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FLUORESCENT BEIGE

Today's Bananas Video: Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Heads Will Roll"

I've been obsessed with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs lately and this song is on repeat on my ipod for days and days and days. But the music video for it is even better than the song itself. I love it. It's so freak, it's so fierce (literally), and it's so visually conceptual; it's brilliant. 'Nuff said, forget Beyonce's Single Ladies best video of the year win at the 2009 VMAs, *this* should be the best video.

And gotta love the unintentional Micheal Jackson tribute (the video was produced and released months before MJ's death)

Enjoy.

Today's Bananas Fashion: Fall Wishlist

Fall is no doubt my favorite season, especially when recent Summer has been less than stellar lately weather-wise. I'm already so over wearing shorts and t-shirts every single day. I'm eager to put on some knit, wool, cashmere, and my favorite clothing item, jackets. There's just something about the Fall season that looks and feels so romantic. Maybe because people are covering up more and hence, look a lot less trashy than during Summer. I'm a big fan of layering, and that's because it maximizes my opportunity to wear more stuff from my closet and makes me feel like my money was well-spent on certain items since i'm actually wearing them (especially when it comes to my repertoire of jackets).

Even though the weather is still relatively warm for September, I started collecting a few Fall things here and there, just to get prepared for when time comes to bundle up, which in this city is always sooner than expected. But because my low budget doesn't really permit me to get things I really want to own this Fall, my only remedy is to blog about them through a wishlist post. So if there are any generous Samaritans out there willing to share their abundance of wealth with commoners like I, they will know what to FedEx me :)

1. Elizabeth & James Reversible Puffer Vest

I wear puffer vest during summer (I wore one today, actually), so obviously during fall for me it's almost something I can't avoid. The idea of being warm only on the upper body but leaving the arms out in the open fascinates me, but beyond that, I think they're just really cool. I want this one very badly because it looks incredibly warm and it's almost vintage-looking. Elizabeth & James is one of the high-end fashion lines from Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (I know!) and its from their newly-launched mens collection. Select Barneys New York, Barneys.com, US$565.

2. Burberry Prorsum Cashmere-knit Granpa Sweater

Knits are my favorite kind of sweaters to wear during fall (not the itchy Acrylic ones though) and I especially like it when they look like they're for grand-fathers during Christmas suppers. Call me old school, but that's my kind of stuff. A little anecdote of mine; I've started wearing granpa cardigans back in high school where it was frown upon (the times before Justin Timberlake was dancing around in 'em), and now younger guys from any kind of style groups in granpa cardigans are all walking around owning the look. As Jay-Z would say (in one of his songs called Off that): "If you driving it, I drove it. If you got it, cause I sold it. If you copped it, I bought it back". That's all. Confederacy, shopconfederacy.com, US$750.

3. Comme des Garcon x Converse Sneakers

Who doesn't own a pair of Converse? They're comfortable, easy to wear, and they're so classic that saying they're too cool for school is an understatement. I've own a couple of pairs, although I've managed to put them in places where they've gone though very rough times. Nonetheless, very solid shoes. But when I saw that one of my favorite Japanese luxury brand Comme des Garcon is teaming up with Converse to make these fun new sneakers, it was like Christmas all over again (as a matter fact, they will be on my Christmas list this year). A huge success in Japan, the U.S. will be getting them soon at select Comme des Garcon stores and retail carriers. US$100.

Today's Bananas Music Video: Kid Kudi

"I Make Her Say" - Kid Kudi ft. Kanye West & Common

I love blogs. I love photography blogs even more. I love The Sartorialist. I first came to know The Sartorialist through my monthly-reading of GQ Magazine. He has a a section of his own that appears every month where the magazine would show his photographs of random strangers' street style, mainly guys since it's for GQ. Little did I know that he actually has a blog on the web where he posts his photographs as well. He's actually a pretty well-known freelance fashion photographer that likes to roam around New York City, Paris, Milan and London (and occasionally other cities around the world) to capture the essence of people's style. He's always present during fashion week around the globe. Apparently, people aspire to appear on his blog and being photographed by him on the street. You're basically granted entry to "cool-dome".

So, earlier today I stumbled upon Refinery29 and there was a funny post about how to get snapped by The Sartorialist. If you're slightly familiarized with The Sartorialist, you would find this little step-by-step guide funny. I do, anyways.

