the time has come to put the lid on this experiment.  the goal from the beginning was to take account for the sources of inspiration i have drawn personal style from.  sense of humor, literary, film and musical taste and style of dress.  all of these elements have been thoughtfully borrowed and fit into place with the puzzle that is the way i see and project myself.

i’ve had a great time considering and expressing the ways these many people have influcenced the way i think, look and behave and i’d encourage everyone to take a look at their own sense of style and account for where they’ve discovered influence.

~

happy new year

clean the spittoons, boy.
detroit,
chicago,
atlantic city,
palm beach.
clean the spittoons.
the steam in hotel kitchens,
and the smoke in hotel lobbies,
and the slime in hotel spittoons:
part of my life.
hey, boy!
a nickel,
a dime,
a dollar,
two dollars a day.
hey, boy!
a nickel,
a dime,
a dollar,
two dollars
buy shoes for the baby.
house rent to pay.
gin on saturday,
church on sunday.
my god!
babies and gin and church
and women and sunday
all mixed with dimes and
dollars and clean spittoons
and house rent to pay.
hey, boy!
a bright bowl of brass is beautiful to the lord.
bright polished brass like the cymbals
of king david’s dancers,
like the wine cups of Solomon.
hey, boy!
a clean spittoon on the altar of the lord.
a clean bright spittoon all newly polished—
at least I can offer that.
com’mere, boy!

absurdity is the lifeblood of comedy and when a comic has the ability to approach it from a character that is seemingly oblivious, the absurd makes us laugh that much harder.  leslie neilsen had that talent in spades!  thank goodness we can share his memories on dvd.

we remember those who made us laugh in a different way.

they call him the abbot, meaning the teacher of the wu tang clan. he introduced 8 of his comrades from the projects of new york city to eastern culture, philosophy and religions.  as a result, the music they made in the 90s and 2000s has no parallel. those 8 other young men in that he taught have gone on to show countless members of their audience how to build something monumental out of nothing. as a visionary in hip hop and an ambassador of the downtrodden he has shown people all over the world how to first look inward for the knowledge of self and then how to take that knowledge and seek influence from all of the other abbots in your life.

five percent nation, kung fu, chess, taoism, buddhism, holistic medicine, the teachings of christ, science and mathematics.

“if what you say is true, the shaolin and the wu-tang could be very dangerous!”

if you’re not afraid to spend a ton of loot on a great tie or you’re impressed by people who seem to squeeze more hours out of a day then the rest of us then you’ll want to familiarize yourself with the work of alexander olch.  harvard graduate, buzz-worthy screenplay writer and director and most recently stiff competition for the juggernauts of the formal menswear industry, olch works hard and does many things well.

stay tuned in as we count down the days until hermes and paul smith start buckling under the pressure of competition with this young gun.

with a little dust on my sneakers and some weight in my backpack, i found a fair amount of time in transit to consider some looming questions.

this video seems fitting.

i’m excited to say that i’ll be travelling around south america over the next three weeks.

i’m less excited to say that my blog will inevitably take backseat as i cannot be sure how much time i’ll have to sit down at a computer.

having said that however, i do hope to get in an update or two during my trip and i’d also like to ask my readers for a small favour.

i’m in the very early stages of a writing project that puts the idea of changing our world under a microscope and i’d like to get some feedback from you.

what values act as the greatest catalyst for change?

and

who do you see making effecting the change you believe our world needs?

thank you for your loyal readership and i look forward to your feedback.

~paul

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the tough look on his face is not a front, a product of director cues or hours spent in acting classes.

this is the toughness of a man who has seen 11 years of his life taken from him behind bars. a toughness that comes with knowing what it’s like to have people fear you, regretting the pain you’ve caused and finding the courage to right those wrongs.

if his career in hollywood was written in the stars then his life before the silver screen can be seen as unintentional method acting. there’s very few people in hollywood who can “play tough” as well as this man and i have to assume that is because few people know what it feels like to be tough as he is.

trejo spends much of his free time now speaking to at risk youth about the perils of street life and the redemption he has found in the new life he lives.

with all the resources available to hollywood, why do they have so much trouble capturing the authenticity of subcultures?

with the exception of 8 mile, every studio film i can think of that tries to focus in on the fringes of popular culture ends up feeling contrived and out of touch. now try to imagine 8 mile without the involvement of eminem, an artist who helped build the vehicle that the story was based around. the credibility is almost certainly crushed.

shown above is a picture of justin pierce who played casper in the hyper provocative larry clark indy film kids. although pierce’s career was abruptly ended when he took his own life in july of 2000, this role stands out to me when i think of authenticity in film.

skateboarding culture has always been particularly subject to misrepresentation in mainstream film and television. therefore it should come as no surprise that larry clark took to the streets of new york city to find real skateboarders to capture the underground cultural zeitgeist of the mid 90′s. in justin pierce he found a kid who knew nothing about method acting or character development but naturally was able to show off the spirit of the culture he belonged to.

in the next couple of posts i’d like to take the opportunity to explore a couple of actors, musicians and writers who exude authenticity because they were given the right opportunity to speak to an audience in their natural voice.

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