Fall TV: The Same, Only Different

If you've been following along, you may remember that I mentioned I was going to talk about the networks' previews of upcoming fall TV shows. I may have also mentioned something about doing it on Monday. Obviously that didn't happen, but we're here now, right?

For the most part, it's more of the same: familiar genres, familiar faces, and in two cases, outright reboots of familiar (at least to some viewers) shows. A lot of it is somewhat escapist in nature, which is understandable. I've read comments from people in the business that claim that when times are tough, viewers want shows that distract them from their troubles, as opposed to complex, serialized shows that demand a serious commitment from viewers.

Speaking for myself, I can only handle watching so many shows at a time, regardless of whether or not they are serialized. With the departures of Lost and 24 I'll have a couple of viewing slots available this fall, and some tough decisions about which new shows I'm going to watch. (I'm not going to run down every new show, because it would just take too much time and space, and you would all be bored, though if you really are interested I can point you to plenty of places online where you can read all about them.)

NBC, the network many of us love to hate. is offering plenty of standard stuff: two legal shows (one with Jimmy Smits, one with Kathy Bates), a romantic-comedy anthology in the vein of Love, American Style, another Law & Order variant set in Los Angeles, and a series from Jerry Bruckheimer about U.S. marshals. Also, NBC is holding Parks and Recreation until midseason and moving 30 Rock to the 8:30 slot on Thursday so they can launch a new comedy after The Office about a guy who is sent to manage his company's call center in India. I thought the clips from this show, Outsourced, were rather unfunny, and The Office had a weak season (and it's unclear how much gas is left in its tank), so I question whether messing with the Thursday comedy lineup is a good idea.

But there are a couple of shows that could break out. One is a light spy show from J.J. Abrams (Alias, Lost, Fringe) called Undercovers, about a pair of married former CIA agents who are pressed back into service. The other is called The Cape, and it's about a police officer who is framed and is forced into hiding, where he assumes the identity of a comic-book superhero character. This isn't a show I would watch, but I could definitely see it finding an audience.

Fox has what strikes me as a fairly mediocre slate of new shows. They have been accused in the past of not trying very hard during the fall, then coming on strong in winter when you-know-what returns each year. Among their offerings are a Dallas-esque drama about a family in the oil business and a comedy about a self-absorbed jerk (Will Arnett) who falls for a do-gooder (Keri Russell). I think Arnett is hilarious, but the premise sounds trite.

Fox may have better luck with Raising Hope (from the creator of My Name Is Earl), about another wacky family that includes Martha Plimpton and Cloris Leachman. The Fox show I'm most looking forward to won't arrive until midseason; it's a cop drama called Ride-Along from Shawn Ryan, creator of The Shield (so you have my attention right there) that will be filmed on location in Chicago.

ABC is not trying to find a replacement for Lost (they already tried it this past season with FlashForward, and it bombed), but they are offering No Ordinary Family, a show about a family that survives a plane crash and returns home to discover they have super powers. I'm very tempted to call this a live-action Incredibles, but that's not quite fair. I could see this as a show that families would want to watch together, which there isn't enough of on TV.

Elsewhere, they have a couple of relationship comedies, a legal show, a doctor show (two if you count the Quincy-ish Body of Proof with Dana Delany), a comedy with Matthew Perry in midlife-crisis mode, and Detroit 1-8-7, a police dramedy (it's about time) shot mockumentary style (that gimmick is going to be overdone soon), starring Michael Imperioli. Could be okay.

CBS got more attention for its schedule moves and surprise cancellations (Boob Ghost Whisperer, New Adventures of Old Christine) than for its new shows. Still, they are offering the fewest new shows of any network, which speaks to their overall rate of success with proven formulas. CBS is moving Survivor to Wednesday and is bringing The Big Bang Theory over from Monday to Thursday, where it will be followed by Shit My Dad Says, based on the Twitter page (yes, really) and starring William Shatner (yes, really). Obviously they're going to have to do something about that title; the current plan is to write it as $#!+ and to use a bleep sound when it's being spoken. There are so many things wrong with those last couple of sentences; I'll leave it to you to ponder all of them.

CBS's other big bet seems to be on its remake of Hawaii Five-O, which will displace CSI: Miami from Monday to Sunday. They've been trying to build a successful show around Alex O'Loughlin (who will be playing the son of Steve McGarrett) for a while now, and if this one doesn't work, maybe he should just give up and go back to Australia. But I imagine the folks who tuned in on Monday for Horatio Caine and crew will like this show too.

CW? Nothing to see here, move along... Well, of course they're going to have a couple of new shows, but really, do you care?

One other bit worth noting is that all the networks seem to be looking to get viewers to return to Friday nights. In decades past, Friday was home to some of TV's most popular shows, but in recent years it had become something of a wasteland. Looking at the fall schedules, all the networks are offering at least one new show on Friday, and in some cases they are moving established shows to Friday to help lead viewers to new shows.

CBS is moving CSI: New York to Friday before its new NYPD drama Blue Bloods, with Tom Selleck, though I predict that by midseason CSI: NY will be back on Wednesday, mainly because its replacement on that night, a legal show with Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell, is dreadful and will make a quick exit. Fox is also moving Human Target to Friday; I was just happy they thought it did well enough in its first season to get a renewal. It's an implausible, escapist, fun action show, and airing it on Friday makes sense.

Watch Wednesday Thursday (5/27/10)

I totally forgot that yesterday was supposed to be a Watch Wednesday, so in the interest of expediency I've borrowed another picture from the internet. This is the watch I bought on eBay a couple of weeks ago, a Seiko with an automatic movement. It has a medium-sized (36 mm) case, which is actually a little smaller than most of the watches I wear these days. It has a display back so you can see the workings of the movement, and the case is finished in matte stainless steel that (probably intentionally) looks sort of like titanium.

I like the easy-to-read markings on this watch, I like that the day and date are white on black so they blend in with the rest of the dial, and I like that the crown is at the 4 position, a design element that goes back to Seikos of the 1960s. The hands I don't like so much--they're a little fussy-looking for a rugged watch with a bit of a military look, and I find the ball on the "wrong" end of the second hand distracting. (I could certainly get the hands changed if I had the inclination, but I don't think I'm going to worry about that.)

I also don't love the strap--big surprise, I know. It's nylon canvas, and the strap itself is okay, but it has these two metal loops for keepers which are seriously ugly. For now I've borrowed a leather strap from a watch I'm not wearing, but I'll be looking for a permanent replacement.

Oops, I Crapped on Your Ad

So over the weekend in TWiA I mentioned the faux-denim diapers, but now I've seen the commercial and I just... well, I just don't know.

First of all, seeing it made me I wish I'd never brought it up, and second, there are so many things about it that are just so awful and disturbing, I don't even know where to begin: the glam ladies lunching, the toddler walking in slow motion, the creepy voiceover, the pervy-looking dude on the moped, the chauffeured car, the cheesy techno soundtrack. All that's missing is for the tot to be wearing sunglasses. How the hell did they forget that?

But the worst part has to be the words: "My diaper is full... full of chic. When it's a number two... I look like number one. I poo... in blue." And finally, the tag at the end: "The coolest you'll look pooping your pants." AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH NO NO NO NO please make it stop... need to go to my happy place... phew.

This makes me think of how we've always heard that European commercials are supposed to be so much more clever and risque than the commercials we get here. Not true, at least not always. It also reminds me of Dave Chappelle's assertion (if you watched the commercial, this clip will serve as your mental palate cleanser) that most things are better in slow motion; this clearly falls in the exception category that Chappelle mentions at the end of the clip.

Damn, I miss that show...

Mark Your Calendars

Just a friendly reminder: season four of Mad Men premieres exactly two months from tonight.

Another Rock & Roll Swindle

Another strategy for not spending money is to browse somewhere that doesn't have anything that interests you. I did this on Saturday, when we decided to drive into the city and wander Newbury Street for an hour or so around dinnertime. Some stores were already closed, which helps, and the ones that were open tend to offer fashions that are not to my taste.

I discovered that British import AllSaints Spitalfields had opened in the former Pottery Barn space (sorry, city dwellers, if you want to ogle PB's wares in person, you'll now have to trek out to a mall in Natick or Burlington). I had read that the New York AllSaints opened last week (on Broadway in Soho, naturally), and I knew from A Proper Bostonian that work on the Boston store was progressing, but I didn't know that it too had opened.

