Retro Video Unit (7/1/11)

While banging around in YouTube's dusty basements and attics, looking for clips to post for this, I've discovered that many of the late-'70s new wave artists that I liked never made music videos for their singles, or if they did, they either didn't survive or haven't been dug up and posted.

Such is the case with today's featured band, The Records, so this performance clip, which seems to be from a UK TV show, will have to suffice. It's certainly better than those clips that have nothing more than an image of the sleeve from the original 45, or of the 45 itself. Enjoy the music...

Shameless Plug: My Loss Can Be Your Gain

So yeah, no post yesterday—sorry about that, it was just one of those days. We had a meeting at work and it seemed I was the only person who wasn't aware of it (there was nothing on the Outlook calendar and nothing in my email), then I kind of skipped over lunch because I needed to leave early for a dentist appointment, plus there was a cake for a departing intern, and before I knew it, it was 10:30 pm and I needed to start getting ready for bed.

You may remember me talking a few weeks ago about the SeaVees sneakers I bought from Zappos. I like them a lot, and in the interim I bought another pair in a different style direct from the company. But after wearing both pairs for a couple of days each, I ran into something that has happened before, and which my friend the Proper Bostonian has also experienced and talked about more than once: sometimes, you buy a pair of shoes and try them on, and everything seems fine, but then you wear them and walk around in them for a normal day and realize they don't fit properly after all, but now you can't return them.

Even without socks (the only way to wear canvas sneakers, really) the fit is very snug, and given the problems I have getting shoes that fit well in general, it's simply not worth it to wear shoes that are not comfortable. The main issue for me seems to be the toe box, which is fairly low from top to bottom. Otherwise they fit well and have nicely cushioned foam footbeds.

I was able to order one style in the next larger size from Zappos, but I can't find the red canvas ones in the proper size anywhere. Meanwhile, I've decided that the sensible thing is to sell the ones that don't fit; I've worn each pair only twice, so they're still basically new. Both are size 11, but they run small even by athletic shoe standards, so they would most likely fit someone who normally wears a size 10 shoe. I've posted them on Style Forum, and if you happen to be interested but are not a member, please contact me through the email link over there in the right column.

Extra Postage

I know the postal service hasn't been doing well for a while, as the volume of mail has decreased due to things like people paying their bills online. But on the other hand, I'd think they would be making it up in increased package deliveries, which cost more and must bring them more profit.

Have you been in a post office lately? Even if you just want to buy some stamps or mail a package, you get a whole hard-sell routine. The clerks have to go through this whole spiel, asking if you want to sent it overnight, do you want to add insurance, blah blah. It's like department store employees who are required to ask if you want to open a store charge account. And you typically have to wait in line longer because there are fewer employees staffing the counters.

I kind of feel bad for the front-line staff who are required to ask all those questions, but honestly, it's less bothersome to just use the automated postage station.

Changes

The Mrs. has been at her current job for a little over two years, but at the beginning of the month she found out (along with all her coworkers) that her program was being shut down as of June 30th. The parent company has been losing money on this particular endeavor for some time, so even though any layoff is something of a jolt, it did not exactly come as a surprise to anyone.

As it happened, she was not particularly upset by the news. She enjoys her work and cares about the people she works on behalf of, but she had no love for her employer or her miniscule salary. She had already decided to return to school, primarily because not having an advanced degree is a barrier to advancement in her field, and had been accepted to a Master's program with classes mainly on weekends.

But as soon as she learned of the impending layoff, she contacted the school and was able to switch onto a full-time track, which means she will be able to complete the degree program in two years instead of three. Sometimes the universe decides things for you, and this seemed like one of those times.

Of course, this means changes for us and our lifestyle. I suppose we'll need to cut back on our takeout meals somewhat, and try to grocery shop more regularly. If further economizing becomes necessary, we will manage. Plenty of other couples have handled this sort of circumstance (though more typically when slightly younger, I'd say), and so will we.

This Week in Awesome (6/25/11)

Gotta be honest, internets, you let me down a little this week. Just not quite as much awesomey goodness as I would have liked. But still, we must press on...

Are you looking for planter pots, and do you consider yourself generally not too picky about spelling errors? This is the place for you. (The Daily What via Videogum)

Last week I bought some Sixpoint Crisp Lager and noticed the cans have a cool, funky barcode with a city skyline (presumably New York, since Sixpoint is brewed in Brooklyn) and the Statue of Liberty. Then I saw this. (BuzzBrewery via Consumerist)

Do you guys remember Miss Blankenship, Don Draper's elderly secretary last season on Mad Men? Well, even though she's been dead for like 46 years, and wasn't even a real person to begin with, she has a facebook page. It's really a clever part of a campaign to get Randee Heller, the actress who played her so memorably, an Emmy nomination that I would say is well-deserved. (Basket of Kisses)

And finally this week, something I think many of us have suspected at one time or another: animals can be dicks (this one in particular). (The Awl via The Daily Beast)

You Get One Warning

I read an interesting article today in the business section about the strict no-phones/no-texting policy at the Austin-based movie theater chain Alamo Drafthouse, and how they turned a complaint left on their voicemail by a disgruntled patron into an ad. Brilliant and hilarious (and also, sad and disturbing). Here's the uncensored version of the ad.

I wish more places, particularly movie theaters, were willing to take this sort of hard-line stance against rude, ignorant behavior. Also: no ads before the movies, and no kids under 6 allowed. I wish Alamo would open a theater around here; it sounds like my kind of place.

Coffee Puddle

It's very interesting to observe how different people react in certain situations. When I got on the train after work, I sat next to a seat that had some spilled coffee on it. I had a section of newspaper that I was done with, so I tried to use it as a blotter, which sort of worked, but it was still iffy.

At the next stop someone attempted to sit down next to me and I warned her off. A grateful look crossed her face, she said thank you, and moved on to another part of the train. Same sort of situation at the next stop.

At the stop after that an older woman who looked a bit unsteady on her feet headed toward the seat. She was wearing an apple-green poncho with pink flowers on it. It looked to be made of vinyl, and reminded me of nothing so much as an old tablecloth, the protective kind like you might have found in your grandmother's kitchen 50 or 60 years ago. I warned her about the coffee, and she looked right at me and said matter-of-factly, "I don't care, I'm wearing a plastic coat." She sat down.

A few stops later the person on her other side left the train, and she slid over. By this point I was reading and not paying full attention to the seat anymore, but I had finished the last section of my paper and added that to the adjacent seat for some theoretical extra protection. Soon after that, someone swung into the seat so quickly that I didn't have time to say anything, but then I saw that she was wearing those big-ass headphones and wouldn't have heard me anyway.

She proceeded to get out her Metro, turned to the sudoku, and adjusted her belongings on her lap so she could write, in such a way that her bag was digging into my leg. I made a couple of tentative nudges in her direction to try to get her to adjust, but nothing happened. I sat there and hoped her ass was getting wet from cold coffee.

Backed Up

You would think that by now I'd know better and avoid the Green Line on days when there is an afternoon Red Sox game. But since it was raining, I hopped on the E train that was waiting outside work.

Things were fine until we got to Government Center, where trains were being turned around en masse, whether they were supposed to turn there or go on to North Station. I counted six trains, including the one I was on, before a train rolled in that was continuing on, and of course it was packed. I held back, and another one came along in a couple of minutes.

I've found that in these situations it's much better to just let go and realize that I will get home eventually. Getting home 20 minutes later than usual isn't really a big deal. But it's taken me a couple of decades to truly understand and accept that.

You're Killing Me

Did you watch The Killing on AMC? If not, this probably won't be of any interest. If you did, but you haven't yet watched the season's last episode, be warned that I'm about to get spoilery.

The Killing is an adaptation of a Danish series about a murder investigation in Seattle. Each episode covered one day in the case. I hadn't even planned on writing anything about the show, but the finale provoked such strong reactions from so many people. The season ended in a particularly unsatisfying way, with an apparent answer to the season-long question of who killed Rosie Larsen (the very line used to market the show) that was revealed in the final moments to be a fakeout, or at the least, a solution without a full and adequate explanation accompanying it.

The show set up a pattern of dangling a teasing reveal for us at the end of almost every episode, only to debunk it within the first few minutes of the next. These red herrings grew increasingly tiring, and sapped some of my interest in the show. There were parts of the show that I thought were quite good, but they were interspersed among other parts that were alternately enervating and frustrating. This is an unfortunate side effect of a show with this type of story structure (see also: 24), but I stuck with it because I wanted to find out who had killed Rosie, and then they didn't even really tell us.

