the summer
SHARP LIST LOOK
BETTER
SUMMER
•
2015
FEEL
BETTER
•
KNOW
S H A R P M A G A Z I N E . C O M
CHRIS PRATT conquers the world locked and loaded
IS CANADA JUMPING THE GUN? new!
your vwarm weather wardrobe
SUITS, STRIPES AND SWIM TRUNKS Fiesta!
MORE
ENTERTAIN LIKE A (spanish) CHEF
25 GIFTS EVERY MAN WILL COVET wisdom from
ADRIAN GRENIER ARMIE HAMMER and
BILL HADER
Editor’s Letter
Stories of Summer
Sharp is on the air The Sharp Magazine Show is now on SiriusXM Canada Talks (channel 167) every Sunday at 8 p.m. Hosted by myself and Ward Anderson (of SiriusXM’s Ward and Al), it’s yet another chance to enjoy everything you love about Sharp, in a funny, conversational format. You can also download all of the episodes at SHARPMAGAZINE.COM/SHARPSHOW.
GREG HUDSON Editor-in-Chief
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Photo: Matt Barnes
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WONDER IF SUMMER WOULD MEAN AS MUCH TO ME IF I LIVED somewhere more temperate all year round. Like Singapore, or Kentucky (pg. 56). There are other markers of summer besides the weather, obviously. Children are out of school. Vacations. My birthday (July 13, in case you’d like to send me a card). All those things would happen in southern California just as they do in Alberta, where I spent my formative years. Still, I think the nostalgia that summer inevitably breeds is deeper for people like us, who understand with a chilling poignancy how brief the season is. Summer love is deeper, more rash and wild. Weekend getaways are more vibrant and bittersweet. And summer movies...well, when summer movies work, and hit you at the right age, they loom large in your memory; they become essential. I was 10 when Jurassic Park came out. That movie was made for 10-year-olds. At that age, dinosaurs are living monsters that prove the world is as crazy as any storybook. It was scary but not scarring—after all, the threat of raptors hiding under your bed is minimal. That movie consumed my imagination and, thanks to a clever McDonald’s tie-in, my diet, too. It was epic, and it’s only grown in importance. That’s nostalgia. Aside from watching Chris Pratt be as charming as Chris Pratt always is (pg. 104)—so charming he wins over a group of raptors, apparently—what I’m most excited about in this month’s Jurassic World is the thought that some new batch of 10-year-olds are about to have seeds of nostalgia planted in their soon-to-be-blown minds. Of course, movies aren’t the only things that get a boost from summer nostalgia. I like this quote from Michael Chabon’s The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. “When I remember that dizzy summer,” the post-adolescent narrator writes, “it seems that in those days I ate my HELPFUL HASHTAGS lunches, smelled another’s skin, noticed FOR THIS ISSUE a shade of yellow, even simply sat, with greater lust and hopefulness—and that #barstoolheroes I lusted with greater faith, hoped with (pg. 108) greater abandon. The people I loved #BringbackfatPratt were celebrities, surrounded by rumour (pg. 104) and fanfare; the places I sat with them, movie lots and monuments. No doubt #Menworthlistening2 all of this is not true remembrance but (pg. 40 & 61) the ruinous work of nostalgia, which #Runningrunningrunning obliterates the past, and no doubt, as (pg. 66) usual, I have exaggerated everything.” It’s not for nothing that I quote one of my favourite authors. This issue, we hope to use a bit of the power of summer, and maybe add to it. There are stories in here—barstool tales from some of our other favourite authors (pg. 108). Stories that are nostalgic and magical, that will only grow in magnitude as the summer ends. Like, I hope, this issue itself.
Contents June/July 2015 STYLE
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THE BASEBALL SHIRT
It’s not just for baseball anymore.
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TRENDS
Stripes, travel suits and custom leather patinas: here’s what you should be wearing right this very minute.
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HERO OF MENSWEAR
Nelson Mui is making Hudson’s Bay into a world of discovery for menswear.
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130
The smells of the summer don’t have to be so light and fresh.
You will spend time poolside this summer. Here’s how to look good doing it.
FRAGRANCES
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WATCHES
Always wanted to see exactly how time is kept? Get yourself a skeleton watch.
POOL PARTY
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SUITS OF THE SEASON
Paired with the right shirt, these suits are perfect for the warm weather. Enjoy them while you can.
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WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER
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Man About Town
Sharp: The Book For Men Spring/ Summer 2015 Launch Party Dapper suits, strong drinks, fast cars—a master class on epic soirees was put on display for the Sharp: The Book For Men Spring/Summer 2015 Launch Party at the Ritz-Carlton in Toronto. A massive gathering of Canada’s business leaders, sports stars and tastemakers donned their finest attire to celebrate the tenth issue of the essential lifestyle guide for the modern man. Conversations were kept well-lubricated with an arsenal of premium drink options: Rémy Martin cognac, Herradura tequila,
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June/July 2015 LOOK BETTER FEEL BETTER KNOW MORE
Guide
Great Lake House
OR YEARS, Prince Edward County, the sleepy wine country a couple hours east of Toronto, was as off-the-radar as it gets. Then the Drake Devonshire opened. It’s the countrified sibling of the Drake Hotel, which almost single-handedly transformed Queen West into one of the coolest neighbourhoods in the world. The draw here is a converted 1860s foundry perched right on the calm shores of Lake Ontario, outfitted with a museum-quality array of Canadian art and mid-century furniture—plus a stunning Owner’s Suite loft with pitched cedar-clad ceiling and views across the water. There’s also one of the best tasting rooms in the neighbourhood, the better to sample the region’s increasingly awesome Pinot Noirs.
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Photo: Nikolas Koenig
DRAKEDEVONSHIRE.CA
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Guide A MAN WORTH LISTENING TO
Bill Hader Is having a panic attack BY ALEX NINO GHECIU
Growing up in Oklahoma, did you always aspire to be an actor?
No, not really. As a kid I would go between being spazzy and withdrawn. I wasn’t that great at school and I had a lot of insecurities about that. I had a lot of anxiety. But I really loved movies. We didn’t really watch TV growing up; we watched a lot of movies, like Monty Python and Woody Allen stuff. I became obsessed with being a filmmaker. I eventually moved to LA hoping to become one. I worked as a PA and did all these weird jobs for a long time. Then I went through a really bad breakup and made a short film that was not great. I was too embarrassed to show it to anybody. Then a friend of mine who was taking classes at Second City LA invited me to one of his shows. And I figured, “I should try this.” It was a way to keep creative. It’s real easy to stop being creative when you’re working 16-hour days just trying to pay the bills. So how’d you go from wanting to make films to winding up on SNL?
Mostly, it was luck. I started taking those Second City classes while I was a nighttime assistant editor on Iron Chef America. A few friends and I started doing sketch shows in a backyard in Anaheim. Megan Mullally saw me in one of those shows because her brotherin-law was in the group. And she was nice enough to recommend me to Lorne Michaels. When I met him, I didn’t have a manager, agent or anything. I didn’t even have a head shot! But he was really nice, and he saw me perform. Then I did an official audition. This whole period took about nine months. And then I got the show! It was very, very sudden.
