Shit Worth Checking Out: The Philosophy of Michael Drake.

The website for Drakes London features a blurb on The Philosophy of Michael Drake, the founder of Drakes London, that is worth checking out for a Sunday afternoon read and outlines Drake's personal style.  Take from it what you will; his style is decidedly English and not for everyone, and his claim that '[t]he best-dressed Neapolitans aim for an understated English style' is slightly biased at best.

Check out the article after the jump, or go right to the source if you trust yourself to avoid getting sucked in to shopping.

Shit Worth Checking Out: Citizen Kane at 70: The Legacy of the Film and Its Director.

The Atlantic had an interesting article the other day looking at Citizen Kane and its influence over the past seventy years, titled Citizen Kane at 70: The Legacy of the Film and Its Director.  The article focuses on Welles's career and his importance to cinema, but the most interesting bits look at some of the lost footage from his films, including an entirely unreleased film, The Other Side of the Wind, which remains unedited and the subject of a lengthy legal dispute.  While one can argue forever whether Citizen Kane is indeed 'the greatest film of all time', its innovatory importance is not up for dispute, nor is its (or Welles's himself) impact on film.  Check out the article here; it's well-worth a read.

Shit Worth Checking Out: What is the most epic photo ever taken?

Quora has an amazing thread right now featuring the attempt to find the 'most epic photo ever taken'.  Right now, there are over 50 photos posted, most with accompanying stories (my choice for title photo was based at least in part on it needing no such description).  Some of the pics submitted are quite epic indeed.  Many are also highly disturbing, and I thus hesitate to designate the photographs I have picked out as my "favourites", so I will instead refer you to some of the best, or most intriguing, photographs after the jump.  Which gets your vote?

Shit You Should Buy: New edition of Cannes Cinema: A Visual History.

A new edition of Cannes Cinema: A Visual History of the World's Greatest Film Festival will be released next week, just in time for this year's 64th Cannes Film Festival.  The book includes over 550 photographs by the Traverso family, a local family of photographers who have been photographing the event since its inception in 1939, and text by Serge Toubian.  You can grab it on Amazon, but only the paperback edition is available.  This feels like a book where a paperback edition simply won't do, so head over to Phaidon and shell out a couple more ducats for the hardcover.  I'll definitely be grabbing this one when it's released.  The perfect coffee table book; one you can glance through with a scotch in one hand and a woman you're pretending to pay attention to in the other.

source: Gilt

Shit You Should Buy: A tailor-made suit from Miller's Oath.

"At a certain point in your life you accept the fact that you need a tailor—a real tailor, who makes a suit specifically for you. It’s going to cost more than $3000, and you respect (perhaps grudgingly) the fact that that quite serious amount of money is going to a craftsman who’s learned his trade over decades; it’s going to buy cloth woven in the finest mills; it’s going to a cutter who’s refined his pattern to create a refined silhouette. Your money is not going to underwrite a luxury goods behemoth, it’s not going to anybody who appears in his own ads—it’s not going to anybody who has ads. You seek a local tailor."

A Continuous Lean published an article the other day on tailor Kirk Miller, who used the experience he gained at Paul Stuart, Thom Browne, and Barker Black to open Miller's Oath in New York on Greenwich Street.  Miller ensures the experience is a very personal one; he employs just one tailor, and takes all measurements himself.  As he says, "I want to have a connection with the men who come here."  See below the cut for some pics of Miller's work.

Shit Worth Checking Out: Documentary on Savile Row tailor Thomas Mahon.

Put This On posted an old documentary today, following Thomas Mahon, a Savile Row tailor and menswear blogger (check out his site The English Cut when you get a chance).  If you have 25 minutes to spare, check out the doc (split into two parts) below.  It's an interesting watch.

Interesting Shit that I'm Too Lazy to Write Anything About: May 6, 2011.

London Shop Guide: 5 Menswear Destinations in the British Capital

Remembering Cary Grant
 
What Your Clothing Label Says About You

Paul Newman's supercharged Volkswagon Beetle for sale

The GQ Gift Guide to Mastering Mother's Day

Sons of Travis Bickle (those "Taxi Driver" kids...)

The 25 Greatest Male Grooming Moments in Movies

The Godfather prequel novel to be released

Alexander McQueen retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Shit Worth Checking Out: Debut trailer for Martha Marcy May Marlene.

Yesterday, Fox Searchlight debuted the first trailer for their Sundance hit Martha Marcy May Marlene, written and directed by Sean Durkin, a first-timer.  Durkin took home the Dramatic Directing Award at Sundance for his efforts.  The film stars Elizabeth Olsen (the seemingly talented sister of the unjustifiably famous Olsen Twins) as a "damaged woman" who flees from a cult and tries to reassimilate with her family.  Fresh off his Best Supporting Actor Oscar nod for Winter's Bone, John Hawkes plays the cult leader and appears to be at his creepy-best.  Loved him on Deadwood, and glad to see him making the most out of the indie roles he secures.  Check out the trailer below!

Shit Worth Checking Out: Boss Selection S/S 2011 campaign pics.

A very nice lookbook from Hugo Boss was released this morning, promoting the Spring/Summer 2011 pieces from their Selection line.  I have a soft spot for Boss, so maybe I'm biased, but I can't help but love a campaign that begins with a shot of the Paris setting.  The campaign features model Gabriel Aubry, whom Boss posits "perfectly represents the style of the cosmopolitan and charismatic BOSS Selection gentleman".  Check out the pics after the jump.

Arrogant Male Photograph of the Day: May 5, 2011.