(you may want to click on it to enlarge to see it better)

Today's Bananas Fashion: Spring 2010 Menswear

It comes as no surprise to people around me that I'm a fashion enthusiast. Mostly because I like arts in general. Unfortunately, for all the things  I like, I can practice none of them. I can't sing/play instruments, I can't draw, paint or sculpt, and I'm no good at creative writting either. I do however think I have a keen sense of style and know how to put outfits together effortlessly. Not to brag, but I'm pretty sure I can perfectly blend with the Parisians, Italiens, and Englishmen. So obviously, men.style.com is one of my favorite sites because you get virtual front row seats to the latest shows in New York, Paris, Milan and London. Aside from providing show coverages, it's a great source of fashion journalism and style advice for men, which doesn't diminish one's mascunality, but rather improves one's self-esteem through updated personal physical appearance. We're currently in the midst of mens Spring/Summer 2010 fashion week in Paris and Milan, and curious as I am, I had to check out what are the new trends walking down the runway that rich people can afford. It took a good amount of my lonely night, but I was able to go through most of them and make a list of my favorite collections. 

Even though I highly respect a designer's creative point of view about fashion and style, I don't necessarily like most of the things that come down the runway, just because it's simply not wearable in real life. For the amount of men on this planet, I'm sure there is only a very minimilistic portion of us that are willing to wear drop-crotch pants and fishnet top in the middle of the day in urban America. So I personally "judge" collections in terms of wearability and styling and that each pieces can be worn individually  anywhere in the world, be it Paris, Tokyo or freakin' Arkansas; that there's something for someone. With that being said, here, in a decrescendo order, my favorite collections.

Junya Watanabe. I was delightfully surprised by Junya Watanabe this season. He is moslty known to be the protégé of Japanese avant-garde designer Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garçon,  and he has since started his own line. For being a Japanese designer, his spring collection is very 1930-1940s American style-inspired, but with bright colors and crazy-ass plaid patterns. The blazers looks very well constructed and I would not mind wearing any of these. The dirty-washed jeans also look pretty nice. It's very urban and young, and when topped with those aformentionned blazers, the overall look is very cool. Like he's too cool for school. I like. 

Burberry Prorsum. I've recently become a fan of Christoper Bailey. He's like the perfect incarnation of what modern an English man is and his clothes really reflect the refineness of english fashion, and basically english everything. His line of modernized classic Burberry trenchcoats never cease to amaze me, I have the goal of owning one of these babies one day. But the clothes underneath these great coats are equally nice. The whole random belts coming from everywhere around the torso gives a bit of an edge to a company that is so wholesome and traditional. I cannot understand the life of me why Christopher would implement winter parkas in his Spring collection, but it surprisingly works and I hardly doubt they are as warm as North Face or Canada Goose parkas, they look much nicer than the latter. For a light winter in New York or Vancouver, these coats will look pretty decent in the city. 

Louis Vuitton. I'm always very so-so with Louis Vuitton menswear. Just because I don't really associate Louis Vuitton with clothes, even though it has expanded into clothing a long while ago. I think Louis Vuitton makes the most extraordinary luggages, travel/duffel bags, handbags, wallets because of the crafstmenship involved in every of these leather accessories. It has afterall being alive since 1854; has got to give credit where it is due. However, I have yet to be impressed with the clothes. But this spring collection is actually pleasent, even if the shorts are *too* short for men to wear. It is colorful, light, and can translate well for the city, and the country side/beach as well. It has a very "summer in The Hamptons" look and feel to it. I think Paul Helbers did a good job, and if Marc Jacobs approves then I guess no one can really say the contrary. 

Bottega Veneta. Tomas Maier For Bottega Veneta is by far my favorite collection and I would honestly wear almost everything in that collection, because it is so cool and wearable. This one also has a very American-inspired look to it with the baseball jackets, military-style shirts and jackets, and the use of cargo beige and army green as the main colors. The sort of chinese-colored style pants aren't something I'm really into, but even for those horrible pants, the creative director was able to make up for it by putting a great mix of pieces that are so sophisticated and manly. It's the type of clothes that when you walk into a room, everyone stares, especially the ladies. A man in Bottega Veneta can definitely command a room. 