OU CAN’T FAULT BILL HADER FOR BEING HIGH-STRUNG. Until now, the average filmgoer has known him merely as “Hey, that guy!”—the low-key funnyman who turns up in high-grossing comedies like Superbad or Tropic Thunder, delivers a brief-but-hilarious punchline, and duly departs for the rest of the flick. So it’s easy to understand why he’s jittery about taking on his first leading romantic role in the Judd Apatow-directed Trainwreck, starring opposite Woman-of-the-Moment Amy Schumer. Cut the 37-year-old some slack; he’s not used to having this many close-ups. Then again, Hader says he’s always been especially neurotic. Even during his Saturday Night Live days. For every time he nailed an impression (from Al Pacino to Julian Assange) or left audiences howling as delirious “Weekend Update” correspondent Stefon, Hader would prepare by hyperventilating backstage. It sounds unhealthy, but it could also be key to his success. Hader’s unease may well be his driving force. It’s the mark of a man who wants to do an exceptional job. And really, at this point, he’s got nothing to worry about.
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I have this recurring nightmare where Radiohead recruits me as their new drummer. And I suddenly have to play sold-out stadium shows with them and have no idea what I’m doing.
It was exactly like that! One-hundred per cent like that. I remember having my own office. I’d never had my own office before, ever. And then I had Amy Poehler coming in going, “Hey, how are you! Do you improvise?” And I was like, “Uh…yeaaaah?” I was so intimidated. I always felt, especially for about the first four seasons, like someone was going come tap me on the shoulder and say, “What are you doing out there? You’ve got to get out of here.” And I would’ve been like “Yup, you’re right! Sorry!” I was making more money than
Guide A WELCOME INTRODUCTION
Jessica Barth Does it by herself BY BIANCA TEIXEIRA
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F THEY GAVE AN Oscar out for Best Sex Scene with an Invisible Partner, Jessica Barth would take it home, no question. “I was spread-eagled on the floor,” she says. “Everything I’m doing, I’m doing to an empty space. There’s no one with me so I just really went for it, no holding back!” She’s referring, of course, to her role in Ted, where she plays Tami-Lynn, girlfriend to a CGI teddy bear voiced by Seth MacFarlane. The sequence is intoxicating. Partly, we’ll admit, because she looks uncannily like a young Denise Richards. And partly because, well, the woman’s got moves. Turns out Barth is a certified expert (we’d say instructor, but she doesn’t like teaching) in Pilates and Piloxing, a brutal mix of Pilates and boxing. Her onscreen gyrating isn’t just sexy—it’s damn well athletic. All of that to say: we can’t wait for Ted 2 to come out this summer. It’s sure to feature a lot more miming. “My favourite scene is this knock-down-drag-out fight between me and Ted. To do that without another actor is a challenge.” We’ll start polishing her award now.
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Guide MOVIES
They Are What They Are The Asylum doesn’t make the best movies in the world. So what? BY GREG HUDSON
F YOU’VE HEARD of the Asylum, it likely wasn’t for something “good.” The Asylum doesn’t make things that are, critically speaking, good. The films and television shows they create know what they are—a counter-intuitive compliment that’s shorthand for a movie with a total lack of pretention. It’s likely you’ve at least seen their handiwork. You’ve flicked past it on Netflix, or, like millions of others, were sucked in by the ironic hype of Sharknado and Sharknado 2—movies that promise to be so bad they’re great. Creature features are an Asylum speciality. They also make Christmas movies, Christian movies and B-grade horror films. And mockbusters—flicks that, for the distracted, unsavvy, or super high, look like Hollywood flicks they’ve heard of, only not quite right. Like the Mega Bloks your aunt got you instead of the Lego set you wanted. They make them on the cheap, sometimes based on nothing more than a title a studio is developing. “I think the audience just wants to be satisfied,” explains Paul Bales, one of
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the founders of the Asylum. He and his two partners talk with the easy honesty of friends who don’t take much seriously. They started the Asylum in the late ’90s, when they realized people would rent their stuff at Blockbuster, possibly by mistake. Now, they won’t greenlight any feature until they’ve sold it, either to overseas markets, cable channels or streaming services. As a result, their films are always profitable. “Whether it’s a gourmet meal of an Oscar contender or a Tommy’s burger when you’re high, it’s that satisfaction that the audience is looking for. I think our films are probably not on the Academy Award level, but our films satisfy a lot of high people.” It’s a business model that has, unsurprisingly, been criticized for being cynical. But here’s the thing: everything in Hollywood is cynical, isn’t it? The days of challenging auteurs making art for the sake of art is, with a few exceptions, kind of over. Movies are made to make money, and the same goes for the Asylum. Sure, the Asylum makes knock-offs, but so does Hollywood. So does fashion. If culture is a
constant exchange of ideas, commerce is the booze that lubricates that discussion. Consider the Asylum a drunken digression. Like Hollywood, the Asylum follows a formula—only they’re up-front about it. “Something we’ve done from the very start is to make sure, no matter the budget, or what genre you’re making, that the elements from that genre are there,” says David Latt, another founder. “We will talk to our filmmakers and actors and tell them their parameters. You can decide whether it’s a great film or not, but you need the core elements. In a horror movie you have someone dying 10 minutes in. Or it could be a Christmas movie with dogs. You need a donkey hijinks scene. You don’t have to worry so much how experienced your cast or filmmakers are.” And sure, maybe following a strict formula doesn’t make for great fare, but somehow when the Asylum does it, it’s refreshing. Wily scamps, giving people what they want, even if it’s not what they really want. And, well, isn’t that what summer movies are about anyway?
Where to Start! The Asylum pumps out movies at an incredible rate. You’ll want to start with something familiar...at least nominally If You Liked: Watching Tom Hanks solve religious mysteries with bad hair in The Da Vinci Code. You Should Try: The Da Vinci Treasure, starring former ’80s teen idol C. Thomas Howell and Lance Henrikson, a respected character actor in need of a cheque. You’ll like it if you thought the Hanks film could have used more National Treasure.
If you Liked: The romance and grandeur of James Cameron’s Oscar-winning epic Titanic. You Should Try: Titanic II, The Asylum’s update, wherein a new ship tempts fate by naming itself after the doomed vessel. Things do not go well.
If you liked: Michael Bay’s nostalgic explode-a-thon Transformers. You Should Try: Transmorphers, an epic wherein— get this—alien robots have taken over the world. Only, in this flick, there are no Autobots. Us humans have to fight alone. See, originality!
Guide
SKILLS
Babies Don’t Come with a Manual But at least there’s Dad School. Because being a father is harder than you thought BY PASHA MALLA
T WAS NO COINCIDENCE that Dove launched its “Real Strength” campaign during this year’s Super Bowl. The ads, tagged “Care Makes a Man Stronger,” feature fathers and their kids in moments of tenderness, and speak to a broadening definition of masculinity the world over. Fatherhood isn’t just about chucking the football around; these days, dads are increasingly sources of compassion, warmth and caring.
