Minka Kelly

Why, hello there.

I don't do sports, but it would seem that when it comes to hot girlfriends, Derek Jeter is batting a thousand. (See what I did there?)

via GQ

This picture fills me with pride.  I love seeing black guys with real style.  We're getting there.  Jay-Z put it pretty succinctly when he said, "...niggas acting way too tough.  Throw on a suit.  Get it tapered up."  Amen.

via The Sartorialist

Make a difference. Sign the petition.

via Change.org

"Thousands of people across the country have asked (Ohio) Gov. Kasich to pardon Kelley Williams-Bolar, an Akron, Ohio woman sentenced for sending her daughters to school in a district where they did not have residency.

Williams-Bolar was jailed, given 80 hours of community service and slammed with three years of probation after she was convicted of falsifying residency records so that her two daughters could go to school in nearby Copley, Ohio, where her father lived. Williams-Bolar, an African-American single mother, lived in public housing in Akron.

Williams-Bolar maintains that she was worried about her children's safety and never meant to deceive school officials. Even if she did do something illegal, forcing jail time on a mom trying to give her children a better life is a senseless punishment. Even worse, her felony conviction could cripple her career as an educator is in danger. Currently just classes away from a teaching degree, she works as a special education assistant. As a convicted felon, she'd be barred from teaching in Ohio."


This is some baby back bullshit. My parents did the exact same thing for me and I would have been soooo much worse off if they hadn't. Sign the online petition below in hopes of getting her pardoned so that her life isn't ruined just so that some dickhead can make an example of her.

Sign the petition.

Lykke Li - "I Follow Rivers (Dave Sitek Remix)"

For the uninitiated, Lykke Li is an indie goddess.  Li's new single "I Follow Rivers" got the remix treatment from TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek.  Listen/download below.

Lykke Li - I Follow Rivers (Dave Sitek Remix) by Pretty Much Amazing

Also check out a couple of older Lykke Li tracks that made her debut Youth Novels one of my favorites.  First, there's "Little Bit", a fantastic song about the vulnerability you feel when you realize that you just fell in love.  (Also great: the line "For you, I'd keep my legs apart".  Yes please.)

 Little Bit by LykkeLi

Second is "I'm Good, I'm Gone", which is her refusal to be set back by love.  I love the sentiment.  Watch the vid which has Lykke doing weird dances and female bodybuilders playing the drums for no discernible reason.


Lykke Li - I'm Good, I'm Gone from Lykke Li on Vimeo.

And be sure to check out Lykke Li's sophomore album Wounded Rhymes on March 1.

Love this bitch.

Girls In Men's Clothes

For those of you who were unaware, it's Men's Fashion Week in Milan and things are looking good.  That is, until Jean Paul Gaultier (the guy who's cologne has a bottle shaped like a sailor) showed his new line.  It's full of the weird, like wetsuits and jackets that very well may be made out of gold, but that's not all that shocking. It's the runway.  It's ok to be a little grandiose.  The thing that raised my eyebrow was JPG's need to blur gender lines by putting his male models in things like skirts and (gasp) fishnets.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not totally against guys wearing certain women's pieces.  For instance, depending on your build, you have to get women's skinny jeans if you want them to actually be skinny.  But guys just can't pull off most of women's style, because it takes that feminine touch to make them work.  I mean come on, a pencil skirt is all but pointless on a guy.

Alternatively, that same delicate touch is exactly what makes it so endearing when the tables are turned.  And I don't just mean when a girl puts on your shirt the morning after (even though that's damn sexy), I'm talking layers, folks.

Granted: being cute from jump helps you pull off the look a bit better.

Ladies, take note.

Adele feat. Childish Gambino - "Rolling In The Deep (Jamie xx Remix)

One of my idols teams up with one of my favorite songstresses?  My God, life is awesome.

 Adele - Rolling in the Deep (Jamie xx remix) ft. Childish Gambino (wemakeitbetter) by JThunder

Fresh.

Das Racist's Heems Remixes "Teenage Dream"

 VS. 

What a weird day for music.  First, there was that Kesha track that Three Stacks made worth listening to (almost), and now this.  Das Racist's Heems took Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream", slowed it down, and rapped over it in his too-cool-to-care monotone.  Listen/Download below.

Das Racist's Heems x Katy Perry - Teenage Dream by Pretty Much Amazing

She looks like a sluttier version of Zooey Deschanel, so of course, I dig.