They seriously expect us to wait nine months or so, and still care, and still be invested enough to come back to the show. The show's creator has said in numerous interviews that the show is meant to be an anti-mystery, an anti-cop show, and that no one ever said the crime would be solved by the end of the season. Well, that's a gross violation of the audience's trust and patience. They could have given us some hints from the outset that the case might not be solved by the end of the season, or they could have given us a better show, in exchange for which we probably would have been inclined to allow them some slack.

But hey, it could have been worse. Imagine if the show hadn't been renewed.

Way Back When

I love seeing photographs of the city as it used to be, and I'm always happy to discover new sources. Over the weekend Universal Hub directed my attention to Old Boston, a tumblr full of vintage Boston goodness.

This Week in Awesome (6/18/11)

I did not attend the Bruins parade, but I was there in spirit. I only attempted to go to one of these once, after the first Patriots Super Bowl victory, and I couldn't get close enough to actually see anything, so I'd rather just watch on TV.

The Office reimagined as a 1980s-style sitcom, with laugh track and cheesy opening credits. Vulture via Have You Seen This?)

Some women are into guys who are a little older, and some women have a different definition of "older." (The Hairpin)

A conceptual diagram of HBO's original programming. (CollegeHumor via Warming Glow)

And finally this week, tying in nicely with the wedding-suit stuff, Racked NY ran a contest this week asking for submissions of pictures of horrible bridesmaid dresses, and the internet happily obliged.

Eating Habits

Chicken pot pie followed by caramel cup ice cream. Last Friday it was a cheeseburger, fries, and a shake at Uburger. This has to stop...

Retro Video Unit

Today I need to be brief, as my monthly deadline is nearly upon me. I was recently listening to an mp3 I'd created from a mixtape cassette I had made back in the '80s. When this song came on, I remembered how much I enjoyed the wacky, low-rent music video for it, and how long it had been since I had seen it.

Then I thought, it must be on YouTube, and sure enough I found it. So take a few minutes to enjoy this flashback to the golden age of music videos and MTV: The Rubinoos, "If I Had You Back." (With apologies for the poor video quality, but you know, it's likely it came off a VHS tape someone had stored for 25 years or so...)

Suited for Summer, Part 4: Putting It On

Last week's summer suit suggestions were by no means meant to be an exhaustive list; I left out some stuff, more for reasons of time than anything else, like Boden (I've never bought anything from them, but there are banner ads all over the web lately for various discounts plus free shipping and returns; you may want to peruse RetailMeNot for some discount codes) or Haspel (a hundred-year-old manufacturer of traditional cotton and linen summer suits similar in fabric and cut to those you'd find in Bank or Brooks; use this store finder for retailers, or try online sources like eSuit). I've also seen cotton suit separate pieces pop up occasionally on the flash-sale sites Gilt and RueLaLa, but the size and color choices are usually limited.

Maybe it's been obvious, but all of this came out of my efforts to find a comfortable and affordable summer suit for myself. That decade-old Banana Republic model no longer fits quite as well as it used to, and anyway the jacket was a three-button style that looked dated and was not a good candidate to steam and press into the more trad-preferred 3-roll-2 (though I have done this more successfully with a tweed sport coat, with the aid of a wooden pressing block that the Mrs. uses in her sewing projects).

I don't have any impending dress-up events, but I figured I was better off doing the research and shopping when I was not in imminent need. A summer suit is something I've been wanting to add to my wardrobe for a few years now. My main requirements were: lightweight fabric; a comfortable and age-appropriate fit (by which I mean, no low-rise pants); the ability to buy separates to get the best fit and minimize tailoring needs; and a moderate price.

After much thoughtful consideration, I settled on the L.L. Bean Signature Plain Weave jacket and pants in "soapstone." The online photos make the fabric look like it has a greenish-gray tinge to it, which I liked, but in reality it's a pretty standard light beige. The jacket is fully tailored with a center vent, full lining, multiple inside pockets, including ones for a pen and a phone, and lightly padded shoulders. I may look into having those removed if it isn't complicated; they aren't prominent enough to be noticeable, it's just a comfort thing.

You may remember that I expressed concern about the lack of tall sizing in the jackets, but it turned out not to be an issue. The jacket is of an appropriately butt-covering length, and in fact the sleeves are a bit too long on me. The overall fit is on the trim side, particularly through my midsection, but I can button it without it pulling. It also has functional sleeve buttons, which are showing up more and more on moderately-priced suits and jackets. This is not necessarily a good thing, because if you need sleeve alterations it can cause a problem. In my case the sleeves need to be shortened about half an inch, which should not affect the buttons or buttonholes.

Many suit pants are lined to the knees; these are not, which I don't consider a problem; if you're going to be wearing a rig like this in warm weather, unlined pants are probably better. I could say the same about the jacket, but I don't care for the look of unlined, less-structured jackets, and if you put stuff in the pockets they have a tendency to droop. The pants are alterable via a split in the back of the waist. They have a plain front and straight, on-seam front pockets. They are sold only with finished inseams, so if you are an in-between inseam length or prefer them cuffed, you'd need to choose a longer inseam and visit your tailor.

Overall I think these pieces are a good value at $220. If you happen to have an L.L. Bean Visa card, you can reduce that amount, as I did, by applying the reward discounts earned by making purchases with the card. I have one small complaint, but it's not about the garments themselves: mine arrived in one of those plastic mailing pouches, so they were extremely wrinkled. I would have expected items of this sort to automatically be packed in a box, but who knows how those decisions get made.

TV Bits

Last week, while poking around on Netflix, I discovered that all nine seasons of the previously discussed British spy drama MI-5 (including the most recent eight-episode season that aired in the UK last fall) are now available, either on disc or via streaming. I find the show isn't as good as it was in the first few seasons, but I still enjoy it enough to keep watching.

A couple of other reminders: Breaking Bad returns for its fourth season July 17th on AMC at 10 pm Eastern time. The channel is still running the previous three seasons' episodes late at night. According to the schedule page, they're going to be starting another cycle of the whole series in order starting in the early morning hours of July 6, so if you haven't gotten on board yet and have the DVR space, I recommend you set up a "record all episodes" season pass. But if you do, you'd better set aside some time, because once you get started on this show it's likely you aren't going to want to do much else until you've watched all 33 episodes.

Over on FX, the amazing Louie returns for its second season next Thursday, June 23rd, at 10:30 pm. Louie isn't a sitcom in the way we're used to thinking of them; there are situations, and there's plenty of comedy, but that's as far as the similarities go. It's a bold, brash, uncompromising, brilliant expression of one man's comedic vision. It will make you uncomfortable, and (depending on your sensibilities) it will make you laugh really hard, sometimes simultaneously. If you enjoyed the show last year and have not yet read it, I highly recommend this article that ran in New York magazine last month about Louis C.K. and his unique approach to creating the show. The season one DVDs release next week, and it's probably also in iTunes (though I don't know that for certain).

Tree Your Shoes for Less

If you have nay decent shoes, you should be storing them with cedar shoe trees when you aren't wearing them. (Not those square-toed Kenneth Cole things, either; throw them away and start over.) It's an easy thing to overlook, unless you are in the habit of getting the shoe trees when you buy the shoes. That's definitely one way to remember, but it's a more costly way of doing it.

Over the weekend I happened to visit a Nordstrom Rack (we had to wait for a table at a restaurant, and the store was in the same shopping center). On my few previous visits to Rack stores I've found them to be very hit-and-miss; much of the merchandise is no more interesting or impressive than what you'd find on any given day at your local TJ Maxx.

But as with any discount shopping experience, you often find good deals when you aren't looking for anything in particular. A couple of years ago the Mrs. found a pair of Keen outdoor/hiking shoes for $30, because they were technically boys' shoes. She was waffling on whether or not to buy them, but when I told her she would likely pay around $100 for the adult version of the shoe, she bought them, and has gotten a great deal of use out of them, since they are waterproof.

On Saturday I saw some shoes that might have interested me, but then I turned the corner and saw a display full of shoe trees. I needed a couple of pairs, and these were tagged at $12.90, which is an excellent price (they typically sell for $20 or more a pair, depending on where you buy them). They are the kind with the two-piece toe, made in Wisconsin by a company called Woodlore. I know this brand well, having several other sets of trees from them.

