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tothedarkdarkseas · 3 years

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The way Vampire AU has taken off has really warmed my heart! So many great thoughts all round. I sent you some elaborations on my own personal headcanons for it as a submission, just for the fun of it. Enjoy!

Hi! I got your submission last night and read over it-- it's very elaborate, you've clearly put a lot of thought into fleshing this AU out and it sounds like a ton of fun. I know you mentioned at the end that you had no intentions of writing it because you're busy with other fandom projects, but I'm sure there are many who'd be interested in reading your ideas if you ever decided to make a sideblog for it. I'll post your submission for others to read below a cut here so that the post won't be too long on the dashboard, and I'll reply to some of the specifics underneath!

Yes! I have so many more thoughts on a vampire AU, I figured it would be easier to put them in a submission. Hope you don't mind.

The concept is just so fascinating to me, because so much of it lines up perfectly with the character dynamics we're given in the canon, and what doesn't has the potential to expand on and explore those dynamics in a really interesting way.

I agree 100 percent about the tone it would have to be written in. An actual brooding, dark prince Murdoc type of thing wouldn't work for me. (Murdoc would try to play up that persona, but in reality, he'd be far from it.) In my mind, the tone would be half What We Do In The Shadows and half Being Human UK. Four misfits living in a mouldering mansion somewhere, getting on each other's tits - but deep down they've got each other's backs. There's a bond, even if they can't quite explain what it is.

In my mind the bloodlust would function as an addiction. Murdoc is no Mother Theresa but he's not comfortable with indiscriminate murder either. (Guilt and self-loathing is not a good combination in Murdoc.) Knowing there is no in between for vampires - you can't have a sip here and there, it's abstinence or nightly slaughter - he stays teetotal from blood and tries to channel his desires into other addictions instead. Any and every addiction, really. Drugs, booze, sex, theft, you name it. Which is how he comes to be doing donuts in a stolen car in a Tesco car park, at the exact same time Stuart Pot is making a midnight run for condoms and Tango.

I picture Murdoc's turning of Stu would be this confusing moment that even he can't fully explain, so he's always switching his story about it. One day he'll say he didn't want to deal with the police, another day it'll be vampire enforcers he was afraid of - "total killjoys, they'll bung you in a blood-filled coffin for a hundred years over the TINIEST infraction". Other days he comes close to admitting he felt guilty, that he flipped out over the idea of killing someone after all, when he's dedicating all his energy to avoiding doing just that. Sometimes he just calls it a moment of madness.

But in every vampire movie, there's that moment. The moment where the newly-turned vamp rises from the grave as this beautiful unearthly creature of the night, and I mean . . . this absolutely would be Murdoc's experience of it. He's almost convinced himself there aren't real vampires like that, that it's all Hollywood bollocks, and then Stu rises up in front of him like some black-eyed, blue-haired god, and the part of Murdoc that isn't utterly gobsmacked by it can't help resenting the little sod for making it look so easy. Murdoc likes to take the piss out of him and claim he's like one of those Lost Boys California pretty boy vampires, but he's jealous really.

I imagine Murdoc would be similarly mercurial about how he was turned. There's always some hyperbolic story about it, designed to paint Murdoc in the best light. Sometimes he was the premier occultist of his day. Sometimes he sold his soul to the devil for immortality. Sometimes he was turned by a beautiful vampire seductress, who was bitter he broke her heart. It's all bollocks. The truth is definitely something less glamorous, and I would imagine actually much sadder as well? I'm not sure what, but I'm picturing something like Murdoc's father being some small-time occultist who sold his son to vampires, or maybe Murdoc was working some menial job and was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe he was turned by some vampire who would have drunk him dry, if Murdoc hadn't fought him off. Or maybe it's a bit of mystery, like the mystery of his mother in canon. Someone did this to Murdoc, someone made him what he is, but he has no memory of it. And all the different stories are actually partly a coping mechanism for that, as he tries on different explanations for size. (It would also explain why he would refuse to abandon Stu after turning him. Because navigating this new reality alone is something he wouldn't wish on anyone, even some dumb kid.)