I went in out of curiosity, just wanting to get a look at the stuff, not expecting to find anything I liked, and in that respect the store met my (lack of) expectations. It's certainly a cool-looking space, dimly lit and with rows of antique sewing machines lined up in the windows. Inside the floors are rough boards, and there are ram skulls (the brand's logo) everywhere.

As for the clothes, they are all components of a very specific rock & roll aesthetic, and I didn't see much that would fit in with my current style. 25 years ago I would have gone nuts for this stuff, except that it's pricey now, and even in 1985 dollars it would have been well beyond my means. But regardless of cost, these clothes are meant for the young, and I'm no longer in that category.

Denim is in the range of $130 to $150, boots (all carefully pre-distressed) around $250, certainly cheaper than John Varvatos's main line (which is what I was most reminded of when looking at these clothes), but still expensive enough that the average person would likely have to think twice about a purchase.

Still, I imagine there will be plenty of tourists and parentally-supported students, unable to find this iteration of prefab cool for sale wherever they come from, who will snap up what AllSaints is selling, while the starving artists and musicians will continue to find their own versions of these looks in local thrift stores.

For this kind of money, I also wonder how durable this stuff might be (in both the literal and stylistic senses of the word). Stores like H&M and Zara and even Old Navy, for better or worse, have gotten shoppers used to the idea of fast fashion: you can buy something very cheaply, wear it a few times, then get rid of it. But the clothes at AllSaints, while priced too high to fit into this construct, don't suggest that they will last more than a couple of seasons, and even if they do, they will probably be horribly out of fashion by then.

I did see one item that caught my eye, a simple black mackintosh-style coat with a black-and-cream plaid lining. It was very smart-looking in its minimalism, and I could see getting some use out of it, but for $275 I could certainly find something comparable for less, and I wouldn't need it until fall anyway, so even thinking about looking for something similar can wait.

Expense Report #7

Good news: I resisted temptation again this week. After last week, I kind of had to. And we were at the mall for a bit yesterday, so I was definitely tempted, mostly by the laid-back offerings from Lands' End's Canvas line, on display in, of all places, Sears.

I had taken a quick glance at this stuff once before, but this time I looked over several items more carefully. The fabrics are pleasantly soft to the touch; I would guess the khakis and button-front shirts have been given a prewash treatment. They feel as nicely broken-in as any of J. Crew's comparable items, but without any distressing or fraying.

Cuts are a bit slimmer compared to typical LE items, but not as divergent from the main line as L.L. Bean's Signature is from regular Bean. And for those who don't care for slimmer-fitting stuff, the khakis come in two fits, straight and relaxed. For $40 these are pretty much a no-brainer (and, I should point out, $20 less than the non-sale price of a pair of J. Crew's broken-in khakis), and with a quick ironing they'll look dignified enough for any casual office environment. (Shorts are $5 less, but they only come in the straight fit.) But I didn't buy anything--not yet.

This Week in Awesome (5/22/10)

Hello and welcome to a gorgeous spring Saturday here in this corner of the world. To my great relief, the internet found its groove again this week, and has provided us with plenty of good stuff.

Google has some proposed changes to its Android phone operating system, and the Onion News Network has the (fake) story.

An artist who works for Pixar has come up with an unusual crossover idea: a collection of picture-book illustrations based on classic movies that are not typical children's fare. (/film via Videogum)

Faux-denim diapers. So obvious, and yet so wrong. (Denimology via Racked NY; also How's Your Face? via The Awl)

Raise your hand if you remember Twin Peaks. Okay, get ready for a TP rap song from one MC Chris. The video is nothing more than a quick-cut montage of scenes from the show. Cramazing. I was really tempted to post this earlier in the week when I first saw it, but some things, you just have to wait for the right time. (BuzzFeed)

Weekend Reading Assignments

What's this? Friday afternoon slipped by without me posting anything? Believe it or not, I was doing actual work. I have something in the works about the TV networks' new fall show announcements, but in order to do it justice, I need to do my due diligence and watch all the clips the networks provided, which will take some more time. So, Mondayish?

But don't despair: in the meantime, I'm going to point you in the direction of the generally superb site This Recording. For some thought-provoking pleasure reading, check out this excellent piece on masculinity, femininity, television, and the intersection of those things. Lots of pretty pictures of Jon Hamm, Tina Fey, and others. (And re: those first two pictures of Jon Hamm--might they be production shots from season four of Mad Men?)

If that's not quite your speed, New York magazine did an interesting article in last week's issue about Japanese retailing juggernaut (and SAR fave) Uniqlo.

Shop Your Forgotten Stuff

Last week I didn't do so well in my thrift quest, as I described on Monday. But it could have been worse: during last week I also came across a nice-looking pair of adidas Samba shoes in light gray suede with white trim and soles. I thought they were much better-looking and more wearable than the traditional black Samba, but the adidas online store had nothing larger than a 9, and with adidas shoes I need at least an 11, sometimes an 11.5, depending on the style.

Normally I would have zipped over to Zappos or Piperlime or some other online shoe seller to look for the shoes in my size. But I'd just bought that watch on eBay, so I exercised some self-discipline and refrained from shoe shopping.

Over the weekend I was in the basement (which these days resembles a very large walk-in closet), swapping cold-weather clothing for shorts and other warm-weather stuff. I was pulling out some of the shoes I tend to wear only in summer, like my boat shoes and certain sneakers, when I came across a USPS box for shipping shoes. I didn't know what was in the box, and I didn't remember putting it in the basement.

Inside I found light gray suede sneakers with white trim and soles, not adidas but Puma. In fact, this particular style is called The Suede. I bought them from eBay a couple of years ago, and I know I wore them at least a few times because the soles showed minor darkening. But I'd completely forgotten about them. They're not quite as sleek-looking as the Sambas (I think the Pumas are meant to evoke old-school basketball shoes), but they fit and have a decent amount of room in the toe box area, which is sometimes a problem for me with sneakers.

So now I have a "new" pair of sneakers that I can wear guilt-free.

[By the way, remember the headphones that started this whole thing? The ones that separated that I decided to super-glue back together instead of replacing? Well, the right earbud just came apart, so I super-glued that one back together as well.]

Final(e)s Week

The days are ticking down until the final episodes of Lost and 24, which will air this coming Sunday and Monday, respectively. I've managed to stay more or less current with both shows this season; I still need to watch last night's Lost, but I'll certainly do it before Sunday.

I'm hoping to watch both finales live, so I won't end up having anything spoiled by the media in the following days. In the meantime, I ran across this Boston Globe article about how TV show finales are almost always letdowns. The article itself is all right, but what I really liked was the accompanying comic book-style mashup of the two shows.

[And Lost fans, don't forget the special edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live airing at 12:05 AM Monday morning, after the finale and the late news. He'll have as his guests members of the cast along with the show's executive producers, and supposedly there will be alternate endings. If you're really feeling like a maniac, you can watch the original two-hour pilot episode on Saturday night at 8 PM, and a two-hour retrospective on Sunday at 7 PM, before the finale airs at 9. (All times Eastern)]

Overheard: Pretend Drive-Up Window Edition

On Saturday we were doing some of our usual errands in Medford Square, and we went into the Dunkin' Donuts there to get coffee. As we neared the door there was a woman on the sidewalk, talking on her phone. I couldn't tell if she was waiting for someone or had been approaching from the other direction (the store's entrance is right on a corner), so I held out the door behind me, but she ignored me and kept talking, so I let it swing closed. Just before it did so I heard "...and I want some of the mocha syrup, but tell them to put it on the bottom."

Once inside, there was one person ahead of us at the counter, and I heard her say, "...mocha syrup, and can you put it on the bottom?" So, Woman A was giving her drink order to Woman B over the phone, while standing outside on the sidewalk. I started to let myself think about why she might be doing this, instead of just coming inside, but I realized that way madness lied and let it go.

Eventually she did end up coming inside, though she appeared reluctant to do so. Maybe she was worried her friend hadn't explained the request properly, maybe she thought the person working wouldn't make the drink right, or maybe there was someone in there she didn't want to run into?

