Leather or wool?

Gloves are available in a plethora of materials, but only two of them are any good: leather and wool. By any measure, leather are the best choice for gloves. Leather gloves are more streamlined than wool gloves so give a much more stylish look. Pay particular attention to quality if you are inclined to go for faux leather. A scratchy material will feel horrible on your hands.

All colors of leather are acceptable for gloves. You don’t even need to match the color to that of any other leather pieces you are wearing. A pair of brown leather gloves with black leather shoes exudes luxury. Avoid wearing too many pieces of leather at once. As a rule of thumb, one big piece and two small is the maximum you should wear. If you’re going for leather shoes, gloves and a jacket, a belt would be overkill, particularly if all pieces are of the same color leather.

Combinations of leather and wool can also look good, introducing more texture into your outfit. Fully woollen gloves are also a popular choice for fashionable wearers of gloves, although leather is preferable. Wool is also usually the material of choice for mittens, which you want to distance yourself from. Speaking of which…

Gloves are not mittens

Gloves and mittens are variations on the same idea, but with the crucial difference that gloves have separate fingers whereas mittens do not. Gloves are sexy, while mittens are cute on children at the snow. Assuming you are over the age of five, you should be wearing gloves.

Fingerless gloves

Some wearers of gloves eschew fingerless gloves, arguing that they are impractical and therefore stupid. However, they have overlooked the fact that fingerless gloves are, if anything, more practical than the traditional variety, giving you full use of your fingers while keeping your palms toasty warm. More importantly, it doesn’t really matter which is more practical. If you were going for pragmatism, you would wear a pair of gardening gloves. You’re going for fashion over function. Fingerless gloves can be stylish, and are an option when you think your hands will get too sweaty inside full gloves.

Colored gloves

As they are such a small piece, you can get away with all manner of colors and textures on gloves even if your wardrobe has a limited color palate. Particularly crazy designs are perhaps not the best option, lest your gloves too closely resemble oven mitts. Other than that, there are few limits. Deep green or burgundy gloves look sophisticated, while bright colors are more daring. For a unique look, try wearing gloves with a quilted texture- even better if they are in a color other than black.

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So today we’re heading on over to Men’s Health where they have a number of items that can help your running workouts. Among the items that they recommend in order to make it worthwhile:

Motorola S10 HD Bluetooth Stereo

The reign of the ubiquitous iPod earbuds is officially over—or, at least, we think it should be. Serious runners demand a cord-free experience, and for that task, the Motorola S10 HD has few peers. The wireless Bluetooth headset sits comfortably behind your ears, and it can sync up to your phone from 33 feet away. The S10 automatically pauses for incoming calls, too, and resumes playing when they’re over. A single charge will net you eight hours of tunes (or nine hours of gabbing) and the sweat-proof ear cushions ensure they’ll stay clean, even after the most brutal treadmill session.

Head on over to the above link to check out the rest of their suggestions, and then get to running for your life out there! Well, not for your life. But sort of for your life, seeing as being in shape will help you. So, okay then! Have a great weekend, everyone.

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So, that means that I can open up my list to other songs that don’t just have the name of the city in the title, because once I break the rule, I break it all the way. In comes “I Love L.A.” by Randy Newman, “The Guns of Brixton” by The Clash, “Detroit Rock City” by Kiss, “Dogs of L.A.” by Liz Phair, “Road to Mallow” by Peter Mulvey, “Via Chicago” by Wilco and “No Sleep til Brooklyn” by the Beastie Boys. But, now I’m just naming songs and I haven’t even gone to blues classics that mix in city names all of the time like most of the album “Louis Armstrong plays W.C. Handy.”

What I’m saying is that I like all of those songs, but “El Paso” still sits in that top five. It comes to life and flows through my mind so easily. However, as I one day drive into El Paso, with my windows down and my music cranking, I won’t be blasting “El Paso” to be ironic or cool because the song will just continually bop around my brain as I tour the city checking out these five things.

Visit the El Paso Holocaust Museum

The first image that I see when I look at The El Paso Holocaust Museum website is a wooden fence with a Star of David painted beside a sign where the only word I can read is “Getto.” Below the sign is a bicycle and next to that, a guarded entrance. Though the thought of a museum dedicated to the Holocaust in El Paso initially surprised me, just looking at the picture made me glad it’s there.

