bring it on home

i'm kind of obsessed with this album right now. sam cooke, live at the harlem square club. recorded on january 12, 1963 in miami. reaaaalllyyy liking this track a lot: it's alright/for sentimental reasons medley. click, listen, love, repeat.

fantasies

even though it just came out, metric's new album fantasies could definitely be my favorite release of 2009. i've been listening to it pretty much on repeat since i got it & i have yet to tire of it. i meant to do a post about the album the day it came out but i'm glad i waited until now. 

i was watching a video of an acoustic version of glass ceiling, a song off of their 2005 album live it out that a friend sent me when i looked over at the related videos section. after some clicking, i stumbled upon a documentary entitled "the rawside of metric". filmed as they were finishing the album, "the rawside of..." elaborates on the grueling year & a half plus that went into fantasies. i didn't think i could love the album any more than i already do but watching this made me appreciate it even more. if you don't have the album, get it now. seriously. and watch the videos.

burn rubber x g-shock

burn rubber, one of michigan's premier shoe & clothing boutiques/p.bob's favorite place to get fly, is set to release their very own custom g-shock on april 18th. cliff told me about the collaboration a while ago & i've been anxious to see the final product ever since. after some mild computer difficulty earlier in the day, i finally got a chance to check my email & saw these gems in the inbox:

to be 100% honest, i've never been the biggest fan of g-shocks...until i saw this. adding burn rubber to the mix is a guaranteed way to make anything better. the black on black absolutely killllllls it & the subtle detailing makes this g-shock a must-have. the release is going to be super-limited so don't sleep, $175 a pop. april 18th, exclusively at burn rubber. for more information, click here or call the shop at (248) 543-3000.

house of howe fall 09

once upon a time, when jens & i were just wide-eyed young bucks, ce-life used to chauffeur the two of us to our every destination (thanks ce). one of our favorite places to go was twc surf & sport, one of michigan's top skate/wake/snow/kite board shops. it was here that i first came across the clothing label howe. based out of los angeles, their attention to detail & unique designs set them apart from every other tired t-shirt company. needless to say, p.bob was hooked. in fact, i still have a few of the shirts & wear a few of them quite often (that growth spurt is coming any day now). with that said, after looking at pictures of the fall 09 line, it might be time to add some new pieces to my personal howe collection. 

since their inception, inspiration for the brand has shifted from that of a modernized western look to what they now call the "indie executive" look, designed for a "hard working, hard playing, creative career minded guy whose lifestyle is shifting from his desk to backstage in minutes."......yeahhhh, ease up on the description there, guys. although i prefer when labels let the clothes speak for themselves, i'll look the other way on this one. here's a few pictures i snagged from selectism:

i'll pick you up & take you where you want

miss me? aside from plain laziness, i don't really have an excuse for not posting anything. it's not exactly like i've been the busiest person on the planet...i finally have some free time, unlike the past few months. in a few short weeks, absolutely everything & nothing has happened. typical everyday college student things (read: exams, procrastinating, classes, actually going to classes, march madness, realizing the semester is coming to a close, etc).

with that realization comes the inevitable "what am i doing in x days/months/years" question that i loathe so much. my answer? i don't know. the only thing i am sure of is my uncertainty. spring forces me to somewhat confront this problem with the immediacy of change that comes in the form of looking for a summer job, selecting next year's classes, moving my ever-expanding collection of unnecessary objects from point a to point b to (maybe even) point c, etc. 

but that's enough ruminating, it's time to up the april posts quota. 

standing in the way of control

"Anything that draws attention to ourselves through pain-free or artificial means is a manifestation of resistance" -- Steven Pressfield

Twitter. The most vapid, self-absorbed form of social media in existence. As BPB said, it's the endless swirl of the social media toilet. Does anyone really even give a shit about whatever it is you have to say? Yes, everyone has a voice and America the great and beautiful, land of the free encourages everyone to let theirs be heard. But here's the real question: does everyone else need to hear your thoughts? A voice does not necessarily entitle you to an opinion.

Twitter provides everyone who signs up with the opportunity to become the star of their own show. It's a personal news feed -- all you, all the time. Could anything be more self-righteous? (maybe a blog...oh...wait) Constant ego stimulation. Me me me me me me.

The personal spotlight that Twitter affords individuals can be intoxicating at times. "Look at how many followers I have! They all want to know what I'm doing & thinking & saying at all times! Look at all of my @replies!"

No. No one gives a shit. It's a digital facade, technological tricks, smoke & mirrors.

In my personal use, I've come to view Twitter as nothing more than a leech on the leg of creativity, slowly & quietly draining away one's lifeblood. You wade through the murky, knee-deep water of those you follow, sifting for various tidbits that will only hold your interest for a mere moment. You never even feel the leech take grip of you. It feeds off of your one-liners, ideas & thoughts, draining the blood out of them. Before you know it, they are reduced to colorless, lifeless shells of what used to be productivity & inspiration. The "ah-ha!" moment reduced to a pipedream.

For me, the time has come to emerge from the swamp. I am all too conscious of the leech sucking everything out of me. And I intend to throw salt on the bloodthirsty bastard.

For the time being, I'm done with Twitter. More than anything, it has been the writer's equivalent of crack for me: instantly gratifying, incredibly short-lasting (140 characters or less isn't exactly what I'm looking for at this point in my writing) and an altogether terrible habit. Let's just hope that it's not as hard to quit.

So that's that. It's not you, it's me. Hopefully, I'll see you on the productive side of the street.

Edit: I'm back on Twitter. It is harder to quit than crack.

carine roitfeld

okay i lied...looks like i do have time to post after all. just saw a mini-documentary on carine roitfeld, the vogue paris editor in chief. cnn followed her around during the paris & new york fashion weeks as a part of their 'revealed' series. it's an interesting piece on an amazing woman...definitely worth a look.