Expense Report #6

I slipped this week: I bought a watch on eBay. It's a Japanese-market Seiko model (which means it is not officially sold in this country*) with an automatic movement that I've had my eye on for a long time. It's regularly available on eBay from several sellers, so I could have bought it at any time, or if I'd waited a while it's likely I still would have been able to find it from one of the same sellers at about the same price, but almost all those who sell it are located in either Hong Kong or Singapore.

[*This may be incorrect; the watch's price tag is in English and the price is in US currency.]

I try to avoid making purchases from international sellers, because there is always a bit of a question as to whether or not your package will actually arrive, and what condition it will be in. (This is not prejudice; it's simply a fact that the vast majority of the fraud committed on eBay originates outside of the U.S.)

A seller's feedback score can help provide some sense of that person's reputation and reliability, but I have yet to come across anything that I wanted badly enough that I could not eventually locate from a domestic seller. Such was the case with this watch: the seller I purchased from is in Texas, the watch is new, and it's coming with its original box and paperwork, which swayed me to make the purchase (those last two are often not available from the overseas sellers, another sign that you may not be dealing with someone entirely legitimate).

I also bought a few items of clothing over the weekend. I've developed an affinity for JCPenney's American Living label clothing, even though too much of it comes with a gaudy embroidered eagle logo. But the quality is good (it's designed and manufactured for Penney by Ralph Lauren) and, due to the way Penney operates its business, it is almost always on sale at very reasonable prices. We were heading to Salem on Saturday, and the Northshore Mall is on the way, with one of the only Penney stores in our area, so we made a stop.

I've been lucky enough on previous shopping trips to find a couple of AL shirts without logos (like Polo, they seem to make a few logo-free items each season) and I found another on this trip, on a clearance rack for 70% off its original $50 list price, which was just too good a deal to pass up. I also got a couple of pairs of shorts, something I know I'm going to need to buy each year anyway.

The shorts looked big, and since I had forgotten to bring my tape measure I compared them to a different brand's shorts, and found that they were approximately two inches larger in the waist than their tagged size (confirmed by a trip to the fitting room). Some of the shorts also have the eagle logo, but these don't; they have only a small brand tag above the back pocket that is easily removed. (It may have been my imagination, but it seemed like they may be cutting back on the percentage of stuff with a logo.)

There was an additional 15% discount on top of the already-low prices, so I walked away having spent less than $50 for three items. I might have bought more stuff, like store-brand polo shirts for $12 in a wide array of attractive shades (polos are almost as disposable to me as undershirts, and I typically buy/replace a few each summer), but they had none of the colors I wanted in my size. Hopefully I'll be able to get them on a future visit, but maybe it's just as well I didn't end up spending as much this time.

This Week in Awesome Bonus Bit

[Hopefully this will sort of make up for what I considered to be a lackluster edition of TWiA this past weekend...]

This appeared a few weeks ago, and I was remiss in not posting it in the first place: at a minor league baseball game in Texas, Will Ferrell stirred some shenanigans by pretending to be a pitcher from Venezuela named Rojo Johnson. The whole thing was some sort of gag that tied into a charity event. Unfortunately, this clip doesn't provide any context or explanation, but it is amusing.

This Week in Awesome (5/15/10)

Sorry for the delay, but yesterday was kind of a busier day than usual, plus I had some difficulty coming up with material this week. I always get a little worried when this happens, because, you know, what happens if the internet ever does run out of stuff for us to read and look at? What will we do with ourselves all day?

Early this week, I came across this humorous fake commercial, for a beauty product no woman really needs, but I suspect that somewhere, a marketer is thinking, "hey, we should do that!" No, you shouldn't. (The Gloss via Racked)

You've heard of trainspotting? I don't mean the movie, I mean people whose hobby is actually standing around looking for specific types of trains. Well, this guy may be rethinking his interests. (LiveLeak via The Daily What)

And the last SNL Digital Short of the season will put a bounce in your step and get your day off to a great start. Or perhaps exactly the opposite of those things. (Hulu)

Sound Sampler

I've been attempting to keep to a more or less regular schedule of posting something every weekday, my weekly link collections on Saturdays, and usually not posting on Sundays. But yesterday just slipped right by me. Pressure? Me? Nah...

Regardless, let's not dwell but rather move forward. GQ's blog The GQ Eye inaugurated a new feature this week called The Rebellious Jukebox, presenting a streaming audio track by "unsung artists" each weekday morning. This week's batch includes The Fall, The Clean, The Loft, ESG, and The Durutti Column. Just something a little different to try when you get bored with your regular iTunes playlists.

Watch Wednesday (5/12/10)

For the sake of variety, I thought I'd feature a vintage watch that I got for the Mrs. some years back. It's a classic Snoopy design (I'm pretty sure there were watches with other Peanuts characters) that was first marketed about 50 years ago.

I don't know the exact age of his example, but I suspect it's from the late 1960s or early 1970s. It's in outstanding condition and runs well, though I don't know how accurate it is. The strap is not original; as is my usual habit, I added it after acquiring the watch.

I'm not sure what the deal is with my camera, but it has a tendency to misrepresent color. In this case, both the watch face and the strap are a bit more red than they appear here.

Charmed

I wasn't sure what to get my mother for Mother's Day, so I texted my sister to see what she was doing. She said she was getting her a charm for this bracelet she'd gotten a couple of years ago. It's an easy and reasonably-priced gift, one we've chosen in the past, so I figured we would get her one too.

The company that makes these bracelets and charms is called Pandora (not to be confused with the internet-radio site, which I bet the jewelers wish didn't exist, because it means they can't have the pandora.com URL). The charms and bracelets are threaded, which makes them easy to add and rearrange. They are carried by a number of jewelry stores, and they now have a couple of free-standing stores as well. So after looking at their web site to get an idea of what we thought my mother would like, we set off for the mall on Saturday to get a charm.

We got to the mall around 6:30 PM and spent a few minutes looking at jewelry in Nordstrom before heading out into the mall. The Pandora store is located just outside the Nordstrom in this particular mall, and as we walked across the area just outside the store, we could see that there was a line of people waiting to get into the Pandora store. It stretched down a side corridor and was about 30 people long. (Someone in Nordstrom told me there had been a line on Friday as well.)

I know it was the last minute, but I still had no idea these things were so popular. We had been in this store once or twice before, and I had purchased a charm for my mother for Christmas, but I had gone to the store in the Prudential Center on my way home from work, and had done it at least a couple of weeks before the holiday. Apparently charm bracelets are a big deal for those of the mom persuasion.

My first inclination was to come back later, but the Mrs. went and stationed herself in the line right away, so I figured I had no choice but to join her, seeing as it was my mother we were shopping for. Clerks from the store were walking along the line, passing out catalogs so those waiting could decide, or at least narrow down their choices. There was a lot of cell phone activity as people called spouses and siblings to discuss which charms to get.

The Mrs. buttonholed one of the clerks and he confirmed that the style we wanted was in stock, so at least we knew we weren't wasting our time waiting. Once we made it around the corner and into the store, it didn't take long to make our selection and finalize the purchase, but in all it had taken about 45 minutes from the time we got in line. But hey, Mother's Day is only once a year, and mom is worth at least that much time.

Expense Report #5

I spent more than usual on food and entertainment this week--dinner with my family yesterday for Mother's Day, of course, and Friday I had dinner with a friend and then saw Avatar at the IMAX theater at the Aquarium--so in between, the Mrs. and I ate our evening meal at home on Saturday, which we normally wouldn't do. (She doesn't have a thrift problem; she has to be talked into buying even things she needs.)

Elsewhere, I did make a purchase this past week, and the story is kind of an exclamation point to the J. Crew story I told last week. After I had received the replacement hat, I emailed the rep who had helped me to express my appreciation. He encouraged me to contact him again if I had any other issues or needs. I decided to take a chance and ask if he might be able to locate the gray plaid flannel shirt that I've been going on about for months now.

Given how quickly it sold out in the fall, and that my previous attempt at ordering it from their web site had gone awry, I didn't hold much hope of him locating one, but it seemed like it was worth asking. A couple of days went by, and I thought it was a bust. Then, last Sunday afternoon, I found an email from him in my inbox. I thought it was strange that he'd be working on a Sunday, but customer service doesn't get weekends off, and he explained that he had been off the previous two days.

