For Canada’s Handsome Clothing Company being handsome has become far more than the perfect jaw line or a photogenic complexion. With already a range of Handsome t-shirts and sweat tops flirting amongst the fashion-conscious out there, they’re looking to launch a new line branded HNDSM. Featuring in Faux this July, we talk about the aesthetics, design and inspiration that lies behind the alpha of the HNDSM brand: a jewellery line.
What’s the inspiration for the jewellery line? The jewellery line was inspired by our affinity towards unbranded fashion. It compliments the line of HNDSM clothing we’re working on while branching out into some new territory. We have a lot of ideas that are best expressed in different mediums, jewellery was a logical next step for us.
Who can you see wearing the pieces? Who do you want to wear them? They’re neither feminine nor masculine? Is unisex jewellery important for the HNSM brand? We didn’t want these pieces to be gender specific. They’re simple, minimalist and understated so that anybody can wear them. It does seem that girls are the braver of the genders, so keeping masculine comforts in mind is usually a safer option when catering to a unisex audience.
Why launch a jewellery collection now?
Jewellery complimented what we’re trying to achieve aesthetically with HNDSM.
With HNDSM we wanted to make a few understated pieces. In the works right now are a crew neck t-shirt, v-neck t-shirt, crew neck sweatshirt and the jewellery. All of them use high quality materials, are well-tailored, and manufactured in Canada. It’s a chance to take our designing in a more refined direction and focus in on finer details for the increasingly educated consumer.
What do you want your jewellery to represent/mean?
Each jewellery piece that we’ve made so far has been more conceptual. They have meaning beyond their form, which we will provide some insight into and let the customers decide the rest. For example “The Strong Silent Type” is a piece containing two keys. One is cut like a hunting knife and the other is uncut. One may interpret the knife as representative of a more fear-induced approach to progress while the uncut key is more tactful and creative.
Do you see your jewellery being just an accessory to an outfit or do you see your pieces making the outfit?
One thing we’ve been able to witness with our previous fashion ventures is the diversity of our customers. Customers continue our creative process once the pieces are in their hands and are free to wear them with whatever vision they have.
I think personally we’d see them as another subtle detail of what you’re wearing. Able to blend in or stand out depending on the desired look. To a trained eye we’d hope they would appreciate the details of the jewellery like the deliberate cut and stitch of one of our shirts.
Handsome Clothing launch their HNDSM range, starting with jewellery but expanding to clothes and other products as well, in the coming months. You can see Handsome Clothing shirts featured in Faux 1.5, out mid-July. For info on HNDSM and Handsome Clothing, check out their site here.
By Erin Kubicki
“Content provided by Faux Magazine. This article was simultaneously posted on ireadfaux.com. For more information on Faux visit ireadfaux.com or find Faux Magazine regionally throughout the UK”
If you are in need of a quick snack and don’t have much money to spend on extravagant ingredients, fear not as Steve in The Pinnacles’ office has come up with tasty treat!
Arrange your corned beef, cheese and onions on the tortilla wrap.
Fold the wrap up as you would a Fajita and place on your electric grill and close. (If you don’t have a grill then a sandwich toaster does the job too!)
Cook the wrap until the cheese has melted and the filling is warm. Make sure you turn the wrap over half way through cooking time to avoid one side soaking up all the grease!
Top tip
Why not try varying the fillings to suit your mood. How about using pre-cooked chicken, pesto and mozzarella or ham, cheese and mango chutney?
A-list celebrities are literally rolling in money. This makes us mere mortal folk extremely jealous when we have to slave away in our shitty jobs just to scrape minimum wage.
A-list celebrities also have an impeccable fashion sense, which again makes us jealous because if we had three grand to spend on an outfit every time we went on a night out, then we’d actually look half decent when we crawled home in a drunken mess with flecks of vomit on us.
Therefore, whenever we spot stars looking like they borrowed their outfit from both their floral loving grandma and their Knex yielding nephew then we, for once, like to take the moral high ground and believe we could put a better outfit together with our meagre Primark budget.
This is where I would like to introduce gofugyourself.com; it is a genious website which mercilessly and comically rips to shreds the catastrophic mis-matches of the world’s elite and famous.
MADDOX: I am a bad-ass.
BRAD: I am homeless.
ANGIE: I sell Ouija Boards and cigarette holders at a kiosk in the mall.
