1. Jean Touitou – I’d never heard of fashion designer Jean Touitou until he appeared in the latest Details magazine (Yeah, I have a subscription). I’m sort of up on the fashion tip, so I’m kind of surprised his name wasn’t familiar to me. Nonetheless, I learned that Jean Touitou is a funny, funny man. Here are some excerpts from his “Follow The Rules” contribution:

  • I think it’s very important to look sexy at home. I hate it when people say, “I will take this to the countryside because it’s not fashionable anymore.” I love being well-dressed when nobody’s looking at me.
  • If you can tell a man’s sexuality by the way he dresses—like a “gay” uniform or a “macho” uniform—that’s disgusting.
  • Nowadays, people work out way too much, and they look like invaders from another planet. A guy who works out two hours a day—focusing on his chest because he thinks it’s sexy—you can’t dress him, even if you send him to the best designer or stylist in the world.
  • The rock star who uses a personal stylist to dress him should go to jail. If you’re doing rock and roll, you should know how to dress. You shouldn’t need to hire anybody.

Priceless.

2. Dog Love - Really? Are we really this bored with life? Every night that I work, I stock the book section and I’ve noticed a steady but growing proliferation of books about people – yes, human beings – and their relationship with their pets. What the fuck??!? It’s one thing to follow a dog around and pick up its waste, it’s another to talk about the loving relationship you have with your pet and how it is reciprocated.

Christ.

3. Cutting Detroit – I’ve done a lot of reading about Detroit as of late. Of course, this is in preparation for our humble return from our sojourns to other parts of this land. To me, it seems like Detroit is depressed. Well, not completely. There are tons of naysayers and a mighty throng of “Go Detroit”-ers and what ends up happening with such polarization is that Detroit doesn’t kill itself, nor does it thrive. It survives and cuts itself in the forearms to get someone’s attention.

4. Watching the Mullet Return - Yeah. I’ve arranged for an emergency cut to be performed on Monday morning.

5. Time, Wicked Time – Time flies. It seems so long ago, yet so much like yesterday when my youngest daughter was born. I’ll never forget it – my wife giving birth to her on our couch. Watching her take her first breath. Holding her for her first few hours and bonding. In the last few weeks, Hero has crossed that threshold of non-reader to progressing reader. She’s picking words off of signs, reading Dr. Seuss books to herself, and trying to read along with me as I read to her before bed. It is all a slice of momentous, crushing time with something that we all eventually take for granted – reading and communicating.