diff --git a/blog/content/posts/AJ11CMFTLowBred.md b/blog/content/posts/AJ11CMFTLowBred.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e088e02 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/content/posts/AJ11CMFTLowBred.md @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +--- +title: "Air Jordan 11 CMFT Low Bred" +date: 2021-09-17T12:08:42-04:00 +categories: [shoes, jordan] +tags: [air jordan 11, black] +draft: false +--- + +![Air Jordan 11 CMFT Low [Black, Red]](/images/aj11cmftlowbredstock.jpg) + +The Air Jordan 11 is arguably one of the most popular sneaker silhouettes +in existence. Its striking use of patent leather made everyone reconsider +what constitutes a "sneaker" and what contexts wearing a pair is appropriate +for. Since its initial release, it's been steadily re-released in a variety +of colourways, celebrated as an annual holiday tradition for Nike and Jordan +(brand), proudly worn both on the basketball court and to more formal +functions like weddings and graduation ceremonies. + +Beyond the scheduled "retro" releases, the 11 also occasionally sees +alternative designs, such as this "CMFT" Low variant, which trades out the +Cordura-style ballistic nylon and carbon fiber shank for more breathable +textiles and softer midsoles, emphasizing its "comfort" namesake. + +Recently, there was a new colourway of the CMFT Low that highly resembles one +of the original Air Jordan 11 colourways, the Columbia ("Legend") Blue that I +considered picking up, but I already have a pair of the Air Jordan 11 Retro +Low "Legend Blue" (2021) that I haven't even started wearing yet. diff --git a/blog/content/posts/AJ3Georgetown2021.md b/blog/content/posts/AJ3Georgetown2021.md index 98abb96..acda0d5 100644 --- a/blog/content/posts/AJ3Georgetown2021.md +++ b/blog/content/posts/AJ3Georgetown2021.md @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ --- title: "Air Jordan 3 Retro Georgetown (2021)" -date: 2021-09-14T13:58:33-04:00 +date: 2021-09-14T09:58:33-04:00 categories: [shoes, jordan] tags: [air jordan 3, navy] draft: false diff --git a/blog/content/posts/AdidasNMDCitySock.md b/blog/content/posts/AdidasNMDCitySock.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ca58c85 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/content/posts/AdidasNMDCitySock.md @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ +--- +title: "Adidas NMD City Sock (White, Gum)" +date: 2021-09-14T15:59:21-04:00 +categories: [shoes, adidas] +tags: [nmd, white] +draft: false +--- + +![Adidas NMD City Sock [White, Gum]](/images/adidasnmdcitysockstock.jpg) + +Balenciaga released the Speed Trainer to mass appeal in late 2016. They +penetrated popular culture, even leading to a hip-hop shoutout from Cardi B, +where she called them "(the shoe) that look like a sock". They quickly +dominated many fashion circles, leading to a hypersaturation of textile-upper +shoes that is probably killing the hype they once had, now almost seen with +disdain, which is unfortunate, because conceptually, they were very +interesting, as a jumped-to conclusion of the advent of the Yeezy Boost 350. + +Arguably what kicked-off this saturated movement was the "City Sock", an +early variant of the Adidas Originals™ NMD, which already featured a +knit upper. The City Sock took the NMD's design further by omitting the +traditional expectation of laces, leaving only a knit with a heel counter +attached to a sole. This particular colourway wasn't released until 2017, but +the original was one of the first models available in March 2016, the first +NMD release since its quiet debut in New York in December 2015. diff --git a/blog/content/posts/AprixAPR002.md b/blog/content/posts/AprixAPR002.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c4065e --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/content/posts/AprixAPR002.md @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +--- +title: "Aprix APR-002 (Grey, Blue)" +date: 2021-09-16T09:47:28-04:00 +categories: [shoes, aprix] +tags: [apr-002, white] +draft: false +--- + +![Aprix APR-002 [Grey, Blue]](/images/aprixapr002stock.jpg) + +These were the first suede sneakers I ever bought. All official marketing +materials seem to indicate that this is a "grey", but to me, it always felt +more like a warm off-white cream. I thought the blue accents would make this +shoe pair well with a pair of jeans, so that's what I usually wore them with. +All my life, I'd been told not to buy white and/or suede sneakers because +they'd be "ruined" too quickly, but as I grew to love and appreciate the +character developed in long-lasting, hard-wearing items like raw denim and +natural leather belts, I decided I could live with the inevitability of +permanent marks of wear on my sneakers, and how glad I was! I can proudly say +I buy my shoes to wear and baby in favour of keeping them in pristine +condition for some hypothetical "perfect outfit" I would never actually +construct. Outfits are ephemeral as are ultimately the items in our +wardrobes, so we may was well enjoy them while we can. Even if the upper has +been completely matted by repeated abuseby dirt and water, the rubber outsole +has held up remarkably well, I think moreso than any other sneaker I've ever +owned. For a little visual "refresh" after a couple of years, I replaced the +accent-matching blue laces with a pastel braided lace. diff --git a/blog/content/posts/BirkenstockArizona.md b/blog/content/posts/BirkenstockArizona.