Something that needs to stop.....

I just wanted to ramble on about what I see as a tragic situation that has developed in men's fashion. I've done a lot of shopping lately and many things genuinely trouble me. Foremost amongst these though, is the "shiny" dress shirt and the fact that it's increasingly pervasive. This is the case even amongst designers that should know better. I'm talking to you Calvin Klein.

Now, if you don't know what I'm talking about let me tell you. I'm specifically talking about monochromatic shirts that have something of a gloss about them. As far as I can tell, these came to prominence due to Regis Philbin. He even developed his own line of these shiny shirts and ties.
Now, I have nothing against Regis Philbin - Morning Show Host. The Regis I have a problem with is Regis Philbin - Frickin' Fashion Icon. How the hell did this happen? Is our dearth of fashion heroes so out of control in this country that we look to Regis for guidance? If so, that's just sad. Step up Brad Pitt. Step up anyone. I beg you.

I spent plenty of a Sunday looking for a respectable maroon dress shirt. I couldn't find a single shirt in this color that wasn't shiny. I just couldn't. This is sad on so many levels. Here are couple of them -

1) Does no one make quality monochromatic dress shirts in colors like maroon anymore? Maroon is a tremendous color. At a minimum, it pairs fantastically with gray. This is not up for debate. We're good with the white, black, blue, and a few others but there are serious gaps here in the dress shirt realm these days. Maybe we should lay off the chunky stripes and get some of the basics correct.

2) By having no viable options in this color available in respectable fabrics, the message to men is "sure it's okay to wear maroon, but make sure that maroon is SHINY." Who the hell wants shiny maroon? Maroon is much more "preppy east coast polo fan" than "sleazy club guy with a hideous gold chain." Really, that's the only guy that I could reasonably recommend the shiny maroon shirt to. You think Harvard is changing their school colors from crimson to this shiny maroon crap? Hell no. Why? Intelligent people over there at Harvard, that's why.

3) I came to the conclusion that Regis had actually influenced fashion in my nation and possibly worldwide. This wasn't just what men were wearing, but many respectable fashion lines adopted this sort of styling. All of this is hard to swallow. This might be due to demand, but standards need to be set. Demand is no excuse. I have to even question demand. No person whose fashion sense I respect rocks these shirts. Plain and simple.

What's the bottom line here? This needs to stop. How do I make it stop? I don't know. I just want it to. Thanks for listening.

Sidekicks and Stuff

It's 11:45pm on the night after my mother's 48th birthday. Happy Birthday one more time mom. I didn't get the call into her today. I left a voicemail yesterday though. We did celebrate last weekend with a little fondue dinner so I'm in the clear anyway.

Suddenly, I can't sleep. Not 2 hours ago, I was nodding off on my couch watching my Grey's Anatomy on my DVR. This is why I'm an insomniac at times. My body just decides that I need to be awake, and there is nothing I can do about it. Anyway, I'm not sure I like Grey's as much as I once did. I'm fearful that the show might be getting to that point where they just throw a lot of trauma into the plot just to mix things up when it isn't necessary or maybe even reasonable. I think they may try to make each episode a little too action-packed for my taste. I'm of the opinion that they could slow their roll just a little bit. Hopefully, that is what happens going forward. I guess we'll see.

There is a new addition to my technology line up. I just got a Sidekick. So far I'm pretty stoked about it. The website over at t-mobile isn't exactly blowing my hair back though. There have been a few issues here and there with getting me rolling. That said, I really dig the thing. I'm already wondering what I did without it. How was I not chatting on aol instant messenger on the bus if I felt like it? The phone reception is great in my apartment too, which is lovely.

I had a really good time cancelling at Sprint. The retention specialist told me that my poor reception at home was probably due to my phone needing a software upgrade. Then she tried to get me to stay with Sprint. I literally laughed out loud. So basically, what she was telling me was that I should/could have much better reception if I got this free software upgrade. However, they never told me about this in the 2+ years that I had my phone until I called to cancel. Wouldn't this be some info that I might be interested in as a user of my phone? Maybe you want to tell me about it? I guess not. This is supposed to convince me to stay? Shockingly, I'm not feeling it. I've only put up with this crap for 6 years with Sprint. I'm out of there. I'm Casper and happy about it. My old phone looks like a make a habit of dropping down a flight of stairs 30 times/day or so. I think it's relieved to be retired also. If you want the new number and I haven't given it to you, shoot me an email. As usual, if I like you, I'll probably hook you up. If not, well you know....

