LUNAR JACK PURCELLS & OTHER MATTERS

I love wearing Converse, but those things hurt my feet. I’m an old-fashioned type, so generally it’s Chucks and Jacks in the shoe stack, yet it only takes half a mile before I’m walking my walk, thugged-out, orthopedic. I should probably admit defeat and concede that I’m not designed for these shoes, but the design classicism keeps drawing me back in. One solution to add mileage was always to pillage Nike SBs for their Anatomically Contoured Zoom Air footbeds, but they only delayed the pain.

This weekend I’ve been giving the drop-in Lunarlon midsole from the Koston One (read some nerdery on that shoe here) some road testing in my Jack Purcells, and it shits on the OX edition footbed, as it narrows towards the forefoot to minimise rubbing on the toecap. Usually, while the toe is smiling, I’m grimacing. Plus it’s fun to merge cutting-edge with a design that dates way, way back – lately, Mr. Russ Bengston,Mr. Nick Schonberger and myself have been discussing how awesome a Lunar and Flywire Chuck would be — even if it was just to anger purists. This cross-pollination of footwear is one comfortable step closer to that dream.

Incidentally, this brand crossover is sanctioned, because Converse is part of NIKE INC. Were it not, it would break a cardinal rule — I’ve grown out of some bizarre sub-culture imposed laws over the last few years, but the prohibition on mixing sneaker brands remains in place. If you wear adidas apparel with Nike shoes, or vice versa, it’s not a good look. And if you attempt to reunite the Dassler brothers in one outfit by merging PUMA and adidas, it’s even worse. It could get more extreme, with embargoes on wearing specific non-sports gear alongside the branded footwear that don’t have a collaborative relationship, but that’s just strange. Converse and Nike are now siblings, so the alliance creates a certain creative freedom.

But if we’re going to delve deeper, does that sanction wearing Nike with P.F. Flyers? For all the discomfort, the Jack Purcell’s selling point was once Posture Foundation technology to aid comfort, and it was introduced by the BFGoodrich tyre company as a badminton shoe in the mid 1930s. The BF company also started P.F. (Posture Foundation) Flyers in 1937 using a technology they’d created in 1933. There were other shoes in the Jack Purcell line by the late 1960s, with Jack Purcell by BF Goodrich making the capless Jack Purcell RaceAround (relatively recently retroed by Converse), the adidas-alike Jack Purcell Indy 500 (a lawsuit waiting to happen) and the Jack Purcell Windjammer (recently retroed by P.F. Flyers under New Balance ownership minus the Purcell name — does that mean you can wear NB and Nike with immunity?).

In 1972, Converse bought P.F. but apparently legal issues meant the purchase never took place in it’s entirety, but they got the licence to make the Purcell. This humble little shoe spans several brands, and it’s worth noting that the art in that Windjammer seems to be by the amazing Bob Peake, who designed the posters for ‘Apocalypse Now,’ ‘Enter the Dragon’ and a lot, lot more, vying with Drew Struzan for hero status.

Digression time. I watched John Carpenter’s ‘The Ward’ yesterday with mild anticipation. I appreciate that ‘Ghosts of Mars’ is unforgivably bad and that ‘Escape From LA’ should never have happened, but ‘Cigarette Burns’ for ‘Masters of Horror’ was interesting and because I forgot the majority of it immediately after watching, ‘Pro Life’ with the devil coming to claim back his kid from an abortion clinic was a madcap enough failure for me to think fondly of it. After a decade out of movie making, one of my heroes directed a film that looks a little like a Canadian TV-movie and feel like ‘Halloween II’ and a sail way too close to the plot of a film I won’t name for spoiler purposes. Still, I quite liked the font for the title lettering. Even if it didn’t feel quite like my beloved Albertus MT, there was still a lithe, gothic look to it. For that reason, I enjoyed it for around two minutes and trundled through the rest — though it’s not as bad as George A. Romero’s ‘Survival of the Dead’ or Dario Argento’s ‘Giallo’ in the genre-director-off-the-boil stakes. Plus Carpenter told Dazed & Confused that he likes to sing along to Pink’s ‘Get the Party Started,’ so I’m blaming her for this CGI-aided damp squib of a film.

I hadn’t seen this 1986 image of Donald Duck wooing Daisy in full Paninari getup before until I picked up a fortieth anniversary Moncler book from a few years back. I’ve seen Mickey rendered in hardrock mode with some big boots on and a scowl, but a dayglo Donald seemed to be out to replace the brand’s trademark duck with that Moncler vest and nubuck Timberland boots. Italy’s consumerist convergence of brands somehow managed to echo elements of casual, mod, NYC’s street level boosters, hip-hop uniforms and even today’s breed of slimline chino twat. Donald got there before you all and he got the girl as a result.

