Oh yes, he may not be Barry White, but this automotive video artist loves his woman (on wheels). This kind of love is special. Germans cannot understand. And hopefully we’ll own a Sixty Special soon for auwselves.
Chicago. Our Kinda Tune.
Hearing the Chicago Transit Authority in its heyday kinda makes us forget that a human switchblade has just slashed his way into the Mayorship. We much prefer this thrashing of guitars. Who is Rahm Emanuel anyway? Man? Or Monster?
“V” is for (Small) Victory
The King’s Speech is a profound film. One watches it with an awareness of the war that awaited the reluctant stammerer-to-be-King. The eventual ability of King George VI to overcome his impediment became a small triumph for history. One forgets that he also hammered speeches on the radio (the highly intrusive social media of the day) during the London Blitz along with Churchill and others. How it must have lifted the spirits of the common people to hear their King over the radio, from London, sharing their privations.
Its enough to make us forget that the King favored the grand appeaser Lord Halifax over Churchill for PM, although by the time of the blitz, George and Winston had formed a very strong bond. It is also bad form for a modern day blog “across the pond” to even have an opinion on this. Particularly when it is simply grand that films are still made about the struggles of history and the small triumphs that can change it.
Tigers, Grizzlies and Chihuahuas
What’s a Dad to do these days? We’re neither tigers nor grizzlies. With my sons towering over me by a few inches in ninth grade, my parenting style is closer to that of a Chihuahua. Lacking the feline ability to bite hard or bear down, I simply bark at my boys till they give in.
It also helps that they really like Taco Bell. (And their Mom, nor Amy Chua for that matter doesn’t.)
Building the Enterprise
What seems lacking in most people these days is resourcefulness. Or perhaps we simply don’t use enough office paraphenalia to justify the expenditure of time. We remain impressed by this effort, however. This particular contraption was constructed by an HTML5 worshipping engineer from the company store at 3M in Maplewood, Minnesota. There is a certain symmetry to this piece, don’t you think?
Cool. Continued.
This post is a follow up to the piece below. As it happens, we have come across an amazing site for outdoor gear. It appears this author has cataloged and written about all of the best gear makers that ever existed (in the United States.)
We are talking about the real Holubar (pictured: legendary down gear), Sierra Designs, Gerry, Filson and more. Time permitting, we might discover that some of these outfits gave birth to high-end brands of today. When you look at the price tags of Marmot and MontBelle however, their origins are likely more prosaic.
It feels like cool venture capitalism.
Which leaves us a little cold.
Old “Cool” for Cold
Recently parts of the Upper Midwest have experienced real winter. Temperatures this weekend are to dip below -20 F in urban territories like Minneapolis and St. Paul. This is the type of climate that separates the winter from the beachwear.
What most yuppies don’t get is that most of the spendy stuff they buy is way overpriced for the amount of protection they receive. When it comes to staying warm, you need three things to truly shove your finger in Mother’ Nature’s face.
a) Full coverage
b) Layers
c) 600+ fill down*
Until someone can prove otherwise, when it comes to extreme cold there is STILL no better way to stay warm that by covering as much of your body as possible with a garment that is insulated with down. Not fiberfill, holofill, or even fur (too pricey|prissy in the wrong style).
This means you need a good, full-length (above the knee) winter parka with fine quality down and some kind of wind layer. A good jacket will be knit in a manner that forms a natural layering barrier (usually if the down is a very dense fill–600-800).
We suggest the Kara Koram jacket or pretty much anything that is designed by Eddie Bauer. Among other items, Eddie Bauer pretty much invented the down jacket and today offers some of the best down in the densest fills around.
While Eddie Bauer lost a few decades under tutelage of a cereal company, and went bankrupt as late as 2009 under some hedge fund, they seem to have their mojo back. And while some think the fabled Kara Koram jacket for 2011 is not as warm as the 2009 model, we think its fantastic to find a reproduction of a classic (we like buttons) that is so faithful to its roots.
Best of all, Eddie Bauer’s outerwear is on sale right now at a steep discount on Amazon and other places. It is a better deal than than Marmot and Mountain Hardware, and it’s almost “in” enough to be out of the outlet malls.
* If you want to show your dough while looking “in the know” then go for a Canada Goose parka. The idle rich in Hollywood and even assorted young McKinsey types have already discovered these Chilliwac contraptions. (And here we thought they might be a Cabela brand.)
Fearing Canada
The composition of this photo is exquisite. The juxtaposition of symbolism, powerful. Or is this merely a Canadian waving the flag? Perhaps we should ask Bing–which fetches this picture when you type in “Islamists.” While I clearly see a patriot in this picture, it is a pity that technology curates such an image for the less informed.
We only hope that a myopic student plotting future global domination will focus his or her megalomania someday on the Middle East instead of Manitoba. Even with all that oil in Alberta.
Or take up photography.
And render Bill Gates motionless with a secret camera.
Our Competition. If We Competed.
In our envy over the Facebook private offering, we’ve engaged in a rather spirited and revealing search of other valuable online sites. For example we recently discovered that the Editor of Esquire in England has recently left to create MR. PORTER which is backed by the highly successful 1) net-a-porter site that sells couture samples (an industry unto itself) at 60-80% off, much like the fabulous 2) gilt group sites.
The trick to these sites is the fact that you have to register first and agree to sign-up for e-mails and newsletters. This, in fact, is the key to the profitability of the biggest sale so far of an online magazine property with Daily Candy a few years back. All of these online magazines (or whatever you call them) have deep investor pockets. Daily Candy, for example, was backed by a group with Bob Pitmann, the founder of MTV and others.
Closely aligned with these types of sites are the current men’s lifestyle sites on the web that include 3) urban daddy, 4) thrillist (for 19-24 somethings) and the fashion sites that support the retail sites like the 5) giltguides (exceptionally well done) and a series of links that can be found on a page entitled 6) por homme that leads to still more sites like this including the excellent 7) inventory.
What this all means is that groovyman.com should find some deep pockets or get a piece of that private offering for Facebook or Groupon. In lieu of this, we suggest that the new congress engage in a campaign entitled TAXTHESACHS. We are currently preparing stickers and necktie pins to be auctioned to the first amenable politician we can find. Naderites are also welcome.
New look for Groovyman
These files are the work of one of the finest working graphic designers online. We will be sending more updates and properly formatting them soon. We are so excited, however, that we are rushing them to the page. Jon Stone is the clever fellow’s name and he also designed the often imitated lock-up that is our logo. Lovely little illustration work as well. More to come in the future.