He said that he had the shirt on his desk, and as soon as I confirmed that I wanted it charged to my J. Crew card he would ship it. I was pretty blown away by this, and I still didn't quite want to believe it until I had the shirt in my hands, but I guess since he works at the main warehouse/distribution center, they can sometimes track down stuff tucked into dimly lit corners.

By the time he received my response it was Monday, so the package came to me at work last Tuesday. He'd sent it overnight, and didn't even charge me for regular shipping. I was hesitant to open it right away, fearing more disappointment, but after a few minutes I sliced through the tape and there it was.

I just realized that after all the fuss, I should have added a picture (hastily taken this morning in the midst of getting ready for work):

[Seems like they should have used white buttons, and the Mrs. agreed with me. I have to think about whether it's worth it to get some white ones and have the tailor change them.]

So, for the second time in a week, J. Crew's customer service came through huge for me, because I bothered to ask about something. Of course the rep mentioned that I should let him know if I needed anything else, but in the interest of restraint, I'm going to refrain from doing so. There are a couple of other items I would like to get hold of, but nothing that I wanted as much as this shirt. I think the difficulty in getting it has made me like it more, and the weather even cooperated by cooling off over the weekend so I could wear it.

This Week in Awesome (5/8/10)

After a hot and humid start to the week, today it's back to cool and rainy, also known as "the shitty weather we usually get in May." So stay inside, curled up with your warm computer, and check out these goodies:

Back on Monday, The New York Times ran an interesting (for them) article about how China's efforts to rework English-language signage to make the translations somewhat less, um, tortured. But then what would sites like Engrish do?

Another weird/ridiculous commercial for a weird/ridiculous product. This one raises the bar for the whole category, in my opinion. And of course, by "raises" I mean "lowers." (Consumerist)

The Daily Show took time out from its continuing coverage of the world's imminent collapse to focus attention on the illegal immigrant issue, though their choice to do so on May 5th in a Mexican restaurant full of gringo revelers is somewhat questionable. Bonus points, though, for what will undoubtedly become the greatest rendition of "Single Ladies" you have ever heard, or will ever hear.

And finally, tomorrow is Mother's Day, but you already knew that, and didn't need to be reminded. Be nice to your mom: call her, send her flowers, take her out to dinner, etc. And enjoy this clip of moms being moms, i.e. doing things that embarrass their children. (Everything Is Terrible via Videogum)

Okay, now I gotta run to the mall to get my mom a present...

Soundtrack of the Moment

I don't have anything useful to contribute this Friday afternoon, so I thought I'd just toss out a plug for what I'm listening to: the double-disc live set The Blow-Up by Television.

The recording originates from 1978 shows and was originally released on the cassette-only label ROIR in 1982, so the sound quality isn't exactly pristine, but the rawness only adds to the enjoyment of the performance, making you feel (almost) like you're there.

Television remains a criminally under-appreciated band; the work of guitarists Richard Lloyd and Tom Verlaine on this set is completely jaw-dropping.

Grooming Garage: The New Blade in Town

I've spent time here talking about shaving products and equipment, offered suggestions and recommendations, and made clear my general disdain for hipster/woodsman beards and Gillette products. So when I learned that Schick had recently introduced a new razor, the Hydro, I figured I needed to give it a try.

Unfortunately, nobody sends me stuff like this to try (though I would certainly be amenable to such an arrangement, if anybody who's reading wants to send me something), so I bought one. I needed to pad my order to get free shipping when I ordered the Mad Men DVD set from Amazon anyway.

The Hydro comes in three- and five-blade versions, but you already know that I think using anything with more than three blades is pointless, so I got the three-blade version. Besides, it costs less, and looks better (chrome and blue plastic, while the five-blade is a really ugly combination of blue metal and white plastic).

The Hydro's big gimmick feature is a reservoir of water-activated lubricating gel above the blades. Instead of just a strip of stuff on the blade head that wears away after a couple of shaves, the Hydro has a larger quantity of stuff inside the blade head, with a strip of holes across the front to dispense it. Also, the blades have these guard things mounted just behind the edges that are supposed to help smooth your skin for the blades. Okay, sure.

But you want to know how it shaves, right? Okay. I used it for the first time yesterday, and I was mostly very impressed. It was a very smooth shave, and I felt like I was shaving faster even though I'm pretty sure it took the same amount of time it always does. I didn't experience any nicks or irritation, and the head rinsed out very easily.

My one real quibble is that the head is hinged at the bottom, like the Gillette Mach 3 and Fusion, and as I've mentioned before, I feel like I have less control with this sort of arrangement, but that could just be me. Also, the head is large compared to my other Schick razor (blame the gel reservoir), which makes the detail work trickier.

I still need to see how long the blades last, which will take a couple of weeks, but I do feel the Hydro is an advance in comfort (for me, at least). But I'll probably use up my stash of Xtreme 3 blades before I switch permanently.

Wild Kingdom

The other day, we were waiting at a stoplight. It was warm that day, so the car windows were open. A little bird, no more than three inches tall, landed on the edge of the window opening on my side of the car, next to the mirror, and just stood there. After a few moments it tried to take off again, but didn't succeed and landed again.

It seemed like it was stuck, or unable to get enough velocity from its takeoff. (Maybe it was too breezy? I don't know that much about birds.) This pattern repeated ten or twelve times, with both of us staring at it the whole time.

The bird didn't appear to be injured or impaired. Eventually it managed to fly backward without also going upward, which seemed to give it enough momentum for a getaway, but it landed on the pavement right next to the car. Fortunately it hopped over to the curb before another vehicle came along in that lane.

What's the Total, Please?

When you buy something at a store, does the cashier say the total amount of the purchase out loud to you? Do you think s/he should? At the risk of sounding like Andy Rooney, allow me to gripe for a moment.

I've always thought of this as Basic Cashier Protocol, so basic that it shouldn't even have to be covered in the training class, and during the many years when I worked behind a register, I always made sure to speak the amount to customers. But as our society gets lazier and stupider, apparently retail workers now feel that it's too strenuous to work those vocal cords for a few syllables.

Today I decided to go to the Stop & Shop near my office to get a banana and a yogurt for breakfast. I ended up getting a couple of other items, and while I sometimes make a rough tally of the total in my head, today I was thinking about something else while I was in the store and so didn't do the math.

The cashier scanned my items, and then (this is my favorite part of these asinine situations) stood there staring at me, waiting for me to hand over cash or make a move for the card reader. When this happens, I just stare back, waiting. If more than a few seconds go by, I then ask, "What's the total, please?" She finally looked over her shoulder at the screen and told me the amount. Hope that wasn't too much trouble for her.

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that part of a cashier's job should be to look you in the eye and say "four dollars and forty cents" or whatever the amount happens to be in an audible voice. Hell, the self-checkout tells me the total out loud, but I'd actually prefer an interaction with a person. In my case, I can't see the readout on the screen from where I'm standing on the other side of the counter, which is the reason I want the cashier to tell me the amount.

I'm sure there are plenty of other shoppers--the elderly, others with visual impairments--who have difficulty seeing the numbers on those screens from several feet away, but that should be irrelevant. It should automatically be part of the process, because, well, act like you give a fuck. Really, it's no more complicated than that. Working retail sucks and we all know it, especially those of us who have had to do it. But regardless of what your job is, do it with dignity and in the process you dignify the job and yourself. Act like a witless slug, and that's what I'll think you are.

Expense Report #4

So, April is over. How did I do? Last week I gave in and bought two things (perhaps as a reaction to going a whole week without buying anything discretionary): the DVD set of season three of Mad Men, which was $18 at Amazon, and a madras short-sleeve shirt from eBay, which was $13 plus shipping.

Going back through my eBay records, this is the first item I've bought there in over a month, and that was an auxiliary hard drive for the TiVo to replace the one that got fried back in March. Prior to that I had bought a couple of inexpensive clothing items in March, one expensive one in February that didn't quite work out (which I'll be discussing at more length soon), and a watch in January. So I was already making an effort to scale back, but I still needed to be more... emphatic about it. For May, I need to stick to not buying stuff as much as possible, and start selling some stuff too.

Oh, I did go to the Top Shelf Flea yesterday. I met Giuseppe and talked with him for a bit, and he is every bit as colorful and cordial as I expected, just a swell guy. I bought a vintage J. Press tie from him for $5.

