Pop Culture Thumbs-Up - 27/04/09

   So, Esquire's Best Dressed Real Man in America competition (seriously). This little sartorial bloodbath has $10,000 dollars worth of Kenneth Cole up for grabs. Fills you with desire, no? Last time round, it was  almost won by a tiny dancer with an all-consuming penchant for early 20th century outfits despite being in his early 20s. Predictably, this profile is my favourite

   In great Japanese news, Kusanagi Tsuyoshi of clean-cut idol boyband and multimedia phenomenon, SMAP, caused a minor international stir last week by getting on down with his naked self in public, getting arrested and then disowned by every brand he's ever promoted in the process. There was a major stir in the fun parts of his fanbase at the idea of him being on display, though for such a camera-fanatical society, there's a curious paucity of pictorial evidence, which probably caused a major stir of fury in the minds of said fanbase. I remain impressed that at 34, he's still hugely popular with girls, whereas the fanbases of boybands over here steadfastly grow up with their singing eyecandy. But then, my favourite Japanese pop star, Cornelius, is 40 this year and still looks about 19

   Speaking of milestones, the Ninja Turtles are 25 this year, and you'd better believe that I'm going to expand on this presently

   Bling Bikini. I know, right?

   And for him, The World's Most Expensive Suit

   And finally, what carnage will ensue when Robert Rodriguez relaunches the Predator film franchise?

Prohibition! Or, The Perfect Name For a Club Night in Booze Britain Is...

   I could wax lyrical about the atmosphere, the music, the number of attractive flappers, the teacups, the dancing and the play gambling, but I trust the photos truly speak for themselves. This is Prohibition:

Clone a Couple! Or, My First Attempt at a Street Style Shot

For bonus fun, count the number of couples that appear in this photo

   It is just too cute when couples go that extra mile to coordinate their outfits, and in terms of thinking up ways to match, this is "A++ would do business again." And it's not the light/dark contrasting palette they've planned out, nor the style of shopping bags that doesn't so much whisper "His'n'Hers" as take out a classifieds ad, nor is it their obviously strong bond on the topics of saggy jeans and hybridised footwear. What really kills me is the choice of ankle-flashing roll-up hems that somehow seems to seal this obvious affirmation of mutual love and inspiration

   Too cute, yet somehow not too wrong. Style of love

The Sunshine Overground

Image alteration by Cary Grant on SF

   The major detraction regarding the warmer weather is weaving ensembles together if one insists on aiming for the classics. So, while I can, I'm going to enjoy as much layering - and pretty, young sunbathers - as possible. I'm not the greatest sunchild around, but it's good to get out when the weather's this bright and warm

Doctor Who and the Planet of the Dead

   Cue heavy linkage:

   I'm pretty certain a spin-off fiction Time Lady used a TARDIS disguised as a bus to get around. But then, the Easter special of Britain's Favourite Alien and his adventures was quite a self-referential affair, particularly if you're deeply immersed in the franchise. A one-off companion with thieving tendencies and infiltration skills - they would have done that in 1990 if not for the show's cancellation. Insectoid aliens - hugely common in sci fi, most recently seen in the series in 2007's 'Utopia'. A predatory, swarming species that devours anything and everything in its path, reducing its prey to practically nothing - the Vashta Nerada from 'Silence In The Library' and 'Forest (wait for it...) of the Dead', 2008. The companion-less Doctor on a damaged bus with human passengers, menaced by a mysterious, malevolent entity with panic and confusion in the air, as well as a black woman who turns out to be the other most important passenger aboard - the man himself compared it to the events of 'Midnight' (last year again). Is there any reason I'm mentioning all this besides flexing my keen eye for cannibalisation?

   Well, only because while traditionally, Doctor Who has channelled influences from other works, genres and stories, it tends to do something special with the result. It's somewhat rare for the show to eat itself, and the regurgitation didn't necessarily amount to much except window dressing. The most recent attempt was actually the aforementioned 'Library' story, but while that ultimately felt like incoming showrunner Stephen Moffat reaffirming and closing the book (doyousee?) on his prior themes, it's generally thought of in the fandom that anything he can do, outgoing showrunner Russel T Davies... can't. While 'Planet of the Dead' was ultimately entertaining, it was also painfully obvious most of the time, to the extent that the sacrificial lamb character was dead within the first 10 minutes and the friendly aliens should have been wearing red shirts. The central concept - Doctor Who does Pitch Black does Flight of the Phoenix (and that's not even mentioning the combo of wacky scientist, trainers-wearing pretty boy, flying automobile and a time machine) - would have been better executed back in the 2005 series when the Doctor was discussing the morality of execution over steaks, emphasising the importance of accepting mortality, showing total comfort over pansexuality and facing up to the consequences of genocide. With one exception, the series' Christmas specials have even featured some dark moments and a high death toll, whereas this was as safe as, well, the last Christmas special, with a similar "hero moment" of the Doctor high up in the sky, saving the day in an unusual mode of transport (because in the nu-Whoniverse, the least likely can become the saviour of the world, much like a certain shopgirl that Russel T pushes as The Most Important Character in the Series Besides the Doctor)