I grabbed two pairs and headed for the register, where I learned that some sort of additional discount was in effect: the trees rang up at $9.90 per pair, plus tax. I was in the process of considering whether or not to go back and get more when the restaurant buzzer went off, so I paid for the two pairs and hurried on my way.

I don't know how long this deal might last, but if you live near a Nordstrom Rack you might want to swing by and check it out. Even at the regular price of $13 a pair, these are a good deal.

This Week in Awesome (6/11/11)

Kind of a low-key weekend, not great weather, but still getting some stuff done around the house.

On the NBC comedy Community, Abed is a pop culture-obsessed film student. Variety magazine asked the actor who plays Abed, Danny Pudi, to comment on the upcoming Emmy nominations in character. (TVLine)

Sometimes things don't go as planned but turn out pretty cool anyway. So it is with this vehicular stunt involving a ramp and some old school buses. (Jalopnik)

A graphic designer in the UK has a collection of "logo swaps." Take a look and you'll understand. (Graham Smith via The Daily What)

And finally this week, did you catch the Google Doodle guitar on Thursday in honor of Les Paul's 96th birthday? I didn't realize it when I saw it, but you can "play" the guitar using your keyboard, which is pretty damn cool; instructions are provided here. (Huffington Post)

On Second Thought, Maybe Not...

At first, this seems like a good idea: cuff links that contain USB drives.

But damn, those are some ass-ugly links.

(Image borrowed from the Los Angeles Times style blog All The Rage.)

Bargain Alert: About Those Suits...

In the midst of my suit discussion, I received an email from Jos. A. Bank alerting me to a one-day offer today: 50% off all suits, plus a second suit (of equal or lesser value) free. Of course, those reductions are going to be off the theoretical "original" prices, but even so this could be a good opportunity. It's valid on all suits, not just summer ones, so depending on your needs, taste, and fit preferences, you could cover your year-round basic suit requirements.

Some fine print: as far as I can tell the offer is valid only on their web site and not in their stores, but they are also offering free shipping with no minimum (I think their free shipping normally starts at $175). The suit offer ends at midnight Pacific time. Happy shopping.

Suited for Summer, Part 3: More Choices

Once I got going on this topic, I found there are many more possibilities than I'd first realized, and I felt it was too much for one post, so I broke it up.

L.L. Bean's Signature line has a couple of options. However, there are differences in the fabrics, fit, construction, and detailing. The "New Traditional" is much more casual overall: the jacket is cut shorter, with patch pockets and a half lining, the pants have unusually wide belt loops, and the fabric is visibly stonewashed, giving it a slightly distressed appearance along the lapel seams, which also has the unfortunate effect of making the stitching stand out in an unfavorable way (click on the lightest-colored jacket here and zoom in on the bottom seam, and you'll see what I mean). It might be a better choice for a teen who has been invited to a family wedding for the first time and needs to look decent without it costing much. The New Traditional jacket is currently on sale for $90 (from $135), while the pants are still full-price at $60. (Update: the pants are now on sale for $40.)

The LLBS "Plain Weave" jacket and pants are much more traditional-looking pieces which would not look out of place or draw undue attention in a more dressed-up setting, but you should know that the jacket is not available in short or long, which is going to exclude a portion of potential buyers. The Plain Weave will run you around $220 for both jacket and pants. There's also a jacket and pants in something called Tropicweight Wool, in a nice-looking light-medium gray, that appear to be the same cut as the Plain Weave pieces and might work in less-sweltery locales ($325 for both pieces).

This is the point where we need to discuss seersucker. It's a wonderful fabric for summer wear, and it conjures thoughts of elegant garden parties, or perhaps warm memories of Gregory Peck in To Kill A Mockingbird. But you have to stop and consider it very carefully before you opt to head down that road. With any seersucker suit, even in the traditional blue stripe or a subdued gray, you run the risk of looking like you're wearing a costume. It has a lot to do with your age, the way you like to dress in general, and where you're wearing it (both geographically, and the type of event).

To be honest, a lot of men will simply look more at ease and put-together in a solid, light-colored suit such as the ones we've been discussing. If you're inclined to split the difference, there's pincord, which is a very fine stripe, traditionally in blue and white, but J. Crew has Ludlow fit separates in "faded black" and white as well as the blue. I like the look of this, and have considered buying it for myself for a couple of summers now, but the Ludlow jackets aren't the best fit on me, and the pants are cut too slim and too low in the waist. Hey, J. Crew: please consider offering this style in the Aldridge fit.

If you truly feel you have the confidence to pull off a seersucker suit, then I think the way to wear one is to go full-on peacock: a colorful bow tie (maybe a madras plaid?), white bucks without socks, and topped off with a straw boater or panama. Go back to the Bank site and check out the colors they offer their seersucker suits ($200) in: tan, white-on-white, even red (or, for the less bold, a dark navy with white pinstripes). There's a part of me that would like to get the red one just for the go-to-hellness of it, but I'm not sure I could pull it off. And anyway, where would I wear it?

Alternately, you could have a go at the black-on-black seersucker from Bean Signature ($265 for both pieces), which might work if you have goth tendencies, but I can't imagine why anyone would want to wear a black suit in the summer sun, even if it is cotton. An after-dark event, maybe? (They also have it in loden [olive-ish], currently on sale for $100 for the jacket, $50 for the pants.)

There are some other inexpensive options available at places like H&M, Express, or Zara, just lower your expectations accordingly. Anything you buy at H&M is unlikely to last more than a season or two, and the one time I attempted to try on jackets at Zara, I was never able to find anything big enough to fit my shoulders. I happened to wander into an Express (did you know they still sold men's clothing? did you even realize they were still around? me neither) a month or so ago because a suit on a mannequin in the window caught my eye, and while I wouldn't go so far as to say that I was actually impressed by their offerings, they were better than I expected, reasonably priced, and decent looking (and on sale at the moment).

Suited for Summer, Part 2: What to Wear?

Now that we've established some guidelines, let's consider some reasonably priced options for summer suits.

In the past, warm-weather suits were typically purchased at the traditional men's clothing stalwarts like Brooks Brothers or Jos. A. Bank. They are still available at these stores, but these days they are typically a cotton/polyester blend, which isn't going to wear as cool as all-cotton, and the quality isn't particularly impressive, especially so with the Bank suits.

A Brooks Brothers cotton suit is going to run you $400, unless you wait until the end of the season when you'll probably see some markdowns. By comparison, the Banks are a relative bargain: if you go look, you'll see that you can currently get a poplin suit for $137, which is hard to beat if you can live with the fabric. Keep in mind, though, that their suits are cut very full, and you can't mix and match jacket and pant sizes. (At least there are a couple of fit options at Brooks Brothers.)

Fit and sizing are key issues for me. I don't have what would by any means be considered an athletic build, but I still have an eight-inch "drop" (the difference between the chest and waist measurements), and a standard suit has a six-inch drop (sometimes tapering to only five in the larger sizes). You may be able to find an "athletic-fit" suit, which would have a seven- or eight-inch drop, or a good tailor can alter a standard, fuller-fitting jacket so the waist is more defined, but tailoring has its limits. If I were to purchase a suit from Jos. Bank in the proper jacket size, the waist of the pants would be three inches too big, and even the best tailor can only take in a pair of pants so many inches before they start to look too weird (back pockets too close together) and/or the tailoring becomes not worth the expense. Overall I think buying separates is a better option.

As I mentioned yesterday, Banana Republic can be a good source of reasonably-priced suit separates, and it looks like they are now offering two fits, though it seems to be an either/or proposition: some suits are in one fit, some are in the other. J. Crew still offers its most basic cotton suit pieces in both fits. Those of you who tend toward the shorter and lankier would probably be more comfortable in the Ludlow fit, which is cut slimmer and with a slightly shorter jacket and lower-waist pants; those of you who are built more like myself would likely want to go with the Aldridge fit, which is more traditional but not nearly as sacklike as a Bank. The Italian fabric on these is really nice, and there are options like center- or side-vent (for the Ludlow jacket) or two- or three-button (for the Aldridge). For either store, the suits run $370-380 for both pieces, but can certainly be bought for less during sales or with the retailers' frequent discount offers.