This Week in Awesome (5/1/10)

Oops, sorry. I was busy boiling water (because the water system that serves eastern Massachusetts suffered a catastrophic rupture this morning, lucky us). Anyway...

Is the Lost iPhone Prototype Saga over yet? I'm not sure, but this handy flowchart sums it all up nicely. (FastCompany)

By now most people are familiar with that the decade-old Saturday Night Live sketch "Behind the Music: Blue Oyster Cult," or at least the famous "I need more cowbell" epithet that came out of it. (If you've never seen it, go here.) Now you can add more cowbell to a song of your choosing. Isn't life great? (Videogum)

This host of the morning show Good Day New York got a little too explicit when trying to think of another term for soy milk. (Huffington Post via Vulture blog)

You've seen Lady Gaga's video for "Telephone," right? (If not, go here.) So check out this version done by troops in Afghanistan. (YouTube via Reddit)

Style File: Spring Shoes

Along with the sweaters and heavy coats, most of the boots have now been stored in the basement as well. Spring has arrived in full force, which means it's also time for lighter-weight, lighter-colored pants, and seasonal shoes to go with them.

The first shoes I bought this season were these tan bucks from Lands' End. I'd been thinking about getting a pair of bucks since last summer, which is interesting, because a few years back I wouldn't have wanted anything to do with them, so it goes to show that our tastes do change over time.

I still wouldn't want a white pair; that's a little too To Kill A Mockingbird for me. There are those who advocate getting a pair of white bucks and wearing them to death so that they don't remain white for long, and there's definitely a certain carefree panache to that, but I feel they wouldn't be appropriate to wear to work, even in my casual office environment.

No, I knew that a pair in light tan would work much better for me. I started with eBay, hoping I could score a vintage pair from Brooks Brothers or maybe even Alden, but I never found what I wanted in my size at a reasonable price. I did run across a very cool pair of vintage light gray bucks from L.L. Bean (old enough so they probably would have been manufactured by Bean themselves, or at one of their Maine neighbors), but they were a size too small.

But this spring, shoes like this are available almost everywhere, in many different shades of tan, taupe, and even darker brown. The first ones I saw this year were from Bean. The price was right ($79) and I was leaning toward getting them, but I was worried that the color was a little too light, and more importantly, I've had problems with the last few pairs of shoes I've bought from Bean, and had to return them because wearing them was causing pain in my ankles and calves. I think their shoes have suffered an unfortunate decline in quality, so for now I'm staying away.

Bass always has this style of shoe, but let's face it, their quality isn't so great anymore either, and they also didn't have the shade of tan I was after. Still, if you just want something to bang around in, they're probably okay. J. Crew has had buck oxfords for at least a couple of seasons, but theirs are more expensive ($140), and the sole isn't the right shade of red. When you look at the images online it looks right, but when you see the shoe in person, it's too dark. (Yes, this matters to me.)

I was in Nordstrom a couple of months back, and got excited when I saw some light gray bucks that reminded me of the vintage Bean ones I'd seen on eBay, until I saw that they had an off-white sole instead of the traditional red one. Too bad. Even more amusing, this shoe also comes in light blue and red, both rather clowny colors for men's shoes. It's difficult for me to imagine who might like these. (Weirdly, if you follow that Bass link above, you'll find very similar-looking shoes in those same colors, so there's probably a common manufacturer there.) This shoe also comes in a very pale beige (which, interestingly, they call white) on a red sole, and it's available in wide widths. I didn't try them on, but maybe I should have.

Then I saw the Lands' End shoes, at the same price as Bean's. At first I wasn't sure I liked the little piping detail you can see in the picture, but it grew on me. The shoes of theirs that I've had in the past have been decent, and while I wish they offered them in wide widths, that shortcoming was offset by Lands' End's prolific discounting. For the past couple of years, LE has made it very easy to avoid paying full price or shipping for their merchandise. I get emails from them literally every day with one discount or another. So I took advantage of a 30%-off-shoes discount and got these for $56, plus free shipping.

(If you live near a Sears that has a Lands' End Shop in it, you can get the discounts there too, and sometimes you find stuff that's already marked down. Recently the Mrs. got a pair of LE shoes on clearance for $6, and a pair of jeans for the same price.)

I think I'll probably even continue to wear these in the summer, with shorts. Until last year, I wore nothing but sneakers with shorts, until I realized that I needed to branch out and have some variety. I looked around for some boat shoes, but I didn't want ones with white soles. I found this pair from Clarks that are among the most comfortable shoes I have, and are water-resistant too.

When I placed my recent Gap order, I needed to get to $100 to get free shipping, so I added a couple of things I wasn't certain I would keep. (This is the oldest trick in the free-shipping book, as long as you can return items to a B&M location and there's one convenient to you.) One was these classic canvas CVO (that stands for "circular vamp oxford," which I didn't know) sneaks. With the discount I was getting on my entire order, they ended up being $24. They're pretty comfortable and lightweight, so these will also be useful this summer.

Still on the wish list: these adidas Rod Laver Vintage sneakers (specifically, the white and red ones). This shoe is a variant of the classic Rod Laver design that adidas has been selling for 40-some years. It's slimmed-down and refined, a bit more grown-up looking, and thus avoids the stoner/Dave Matthews Band/hacky-sack connotations the Laver has acquired.

The red-trim version has not yet gone on sale, but I keep checking the adidas web site a couple of times a week. The other two colorways have already hit their site and sold out, so I was going to try to reserve a pair at the adidas Originals store in Harvard Square, but it has closed. I'm not sure what other options I might have, but I'm thinking of contacting one of the other Originals stores, like maybe the one in Manhattan (where there's a DJ and the music was insanely loud, louder than any other store I've ever been in).

A Customer Service Story

A while back, the Mrs. and I were at the mall. Typically we go our separate ways when shopping, because she finds waiting around while I shop boring, and I feel the same way about waiting for her to shop. But in this instance we stayed together for a while; it's possible that we were getting something we needed for the house.

We headed into J. Crew, which is not a store where the Mrs. has interest in shopping, so she was getting ready to leave me and go off on her own. This particular store is L-shaped and has an entrance on either end. One enters onto their children's section, which is not in many stores. As we were passing through into the adult part of the store, I spotted a straw hat on a shelf. It looked like an adult man's panama hat, but smaller, with a narrow brim and a madras plaid decorative band. I grabbed it and put it on her head.

She's not a hat lover, but it looked cute. She stepped over to a mirror to see for herself and said, "I think it's actually a little big." I took a look inside and saw that it was sized L/XL. (Being so short, she is sometimes able to fit into children's clothing, depending on how it's cut, so a kid's hat isn't a stretch either.) Later I looked up the hat on the J. Crew web site. The smaller size was backordered, but looked like it would be available in time for her birthday, so I added it to an order I was placing.

Earlier this week, I received an email from J. Crew telling me that the hat had shipped, somewhat earlier than I'd expected it, so this was good news. I didn't bother looking at the tracking info, because I figured it would be several days before it arrived. Yesterday a coworker brought a box to me. It was from J. Crew, but it was a flat rectangular box, three inches high, the kind of box you'd receive a shirt or pair of pants in. It was also very light. As my coworker handed me the box, he said "You got a box of air."

I opened it and found the hat inside, squished down to fit. There was also a loop of rigid foam resting on the brim and surrounding the crown. I suppose this was meant to prevent the hat from being misshapen from the side, which seemed rather ironic considering its condition. The hat is made of straw, so I was more or less able to reshape the crown into something resembling its original state, but the brim had been muckled as well, and would not return to its proper shape.

At first I figured I would just stop at the Copley store on my way home from work and exchange the hat, but then I remembered that that store doesn't carry the kid's line. The only stores around here that do are in suburban malls. I probably wouldn't be able to get the Mrs. to drive me to the mall without explaining why or without her seeing the hat. So I wrote an email to J. Crew customer service.

I sent the email yesterday (at 4:45 PM, according to my account) and included my cell phone number. As I was getting ready to leave work, my phone buzzed. I didn't recognize the number, so I thought, could this be J. Crew calling me? I answered, and it was. It took them less than 15 minutes to contact me. The service rep acknowledged that the way the hat was packed was a mistake, and described it as "insane" that someone would put a hat into a flat box. He said they were sending me another one overnight, and would include a label so I could return the other hat.