   I think I liked this better than other formulaic Russel-penned special tales like 'Voyage of the Damned' and 'The Christmas Invasion' because luckily, there was a certain sense of restraint - maybe co-writer Gareth Roberts has a calmer penhand than his caper-based stories would lead one to believe. The potentially grating supporting cast stayed on the bus, far in the background of the Dubai sand. Tennant was reasonably toned down and was allowed to bond with the passengers in a way that rang true, being compassionately reassuring rather than babbling platitudes at 900mph. No one spoke "profoundly" about how special - and/or dangerous - the Doctor is (something that the old series showed far more than it dared talk about - adds to the mystery), and the gun-happy soldiers of UNIT waited until their cue to start blowing crap up. I won't bother delving into the upper class action woman thievery antics of Michelle Ryan's Lady Christina, which has a long fictional precedent, or her overly clipped accent, but as a companion, I rather liked her. Aside from refusing to fawn all over the Doctor, even in the rote Forced Sexual Tension Scenes, she was so blasé and occasionally amoral that she felt like the companion the Tenth Doctor has needed almost all along (Catherine Tate aside). Someone who likes the adventure and participates in it as much as possible while remaining just curious enough to be the audience surrogate. The production team described her as a "typical" companion in the old series sense, which seemed to be a tacit way of admitting they wanted to depict a woman not drowning in her own angst for once. Thanks for that

   The ending was actually the best part, with some well directed, if clichéd, portents of doom for the Doctor (yes, we know he's regenerating next year, but if the character himself doesn't treat them as deaths since he's essentially the same guy each time, then others shouldn't either), and a thrilling escape for Lady Christina with a pleasant parting between her and the Doctor for good measure. And especially because Lee Evans's ultra geek scientist (hopefully the apex of Evans's obsession with the name 'Malcolm') was finally shoved offscreen once he met the Doctor. Time was, the Doctor interacted with social misfits who were actually entertaining. And in the name of restraint, the Time Lord finally managed to sell the concept of his loneliness without utilising Tennant's sadface to get the point across. And I have a good feeling that the rejection scene between the two leads won't be the last acting high point of the specials, not by a longshot

   Maybe I'll go fire up the iPlayer again

Pop Culture Tick-Offs - 07/04/09

   Things that have not made me happy of late include the untimely death of Angel alumni Andy Hallett at 33 last week. It was a sad piece of news made even more surreal and sad because earlier in the day I viewed him during a rewatch of the final episode to feature series lynchpin Charisma Carpenter, in which she and David Boreanaz genuinely cried during their final scene together. But then the show was stuffed with the talents of professionals who loved and knew what they were doing, and it's an apt and special body of work that Mr Hallett has left behind him

   It's somewhat ridiculous, given the circumstances, to say that this next story left a bad taste in my mouth, but one of my favourite Japanese indie-pop stalwarts, Hideki Kaji, was beaten up in Sweden on a video shoot while dressed as a pineapple. Ridiculous, but rather uncool nonetheless. Here's a video of Mr Kaji dressed as a rotating head on a yellow background and note that this assault is driving up his video comments on YouTube

   And finally, I'm predictably unimpressed that House M.D. is now short one main cast member, if only because I'm sceptical that the show is going to do justice to the fallout. But the actor did a great job bouncing off the rest of the cast and I cannot wait for the next season (not that this season is done yet)

   B

Outfit Digest - Gliding Down The Formality Scale

   Any object lessons? Cropped trousers are my latest work in progress, H&M make great jumpers, I'm developing a fandom of one for bow ties and the jacket and trousers outfit is, according to one critic, more of a "cravat outfit". Anyone believe I agreed? I'm thinking "scarf"

Song Obsession: Timothy Victor - 'Ass2Ass' (A Requiem For a Universal Dream)

   I make no claims on being a classy man, so when I state that I unironically watched most episodes of the third series of e4's Skins, a paean to the teenage angst that apparently runs through the souls of Bristolians aged 13 - 19 with the unrelentingness of a six foot long hose through one's lower intestine*, it's because it's the truth. I was curious, I really had little better to do, and if my love for symphonic orchestra performances at the Royal Festival Hall cannot coexist with my appetite for lowbrow televisual delights or chart music, then why live? And that brings me to 'Ass2Ass'