J. Crew also offers the Ludlow fit in linen, which is an option worth considering because its weave makes it breathable, and the fabric has some tactile and visual texture. Linen also wrinkles easily, but then again so does cotton. I've never particularly cared for linen, probably because you can end up looking dressed-down even when you're dressed up, but if worn with the right shirt, tie, and shoes (keep 'em all simple) you can do a credible impersonation of an Italian fashionisto. The J. Crew linen pieces are only $10 more each than their cotton counterparts, and it comes in a light gray that's a refreshing change from the typical beiges and tans.

Tomorrow: believe it or not, I'm not done with this nonsense...

Suited for Summer

Once you get a few years past college, it's likely that someone you know will get married. These events often tend to occur in clusters (one of my coworkers has a different wedding to attend each weekend this month!). And while weddings take place throughout the year, eventually your presence will be requested at an event that takes place during the summer. And if it happens not to be a wedding, then there will be some other situation (a job interview, a graduation, or a Derby Day party) that you will attend during warmer weather, where you will be expected to show up wearing semi-formal attire.

Do not even think about not wearing a proper, respectable outfit such as a suit, or at the very least, a sportcoat or blazer with a tie. I can tell your eyes are already sliding over toward your closet, and you're thinking, Why can't I just wear my "good" khakis and my nice blue button-up shirt? Forget it. If you happen to be still in high school, you sort of maybe get a pass, but beyond age 18 you need to dress like an adult.

Jesse Thorn of Put This On expressed the essence of this very well, but unfortunately I can't find the exact relevant quote at the moment, so I'll have to paraphrase: as guests of the bride and groom, we dress up for weddings as a way of acknowledging that it is a serious, important occasion and not just another day. In other words, you are a grownup, and you grasp the idea that there are certain occasions in life that require you to look like one.

You should be wearing a suit, and that's that, especially if you are attending this event with a wife, girlfriend, or significant other. If you don't it will reflect badly on her as well as on you, and it's likely she will suffer some embarrassment and end up feeling resentment toward you as a result, not to mention she will most certainly have gone to some effort to look her best, and it's disrespectful to her if you don't at least offer the appearance of having gone to some comparable degree of effort yourself. (Friendly advice: dressing in a way that upstages your date is highly ill-advised. You need to look good, but make sure she looks better.)

[Aside: During the past decade I have attended two weddings in California, one in the southern part of the state in July and one in the northern part in January. In both situations I was quite shocked to see how the guests, both male and female, were dressed. It's like they're living in another country or something. Extreme casual was the dominant look at both events, though it skewed slightly more toward streetwear at the first one and more than slightly toward hippie at the second. There were guests who looked like they had rolled out of bed maybe an hour before and literally grabbed the first pieces of clothing they could find. I still have occasional unpleasant flashbacks about this.]

Now, you probably own at least one suit, and that's swell. But trust me, you are not going to want to put on that thing made of wool in the middle of July, and I can practically guarantee you that the site of either the ceremony or the reception will lack adequate air conditioning, or that it will take place outdoors. I have been in both these situations while wearing a non-seasonal suit, and it's not fun at all.

Over a decade ago I found a very nice cotton suit jacket and matching pants the color of sand, deeply discounted at Banana Republic. I think I paid around $120 for both pieces, and I got more than enough use out of them over the years to justify the purchase. The lightweight fabric is a bit more forgiving in warmer weather, and the neutral shade gives you a chance to demonstrate your style with judicious use of bright color in your shirt and/or tie. (Incorporating bright colors in this way may not be the most appropriate choice for a job interview, but it depends on the situation; I did it once, and I got the job.)

Tomorrow: a few suggestions for you.

This Week in Awesome (6/4/11)

Yesterday we took the dog for her annual vet visit, got haircuts, did some other errands, and otherwise just enjoyed a beautiful day. Regarding other diversions...

What's that? You say you never get tired of those New York time-lapse videos? Wow, what a coincidence—me neither. This one happens to have a lot of night shots, which is a bit different from ones I've posted before. I'd love to post something similar for Boston or other cities, so if any of you come across such, let me know. (Gawker)

Those of you of at least a certain age will have memories, fond or otherwise, of the "cassingle," a retail music product with a relatively brief history. (Digital Music News via The Awl)

Pictures of cool people being cool. (The GQ Eye)

And finally this week, a cute little computer-animated short that's worth two minutes of your time. (Daily What via b3ta)

Recommended Viewing: Party Down

We just finished watching the too-short run of this unappreciated comedy, which ran for two seasons on Starz (which one could argue is part of the reason so few people saw it). It's about a group of cater waiters in LA who are (mostly) trying to make it in show business.

It's really funny, there are only 20 episodes total, and it's available to stream on Netflix, so you could probably knock off the whole thing in a weekend (if you didn't have any other plans) or a few nights at a more modest pace.

Pizza Face

The Daily Show does it yet again. You have to watch this. Really, you have to, 'cause there's gonna be a quiz. Okay, not really. Just watch the damn thing:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Me Lover's Pizza With Crazy Broad
www.thedailyshow.com

Diving for Boxes

Online shoe shopping is possibly one of the greatest benefits of the rise of e-commerce over the past 15 years or so. (I do miss the full-service, multi-brand shoe stores of my youth, but that's a post for another time.) Sites like Zappos and Endless have far more variety than you could ever hope to find in a single store anywhere, and you typically receive your shoes within a day or two of ordering them.

(If you have VIP status at Zappos, you get permanent free overnight shipping. (They used to offer this to everyone all the time, but cut back a few years ago.) They offer VIP signup days now and then, or you can go to vip.zappos.com and get on the "waiting list." However, knowing what sort of company they are and the emphasis they place on service, I think that if you just called their customer-service number and asked, they would give you VIP status. YMMV.)

The flip side of this convenience is that you don't always know what size you should order, especially if it's a brand you are not familiar with or one that isn't readily available in local stores. With many brands of shoes I'm kind of between sizes, so the right size might depend on whether or not I plan on wearing the shoes with socks, or whether or not the shoes are available in wide widths. I frequently have to order two pairs of the same style to find the right size (which is where shopping in a store can be easier).

It's not really a big deal since most shoe sites offer free returns for this very reason—just pack 'em back up and drop off the box at the nearest UPS Store. But what happens when you order two pairs of shoes and then need to return one of them? It's not always practical to send that pair back in the larger box that arrived containing two pairs. Sometimes it can be extremely awkward. In the past couple of weeks I've had to deal with this situation twice.

Now, I tend to hold onto the boxes I receive stuff in. I have the space (in the basement), I sometimes need boxes for those times when I sell things on eBay or Style Forum, and I have some pack-rat tendencies to begin with, so I grabbed a tape measure and headed down to the basement. One box was easy, but the other was a problem. Plus, since the shoes were from separate orders from two different online stores, they could not go in the same box.

I had ordered some red canvas "tennis shoes" from SeaVees, a newish revival of an old brand that's been producing some really nice retro-looking styles in the past couple of years. Since I ordered two different sizes, and the shoe boxes SeaVees uses are somewhat larger than normal, the box Zappos shipped them in was fairly gigantic—it could easily hold five or six "normal" shoe boxes. When the UPS guy appeared at my cubicle the other day holding the box, I though he had me mixed up with someone else in the office.

I couldn't realistically send back the other pair in the huge box, but I also couldn't find a box in my basement stash that would fit the oversize box. The shoes were still at the office, and we do sometimes have empty boxes around there, so I went back to work the next day hoping I could find something suitable. Eventually, in the copier room, I found a box that had contained copies of one of our publications. It was a couple of inches longer and wider than the shoe box, and tall enough. I also found a large quantity of bubble wrap that I used to fill the extra space.

So now it seems I may need to start hoarding boxes at work, too.

Wednesday Bonus Awesomeness, Sports Edition

I can't claim to be a big hockey fan, but this is all kinds of awesome. (Kristen Kmetetz via Unviersal Hub)

Go Bruins!

A Suggestion for the MBTA

The "train is approaching/arriving" messages we hear on the PA system in the stations are genuinely helpful. However, they are preceded by a tone meant, presumably, to get your attention: "Hey, commuters! Here comes an announcement you're going to want to listen to."

The only problem is that the T uses the same tone before its public-service announcements, thereby getting all of us psyched that the train's arrival is imminent, only to be disappointed by the 3,000th airing of the "see something, say something" advisory.