Although many will proclaim they don’t secretly enjoying flicking through Reveal or Closer magazine to fish out the most horrendous outfits worn out in public by celebrities, these people that deny this fact are liars. Who doesn’t love laughing at stars humiliating themselves by proxy? So if you are one of these people mentioned above, then you no longer have to find a secret corner of W H Smith’s to hide yourself in whilst you fish out the worst outfits of the week as you can visit gofugyourself.com in the comfort of your own home, free from judging eyes to get your daily dose of the latest fashion victims and their horrific dress sense.
Go Fug Yourself has released the book The Fug Awards where the authors Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan “hand out honors such as the Sag Award for most egregious misuse of breasts and the Tanorexia Award for the person most addicted to bronzer. They prove that having an unlimited budget and a coterie of hangers-on is no barrier against committing glaring, eye-stinging sartorial missteps.”
“Content provided by Faux Magazine. This article was simultaneously posted on ireadfaux.com. For more information on Faux visit ireadfaux.com or find Faux Magazine regionally throughout the UK”
After two years of patiently waiting, every girl’s favourite foursome is back and they are ready to rock the sand dunes of Abu Dhabi in their Manolos…
Except they don’t. In fact very little is rocking about this sequel, with the exception of the reappearance of the fabulous Aidan. Trust me, as a self confessed Sex and the City addict it really does pain me to write this. I must admit I did consider writing a rave review, telling you all how funny, elegant and completely wonderful the film was. But I feel I need to pre warn any fans out there who haven’t yet parted with their £7 and gone to see this movie.
Sex and the City 2 finds Carrie and co two years on each facing their own personal dilemma. Carrie and Big have now moved in to their marital home, however, Carrie feels the sparkle has gone from their relationship and worries Big is more interested in takeaways and watching black and white movies in bed (sounds like the perfect guy to me). Miranda is in a job she hates and is working for a boss that hates her even more. Charlotte is worried her beloved Harry has fallen for her well endowed, bra-less nanny. Whilst Samantha is popping every pill she can get her manicured hands on in order to avoid the dreaded menopause.
This however is where the plot ends. The girls go on a week long trip to the Middle East (all expenses paid of course) in order to have a little girly fun together. However, the foursome spends so much time worrying about their own problems, that no real fun or frolics are had by anyone. This lack of storyline and adventure leaves you wondering: “what exactly is the point in this film?” If truth be told, the usual glamour and sparkle hasn’t just made a quick exit from Carrie and Big’s relationship but seems to have left the entire show.
The main reason us girls seem to be glued to this show is because watching it transports us to a dream world where we too can squeeze into tiny Gucci dresses and totter about New York City in 6 inch heels all day without screaming in pain and frantically searching for the nearest shop that sells blister pads. Who hasn’t once wished they could be as stylish as Carrie or as romantically sweet as Charlotte? Film No.2 on the other hand had quite the opposite effect on me. I can’t remember how long into the film it was, but I suddenly found myself almost pitying the girls. Here they were, forty something and still seemingly unable to make decisions for themselves without wining, getting drunk and chewing the ears of their three closest friends. Shouldn’t they have learnt by now??
Despite my disappointment, I have already decided to buy the film on DVD. No matter how hard I try I just can’t seem to shake the Sex and the City bug. And if rumours of a third instalment are true, I will once again don my oversized corsage and fake Jimmy Choos courtesy of Primark, reassuring myself that this time round the girls did good…
“What’s the matter with you Kable? Kill something!”
Gamer takes place in the near future where video games and virtual chat rooms are, quite literally, a reality. Any human can control another in gaming environments. Kable seeks to regain his independence and freedom from the game, whilst hunting down the creator of the game.
Before I sat down to watch Gamer I knew I’d be torn on my ultimate decision. I genuinely don’t know if I liked this movie or not. I can’t say that it wasn’t extremely entertaining, but I can’t say that it’s a thoroughly enjoyable film to watch.
Gamer features non-stop action from start to finish. Gerard Butler is fantastic as Kable, the star of one of the games and pulls off the action hero stereotype yet again. But Gamer, as a whole isn’t completely satisfying. Many of the less action-filled scenes seem to either further confuse you or bore you. I wouldn’t say this movie is as awful as it’s made out to be in any way. The action is there and that’s all the audience really wants. It’s also all the movie offers. The sheer pace seems to be rushed, only to slow down close to the end to a fitting and entertaining ending.
Would I recommend it? Well that I’m not sure about. If you want the action, watch it. But if you want an interesting and multi-layered story, avoid at all costs.
