h(y)rcollective has been running a series where people send in pictures of their bags and then h(y)r posts them. Some people send in theoretical bags (lame-o's) and some people will send in actual pictures. Posted is one of my favorites so far. If you haven't seen this series yet, it's here.

Parting Thoughts: Stereo-typical non-conformist: Listen to Admit It!!! by Say Anything. It's a rant about you... :x

Don't take offense, it's just that if you have a sense of self-superiority you aren't non-conformist. You're just in a different cliche than the typical high school jock, cool, I guess.

School Ties

The tie on the right is the tie I wore Mondays and Fridays at Western Reserve Academy. The one on the left is the one I received at graduation as a new alumni. I don't wear my school tie anymore as it has dining hall stains and is falling apart in the back. It's not very well made. The alumni tie is considerably better made and is woven, not printed on. Generally I like to wear the alumni tie with a blue blazer with gold buttons, a light blue oxford, my white pants from graduation, and topsiders. It results in a very East Coast look, which my old headmaster, 'Skip 'Flanagan, was always going for. While he was slightly more interested in lacrosse than the well-being of the school (which is not necessarily a bad thing as his wife was an angel for the school), he was still a good traditional school master. While I only spent one year at Reserve, I will remember him as my headmaster, more so than Mr. Burner who I wish the best of luck to.

Parting thoughts: Batman pajamas are still cool right? 'Cause I'm intent on getting this pair.

Wants

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 could just be Modern Warfare repackaged, but I couldn't care less. Modern Warfare blew me away with it's live content and I'm sure number 2 will be just as awesome. I figure that this will be the game of choice my college dorm this coming fall so I'm setting aside part of my summer earnings just for this.
This bag, by Slow and Steady Wins the Race, rocks. The suede instead of the typical brown paper looks awesome. A bit out of my price range but inspiration to start carrying brown paper bags. I'm planning to pick up a couple this monday to start carrying stuff to work in.
Jason, a Swedish cartoonist, just keeps on pumping out hits. I've read a good amount of his work as it has been well stocked at Borders and the like. This hardback new release deviates from his typical paperback books. He's been slowing changing his style for the past couple years, adding different elements such as color and text. Now he's added the aesthetic of hardback which I love in a graphic novel as the binding is better to the heavy paper. I'm definitely picking this up soon.

Parting thoughts: I recently bought the new album from Eye Alaska called Genesis Underground. It's not amazing as there are weak tracks but it's definitely worth a listen on the itunes sampler. They deviate in this album from their EP by using more of a R&B feel by featuring VERBS on a couple tracks. It's new, it's different, but it's not awesome by any means. Give it a listen, you might hear something different than I am and if you do, let me know.

Wolf in sheep's fur aka jeans to jhorts

Jhorts usually get a bad rap. Probably because if you're a male and you wear them, you're said to have bad taste. However, I believe that if you cut them yourself, out of an old pair of jeans that you don't want anymore, they'll look ok for yardwork and punk-rock festivals. I cut mine out of an old pair of Levi's that I wore to shreds. However, there a few things you need to take note of before you cut your own and wear them to your cousin's cornhole tournament. I cut mine from some 514s, not too tight and not too baggy. I would recommend cutting your pair from a pair of jeans that do not slouch nor jeans that are too tight. They should be jeans that you are most comfortable in, but hopefully have a hole in the knee so you're not ruining your favorite pair. Make your cut just above the knee as below the knee will make your jhorts look like your sister's capris, which is fruity looking. Also, do not wear your jhorts with socks. This is generally true for most shorts today but I feel that jhorts and socks is far more of a sin than shorts and socks. Vans, Converse, and Sperry's are all acceptable shoes to wear with jhorts. Now cut your jhorts. They're comfortable.

Parting thoughts: I'm rereading Bram Stoker's Dracula once again. I read it in sixth grade and was scared of it. My older brother read it and told me of the anti-sex message in the book that I missed when i first read it. This got me curious so I'm giving it another go. Sons of Anarchy season starts again this fall. This is the only show I watch on TV besides South Park. I'm pumped and you should be too. If you haven't seen season one you can get most of the episodes through hulu.com. The ones you can't you can get elsewhere.

White ball caps

To me, white hats say summer. Whether it's painting your dad's fence, working landscaping, or picnicing, I'm under the impression that white ball caps, a little dirty, endorsing your prep school, college, or someone else's, are generally cool. I had a Western Reserve Cross Country ball cap that I wore last summer but lost sometime this past fall. I was lost as to what to wear this summer until I found my cousin's white cap in storage. I'm not going to Miami University of Ohio and I don't like the football team either but it will do. White caps are like white sneakers, a little dirt goes a long way to add character. They go great with t-shirts, button-ups, and polos. They seem to scream all-american boy, which is a look I often go for, for better or worse.
If you're a guy wearing dark hats during summer I would recommend dropping them for a white hat. White's less hot and keeps your outfit light if you're wearing a dark shirt.