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This is partly what inspired Jason Bomers, a Toronto web designer, visual artist and stay-athome father, to start something he’s calling Dad School. “I think most guys who are having a baby want to be a bigger part of their kids’ lives, but many don’t really know how,” he says. Bomers, whose girls are eight and five years old, took prenatal classes with his wife before the birth of their first daughter, but felt that his role was primarily defined in terms of support. “Dad School will explain how to be a good partner by doing practical things and showing empathy,” he says, “but it will also show men that they can take control of their role as a parent and have a huge positive effect on their child’s life.” The courses, beginning in June 2015, will comprise three twohour sessions with 12 participants and three instructors. And while Bomers’ project is limited to Toronto, a number of similar initiatives are springing up all over the country. The Father Involvement Research Alliance is helping develop similar programming with 10 universities and 25 community organizations across Canada. Like the It’s My Child Too program in Ottawa, Dad School will teach men what to expect emotionally, mentally and physically from the prenatal period, through birthing and into the infancy of a child. Bomers and his co-instructors will also offer practical advice, like how to hold a baby in different situations, which clothes facilitate quick changings and recommendations for carriers. But mainly Bomers hopes to foster a support network. “It’s a chance to talk in a relaxed atmosphere where everyone will feel comfortable,” he explains. “It will also be a great way to connect with a bunch of other guys who will soon be dads.” It’s that sense of community, he claims, that will help foster a culture in which fathers are active and comfortable raising their kids, both on their own and equally with their partners. J UNE/J ULY 20 15
Jason Bomers offers some practical advice on how to be a dad Take some time off work. Really.
As much time off as you can after the baby is born. This is a crazy emotional and difficult time, and you can be as good or better than your mother-inlaw in nurturing the baby.
Don’t be scared of a crying baby.
Crying doesn’t necessarily mean she’s hungry. Soothing a crying baby might seem difficult, but it’s a relationship builder and your partner will appreciate not being the only go-to.
Don’t just wait until your kid’s old enough for T-Ball. The more time you spend with the baby, the more interesting things you’ll notice about him. Plus, you can bring a new baby anywhere. They like the movement.
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Guide
1 T H E T R AV E L L I N G M A N
Louisville, Kentucky Good bourbon. Pretty women. Fast horses. Sign us up BY BIANCA TEIXEIRA
ENTUCKY IS FAMOUS FOR A FEW THINGS— a few things they do exceptionally well. There’s bourbon, of course. Kentucky is where the stuff was born, and is still responsible for about 95 per cent of the world’s supply. And there’s horseracing, too—no doubt you’re familiar with a little derby named after the state. Driving through Kentucky’s biggest city, Louisville, you’re likely to encounter your share of grazing thoroughbreds and whiskey bars. But you’ll also find a strikingly modern city, one that’s exciting, without any pretention. There’s a lot to like here.
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EAT:
BISTRO 1860
Bistro 1860 is a little bit French, a little bit downhome American cooking. That means dishes like lobster hushpuppies and a duck confit strudel, alongside classics like beef tenderloin drizzled with a Béarnaise sauce. And while you’re clearly expecting some bourbon, take advantage of the Bistro’s renowned wine bar, which has one of the largest cruvinet preservation systems in the US.
STAY:
1. THE BROWN HOTEL Built in 1923, The Brown is all about old Southern charm: ornate millwork, stupidly high ceilings and miles of plush carpets and carved mahogany. It has
played host to all kinds of legends, from Harry Truman to Elizabeth Taylor to Jimmy Carter, but we recommend spending the night in the Muhammad Ali Suite, stocked with autographed memorabilia. BROWNHOTEL.COM
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BISTRO1860.COM
610 MAGNOLIA
There are only 50 seats available, and each one is only seated once. That means if you get in, you’re welcome to sit and enjoy your food until closing.
You’ll need the time: choose either a four- or six-course tasting menu that focuses on local ingredients and changes weekly. 610MAGNOLIA.COM
DRINK:
2. THE SILVER DOLLAR The Silver Dollar feels like the kind of place you might stumble into along a dusty horse trail. It’s a reimagined juke joint, with growly bluegrass blasting from the speakers (or the stage) and one of the best selections of bourbon anywhere in town. WHISKEYBY THEDRINK.COM
3. BUFFALO TRACE DISTILLERY
If you want the best, go right to the source. Estab-
lished in 1836, Buffalo Trace is a national historic landmark. At any given moment, there are over 200,000 barrels of bourbon aging on the grounds, some that you can stake a claim to and buy right then and there. Take a tour, sip some samples and don’t leave without a bottle under your arm.
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DO:
CHURCHILL DOWNS
JOE LEY ANTIQUES
As the home of the Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs has everything a serious horseracing enthusiast needs: beautiful thoroughbreds and luxury boxes from which to watch them race. As long as it’s sunny and you have a mint julep in your hand (they make some of the best, anywhere), it’ll be a good day.
Housed in an 1890 schoolhouse, the antique store covers approximately two acres of floorspace—and even then it’s crammed full. We’re talking one-of-a-kind pieces of hardware, signs, railings and doors. It’s the kind of place you go to look, then end up driving home with a new fireplace mantle strapped to the roof of your car.
CHURHILLDOWNS.COM
J O E L E Y. C O M
Guide ANOTHER MAN WORTH LISTENING TO
Adrian Grenier Has a lot going on upstairs BY ALEX NINO GHECIU
So in the Entourage movie, Vince decides to take a stab at becoming a director. You’re an actor-turned-director in real life, too. How similar is Vince the character to Adrian the person?
Probably about 62.5 per cent or so. That’s awfully precise. Was this the type of role you envisioned yourself playing when you first came to Hollywood?
Oh, not at all. I resisted it at first, in fact. The character of Vince was still just a blank canvas in a lot of ways. So I could only see the misogyny, the materialism and the superficial parts. It wasn’t something I was interested in. But when I talked to [Entourage creator] Doug Ellin, he assured me all that stuff was just the backdrop. It was the world these guys were thrust into. But, ultimately, he was going to allow me to create a character that was deeper than that. What kind of actor did you initially aspire to become?
I wanted to be in the movies that I loved—dark, gritty indie films. But, you know, it wasn’t up to me. Something Entourage gave me was a little bit of levity. Everything doesn’t have to be so serious. You don’t have to deconstruct everything. Did you have trouble pretending to party on a show that’s largely about partying?
ANY PEOPLE WANT Adrian Grenier to legally change his name to Vincent Chase. Naturally. It’s hard to think of Grenier as anyone but the narcissistic playboy/movie star he played for eight seasons on HBO’s male-bonding comedy-drama Entourage—a role he reprises this summer in the movie version of the series. Hell, when I catch him on the phone, he’s cruising down Sunset Blvd., top down, on his way to a meeting with his agent. Dude even runs his errands like Vince. In truth, Grenier is much like his fictional counterpart: he’s a doe-eyed actor navigating the vapid terrain of Hollywood with his own close circle of friends and a trusty agent. Where he diverges from Vince, however, is in the way he dissects that terrain and the world surrounding it. He’s directed a swath of socially conscious documentaries, from 2010’s Teenage Paparazzo, a critique of our celebrity obsession from the eyes of a 14-yearold paparazzi photographer, to this year’s 52, an eye-opening look at the way ocean noise pollution threatens marine mammals. Talk to the 38-year-old long enough and you’ll realize he wears his big, bleeding heart on his sleeve. Vince will flirt with the bunnies at a Playboy mansion party; Grenier will stress over the way the whole thing reinforces the heteropatriarchy. The irony of all this is not lost on the actor.
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I did, I did. It was kind of funny. Doug would come up to me between takes and tell me to smile already because we were having the best time. And I’d be like, “It doesn’t say that in the script!” And he’d say, “It doesn’t have to! That’s just the show.” So, now I just smile arbitrarily at all times, whenever possible. I’m actually a brooding, serious guy, believe it or not. People don’t appreciate how much of a stretch that character is for me, on some level. I watched your documentary Teenage Paparazzo. You strike me as someone who’s quite apprehensive of fame and celebrity culture.