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b75916 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/content/posts/BirkenstockArizona.md @@ -0,0 +1,22 @@ +--- +title: "Birkenstock Arizona ("Havana" Oiled Leather)" +date: 2021-09-17T15:12:16-04:00 +categories: [shoes, birkenstock] +tags: [arizona, brown] +draft: false +--- + +![Birkenstock Arizona with Oiled Leather [Brown]](/images/birkenstockarizonastock.jpg) + +It's funny that what now seems like a ubiquitous sandal didn't even exist +before 1973. It's what I picture Jesus walking around in as he lectures the +masses, which is frankly absurd. Two leather straps tape your foot down to a +suede-lined cup for your foot made of cork, stuck onto an EVA outsole. They +feel like torture for the first couple of weeks, but after they actually +conform to the shape of your foot. The shoemakers in Germany must know what +they're doing. + +Even if you wear through the EVA outsole, any decent cobbler should be able +to replace it with something materially similar, if not an official +Birkenstock-branded outsole, thereby eliminating the need to purchase a new +upper and midsole and the break-in period that they come with. diff --git a/blog/content/posts/CelineMicroBelt.md b/blog/content/posts/CelineMicroBelt.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8232a8d --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/content/posts/CelineMicroBelt.md @@ -0,0 +1,29 @@ +--- +title: "Céline Mint Green Micro Belt Bag (Fall 2017)" +date: 2021-09-14T13:05:03-04:00 +categories: [bags, celine] +tags: [belt bag, mint green] +draft: false +--- + +![Céline Micro Belt Bag (Fall 2017) [Mint Green]](/images/celinemicrobeltbagstock.jpg) + +The Belt Bag debuted in 2015, as a more minimal followup to the Luggage Tote +and the Trapeze Bag. Season after season, it was reissued in new colourways, +and even sizes. In her final year at Céline, Pheobe Philo's Céline released +some of their largest collections before her departure, including this +specific colourway. I bought this when I learned Hedi Slimane, Celine's new +creative director, made the decision to remove the acute accent from the 'e' +in the creative house's branding (which Philo added), despite continuing to +sell Philo's original designs. This bag is a symbol of style that was made by +an icon who was being erased by her successor; I had to have one with "her" +name still on it. In my mind, she's like the British Woman counterpart to the +American Man that is Rick Owens; her designs were focused on what she believed +women truly wanted to wear, a similar philosophy to how Owens is inspired to +design by things he'd want to wear in his everyday life. + +This bag is made of an artifically grained calfskin, similar to Hermès' +"Epsom" leathers, meaning that before construction, the hides were processed +with heat and pressure to create a perfectly consistent grain that masks +small imperfections in the material, and makes it more resistant to scratches +and water. diff --git a/blog/content/posts/DiadoraMiBasketUsed.md b/blog/content/posts/DiadoraMiBasketUsed.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baa047 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/content/posts/DiadoraMiBasketUsed.md @@ -0,0 +1,19 @@ +--- +title: "Diadora MI Basket Used" +date: 2021-09-15T15:21:33-04:00 +categories: [shoes, diadora] +tags: [mi basket, white] +draft: false +--- + +![Diadora MI Basket Used [White]](/images/diadoramibasketusedstock.jpg) + +I knew it would be nearly impossible to acquire the Nike Air Jordan 1 '85 +Hi's from a retailer instead of a reseller who would mark it up for 100% over +retail, so I ordered a pair of these in consolation. The year before Michael +Jordan got his Nike contract, when he was still wearing Converse Pro Leathers +and Adidas Forum Hi's, Diadora sponsored the Milan basketball team in 1984, +and they've released these as a nod to that heritage. The materials on these +shoes feel far nicer than anything I've felt on any shoe put out by +Nike/Jordan (brand) in the last decade, and they've been artifically aged to +look like they really came from 1984. diff --git a/blog/content/posts/FujitsuPFUHHKBPro2.md b/blog/content/posts/FujitsuPFUHHKBPro2.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..81ed152 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/content/posts/FujitsuPFUHHKBPro2.md @@ -0,0 +1,31 @@ +--- +title: "Fujitsu PFU Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional 2" +date: 2021-09-15T11:13:44-04:00 +categories: [input hardware, topre] +tags: [keyboard, black] +draft: false +--- + +![Fujitsu PFU Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional 2 [Black]](/images/fujitsupfuhhkbpro2stock.jpg) + +This is my current daily driver. A compact, 60% keyboard made with +Topre-designed electro capacitive keyswitches. More inexperienced, misguided +keyboard enthusiasts will tell you that Topre's proprietary switch mechanisms +aren't worth paying for because they're "glorified rubber domes". What these +people fail to recognize is that "rubber domes" aren't an inherently bad +quality in a keyboard, assuming the mechanisms are built well enough. I've +seen keyboard YouTubers boast about