I think the supernatural element would also be a great way to expand on and deepen Murdoc's relationships with Russell and Noodle. In supernatural fiction there are always two types of beings that hate each other. Usually vampires and werewolves, but often vampires and ghosts too. As, obviously, vamps can't drain ghosts, and they spend their lives running from the guilt of all the people they've killed. Ghosts are a constant reminder of that - and of the afterlife they both fear, and resent that they were denied. I can picture Russell maybe helping Murdoc exorcise the ghost of Hannibal or Jacob, and that's how they meet. (And why he has more patience with Murdoc than most. He's seen him at his most vulnerable.) Noodle would be great as a vampire hunter too. Her dynamic with Murdoc would be fraught as on the one hand, she respects Russell and venerates him for his connection to the spirit world, so to a certain extent anything he says she'll try to respect. And Murdoc is supposedly reformed, and she has moments where she even almost quite likes him. But her instinct is not to trust him. Her instinct is to put him down, and they both know it. As much as he battles his bloodlust around her, she battles her urge to put a stake through his heart, Van Helsing style.

Finding out he turned someone would be a MAJOR ruck in their relationship. But I think Murdoc would use 2-D to convince her and Russell to stick around - because he turned him, but it wasn't like he was chowing down on the lad, it was practically an act of charity, really. Practically an act of atonement. And if they both leave now, Stu is only left with Mr Bad Influence Murdoc Niccals, to teach him how to be a vampire, and restrain his urges and whatnot. And Murdoc has never been much good at all that AA, 12 step stuff, so unless they WANT poor sweet Stuart Pot to wind up spending eternity as some kind of crackhead . . . it would be a kindness to him, really, to stick around.

I could not agree more about how Murdoc turning Stu would mirror their Phase Two dynamic, with Stu literally having become "the thing Murdoc turned him into", and resenting that. But also, having moments of perverse gratitude for it? Stu is vain, and vampire Stu would be gorgeous, which I reckon he'd love. And though I think he'd hate that his normal life of footy with the boys and Sunday dinner at his mum's was over, I can also imagine him feeling this whole new world has opened up in front of him, something most people aren't special enough to gain entry to. And he likes that.

I can even see the fame thing and the band happening. Music would be a great, healthier way to channel the urges he can't act on. And I can see Murdoc agreeing. Admitting that he's been playing in bands for years, because it's actually a great cover for a vampire lifestyle. Being nocturnal is practically a prerequisite, when you're a rock star, and you can get away with looking all kinds of weird when you're in a band, because people just chalk it up to the aesthetic. Still, until he met 2-D, none of the bands he'd been in were actually any GOOD. 2-D reawakens his love of music, the same way he is the turning point for Murdoc's career in the canon.

Vampirism would also be a great way to explore Stuart's flaws. His vanity is an obvious one, but I can also see him avoiding his family and not letting them know why he'd disappeared for years. Just too self-absorbed to appreciate the harm it's caused. I can also see the pill problem happening as he imitates Murdoc's habit of abusing substances to try and blunt his bloodlust. I can imagine him saying stupid stuff like "you never even took me to the hospital!" and convincing himself he experiences phantom headaches, because he doesn't want to admit he's becoming just like Murdoc, actually. He tells himself the pills are medicine and he really needs them, and it's not the same at all.

And I can see him getting too carried away with his lusts, and having several near misses or disastrous incidents where he brings girls home and loses control of himself. Where Murdoc jumps in and saves it from getting too out of hand, but at the same time exposes how he's basically been stalking Stu "for your own protection", with a side of decidedly voyeuristic intentions. Stu has . . . strong (and somewhat confused) feelings about this.

I think Murdoc would be the same trouble magnet in the vampire underworld that he was in the criminal one. Feelings about Murdoc range from "this unwashed oik should NEVER have been allowed to become one of us" to "I WILL STAKE MURDOC FAUST NICCALS IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO". Murdoc would definitely continue his streak of petty crime any time he entered the hallowed halls of the vampire hoi poloi. He'd be pilfering left and right. And I can't imagine he'd ever kowtow to the aristocracy, which, in a subculture as obsessed with class as vampires . . . yeah, he's insolent, to say the least. And they hate it. They just hate Murdoc, generally. I imagine 2-D might consider crossing over to the dark side to join them, to spite Murdoc, before eventually he realizes that - amazing as it sounds - even Murdoc has higher moral standards than these people. Maybe he's better off with the devil he knows.

