Still "Breathless" at 50

There is a place where you are completely free to revel in the beauty of Paris and Jean Seberg. A place where the anti-hero is actually cooler than the "guys in the movies" he's trying to imitate. It's a place effortlessly soaked in the rhythms and nuances of a time and place, with the unmistakable sights, sounds and sex appeal of vintage Paris still ringing true to present day. More than a place, it's a phenomenon of sorts, riddled with countless cultural references, but still entirely original with each new visit. In this place, coherence and continuity are substituted for effortlessly cool obscurity and incoherence. Car chases. Cigarettes. Women. Crime. Existential questions. The Champs Elysees! It's everything a movie should be, and everything it shouldn't. It's a timeless piece of cinema that, for a magical 90 minutes, makes no sense and yet makes all sense, transcending all relevance and reference to become something that is the pinnacle of what cool was and what cool will forever be...leaving everyone in it's path altogether breathless.

MAKR Two Tone Flap Wallet

I recently had a mildy beer-fueled discussion with a young lady who was arguing for the importance of a man's footwear and what it says about the gentleman on the whole. Now, while I am in full concurrence with her sentiments (along with the vitality of a solid time piece), I must now argue for the importance of the invisibles, a.k.a. the wallet that quietly sits inside the pockets of a modern gentry. It must be understood that even though I do miss my "genuine leather" Lions Club wallet passed on from my grandfather (with branded club logo, mind you), MAKR has created a line of goods perfectly capable of not only replacing such losses, but making you want to pull the damn thing out as much as humanly possible. MAKR's recent Two Tone Flap Wallet collaboration with Acrimony is no different, making for an item that converges both function and style with Horween leather, hand-stitched detailing and a unique colorway strap that will most assuredly only improve with age and wear. The wallet has yet to be "officially" released, but my guess is that once released it'll find a welcome place next to my iPhone on the dining table. That is, until someone finally allows me to put my feet up during dinner.

[via Selectism]

Be-Spoke

Brenton Wood "Give Me Some Kind of Sign"

...because it's just that kind of Friday morning.

Calendar Analog

Call me old fashioned, but I'm still a sucker for the physical Gregorian-calendar that is slowly becoming an item of modern folklore - and the amazing collection pictured here is doing nothing but feeding the flame. While I'm not exactly on the prowl for an alligator-bound Filofax, I will say that having something to physically document appointments and important reminders is something that has almost become nostalgic. Now, while I wouldn't recommend going graffiti on this collection, I will say they are a stylish reminder of a time when checking the date was an act drenched in ultra cool design, process and creativity (and probably the occasional sip of whiskey). While names like Giorgio Tramontini, Carl Lang Verlag and Hiroshi Ohchi mean pretty much nothing to the kid with the iPhone glued to his hand, they are icons that changed the day-to-day, making for interesting conversation, punctuality and impressively timeless wall fixtures.

[images via Grain Edit]

mono.smell

Berlin-based mono.kultur literally blows in a waft of fresh air to the rather stale world of printed magazines. For mono.kultur #23 they've collaborated with Norwegian scientist and artist Sissel Tolass, whom some might call a master of the olfactory. Having spent the greater part of her life dedicated to smells, Tolass has teamed up with mono.kultur to "impregnate" the magazine with 12 unique scents and not a single word or picture. Using a technique called microencapsulation, the scents themselves release upon rubbing the paper, creating a present day scratch-and-sniff that's substitutes hints of meta for the splashes of snozberry. But don't go thinking these are like the scents hidden behind those folds of paper you once tried to stealthfully rub on your necks and wrists in junior high. Instead, the scents are described by the artist as "difficult smells," which has me curious and altogether nervous. Any way you look at it, it's an interesting integration of the senses within the often non-sensical world of print.

Giro de Stone

The traditional keg run took on an entirely different meaning this past weekend when a small crew of us saddled onto our bikes and made the 40-mile round-trip ride to Stone Brewing in Escondido. It's something that few - if anyone - has ever attempted in this land where cars riddle the roads with songs of smog, noise and mind-numbing congestion. We subbed pedals for metals and found strange pleasure in crippling hills, sweeping turns and the more-than-occasional lycra joke. More than anything, the point of the trip was to not only make people rethink their transport (if just for a keg), but also point out some of the overlooked sustainable practices at Stone, such as their reclaimed materials and equipment, solar electrics and reuse of brewing yeasts for biodiesel. Personally, I'd like to see a collaboration between Apolis Activism and Stone, but that's just me hoping the boys at AA actually read this blog. In the meantime, crack a Stone and enjoy the images.

Kitsuné AW 2011-12

Paris-based Kitsune has a unique way of procuring disgusting amounts of style with a simplistic idealism that appears to have what some might call an "everyman approachability with a just-out-of-reach coolness." (I know, only in France, right?) Well, the preppy tastemakers have struck again with a collection of "behind the scene" images of the forthcoming AW 2011-12, which, of course, bleed all kinds of style on everything from the models to the cobblestone streets they inhabit. Shot by Romain Bernardie James, the collection of images is a quick glimpse into Kitsune's signature slim suits, contrast collars and tight-rolled Americana that has me sadly ready for the chill of autumn. And if I'm not mistaken, it appears as if one of the models is actually eating. Again, only in Paris.

See the full collection here.