Parting thoughts: I finished Herman Hesse's Journey to the East recently. What the hell was going on in that book?

Warped Tour

The Scranton Warped Tour was a success besides taking my brother’s Lil’ Wayne ticket instead of my own. The ticket sales people were nice enough to make a copy for me at the gate.

Bands I saw:

Hit The Lights

Escape The Fate (they’re bad, hungover, and still drinking)

The Devil Wears Prada

Dance Gavin Dance

Chiodos

A Skylit Drive

POS

Black Out (horrid band, not sure why they’re signed)

Gallows (lead singer above, great performance, one of the best of the day)

Attack Attack! (not sure what they were doing, not a good show at all)

Aiden

NOFX

Sing It Loud

The Maine

A Day To Remember

It was a good day, I was short $40, and tired, but that fulfilled feeling stayed in my chest for the ride home. If you don’t like the music I listen to, that’s a good thing, you probably have good taste.

Parting word: If you actually like good music, unlike me, you should check out Alex Metric. Unlike most crappy electro, made by artists who don't understand melody and think a primitive jungle beat will keep people happy, Alex Metric understands that music must follow Mozart's guidelines.

Alex Metric – Shirley You Can’t Be Serious.mp3

My meals during the summer are a bit of a mish-mash when the rentals aren’t home. However, my favorite is easily this: eggs scrambled with veggies, cheese, and sour cream, whole wheat toast from the amish with jam, and a diet coke with a crazy straw. It’s great for after those long runs, training for cross country season, and generally tastes like summer to me (don’t over do the diet coke or you’ll get fizzy burps, gross!). This is a nice light meal that happens to have protein, great for me since I’m a type 1 diabetic, and no need for dessert since the jam is plenty sweet.

Parting words: I have stumbled upon two moleskin posts.

One here: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2009/02/24/122-moleskine-notebooks/

And one here:http://men.style.com/gq/blogs/styleguy/2009/06/tools-of-the-trade-moleskine.html

For pretentious people (like me), moleskins are something to remember your thoughts by. They’re for that art project you will never start, that band you will never conceive, and that blog that you constantly update like a girl updates her facebook relationship status. I will admit, I’m a bandwagon hopper. I got mine this winter and only used it for a english class until a few weeks ago when I saw the blog by Glenn O’Brien. I have started to fill it’s pages with blog notes and ideas for the comic book that I’ve only complete four pages for. Commendable? No. Reccomendable? Yes. I will admit, they’re nothing better than a regular notebook but really folks, a moleskin does have that authentic appeal to it and excellent binding. However, if you’re trying to send a message to other people by carrying one, stop. Carrying a moleskin says nothing about you besides that you read blogs and are a bit of an artsy hipster snob. I guess that means me too, huh. So what have we learned? Carrying a moleskin if you actually write down thoughts in it, because then it doesn’t matter what it says about you. It just matters that it gets the job done.

With this being my first ‘blog’, I would like to introduce myself to my zero readers. I’m John Lugg. I graduated from Western Reserve Academy this spring and I will be attending Juniata College this fall. I enjoy comics, cartoons, music, drumming, movies, and clothes; and will be subsequently blogging about them. That being said I would like to tell you about something.

Now that The Dark Knight craze has finally died down, I feel that it is safe to blog about Batman; Batman: The Animated Series that is. I watched this often as toddler and thought that Batman was the most badass thing ever, even more than the Power Rangers which is quite a feat. Now, I have gotten hold of all the episodes and will be finishing every single one sometime this summer, but having just watched a dozen or so I would like to endorse at least watching a few. First, the only cars used in the cartoon are based off of cars from the 1930s through the early 1940s. This is adds to the gangster feel to the series which comes off a lot heavier than you would expect from a children’s series. No one wears t-shirts. Most everyone wears a coat and tie which makes for one classy cartoon (if you’re watching episode 12, look for the guy in the purple suit, red shirt, and purple tie, he’s a dandy). There are a few cheesy lines but hey, what cartoon doesn’t have that and if I remember correctly, Batman Begins has quite a few. The artist draw everything on a black background making for a dark feel to the cartoon, which turned out really grim and gloomy, perfect for the character’s being portrayed. Thankfully, the writers decided that Batman doesn’t need much comic relief, besides the Joker and other’s from Gotham’s rogue gallery. This is not Spiderman: The Animated Series mind you. I’m sure those who already read comic books have already seen a couple episodes so they don’t need convincing that this is worth checking out but this is a fantastic series and a good introduction to the Batman character to those who’ve only seen the Batman movies.

I'm headed to Warped Tour Wednesday. I like bad music.

Parting words: I have begun to try to sleep with my mouth closed in an attempt to ward off facehuggers. I doubt this would actually help me very much but I can only hope. I would advise for you to do the same. It's been 5 years and I'm still terrified from Alien.

- The Enthusiast