I love what you said about Murdoc and Stuart being hung by the same rope, for all eternity. That's exactly the dynamic I think a vampire AU would bring about. I also think Murdoc being Stu's vampire sire would be interesting in the romantic sense, as part of them would always second guess if that was the reason for the bond they feel. Are they developing feelings, or is all of this just the blood bond? I can imagine Stuart hating his own inability to judge why he feels so drawn to Murdoc, and I can see Murdoc trying to convince himself any possessiveness or pride or protectiveness he feels over Stu is just what all vampires feel when they turn someone. (Even though it's not.) It would be a potent brew.

Anyway, this was long but I will never have the time to actually write this (I have five WIPs in other fandoms already) so I thought I'd let it out somehow. Thanks for giving me the space to talk this over!

(If anyone wants to run with this and make something of it, by the way, have at it! Just credit me somewhere for the idea. That'd be good.)

This was quite a ride! I love the idea of Stuart Pot's mortal life ending when he's mowed down in a Tesco car park buying condoms and Tango. It's cruel to say it's what he deserves and frankly the complete antithesis of the whole conflict I'm begging for, but... it's what he deserves. I'm also very intrigued by the angle of treating bloodlust as an addiction: it could theoretically be overcome, but practically speaking, rarely is. This makes it easy to see how Murdoc spins off into such a cartoonishly extreme life of debauchery. I love the bit about Murdoc changing his story of what happened, both the night he hit Stuart and his own origin-- the difference being that Stu does know what happened to him, whether he ever chooses to believe Murdoc's ever-shifting justifications for it or not, but no one can ever really know where Murdoc came from except himself. I definitely agree that the truth has to be less glamorous, less thrilling, less worthy of tales and legends. I like Stuart and Murdoc best when they are not men born into greatness nor men born for greatness, not inherently, and I love the private grappling with the belief that they are special and the fear that they probably aren't. Your explanation of the foil-like dynamic between vampires and spirits/ghosts is interesting, I don't know if that's an established piece of vampire lore or if that's your own invention, but I think it's a really solid one. I don't know if I've truly seen those two creatures explored in a world together with such a direct emphasis on that ghoulish ecosystem, so to speak.

And, well, I'm quite predictable but I'm ready to invest $5k in a full novel exploring Stu's estrangement from his family and friends following the transformation, the psychological toll it takes to choose-- though he may feel he has no other choice at all-- to abandon those relationships, how his own descent may mirror Murdoc's as he shelters himself in chalk-tablet excess and a vibrant, at times frightful carnal life to distract himself from the guilt. I'm dying to see how he could approach mending those fences again after years away. It isn't something one sweeps under the rug, isn't something that he can make amends for. This sort of thing shatters a family, and in my imagining of Rachel and David, it certainly shattered his. This kind of permanently-marred family drama really captivates me and is something I don't think we should shy away from in stories about addiction, and it would be fascinating to explore the human element of that against the metaphorical monstrous one.

I love what you mentioned about the "blood bond" and how it factors into the pull between them they're too unsettled to really name. This adds an extra layer of confusion, as you say, and better justifies why they find themselves orbiting each other, pretending there's a blood-coloured chain tethering them and ignoring the heavy weighted padlock in the middle that pulls them down, down, down. I've spoken a lot on this blog about why Stu is participatory in the relationship when he dislikes Murdoc in such a profound way, and while I absolutely never tire of the messy, bleak human weakness and ego of that, it would be quite special to explore that with something that almost feels like an excuse for Stu, a macabre justification entirely out of his hands; it gives him permission to be part of this broken spiral and absolves him of the responsibility of acknowledging his choice. I'd like to think he still lives with it, as Murdoc does too, but they may appreciate the safety of the smokescreen as much as they struggle to see through it.

Thanks for sending me your ideas, I hope other readers will enjoy seeing your elaborations, and if you're having fun thinking about these two goons I'd encourage you to consider making a blog. Sometimes you get lucky and draw in people who are incredibly kind!