Absolutely. It’s something I’ve always questioned and been wary of. And I’ve sometimes felt cautious of the way Entourage has dealt with it. I don’t think a lot of people question whether or not the show’s degrading to women or misogynistic or totally materialistic. I mean, the fact is that guys talk like that and there’s certain realities to that
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Guide
ANOTHER MAN WORTH LISTENING TO
You’re involved in many projects aimed at bettering the planet. There’s been your wealth of documentaries, and you also founded SHFT.com, which is aimed at nudging sustainable ideas into pop culture. When did you become a humanitarian?
culture, so I think it would be disingenuous to leave it out. But, on the other hand, I think the show has a lot of really valuable lessons. In fact, the strong female characters in the show really prove that. What is it that you hate about celebrity culture?
I don’t have very much hate in my body. Okay, maybe hate is a strong word.
There are certainly things about celebrity culture that I find frustrating. But I don’t know if it’s the celebrity that’s to blame necessarily. I think it’s really the complex system of media and attention and distraction and motivation and incentives that’s overtaken American culture. Celebrity culture is just one result of that. It’s a symptom of a bigger problem. Still, one could argue you’re contributing to the problem: you’re on a show that’s making people want to become celebrities, aren’t you?
Yeah, I am. [Laughs.] I mean, that’s partly why I made Teenage Paparazzo. It’s an answer to the promise of fame. You know, Vince and the boys can do no wrong. They are without reproach and nothing bad ever happens to them—or at least nothing that they can’t get out of. But it’s all just a fantasy. So I hope people don’t take it too seriously. I know people do, though. I’ve had plenty of people 62 SHAR PM AGA Z IN E .C OM
come up to me and say, “I moved out here to be an agent because of your show” or “I want to be an actor because of Vince.” And the realities of what it means to actually have a career in acting, the struggles and the insecurities that come along with it, aren’t really addressed in the show. So, you’ve got to be careful. Do you feel guilty about making people want to enter showbiz?
I am not my brother’s keeper. No, I mean, I’ve done what I can to make sure that I’m not just blindly going through it. I’m sharing my thoughts on my experience. Hopefully people will watch Teenage Paparazzo as the antidote to getting lost in the fantasy. You’re a fascinating case. You became a celebrity by playing a celebrity on a show about being a celebrity, and now you’re deconstructing that celebrity. It’s all so very meta.
Definitely! I don’t even know if my situation has been replicated ever since or ever before. But it’s certainly a rare opportunity for me to have that very meta perspective, but also to just have the will to deconstruct it. A lot of times, when you reach a certain point in your career, the last thing you want to do is undermine it or be perceived as biting the hand that feeds you by questioning the industry that’s made this all possible for you. But I guess I wanted to. And I have.
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It’s just the way I was raised. As a human being, you’ve got to care about your neighbours and your planet. Nobody else is going to do that. Growing up, my mom really instilled in me a sense of my own power and how I affect the world. I believe we all have our own influence and it can be great. We have to honour that. A lot of people out there don’t feel that they actually affect the world. I think that’s a testament to their lack of believing in themselves and what they actually mean to the world.
Cultural Equation: Adrian Grenier =
The world has a lot more bros in it today thanks to Entourage. How do you feel about the bro culture your show has helped spawn? Is it good for humanity?
You’re welcome! We’ve certainly contributed, if not helped define, the bromance in this era. But I think guys like to be a little more sensitive and show a little bit more tenderness to one another despite there being an overload of macho-ness in our culture. One thing about this movie is it’s surprisingly touching. You still have the babes and cars and all of that stuff, but more times than not, the audience is going to find themselves getting choked up and feeling genuinely touched. You know, in an emotional way. Not touched as in groped.
Young Peter Gallagher
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Joe Rogan
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It’s a figure of speech, I know! But the word “bro” has become a bit of a dirty word these days, don’t you think?
I think haters will always try to undermine the jock elements. But is it really bad? Bros loving bros under one god? I don’t think so. Are you ready to say goodbye to Vince and your Entourage bros once and for all?
Vince ain’t going nowhere. I think we’ve got a couple more movies after this one. I’d put my money on it. We’re all going to Vegas tomorrow. So, I might actually put my money on it.
Naomi Klein
Guide HEALTH
Summer Fitness Edition The days of binging on burritos and Netflix are over. It’s summer. Go outside. Take a run. Do some sit-ups. Drink some juice. Get healthy. You’ll be glad you did
The Counter Argument: Just Start Running AYBE IT’S a generational thing, this idea that you can’t start anything until you have the most advanced equipment. Like kids in film school who insist on using the same camera that Spielberg uses, as if it will make a difference. With all the apps available to help you get fit, it’s a wonder that anyone was able to get into shape before the iPhone was invented. You can get step counters, GPS-enabled trackers, programs that’ll craft the perfect playlist for your pace, and nano-bot-powered sweat analyzers (well, probably, anyway). But, here’s the thing: we endorse all those items (and more on the next page), but you don’t need them. The beauty of running is that it requires nothing but shoes and some earth (and even the shoes are debatable). The minute you delay working out because you’re waiting on an app, or an update, or whatever that gizmo does, you’ve missed the whole damn point. Just Do It, indeed.
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—GREG HUDSON
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Guide HEALTH: FITNESS EDITION
Leader of the Pack How to look cool even
1. ICEBREAKER STRIKE SS CREWE T-SHIRT
when you’re a sweaty mess BY JOANNE JIN
OU CAN SEE THEM cresting a hill, a whole fucking pack of them, and you know you’re going to have to jump off the sidewalk to let them pass. Whose idea were these running groups, anyway? In the past year, they’ve taken over the streets and, if you’ve noticed, your friends’ Instagram, too. Not that you want to join them, necessarily. Running is, and should be, a solitary sport. But, damn it if that gaggle of runners don’t look perfectly on point. Here’s a roundup of the hottest running gear to help you look confident whether you’re running solo or not.
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Black attracts heat. So, don’t wear it to run outside. Instead, wear bright coloured t-shirts like this one by Icebreaker. It’s made from merino wool and a sustainably produced wood fibre (believe it or not) that helps keep the body cool. $ 1 0 0
2. ICNY SOCKS
Spending more than $10 on a pair of gym socks seems steep, but these are made with moisture-wicking yarns that keep your feet dry even after a sweaty 10K. They also have reflective material stitched in, for safety. $ 2 5
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3. TRACKSMITH VAN CORTLANDT SHORTS
These Ivy League inspired shorts are made with lightweight mesh fabric to keep you feeling free. The inseam falls at four inches, which means they’re also an opportunity to show off your runner’s legs. $ 6 0
4. ADIDAS ULTRA BOOST RUNNING SHOES
Your running shoes should be comfortable—soft but not too-soft. The Adidas Ultra Boost shoes are mostly mesh, which helps them breathe. It’s easier to run when your feet aren’t burning up. $ 2 1 0
5. GARMIN FORERUNNER 620 WATCH
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Don’t want to deal with a personal running coach, not to mention a throng of sweaty twenty-somethings encouraging you to go faster? This touchscreen GPS running watch monitors your heart rate, tracks distance and pace so you can accurately set, and achieve, goals for yourself. $ 5 9 0
6. JABRA SPORT PULSE WIRELESS EARBUDS
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Do you really need someone screaming in your ear to get motivated? Try these: a Bluetooth headset that offers real-time voice coaching and an inear biometric heart rate monitor. $ 2 5 0
June/July 2015 LOOK BETTER FEEL BETTER KNOW MORE
Style
TRENDS
Batter Up The baseball shirt is this summer’s sartorial home run ET’S GET one thing straight: we do not advocate wearing a jersey under your suit, no matter how much money your fantasy team has riding on Mike Trout. We do, however, entirely advocate the baseball shirt as a viable alternative to polos or short-sleeved button-downs. It works just as well with a pair of shorts at the park (hell, you could even actually play baseball in it) as it does under a blazer for celebratory latenight drinks on a patio.