My idea is for a different sort of tone, perhaps something like a two-note doorbell sound, so we commuters know that the forthcoming announcement does not involve train-arrival information. Just a thought..

Oversize Load

Our long weekend has been split between having fun and getting things done around the house. In the fun department, we saw Bridesmaids last night, and I recommend it highly. Not only is it really funny, but it's also a very honest and realistic story. On Saturday we went to see England's Propeller Theatre Company performance of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors at the Huntington (thanks again, Lisa!), which was all-around excellent.

In the housekeeping department, I'm almost caught up on my laundry, plus I've finished rotating my seasonal clothing into and out of storage. But in the process I did something stupid, and learned a lesson. I have a rolling garment rack in the basement that I use for storing items of clothing that I don't use often. I throw a sheet over it, so it's almost like a pop-up closet. Actually, I already have two of those in the basement; originally I bought this rack to hang drying things, but it morphed into additional storage.

Last year I hung some flannel shirts on the rack, then took them back upstairs when it got cold. Yesterday I took the flannel shirts downstairs and put them on the rack again, and it broke and everything fell onto the concrete basement floor. The rack has a height adjustment at either end, and I suspect it had gotten loose, and then the shirts were too much weight for it. (In between last year and this year I'd added a couple of fairly heavy coats to the rack.)

Amazingly, I was able to balance the cross rod on the remaining portions of the upright poles; the plastic broke in such a way that the pieces left behind are concave, and so they hold the rod in place. This will have to do temporarily until I can replace the rack, but at least the shirts and coats aren't on the dirty floor.

I knew there was a weight limit for this rack, but I never bothered to learn what it was. I'm going to invest in a larger, heavier-duty, all-metal rack with a higher weight limit, so I don't have to worry about this sort of thing again.

This Week in Awesome (5/28/11)

I hope you're enjoying the weekend. The air conditioners went in on Friday, which we think is the earliest we've ever had to install them. Since (hopefully) most of you have an extra day off, this week there's an extra-large batch:

Justin Timberlake hosted the season finale of Saturday Night Live, and in the tradition of "Dick in a Box" and "Motherlover," the Digital Short, featuring the show's musical guest Lady Gaga, was "3-Way (The Golden Rule)."

boston.com has featured their "best doughnut shops in greater Boston" list several times over the past couple of months (including this morning). It's either a ploy to get every local blogger to link to it, or part of a secret plot to fatten all of us up for the impending alien invasion.

Related, sort of: a tumblr collection of out-of-shape celebs. (Thrillist)

What does $1 million in cash look like? (Cockeyed via Consumerist)

Many, many people were hoping this vintage ad was real, but it seems it's a rather elaborate fake. (BoingBoing via Put This On)

And finally this week, Amy Poehler gave a great speech at Harvard's pre-commencement Class Day ceremonies, reminding us again why she is the essence of awesome. (Harvard magazine via Jezebel)

Welcome Back, Stan

Six or seven years ago, I was something of a sneaker fanatic. My overall style was somewhat different back then, and I was always on the lookout for retro styles in special colorways. These ended up being mostly adidas, and I bought most of them on eBay, with a few from other online stores like Classic Sport Shoes.

After a while my sneakerism waned, and I sold several pairs, but I held onto a few. One shoe I've liked and worn for a long time is the adidas Stan Smith. Named after a tennis player, it's one of the most popular and longest-running athletic shoe styles. It's about as plain and simple as a sneaker can get, which is a big reason it appeals to me.

The last time I had a pair of Stans was about three years ago, when I bought a limited-edition version that was made to look just like the shoe when it first went on sale over 40 years ago. I liked that the heel tab was suede instead of leather, and that there was nothing on it—no logo, no branding of any kind. I wore them to work during the summer, but unfortunately the leather had a sort of semi-gloss finish, and the tongues slid off to the sides when I wore them. I ended up selling them on eBay a year or so later.

The original version of the shoe was white with a bright green ("fairway") heel tab, and the Stan is always available in this color, as is one with a navy blue heel tab. If you really want to fly below the radar, logo-wise, you can usually find all-black without looking too hard, and there's an all-white version too. I always thought the shoes would look great with red heel tabs, but I could never recall adidas making one. Then it appeared last fall, along with royal blue (another very logical trim color).

I didn't buy them right away. I'm not sure why. I think I was trying to convince myself that I didn't need them, but I knew that I would get them eventually so it seems silly now. A couple of months ago I noticed that the red variant was 20% off at Zappos, so I put them into my cart and saved them for later. But when I went back for them recently, they were gone—all sizes of that color had sold out.

Of course, these days it's almost always possible to find something you want, so it didn't take long before I found a few sizes of the red-trim Stans left at shoes.com. They sometimes have odd pricing on shoes—you'll see something marked at 5% off its original price like it's a big deal. But then they have sales with another 25% off "all sale shoes," which was the case with these, so they worked out to around 30% off the original price.

These will be going into the summer rotation with my boat shoes, with some leather Pumas I've had for a few years, and with a couple of pairs of canvas sneakers. One odd thing: there are no lace stays on the tongues, something that older versions definitely had. I hope these don't give me problems like the others, or I may end up DIYing it and cutting slits in the tongues.

Shop (Sorta) Locally

The style/responsible consumerism site Well Spent has an interesting interview with the proprietor of WHARF Clothing & Wares, a Rhode Island store (with online shopping) that's about to move to a new location in "downcity" Providence. Good luck to him, and I look forward to visiting the store soon. I really want to check out the house-brand shirts, which are made right down in Fall River.

Watch Wednesday (5/25/11)

It's been three months since I bought a watch, which I consider reasonably restrained behavior. If this one looks familiar to you, it's because I mentioned it about six months ago as something I was hoping to find for less than its full retail price.

The timing of finding this watch was good, since my 20-year-old, beat-up, $20 Carriage (Timex) military-style J. Crew lookalike stopped working recently. Well, it's still ticking, but the hands only move once in a while, so it's no longer usable. I'm not willing to pay $150 for a Timex just because J. Crew sells it, and they are on the small side for my wrist anyway. I'd seen this watch in Nordstrom last year and and could tell it was bigger, but I also felt $100 was a bit high for it.

Timex offers this Originals watch with either a green canvas strap or a Speidel-style metal expansion band. I didn't love either one, but I could live with the canvas one. When I was searching for the watch on eBay, I was only looking for the strap version. I'd forgotten that the two different strap styles meant two different model numbers, but somehow I got reminded of that a couple of weeks ago, and sure enough, there was one for sale with the expansion bracelet, new with the original box, for a starting bid of $50, which turned out to be the (my) winning bid.

At 38 mm the size on this is just right, and it's just a nice, simple, really good-looking piece. I prefer the look of this watch to the J. Crew version: while the lugs are similarly shaped, this one's dial is less crowded-looking (because it's bigger), it has a date window, and the red blocks at the hour positions go nicely with the red second hand and add a little extra punch to the dial. One odd thing: even though the dial has Indiglo lighting, the numerals still glow, which is fine, except there's no luminous on the hands, so you kind of need the light anyway.

The tan leather strap was on the other Timex, but until this watch arrived I didn't know if the strap would fit. The color is just right, I think. I also have one of the one-piece straps that J. Crew sells for its watches, olive with a red stripe down the middle, and I suspect that will find its way onto this watch for the warmer months.

AC on the Bus...

(to the tune of The Replacements' "Kiss Me on the Bus")

Summer's here, I guess.

Fall TV 2011: Make Me Watch

It's been a week or so since the networks started their annual spring ritual of introducing the new shows that they hope people will be watching and talking about come fall. I've had time to watch clips from all some of them, so I can now offer you my admittedly biased, but still fairly TV-knowledgeable, thoughts.

I'm no longer surprised by cancellations; most shows fail, it's just the nature of the business. But I was disappointed that Fox decided not to renew The Chicago Code, because I felt it had finally found its footing and was poised to stretch out and fulfill the expectations that surrounded its arrival. (Update: Show creator Shawn Ryan is talking to other networks and cable channels, so there's an ultra-slim chance the show might find a second life elsewhere.)

Most of last season's freshman class didn't survive, and nothing that did could be considered a breakout hit, so the networks have gone back and reloaded with a new, if not exactly fresh, batch that they really, really hope will catch on.

One thing is clear: the singing, dancing, and weight-losing isn't going anywhere, at least for the foreseeable. The positive side of this is that if, like me, you have no interest in any of it, then that's eight or nine hours of network programming each week that you don't have to be concerned with.

