Respite

Well of course it's been far too long since I've posted but if you know me you know why. I fear that I won't be able to devote much time to this old journal this fall. Maybe I'll post something occasionally - no guarantees. Anyway, I might pick it up again during winter break.

See you then,

A Longer Post on the Wonder of the Banker's Collar Remains to be Written

I really like this shirt.

But is the collar too spread?

Unorganized Zürich thoughts

Schwyzers are up there with the nicest people I have ever encountered. In Paris there was a lack of hostility, in Switzerland there was genuine warmth.

Lake Zürich is as clear as they say. And warm enough to swim in. I did.

The Swiss, however nice they may be, are not noticeably stylish. Though the women dress better than the men.

Fondue shouldn't be eaten in summer, but I did it anyway. It was delicious, but tasted more of kirschwasser than of cheese.

Whatever bread they serve with bratwurst is the greatest bread product I have ever consumed.

The Kronenhalle is a legendary dining experience - my favorite meal, period. And,

The Wiener Schnitzel at Kronenhalle became my favorite dish from the minute I laid eyes upon it.

Favorite authentically Swiss food: Cordon Bleu.

Favorite Swiss sweet: Sprüngli's Luxembergerli.

The view through the Zürichsee into the Alps - priceless.

Zürich's tram system is one of the best public trans systems that I've come across. And,

The construction workers working to improve the tram system actually work.

The honor of best duty free selection at any airport belongs to Zürich Flughafen.

Unorganized Paris thoughts

Five days in Paris yield this:

Quickest way to get through Paris: Motorcycle/scooter. Apparently traffic laws only apply to vehicles with four wheels.

The Left Bank may be overrated, though Brasserie Lipp is most certainly not.

The Place Vendôme is unparalleled.

Tuileries is far too dusty for me but it did have a cute carnival which seemed oddly populated by middle aged people.

The Louvre could never be overrated.

French meat is good but not American meat good.

Harry's Bar is the real deal.

Forget Alain Figaret and Charvet. If you want a beautiful shirt, go to Van Laack, even though it's not French.

Bon Marché>Printemps>Galeries Lafayette.

Kir Royal forever.

I found no hostility just because I was American. Only smiles when I meagerly attempted speaking French.

A.P.C. surplus store was interesting but, not surprisingly, stocked with goofy sizes. But...

July is sale season in Paris and the deals were there. APC soft cords for a good price at Le Bon Marché.

Parisians sit outside cafes facing the street rather than each other. This is the right way to do it.

The metro system of trains was always crowded. No matter when or where. But it is efficient. And high marks to the free bike system, too.

PAUL's macarons>Ladurée's

Headwinds: 114km/h

Just back from the continent; thoughts on Paris and Zürich to follow.

At your leisure,

More than worth a read.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/07/opinion/07brooks.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=brooks&st=cse

15

It looked dicey this year, and even today. But a true champion prevails.

A Formula for Life

I finally had a chance to visit the A.P.C. store in Soho. Let me step back and explain. A.P.C. gets a lot of play on blogs I read, some of which can be found on the right sidebar. I had always theoretically liked the clothes but hadn't had much exposure to them beyond the computer screen. Of course, this all changed when I visited the store on Mercer. My theoretical like for the clothes turned into a definitive, actual like. No, I didn't fill a closet, but I could have. There's something about the aesthetic - the casually put together French style - that I really can't argue with. Sheer luck that a sale was in progress, which allowed me to get a pair of their famed jeans - petit standards for the record and a pair of what they termed "boy scout" shorts, which were sufficiently cheeky for my tastes. I also really dug a grey banker's collar shirt with the ridiculously authentic removable collar but, alas, there were no smalls in sight. Ultimately, a really successful day and a brand for me to keep in constant mind. I can't wait to visit some of their stores in France later this summer, although I don't know how the prices will play our.

Just a note on the jeans, for what it's worth here, I'd heard rumors of vanity sizing and these proved true. The 32s swam on me.

Perplexed

It's a men's singles day at Wimbledon today. I do not have much time to watch this morning. And ESPN2 is showing the Williams sisters playing doubles.