Check out the National Border Patrol Museum

On the polar opposite side, the images I see when I surf over to the National Border Patrol Museum site confuse me in a not so good way. There’s modern day uniformed men posed with lassos and cowboy hats, guys on four wheelers and another that shows three men holding pistols pointed up toward a roof. I’m curious and a little worried.

Go Bowling at Oasis Lanes

When I poked around Visit El Paso and started to browse the attractions, I came to a complete stop at the following sentence, “Bowling has a long and rich history, and today is one of the most popular sports in the world. El Paso is home to many locally owned and operated bowling alleys.” That just bowled me over. So, I looked at the Oasis Lanes site. Seeing $1 bowling and shoes and $1 Bud Lights and Tecates on Tuesday bowled me over again.

Hike around Franklin Mountains State Park

After all the beer (and probably bowling alley food like burgers and nachos) I’m going to need to go for a good hike. Franklin Mountains State Park has over 100 miles of multi-use trails for my purpose.

Eat several times at Crave Kitchen and Bar

I saw biscuits and green chile gravy on the breakfast menu and buttermilk fried chicken and waffles with green chile mac and cheese and roasted baby beets on the dinner menu. I’m already sold on Crave Kitchen and Bar.

Any suggestions for things that I missed? Any additional recommendations for the area? Just let me know in the comments.

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Much of Rolling Stone’s development was overseen by its founder and chief editor Jann Wenner, who is this week’s Self Made Man.

Wenner was born in New York City and grew up in boarding schools after his parents’ divorce, eventually moving to California to attend UC Berkeley. As a college student, Wenner took part in the Free Speech Movement and had a column, titled “Something’s Happening,” in Berkeley’s student-run paper.

I also had a regular column in my school newspaper, and part of me wonders if Wenner’s column was as bad as mine. Giving a 20-year-old boy a weekly vehicle for shooting his big fat mouth off is never a good idea.

Wenner didn’t last at Berkeley and dropped out, but his his mentor, San Francisco Chronicle jazz critic Ralph J. Gleason, got him a job working on political/literary magazine Ramparts, and the two went on to create Rolling Stone in 1967.

Rolling Stone was initially a magazine that reported on California’s hippie counterculture, particularly the music, but Jann always had bigger plans for it. Unlike more underground newspapers with similar coverage, Wenner’s magazine held itself to higher journalistic standards and stayed away from overtly radical politics (although contributors like Hunter S. Thompson would skirt that line a lot).

Speaking of Thompson, he was part of the group of then-young writers brought in to cover politics during the 1970s, which is when Rolling Stone really hit its stride. Again, it was all by design. Jann had a great eye for talent and, more importantly, saw what was lacking in mainstream political coverage: energy and relevance to college students and young voters, whom both political parties all but ignored during that time.

Wenner has always said that his magazine “is not just about the music, but about the things and attitudes that music embraces.” While Rolling Stone has gone through up and down cycles over the years (and appears to be stuck in a Baby Boomer rut whenever their Best Of lists come out), guys like Matt Taibbi have made it relevant again, and they demonstrate that Jann Wenner still has his finger on the pulse, even if it slips off from time to time.

Here’s a short interview snippet from the Adcraft Club, in which Wenner talks about the early days of Rolling Stone.

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Summer is almost here and I’m already taking advantage of the warm temperatures to show off some of my style “skills”. Things like rolling up my chinos, rolling up my shirt’s cuffs or sleeves and wearing a pocket square with my leather jacket are some of my favorite ways to stand out.

But there’s one style trick that I can’t do… yet. Going (almost) sockless. I still have to wait for the end of May or even June for this.

Just what does the “sockless look” imply?

Sockless is simply about not wearing or giving the impression that you’re not wearing any socks. This looks great with casual summer outfits (think shorts and polo shirts) as well as will – you’ll never guess – suits. Yep, not wearing any socks with suits can be daunting, yet it will look EXTREMELY good if you can pull it off.

However, there’s a big problem with not wearing any socks. When your feet start sweating, the sweat will start to go right into the shoe, causing it to smell long after you take it off. The other downside is that the dust and dirt that is normally kept away by the sock will start to go right into your feel, causing them to mix with the sweat and smell even more.

This two-way circulation of sweat and dust is very bad, even if you’re not the type whose feet sweat too much. However, there are solutions.

