Raise your hand if you tight rolled your jeans in the ’90s.
The rest of you are lying!
(via USA Shopping Malls, Summer 1990 « How to be a Retronaut)
For shame, Brooks Brothers!
I was appalled yesterday when I walked by Brooks Brothers on the Plaza and saw the awful Papyrus font on display so prominently in the window.
I asked if I could take a picture of the sign, and they said no; it is against their policy. Here is a link to their site using the same awful lettering. They’re touting their line of Supima cottons. Nothing makes me want to buy this line less than that horrid font.1
At the risk of this devolving to a font flame post, I’ll end with this thought: the designer should be fired. Seriously.
What self respecting designer is using The Crocodile Hunters font of choice these days? This is the Comic Sans of the church world. I bet women mistakenly walk in to Brooks Brothers thinking it’s their favorite day spa.
Just when I was starting to like Brooks Brothers.
1 I’m no font-snob, mind you. I just throw up a little in my mouth every time I see Papyrus used.
Things I Want My Daughter To Know: March Madness
It’s entertainment.
March Madness is a college basketball tournament that derails job productivity every March. It usually ends on the first weekend of April with the Final Four, and a championship game. Your mother wishes it was never invented.
The tournament was created in 1939. Phog Allen, a famous coach from Kansas, is credited with the original idea.
Four divisions are created, each with 16 teams. Each team is ranked in their division, 1 to 16. When these rankings, called seeds are announced, fans love to fill out brackets. These brackets serve as predictions as to which team will win the tournament.
Now, having been a March Madness fanatic for several years, I can honestly say that creating a bracket certainly adds to the enjoyment of the tournament. It gives you teams to support, and games to pay close attention to. However, it also detracts from simply enjoying a good competition.
Bracket pools are also a big part of the March Madness experience. People pay money to put their bracket, or brackets, in to a group with friends. Your bracket then competes against all of your friends brackets. In the end, whoever created the best bracket wins all the money that everyone paid to submit their bracket. It’s gambling, essentially.
I was introduced to bracket pools in 1993. I had no idea what I was doing, so I picked all the top ranked seeds in every game. This is typically considered to be amateur as it never happens that all top ranked teams win. While this tournament was no exception, it was exceptional in that three of the four #1 seeded teams made it to the final four: North Carolina, Michigan, & Kentucky. Kansas was seeded #2, and was also in the Final Four. North Carolina and Michigan advanced to the championship game, and I chose North Carolina to win. My friends thought I was ridiculous for choosing UNC, because Michigan was expected to win, and had all the best players.
However, Michigans star player, Chris Webber, called a time out in the final minute of the game. The only problem was that Michigan was out of time outs (you are allowed three per half in college basketball). This resulted in a technical foul (when an opposing player is allowed to attempt to gain points unguarded). Those foul shots allowed UNC to take the lead, and they won the game 77-71. My friends said I was lucky. They were right.
I had fun, though. This is what I want you to know, the point of sporting tournaments: having fun.
It’s fine to root for your favorite team; even passionately. Don’t let it ruin your day when they lose, though. I’ve let this happen to me. Living in a place like Kansas City, you’ll just be depressed all the time because our teams always lose. However, enjoy sports for what they are: entertainment. They are nothing more.
Sports really mean nothing in the big picture. They may bring pride, and a sense of accomplishment to a city, but it is short lived. Once the high of a win is gone, you still have to fight your battles, whatever they may be. So, don’t be afraid to take part in the escape of a sporting event, but don’t base your mood on the win or loss. It is shallow to do so.
If you ever get the chance to visit Oxford, take it.
For you Harry Potter fans’ the shots in the dining hall were done at Oxford. I don’t know if this photo is in that hall, but it looks a bit familiar.
Brooks Brothers | How To Tie A Tie | Classic Tie Knots
I pretty much only know how to tie one knot. I’d like to think I’m like most fellas. This is a good resource for learning how to tie six classic tie knots.
My new favorite is the Small Knot.
Super Moon.
Things I Want My Daughter To Know: Old Man Eyebrows
They just happen.
I don’t know the real term for old man eyebrows, but they are very real. They’re easy to spot, it looks like two caterpillars on a bad hair day moved in to where a man’s eyebrows should be.
One day a man wakes up, looks at himself in the mirror and realizes his eyebrows have a permanent case of bed head. So I’ve heard.
The travesty in all of this is there is only one thing a man can do to tame those badger bristles: eyebrow waxing. Most men, however, just go about their lives content in knowing their eyebrows look like a spent toothbrush. Waxing, you see, is not manly.
Eyebrow waxing would require a man to go to a salon, rather than a barbershop, and allow a lady to smear hot wax on his eyebrows, then yank the wax off after it has cooled. This hurts! No, they’ll fly their old man eyebrows with pride, thank you.
What I want you know is that you should be kind to these men. They can’t help it. They had no say in what their eyebrows decided to do one evening while they comfortably slept.
You would, however, be a hero if you developed some type of special ionizing comb that cured us them of this ailment once and for all.
Why open when you can close? (Taken with instagram)
We just returned from Austin, TX for SXSW Interactive. Always a great time.
For reasons summarized on ACL, next year I think I may do half Interactive & half Music.
Things I Want My Daughter To Know: Exercise
Do it for you.
Let me get one thing out of the way: exercise is tough. Not only is it tough physically, but it’s tough mentally. I say mentally because in our society, one tends to feel guilty when they miss a workout. This is ridiculous.
Exercise should be done for you, and no one else.
I hope that as you grow up you develop an understanding of the benefits of exercise, but also an affinity for exercising. What I don’t want you to do is fall in to the trap of thinking that if you exercise enough you will attain some body image that people think is beautiful. Chasing this image is an endless world of hurt. Everyone has a different definition of beauty.
Also, and I hate to break this to you, you might have a bit of an uphill battle as you’re not exactly inheriting Greek god-like genetics from me. Thankfully, a little bit of exercise will go a long way.
You don’t have to spend two hours in the gym every day to benefit from exercise. While that type of committment will certainly have an effect, simple activities like walking will do just fine. I like to run.
I began running in college, but for all the wrong reasons. I was trying to impress people by getting in shape. My motivation to exercise was all wrong. As such, it was extremely difficult to maintain motivation to exercise. I wasn’t getting the reward I had hoped for.
This is my point, exercise for the right reasons: to feel good, be healthy, have more energy, and maintain strong immunity. Don’t exercise to impress people. When you’re focused on what other’s think of you, it is difficult to understand how you feel about you.
How To Rock Leather Pants (Taken with Instagram at Country Club Plaza)