SW19 '09

You knew this was coming. I couldn't go without commenting on the tennis world, especially considering The Championships, Wimbledon, started Monday. Although I'm American and it's not my home slam, Wimbledon holds a special place in my heart. I knew it when I first laid eyes upon the grass on television and I confirmed it when I got to go in person two years ago. Really the word is magical - there is just something magical about the place and the tournament. This something cannot be matched.

I haven't had the chance to watch too much this year due to scheduling issues but the daily coverage falls right in my television viewing sweet spot so I'm hoping to catch some more live action the rest of this first week. I think DirecTV has its mix channel going and that's a dream considering ESPN2's coverage is all Williams sisters.

I followed the Nadal withdrawal saga pretty closely and would like to comment on it. In truth, I think Nadal is really showing us what he's made of here. Maybe his knees really do hurt that badly, but something tells me it's his psyche that's bruised. The Madrid loss, the French loss, his parents' divorce - I think it's too much to handle, especially for someone with the low maturity level that Nadal has. I really couldn't tell you what to expect out of him from here on out. His body is fragile and so is his mind. I guess we'll see how a supposedly great champion reacts.

The Nadal withdrawal doesn't change my prediction on who will win. Yeah, it's Roger's tournament. He is, of course, riding high, and given that he is the most incredible front-runner the game has ever witnessed, I don't foresee him dropping the ball. The British press can talk Murray up all they want, but he's just not there yet. They want him to be, but he just isn't.

I watched the first set of Roger's opener and although he didn't look particularly sharp, it just felt good to see him gliding across the rye.

Geländewagen

Now, would I rather have a Defender or a G-Wagen?

Worth it

http://www.selectism.com/news/2009/06/10/land-rover-limited-fire-ice-defenders/#more-17338

Many thanks to Selectism for this. And many thanks to LR, too.

+

RF

Right Where They Left You

After listening to more of White Rabbits' new album, a nice little metaphor dawned upon me. If Fort Nightly was the party, then It's Frightening is the hangover.

Time

There's nothing for me to say that hasn't already been said. Let me just say that, save for Roger, there is no man I would have liked to see beat Nadal more than Soderling.

Heja Svea!

The Big Picture

Have been watching a lot of Roland Garros but I don't really have time for a significant post.

A few quick thoughts:

Murray looked sloppy against Starace, especially in the early part of the third set, but the Italian choked and Murray raised his game simultaneously, and Murray won fairly easily. I still don't see Murray going far.

Roger gave me half a scare this morning versus Acasuso, but he raised his game at the right time and Acasuso lowered his. I'm not too worried about it, especially given Roger's comments in the presser.

Nadal looked a little shaky in his first match but responded well against Gabashvili. No surprises here.

Djokovic looked bad today against Stakhovsky but pulled out the second set. I was pleased to see the crowd jeering him after his indiscretions with the racquet.

Having watched some other matches, I still don't see someone not named Roger, Rafa, or Novak winning this.

Again, really digging the DirecTV mix channel, especially since ESPN2 seems pretty intent on showing only Williams sister matches that have already been completed.

Onslaught

After Harlem Shakes' released Technicolor Health in March, I went through somewhat of a lull on new music. Maybe I didn't have time to add anything new to my collection or maybe nothing new was worth adding - I really can't say. But this week there have been two significant updates.

First is White Rabbits' newest, It's Frightening. White Rabbits are one of my favorite bands. They fit right into my musical aesthetic and played the lights out of their debut album, Fort Nightly. That album was a great set of songs, most with a vaguely tropical vibe, mostly about enjoying life the classy way. It's still one of my favorites even though it's a bit older now - there's an unmistakable leisurely quality about the songs and there's no price that can be put on that. At times, Fort Nightly sounded a bit like The Walkmen (another one of my favorite bands) and that influence is still there on the new LP. But the bigger influence on the new one is undoubtedly Spoon. Naturally, as Spoon's frontman Britt Daniel produced It's Frightening. I don't really listen to too much Spoon but that didn't affect my enjoyment of the album at all. It starts off with maybe the best song of the year to date (more on that later) in "Percussion Gun" a startlingly direct and almost sinister track with distant wails and an amazing (and unsurprising) drum beat. "Percussion Gun" is White Rabbits at their best and the song is unquestionably the top track on the album. It's not that the rest of the album is bad - hardly - but it just cannot measure up to the greatness of the first song. I guess there are different philosophies on where to place the best track of an album. There's definitely something to be said with placing it last and going out on top but I like "Percussion Gun" leading off. Somehow it fits. The rest of the album features good, if not terribly memorable songs. Some of them sound like Spoon ringers and others sound like vintage WR. Either way, it's a good album - great in parts, but generally good.

