Distill My Heart

And while we're on the topic of inspiration, can somebody in Brooklyn give a high five to the crew at Made by Hand? Their beautifully crafted inaugural film highlights the Breuckelen Distilling Company and founder Brad Estabrooke speaking about the ups and downs of building a gin distillery from scratch. Hard work, dedication, do-dads, widgets, and yes, inspiring as fuck! Gentlemen, I tip my negroni to you...and also hope you send me a bottle.

We Dug, We Saw, We Conquered

I've spent the last few months in a photo duel with my friend Justine, who is currently stationed in Bali amidst the scooter monkeys and bounties of Bintang (yes, I'm jealous). We've rallied stroke after stroke, firing off images of both inspiration and dreamy nostalgia, uniting the realities of familiar faces with the fantasies of flaming astronauts and electrifying adolescence. I recently scanned the entire collection and I was blown away with what we'd dug up. So, I present some of my favorites. Take them as you wish. Share them. Hoard them. Throw them on your inspiration board. Then ask yourself the timeless question: "What would Magnum P.I. do?"

Monday Musique: Buddy Holly

Buddy Holly would've turned 75 over the weekend and I feel it more than appropriate to pay homage to the man who brought his own black-rimmed punk and ballroom blitz to rebels the world over. Rave on, kids...rave on.

Whiskey and Ola

If I had to choose my dreams in 35mm, I would most certainly give Ola Rindal the reigns of my brain. Brooding, ominous and full of strange wonder. I could be way off here, but don't these images look like Hitchock stills that never made it off the cutting room floor?

[Ola Rindal via 01Magazine]

Chefs on Sundays

Most of us in the food world (and some of you out of the food world as well) often wonder what a chef prepares on his or her day of rest. You know, on the day they aren't yelling at young servers and personally attacking their dignity over a diner's petty allergy mix-up. I digress. Anyway, leave to I Love You magazine founder Marcus Gaab to go all Tim Burton on us with a beautiful series of stop-motion shorts that bring together the sights, sounds and inspirations of today's most notable kitchen artists. So far the series has included Max Levy, Mark Hix, Marcus Samuelsson, and my personal favorite meat-heads Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo of Animal. While I must admit to bumming out on the complete waste of wine and oysters in the Mark Hix video, the style and content here definitely deserve a slow clap from the clean-plate club. Cheers to Nowness for these!