COTTON BASEBALL SHIRT ($420) AND POLYESTER TWO-BUTTON BLAZER ($950) BY JOSEPH; COTTON POPLIN PANT ($1,365) BY GUCCI.
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Photo: Matt Doyle. Styling: Christopher Campbell for Atelier Management. Grooming by: Liz Olivier
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Style
LACOSTE X HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY ($125) AT HUDSON’S BAY
JOE FRESH ($50)
BEN SHERMAN (PACK OF 3, $25)
Double Up You want to go bigger? That’s cool. Be bold by picking a mixed print that pairs stripes with another pattern. Who doesn’t love options?
KOVALUM ($130)
Swim trunks
H&M ($30)
($65) BY NAUTICA, AT THE BAY
Polo ($80) BY MINIMUM
OLD NAVY ($33)
TRENDS
Line Up Whether you wear your stripes horizontally, vertically or on the diagonal, the important thing is that you wear them
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ES, there is the risk of looking like a sailor, or a caricature of a poncey Frenchman. But you know what? Both of those dated archetypes are, actually, pretty cool. Get creative with some of these more modern iterations, but also know that when it comes to stripes, it’s impossible to go wrong with a classic Breton.
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Button up ($90) BY TOMMY HILFIGER
Photo: Adrian Armstrong. Styling: joanne Jin.
GAP ($50)
Style TOM FORD
NOIR EXTREME
When you wear a Tom Ford fragrance, you will get noticed. And not in a cell phone salesman-wearing-Drakkar Noir kind of way, obviously. This new fragrance by Ford is a perfectly warm blend of vanilla, citrus, floral and creamy spice. Pure elegance.
PACO RABANNE
1 MILLION COLOGNE
A subtler version of Paco Rabanne’s famous fragrance. Sweet and fresh, with dashes of warm spice and florals. Like the good life, bottled.
FRAGRANCE
Those Summer Nights Elegant scents to make warm weather
HERMÈS
LE JARDIN DE MONSIÉUR LI
This would seem almost too light for a summer night, if it weren’t for its subtle notes of spice. Like a lot of scents that work for men and women, this citrus splash takes confidence. But then, whatever you’re wearing to that garden party probably takes some confidence, too.
evenings even hotter ERE’S SOME FRAGRANCE 101: Heavy scents in the winter, light scents in the summer. When it’s warm, your body projects whatever fragrance you’re wearing more powerfully. But that doesn’t mean every scent has to be all mint and citrus. As the sun goes down, you can choose something with a little more weight— summer isn’t all about shorts and topsiders. Sometimes, a man dresses up, too. Where most summer fragrances are sporty, these are elegant, restrained and, yes, luxurious.
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VA L E N T I N O
ALFRED DUNHILL
UOMO EDITION NOIRE
ICON
A good fragrance to take you through the summer and into the fall, with hints of cedar, leather and chocolate. Classic and rich, with just the right amount of fresh bergamot to lighten up the party.
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A fragrance that somehow perfectly encapsulates the British fashion house, known for their craftsmanship. There are hints of leather, sure, but also notes of citrus, woods and black pepper to even it out. It’s not necessarily a young man’s fragrance, but it could be.
Style 1
1. HUBLOT
BIG BANG TOURBILLON POWER RESERVE 5-DAYS INDICATOR Perhaps no other company better epitomizes the modern luxury sports watch. An aggressive case and a crisp industrial look frame a highly complex movement that has enough power for five days between windings and a high-end tourbillon regulation system. $121,000
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TIMEPIECES
Behind the Scenes Skeleton dial watches
2. ZENITH
ACADEMY GEORGES FAVRE-JACOT A glowing example of traditional fine watchmaking at work, Zenith offers a partially skeletonized dial on this Academy collection model with a view of a tiny chain that slowly pulls energy from the mainspring to the rest of the mechanical movement. $82,700
3. TAG HEUER
CARRERA HEUER 01 This year TAG Heuer reinvents the Carrera. The technically inspired, openworked dial adds a youthful appeal to the historic chronograph watch family that contains a movement made in-house at a fan-friendly price. $6,350
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are scary stylish BY ARIEL ADAMS
E LIKE TO SEE HOW THINGS work: it’s a very human characteristic. You see a magic trick, the first thing you want to know is how it was done. You hear the roar of an engine, you want to pop the hood immediately and take a look at what’s making all that noise. Timepieces are the same. The appeal of a mechanical instrument is in the intricate engine powering it. Traditional watches often have beautiful movements, and more and more brands are showing them off. Timepieces that offer a full view of the movement through the face are said to have open, skeletonized views. Luxury watches take this concept a step further by skeletonizing their movements, carefully cutting away at the delicate mechanism until only the most essential bits remain— all for your viewing pleasure.
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4. BELL & ROSS
BR-X1 CARBONE FORGÉ After launching the BR-X1 version last year, Bell & Ross updated it in forged carbon, just in time for Baselworld. The update has made this already rare (only 250 pieces available), lightweight watch extremely durable: the 45mm square case is protected by a fifth grade titanium and high-tech ceramic surrounded by rubber inserts. The skeletonized bridges showcase the intricate 56-jewel automatic movement. $27,820
5. CARTIER
ROTONDE DE CARTIER ASTROTOURBILLON SKELETON Traditional movement skeletonization is married to contemporary design in Cartier’s Skeleton rendition of their Astrotourbillon. The balance wheel and escapement also happen to double as the watch’s seconds hand. PRICE UPON REQUEST
June/July 2015 LOOK BETTER FEEL BETTER KNOW MORE
Cars Sports Car Special Summer is here. The open road beckons. Speed is freedom B Y M AT T B U B B E R S
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Cars
SPORTS CAR SPECIAL
Pick-a-Porsche 911 ITH THE introduction of the Porsche 911 Targa 4 GTS (yes, that’s its actual name) there are now 21 different versions of the 911 to choose from. Picking just one isn’t easy. So, use this this handy flowchart to help you select the one that’s right for you.
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Reconsider
NO
SO, YOU WANT A PORSCHE 911
YES
NO
OK, FINE
Are you driving it all year round? Snow, sleet, everywhere?
NO, I HAVE OTHER CARS FOR THAT
Are you taking your new 911 to the track?
I have a happy marriage and a fulfilling career (plus, too much speed makes me nervous).
ABSOLUTELY NO
YES!
Do you aspire to be the next Walter Röhrl? Do you think the 911 is too common? NO. WHO AM I KIDDING?
Do you want the wind in your hair? NEVER
YES. I’M HOT SHIT
Do you want the wind in your hair?