What else is going on? Lots of cool stuff. I haven't blogged about any of it, of course. I'm just a little busy lately and when I'm not busy, I just don't feel like blogging. Let me come up with a few tips though -

1. Don't get carried away with this Bears team. It's early and we haven't played anyone.

2. Looking for a good book? Chuck Klosterman IV is out. It's tremendous. It's probably his 2nd best behind Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. Chuck's the greatest writer out there. It's just the truth.

3. I'm hooked on this Lily Allen CD Alright, Still. Female, British singer with a witty lyrical take on everyday situations. That's a recipe for success in my book.

4. Ricky Gervais has these videos on google video of him in his Office character visiting Microsoft. Search for those if you haven't seen them.

5. Are you a dude that uses gel or some similar hair product? You should really check out Sumotech from Bumble & Bumble. It's great.

6. James Perse is a brilliant genius. His t-shirts are totally worth the cost. The rest of his stuff is generally stellar also. It's worth a mention.

That's all for now. I'm going to try to get a little nap going now. Ciao.

Want to Live Like a Hobbit?

Move to this spot in Oregon. No need to send any crazy to the Northwest, apparently they are all stocked up over there.

Yung Joc

I really like the song It's Goin' Down. I just can't figure out what exactly "it" is that's going down.

Paris and Her DUI

I know, I know. Paris got a DUI today. I found out a little late but then the floodgates opened with people telling me about it or asking me what I thought. I'm not president of the Paris Hilton Fan Club or anything but what I read/saw today really helps illustrate some of my points when it comes to this woman.

There was a lot of satisfaction out there amongst a large group of people today. These are the people who inexplicably want to see Paris go down and maybe even go down big. They derive personal satisfaction from her downfall. I think this is mostly due not to any vendetta against Paris herself, as how many people really actually know her? It is more a problem with the idea of what Paris represents. People just don't like the idea of a jet-setting heiress with what they view as a below average IQ succeeding, living a crazy lifestyle, and getting more and more rich. This concept seems to be something that is "winning" in our society these days as her fame grows and many people aren't content to chuckle at this development. They feel the need to actively root against this. Isn't this somewhat irrational? Why would it be a good thing that Paris was over the legal limit? Why is her falling on hard times satisfying to so many? I just don't really see the justice in that. If you are one of these people, I ain't mad at cha. Maybe just take a second to think about where this comes from. If you are female, my guess is it comes from the same place that makes you hate Jennifer Love Hewitt (if you do, and my money is on you do).

I wanted to take one second to apologize to Ken for sending my Paris Hilton CD home with his wife. I in no way intended to inflict suffering on you with that. I know you are the kind of guy that would give it an honest listen, even if you might not choose it on your own. For the part I played in subjecting you to something that you didn't want to be subjected to, I apologize. I still think the song Screwed is pretty badass though.

I will still review the Paris album when I get a chance here. We'll have some fun at her expense there, I promise.

Sweater Vests

As the weather here is trending towards fall, I thought it was a good time to break out the brown sweater vest for the first time today. This always brings commentary around the office, though I've rocked it many times. Some of it is in a mocking tone and some of it is genuinely complimentary. This got me to thinking and on my train ride and on my walk home from the train, I brought my poker table focus to watch reactions to this ensemble. I discovered what I think I knew to be true already, the sweater vest on a man is a polarizing bit of clothing. I think opinions vary greatly from "wow that looks sharp" and you get some lingering eyes to the look of disdain that clearly says "preppy asshole". Either of these come from both genders, to be sure. I'm cool with all of that. This makes me wonder though, is there a female equivalent to the sweater vest? I haven't figured it out yet.

1 Fleeting Second of Fame

As many of you know, I went to Camp Hellmuth a few weeks back. While we were there, The Today Show was shooting a bunch of footage for a spot. This aired Monday morning. I recorded it on my DVR of course, just in case. Well, apparently the segment was on baby boomer fantasy camps. They decided to focus a crazy amount of energy on this rock n' roll fantasy camp with some people with voices that might even make me seem Whitney Houston-esque. I am horrible, by the way.

Despite the silly focus, they showed about 2 seconds of our camp. What footage did they choose? A shot of the whole room and then a second of Chris Milone on the right of Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, seemingly laughing about something. So essentially, I somehow made The Today Show yesterday. I loved it. This was all kinds of awesome.

I'll try to get this into a web format at some point here and get it up on the site. It doesn't seem as though this was an important enough segment to post amongst the other videos from Today.