Feb 18
I just picked up my new pair of bespoke boots made by Peter Feeney, who is working out of the dungeon at Trend Custom Tailors. These are heavy duty. I’ll be using them for work and putting about 30-50 km a week on them. They’re going to be worn and worn hard. In doing this …
Feb 09
Since m1k3y just declared flâneur to be the word of the week and thinking on that very subject helped inspire me to quit Facebook, I thought I’d share another old essay that, once upon a time, helped define some of the sensibility of this blog. Allow me to introduce, The Data Dandy. The data dandy collects …
Dec 12
I interviewed Michael Williams of A Continous Lean for The National Post. The piece ran this weekend. You can find the interview here. Don’t really have much to add to that so . . .
Dec 05
Being a blogger has its perks. And, sometimes, so does being a blog reader. The good people at Le Noeud Papillon Sydney have sent me a bowtie and pocket square in exchange for a post. And I’ve secured you a 30% discount. Just go to their site and enter the code “Oakley” into the shopping cart. You get …
Dec 04
Have to get to work but wanted to post a couple items. First off, another review of Technicolor Ultra Mall is in. This one from Innsmouth Free Press. A cover blurb says this is the kind of thing Philip K. Dick would be writing today. To me, its plot of gangs and music and media-induced …
Dec 02
The Buddhist meditates on his breath and is thought deep. The dandy meditates on his cufflinks and is thought shallow. From the Samurai Monk, Yamamoto Jocho: Among the maxims on Lord Naoshige’s wall there was this one: “Matters of great concern should be treated lightly.” Master lttei commented, “Matters of small concern should be treated seriously.” From the …
Nov 10
I have the same relationship with technological style as I do with my wife: Fascination and repulsion. Glowing cufflinks and the like are theoretically neat but the execution often leaves much to be desired. To my mind, at least. Some people manage to build an entire aesthetic around these objects. While it’s not my cup of tea, …
Oct 02
I never turn down an opportunity to travel to the suburbs. While quite a few of my urban cohorts view the regions outside Toronto with disdain, I see them as exotic foreign climes. Perhaps because, unlike a lot of people in Toronto, I’ve never been native to one. I grew up in a village and moved to …
Sep 16
These are semi-bespoke bird inspired shoes by IVLISA [flash, sound, be wary] and passed to me by Xenia of The Nouveau Shanty. One has a hard time looking at them and not fantasizing about being kicked in the throat. The leather sole caresses your cheek, the feathers tickle your Adam’s Apple. You’re lulled into a sense of aroused quiet, then BAM! That elegant …