Kesha & Andre 3000 - Sleazy (Remix)

Kesha (I refuse to use that fucking dollar sign) is the musical antichrist.  I know I said that about Soulja Boy, but Satan is tricky.  He takes many forms.

Anyway, using said trickery, Her Unholiness managed to get Outkast's Andre 3000, undeniably one of the best lyricists out there, to put his talents to use on a remix of her song "Sleazy".  I don't want to talk about my disgust.  Just listen below.

Sleazy (Remix) - Ke$ha feat. André 3000 by HDMI44

I also refuse to taint my blog with a picture of Kesha, so take this picture of Three Stacks looking fly instead.

via The Sartorialist

"Subs"

Subspenders, or "subs", are a variation of suspenders that uses a system of elastic straps attached to a belt that you clip to your four-sizes-too-big pants so that you can sag them with confidence, knowing that they won't fall down.

This is what's wrong with the world.  This is anti-fashion.  It will officially be cemented in history that we are the most style-less generation ever.

Video:

Let's delve into what's wrong with this, shall we?  I'll start with a little bit of history:

In high school, they would tell us that it originated in prison where lesser inmates are made to wear their pants low so that the alpha males have "easy access" for sodomy.  I'm fairly certain that this was falsified as a means to use underlying homophobia to scare us out of the trend.  Well intentioned thought it may be, it's a little fucked up.

The derivation I'm prone to believe is socioeconomic.  Ghettos are poor by definition.  Inner-city families can't necessarily afford to buy new clothes for each child, so most of your clothes growing up are hand-me-downs that don't properly fit.  Wearing pants that were too big were a sign that you had older brothers that would have your back if something happened to you, and conventional wisdom will tell you that the bigger the pants, the bigger the brothers.  It was a defense mechanism that, after being processed through the pop culture filter, was misinterpreted as something that was just cool to do.

We on the same page?

I honestly thought we were past this.  The crime against fashion is obvious.  Purposefully wearing pants that are too big is just plain retarded.  It's one thing when you're young and can't do anything to help it, but if you're a well-adjusted adult it's inexcusable.  And come on, what happened to belts?  The other crime is the exploitation.  A grown man who obviously has the ingenuity to invent such a thing (and, let's be real, probably the money to buy clothes that fit if he has the capital to start in on such a business venture) exploiting an ill-advised trend is more than a little fucked up.

Seriously, if Macy's really starts carrying these, I will never step foot in that place again.

Kill.  This.

Beth Ditto

Beth Ditto is a big girl with an even bigger voice.

Yesterday, the Gossip frontwoman released a self-titled solo EP.  Listen to the electropop track "I Wrote The Book" below.

Beth Ditto - I Wrote The Book by dynmk

And for good measure, here she is with the rest of  Gossip in the video for Heavy Cross.  The video's a little gauche for my tastes, but Beth's doing her own thing, so you gotta respect that.

Gossip - Heavy Cross from Popbytes on Vimeo.


*BONUS FUN FACT*: Some doctors have been quoted as saying that they consider her to be a danger to public health because her self-love, despite her heft, is "normalizing public obesity".  No bullshit.

Yeah.

Shannyn Sossamon

Exotic beauty.  I dig it.

"Most of the laugh tracks on television were recorded in the early 1950s. These days, most of the people you hear laughing are dead."


                               -Chuck Palahniuk, "Lullaby"

The North Face Purple Label Gore-Tex Trench Coats

One thing I've learned from my time living in Newport News is that if you were to wake up out of a coma in the 757 right now, you could look around and know exactly what time of year it is just from seeing everyone wearing new jackets from The North Face.  It's an inexplicably reliable trend here that I personally can't stand.  TNF's outerwear has a strong tendency to favor function way over fashion*.

*Understatement

Needless to say that I was floored when I found out that these ultra-stylish Gore-Tex trenches were TNF's own.

Want one?  Then you'll have to hop a plane overseas, because these babies are Japan-only.  Typical.

Deluxe Buick Wingtip Lace-Ups

Prepare to cuff those pant legs and get your bucks ready, boys, cause Spring's almost here!  Don't get me wrong, I'm a glutton for outerwear, so naturally Winter is one of my favorite seasons for style, but come on, look at these things:

 I love the detail on the strings.

So ultra Travolta.