My number one fix for this is to wear no-show socks. These are socks that, when worn, are 100% hidden in the shoe. So you’re wearing socks but give the impression that you’re not. Sneaky, right?

This is how I roll, by the way: I always wear no-show socks. But, if for some reason you don’t like that, there are other ways to pull off the sockless look.

One way is to apply foot powder. The other is to use foot spray. Both of them do a good job at keeping the sweat away from the shoe, but do little to prevent the dust from reaching your feet.

If you live in an urban area, however, dust won’t be that big of a deal. So, in the end, all 3 options are viable.

What types of shoes can be worn without socks?

That’s a great question. Initially, the only shoes that I recommended were casual types: loafers, boat shoes, espadrilles and sandals. However, the trend now is that you can wear lace-up leather shoes such as oxfords with no-show socks. Things change and, in a way, I’m glad that business outfits get to benefit from this really stylish trick.

When’s the best time to stop wearing socks?

I know some of you may be in love with the sockless look but that doesn’t mean you can pull it off in spring and autumn… unless the temperatures allow for it. This is a summer look so, unless it look like summer outside, don’t do it. Each season has its own style tricks you can do to make yourself look good.

One last thing: if you’re wearing full length pants (jeans, chinos, khakis), make sure you roll them up a little to let that ankle show. Otherwise it will just look a little strange. If someone looks closer, they can see a little bit of skin coming out from under the lower part of your pants and they might be thinking: geez, did he forget to wear socks today?

However, rolling up your pants a little will let everyone know that the absence of socks is something intentional. And cool. And that makes YOU look cool.

Stay stylish
George,
www.LifestyleGod.com

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The Mechanics of A Social Circle And The Benefits It Can Bring

Social circles exist in order to fulfill some of our “social needs”. These needs are absolutely detrimental to our mental well being and include things like: drama, gossiping, respect, status etc. It’s safe to say that almost no secrets are kept in a social circle and that everyone that is involved in a social circle will be discussed in great detail by the others when he/she’s not around.

The main thing about a social circle is that everyone in it sees the same things about someone. For example, if Jim has a very bad opinion about someone, most people in the group will have the same opinion about that someone even if they never met him/her.

As a player, you can use this to your advantage. You can basically call any social circle a market and anyone in that circle your free advertising agent, because that’s exactly what he/she is.

The basic principle of owning a social circle is simple. Project an image of incredibly high-status and own that image to the ground. Remember, the whole point is to sleep with the women involved so, if this particular social circle is filled with guys and girls (as it should obviously be) you must do two things in order to project the desired image.

1. Hide the beasts that you’ve been banging.

2. Create your desired image by talking about yourself with the group. In order to get lays that image should be a of a well educated gentleman player that sleeps with a lot of beautiful women (stories don’t need to be necessarily true).

Don’t Let Them Know Where You’ve Been

This point is more important than you think. If you’re the type of dude that doesn’t really care about where he puts his junk (not that there’s anything wrong with that) you could have some serious trouble if you run in a decently sized social circle. Why? Well to put it simply, banging beasts doesn’t really help raise your “educated gentleman player that sleeps with a lot of beautiful women” status.

Personally, apart from a selected few, I’ve mostly dated hot chicks and this was never really a problem. Women in my social circles know that I have high-standards and they also know that I have no trouble getting quality women.
It all comes down to the fact that hot girls want dudes that have been with other hot girls. Sure, most hot chicks have a high-perceived status of themselves and might view the majority of women as being “not as good looking” but if you’re known for sleeping with the uglies the odds won’t ever be in your favor.

To put this simply, girls don’t mind dating dudes that have been with thousands of chicks (they actually like it) but they would mind dating a dude that dated thousands of chicks that are less attractive than she is.

Become Who You Were Destined To Be

You’re obviously not going to be able to apply these tips in your current social circle since those people already know you, but you can and should do this with new social circles (say a new job, new school, new college, going to college, new friends you thought were cool etc).

Talk about the great girls you’ve banged and all the great places you’ve been to. Speak highly of them girls and their hotness. The lame dudes in the group will tell all the other girls in the group that you’re a player thinking that’s going to lower your status and make them look like something else than the total deuchebags they are. As we already know, when a woman hears bro be banging many women she’ll automatically assume that bro is desirable because all the other hotties wanted some of that action.