GT3
ALWAYS
NOT AT ALL!
How fast do you want to go?
How fast do you want to go?
CARRERA S CAB
TARGA 4
TARGA 4S
CRAZY FAST
DON’T MESS WITH MY HAIR
SUPER FAST
GT3 RS
FAST
ALWAYS
CRAZY FAST
SUPER FAST
FAST CARRERA CAB
KIND OF. I WANT SOMETHING THAT STANDS OUT
How fast do you want to go? BLAST OFF!
SCARY FAST
CRAZY FAST
How fast do you want to go?
CARRERA 4 CAB
SUPER FAST
FAST
CARRERA GTS CAB
CARRERA 4 GTS CAB
How fast do you want to go? BLAST OFF!
CARRERA 4 CARRERA S
SCARY FAST
TURBO S CAB
CRAZY FAST
SUPER FAST
CRAZY FAST
SUPER FAST
FAST
FAST
TURBO CAB
CARRERA
TARGA 4 GTS
CARRERA 4 GTS
CARRERA 4S
TURBO
CARRERA 4S CAB
CARRERA GTS
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TURBO S
Column 1
T H E R E L U C TA N T FA N AT I C
Equal Fights Women’s sports don’t get the respect they clearly deserve BY NICHOLAS HUNE-BROWN
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OR CHRISTINE SINCLAIR, THE PATTERN MUST HAVE BEEN disheartening. In 2010, the Canadian soccer star was at the top of her game, playing with the kind of dominance you expect from one of the greatest players of her generation. In that year’s championship game, Sinclair scored twice, leading her team, FC Gold Pride, to victory. That offseason, her team folded. So Sinclair flew across the country, joined the Western New York Flash and led them to a championship the next season, earning the finals MVP award after scoring the game’s first goal and netting another in penalty kicks. That offseason, the entire league folded. And so it went—a player who couldn’t be stopped on the pitch was finding it increasingly difficult to find a field worthy of her skills. It felt like a terrible waste, as if Willie Mays had been confined to the Negro Leagues or Meryl Streep had been stranded in some small-town community theatre,
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performing dramatic feats on a stage too small for her talents. Sinclair’s battle is the same one so many female athletes face: a fight to stay relevant or even employed in a fan culture that, traditionally, simply hasn’t cared about women’s sports. You see it in basketball, where WNBA teams struggle to bring in crowds, and in hockey, where players who were adored during the Olympics suddenly find themselves working full-time jobs in order to play in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League. A few months ago, when Boston Blades forward Janine Weber scored a dramatic overtime goal to win the Clarkson Cup (the league’s version of the Stanley Cup), the Hockey Hall of Fame asked her to donate her stick. Weber had to think twice. CWHL players pay for their own equipment, and giving up the historic keepsake would leave Weber with just a single stick for her next tournament. This month, then, when Sinclair and the rest of the national team take to fields across Canada in the FIFA Women’s World Cup, it could mark a high point. The team’s performance in the London Olympics—a gritty run that included a Sinclair hat-trick in a semi-final game seen by 3.8 million Canadians—brought new homegrown attention to women’s soccer. The media-shy Sinclair has become a household name. Her face is plastered across newspapers and magazines. It’s on the evening news and all over your television in Mazda commercials. Perhaps more importantly, though, when the World Cup hype ends and
“It’s impossible for women’s sports to gain respect if they’re presented as a curious sideshow. They can’t be Batgirl to the Batman of mainstream male sports—the half-hearted, pitiable female version of the real thing.”
Sinclair returns to her club team, it will be with the Portland Thorns, a team The Guardian had called the first “real club” in women’s soccer. It’s a team that brings in 13,000 people a game, attracting rabid fans from well outside the traditional soccer-momsand-their-daughters demographic. The team’s owner, Merritt Paulson, also owns the MLS men’s team, the Timbers, with whom the Thorns share a stadium. “The club crest is up on the side of the stadium, the same size as the Timbers’ crest,” Paulson told the football magazine Eighty By Eight recently. “It’s not a side project. It is as full-on as we can make it.” And this may be one of the secrets. In the endless chicken vs. egg arguments about the lack of popularity of women’s sports (is more exposure necessary to make women’s sports popular or do news organizations and sponsors ignore them because there’s no interest?), one thing is clear: it’s impossible for women’s sports to gain respect if they’re presented as a curious sideshow. They can’t be Batgirl to the Batman of mainstream male sports—the half-hearted, pitiable female version of the real thing. In tennis, where the women’s game is as competitive and compelling as the men’s, there isn’t a lesser “Women’s Wimbledon” held a week later and only covered in the pink ghetto of espnW. Serena Williams plays on the same courts as Roger Federer. She’s given the same television coverage and earns the same prize money. Presented as equals, the audience treats them that way.
Nowhere is the effect of this attitude clearer, or more surprising, than in the UFC. Mixed martial arts would seem like an unlikely sport for female athletes. It’s a macho world in which the only women present were once scantily clad “octagon girls,” a sport whose signature move, the “ground and pound,” features one fighter sitting on top of his helpless opponent, punching him in the face until a burly ref intervenes. In 2011, a TMZ reporter asked UFC head honcho Dana White when women would be allowed into the UFC. White didn’t miss a beat. “Never,” he said, grinning widely, his bald head gleaming in the light of the camera. “Never.” White deserves some credit for his fast turnaround. Just a few years later, Ronda Rousey is perhaps the UFC’s most bankable star, male or female, and the league has introduced a second weightclass for women, aiming to build on the popularity of Women’s MMA. As in tennis, female UFC fighters aren’t relegated to their own B-list tournaments. They fight on the same card as men, are given the same absurd reality-TV shows, and are promoted with the same over-thetop enthusiasm (although, it should be noted, with a particular emphasis on charisma and sex appeal). On a spring evening a little while ago, in the midst of the NBA and NHL playoffs, my girlfriend and I walked down to a Toronto bar to watch UFC fight night. The bar was filled with young fans drinking pitchers and eating chicken wings,
chatting idly as straw-weight fighters Paige VanZant and Felice Herrig appeared on the big screen. In the lead-up to the fight, there had been some online grumbling about VanZant, a pretty blond 21-year-old who some felt was being unfairly promoted because of her photogenic charms. When the fight started, however, those concerns quickly disappeared. In the first round, the bar oohed when VanZant threw her opponent, a twist of the hip that sent the taller Herrig tumbling to the mat. They cheered when VanZant picked her opponent up by her legs and slammed her head into the ground. The two guys next to us— Oxford-shirt-wearing twenty-somethings who had spent the first fight of the night discussing the relative merits of this year’s crop of superhero TV shows—suddenly snapped to attention. “The other one’s actually doing pretty well,” one Oxford Shirt said, generously, as Herrig lay on the mat, gamely fighting off blows. By the third round, VanZant was having her way with Herrig, whose face was bloodied and swollen. “Oh my god,” said the other Oxford. “Keep doing it girl, keep doing it,” his friend said, in the blood-thirsty, totally engrossed way of fight fans. They didn’t comment on her looks or question whether she would stand a chance against a male MMA fighter. They watched the fight, whooping as one tiny fighter beat the hell out of another. It sounded, in its way, like progress.
