The Backwoodsman

I grew up spending a lot of time in the Columbia River Gorge area on the border of Oregon and Washington. To keep ourselves entertained, my brother and I turned to the woods. Books like The American Boys Handy Book and numerous stories by Ernest Thompson Seaton inspired us to build damns, bows and arrows, and forts in the woods surrounding our house. These activities kept me entertained and instilled an interest in survival and a desire to do things on my own that persists to this day.

Procrastinating in the library one day, I stumbled across an issue of the The Backwoodsman, "The Magazine for the Twenty First Century Frontiersmen." The magazine is an awesome composition of articles on topics ranging from survivalism to do-it-yourself shelter building. Here are some articles that piqued my interest.

New Order

I love new wave and the decade of decadence that they helped define. New Order is my favorite new wave band and contributes to my lifestyle. The spectacle their music creates makes any party more fun. As on ode to Patrick Batemen, "Their music combines an upbeat sound with complex lyrics." Here are some music videos and a clip from the dance scene from American Psycho.

Books: As Seen In Vogue

A large library at your finger tips is major plus of attending college. A couple weeks ago, I stumbled across "As Seen in Vogue: A Century of American Fashion In Advertising" while procrastinating on Thursday night. As stated in the title, the book discuses the history of fashion advertising, but also offers an interesting overview of the origins of periodicals and print advertising. Even if you're not interested in female fashion, I recommend this book as background study of the role of advertising in subsidizing periodicals. Here are some original ads from the Vogues from the forties and earlier.

My Vuarnets

Life looks better through the lens of my Vuarnets. Vuarnet, a French ski sunglass company has been making eye wear since 1957. Unlike many sunglass companies, Vuarnet focuses on creating great lenses and looks to classic shapes for their designs as opposed to focusing on pioneering designs first and optics second. Although relatively overlooked by the American sunglass market, Vuarnets are used exclusively by the film maker Wes Anderson. Vuarnets are a great departure from the wayfarer shape and offer substantially better optics than equivalently priced classes. Here are some Vuarnets, similar to the ones featured here, on ebay and some photos taken through the lenses of my glasses.