RATING: ★★★
This review was brought to you by Ryan one of our Storthes Hall Park residents and film review extraordinaire. You can check out his page here.
I’m always trying to find a way to utilise old clothes that have fallen to the bottom of the wardrobe into the “just don’t even think about it” pile but I’m not too brilliant at the whole customising thing, the huge slice in between Morrisey’s eyebrows is testament to that, so “Hello Rewind” seemed like a pretty good idea to me. It works on the basis that you send in old t-shirts and they make you a brand new laptop case which, lets face it, when you throw your favourite Cure t-shirt into the mix is a brilliant idea. The company also stands as a charity, donating their profits in a bid to help those that have been sex trafficked into New York (a shocking 17,000 a year) to learn new skills and get new jobs, many of them working on creating your case so you can enjoy dressing your laptop up like an indie God whilst feeling safe in the knowledge you’re doing some good in the world. Everybody wins.
For more info on Hello, Rewind, check out their site here. They’re currently taking international orders, but it’s best to email them first.
By Sophie Stones
“Content provided by Faux Magazine. This article was simultaneously posted on ireadfaux.com. For more information on Faux visit ireadfaux.com or find Faux Magazine regionally throughout the UK”
The challenge: To make “Really easy mushroom risotto”
Cost per person: £2.60
Time to prepare: 10 minutes
Time to cook: 30 minutes
Overall rating (out of 5): 5
The recipe (serves 4)
Ingredients:
250g assorted mushrooms
350g Arborio rice
2 tbsp olive oil
150ml dry white wine
1 onion chopped
2 pints hot vegetable stock
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
25g butter
salt and pepper
Grated parmesan to serve
Method:
1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy based saucepan and add the onion and garlic. Fry over a gentle heat for 2-3 minutes, until softened.
2. Add the mushrooms and fry for a further 2-3 minutes, until browned.
3. Stir in the rice and coat in the oil. Pour in the wine and simmer, stirring, until the liquid has been absorbed. Add a ladleful of the stock and simmer, stirring again, until the liquid has been absorbed. Continue adding the stock in this way, until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is plump and tender.
4. Stir in the parsley, butter and salt and pepper. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan.
The verdict
Sam loved this recipe: “It was so easy to do, it only takes half an hour, but there is a lot of stirring involved (I have a sore arm from all the stirring!!). It was absolutely delicious, even my fussy boyfriend was impressed!”
Tip: Use decent wine for the recipe. You can find some really great offers on wine at the moment in most supermarkets, and is worth spending as much as you can afford on a good bottle. Plus you get to drink most of it as only 150ml goes in to the dish…!
After plans for the Halo movie fell through, Peter Jackson went to Neill Blomkamp and offered him $30 million to make whatever he wanted. This was the result.
Oscar nominated? Normally the typical sign of a snore-fest. However, District 9 is a pretty fun ride. The thriller is presented in a mockumentary style from the opening and that gives it a little more charm. You get to identify with Wikus Van Der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), the main character who we follow right through to the bitter end.
District 9 sees a world or at least a part of the world, where aliens living on the same planet as humans is seen as the norm. Wikus, working with the government, polices their activity and stumbles upon an unknown alien object which starts to have strange effects on him. If you’re not interested now, you probably close this page and go rent Steel Magnolias or something.
The story moves along at a rather quick pace so much so that the opening scenes feel too rushed. It does keep you hooked all the way though to the epic final scene though. The visuals are stunning. The CGI is flawlessly realistic, the aliens (or ‘prawns’) didn’t look as computer-generated as I’d initially anticipated and the various explosions, bloody battles and shoot-outs are brilliantly entertaining.
The $30million budget is surprising considering the film looks like the budget was considerably higher, I was simply amazed with the special effects and would probably go as far as to say that this is one of the best science fiction films of the decade. I don’t give a five-star rating often, but it really couldn’t be recommended more.
Poppy? Pretentious? Too chilled, or maybe too damn strange? Accusations against Foals will come from all angles, especially on a new album with such expectation resting on it. It is well documented how Yannis Philippakis felt that Antidotes was not the album they wanted to record (despite being loved by pretty much everybody), so by all rights this album should be absolutely astounding . It’ll have to be to please an audience waiting for a creative and atmospheric experience as much as a pop record.