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Column 2
E D I T O R - A T- L A R G E
In Praise of Quitting Sometimes leaving Mexico is the best part of going to Mexico
I
BY JEREMY FREED
N THE END IT WAS THE DENGUE FEVER THAT GOT ME, but it had been a while coming. I’d just arrived in a tiny Mexican village near the Pacific Ocean and I was volunteering at an eco-resort, the kind of place that runs on solar power and organic sprouts. I was planning to spend the next month growing food and rescuing baby turtles and, with any luck, awakening within myself a passion for this type of work. I was staying in a house shared by four other volunteers, a simple cinder-block place with no hot water, curtains for doors, a few beds and a handful of wicker chairs in various stages of collapse. It was basic, but liveable and, if I’m honest, not the worst place I’d stayed.
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I SPENT MY first workday digging holes for fruit trees, sweating under the morning sun, my hands blistering within minutes. By the time we knocked off work at one in the afternoon, I was exhausted, but in a positive mood. My hands, I knew, would callous and I’d acclimatize to the heat. After having spent most of my working life either behind a desk, or a cheese counter, it was satisfying to work with my body. When I got back to the house that evening, however, I was so tired I could barely walk. I had a deep, radiating heat emanating from somewhere high in my chest. That evening the fever grew worse. The next day, I couldn’t get out of bed. A rash had colonized my legs and torso. I tossed and turned in my tangled, sweat-soaked sheets. I spent the next four days laying in my bed, drifting between sleep and waking, a scrawny grey kitten pouncing on the lumps of my toes beneath the sheets. My dreams were harsh, full of vivid colours and noise and horrible fears. ••• MY DESIRE TO leave Mexico began as a quiet, nudging suggestion and grew in persistence with every fever-wracked day. I couldn’t do it, of course. I’d planned to stay here for four months and it had been less than two. I’d also sublet my place back home and it wouldn’t be vacant for another six weeks. More importantly, leaving would be quitting. I had already quit my job back home, and quit the life I knew in favour of this one. If I quit now I’d be going back to what I’d left
“Like marrying someone you met at a craps table in Vegas, after living together for a little while, Travel and I turned out to be less compatible than I had initially believed.”
without the thing I’d come for, I’d be giving up on finding meaning and direction through travel and physical labour and baby turtle-rescuing. I had met people who’d been backpacking for months, even years at a time, living happily on the road, making friends as they went, relishing the experiences that come with discovering new parts of the world. When I left home I had wanted to become one of these people, to get my share of the fulfillment they seemed to receive from a life unencumbered by possessions or office jobs or whatever was happening on Twitter. If I left now, I’d be acknowledging that I wasn’t. ••• IT WAS, I know now, a precipice I’d been approaching for some time. Things had begun well. The hostel dorms and roadside tacos and ubiquitous crowing roosters had been exciting for a while. It was all so thrillingly foreign. Something as simple as walking down the street was an onslaught of new experiences, unfamiliar sounds and smells. But like marrying someone you met at a craps table in Vegas, after living together for a little while, Travel and I turned out to be less compatible than I had initially believed. The quirks that were so charming at first began to grate on me. Did they have to play that mariachi music so loud? Why can’t I get a salad anywhere? If all of these roosters could possibly not crow the entire night that would be great. My fever eventually subsided and my strength began to return, but
my desire for adventure—and the uncomfortable situations it frequently entails—didn’t come with it.
me a toddler in a frilly white dress threw up milk all over the floor by my feet. I felt better than I had in weeks.
•••
•••
MY TURNING POINT came during a rare phone call with a friend back home. It was the first time we’d spoken in months and she listened patiently as I explained my predicament. “It doesn’t sound like you’re having fun,” she said. I reluctantly agreed. “But,” I countered, “It’s not supposed to be all fun, is it?” “Well, no. But it sounds like you want to leave. So why stay?” I made a final run at my list of ideals: cultivating a love of backpacking and physical work, learning how to grow food and milk goats, embracing the goodness of the universe and living with less. She was not convinced. “You can do all of that stuff in other places, you know.” I hadn’t really thought about that. It also hadn’t occurred to me that all I really wanted was permission to leave. And now I had it.
WITHIN TWELVE HOURS, I was gliding down a freeway, my dad at the wheel. Los Angeles, where my parents live, was only a three-hour flight away, but it felt like a different universe. I marveled at the smoothness of the roads, the cleanliness of the landscape, the absence of crowing roosters. It was beautiful. My parents had been vocal proponents of me coming to stay with them since they found out I was sick. Normally, the idea of spending more than a few days as their houseguest fills me with anxiety—they bicker, I regress to teenage angst, no one has fun. But it felt different this time. I was genuinely glad to be there, ready to deal with whatever happened as it came. In the last couple of months I’d fit my life into a backpack, navigated Mexico by air, rail and road, braved all manner of hygienically suspect street foods and relied on the benevolence of countless strangers for help along the way. For the first time, I allowed myself to acknowledge the notion that perhaps I had picked up more in Mexico than a horrible, debilitating virus. I hadn’t found myself, nor had it been the paradise of palm trees and never-ending guacamole I’d hoped, but leaving didn’t feel like quitting any more. It felt like a step towards getting what I want out of life wherever I find it. And what I wanted more than anything right then was a hot shower and a cheeseburger.
••• THINGS MOVED QUICKLY. I stuffed my clothes and books into my backpack, scrawled a vaguely apologetic note to my fellow volunteers, and got on a bus to the airport. I felt like Dustin Hoffman in the last scene of The Graduate, giddy with the thrill of escape, riding forward into the unknown. It was hot, the bus was small and crowded, and music blasted out of speakers at head level. Across from
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E N T E R TA I N L I K E A C H E F:
Homage to Catalonia How to cook, eat and party like you’re in Spain, from Chris Johns, Sharp’s special Spanish correspondent Photography by Liam Mogan • Styling by Andrew Bullis
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The smell of almond blossoms
is thick in the air, mingling with the aroma rising off a freshly delivered plate of morcilla de cebolla, the earthy, intense blood sausage that is a local specialty here in Andalusia. I'm sitting on a patio in the village of Melegis, about 30 minutes outside of Granada, overlooking a valley filled with orange trees, all of them heavily ornamented with bright fruit, and I'm having one of the great meals of my life. Vibrant padron peppers, slick with oil and crunchy with salt, are taken between bites of grilled tuna dressed with a ham-studded tomato compote. The smoky, fat-marbled pork chop, from the same black Iberian pigs that make the world's great Iberico ham, fresh off the plancha, could give a well-aged ribeye a run for its money. It has become so ubiquitous, and is interpreted in so many different ways that it's sometimes easy to forget that Spanish cuisine might be the single biggest influence on the way we eat today. Every time we order something from the portion of the menu that lists “small plates,” “dishes for sharing,” or “snacks” to say nothing of the prevalence of restaurants serving traditional tapas we are paying homage to the Spanish approach to dining. For all of its significance, though, it still sometimes seems that our understanding of Spanish food doesn't extend much beyond tapas, paella and gazpacho. On my first visit to Spain, it was the intense, buttery and herbaceous olive oils, the soft, vinegary anchovies and the cheeses: Manchego, Cabrales and Garrotxa that blew me away. A follow-up visit the next year opened my eyes to the seafood, both fresh and, believe it or not, from the can. The Spanish have raised canned seafood to an art form. In the company of two of Canada's best chefs, Grant Van Gameren from Toronto and Derek Dammann of Montreal, I toured some of the finest boutique producers of Jamón ibérico in the whole country and developed a deep appreciation for the intense, umami richness of Spanish charcuterie. I'm back in Spain again, digging deep into the markets and learning how to get the most of the incredible Spanish ingredients. Most of all, on this trip I've come to appreciate Spain's approach to the parrillada, what we'd call barbecue. In particular I'm inspired by the way the Spanish treat fish and seafood, especially shellfish on the grill and the annual calcotada, where the season's harvest of calcots, like a green onion on steroids, are grilled in huge quantities over roaring fires a tradition that should be exported around the world. J UNE/J ULY 20 15
