Since 1863, the Frye Company has been manufacturing a wide array of leather shoes and boots with a simple traditional style. I have found that many other shoe companies are trying to reinvent the wheel with their footwear designs, instead of sticking to the tried and true classics. The Frye Wallace Oxford is a fine example of shoe that doesn’t have any embellishment, but doesn’t need any because it’s simple design is so well done. This style of shoe has been around forever, and still is fashionable today, especially with the contrasting red rubber sole. The oiled suede finish also gives it a nice vintage touch.
Straight out of Los Angeles, the Cosmic Kids have been making name for themselves in the local electronic music scene most notably with their hit track Reginald’s Groove. Their new remix of the Trujillo track You Keep Me is another good one, with a solid deep-house sound that emits a real groovy atmosphere. I like the contrasting combo of disco guitar/synths and the heavy hitting deep bass line.
Tiger & Woods is quickly ascending to the top of the house scene with unique flavor of disco inspired music. Their technique involves taking parts of old school disco and funk tracks, and then condensing them into new samples that have a more modern and up tempo feel. It’s like funk distilled into an 8 beat count. The driving beat and super funky bass line seems to always get me groovin’, and their new remix of Pitchben’s track Stand Up is on fire.
Over at the Fox Is Black they do a great item called The Desktop Wallpaper project where each week they invite an artist to design a custom desktop wallpaper. I was very attracted to the one done this week by Timothy J Reynolds, who does a lot of graphic design using 3d modeling. The abstract scene he created is simple yet mesmerizing, depicting a mountainous island rising from an augmented sea of light blue. The sea, represented through a polygonal plane, employs a delicate use of opacity to reveal certain parts of the earthy floor and results in a wonderful confluence of the two colors colors almost like a paint palette. As soon as I saw it, it became my new desktop wallpaper.
The first trailer for the upcoming feature film Gangster Squad was released today and it looks spectacular. A period piece set in the 1940′s, the story chronicles the LAPD’s fight to keep the east coast mob out of Los Angeles, specifically mafioso Mickey Cohen. Based on a true story, this realistic portayal of mid-century Los Angeles along with a well selected all-star cast is sure to make for quality film. I really like the promo picture they have as well, posing in front of City Hall with the San Gabriel foothills in the background. Classic Los Angeles. [LAist]
After a 20 year hiatus, BMW has returned to the German stock car racing series DTM pitting their newest iteration of the M3 against rivals Audi and Mercedes. Think of it as Germany’s version of NASCAR, but with better cars and on proper racing circuits. Not since racing the legendary E30 M3 has BMW competed in this racing series, and they are back to prove their dominance. [BimmerFile]
In 1884, Los Angeles was still a very young city only being incorporated as an official municipality of the state a few decades before. Over at the Big Maps Blog, the were able to dig up the Stevenson Survey of Los Angeles map which gives a fascinating visual account of the land making up downtown Los Angeles and surrounding neighborhoods in 1884. These kind of maps give a great historical account of our fine city, and are fun to see how things the built environment has changed or stayed the same. Go to the link above to zoom in and see in more detail. [LAist]
Making fancy desserts can be a elaborate process that require a high level of culinary skill. However, making things a little bit easier is designer Stephane Bureaux who has created Molten Chocolate Candle Cake. Simply light the candle inside the cake, and wait as chocolate slowly melts down into the molten crater. The concept has been right in front of our eyes every year on our birthday cakes, now its being put to a more delicious use. [DessertGirl]
Here a line of really cool looking needle point belts by Tucker Blair. Inspired by the “whimsical” belts him and his buddies used to wear in college, they have a whole variety of designs from nautical flags to bulldogs. My favorite is the American flag, because the Stars and Stripes look good on damn near anything.
The craft beer canning revolution is picking up some steam with more and more micro breweries starting to can the beers. Leaders in this movement, Oskar Blues and Maui Brewing Company, began canning their beers to retain more freshness than bottles and utilize a more efficient manufacturing technique. Back in the day, canned beer was much more prevalent and used to be opened with can-opener tool called a “churchkey” before the advent of the pop-top. Old school company Churchkey Can Co. has returned to the scene riding the wave of this canning revolution, bringing back the churchkey can for their classic pilsner style beer. [BonAppetit]
My love for baseball is indescribable. Since an early age I always watched, played and attended baseball games, to the point where it has become an integral part of life. One of my biggest claims to fame is that I attended the Dodgers 1988 World Series Game where Kirk Gibson hit his famous walk-off home run. Most people don’t believe me, because I was only 3 years old at the time, but I was definitely there and actually remember parts of it. Well, my dad dug through his old scrap book and found the actual tickets with a little hand written not about the game. It is now one of most prized possessions. Events like this mold your love baseball, and mine just happened to be one of the greatest in sports history.
Over the weekend I was listening to a Triple J mix by Classixx and heard a super fun remix of the Marvin Gaye song Just Like Music. It’s a combination of Marvin’s fantastic soul voice and super groovy old school house accompaniment. It’s always exciting to find little gems like this in DJ mixes, and Classixx are probably the best at finding these unknown tracks.
