Following an embarrassing 6-0 hammering by Liverpool, and after a week where newspapers were warned against revealing the extent of Newcastle’s dressing room tensions, this weekend’s trip to West Ham feels like a particularly important game for Alan Pardew. Newcastle are now in 17th, just one point away from the drop-zone. They could do without further selection issues, but the …
Andy Warhol Pepe Jeans Campbell Soup Jacket
Ok, so the Pop Art spotlight is very much on Roy Lichtenstein at the moment what with his retrospective at the Tate Modern in London. But when it comes to a style/art crossover then there’s only one pop art name that counts, and that’s Andy Warhol. There are literally hundreds of Warhol’s prints available on t-shirts – check this lot …
Science of Shaving: we check out Gillette’s cutting edge technology
Every morning dozens of men visit the Gillette Research and Development Labs in Reading just to shave. There they are watched by scientists through two way mirrors in little booths to see how exactly how they perform the act. “Everyone is different,” explains Troy Nimrick, Director, Gillette, Global Blades and Razors R+D . “Some take just around 100 brush strokes …
Dress like Steve McQueen – Barbour unveils new range
It is incredible to think that almost 35 years after his sad and premature death that Steve McQueen remains one of the most recognisable and iconic Hollywood stars. Barbour certainly thinks McQueen is a legend. The British brand has been adding to its McQueen inspired range. In keeping with McQueen’s on (and off) screen persona it is tough clothing that …
Flyknit Experience: We test out the new Nike Lunar 1+ in a running ‘flash mob’ along The Thames
If you started running a few years ago, when it was still disparagingly referred to as jogging, you know how heavy trainers used to be – like wearing lead weights on your feet. Not any more. Manufacturers are literally tripping over each other to bring the latest lightweight fabric technologies to our feet. Last month saw the arrival of the …
Oakley and The Macallan launch the ultimate (indestructible) Whisky Flask
Now you might have thought that creating a whisky flask was a largely straightforward job. It is not though when you get high-end luxury whisky brand The Macallan and sports equipment specialist Oakley Inc together and get them to rewrite the flask design book. The pair have been working together to hatch this – just called The Flask – which …
Style Safari – Fred Perry Barrel Bag
Still agonising over whether you need a bag to lug all your gear around? Well I’d get over it. How else are you going to transport your iPad, Kindle, various chargers – and maybe even the odd book or mag if you are old school? One option that more and more blokes seem to be adopting are medium sized Barrel …
Quick it is snowing – five very cool sledges to buy
Ok, so it predicted snow and all London got was a very light dusting, but if the forecasters are right – and they are never wrong are they?! – there should be more snow on its way. So now is the time to get yourself a sledge. If you order it now it ought to be delivered in plenty of …
CES 2013 – Onkyo debuts its first ever headphones range
Japanese company Onkyo has always been big in home cinema and hi-fi and it has rustled up a pretty impressive iPhone dock or two. Now it is having a crack at a new market – headphones. At CES it took the wraps off a new range designed to be paired up with smartphones and take personal listenting to a new …
2012 is over. Why it is time to stop wearing the Union Jack
Happy New Year everyone. Hope is it a great one for you all. 2012 was pretty special wasn’t it! Even if you don’t really like sports you couldn’t possibly fail to be moved by the events of the Olympics and the Paralympics and the amazing stories they generated. And as for the Jubilee, even as person who isn’t much of …
Arsenal pursue French striker who has a knack of scoring spectacular goals
With Arshavin apparently on his way to Reading and a number of clubs competing for Chamakh Arsenal clearly has space for a striker or two. One totally left field suggestion has come today from French radio station RMC. In a story reported by LadyArse the club are being linked with a move for 21 year old French forward Anthony Knockaert. …
Brandish Christmas list #15 Albam Breton Stripe hat £49.99
Christmas is almost upon us so this is the last post in this series, but it is a good one. This year we have become big fans of the range of menswear from Albam. The company has its roots in Nottingham but also has a four stores in London now. If you are quick you might finds this rather lovely …
Happy Birthday Keith Richards – a tribute (and some cool photos)
Simon Poulter of the always excellent – What Would David Bowie Do? blog on the human riff. Britain’s Daily Mail, a newspaper you can regard with varying degrees of editorial pointlessness, surmised in June that Keith Richards – the Human Riff, the Human Lab, and a dozen other nicknames reflecting both guitar prowess and indestructibility – was now so broken, …
Houllier tells French TV Thierry Henry might not be going to Arsenal – no contact between the clubs
More problems for Arsene Wenger this morning. It seemed as if Arsenal’s greatest ever striker, Thierry Henry, was destined to return to the club for a third spell this winter. Many papers have suggested that this is a done deal and that Henry would be at the club for several weeks and could even play for The Gunners in the …
Sports Personality Of The Year Bradley Wiggins – and where he got the velvet suit from
It seemed a pretty much done deal last night that Tour de France/Olympic Time Trial Champion would win the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year. So in this parish at least it was as much about the suit he chose to wore as it was scooping the award. Wiggins plumped for a bespoke velvet (very on trend) double-breasted suit made …
Arsenal planning double raid on Liverpool – goalkeeper and winger on Wenger’s radar
There has been a lot of Arsenal-related transfer news in the last few hours. Though today it isn’t all about where Theo Walcott will spend the next part of his career, but about the list of players that Arsene Wenger is after in a bid to add steel to his rather brittle squad. The Mirror has a run down of …
Brandish Christmas List #13 Peckham Rye Paisley scarf £59
I am a huge fan of both paisley and the very classy Peckham Rye tailors – who have a shop on London’s Newburgh Street. So this red paisley scarf is a must. It is small bean paisley and this one is crimson red, though they also come in eight other colours. According to PR it is finest graded spun and …
Brandish Christmas List #12 Atom Retro Stripey College Scarf
Just in time for Christmas, our favourite vintage store Atom Retro has just taken delivery of a whole load of stripey college scarves. They are available in ten different colours, cost £34.99, and we are especially fond of this one (above), the green one and the red one (below). Stripey scarves really took off in the 1950s and have remained …
The ultimate pen – Ajoto hits Kickstarter
We don’t tend to use pens too much these days. I personally archive things on my iPad and my phone so I can access them digitally and the days of recording everything in a notebook are long gone. The theory goes though that if you are going to use a pen you might as well have a decent one, which …
Christmas shopping for men; your complete guide – gadgets, jumpers, scarves, randoms…
Over the last few weeks we have been ultra busy putting together a series of guides which may prove very useful if you are buying presents. Here then is the full list Gadgets Top weirdest gadgets and gifts Best gadgets for under £200 The ultimate tech Xmas present Retro gadgets that are actually very cool Best Android phones Best PC …