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Photo: Andrew Macpherson
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Chris Pratt, star of Jurassic World, knows the perils of messing with the prescribed order of things. Too bad he already has. By: Peter Saltsman
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We all have one. A story we tell, over and over, that always gets better—exaggerated, embellished, fleshed out—with a beer or two, and with every successive tipsy retelling. It’s not a long story, or even a true one. Does it have a moral? Not always. Is it fun? Yes, always. The barstool story is literary genre in and of itself—or at least it should be. That’s why we bought beer for five of our favourite Canadian writers and had them jot down their own. So grab a cold one, grab a stool and enjoy
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hen the dead called, they called on the BlackBerry Quark only. Not any other brand of phone and not any other model. Not the Mobitex or any of the early two-ways. Not the later 7000 series with the medium pixel coloured screens, or the Charm or the Electron or the Pearl. Not the Curve, the Bold, the Storm, the Tour, the Style or the Torch. Only the Quark 6200s, released in 2003, with their 160 by 100 pixel monochrome 2.6 inch screens, the 32-bit ARM 7EJ-S Core CPUs, weighing 136 grams. By 2015, there were only a few Quark users left. The first call came into a 50-year-old Argentine named Miguel Tannero, a dealer in hides. Tannero claimed that he had spoken with his four-year old daughter who had died twelve years earlier when a glazier dropped a pane of glass into the street. Shortly after, a Nigerian car salesman and a banker’s widow in Singapore reported conversations with, respectively, a pneumonia-ravaged second wife and a suicide mother. A blogger at GigaOm noticed the pattern and ran with “Is BlackBerry driving its users insane?” After reading the post, a twenty-three year old Queens web designer recharged the battery in the 6280 she had kept from her childhood and spoke with her Japanese-Canadian grandfather who had died in an internment camp in British Columbia sixty-five years before. She posted the recording under the heading “the phone call that explained everything.” The post achieved virality. Everyone who ever owned a Quark rummaged in the tangled corners where obsolete phones collect, in piles in kitchen counters and in office closets and in attic boxes. Eventually 17,943 Quarks were recovered. The original owners all received calls from their dead people. RIM rushed replicas of the 6200s to market but the new 6200s never rang, and over five hundred thousand had to be buried in an abandoned salt mine in Chongqing province. RIM made new batteries for the old phones, which worked and which sold, but the price they initially charged—$268.47—led to accusations of gouging. Eventually they lowered the price to 49.99. Their profits were marginal. Soon the obsolete phones were used up. Collections of the conversations were posted online, and a few read them, and a few studied them. The calls had been made. The iWatch came out and everybody forgot. All that remained was the shiver in the remnants, the five hundred thousand new 6200s in the abandoned salt mines in China, the others returned to the wiry tangles of the forgotten corners. They sat there waiting. STEPHEN MARCHE’S LATEST NOVEL IS THE HUNGER OF THE WOLF.
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THE
S H A R P A TOAST TO AL L THAT WE MU ST HAV E RI GH T NOW Sure, there might be religious reasons for buying gifts in the wintertime—but those are just excuses. Which is why we insist on celebrating all that’s cool in design, tech, toys, gadgetry, style and more in the summertime, too. Holidays be damned (besides, who says Father’s Day can’t be a spiritual experience?). This Sharp List has all the awesome gear you need to grab the summer by the throat and make it stay forever, plus some lush and shiny things to take solace in until the winter shopping season rolls around again. So: let us all raise a refreshing cocktail to this summer’s most crave-worthy stuff
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L I S T
01 THE COPENHAGEN WHEEL Maybe sometimes you do need to reinvent the wheel. Case in point: this motorized rear wheel that turns your bike into a smart electric hybrid. It learns how you pedal and integrates smoothly with your motion, multiplying your regular torque by 3x to 10x, all the better for biking uphill. ($700) SUPERPEDESTRIAN.COM
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Reloaded Every election cycle, the gun debate in Canada is reignited. But this time it’s different. With constant unrest south of the border, and every political party here eager to court gun owners for votes, the State of the Gun in Canada has never been stronger—or more relevant By Omar Mouallem
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W e t H o t A m e r i c a n S u m m e r It’s time to up your poolside game. Because even though you’re not wearing much, it still matters what you’re wearing
Photography by: Matt Doyle • Styling: Alvaro Salazar for Agent Oliver Shot on location at: Rosewood Sand Hill
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Nylon swim trunks ($255) by T o m a s M a i e r ; tortoiseshell aviator sunglasses ($500) by Oliver Peoples. On her: swimsuit by A g e n t P r o v o c a t e u r ; earrings by T h o m a s S a b o ; bracelet by B a n a n a Republic.
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Cotton blend suit jacket ($1,025) and pants ($365) by P a u l S m i t h , at Holt Renfrew; cotton shirt ($325) and silk tie ($180) by B u r b e r r y ; tortoiseshell and metal sunglasses ($190) by S t e v e A l a n , at the Drake General Store; ELITE Ultra-thin watch ($5,800) by Z e n i t h , at Bandiera Jewellers.
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A n y t h i n g B u t D u l l
Beige suiting is difficult. Not even Barack Obama, leader of the Free World and well-reputed badass, could pull one off. But if done right (hint: pay very, very close attention to fit), and matched with the perfect shirt and accessories, it’s an elegant solution to summer workdays and weddings, no matter what shade you choose Photography by: McKenzie James • Styling by: Mark John Tripp
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CUFF EVERYTHING! Pants, suits, socks, links. Whatever you’ve got. It’s summer. Cuffs—they’re not just for holding cigarettes anymore!
CARA DELEVIGNE She’s in everything right now. Where the hell did this girl come from? We’re not angry—but is she? What’s with those brows?
NATIONAL LAMPOON’S VACATION Ed Helms stars as Rusty Griswold in the latest installment of the iconic series. Ethan Embry and Johnny Galecki must be pissed.
PAN AM GAMES They’re like the Olympics only…who are we kidding? We don’t know what the Pan Am Games are and we’re probably OK with that.
PEANUT BUTTER The Calgary Stampede on the other hand? That’s our jam. And speaking of jam, the food this year is all about peanut butter: giant sandwiches, kabobs, funnel cake, “power balls.” Hook us up.
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MUSIC FESTIVALS Unless you’re 21 and still really into Modest Mouse, you probably shouldn’t go. Unless your date is 21 and really into Modest Mouse. Then bust out your sombrero, bro.
LEAKS Last year we got the Sony Hack and Wikileaks. This year? Someone needs to drop an Internet truth bomb— and we’re kind of hoping it helps explain how Big Peanut Butter took over the Stampede food trucks. (See? That’s what we call a callback!)
Photo: Getty / Eduardo Biscayart/CON, Paul Bradbury, JB Lacroix..
Rank & File