Similarly, there are several new shows that involve or invoke fairy tales, fantasy stuff, or supernatural elements, also highly skippable. One huge gamble appears to be Fox's Terra Nova, about a group of people who manage to travel back in time to a prehistoric era. It's going to be loaded with special effects like computer-generated dinosaurs, and therefore is going to be a very complicated, very expensive show to produce. Fox has a lot riding on this, but my gut is telling me it's going to be a huge flop. We'll see.

Lots of new comedies: eleven are starting in the fall, and several more are planned for next winter and spring. NBC has a solid lineup on Thursdays (even if it doesn't draw the kind of ratings numbers NBC used to), and ABC has established a similarly successful block on Wednesdays, so now both of those networks are looking, logically, to expand their comedy footprints to other weeknights, with two from ABC on Tuesdays and two from NBC on Wednesdays. Some of these look okay, given that any new sitcom is rehashing one of a few by-now familiar scenarios; typically a sitcom will succeed or fail based on the quality of the writing and the appeal of the cast.

In network nods to Mad Men, both NBC and ABC are serving up 1960s-set shows, but that's about as far as the similarities go. NBC's entry is set in the Chicago Playboy Club and has organized-crime elements, while ABC is going with Pan Am stewardesses and pilots, which looks to be the soapier of the two. If you enjoy watching shows like this mainly for the sets and costumes, you'll probably be satisfied, but if you're looking for drama with the weight of Mad Men, I suspect you'll be disappointed.

There are a couple of dramas that have my interest. NBC has finally realized that people miss having a serious show to tune into on Thursdays after the comedy block (see also: two decades plus of success with Hill Street Blues, LA Law, ER), and they are attempting to resolve the situation with an American take on Prime Suspect. It seems like a foolish, even terrible idea, but the production team includes the guy behind Friday Night Lights, as well as one of the writer/producers of the original British series, and they've cast Maria Bello in the lead role, who seems spot-on as the right choice.

For something in the vein of a crime procedural but a bit less traditional, CBS has yet another offering with J.J. Abrams's involvement (he's also producing a show on Fox that will be arriving at some point midseason) called Person of Interest. It's about a billionaire (played by Lost's Michael Emerson) who has (presumably illegal) access to information about people who are about to commit crimes, and he employs a former Special Forces operative (Jim Caviezel) to stop them. A bit over the top, perhaps, but also sort of a nostalgic nod to The Equalizer. On board as a producer is Jonathan Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplays for The Prestige and The Dark Knight.

The CW? Still nothing to see here, at least for grown-ups. I did watch the first few episodes of Nikita last fall, and while I think it's an entertaining "popcorn" show, the story demanded regular weekly viewing, and I just felt like I was already involved in too many other shows, but I'm glad it got renewed. Likewise, it's nice to see Sarah Michelle Gellar coming back to TV, but the plot of her new series Ringer seems too contrived and convoluted to draw me in as a regular viewer.

Overheard: Misplaced Priorities Edition

Saturday afternoon around 4 pm, "Filene's Basement" on Boylston Street, fiftyish couple apparently heading to that night's Red Sox game:

Wife: "Did you bring the iPad?"
Husband: "Why would I bring that to a baseball game?"
Wife: "I have stuff to do."

This Week in Awesome (5/21/11)

Less than an hour left before midnight, but I suppose it's still possible the world could end, which is why I had to make sure I got these posted...

A couple of these are even style-related: first, a guide to tying necktie knots. There are a lot more of them than I realized. (The GQ Eye)

Next, take a trip back through the pages of a (pre-Gap) Banana Republic catalog, when the safari aesthetic was still dominant. (Maximinimus via Put This On)

The Office season finale largely didn't work for me, but this cast photo in the likeness of a famous painting is pretty cool. (NBC via OfficeTally)

If you send this company a favorite photo (and give them some money) they will send it back to you in the form of an enlarged, paint-by-number project. Might make a nice gift for the right person. (New York Times)

And finally this week, the always-reliable Everything Is Terrible entertains us with some classic(ally bad) commercials: part 1; part 2.

Weekend Reading Assignment: About TV

New York Magazine does its annual television issue to coincide with the annual network dog-and-pony show known as upfront week. I'll have more to say about the networks' upcoming contenders in a bit (due to time constraints, I can't do it right this minute), but in the meantime if you are a fan of 30 Rock, Community, Breaking Bad, Grey's Anatomy, Parks and Recreation, The Good Wife, How I Met Your Mother, Justified, Cougar Town, or Sons of Anarchy, I recommend you have a look at these unabridged conversations with the shows' respective showrunners. A peek behind the scenes is always enlightening, and these conversations are far more in-depth than just a peek.

Also, the article about how AMC, the channel that gave us Mad Men and Breaking Bad, is handling its success, is really interesting.

Top Shelf III

I'd be remiss if I didn't remind you about the third semi-annual Top Shelf Flea Market happening this Sunday, May 22. Usual place, usual time, usual coordination and planning by the charming and personable Giuseppe of An Affordable Wardrobe.

And it's not just guy stuff; hit that link for info on all the vendors scheduled to be there, plus the address and other relevant into. And if you aren't from the area, or you are otherwise unable to attend, Giuseppe started up a web store a while back, which he stocks with fresh vintage merchandise pretty much weekly.

Data Blocker

So, yeah, deadline week again, but this time with a twist: first, when I got to work this morning, I got a pop-up reminder for an all-staff meeting that I'd completely forgotten about. We only have these a couple of times a year, so it's not like I can avoid going. It ate up over an hour of time I should have been spending on other stuff, but I managed to recover.

Then at 5:15, after spending the balance of the day in overdrive, I went to the browser interface we use for our database to start uploading newsletter articles. I'd used it for something else about half an hour previously, so the tab was still open. I clicked the "add new content" link and got "Service temporarily unavailable" in my browser window. I hadn't seen that before, ever.

I considered the situation: the databases talk to each other overnight, so the articles had to be in place by the end of today in order for them to be available on our web site tomorrow. The coworker who deals with issues like this, on the rare occasions when they arise, left on vacation yesterday. The support people for that particular piece of kit are in Malaysia, and I might have had their email address, from being CC'd on something two years ago, buried in my filed messages somewhere.

I decided to go home. I knew I could access the database from home, and fortunately whatever was going on had resolved itself by the time I looked at it. I'd copied my files onto a USB drive so I could just upload them from here. So everything's fine now. Let's hope it's still fine when I get to work tomorrow.

My New Favorite Shoes

Since winter loosened its grip and I was able to stop wearing boots every day, I've spent the past couple of months wearing and reevaluating many of my shoes. I have some that I kind of like, or that are at least useful when dressing a certain way, but they aren't very comfortable. I have shoes that are pretty comfortable that I don't otherwise like all that much. Many of these will be culled and either sold or donated.

In the meantime I've been trying to restock the shoe larder, so to speak, with shoes that are practical, good-looking, comfortable, and well-made. This is not easy, particularly with my problematic feet. But I did get a new pair of shoes a couple of weeks ago that are filling all these criteria.

One style of shoe I've been looking for is a tan lace-up that I could wear in warmer weather with light-colored pants. I considered light tan suede bucks, but I already have a pair of bucks in a darker khaki and I decided that I wanted something in leather, not suede. I didn't set out specifically to buy another pair of shoes that's made in the USA, but it's pretty much always in my mind at this point.

I ran across a shoe I liked from a company I'd never heard of, Neil M. In fact, it was a couple of months ago, when I bought those Chelsea boots from Brooks Brothers that I ended up returning, that I first became aware of the company. I was briefly considering getting another pair of similarly styled boots from a different maker, saw the Neil M version of a Chelsea boot while browsing Endless, and noticed that it was made in USA.

Besides Alden and Allen Edmonds, who else is still making shoes in the USA? You have the heritage boot brands: Red Wing, Wolverine, Chippewa, and let's toss Frye in with that group (as I suggested recently). Dexter's still around (along with other brands like Walk-Over that belong to the same parent company), and New Balance is still making some sneakers up in Maine (you can get one style from J. Crew, or custom-order some direct from NB in your preferred color combination and receive them in just a week or two). There are companies like Bates that make uniform shoes. Not much else, though.