Where Antidotes was a discussion, Total Life Forever is a statement; better organised, sensibly constructed with good ideas in the right places and a collection of rhythms, riffs and hooks to get you, well, hooked. That slight element of freneticism is gone but in its place is all the proof you need that a lively song needs to rack up the BPM. There are 6-minute singles painting desolate landscapes and shorter instances of angular, maze-like intricacy driven through at a dangerous tempo for the limbs but the satisfaction in them is the time allowed for extravagance. Call it pretentious, but the three minutes of fairly repetitive crescendo at the end of ‘Black Gold’ are what allows ‘Spanish Sahara’ to create such a variety of sound in a much more restrained atmosphere after it, and in turn it is that which opens us up to ‘This Orient’ complete with fully discernible chorus, tick-tock drumbeat and a catharsis of a guitar riff bounding out of restraints. The visual nature of this album, as well as its impressively varied sonic accompaniment, strikes you like a film moving before your eyes; Jimmy Smith’s tidal guitar softly moving up against Yannis’ whispering and howling, all tied up by Jack Bevan’s heart murmur drum kit which beats about in a way to terrify cardiologists nationwide.
It’s kind of hard to know what’s going on at times, distinctly reminiscent of a cool party you’ve been invited to but all the kids are dancing in a pretty strange way. Is this intended? Are they just enjoying being themselves or acting up? ‘After Glow’ is where you’ll fall into the trap and join in. 6:09, a semi-trance synth opening built upon by that same ticking guitar and rolling vocal swinging one way to haunting and back around to comforting, and yes that is your head just nodding along without really knowing why. ‘Miami’ struts calmly along and is the sound of Foals enjoying themselves. ‘Alabaster’ is like an Edgar Allen Poe story interpreted by the Mystery Jets and you want to say on some kind of narcotic but this is far too clever; there is no complacency or room for relaxation. You could ignore the whole album first time and feel like you know each song when it comes back around, but don’t be fooled by the first time listen. There is the temptation to say they’ve relaxed, lost their edge or have even got a bit boring. But those aspects are not lost, they have been reined in and controlled into tense rhythms with actual singing and lyrics replacing the sometimes pointless raving they occasionally lapsed into.
Maybe it’s because I’m a huge fan anyway, there are few live bands who can set off an audience like Foals, but I was sold on the first listen. The second I was interested more and contemplated it. By the third I thought it was brilliant. Where Bloc Party tried to make singles and Editors got far too heavy for their own heads, ‘Total Life Forever’ moves along at its own pace and dictates its purpose to you. It’s essentially something to listen to loud in a bedroom and experience in entirety because, kill me for getting sentimental, it will take you on a journey. Whatever you’re looking for from Foals, this album will bring it to you eventually, but it might not be in the place you expect it.
Total Life Forever is released through Transgressive Records on 10/5/10. You can view the video for lead single ‘This Orient’ below.
“Content provided by Faux Magazine. This article was simultaneously posted on ireadfaux.com. For more information on Faux visit ireadfaux.com or find Faux Magazine regionally throughout the UK”
After about 10 minutes of viewing, it became clear to me that It’s Complicated seems like it’s going to be a cliché-ridden, lovey-dovey romantic comedy aimed at 40+ adults. Maybe that’s why I didn’t enjoy it very much.
I only gave It’s Complicated a view because I like Alec Baldwin in the sitcom 30 Rock and I figured he’d bring his comedic charm to this movie. How wrong I was. Although Baldwin is usually quite a funny guy he’s not exactly on fine form here. Although he does get a few witty one-liners they’re not enough to save the movie.
In truth, It’s Complicated has quite a dull and slow-moving storyline and nothing much of interest happens to keep you entertained. The character development takes up two-thirds of the movie and the last thirty minutes are really where everything happens.
Surprisingly, Steve Martin emerges as the highlight of this movie, despite the fact he plays a significantly smaller part than Streep and Baldwin. But it’s not the comedic element of the movie that he shines in, although not through lack of trying. He well and truly shows that he is past his comedic prime but he does deliver a good performance.
Now this may just be because I’m not the target audience for this movie, but the scenes (and there’s no shortage of them) where Streep and Baldwin are half-dressed aren’t too appealing. In fact they’re a little disturbing. With the exception of those scenes, the remainder does feel like a made-for-TV movie, seemingly following all the clichés and ticking them off on the way. All-in-all the trailer is pretty much the best part of the movie, it packs all the laughs of the movie into a 2- minute clip. I’d recommend just heading to YouTube to watch the trailer.
RATING: ★★
This review was brought to you by Ryan one of our Storthes Hall Park residents and film review extraordinaire. You can check out his page here.