*when creating this image be very careful around bored 3 year long girlfriends of other dudes that don’t give em enough adventure… having a dudes girlfriend rubbing your crotch when you’re all sitting at a table talking is more awkward than your mom walking in on you beating off*

Also, DO NOT talk about theory of game and how GAME is what gets you laid. No chick wants to hear how you have to do 20 approaches per night to get 2 solid numbers which eventually turn into a bang and therefore you score a lot of chicks because you put in hundreds of hours of work into being a player.

That stuff has no romance and will not do you any good. Just discuss how you’ve seen most of them giving you the eye (or at least you thought they were) and then approached them with tremendous success on a consistently regular basis. It isn’t you that’s doing the work, it’s something that you have that makes them want you…it’s that natural quality.

How It All Works

Get into new social circle – Create your desired status – Everybody finds out about your status – Hot girls find out about your status – Hot girls want to bang you because of your status – You bang the hot girls – Hot girls found out you banged other hot girls – You bang more hot girls – You’ve banged the entire social circle – You find new social circle – Repeat

Remember, the new people you meet don’t know anything about you. They don’t know you used to be (are) a total loser that never gets any women. They know and will believe what you tell them. Create an image of an all round educated and interesting person that gets tons of love from women. Don’t make it all about how many women you got, keep it modest but make people interested so they ask you more. Soon enough you’ll get introduced to a chick that seems totally into you, even though you just met her. She’s into you because she already knows exactly who you are – *Love The Social Circle*

This is the sort of stuff I discuss on my blog and in the free eBook I give out. If you want to increase your success with women, visit ThePlayerGuide – a place where the dating mindset is thrown out the window in favor of more direct and fruitful methods of meeting and seducing women.

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COTTAGE CHEESE

This power-packed snack is a great source of both casein and whey protein. For newcomers to the world of fitness, whey protein is not only a staple protein source for bodybuilders, but it’s also a key player in building muscle and burning fat. Casein on the other hand is a slower digesting protein protein, which makes cottage cheese the optimal bedtime choice to help keep your body in an anabolic stage overnight.

If you are not eating cottage cheese, you are not doing your body the service it needs. Cottage cheese is super easy-to-make (all you need to do is open the goddamn carton) and kind of goes along with everything, whether it’s a sandwich or a steak or a salad or really anything at all. So, the whole point of this, really, is to urge you to get on out to the grocery store and buy yourself a few cartons of cottage cheese. And then, hey, while you’re at it, might as well check out the rest of the list so your body will be in tip-top shape in no time.

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“So, this guy wanders over to my table as I’m eating dinner and tells me to pick a card, any card. So, I pick one. Remember this, it’s the five of diamonds. Then, the guy says put it back in the deck. So, I do. He shuffles the cards and get this, he throws them all over the room. There are cards everywhere. In the potted plants, in the coq au vin, in Cindy’s cleavage, believe me, everywhere. Then, he walks over to the portrait of Sir Edmund Hillary hanging on the freaking wall, pulls it toward him and a card falls into his left hand. It’s the five of diamonds. I mean, are you kidding me?”

This epiphany came to me while I thought about Isla Fisher’s next movie, “Now You See Me” which premiers next week. I like magic. I like going to see it live. I’ve gone to see Ricky Jay perform, I’ve gone to the Magic Castle, I’ve watched those Fox magician specials narrated by Mitch Pileggi and I’ve enjoyed each and every one of those. But, I’ll be damned if I could explain it to you and have you share the joy that I felt at watching Ricky Jay deal himself four aces, but I know it has more to do with the magician than the magic itself. I think I’ll do much better at describing what makes Isla’s top five movies, because those moments are captured forever in the same way for all of us.

5. Hot Rod

I think daredevils are not far removed from magicians, except that stories get a lot better when falling, fire and explosions are involved. This movie might not be great, but it has “Deadwood” alum Ian McShane along with Andy Samberg, Will Arnett, Bill Hader, Danny McBride and Isla.

4. Burke and Hare

Not only does this movie have Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis in the title roles, it adds Jessica Hynes (Pegg’s “Spaced” co-star), Tom Wilkinson and Tim Curry to go along with Isla. I would try to compare grave robbing to daredevilry and magic, but I think I’ve blasted this forced theme into a flight of doves.

3. I Heart Huckabees

I don’t think I’d ever seen a movie like this one when I stepped into the theater that fateful day in 2004. I don’t think I’ve seen a movie like it since. I have no clue if that’s a good or bad thing to this day.