It arrived a short while ago, along with a handwritten note from the rep who assisted me. This is certainly very impressive customer service, a genuine and emphatic effort to resolve a situation to my satisfaction, which J. Crew has indeed done. Thank you, J. Crew, for attending to this so quickly and pleasantly. You made me a very happy customer.

Watch Wednesday (4/28/10)

Obviously I cheated--there's no way I could take a picture this close and sharp, but it's late and I'm wiped out, so I borrowed it from the internet. This is a nice little Citizen watch that's good for everyday wear (which is probably why I waited this long to feature it). It's easy to read, and the numerals and hands glow very strongly, so it's a good watch to wear for things like going to the movies.

The best thing about Citizen Eco-Drive watches is they never need to be wound and they never need to have a battery replaced. The watch has some sort of rechargeable power cell that is charged by exposure to light, so even if you just leave it lying around it stays fully charged, and if you forget and put it away somewhere, it retains enough power to keep running for up to six months. Eco-Drive watches are available in several hundred different styles for men and women, and they can often be found on sale at places like Macy's for less than $100. (Use those extra discount coupons, kids.)

Oh, and as usual I changed the strap. This one looked too military for me, so I put on one of my basic black leather straps with white stitching. Nice and simple, goes well with this style of watch.

At this point you might be thinking that I must be close to running out of watches, and I am--getting close. So we'll do this feature for a bit longer, and maybe by then I'll have found something else I can't live without, though watches definitely fall in the category of "things I don't really need" and as such are subject to my voluntary spending reduction program. I have a couple that I need to sell, but anything I earn from them should really go on my credit card balance. We'll just stop talking about it for now...

Top Shelf

I've been remiss in not mentioning (sooner) an event taking place this weekend that promises to be interesting and wallet-friendly. Gentleman of style Giuseppe, proprietor of An Affordable Wardrobe, has channeled his thrift-shopping prowess into organizing (curating? masterminding?) a vintage- and thrift-shopping event, the Top Shelf Flea Market, which is taking place Sunday from noon to 6 PM at the Dilboy VFW post in Davis Square (hit the link for address info and directions). There will be books, housewares, records, and other good stuff in addition to men's and women's clothing. There will also be a cash bar, which is a welcome shopping amenity.

This event happens to coincide with this weekend's 12th annual Somerville Open Studios, featuring more than 300 artists, so you can really make a day of it if you're so inclined. If any of you make it to the Flea, look for me--I'll be the guy who looks very much like that little cartoon avatar dude over there on the right. But I won't be wearing a tie, because it's supposed to be like 80 degrees that day.

Working Hard or Hardly Working?

Like a lot of guys, I appreciate and embrace what has come to be called workwear style: boots, flannel or chambray shirts with two flapped or buttoned pockets, waist-length jackets. I feel I can claim it honestly, because I've been wearing variations on this look for decades. I spent a good portion of the '80s in a variety of thrift-store shirts that had been worn by actual people to do actual work, like a white poplin Dallas Police Department uniform shirt. I also had a sweet khaki Indiana Jones-type shirt with epaulets from Banana Republic back in their pre-Gap days, when they still made stuff that was interesting and utilitarian. (If BR wants to regain some of that cachet, they should ditch that bogus "heritage" line and do a real heritage line of products from their own history.)

The latest company to jump on the "mining our archives" bandwagon is Dickies, who plan to sell shirts and pants made in a factory in Texas using American-sourced fabric. (More than anything else about this announcement, I was surprised to learn they still had an operating factory in this country.) The shirts will cost $175 and the pants $200, which means the people who will most likely be buying them are the same guys who favor those Japanese brands that produce quirk-infused versions of classic American workwear and sell them at ridiculously inflated prices in trendy boutiques to skinny guys with beards who like to talk about selvage denim.

I don't begrudge Dickies for wanting a piece of this action, but it bugs me that they have so completely missed the point. If you want to celebrate your company's heritage, wouldn't it make much more sense to produce something that you can sell at a price that average people can afford, thereby making it more visible to other average people? The type of person most likely to wear Dickies is least likely to be able to afford such gear, and the esoteric connoisseur market (the most likely customer for this type of limited-production item) is least likely to care about the heritage of a company like Dickies, which is just colossally ironic.

[I have one Dickies garment, a short black canvas jacket with a gray corduroy collar and a blanket lining. I picked it up a couple of years ago for around $40 from a place online that sells work clothes, and I typically wear it this time of year. It came with a big red logo patch with a D on it on the pocket, which I removed, not because I don't want to be associated with the company, but because I don't like logos.]

I would have liked to see Dickies land somewhere in the middle, with some pieces inspired by archival designs, made with soft, broken-in fabrics but priced in the $80 to $100 range. (Bill's Khakis are made in Pennsylvania and cost $98 a pair, which is a little steep but still seems reasonable to me.) Maybe they'll do something like that later. But for now they're giving the impression (to me, at least) that they care more about marketing an image than about their own history.

Expense Report #3

Aside from food, drugstore, and household items, I didn't actually buy anything last week. There were the two aforementioned birthday gifts for the Mrs., and my Gap order arrived, but I made the purchase online last week. I dropped about $40 in Target yesterday, but it was all in the above categories. So, some progress, I guess.

This Week in Awesome (4/24/10)

Things are more or less back to normal this week, depending on your definition of normal...

Here's a fun web site that collects past views and predictions about the future. (Very Short List)

To the pantheon of stupid TV ads for ridiculous products, we must now add the TV Hat. (Consumerist, etc.)

And in that same vein, the deathless meme of "you're doing it wrong" now has a sort of greatest-hits clip compilation. (Vulture blog via Videogum)

Finally, this month's Esquire is dubbed "The Women Issue." In it, Mad Men's goddess in human form, Christina Hendricks, offers advice in the form of "A Letter to Men." My favorite part: "No man should be on facebook. It's an invasion of everyone's privacy. I really cannot stand it." Told you so. So, for being right about that, do I win Christina Hendricks?

Style File: Ready for Spring

Winter wound down kind of early for New England this year, but you need to keep the sweaters and one or two heavier coats available in case the weather does a sudden shift back to colder stuff. Now, though, we're a week away from the start of May, and it's safe to put the winter stuff in storage and transition to the spring wardrobe.

Because of how retail cycles work, spring clothes appear in stores starting in January, so I had actually started thinking about my spring needs back then. This jacket caught my eye from the moment it appeared on the Martin + Osa web site. I happened to be at the store shortly afterward and was able to get a closer look at it and try it on, so I knew it was something I was interested in. I had seen another orange jacket I liked, at Brooks Brothers of all places, but it was $400! Eventually it went on sale, but never went below $200, and I didn't even like it as much as this one.

What I like about this jacket is that, unlike most "sporty" outerwear and rain gear, this has a distinct, fold-over collar, i.e. a separate piece of material that is attached to the garment. I've come to the conclusion that I do not care for coats and jackets that have the sort of self-collar that is meant to be worn standing up, like those typically found on parkas and fleece. Last year I replaced my winter parka with a collared coat from L.L. Bean that provides equivalent warmth but looks more dignified (meaning, more suitable to a guy my age), and this goes in that category as well.

The fabric is a lightweight cotton/nylon blend, so it provides some measure of water resistance. Orange is definitely an unusual choice for me. I was surprised at first that I liked it, but the color (which this picture represents fairly well) is not the more typical hi-vis orange, but deeper, with a little red to it, almost like a blood-orange shade. With the large matte-finish metal buttons, it's quite distinctive. I got it for less than half its original price, thanks to an early markdown (probably precipitated by the announcement that M+O would be shutting down this summer). Two weeks after I ordered it, all sizes were sold out from the web site, so I'm glad I ordered it when I did.

One peculiar thing about this: it came with a detachable hood, perhaps a concession to those who are more used to wearing the type of jacket I referred to above. It looked ridiculous, and I knew I would never use it (this is not a serious rain garment anyway). So I discarded it and removed the buttons under the collar that held it in place.

The other thing I need to be mindful of is that when I wear this, the rest of my outfit for that day needs to be fairly toned down. No bold stripes, no bright plaids; khakis or dark jeans, and a solid or small-scale pattern shirt.

Addendum: On my way home from work Friday, a guy stopped me on the street to ask where I'd gotten this coat, and he declared it "gorgeous." I thanked him.