Because I cannot go on for forever, I'm going to stop here at these four spectacular collections. Overall, I think most of the designers that are showing during mens fashion week definitely has something going on and if fashion buyers are going to get most of these looks into the stores, men in 2010 might overshadow the women in spring. 

What do you think? Are these looks yay or nay? ;)

Today's Bananas TV: The O.C. (2003-2007)

I don't watch television all that much anymore, something I would never say a few years back when television and I were quasi-inseparable. I guess time became an issue when I started to be much more busier, or also because network executives just seemed to release strings of average to mediocre shows and cancel them one after another throughout the seasons. Shows went off the air on hiatus, and never came back. Some come back on different time slots and return on the air leaving the viewers with no interests to continue watching any longer. Well, that's how it is with me. Unfortunately, some actually good shows get the axe sooner than they should of. Hence why my relationship with television became a sort of bittersweet one. Not to say I have given up watching television shows anymore...I just really narrow down my favorite shows that are worth following religiously and view them online when I'm at home whilst binging on food. For me, television-watching experience isn't the same without food. Call me a fat boy. 

But during the period of time where I would never miss a show of mine (I went to great lengths to get myself out of any functions to be home on time), there's this one show that I used(still do) love. Sure, it's no ground-breaking series full of philosophical enlightment or that it's very "fresh", but it had so much heart and warmth that I can honestly re-watch it on DVD over and over again. It's a 2003 teen drama called The O.C. that aired on the Bush-endorsed FOX channel. For the non-followers, you would probably not know why the hell anyone would enjoy watching a series about young wealthy teenagers living in Newport Beach doing unrealistic things that promote superficiality . But to the followers, the show is filled with perfectly-timed comedy, endless emotion rollercoasters, witty dialogues, extraordinary music and Seth Cohen.  The first season of The O.C. was pure television gold. It had equal proportions of things that work for a primetime teen soap opera: beautiful people, charismactic characters, crazy mothers, crazy psychopath, amazing soundtrack, and most importantly, tons of drama. The acting isn't something to brag about really, but it's not bad enough to cringe your teeth to death. I can't say the whole life-span of The O.C. was good, I can only say that season 1 and 2 really marked a part of my life, and I can never forget. Two things really did it for me on The O.C., Seth Cohen/dialogue and the music. In a nutshell, Seth Cohen is a privileged kid who's not close to be the most popular guy at school, a little self-absorbed, enjoys comic books, hates his sunny hometown and wears Penguin polo shirts like it's nobody business. He's awkward yet approachable. He delivers one of the funniest lines I've heard on television with such certainty and never failed to accompany his lines with an appropriate facial expression. Albeit his geeky looks and manners, he still gets the pretty girls. So yeah, Seth Cohen is definitely a legendary television character and I think the show would have failed without him. I can't stress enough how the music on The O.C. is just simply brilliant. Every songs used for every scenes are so appropriate, clever and fits so marvellously-well with the situation that it just moves you. I sound like I'm overdramatizing it, but I'm not. I get chills everytime I watch some certain scene with that certain song playing in the background. The music is fun, lively, sunny, upbeat, sad, melancholic, it's the music that makes you want to laugh, share the sad moments, and enjoy life with the people you care most about. 

I found on YouTube a channel dedicated to the best The O.C. music moments throughout the series, and I have to show you my all-time favorite ones.

Song: Dice
Artist: Fin Quayle

Song: If You Leave
Artist: Nada Surf

Song: I'm Shakin'
Artist: The Rooney (great band!)

There you have it, these are a few of my favorite music moments on The O.C. To view more, go here, and you will have a handfull of awsome music. The O.C. was an immediate hit during season 1 which launched the young stars into fame and fortune. But unfortunately, with the lack of creative writers and involvement of Josh Schwarts the creator, the series went downhill and lost many of its viewers. With season 1 averaging 21 million viewers per episodes to averaging only around 4 million viewers by the end of season 4, FOX obviously couldn't afford to let it go on any further, especially with Mischa Barton (Marissa Cooper) off the show. Like they say, all good things come to an end. But it ended on a high note, and the finale episode to The O.C. had a well-deserved happy ending. 

Now it's time for me to digg up my DVD box set and relive the epicness that is The O.C.