Whenever I’m feeling ill, I watch a double bill of ‘Death Wish III’ and ‘Shottas’ — both films have healing properties through sheer mindlessness and are as riddled with errors as they are bullets, but I still can’t get enough of the disregard for period looks that ‘Shottas’ maintains. If you’re going to have a 1978 flashback scene with a stashed shooter, it’s best not to use a distinctive shoe like 1996’s Jordan XII to hide the weapon. The Hilfiger boxers in that scene are bad enough, but this was some progressive footwear for the 1970s. ‘Shottas’ is far too yard to care for wardrobe accuracy.

And what better way to celebrate a holiday weekend than with a very, very sincere Swiss documentary on Celtic Frost that somebody has kindly uploaded onto YouTube with English subtitles?

FILMS, BOOKS & DOWN JACKETS

Lifted straight from Stephen Schuster’s Always Hungry blog and wildly appropriate at any given time.

It’s time to get my Tumblr on and post lots of images and videos with a minimum of text. Except I can’t be bothered to Tumblr, so I’ll post it all here today. If you’re one of the five people who follow this blog, then you’ll have noted a lack of focus, subject matter and the distracted nature of each entry. That’s deliberate and it’s intended as a simulation of my psyche. Sometimes you might get a 1000 word essay that’s laden with poor grammar and the next, a solitary paragraph. It’s like a lottery, in which the prize is a bunch of bullshit. All I can muster today is a collection of things that I’m into on Wednesday, May 25th, 2011 at around 10pm.

On a recent quick visit to BKRW in Paris, the homie Jay showed me the phenomenal ‘Euro Punk’ (based on the exhibition) book — a large softcover tome on the history of punk in Europe during the second half of the 1970s. The downside for a Brit-ignoramus who deals with language barriers by speaking in English v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y a-n-d LOUDLY is that it’s coming out in English this July. Can’t fucking wait.

I’ve been pondering my love of ‘Demons II’ (1986) during the much-delayed run-up to the release of the Blu-ray, from the opening title font to the fact that it’s the very thing that introduced me to the Smiths. Were it not for this bloodthirsty, logic-free nonsense, my wait to hear Morrissey and company would have been significantly longer. They even got a shout on the opening titles and they’re played at the house party gone horribly wrong (incidentally, the demon through the TV effect beats ‘Ringu’ and is an underrated scene,despite the bizarre and unnecessary dinner and band scene from 4:49 to 5:49 in that clip) when a load of kids in fleck jackets (led by party girl Asia Argento) bop to ‘Panic.’ The only thing that’s appropriate, given later circumstances, is that song title.

On a film note, why doesn’t the 1995 Canadian out-of-control-kids flick ‘Little Criminals’ get props? Sure, it’s a little sensationalist, but because it’s not as hipster-friendly as 1995’s ‘Kids’ (with Harmony influenced by the excellent but grim ‘Pixote’) or as laden with slacker appeal as 1979’s ‘Over the Edge,’ like its sullen protagonist, it doesn’t get the love it needs.It’s surprisingly sweary for a TV-movie and Brendan Fletcher’s performance is excellent. Kudos to the person who put this rarity on YouTube.

It’s a good time to be a Jodorowsky fan. I have no idea how I overlooked the fact that the ‘Jodorowsky’s Dune’ documentary about the 1970s pre-production of the best film that never was is being put together. Between this and a slew of hi-def reissues of the great man’s classics, maybe ‘Sons of El Topo’ might actually get made.

I saw these baby LunarGlide IIs in Silverlake’s Undefeated branch and they made me broody. Tiny Jordans are nothing new (it’s creepy that I can recall baby VIIs from the first time around) but tech runners for tiny feet is next level. Does a baby need Flywire? That’s not the point.

‘Crack & Shine International’ got a nice little trailer that’s atmospheric and evocative of the book and there’s a collection of tie-in tees with Vans (limited to 15 of each design) that you can pick up from the Topsafe store.

Jonas kindly sent me a picture of this little publication that comes with the Nike Sportswear Free Run+ 2 City Series releases. Titled ‘The Expression of the Run’ I was bugged out by the fact my name’s on it and that it’s next to lots of people far more talented than me. While the NYCs are out (and the Rio de Janeiros are the illest), I believe the Londons are dropping to coincide with the return of 1948. Shouts to Rob and Ben at Dualforces for their patience.

‘Industrie’ #3 has more fine content. I’ve grown a little restless with print of late (though the prospect of a Scott Campbell special of 032c is exciting), but I always feel that my £7 is well spent with this publication. The interviews are vast, the right questions are asked and the choice of subjects is refreshingly diverse, rather than picking from the most vocal and exposed in the fashionista PR pool. The interview with Moncler CEO Remo Ruffini is particularly relevant to my interests — especially the revelation that he frequently has a coffee and morning conversation with the North Face’s president who lives near his (presumably plush) abode. This issue cements my initial opinion that ‘Industrie’ is one of the best magazines to come out of the UK in recent years.