Neil M is based in Arkansas and seems to have a connection to the women's brand Munro. Not all of their shoes are made in the USA, and not all their styles are ones I'd consider attractive. but that could be said of almost any shoe brand. I went back to Endless one day to look at some of their other styles, and found the "Wynne" lace-up that's available in four colors: black, oxblood, cognac, and "honey." The honey was just what I'd been looking for. I put them into my "save for later" basket, thinking I'd wait for a discount offer from Endless.

Then, just a day or so later, I happened to be browsing the "Tent Sale" section on the Orvis site. I saw a shoe that looked exactly like the Wynne, in the honey color. Tent Sale stuff gets marked down more every few days, and if you're lucky, when an item hits its deepest discount they'll still have your size. The day the shoes got their final discount, the size 11 had already sold out, but they still had 10.5, so I decided to order them. I was also concerned about width, but this style is pretty roomy, plus the toe box is fairly high, which goes a long way toward making shoes more hospitable for my feet. I ended up with a pair of $200 American-made shoes for $102 including shipping.

Neil M uses bison leather for this style, which I've heard is less costly than calfskin. It has a somewhat more pronounced grain than cow leather, but it's also very soft and supple. The shoes come with removable insoles that have leather top surfaces, and they have full welt construction so they can be resoled if necessary. They also came with cloth storage bags.

I've worn these shoes to work twice since I got them, plus on Mother's Day. I've done an average day's standing and walking, maybe a bit more than average one of those days, and I can honestly say these are probably the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn. I'm seriously considering getting them in another color. And even if I'd paid $200 for them, I'd be satisfied.

This Week in Awesome (5/14/11)

First order of business: the CD release show for our friends The Rationales is TONIGHT at the Lizard Lounge! Tix still available at the door (sez Dave Rationale), and here's a nice review of their album from the Boston Globe.

Here are the nominees for the best airborne police chase videos of last year. Who knew? And who does the nominating? A manufacturer of surveillance cameras, duh. (Jalopnik)

A DIY yard fountain made from kiddie pools. We like. (EPICponyz via The Hairpin)

Did you hear that In & Out Burger opened its first Texas location this week? The line for the drive-through stretched for half a mile at times. If you've had it yourself, you probably understand. (Consumerist) By the way, I happen to know a reader of this blog who lives only a few miles from this I&O, so I'll be expecting a report after it's been open a while and things calm down.

And finally, your weekend reading assignment: a very honest and thoughtful discussion between two writers on the difficulty of keeping up with new music as we get older. (The A.V. Club)

Back Catalog: Sounds from the SAR Hi-Fi

Welcome to what I hope will become a semi-regular, recurring feature here in my corner of blogville. Music has always played an important role in my life, from my earliest exposure to Motown artists on mom and dad's stereo.

I've been buying my own music—first 45s, then LPs, then CDs—for almost 40 years. I still have a couple hundred LPs in the basement that I didn't immediately replace with CDs when that format took over in the 1980s. Sometimes I come across reissues of albums that were never on CD at all when they were first released, or were but I didn't buy them because I already had the LP.

Recently I was listening to one of these reissues and started hunting around for CD versions of the other albums released by the same band, which gave me the idea for this feature, as well as which band to discuss first. (Note that I'm not attempting to do in-depth histories of bands here, but hopefully this feature will serve to provide introductions to music you may not be familiar with.)

R.E.M. is certainly the best-known and most successful band to emerge from the Athens, GA scene in the 1980s. The B-52's did pretty well too. But what about Guadalcanal Diary? It's the name of a 1943 movie about a World War II battle, and the band took its name from the movie—actually they were from Marietta, but they got lumped in with the others from the Athens scene.

Their jangle-pop certainly resembled what R.E.M. was doing at the time (which may have ended up hurting Guadalcanal Diary more than it might have helped), but with a more prominent Southern Gothic flavor, steeped in literature and history. The very first track on their first album references the Civil War; other songs mention preachers and heaven, and the album concludes with a version of the traditional spiritual "Kumbayah." But alongside their more serious material, GD display a rather offbeat sense of humor on songs like "Watusi Rodeo" and "Cattle Prod."

Guadalcanal Diary released four albums between 1984 and 1989: Walking in the Shadow of the Big Man, Jamboree, 2 x 4, and Flip-Flop. The first three have been reissued in very limited numbers (2500 copies each) by Rhino Handmade, but the first album is the only one currently still available from Rhino on CD, and the one I bought about two years ago; the other two albums can be purchased as MP3s from Rhino.

Used CD copies of the original 1980s releases are floating around; I just picked up 2 x 4 for around $6 on eBay. Given their limited quantities, used copies of the Rhino releases are scarce and expensive; the lowest price at the moment for a copy of WITSOTBM on half.com is $15; the other two discs are currently not available anywhere that I'm aware of. Jamboree seems to be the most difficult to find; I've decided to buy the digital version and keep looking for a copy on CD. (There's also a version out with the first two albums on one CD.)

From looking at the Wikipedia entry for the band I found their web site, and learned that they will be playing a couple of anniversary shows this summer in Athens and Atlanta. Right now the site isn't much more than a placeholder, but hopefully there will be more there in the future.

(with apologies to Thievery Corporation for my blatant appropriation of their album title Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi)

The Over/Under

This is too good to save for the weekend TWiA. It probably won't come as a surprise to you that I'm an Over.

(Infographic courtesy of EngineeringDegree, via CNET's Crave blog, via The Hairpin.)

Note: graphic and link removed at request of EngineeringDegree.

Musical Interlude

Arcade Fire headlined the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival last weekend, and Cyndi Lauper joined them for an encore of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." Those of us who were around when the song first hit the charts may appreciate this a bit more than the youngsters.

(FYI: This is a fan video, so the audio is thin and the video is a bit shaky.)

Gut-Buster

Just received word (via UrbanDaddy Boston) that you can now special-order a three-foot burrito stuffed with every variety of meat offered at Anna's Taqueria. I'd say this is both awesome and horrifying, and if you go and read the full description you'll see what I mean.

Bargain Alert: Frye Boots

I think Frye tends to occupy a space below the style radar for many people, and that's unfortunate because they have been around for nearly 150 years and are known for producing some truly iconic styles of American footwear, like harness boots, engineer boots, and what's come to be known as the campus boot. (Depending on your age, you can ask your parents or grandparents what sort of shoes/boots they wore when they were young; chances are, someone wore one of those.)

I have to wonder why Frye hasn't exploited its heritage to inject itself into the minds of fashion editors, especially given the popularity of other boot brands with similar history such as Red Wing, Wolverine, and Chippewa. Also curiously, Frye makes more high-fashion versions of some of its classic styles that unfortunately do not necessarily improve upon the originals.

Anyway, I wasn't intending to critique the brand, but rather to alert you to a very good deal on a particular Frye style that I'm interested in myself. It might be a bit out of season, but that's often when the best deals are to be found. The boot is called the Arkansas, and it normally retails for $200. For an American-made boot, that's an excellent price, but how'd you like to save 40% off that?

Endless is currently offering the Arkansas for $119.99 in three colorways. (Unfortunately they no longer have the black that I'm after.) I did try these on in a size 11; they were too big for me, but very comfortable. They only come in D width, but it's a pretty generous fit, as tends to be the case with boots. Size availability on these varies by color.

Caveat emptor, though: it looks to me like the boots have some of that "burnishing" on the toes that's been popular lately, so I suggest taking a good close look at the photos, and maybe calling customer service if you need to. Of course, maybe you're fine with how they look; if not, it wouldn't be as obvious on the dark brown boots. Endless offers free two-day shipping and, if they don't work out, free returns.

Piperlime has the boots for the same price, though only in what they call "tan" but which looks to be the dark brown. Again, free shipping and free returns, and fewer sizes available, though ordering from Piperlime might be a good bet for you if you were already planning to order something from Gap or Banana, since including shoes in an order gets you free shipping for the entire order.

If you can't find the size or color you're looking for at the bargain price, you can still order them direct from Frye at full price. I have no idea how they ship or what it costs. I thought I might try locating these in a local store, but oddly, Frye doesn't offer this information on their site.

(If anyone comes across the Arkansas boots in black size 10.5 in the $120 range, I'd greatly appreciate a heads-up. And if you have these boots and want to sell them, please get in touch.)

This Week in Awesome (5/7/11)

Happy Mother's Day! I got all of you some internet. You can thank me later...

