Month: June 2009

bobo NYC: for all the bourgeoisie bohemians

the cozy backgarden. Pimms all around!
cool master gabi and the rest of three as four
the fabulous norwegian designer elise øverland along with hope atherton, kate schelter and animee mullins
the lovely kate schelter – designer, photographer, girl about town

not only a great restaurant with a great atmosphere and great people, bobo has a conscience! the food is mostly local, supporting small farmers, and the water filtered from the tap rather than shipped worldwide in heavy bottles. most importantly, the back garden is a hidden treasure and the perfect place for a summer cocktail. by kv

CATEGORIES: backstage, ny places

R.I.P. michael jackson

i always wished for those lanky daddy long legs of his, but i was never a fan. owned ‘off the wall’ at some point, and never another album, but you can’t deny his genius! an amazing dancer, a gentle being, not a child molester. different of course, but no more of a freak than pamela anderson or tom cruise, and at least jackson had a reason to be strange, plus he delivered something unlike the other two losers… and for those of you who want to know the truth about all the stories may we suggest this documentary. by dd

CATEGORIES: clips, music

not so hot: The sartorialist


the sartorialist was a blog we all liked. many of our friends have been featured on it and it was a good effort on collecting street styles in the footsteps of time-out, and other numerous publications before it. what set it apart was that people got to comment, positively and negatively. but have you ever noticed that most, if not all, of the recent comments posted on the blog are love letters filled with positive feed back? such as “H.O.T”, “I love this guy he’s so chic”, “oh my god, her shirt is to die for, I want it”, “what a cool looking dude” and so on… I mean who’s looking at this blog anymore? if not scott shuman and his pals then a bunch of admirers from milwaukee? normal people have opinions, good and bad. I personally have commented in the past on the blog and usually a mix of positive and negative. I never checked back to see but I started noticing that whenever i submitted the slightest of negative comments, it magically disappeared in to the ether, never to be posted! at first i thought that scott schuman, the 3 foot tall founder of sartorialist, may have been too busy tying his bow tie to see the submission but upon my return I noticed many other positive posts had been blessed by the newly fascist regime. we hope democracy can be restored to the fashion world and if not, may we suggest changing the name from the “sartorialist“ to the more-appropriate “sorryasslist” until you post our latest submission regarding your prada post, we’re positive you can dig it up under tomorrow started. we will be happy to withdraw our accusations at that point. Radio Rebelde. by fc

CATEGORIES: fashion

review of the nixon masterblaster headphones


first off we went after this particular nixon headset for its fabulous looks. we received our advance copy in its considerable box last week and have been putting it to the test. a few observations: the exterior of the box reflects the unit and is simple and clean, a mix of a clock work orange meets ipod. we like the name nixon but the unit name and slogans “master blaster” and “bring the noise” seem off target and pretty lame! they belong to pioneer not nixon! inside you’ll find a modern darth vader helmet case which again is at odds with the retro inspired audiophile cans, but one can see why they tried to avoid a fully retro kit.

the unit itself is rather beautiful and well made. designed by yves behar they sport premium leather ear cups, large volume knob, aluminum cans with a ball/pivot that is ingeniously engineered to fit, at least my head perfectly. like all high-end headphones the cord is detachable and i simply love the choice of this particular cable. it makes the whole piece come together, yet unlike the retro fabric cords the 3.5mm stereo plug at the end is delicate avoiding the cumbersome look of the old cans. the pivot joint and the cable where truly the first two details i noticed. one disappointing detail is the logo/pajama style printed fabric used inside the ear cups. who made that decission? gladly noone will see it but you.

the sound on the nixon master blaster is not as high end as its great looks, but the sound is ‘good’ and well above average for its price range of just under $200 (vs. say $450 for the AKG 701 that we reviewed). the headphones at 95 db are not super sensitive and will probably sound their best using headphone amps like headroom or other brands. but on its own the sound is rather neutral with a leniency towards a heaviness in the bass. i would have liked to see more detail in the mid range, and easier on the bass, but i always say that no matter what i listen to unless they are magnapan speakers (which i once owned, but with those you then loose the bass! the MG20.1 seem to have addressed the issue at $4,000/pair). all in all the nixons are great fun, good looks, decent sound, quite affordable, with details to awe over. we used the nixons at a recent event and we had 2 people asking us about them and where to buy them, now no one ever asked me about my AKGs… so they do indeed turn a few heads. by dd

CATEGORIES: audio-electronics, design, perfect gift