From the Federal Army & Navy Surplus store on 1st Ave in Seattle.
Year: 2010 (page 33 of 46)
I wear Indy boots frequently and the pair I’ve owned is a special makeup for Leather Soul that features full leather linings and commando soles – they’ve now seen about two years worth of wear. They’ve traveled to several different continents, saved my feet quite a few times, and have only needed to be repaired once (my heel got caught in a piece of machinery that nearly pulled the entire sole off – thankfully the goodyear welt made it easy to fix). Because I depend on and wear them so much, I decided to order another pair to rotate between them.
In 1995, Sotheby’s hosted an auction for a large collection of antiques and fine art that was used by Ralph Lauren to showcase his clothing lines throughout his stores, showrooms, and advertisements. If you’ve ever visited the Ralph Lauren mansion in NYC, or the store on Michigan Ave in Chicago, you definitely can get a feel for how he sells everything by also selling the perception of a having a certain lifestyle. From the introduction to the book that accompanied the auction:
This remarkable group of antiques and furnishings , which were bought in both the United States and Europe, embrace a diversity of styles and cultures through grand and casual, rugged yet sophisticated. In addition to such high-style furniture as the Louis XV ormolu-mounted tulipwood and kindwood parquetry bureau plat from the mid-18th century signed by Pierre Garneir, the collection also includes a large number of whimsical and traditional decorative pieces, such as the 19th century English carved rocking horse, the pair of 19th century Codestone garden urns, needlework pillows, tea caddies and andirons.
My favorite piece shown in the book is a chair and ottoman set made from tusks and alligator leather, and only because it’s so tacky and politically incorrect by today’s standards.
This post will be mostly safe for work. From an earlier post for reference – I had forgotten I had it until this weekend when I attempted to organize a few stacks of books I had lying around. Not all of the comics in the book are adult themed, and many focus on current events of the time and general life troubles. And after going through it again, I was surprised to learn that Shel Silverstein worked for Playboy quite a bit during his career.
I recently had the opportunity to try out curling for the first time, the sport where teams of players attempt to slide and position 42 pound granite stones in a certain way over ice. Going into it I had some misgivings, but it ended up being a lot of fun and there is quite a bit of strategy and skill involved. Wikipedia has a good overview of how the game is played.
A view of the rinks inside the Granite Curling Club in Seattle, the only dedicated curling club on the entire west coast.
Reading up on it later, it turns out that the game originated in medieval Scotland (and here I thought that the Canadians came up with it). From wikipedia again:
Curling is thought to have been invented in late medieval Scotland, with the first written reference to a contest using stones on ice coming from the records of Paisley Abbey, Renfrewshire, in February 1541. Two paintings (both dated 1565) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder depict Dutch peasants curling—Scotland and the Low Countries had strong trading and cultural links during this period, which is also evident in the history of golf.
Evidence that curling existed in Scotland in the early 16th century includes a curling stone inscribed with the date 1511 (uncovered along with another bearing the date 1551) when an old pond was drained at Dunblane, Scotland. Kilsyth Curling Club claims to be the first club in the world, having been formally constituted in 1716; it is still in existence today. Kilsyth also claims the oldest purpose-built curling pond in the world at Colzium, in the form of a low dam creating a shallow pool some 100 × 250 metres in size, though this is now very seldom in condition for curling because of warmer winters.
Spotted hanging over the piers this weekend in Seattle – the stars and stripes. Turns out that the big General Construction Company was celebrating their centennial, and even put on a nice fireworks display last night. I like their style.
For the local folks, the Seattle Art Museum will be hosting a series of some classic British Film Noir movies starting in April. More info.
In 1977 SAM presented Seattle’s first American film noir series. This spring, in our town’s premiere British film noir voyage, we visit the “Empire of Night,” where thrilling tales of love and betrayal, greed and obsession swirl in the midnight fog.
And at the Seattle Asian Art Museum, there will be a showing of some very important pieces of woodblock prints from Japan. More info.
This exhibition brings together prints from the most renowned ukiyo-e artists of the 18th and 19th centuries—including Harunobu, Utamaro, Eishi and Hiroshige—along with Hokusai’s most beloved prints, Great Wave off Kanagawa and Red Fuji. These Japanese woodblock prints demonstrate an evocative play between delicate ink lines and rich blocks of color in portraits of beautiful women and kabuki actors, jewel-like landscapes of famous places, and more. Drawn from the Mary and Allan Kollar Collection, a promised gift to the Seattle Art Museum on the occasion of its 75th Anniversary, this installation introduces the region to a remarkable collection of prints, all taken from early impressions and in excellent condition.
Free & Easy will occasionally add these sections into their issues showing kid versions of the clothes that we like to wear and they’re always fun to skim through. Unfortunately for things like these, the pieces tend to cost almost as much as grown up versions. ;_;
From my moleskine on a recent trip. Not pictured: angry car drivers.
There are some new arrivals on jcrew.com this evening, including some great stuff for warmer weather. The more interesting item that showed up is a serious leather bag from a New York based company called Wexler & Co. who have a very Filson-like motto: “the best is good enough.” If I ever need to retire my Barbour weekender, I might just give this one a shot.
The other new bag is one from the UK company Brady, which has specialized in making gear for the field for a very long time.