This truck driver may need some remedial driving lessons. (YouTube via Autoblog)

I hope to some day have enough free time to come up with a diversion as esoteric as a Tumblr chronicle of the watches worn by Fox Mulder on The X-Files. (Kempt)

Corporate logos, reimagined to more honestly depict their companies. (Behance via Consumerist)

GQ did some investigating and found some questions regarding the birth certificate of a certain real-estate developer with tragic hair and presidential aspirations.

And finally this week, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler stopped by Late Night to give Jimmy Fallon a hand with a Jersey Shore spoof. (Hulu via Popeater)

Last-Minute Substitution

Well, I had something else planned for today that didn't quite work out (I'll get to it soon), so I'm just going to do what I should have done this morning, and point to this article from the Boston Globe about a group of New England lawmakers trying to get the military to agree to supply personnel with American-made athletic shoes.

Dinner Plans

Things are going to be a bit minimalist for Mother's Day. My brother has to work and my sister is going to be away on a vacation she planned before realizing Mother's Day fell on the 8th and not the 15th, so it's just going to be the Mrs. and me taking her out.

My mother typically puts a fair amount of thought into where wants to go, and we've had some very nice dinners in years past. This year she ultimately decided she wants to go to the Outback Steakhouse. I haven't been to one of those in probably 15 years or so, coincidentally while visiting my parents when they used to go to Fort Lauderdale for the winter.

I'm not going to complain or give her a hard time about it—it is her day, after all—but I'm not much of a steak eater. I seem to recall that they also had a decent selection of seafood, and was going to look over the menu, but their site doesn't want to show it to me. Why is the online menu thing so complicated? Either make it a PDF, or pay a college kid to figure out how to render it in HTML.

Friends and Family Discounts

If the selection on the flash-sale sites isn't doing it for you (I bought a shirt from Gilt a couple of weeks ago, the first item I've bought from them and kept) or your tastes just tend toward the more traditional, there are a couple of sales happening that may be of interest to you.

Brooks Brothers is having its semi-annual (I believe) friends and family sale now through Monday, offering 25% off everything except cordovan shoes. The online code is 06FRIENDS (there may be more than one code), though I actually received an invitation of sorts in the mail from the manager of the Newbury Street store. I'm not sure exactly why, as I'm not a big BB customer, but I did recently buy those boots from their site (which I returned) and created an account in the process, so they do have my personal info, and I have been getting several emails a week from them. Not sure if I'm going to buy anything, but I'll definitely stop by for a look around.

There's also a Ralph Lauren sale happening during the same dates. There has been a "pre-sale" going on this week with some serious discounts, but RL stuff is seriously expensive to start, so the savings are relative. Still, if you're looking for certain things, you could do a lot worse than picking up some Ralph on sale. In contrast to BB, I have been receiving emails from RL for years, yet I didn't know about this sale until I saw it mentioned over at Put This On, with info about contacting customer service to get a code for an additional 15% off. This may or may not be worth your time, but again, if you're looking for something specific, you could be looking at significant savings.

Update, 5/5: The email from Ralph with the code for the extra discount arrived around 7:30 this morning.

Eat Your Vegetables

We try to do our part to support local businesses in our area, and one place we've been going more frequently is a little produce store called Roberto's on Mystic Avenue, just north of the intersection with Mystic Valley Parkway. The goods are packed in pretty tightly, but the quality is consistently good and the prices are the same as or lower than the nearby supermarkets.

High School Fashion Flashback

I went to high school from 1977 to 1981 at a single-sex parochial school with a dress code. Until that point I'd gone to public schools, so I'd never had to wear school uniforms as such, but unlike many of the other students, I didn't see wearing a jacket and tie as a burden or a punishment.

Button-front shirts were required. Collars were supposed to be buttoned and ties knotted and pulled up into place, but the faculty didn't bother enforcing that one unless a guy left his knot too loose, so we all went about our days with our collars casually unbuttoned and our ties slightly loosened.

Jeans were not allowed, but corduroy pants were, so I recall my school wardrobe was filled with Levi's five-pocket corduroys, which were technically not jeans because they were not denim. To this day I still favor this style of pants, and have about half a dozen pairs at the moment. (No Levi's, though; I don't think they make any in a cut I could wear now.)

We also could not wear sneakers. But we did not have to wear dress shoes, and in fact we were instructed not to wear leather-soled shoes, which I believe had something to do with how often the floors would have had to be polished if several hundred teenage boys were walking around every day in dress shoes, leaving scuff marks on the linoleum. (It probably influenced my general lack of favor toward leather-soled shoes, though that has been changing of late.) So most guys wore crepe-soled shoes like desert boots, or those other Clarks shoes called "wallabees." I honestly can't remember what sort of shoes I wore back then, though I'm pretty sure it wasn't either of the above. Boat shoes, certainly, though those didn't become popular until I'd been in high school for a couple of years.

My classmates filled the spectrum from one kid who proudly carried his books and other belongings in a big brown leather satchel (that, if I remember correctly, had belonged to his grandfather) to guys who had one sport jacket (typically, either tan corduroy or a navy blazer) and one tie (typically, a navy blue or black knit "sock tie" or a hideous striped thing swiped from dad's closet) which they would keep in their lockers and don each day, regardless of whatever else they were wearing, in order to meet the letter of the dress code, if not the spirit. It ended up that a lot of kids were walking around in plaid Western-style shirts with snaps (very popular at the time), with the added ties and jackets looking quite incongruous.

From after April vacation until the end of the school year, the dress code rules were relaxed somewhat. The jackets and ties went into storage until September, and now any shirt with a collar was acceptable, which meant polo shirts on warmer days. The first big moment of popularity for Lacoste and Polo polos was during this period, so there were plenty of those, along with the tigers, knights, and whatever other knockoffs were around at the time. I had a few "alligator shirts" because there was a store that sold them at a steep discount, and I could still fit into a boys' size 20, which made them even cheaper to buy.

We all looked forward to senior year, when, due to space constraints, seniors attended classes at a separate campus a mile or so away from the main school, on a gorgeous piece of waterfront property that belonged to the diocese and housed its seminary. (Later the school expanded the buildings at its main campus and seniors were brought back with the underclassmen, so I consider myself lucky that I got to enjoy that perk.) Also, for some reason that was never clear to any of us, we were allowed to wear sneakers.

Royal blue nylon and suede running shoes with white trim were quite popular at the time, as were Nikes, either the white canvas or leather basketball-style sneakers, or the Cortez, which was more of a lifestyle shoe even back then (and looks remarkably unchanged after all this time). A few of the preppier kids wore Tretorns, but no one had heard of Reebok or New Balance, and I can't remember a single kid wearing adidas or Puma—I wouldn't become aware those existed until I got to college. (Actually, thinking back on it, there may have been one guy who wore Stan Smiths in the traditional white with green trim.)

I had discovered that some of my father's clothes now fit me, and took to wearing a charcoal gray worsted wool jacket that had come from his 1960 honeymoon suit (the pants never fit, as his legs were shorter than mine) and some skinny ties I'd found in the basement. Blondie's Parallel Lines had come out a year or so before, and I'd been influenced not only by the music but by the style of the band's male members on the cover.

I didn't start wearing a black suit, but I had the dark jacket, a skinny black tie with white dots, a white or pink button-down collar shirt, the cord jeans, and white sneakers. There were a few other guys in my class who were into similar music, stuff that definitely wasn't anywhere near mainstream at this time, and they were sporting similar looks around campus that year. Later on, in college, I'd develop this style further and refine it into my mid-80s everyday look.

This Week in Awesome (4/30/11)

Hope you're enjoying the weekend, and that these might make it a bit more enjoyable:

The ongoing quest for vintage city pictures yielded this batch from the archives of the Boston traffic and parking department. (Flickr via Universal Hub)

A Star Wars twofer: first, imaginary vintage-retro-future desktop screenshots (Cult of Mac), then a very clever melding of Star Wars footage and French existentialist writings. (The Awl)

Have you ever seen an ad for an obviously awful movie and wondered who might have written it? Wonder no more. (Onion News Network)

And finally this week, those of you old enough to remember the genius of Spy magazine will rejoice at the information that a significant portion of its output has been digitized into Google Books. For those of you who are unfamiliar: school is in session. The timing of this is fortuitous, since Spy was always merciless to a certain "short-fingered vulgarian" with questionable hair. (Splitsider)