(Lastly, unrelated fun fact about vampirism in my life: my first job was playing a vampire at a haunted amusement park. Our "Scare Zone" was designed as a junkyard taken over by a vampire gang, and I was the "queen" with a throne made of old tires. It was... a fun job and also not a fun job, haha.)

#anon au #thank you!

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389 · 4 years

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Top 7 Albums/EPs of 2020 | Tagged by @ambientbruh, thank you! Tagging @sleepythug @disease @997 @squimm @ssnsnsnn @tapireye @garagefunk3000 @loukessler @scott-cutler @ca1iban @bzzrk @gstvnlsn and anyone else who wants to be apart of this :) GHOSTLY SWIM 3 V/A [Ghostly International] - Kinetic selection of breakbeat/IDM-oriented ravers from a wild ruck of producers including Dj Python, Gábor Lázár, Bullion, Aquarian, X-Altera and many more for Ghostly’s Adult Swim series. While also dipping into slinkier house and broken beat styles, the majority, and the best cuts, come from familiar artists on a ruder flex, including Gábor Lázár with the neuro-style licks and tweaky jazz-funk torque of ‘Fractured’, Aquarian on a meter-messing flex between Carpenter-esque darkwave bass and jungliest shrapnel, and the 4 hero-styled space funk of Tadd Mullinx in X-Altera mode, while DJ Python unfurls the reticulated tresillo slink of ‘Chalet’, and consistent charmer Bullion works up the itchy, pleasingly awkward funk of ‘Rhino’. MINOR SCIENCE - Second Language [Whities/AD93] - ‘Second Language’ is the debut album of IDM and magpied rhythmic modernism by Angus Finlayson aka Minor Science. Rendering his first release since 2017, Minor Science delivers 10 tracks of wistful arrangements that coyly flirt with the floor one minute, and induce listeners to horizontal states the next. Mercurial nods to footwork, ghetto-tech and D&B expand his usual tempo bracket (normally between 120-135bpm) into faster styles, whilst his proggy tendencies come into play in a way recalling Konx-Om-Pax’s misty-eyed IDM styles.

PAUL BLACKFORD - Betamax [CPU Records] - Paul Blackford is a producer who has long embodied these two facets of CPU’s output. While the tempos of Betamax may be rather relaxed, the sonic palette used here very much links up with CPU’s other drops. It is one forged in the forward-thinking electronic styles of the 1990s - Drexciyan electro, Boards Of Canada’s wistful electronica and the boundary-pushing IDM of Rephlex Records. Mind you, this is also one of the first CPU drops to draw a little from another side of the traxx - though Betamax may not be as schooled in plunderphonics as DJ Food or Nightmares On Wax, there is something in the lilt of these beats which obliquely doffs its cap to those old breaks. BORDERLANDSTATE_the best kisser in L.A. - Hello Mainframe [Exit Records] - “Our music develops chaotically. We add things and add things and throw most of them away. We use synths, pedals, and delay units and record them into a laptop which, against all odds, continues to struggle on. tracks live across three or four project files because the layering of sounds is dense. we sample ourselves back and forth, not knowing where things will end up, looking for the right texture” The significance of dBridge, Exit and Autonomic shouldn’t be underestimated for Borderland State and The Best Kisser in LA, we’re told that “Our influences are disparate but Autonomic was a constant. without him (dBridge) and Instra:mental, these tracks would not exist.” AL WOOTTON - Witness [Trule] - The debut album from Al Wootton.Taking the strands of his influences such as UK Garage, dub, jungle/drum and bass, techno and house music, Al Wootton has weaved together an album that stands together as a deep listen while maintaining high dance floor energy. PERKO - Rounded [NV Auto] - The seven tracks on this EP hear Perko mining the grooves between his favourite genres for building blocks of inspiration. Drawing from UK soundsystem culture and modern experimental music, half of the record explores deeper atmospheric passages and meditative repetition, characterised by layers of subtly shifting chords, field recordings and delicate polyrhythms. Three dancefloor cuts, spread throughout the rest of the record, retain this detail and interplay with added energy. Perko’s sense of rhythm & space is clear with ‘Rounded’s glacial synths, blown out drum machines and sculpted sub sine waves - it’s streaming in full now. ‘What Otters’ forges playful UKG touches within a paperclip framework of space-echoes and sparks, whilst ‘Songbirds’ flips into 4/4 drive with percolated alarms and shimmering pads.