how they've "vastly improved" a friend's +typing experience by building them a new keyboard using Cherry MX derivative +linear switches, while tossing out their supposedly terrible Dell keyboards +that happen to be made with Alps SKCMs and NMB domes with sliders that would +have provided vastly superior typing experiences if they were just cleaned +and refurbished, but I digress. + +As much as I love the feeling of the sliders moving through this keyboard's +plastic housing, I'm just not a fan of any of the layouts that can be enabled +on this keyboard via the DIP switch block accessible from the back, under a +removable cover. Thanks to someone over at the GeekHack forums who goes by +"hasu," most Topre popular boards have been reverse-engineered, so I was able +to set up a custom build of QMK relatively easily, after rewiring the +keyswitch PCB to a new MCU (the ATMega32u4 on a Teensy 2.0), and write my own +custom keyboard firmware. diff --git a/blog/content/posts/HermesBirkin30OrangeEpsom.md b/blog/content/posts/HermesBirkin30OrangeEpsom.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..92665e2 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/content/posts/HermesBirkin30OrangeEpsom.md @@ -0,0 +1,24 @@ +--- +title: "Hermès Birkin 30 (Orange Epsom)" +date: 2021-09-16T13:22:48-04:00 +categories: [bags, hermes] +tags: [birkin, orange] +draft: false +--- + +![Hermès Birkin 30 in Epsom Calfskin [Orange]](/images/hermesbirkin30orangeepsomstock.jpg) + +This bag is so notorious, that it made its brand notorious. Supposedly +designed for Jane Birkin after a basket she was carrying througn an airport +spilled its contents when she tried to stuff it into a plane's overhead +storage, it's become an icon of a supposed "selectivism" of the brand's +choice of customers; even if the average person did have thousands of dollars +to spend on a piece of hand luggage on a whim, they are so sought after, that +they nearly instantly sell out when stores get the chance to restock them. +The date code on mine denotes that it was made in 2016. + +Epsom is Hermès' name for calfskins that have experienced an artificial +graining process. Calfskins not suitable for more "natural" finishes such as +Togo are applied with heat and pressure to make its grain perfectly +consistent and hide small imperfections in the skin, as well as more scratch +and water resistent. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/blog/content/posts/HermesBirkin35BlackBox.md b/blog/content/posts/HermesBirkin35BlackBox.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c09c424 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/content/posts/HermesBirkin35BlackBox.md @@ -0,0 +1,33 @@ +--- +title: "Hermès Birkin 35 (Black Box)" +date: 2021-09-15T16:42:29-04:00 +categories: [bags, hermes] +tags: [birkin, black] +draft: false +--- + +![Hermès Birkin 30 in Box Calfskin [Black]](/images/hermesbirkin35blackboxstock.jpg) + +These bags are so desirable that if you manage to purchase one from an Hermès +boutique, you could easily walk out of the store and sell it to someone else +for a great deal more than you paid for it at the retailer. Because they're +so valuable outside of their own retail environment and move so quickly, the +brand's sales associates (SAs) refuse to sell the bags to anyone other than +"dedicated" Hermès brand fanatics and loyalists. A good measure that seems to +sway most SAs into offering one of these coveted bags for sale is to spend at +least the (retail) value of the bag on other items sold by Hermès--the +housewares, the blankets, the clothes, the belts, the footwear, the silk +scarves and the perfumes. Of course, none of this matters if you happen to be +someone willing to buy them second-hand. + +Box leather is named after late-19th century English shoe craftsman Joseph +Box. It was originally formulated for making black shoes that develop a +gorgeous patina with wear, and was used almost exclusively on vintage Hermès +bags, like the Kelly. Creases made in the material are very difficult to get +out, so the fact that their craftsmen who construct the bags can +saddle-stitch them together by hand without leaving any marks is +exceptionally impressive. It's almost a tragedy that these are constructed to +such a high standard only to inevitably see those marks of wear: the +scratches that can't be buffed out, the creases that almost resemble veins. +But maybe the fact that the only marks I see on the bag could have come from +myself, and not where I got it from, is a part of the beauty. diff --git a/blog/content/posts/PumaRSFastSuperMarioGalaxy.md b/blog/content/posts/PumaRSFastSuperMarioGalaxy.