The other album that I cannot put down is somewhat of a surprise. I had not listened to Phoenix before I got their new album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix earlier this week. But I could not stray from the wave of buzz that Phoenix has been riding all spring. It's hard for me to think of a more buzzed album than this one, and unlike most hyped indie albums, Phoenix do not disappoint in any sense. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is a ridiculously tight, extremely poppy, and mind-bendingly catchy collection of songs. Above I talked about starting off an album with the best track, but Phoenix do White Rabbits one better by starting off the album with two ridiculously amazing songs. I know, I'm raving, but trust me when I say that it is warranted. The two opening tracks, "Lisztomania" and "1901" are two absolute gems of synthpop. Either one could be the song of the year. I can't do them justice with my words - these songs need to be listened to. And the rest of the album is almost disturbingly crisp as well. Every song is a glorious upbeat exercise in pop music and the listener is so much the better for it. Listening to the album is a strikingly happy experience - one that I will have many times over, as long as the weather is good. This is not rainy day music.

As if these two albums weren't enough to keep me occupied for the next few weeks, Grizzly Bear's newest, Veckatimest drops next week. I hear the album is another step forward for Grizzly Bear, and although I am up and down on them, I'll give the LP a serious shot. I know already that its first single, "Two Weeks" is spectacular and as improbable as this might have seemed at the the beginning of the post, we now have four contenders for song of the year on a single page.

The Half Chances Converted

This post has been a long time coming. You know what it's about if you know what this site is about - yes, it's about that familiar old topic, Roger Federer. But unlike most of my previous posts on Roger, this one has a happy beginning and a happy ending. Today was the day of reckoning. Would it be more of the same - more disappointment, more unanswered questions - or would we see something different?

The answer, of course, is the latter. And how grand that it was. Roger took it to Rafa today, heavy emphasis on the "took it to." Roger brought his game front and center, his legendary forehand which hit all the right notes, his backhand which did not show a single sign of breaking down, his serve which was absolutely huge in every sense. Yes, it was his day. He was set on reversing the trend, set on proving to the fickle masses what I have known all along - that he still is the greatest. Let me backtrack just for a second; I know it's "only" a Masters tournament. I know it's not the French. But all must admit that this win, over Nadal on his surface, in his country, is a serious step forward for the true champion. If nothing else, it plants two significant seeds - the seed of hope and confidence in Roger's head and the seed of doubt in Rafa's.

I knew this clay season would be one to remember, and although as of a few nights ago my prediction looked dead in the water, it is evidently true now. Have we, in this tennis era, had as dramatic implications for the French as we do now? I cannot think so. There is the storyline of Rafa's quest for continued dominance which is coupled with the questions that arise from today's loss. There is the yearly storyline of Roger's quest for the one elusive title. And there is also the story of the emergent Djokovic, who has pushed Rafa to his limit in 3 matches this clay season. Whatever happens, it will undoubtedly be a story worth reading, but for today, at least, I am a happy man.

"One may be optimistic, but one can't exactly be joyful at the prospect before us."

This, I like.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=4136698&type=blogEntry

Poetry in Motion

I don't know whether my attitude has changed or whether it's something else entirely. But I'm not that worried about Roger's semifinal loss to Novak "Dirty Serb" Djokovic. I know, I know, it's more of the same - the first set in the bag plus a break (twice) and then the eventual loss. But as I said, I'm not all that concerned.

Here's why:

1. Djokovic is playing really well right now, especially on clay. As much as I hate to give credit to him, given his unavoidable filth, he is playing at a level I haven't seen from him before. He's hitting through the court and setting up points like I've never seen him do and he's mentally stronger than he was earlier in the season. He pushed Nadal to three sets in Monte Carlo and he played a very close match with Nadal this morning in Rome. If anyone can challenge Rafa on clay right now, it's Nole. So even though Roger essentially blew the match, it's not like he was playing someone who doesn't know what he's doing.

