Style Icons: Male »Mystery (Worst Style Icon)

mysteryMystery and “The Game” and all the havoc it has wrought with its self help business seminars on how to sleep with chicks (by making them feel bad) or as their magic bullet manifesto states “eat tacos”, (not, mind you, actually appreciate and build any sort of meaningful or respectful relationship with women as equals) is the thing I hate most on this list. To the point that I'm almost at a loss for words and don't even know where to begin.

It all seems like a joke. How can this man, a manic depressive Canadian magician in a plush top hat, teach anyone anything? It would be nothing but hilarious if it weren't effecting so many sad, pathetic and genuinely lonely men who pay a lot (sometimes as much as $5,000) to learn how to dominate and “get” women. I think it's worth pointing out that Mystery refers to women as “investments”, among other dehumanizing terms.

Fortunately, I haven't been in the scene for a while and I don't get picked up in bars, but a lot of good friends who I care about frequently have their nights ruined by men employing tactics like “throwing negs”, that's when you're a total dick to a girl to get her attention, “You're pretty enough, but you're ears are too big.” I urge all women to immediately mace the next misguided gentleman who throws you a neg.

I laughed when I read that someone had stolen his welding goggles – known to his followers as “flair” for “peacocking”, something stupid you wear to begin a conversation. Conversations that I assume always begin with the woman asking, “What fucking year do you think it is, 1993?”

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Posted on November 10, 2008

Style Icons: Male »Jack Vance (Best Male Style Icon)

jack vanceStyle Icons (Male) category pick for the week of 10/6/08
Here's what I said then:

I have nothing but delightful things to say about Jack Vance, the greatest sci-fi writer ever, and the more I learn about him, the bigger a fan I become. He plays kazoo! He also wrote mysteries under the awesome name of Ellery Queen (a famous pseudonym created by two Brooklyn cousins who later farmed the work out to a series of different writers, a little bit like the later work of V.C. Andrews); he sailed around in a houseboat with Frank Herbert; and he kept writing even after he became legally blind in the 80s.

I've recommended just a few of his best on this blog, (Showboat World, Tales of the Dying Earth, and this week's The Blue World) but there are so many more that I love, including my personal favorite, a series of five novels called The Demon Princes (which I'm waiting to re-read before it makes my blog) .

He's a genius! I love him and live for his work! Nothing could make me sadder than the knowledge that Lurulu, written in 2004 is, as he's told the press, his last. Why? It's so unfair!

Vance is the only reason I have found an “in” to sci fi fiction. Sure, I've enjoyed an occasional book by, Asimov, Silverberg and Clarke, but Vance goes beyond traditional science fiction, which is usually about an unflappable hero who can do no wrong: the One. Vance's work is, by contrast, quite funny and more often than not, the hero is a totally?jerky–but frequently lovable–scoundrel.

Vance is the first person in a long time that I have felt the inkling to write a fan letter to–and maybe I just will.

Runner Ups:
Thierry Mugler
Tennessee Williams
Alan Moore
David Hockney
Ossie Clark

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Posted on November 3, 2008

Style Icons: Male »Vincent Price

vincent priceVincent Price's voice is an amazing thing, whether touting the positive aspects of spiders taking over the world in Welcome to my Nightmare, rapping about hounds of hell for Michael Jackson (a peerless performance that the consummate professional nailed in just two takes) or even as the Moraiarity-esque Ratigan in the semi-forgotten Great Mouse Detective; it was that voice that my generation recognized.

He was also a striking man of almost six and a half feet with the most horror-centric career of anyone I can think of; it was a long career that he enjoyed with great relish and a wicked sense of humor. The Fly, The House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler, The Masque of the Red Death, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, these (just a few in a huge catalog) are the films that made him a household name.

But his interests went beyond chills and thrills: he was an avid chef who published several cookbooks, and an art collector who generously donated part of his collection to East Los Angeles College. He died of lung cancer while shooting Edward Scissorhands and his illness caused re-shoots and his role to be made smaller by lifelong fan Tim Burton (who made a short film called Vincent years before, which Price himself narrated).

If you are hosting a party this week, both The Black Widow and Thriller are must-haves in your playlist–nothing says Halloween more than the sound of the great Vincent Price's sinister laughter.

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Posted on October 27, 2008

Style Icons: Male »Pruitt Taylor Vince

pruitt taylor vinceAs a devotee of good character actors, be they Clancy Brown, Karen Black, or Brad Dourif (not to be mistaken, as he often is for Stephen Dorff) – I thought it was time to recognize another great, the big guy with the googly eyes, the awesome Pruitt Taylor Vince, a man you have surely seen in one of his many television and movie appearances.

Deadwood, Constantine, CSI, Touching Evil, Monster, LA Confidential, Identity, The Cell, X Files, Natural Born Killers, Beautiful Girls, JFK, Jacob's Ladder, Wild at Heart, Mississippi Burning, Angel Heart

Obviously he was erroneously not included in Entertainment Weekly's recent articles about Hollywood's hardest working character actors.

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Posted on October 20, 2008

Style Icons: Male »Roxy Music

roxy musicWell now that I have gotten to know Roxy Music, there's no going back. I love their goofy, oddness and infinite coolness. Whether they were in high collared green sequins, or in high powered groom mode, looking like Elvis as a airline pilot, or Liberace as a space emperor, Brian Ferry and friends are unsung heroes in America, the kind of over the top extravagance that glam rock clings to.

We should all be grateful that King Crimson didn't want Ferry as their lead singer and he went on to form this influential band, briefly with genius Brian Eno, sax player Andy Mackay, Phil Manzanera, dreamy drummer Paul Thompson, and later Eddie Jobson.