2. The Lookout

Did you know that “Now You See Me” is also about bank heists just like this movie? Now you do and I don’t have to labor to try to connect bank robbery to magic.

1. Wedding Crashers

A very funny movie and that marked the first pairing of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. We’ll see if they still have that same “magic” the week after next with “The Internship.”

Agree? Disagree? Which movies would make your Isla Fisher top five?

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The last line about coasting is really at the heart of the struggle. I’ve been in a couple relationships that were good, but not great…say a 7 out of 10. Honestly, it was hard for me to find anything wrong with the relationship, except for this deep knowledge in my lizard brain that something wasn’t quite right. It would take me a long time to cut the cord. Sometimes over a year. Every guy I know has been in this situation.

Before I proceed, lemme say this. Girlfriends have accused me of not putting in the effort to make a relationship work…basically, they’d say I’d bail too soon. Chicks sometimes call this being a commitment-phobe. I don’t think that’s accurate. I’ve known plenty of relationships that worked initially, and worked for a long time (several years), but eventually fell apart because of deep capability issues that surfaced. I’ve got a handful of close friends whose marriages followed that template. I’ve also had a couple of relationships where I put in a tremendous amount of work, and had nothing to show for it. So I know how it works.

What’s worse? Getting out early when you know it’s not right or hang on for 5 years then bail? For me, it’s an easy decision. You get out early when you know it’s not right. You’re doing both parties a favor when you make that decision.

The Key Factor

I’ve been in two really awesome relationships. Those relationships exploded for whatever reason down the road, but the thing they both had in common was that the chicks inspired me. What that means is I felt inspired to be a better overall human; I was more generous, more loving, more truthful, and experienced more growth as a person while in the relationship. The conversation was always good and the sex was even better. I sought to improve myself in every way because I wanted to be the guy she admired.

So my key favor is INSPIRATION. If I’m inspired by my partner, I know I’m in the right place. The relationship is working and it’s worth it to move forward. If there is no inspiration, then the relationship is really just a fancy companionship or a partnership. Those aren’t real relationships…they’re just a way to pass the time.

If I don’t feel the inspiration, then I’ll break it off as soon as possible.

One warning, don’t confuse inspiration for lust. Lust is great, and it makes you do some cool stuff for your girl, but it’s not what you build a relationship on. Inspiration is more about becoming a better person, improving your inner game, and personal growth.

Morgan was born to former slaves in Paris, Kentucky, a town whose name has to be a cruel joke at the expense of everyone who lives there. It must have been rough, because Morgan moved to Cincinnati when he was fourteen to find work.

That’s worth pausing to think about for a second. When I was fourteen, I was playing Evander Holyfield’s Real Deal Boxing and worrying about zits. When Garrett Morgan was fourteen, the Sega Genesis wasn’t even a distant dream, he probably still had to worry about zits, and he had to find a man’s job in Cincinnati, of all places.

Morgan found work as a handyman for a rich guy and hired a tutor out of his own pocket so he could continue his studies. From there, he moved to Cleveland and got a job as a sewing machine repairman, and word got out that he was really good at fixing things.

He was also good at inventing them, as it turned out. After hearing about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire that killed 146 people, he invented a safety hood and smoke protector system to protect firefighters (and their lungs) from excess smoke inhalation. He was able to sell his gas mask, which is ultimately what his system became, around the country, but often had to hire white actors to pose as its inventor. It always breaks my heart a little to read that sort of thing.

Morgan couldn’t even demonstrate how his invention worked without a disguise, and often pretended to be an Indian from the Walpole Island First Nation in Canada when the time came to show audiences how it worked.

And it did work. In fact, it made national headlines when Garrett and three other people used the mask to save workers after a tunnel explosion under Lake Erie in 1916. In yet another indictment of the times,Cleveland’s newspapers and city officials ignored Morgan’s role in the rescue, and the poor guy went unrecognized for years.

Luckily, he wasn’t unsuccessful. Morgan ended up owning several businesses, including a hair refining company that sold another one of his inventions, a hair straightening cream. His contributions to the city of Cleveland were eventually recognized within his lifetime, and his legacy is that of an intelligent, prominent, and heroic man in his own time. As it should be.

Here’s a fun video about him in case you feel like researching further.

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