2. Roger is playing good tennis. When I watched Roger lose yesterday I saw a different player than I'd seen in Miami and especially Monte Carlo. He was hitting beautifully on the forehand side, doing well to keep his backhand in play, and moving exceptionally. No he wasn't Roger Federer circa 2006. But he was as good as I've seen him this year. That might sound crazy given the result, but I think he's almost "there" on clay. Which leads me to my next point.

3. Roger served at 47% for the match. He made less than half his first serves. That will absolutely not continue. He's smart enough to know that he needs to be up around at least 60% to play his best. And so when he figures out what's wrong with the serve (he mentioned his back injury as throwing it off) he will be in fine form. If he had served better in the most recent Djokovic match he would have won. Period. It wasn't like Miami, where his forehand went haywire. It was just that he was a little off in one supremely important aspect.

For all the aforementioned reasons, I'm not all that concerned. It's not that I think he's in top shape to win the French, but I do think his chance this year is no worse than it has been. Nadal has showed some minor cracks in his game in his last two finals against Djokovic and no doubt Roger will incorporate those into his FO strategy. I'm mightily looking forward to the Madrid Masters and of course, RG. Whatever happens, the drama of the clay season is only ascending.

Also, on another note, Djokovic lost the 3rd ranking spot to Murray today. I don't see it staying that way that way for long. Murray is defending in Madrid and Djokovic lost in the third round. I don't know the points system well enough to say whether Djokovic can re-overtake Murray after Madrid, but I do know that Murray is defending a ton of points and Djokovic is defending barely any. And Murray lost early in Rome, suggesting his clay skills may not be as prolific as some have suggested. What I'm getting at here is that I think the pre-Rome order of Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Murray will probably be what we finish the year with. Maybe it's a little early to call it, but I'm almost cocksure about it.

Shorts Weather

It is shorts weather today. And tomorrow.

Once I go there I'm not sure if I can go back. But the weather forecast demands.

I might end up liking the shorts in the picture in a GTH way. Too bad the inseam is 11".

Terre Batue

Professional tennis' true clay court season begins next week with the Monte Carlo masters. Usually I'm not all that excited about the clay season - let's be frank, Roger is no clay court specialist, but this year is different.

I'll attribute that to two things. First, the clay court season, for the first time in a few years, brings real drama to the tour. There is more on the line for Roger than ever and his wild card entry into Monte Carlo just adds to the excitement. The expectations for him are as low as they've ever been and therefore I'm expecting some potentially surprising results. Nadal touched on some vague personal issues after his loss to Del Potro in Miami and I'm curious to see how big of a deal this is. For whatever reason, I'm viewing this clay season as full of promise and I'll ride that optimism train until it breaks.

The second reason is my new found appreciation for the dirt itself. Let me cop; I have disparaged clay court tennis for about as long as I've known it. The surface was too slow, the points too long, and the clothes too filthy. But that was before I began playing regularly on clay. Starting this past fall I played nearly every Sunday on Har-Tru (I know it's not the same as the red stuff but from my experiences the green clay I was playing on was packed more like the authentic stuff) and a funny thing happened. I played well. I had time to get to balls that were sure winners on hard courts, time to set up for those backhand passing shots, time to come in to serve and volley. But what really pleased me was the sliding. It's a magical feeling, really. Easy enough to describe in practice but tough to elocute. I don't know whether I'm a better player on clay than I am on hard. I grew up on asphalt and I'm still most comfortable on it - the bounce is true and I can hit winners without tiring myself. But clay has an almost equally strong case - my kicker kicks higher and I can get creative with points. As much as this surprises me, it may be a toss-up.

As I learned to play on clay, I learned to respect it. That much is clear. And so the clay court season is promising - for now.

Of Flemings and Walloons

Later this week I will be making a quick jaunt to Belgium, which sounds fanciful but really isn't. Here's the reasoning: I was planning on taking a day trip to Brussels while in France during my planned summer European vacation. But my time over the summer is going to be limited enough as it is. So since I have a few days off, Belgium seemed like the ticket. Paranoia prevents me from divulging any further information, though I say this with a wink, as the only readers of this blog know me personally - I think.