   There was pretty much one real highlight of the recently concluded series - two, if you count the performance of angsty-but-coping Kathryn Prescott aka "Gay Twin" Emily, who gets props for possessing better taste in music than her sister Megan. While I'm certain that the trials of tribulations of a teenage lesbian in love have been blessed with better portrayals (based on no research whatsoever), Emily benefited from having a hateful, controlling, shallow and possibly homophobic twin sister in Katie that resulted in her looking better by comparison, but Prescott was consistent in her characterisation and performance, distinguishing herself with strength of character to belie her vulnerabilities and fears and being one of the very few of the show's personalities to lack a core of narcissism. Her ability to give and receive kindness was distinct from most of the rest because Prescott made it believable that she was a girl worth cherishing. She probably had the happiest ending of all the main story threads - until next year

   Allow me to drift back to the point. 'Ass2Ass', from the 4th episode, is the centrepiece at a series of satirical shots of reality pop competition shows, with the blatant cod-soft porn antics of girl group Da Sexxbombz only one element. Boasting Popstars: The Rivals and Girls Aloud runner-up, failed solo singer (but for a euphoric collaboration with Richard X) and infamous home-wrecker Javine Hylton in an oh-so-meta appearance, the group was on the hunt for a new member and their schtick, as portrayed onscreen, owes far more to the Prince-directed frolics of Vanity 6 - lingerie, innuendo, sex songs - than the generally implied sexuality of the contemporary scene. Gratefully, rather than solely make obvious cracks about the superficiality and exploitation of such entertainment, supporting character and contestant Karen was relatively complicit, using her tale of a dead mother to further her voter base. Focusing on the media-friendly backstory element all such contestants seem to possess in our world gave the episode more of a unique slant and gave consideration to how all encompassing a desire to be famous can be used to dishonour a memory (even Karen's father had no qualms about this vulgar invocation of his dead wife)

   Anyway, 'Ass2Ass' is just another piece of the referential whole (incidentally, other Da Sexxbombz tracks include 'Rim Licking' and 'Juicing Down'). It's musically based on Britney's 'Piece of Me' (a song that's unapologetically about the tabloid antics of its world famous performer, gossip fixture and singer of the good clean fun of 'If You See(k) Amy'), right down to the vocoder, minimal synth bass and sampled ecstatic moans, and in performance, the bodypopping, crop haired "backing singer" is straight out of the video to Fedde Le Grand's 'Let Me Think About It'. And taking its title from a pivotal scene of a movie that got the juices of a million film students flowing does make an extra effort to layer the shout-outs. The song works because it has one thing going for it - it was clearly written with the mind of a schoolboy for the minds of actual schoolboys (and overgrown ones, in my case) - and this one thing leads to other things - catchiness, infectious glee, knowing winks and, in the episode, better dancing than Vanity 6 ever managed. And they even went to the effort of a full-length, ready for pirate radio production

   Get it here (yes, I went there)

* Also stolen from a television show - my favourite, in fact. If you know which one, I have an opening for a new BFF. And that's another rephrasing in the making

Customise Me

   It's no surprise to anyone that I've developed quite the bulging... wardrobe over the years. And it's pretty much a sure thing that I don't wear everything I've bought, stolen, borrowed or been given. But I try to be a waste not-want not kind of man and over time, I'll be looking at customising pieces I own

   The bug bit me late last year when I snagged one of the many highlights of Junya Watanabe Comme des Garçons Man's S/S 08 collection, which in itself practically encapsulates half of my ideas on how menswear can be fun yet refined and referential. Perhaps the pinnacle of the ongoing collaboration the designer began with the ever iconic Lacoste in 2005, it's a safari jacket made out of Lacoste's own polo shirts, recut and stitched together, lined with Junya's own fabrics, designed using fanatically classic tailoring techniques and overdyed in various colours. Indeed, on the runway, it made two appearances, with one model peacocking in a rather sharp red:

Credit: men.style.com

   Naturally, Japan received every variation going (I mean, orange), but London made do with the pink one. As excellent as brazen pastels can be for the bright, sharp season, I needed a little more seasonal versatility from such a compelling piece, and I was prepared to stake its entire look on my desire

   All it took was one box of Dylon dye, one box of Dylon Colour Remover (essential to make sure the dye will run evenly over a more neutral, mostly colour-free garment), about 300g of salt and the help of a very good friend:

Before

After

   FAQs tend to focus on the lack of overdyed stitching. Simple answer: polyester thread doesn't take well to dyeing, and even the industrial strength dye of the jacket's original configuration only lent the tinge of pink to the stitches first time around. The faint purple wash on the buttons is a rather nice result, and all in all, I got what I wanted - a jacket to wear almost anywhere I want

   The fellows at Browns weren't so pleased, though