in a very white suburb. And much of the music I was attracted to came from black artists, with some of the music appearing on Top-40 charts while some of it was slightly more esoteric, only to be heard on Cleveland’s “black” station WZAK, which was my favorite at the time. And I was a freak for the stuff coming out of Minneapolis from Prince’s little purple/paisley universe.
Brad Pitt Is Coming to Netflix in “War Machine”
Brad Pitt's latest project is a satire set in the war in Afghanistan.
The Best Dressed Man at the 89th Academy Awards…
Without any attention-desperate splash of color, pattern or off-season white, Justin Timberlake asserted his place as one of the best dressed men in show business at the 89th Academy Awards last night.
Dialing Down the Dairy
I grew up drinking milk, eating cheese and living for ice cream. They’re delicious! But as I grow older and learn more about dairy’s role in human nutrition and the way animals are treated so we can get a good chunk of feta, I’m dialing back.
I’m not a vegan, but I do unwittingly have vegan days – whole 24 hour periods where I will unintentionally not consume any animal products. After experimenting with vegetarianism and going full swing a few years ago, it just happens. It would probably be more accurate to describe me as “vegan-adjacent.”
While I haven’t dropped dairy altogether, I have cut back dramatically. After years of going without meat but occasionally enjoying fish, my thinking on the whole subject of animal consumption is evolving. Sticking with the things I was raised on is easy. It’s what I know. But as I keep thinking, learning and seeing more over time, dairy is growing harder for me to justify.
The Faux Fur Trim
After ruining the faux fur hood trim on my beloved snorkel jacket, I needed a solution. I found one.
Dearly Beloved… Prince is on Spotify
The music of one of the greatest recording artists of all time and one of my personal favorites is finally on Spotify.
The February 2017 Playlist
My apologies for the late arrival of this month’s playlist, but it’s here at long last. While it’s the usual genre/decade mess, there are some choice love-themed Valentine’s Day selections, like Dorothy Ashby’s gorgeous 1968 arrangement of “Come Live With Me” from Valley of the Dolls, the beautiful “Simple Song #3” from Paolo Sorrentino’s exquisite film Youth, and “Sometimes I Wish I Had a Gun” by Mink Stole. Enjoy.