FOUL PLAY - Origins [Sneaker Social Club] - Repackaged by Sneaker Social Club, and given the re-master treatment by Beau Thomas at Ten Eight Seven Mastering—one of the UK underground’s go-to engineers, and a connecting strand of so many corners of the wider scene—Origins is both a bulletproof collection of tried-and-tested tracks, and a snapshot of a period of unrivaled creativity in UK dance music. The euphoric chord progression and Barbara Roy hook of “Dubbing You” still brings all the warmth of a mid-party epiphany. “Ragatere” deploys the dub sirens, Amen breaks, and Tenor Fly sample that would all become staples of ragga jungle. Whereas the original four-track releases “Feel The Vibe” and “Ricochet,” and their subsequent remixes, were split across discs, here they tumble straight into one another to delirious effect. This album encompasses all the energetic undulations and ‘what the fuck is this?!’ moments of the best DJ sets, but—somewhat crucially at this moment in time—it can still be enjoyed without setting foot in a club.

#music #2020

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trendykristals · 3 years

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Men's Backpacks | Large, Small & Leather Rucksacks | trendykristals

A knapsack—additionally called backpack, backpack, rucksac, pack, sackpack, booksack, bookbag or backsack—is, in its least complex frameless structure, a fabric sack carried on one's back and made sure about with two lashes that go over the shoulders, yet it can have an outside edge, inside casing, and there are bodypacks.

Trendy kristals

Knapsacks are ordinarily utilized by climbers and understudies, and are regularly wanted to satchels for conveying substantial loads or conveying such a gear, on account of the restricted ability to convey weighty loads for significant stretches of time in the hands.

Huge knapsacks, used to convey loads more than 10 kilograms (22 lb), just as more modest games rucksacks (for example running, cycling, climbing and hydration), typically offload the biggest part (up to about 90%) of their weight onto cushioned hip belts, leaving the shoulder lashes chiefly for balancing out the heap. This improves the possibility to convey substantial burdens, as the hips are more grounded than the shoulders, and furthermore expands deftness and equilibrium, since the heap rides closer the wearer's own personal focus of mass.

Terminology

The word knapsack was instituted in the United States during the 1910s. Moneybag and packsack were utilized earlier, and now happen mostly as regionalisms.

The word backpack is a German loanword primarily utilized in the UK, US and in other Western military powers. In Middle High German ruck(e) signifies "back" (dorsum), which lead to the Upper German and Swiss word ruggsack. In present day German "der Rucksack" is usually used.(1) The name backpack is related with the Danish rygsæk, Norwegian ryggsekk, Dutch rugzak, Afrikaans rugsak, Swedish ryggsäck, and Russian рюкзак (rjukzak).

The word backpack was the standard name for a backpack or knapsack up until the center of the twentieth century. This is regularly utilized in Canada.

Elective names incorporate haversack from the German Hafersack signifying "oat sack"(2) (which all the more appropriately portrays a little material pack on a tie worn more than one shoulder and initially alluded to the sack of oats conveyed as pony grub), Kraxe (a German backpack with an unbending structure), and bergen (an enormous burden conveying backpack, from a plan gave by the British Army during the Second World War).(3) indeed, Britons used to call Alpine-style knapsacks "Bergen backpacks", perhaps from the name of their maker, Norwegian Ole F. Bergan, joined with the name of the Norwegian city of Bergen.(citation needed)

Rucksacks can regularly essentially be alluded to as "packs", particularly in outside settings; however now and again vague contrasted with different sacks, for example, saddlebags and duffel sacks, setting is commonly adequate for ID. They are additionally utilized in recreational exercises, and have since a long time ago been utilized to convey athletic gear and different materials.

Some time before its different phrasings started showing up on paper, proof of early knapsacks was scant.