Resisting Temptation

The hardest thing about trying not to buy so much stuff has been staying away from eBay. If you hang around here, you know that I think of eBay as my personal flea market/tag sale/consignment shop, and I buy things from there frequently, like, um, watches.

Some stuff is fairly easy to put aside or forget about for a while, but there are certain items, like vintage watches, that I have been searching for literally for years. Back in 2001 I was unemployed for most of the year, so of course a rare vintage model of a watch I was looking for came up for auction, in an even rarer dial color. I had already spent money that I shouldn't have during that time, so I resisted, painful as it was. To this day I have not seen another watch like it anywhere.

But the fact is, I can't trust my own willpower, so the only way to refrain from unnecessary purchases is to not see the items for sale in the first place. I can't stop browsing altogether, but I have cut back on how much time I spend browsing and what I look at. For now it seems to be working.

The other factor I have to contend with is impending gift purchases: during the first two weeks of May I have my sister's birthday, Mother's Day, and the Mrs.' birthday. There is no getting around these expenses, so I need to offset them by not buying stuff for myself. I've already gotten a couple of gifts for the Mrs., which I'm not going to talk about here (even though she isn't the most regular reader here, some of you are in regular contact with her, and no offense to anyone, but I want them to remain surprises).

Overheard: Direct Line Edition

Woman walking north on Mass. Ave. near the Orange Line station yesterday afternoon, talking into her phone: "That's what the Lord told me this morning."

News of the Tipsy

The Wheels blog of the New York Times alerts us to the story of a man in England who was convicted of driving drunk... in an electric Barbie car. This comes on the heels of the reports late last week of a 20-year-old woman, also from England, who has been banned from buying or drinking alcohol in any pub, club, liquor store, or other place that sells alcohol in that country (and Wales, too) for two years, due to a large number or previous drinking-related offenses. Do we sense a pattern here?

Expense Report #2

Aside from food, drugstore, and household items, I did make a couple of discretionary purchases this week.

The Mrs. needed to go to a craft store one night, and rather than wait in the car or follow her around the craft store in mopey boredom, I opted to venture into the depths of the Kmart next door. Kmart is like hell on earth to me; I have never been in one that even approached being pleasant (though we did go in one with the Mrs.' sister one time out in California that was almost bearable). But I hadn't been in that one in several years, and this one in longer, so I was a little curious: had anything changed? Would there be anything I might consider buying?

The answer to the first question was no, nothing had changed; if anything, the store had gotten drearier since my last time there, and it also seemed smaller. The answer to the second question, surprisingly, was yes, because I found multi-packs of gray undershirts. Several months ago I mentioned seeing these on the Kmart web site, but I never bothered to order them, and the site led me to believe that these were not carried in the stores. But there they were, $10 for a package of four. I still hadn't resolved the undershirt problem from back in November, so I bought two packages and got out of there as quickly as I could.

I also ordered a shirt from the Gap web site, after trying unsuccessfully to find it in stores. I've been after a red chambray shirt for about two years now. I wasn't interested in paying the $150 or whatever it was Polo was charging for the RRL one they sold last year, and by the time I discovered it, it was sold out everywhere anyway. J. Crew introduced one earlier this spring for $98, still too high. Gap's just came out a week or two ago, and it's $49.50. Now we're talking.

But wait, it gets better. Because I have a Gap credit card (actually Banana Republic, so same thing), I get lots of offers and coupons for discounts. This week they were offering 30% off from Thursday through today. I went looking for the shirt after work the other day, but the stores don't seem to have it in yet, so in order to get the discount I went ahead and placed an online order. I like the flapped pockets on the Gap shirt, but I'm getting tired of the extended throat tab--it just gets in the way. Next weekend I'm going to visit the tailor with the shirts I own that have one to have them removed.

(To those of you who might be inclined to suggest that I might have waited for the next discount offer from Gap, you're not necessarily wrong, but the way their product turns over, it's a very real possibility that by then I wouldn't be able to find my size, and I had to weigh that against whether or not to spend the money now.)

This Week in Awesome (4/17/10)

It's a sad time indeed when having to do actual work gets in the way of scouting the cobweb-filled corners of the web where I usually find interesting bits for TWiA, but that's how it goes sometimes during deadline week. However, all is not lost...

There are certain kinds of crazy I just don't understand, and this is one of them. But it's certainly fun to watch someone else be crazy. (Unlikely Words via Kottke)

So, Top Gear goes to Iceland to film a segment about driving on an active volcano, and a week later that very same volcano erupts. Coincidence? Unlikely. (Jalopnik)

There's this show on Fox called Glee, about a high school glee club. I don't watch it, because, really, why would I? But Jane Lynch is on the show, and I love Jane Lynch. She is just the best, and this is one reason why: next week's episode is Madonna-themed, and as a promotional gimmick, Lynch and a couple of the kids from the show did a shot-for-shot remake of Madonna's "Vogue" video. Enjoy...

Watch Wednesday (4/14/10)

For this installment I have another vintage Caravelle. I apologize for the crapitude of the picture; I just couldn't get this one quite right, and I took about twice as many shots as I typically do.

Caravelle produced a version of this watch for several years in the early 1960s. The dial has a sort of grayish tinge to the white, but I'm not sure if that's its original hue or if it has faded over the years. It's another older watch that is just a little too small to look normal on my wrist, so I don't wear it, which is too bad, because I really like the simplicity of the dial, and the font they used for the numerals.

What makes this a slightly more interesting example is that it has a display back:

I've read that these were given to the salesmen so they could show off the movement. I don't know if that's true, but at least it makes sense. Around the outer edge it says "Caravelle anti-magnetic base metal case shock resistant," but there doesn't seem to have been any room for the Bulova date code, so I don't know exactly when this watch was produced, but I'm almost certain it's at least as old as I am.

Chocolatey Goodness

Deadline week rears its ugly head again. My goal for this month is to have everything finished by Friday, so I can take Monday off without feeling any guilt. Patriots' Day is one of the few holidays that is not a paid day off for us, but I usually take the day so I don't have to deal with throngs of Marathon watchers. Also, I just like having a day off now and then, and I have plenty of time available to use, so why not?

In the meantime, I don't want you, my loyal readers, to feel neglected. Tina Fey hosted Saturday Night Live this past weekend, and it was pretty funny, definitely an above average episode. I don't know whether or not her presence spurred the writing staff to do better, or if she just took over and wrote everything herself; either way, I don't really care. I just want the show to be funny.

One of the funniest bits from this show was this fake commercial for a snack food product aimed at a pretty specific target audience:



And how about some props to the prop department for this one?

Expense Report #1

I promised that as part of my effort to rein in my impulse buying, I would account for my purchases. Other than food and drugstore items and the previously mentioned pocket knife, the only other discretionary purchase I made last week was a bunch of discount movie passes through my employer.

I consider this an instance where spending money ultimately ends up saving money. The movie theater now costs $11 per ticket, but by buying these passes ahead of time, I save almost $3 per ticket. And unlike certain kinds of discount passes, these don't expire and there are no restrictions on when they can be used, so if we decide we want to see a movie on its opening weekend, we can just go and not have to worry about how long it's been showing.

I didn't go into any clothing or shoe stores, and I didn't buy anything on eBay, which is probably more significant for me. But I am going to need to buy a more robust surge protector soon, because on Friday there was another power outage while we were at work, and I had to deal with more TiVo crankiness, though thankfully it wasn't of the magnitude as the earlier crisis. But it took two or three restarts and several hours for the new machine to get back to behaving properly, which was troublesome and troubling.

This Week in Awesome (4/10/10)

It was really nice out today, and it felt good to get outside in the fresh air and sunshine. But if you'd rather stay indoors and look at stuff on the internet, I can help out with that too...

It's kind of cool how so many things can be summed up via a Venn diagram. (NextRound via Very Short List)

I never had much interest in remote-controlled cars, but after seeing this Nissan commercial that was made with 1/10 scale R/C vehicles, I may rethink that position. (There's also a making-of video, if you're into that sort of thing.) (YouTube via Autoblog)

Here's a very cool little clip about pixels escaping from an old TV and taking over the world. (Daily What via Gamefreaks)

Sort of like the Australian distracted-driving PSA clips I posted last week, The British Columbia Dairy Foundation has made a series of fake product infomercials for people who are weak (because they don't drink enough milk, get it?). Consumerist highlighted the "Food Lift," which is how I found out about them. (The Weak Shop)

Two for Two

After the cable channel AMC found critical success and a rabidly loyal audience for Mad Men, its first scripted show, they had to figure out what other original programming they wanted to develop. When Breaking Bad premiered two years ago, a couple of months after the first season of Mad Men ended, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was pretty certain there was no way it could live up to the level of quality established by Mad Men.

