Friday, April 24, 2009

FILM: Back to the slaughter house with Grindhouse, Machete

Faux Poster Art

Like most prolific Hollywood directors, Robert Rodriguez has been a pretty busy guy.  With talks of him rebooting a Red Sonja flick with his girl Rose McGowan, developing a new reboot of the Predator franchise, Predators, (please be better then Paul Anderson's flicks, please!) and a new sci-fi action flick called Nerveracker, which was thought to be his actual next film project, you'd figured he would be getting started on one of these right?
Well turns out it's none of these, at least not for the moment.  Machete, that small gag trailer, if you will, that he did for the Grindhouse films is actually finally coming to fruition. 
 Having already finished the script a while ago, he'll be co-directing with his long time editor, Ethan Maniquis.  Danny Trejo of course will be reprising his role as the lead.  While no word on whether it will have a theatrical release or straight to DVD, production is hoping to start in Austin, Tx this June.  Wherever it's released I'm sure we'll all be there.  Wikipedia states, "'This guy should be like the Mexican Jean-Claude Van Damme or Charles Bronson".  And to that we say YES.  Thanks to Norm for the wiki tip.

WEAR: Bonobos Shorts



I haven't talked about these guys but I will showcase them soon.  But hot off the presses(email blast), the best pants a man can have, just got some company.  Bonobos, (named of course after that beloved ape) a company that prides themselves in creating the best fitting pants for the every man, have decided to expand on their shorts line with some more subtle looks.  Before they had some pretty exotic looking pairs much like the one in the middle, but thankfully they're branching out.  As you can see the fits are quite nice as well as handmade, and at $75 a pair not so bad either.  You have options of 7 or 9inch inseams as well.  
What makes these pants and shorts better then any other?  Besides the amazing soft materials they use, what you'll find or actually not find is the usual saggy bottom and fronts look you would in most pants these days.  Also no more straight waist band but curved the way it SHOULD be.  Not all of us guys are pencil thing models, and nor we should be.  After all, we don't all want to look the same do we?  
Do yourself a favor and head on over to Bonobos.  You'll find a wide array of pants in great cotton twills, khakis, and lots of lightweight, mid, and heavy cord pants (Mint Julips and the Capertons among my faves) as well as some nice silk belts and a few tees.  And to top it off their customer service is 2nd to NONE.  Order a few and mail the ones you don't want back; aren't happy with the fit after a good while? (and I mean longer then 30 days even) send them back with a good reason why you didn't like them and you'll get your money back.  What company would do such a thing?  Don't fret it, and go for this win-win situation.

$75 | BUY

LISTEN: Parc Avenue by Plants and Animals

Album artwork for Park Avenue

Make no mistake this year has been no slouch in releasing some great music already.  With that said, I want to bring to your attention a little group from Montreal, Canada that should have caught it when they first released their debut in around early last year.  If you haven't heard of them by now, then look them up NOW.  Plants and Animals is composed of guitarist-vocalists Warren Spicer and Nic Basque, and drummer-vocalist Matthew Woodley.  
Their music?  Call it what you will, indie folk rock, progressive classic rock, folk-prog, but those who know better refuse to label them.  Let's just say the album has a great mix of everything all of which you can chill, groove and dance to.  Overall a very underrated band which some hipsters might find that just fine.  In my point of view the more people that know about these guys the more they'll love them and pass the word.  
I saw them in town a month or so ago, to a record breaking less then 30 people in attendance.  Visibly disappointed I'd say, they still played like champs to a stadium crowd, even had some laughs with the small audience and had a great set.  After the gig, I talked to Nic and told him, "come back soon, don't worry about the turnout, they don't know what their missing."  And you don't know what you're missing out on either, so for their sake, and MY sake, have a listen.  You won't regret.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

TV: G.I. Joe: Resolute Animated Series



With the upcoming G.I. Joe flick, starring Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum, Ray Park, etc etc, on the horizon, Adult Swim has decided to release their own version or updated version of the animated heroes to their network.  Although this has nothing to do with the film other then capitalising on the fact that there IS a live action film coming out, it's a pleasant surprise.  Much like the He-Man Masters of the Universe series they produced years ago,  you won't get anymore silly PSAs or cheesy wrapped up stories.  What we get instead is some real hardcore American hero type action in this series.  


Clocking in at around 5 mins each, (much like the recent Clone Wars series leading up to the Revenge of the Sith film that were around 3 minutes long) they're set to release up to 10 episodes of which they're up to 8 right now.  The final one will be 10 minutes long for the finale.  With blood, team member deaths, and no shrill voices like before, this isn't your typical toon from our childhood, but we like it.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Designer Spotlight: Save Khaki

Denim isn't everything.

Founded in New York in 2006, Designer David Mullen (2nd from left) set out to balance out the denim craze with a more subtle modern comfortable fitting line of clothes with Save Khaki.  Nothing over designed, but keeping ulitily in mind.  And the end product as you can see is pretty sleek.  I personally love the two looks on the left, something I would try had I the opportunity in person.  I too have grown tired of denim, denim, denim, and this seems like the right answer to my and I'm sure others, problems.  Khaki in general in the past, have always seemed baggy, pleated, loose, and "dated".  But with looks like these, you'll look hipper then most cats around.

Available in selected shops around the US.  (Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman, Fred Segal, etc etc.)

SEXY: Samsung BD-P4600 ToC Blu Ray Player


Sexy isn't just a gorgeous girl in a tiny black dress.  From Samsung comes the first wall mountable 1.5" thin touch control Blu Ray player on the market.  From it's sleek Touch of Color finish (to match ToC tele sets), you'll still get all the HD goodness you come to expect from new technology.  With wireless access to video and music streaming from services like Netflix and Pandora, you'll get all the current tech as well like: BD Live 2.0 support, Full HD 1080p playback with DVD upscaling, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD HR/MA.  How sweet it is.

TBA | Buy

Sunday, April 12, 2009

SHOWCASE: Leather, leather, oh my....

Ralph Lauren Collection

I LOVE leather jackets. For a while I was mainly obsessed with vintage leather, of the 60s and 70s variety. Even prior to the Fight Club enthusiasts, I had always loved the enlarged lapels, western styled jackets. Maybe here and there I'd throw in a motorcycle jacket as well. But it's been a while since I paid any attention to leather. Living in California rarely gives me the opportunity to wear any due to the heat. Thankfully that's changing with the newer collections of leather jackets coming out from many designers.

Slimmer cuts, paper thin, washed, fine leathers, different styles, these are just a few examples of what they are coming up with in terms of making leather jackets even more accessible to those that previously might have hesitated to purchase any.

E. Zegna Leather Bomber

The three major styles going around right now are the "fatigued" style (shown in the R.Lauren pic at top of post), an updated bomber styled jacket, and the slick and chill Moto Racer styled jacket (below).
Moto Style Jacket

You'll be seeing them in a variety of colors as well.  But nothing out of the ordinary.  Besides the usual tan or black colors, you'll be seeing lighter tones in creme colored and even whites.  No Matter what you'll have a huge variety to choose from.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

SEE: The Hangover

What a true, Vegas outing should be like.  Only x10. 


Starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Heather Graham, Justin Bartha, and Jeffrey Tambor.  And as you can see cameos from Rob Riggle and even Mike the Bite Tyson.