Anyway, if you readers, personal acquaintances or not, have any suggestions of things to do over there, I'd love to hear them. So far I'm only planning on imbibing certain choice beverages and scoping out the prices on some Dries Van Noten stuff.

Weekender

As spring slowly comes around the corner, and I emphasize slowly as the temperatures this week seem unlikely to get out of the low fifties, I thought I would expound on shorts, those lower-body garments which will carry us through spring and summer and with some luck, early fall. Let me say, I am a someone who wears shorts, when it is warm enough. If it's not sixty-five, I'll stick to pants, but mid sixties is short weather for me.

Let me lay out some of my guidelines for shorts:

Fit is the most important part. You could buy the most expensive shorts on the market but if they don't fit well then they're useless. Clearly the fit should be a trimmer, tailored one. I've seen a few oddly baggy designs from some top designers and I'm not buying it. Same goes with pleats - just don't.

After fit the most important thing is the color/pattern. You can't go wrong with any variation on khaki, and solid summery colors like Nantucket red and various blues are solid, too. Not solid are plaid shorts. Madras is fine - great, even - but plaid is simply a no go. I have yet to see a plaid short that I would wear; somehow I always conjure up dudes with shell necklaces holding nattys. Also, I'm a big fan of seersucker. But you knew that.

Beyond that, just make a good choice. Don't do anything stupid. There are a lot of ways to mess up shorts, so try not to.

Heads up

It seems like I've become a little too narrowly focused in what I write about - lately it's been tennis or music. I recognize this and plan on amending this situation.

Expect more variety in the future.

Maestro in Peril

In my last tennis post I spoke about the uneasiness in being a fan of Roger Federer with all that's gone on in the last few months. And I ended the post saying that I still believed. Well, Roger has lost again in stunning fashion, Friday afternoon to Novak Djokovic in Miami. It's not that the loss is so stunning. Yes, Roger is expected to beat the filthy Serb; he went in 7-2, I believe. But again, it's not the loss. Number two losing to number three is not the big surprise. It's the nature of the loss that is startling. He won the first set with ease so it should have been no trouble to take the second. Of course it's not always that easy so this is somewhat excusable. What is hard to look past, though, is the way Roger completely broke down and lost all range on his forehand - the same forehand which is often described as the best ever. But I'm going to backtrack a little because I know the feeling. Sometimes your mechanics break down. There's no explaining it; it happens. What really shocked me was that Roger was not able to recover and find his game and find a way to pull it out. The greatest champion of our time could not do it. It's more than shocking, it's astonishing. The big story is going to be the smashed racquet, but really, that was a long time coming. And it's not a real story, so I won't speak more about it.

I posed the question about where we Federer fans go after his loss in Australia. I maintained that there was nothing to do. Maybe there is something to do. Maybe we need to revalue Roger's chances. Roger's stock has fallen like a Dow blue chip, and maybe it is better if we don't expect him to win every time he goes out there. He has reached a final and two semis in the three big tourneys he's played and maybe that is good enough. It isn't. Roger Federer is not merely a top five player. And he won't stand for semis upon semis. He wants titles. And he will get them. I don't know how, but it will happen.

Couldn't Get Enough

I've been meaning to post for a while but haven't had the time. It's funny that I say that because it feels like I have more free time than ever, but I guess that time doesn't include time for blogging. I do remain committed to posting on the most regular basis possible. How regular that is remains to be seen. But it's been a while and that doesn't sit well. On to the substance.

If you've read this site or if you know me, you know my love for Harlem Shakes. I don't hesitate using the word love because that's essentially what it is. I cannot get enough of their music. Their album came out last Tuesday and it did not disappoint in the least. Of course, I'd heard all the songs on it, but there is something more sacred about having the album and listening to the tracks in the order they were intended to be heard. Every track is a standout on its own and together it really is a spectacular album. Definitely a shift from the Burning Birthdays EP but I like them both. They're still the same band and it shows - there's more overlap between the two releases than has been noted.