I couldn't have been more wrong. It's nothing like Mad Men, but it is equally fine television. The premise is deceptively simple: a high-school chemistry teacher learns that he has terminal cancer, so in order to provide for his family after his death, he looks up a former student who is a small-time drug dealer, and together they make and sell methamphetamine. Bryan Cranston has won the Best Actor Emmy the past two years for his portrayal of teacher turned meth-maker Walter White, in what is unquestionably one of the most amazing performances television has ever given us, while the show has grown as emotionally complex and morally ambigiuous as The Sopranos.

We're now three episodes into the third season (it airs at 10 PM Eastern time Sundays) and Breaking Bad just keeps getting better. Without giving anything away, these first three episodes have been a slow burn, but the feeling that all hell is going to break loose (as Tim Goodman put it over at The Bastard Machine) is just below the surface. And the most recent episode ended with one of the greatest "holy shit" moments I can ever remember seeing. With just three words (one of which had to be edited to satisfy the FCC's ridiculous standards), Walter's wife Skyler utterly blew his domestic fantasy out of the water.

At the same time, the show's tension and darkness is cut with a vein of pitch-black humor; I usually laugh out loud at least a couple of times each episode. Like a growing number of cable-network shows, Breaking Bad is filmed in the area where it takes place (in this instance, Albuquerque), and the photography and use of natural settings are outstanding.

If you're interested in this show (and it should be pretty clear that I'm trying to spark your interest), the first season had only seven episodes (due to the writers' strike), and season two had thirteen, so you could get into the show pretty quickly. AMC usually does a mini-marathon of current-season episodes at some point during the season, so you still have time to get on board. [Just checked their web site: the first five episodes of season three will be shown on Friday, April 23, starting at 8 PM Eastern.]

Unfortunately, unlike most other networks, the one thing they don't do is show episodes online, so to catch up on seasons one and two, you will have to either buy them from iTunes or Amazon, or Netflix the DVDs. But I guarantee it's worth your time. Breaking Bad is the best show airing now that you are probably not watching.

Pie for Dinner

Some years back, we used to frequent Calareso's farm stand on route 28 in Reading. I'm not sure why we started going there; I think maybe the Mrs. was going to a dentist whose office was nearby. At the time there wasn't any place convenient to where we were living that had consistently good produce; these days our options are much better, including the Medford Square farmers' market and a little place on Mystic Avenue called Roberto's that has an impressive selection and an incredible price/quality ratio.

One reason we kept driving out to Reading was because adjacent to the farm stand, there's a place called Harrow's that makes some of the best chicken pot pie I've ever tasted. They've been in business for over 70 years and still make their pies fresh every day using the same traditional recipe. The pies come in several different sizes and can be purchased fresh and ready to cook, or (this is a stroke of brilliance) if you call 90 minutes ahead, they will cook the pie for you so you can pick it up hot.

Now Harrow's has opened a second location, coincidentally also on Mystic Ave. in Medford, so it's even more convenient for us. They also sell dessert pies (apple and blueberry), which we haven't gotten around to trying yet, chicken salad, and side dishes. If you're in the mood for traditional New England home cooking, I highly recommend Harrow's.

Spendy Ways

I guess I struck a chord with yesterday's post, because I've already received a couple of comments about it. A Proper Bostonian pointed out that she still spends money on food and at CVS, and I was indeed very relieved to know that she is not intentionally starving herself. Those are not discretionary purchases; those are necessities.

The definition of "necessity" can, of course, be somewhat fluid. Yesterday I bought a new Swiss army knife at REI. I had mine confiscated by the TSA on my way home from California a couple of months ago, and I've been somewhat lost without it. I use it frequently, and it holds my keys, and it was all of $18 anyway.

If I feel that I need something, I'm going to buy it, and I intend to be honest about what I do buy. But there are plenty of things that fall into the category "I'd like to have it, but I don't need it." Those are the things that I need to cut back on. Food, toiletries, and the like are necessary. And beer. I'm out of beer at home, and that one is absolutely non-negotiable.

The Challenge: A Month of Thrift

I spend a good portion of my work day with headphones on, since I don't have an office where I could close the door. Last week, I was removing my earbuds to get up from my desk when the left one separated into two pieces. Apparently the molded halves had been glued together at the factory, and the glue wore out or something.

I took a look at the inside and saw that the wires and other components were intact, and the problem was only with the plastic housing. These are noise-canceling headphones, and they are nice to have around the office sometimes, and even more useful during commutes. Normally I would just buy another pair, but I am trying to curb such impulsive purchases so I can make some progress on my credit card balance.

These days, when something breaks, especially a piece of electronics, it's not fixable by you or me, and it's often not worth the cost of having it fixed by a professional. But in this case it was a simple, straightforward repair, and I really like these earbuds, so I took a walk over to the nearby drugstore and bought some super glue.

Of course I managed to get glue on several fingers in the process, and all over the outer housing of the earbud, but the glue held. I've decided to use this as a starting point to see if I can curtail my buying impulses for the rest of the month. I'm going to try to resist the urge to click the "buy" button for things that I don't genuinely need. I'm way overdue for this sort of thing, and I need to start acting with a lot more restraint.

At the same time, because of this general lack of restraint, I have plenty of things that I've bought that I am dissatisfied with for one reason or another, or that I have used but just no longer want, that I could probably get a few bucks for, so I need to get going on another round of eBay sales, and maybe also put some of the clothing and shoes on Style Forum. Progress reports will follow.

This Week in Awesome (4/3/10)

Just realized that I forgot to do this--been running errands, bathing the dog at LaundroMutt (the receipt says "Lave Canem"--clever), reading, catching up on this week's Lost, etc.

The Australian government has produced a series of ads to discourage teenagers from texting while driving. You think any network in this country would ever show these? (Autoblog)

It's called "instant CSI." Click and you'll see why. (Videogum)

Someone went to a lot of trouble so you could stare dazedly at this page full of animated GIFs. (It will take a while to load, no matter how fast your internet connection is.) (GQ Eye)

If you'd prefer to stare at some more famous art, stuff that you or I may never be fortunate enough to get to see in person, the Vatican has thoughtfully produced a virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel. (World's Best Ever)

Friday Funny: Remember to Disconnect

The internet knows how to make fun of itself. (Everything Is Terrible)

Watch Wednesday Thursday (4/1/10)

Guess I was supposed to post this last night, but what fun is consistency? I got this watch (on eBay, of course) a couple of months ago, after seeing it in a Fossil store in Manhattan when I made my brief visit there just before Christmas.

Back in the early 90s I was a little nuts for Fossil watches, the way some people were for Swatch watches in the 80s. It was mainly because at the time a lot of Fossil's stuff had a decidedly retro vibe. As they moved away from that, I lost interest, and shortly afterward I started buying old-looking watches that were, you know, actually old. I hadn't paid much attention to Fossil in a long time, other than an occasional glance at their counter when passing through Macy's.

So this watch kind of jumped out at me with its combination of restraint and boldness. I find the large, blocky numerals eye-catching. I like the blue accents (this pic isn't showing it very well, but the upper right quadrant of the bezel is a distinctive metallic blue, which ties in to the blue second hand and dial stamp. It's also available with orange accents instead of the blue, and now apparently in an all-black version as well, though I don't think that one works as well, because the contrast of the punchy color is kind of the point.

[Late addition: apparently I missed it last night due to fatigue, but this style is now also available with dark red accents, though it comes on a truly fugly striped nylon military-style strap.]

Also, this watch is pretty big: the case is 45 mm across and well over a centimeter thick, which is pushing the limit of what I can realistically wear because I have thin wrists. It came on a blue rubber strap, which I assumed would be junky like the ones that come on Casios, but it isn't--it's actually quite nice. I put on this black faux-carbon fiber strap with blue stitching (again, you can't see it very well) to tone it down a little, but when the weather warms up I'm going to switch back to the blue one, to bold it up again.