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Posted on October 13, 2008

Style Icons: Male »Jack Vance

jack vanceI have nothing but delightful things to say about Jack Vance, the greatest sci-fi writer ever, and the more I learn about him, the bigger a fan I become. He plays kazoo! He also wrote mysteries under the awesome name of Ellery Queen (a famous pseudonym created by two Brooklyn cousins who later farmed the work out to a series of different writers, a little bit like the later work of V.C. Andrews); he sailed around in a houseboat with Frank Herbert; and he kept writing even after he became legally blind in the 80s.

I've recommended just a few of his best on this blog, (Showboat World, Tales of the Dying Earth, and this week's The Blue World) but there are so many more that I love, including my personal favorite, a series of five novels called The Demon Princes (which I'm waiting to re-read before it makes my blog) .

He's a genius! I love him and live for his work! Nothing could make me sadder than the knowledge that Lurulu, written in 2004 is, as he's told the press, his last. Why? It's so unfair!

Vance is the only reason I have found an “in” to sci fi fiction. Sure, I've enjoyed an occasional book by, Asimov, Silverberg and Clarke, but Vance goes beyond traditional science fiction, which is usually about an unflappable hero who can do no wrong: the One. Vance's work is, by contrast, quite funny and more often than not, the hero is a totally?jerky–but frequently lovable–scoundrel.

Vance is the first person in a long time that I have felt the inkling to write a fan letter to–and maybe I just will.

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Posted on October 6, 2008

Style Icons: Male »David Lee Roth

david lee rothLet's face it, David Lee Roth, “Diamond Dave” wearer of sequined demi vests, leather chaps and underwear, of the layered mane of feather rock hair and medium level talent, has always been ridiculous and yeah, it's even more ridiculous at whatever age he's lurking around at, but back in the day that kind of cockamamie swashbuckling was pretty cool.

As a kid I LOVED his videos for Just a Gigolo and California Girls and I really hate Sammy Hagar, so that automatically puts me on the DLR side of things. I was looking at some quotes from him, knowing there'd be plenty from the guy Rolling Stone called “the most obnoxious singer in human history, an achievement notable in the face of long tradition and heavy competition”. His witticisms remind me of a certain uncle of Jim a fifty something guy going on nineteen:

“Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it”,

I used to jog but the ice cubes kept falling out of my glass.”,

The light you see at the end of the tunnel is the front of an oncoming train.

He's never quite offensive in his love of bikini clad women, because ultimately he's the ditsy blond.

A friend of a friend had a run in with the man himself while getting busy in a NYC bar bathroom. Diamond Dave walked in on them and “whoa, been there, done that.” Classic.

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Posted on September 29, 2008

Style Icons: Male »David Foster Wallace

david foster wallaceIt was such sad day when the brilliant voice of David Foster Wallace was silenced last Saturday. Simply saying that we've lost one of our generations greatest writers seems far too mild. You know what I mean if you've committed to the experience of Infinite Jest, a book that you don't merely read, but breathe for months – I?had dreams that constantly took place in the underground halls of Enfield Tennis Academy.

When I finished it, I found myself baffled that one human being was capable of such a large scale opus that was so touching, gripping, sad, and funny. His talent blew my mind and shook my world and I am really, really sad that he unfairly decided to take his own life and took all that talent and all those ideas with him. It is rumored that he had been working on another long project before he died that will now likely never be read.

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Posted on September 22, 2008

Style Icons: Male »Eugene Souleiman

Eugene Souleiman Lately I have started to be a little more inventive with my hair. It's long, it's straight and I don't do a whole lot with it. But with fashion week abuzz and photos of fabulous hair creations abounding online, it seems to be time. But I really wish I had a genius like Eugene Souleiman to assist me. Favoring the dramatic and innovative, he usually works in a team with make up artist Pat McGrath who is called “the most influential make-up artist in the world” by Vogue magazine. A favorite of designers including Hussein Chalayan, not a single major magazine has not had his hand in the hair styling. View some of his handwork here and here.

If you want to be a house hold name in hair, you can go commercial and produce an infinite number of products and define a classic cut like Vidal Sassoon, or you cry and create babe hair on reality TV like Jonathan Antin. If you want the respect of the entire fashion industry, be credited with starting trends and win the British Fashion Awards “Fashion Creator” award you need merely be Eugene Souleiman.
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Posted on September 15, 2008

Style Icons: Male »Fred Butler

fred butlerOn a recent image search I came across this article about the fairly unrecognized and nearly unknown New Zealand collector, Fred Butler. As an avid pack rat (perhaps you'd like to see my storage room sometime) I felt a fond kinship with the “eccentric” man who not only saved the history of his beloved home town of New Plymouth when others found it worthless, he lived his later years in a home he shared with 13 cats(!) which was described in The Sunday Express as:

“No ordinary home. Every shelf wall and table has a collection of objects?Mr Butler has an estimated 80,000 books, wherever you look there are shelves of them?upstairs galleries hold trunks of 19th Century clothes sealed against moth and mildew.”

Ahh, sounds like a dream home to me.

He was a determined man who suffered for his passion of collecting. Eventually he sold his collection to the Tauranga Museum and he himself lived in their historic village, but it did not end well.

“One of the problems being his insistence of sunbathing in the nude on the veranda of the house he was provided at the Historic Village.”

Now his life's work has been dispersed throughout the country including Waikato Museum and Hawke's Bay Museum & Art Gallery. Other than those collections, only this article is still around to honor such an awesome individualist.

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Posted on September 8, 2008