I also had the good fortune of attending their record release show this past Thursday. It was at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, run by The Bowery Presents which has a stranglehold on the New York indie scene. The venue was great - not too big, nice bar and balcony area. The show had two opening acts - Air Waves and Suckers. Almost nobody was there for Air Waves; those that were there weren't really listening. It's not that they were bad. It's just that they were first on. And showed a pretty serious lack of interest in the whole performance. On stage one of their members (I think we'll call him a backup singer) sat in a chair, drinking a beer and reading a magazine. Classy, yes. They were done soon enough and gave way to Suckers, whom I'd heard mentioned on those blogs but hadn't actually listened to. I wasn't expecting to like them - the lead singer was in make up and thought himself more a rock star than we actually was - but their music was pleasant and I'll give them a listen when I get a chance. Of course, almost everyone in the building was waiting for the same thing. When the Shakes finally came on at 11:20 the crowd was more than ready. They opened with TFO, which surprised, but didn't disappoint me. And from that point on they were on fire. They could do no harm with any song and they went through most of the new album with a few old favorites mixed in. When they began to play "Old Flames" I thought the night was over. And it could have been; their rendition of "Old Flames" was the most electrifying musical performance I'd ever seen. Both band and crowd were in perfect harmony and I'm still ruminating on the glory. So I was pleased but the crowd was not. They wouldn't stop screaming until they got an encore, and an encore they got. The encore was only two songs long, as the band was running out of songs in its repertoire. Not really, but I can only count fewer than 20 songs of their own. Anyway, they played "winter Water" and then ended with the title track, "Technicolor Health." The crowd was satiated. And I am still stunned.

Sturm und Drang

There is a certain agony that goes along with being a fan of Roger Federer these days. And by these days I mean post-2008 Wimbledon. It could be that I'm the only one who feels this agony - the only one who feels a certain queasiness whenever Roger plays, no matter the opponent. However certain I am that there is a queasiness, I am also certain that the queasiness stems from a certain uncertainty. Huh? Yeah. The uncertainty that I feel, which I'd venture to say is shared by the other diehards, is the feeling that not a single one of us knows what comes next. I suppose it is akin to the fear of death, not that I'm comparing the two in magnitude. There is no one who knows what the future holds for our beloved champion, even (or especially?) the champion himself.

The match he played Saturday night (it was shown tape delayed at night here in the east) was one that pre-Wimbledon 2008 would have caused no alarm within me. But this is a different time. Would that it were not. This is the type of match where I would have been surprised to see Roger drop a set, much less two. But I wasn't even surprised. And it pains me to admit it because it shows how far he has fallen. I still believe, but my stomach is unsettled.

Meteorological Preferences

The optimal weather for tennis is probably something that varies from person to person, much like the optimal weather for anything. Some are probably warm weather players; others prefer a chill. I've been thinking a lot recently about which type I am, and more so, what my optimal tennis weather is. And I think I have it down.

I'd venture to say that my optimal temperature range is from 55 to 65, on the low end if it's sunny and on the high end if there's some cloud cover. Cloud cover is definitely preferred; serving in the sun is still a task for me. So we have 60-65 with some cloud cover, though not so much that the temperature is chilled. Enough clouds to create a milky sky, not enough to make it dark.

I broke a string today, the second in three weeks, leaving me with only one of three racquets strung. Doing it myself is a drag, but I'll take my jobs over fifty dollars and someone else's handiwork.

"On the night in question,"

Tuesday brought the release of Grrr., the new album from Bishop Allen. I first got introduced to them when they were in the midst of their incredibly ambitious EP per month project, so I backtracked and picked up their first album Charm School, as well. Though they fall a bit outside my standard musical aesthetic (if such a thing exists) due to their often twee offerings, I can handle a little twee here and there. Their witty lyrics and jovial multi-instrumentalism are worth it.

Anyway, Grrr. is pretty standard Bishop Allen. It's not their best work, but I can't find much wrong with it either. One thing of note is that few of the tracks really stand out from the others, although my favorites include "Shanghaied," which features the stunning lyric - "it was an endless filibuster/everything was said but nothing done," and what sounds like a glockenspiel, and "True or False" which switches in collaborator Darbie Nowatka on vocals. I've liked every song they've done where Nowatka steps in ("Butterfly Nets" and "Song for Daniel") and her soft female voice is a nice shift. Overall, the album is a solid listen and I'm sure it'll be on play for a while.