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..05a760e --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/content/posts/PumaRSFastSuperMarioGalaxy.md @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ +--- +title: "Puma RS-Fast Super Mario Galaxy" +date: 2021-09-17T13:55:31-04:00 +categories: [shoes, puma] +tags: [rs-fast, black, white] +draft: false +--- + +![Puma RS-Fast Super Mario Galaxy [Black, White]](/images/pumarsfastsupermariogalaxystock.jpg) + +This may be hard to hear for anyone who grew up with the earlier iterations +of Super Mario Bros., but the Nintendo Wii outsold the original Nintendo +Entertainment System (NES) by over 60 million units, so it's not unthinkable +that today, more children have grown up playing the flagship Wii Mario game +than its NES predecessor. + +That being said, Galaxy undoubtably owes a lot of its evolution from previous +3D Mario entries (64, Sunshine) to the linearity of "traditional" 2D Mario +games. Nintendo transformed a game that was once focused on exploration just +as its developer was exploring what made playing in 3D fun that couldn't be +accomplished in 2D, into a much more tightly focused experience that guides +you through worlds in a variety of predefined routes that was honestly more +reminiscent of what Mario games used to be: a track of obstacles that could +be beautifully presented with absolute contextual relevence because the +developers knew exactly where the camera would always be. diff --git a/blog/content/posts/ReebokClubC85Menthol.md b/blog/content/posts/ReebokClubC85Menthol.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..403b1dc --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/content/posts/ReebokClubC85Menthol.md @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +--- +title: "Reebok Club C 85 (Menthol)" +date: 2021-09-16T18:12:35-04:00 +categories: [shoes, reebok] +tags: [club c, white] +draft: false +--- + +![Reebok Club C 85 [Chalk, Heritage Teal, Cool Shadow]](/images/reebokclubc85mentholstock.jpg) + +I bought these shoes because they reminded me of a menthol cigarette. That's +a bit of an oversimplification, so let me explain: back in 2006, following +the praise of BAPE's "bootleg" of the Air Force 1, the "Bapestas," fellow +sneakerhead Ari Saal Forman released a 252 pairs of the "Ari Menthol 10s" in +a sample run to a couple of smaller retailer in New York. + +The Ari Menthol 10s were a spin on the Air Force 1 that inverted the Nike +"Swoosh" Logo, making it more resemble the branding of Newport Cigarettes; +they were a criticism of "the two brands who have taken the most and given +the least": Nike and Newport, who've both in some capacity, exploited and +profitted from the Black American community. Neither Nike nor Newport were +happy about this product, so they sued Ari into oblivion. + +These are just a classic tennis shoe in a colourway that happens to resemble +a menthol cigarette, but they'll always remind me of that piece of "lore" I +mentioned earlier. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/blog/static/images/adidasnmdcitysockstock.jpg b/blog/static/images/adidasnmdcitysockstock.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a6019b7 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/static/images/adidasnmdcitysockstock.jpg differ diff --git a/blog/static/images/aj11cmftlowbredstock.jpg b/blog/static/images/aj11cmftlowbredstock.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d64cd26 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/static/images/aj11cmftlowbredstock.jpg differ diff --git a/blog/static/images/aprixapr002stock.jpg b/blog/static/images/aprixapr002stock.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a7eb069 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/static/images/aprixapr002stock.jpg differ diff --git a/blog/static/images/birkenstockarizonastock.jpg b/blog/static/images/birkenstockarizonastock.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b667c5f Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/static/images/birkenstockarizonastock.jpg differ diff --git a/blog/static/images/celinemicrobeltbagstock.jpg b/blog/static/images/celinemicrobeltbagstock.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d659a14 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/static/images/celinemicrobeltbagstock.jpg differ diff --git a/blog/static/images/diadoramibasketusedstock.jpg b/blog/static/images/diadoramibasketusedstock.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..44d8023 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/static/images/diadoramibasketusedstock.jpg differ diff --git a/blog/static/images/fujitsupfuhhkbpro2stock.jpg b/blog/static/images/fujitsupfuhhkbpro2stock.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fdc7ac1 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/static/images/fujitsupfuhhkbpro2stock.jpg differ diff --git a/blog/static/images/hermesbirkin30orangeepsomstock.jpg b/blog/static/images/hermesbirkin30orangeepsomstock.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..46425ab Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/static/images/hermesbirkin30orangeepsomstock.jpg differ diff --git a/blog/static/images/hermesbirkin35blackboxstock.jpg b/blog/static/images/hermesbirkin35blackboxstock.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2db1402 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/static/images/hermesbirkin35blackboxstock.jpg differ diff --git a/blog/static/images/pumarsfastsupermariogalaxystock.jpg b/blog/static/images/pumarsfastsupermariogalaxystock.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9db0127 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/static/images/pumarsfastsupermariogalaxystock.jpg differ diff --git a/blog/static/images/reebokclubc85mentholstock.jpg b/blog/static/images/reebokclubc85mentholstock.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51176f9 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/static/images/reebokclubc85mentholstock.jpg differ