Backpack designs

Rucksacks when all is said in done can be categorized as one of four classes: frameless, outer edge, interior casing, and bodypack. A pack outline, when present, serves to help the pack and disseminate the heaviness of its substance over the body all the more suitably, by moving a great part of the weight to the hips and legs. The majority of the weight is subsequently removed the shoulders, decreasing the opportunity of injury from shoulder tie pressure (numerous knapsacks outfitted exclusively with shoulder ties can influence the stance of an individual conveying in excess of 14 kg (30 lbs)), just as being less prohibitive of the chest area scope of movement. Most knapsacks are equipped for being shut with either a clasp system, a zipper, or a dry-sack type conclusion, however a couple of models utilize a drawstring fitted with a string lock for the principle compartment.

A bodypack is a knapsack fitted with at least one pockets that are suspended on the wearer's chest and stacked so that the heap in the front and the heap in the back are near equivalent. Most of the heap in a bodypack is conveyed by the hips. The ideal burden conveying framework ought not upset the wearer's characteristic stance, equilibrium and mobility. The heap must be scattered onto the skeletal structure in an even way, and ought not create unequal powers on the body.

#trendykristals

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ladymazzy · 4 years

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So the BLM march in London today (13/6/20) because the far-right planned a counter protest to 'protect the statues' (what is it that people keep saying about racism not being a British problem??).

The far-right are currently having a ruck with the police.

Sky news twitter is trying to style it like it's just generic 'protestors', which may or may not include BLM. But BLM protestors *are not there*.

Only neo-Nazis who are unironically 'trying to protect the cenotaph & Churchill' s statue' whilst smacking police officers and generally being total racist dicks.

UK, your racism is showing again...

#I don't give a shit about fawlty towers #You can buy it on dvd if you're that desperate to see all episodes uncut anyway #I'm bothered about stop and search disproportionate maternal & covid deaths the hostile environment and poorly taught history #uk politics #blm protests #UK blm

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rugbyshirtwatch · 6 years

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No matter what level you play rugby at, as the the start of a new season is usually a mix of excitement and dread – excitement for getting back on the field with your teammates, dread at the slog of weekly training in between! But whether you’re a training machine or you have a more 1970s view of match prep, one thing that’s guaranteed to get you right up for those chilly weekday evenings – some lovely new stash.

To give us that new season/new stash motivation bump, the good people at Canterbury, New Balance and Stance sent us a complete, head-to-toe set-up designed to keep us training hard and feeling good no matter the environment or the weather. We’ve spent a few weeks running it all through its paces, and this is what we learned…

We’ll start off with what’s most familiar to us, and that’s the various Canterbury training t-shirts that we’ve been sent – a mixture of Ospreys-branded ‘Drill’ tees, and the non-team-specific Superlight tees.

There’s a difference in both price and construction to this pair, but we’re really impressed at the functionality and smart design that makes both options well suited to different jobs.

The Superlight tee is what you want to be wearing when you’re getting your sweat on doing cardio – whether that’s doing conditioning drills, going for a run, or pounding a wattbike until you think you’re going to melt.

The Superlight tee is made of Canterbury’s ‘Adaptive’ version of its Vapodri material – it’s different to the standard Vapodri gear that we looked at a few years ago in Rucked & Rated. It’s thinner – at least 50% thinner to our touch, and ridiculously lightweight, but still does a great job of wicking moisture and regulating your temperature.

In practice, we there’s a noticeable difference one you really start to get the heart rate up – especially if you’re in a hotbox of a gym or outside in warm weather. It keeps you cooler, feels less restrictive and generally gets out of the way.

As great as the Adaptive fabric is, however – it’s worth noting that areas that are going to experience a lot of friction – the sleeves and ribs of the shirt – are still made of the regular, thicker Vapodri material. Our guess is this is because the Adaptive fabric isn’t the most hard-wearing material – understandable given its purpose, but worth noting.

If you do need something a little more hard-wearing, however, don’t fret – the Drill t-shirt has you covered. These examples look stunning in the same graphic used on the 2018/19 Ospreys home and away shirts, but they’re also cleverly thought out to deal with more rigorous training treatment.

So we have the ultra-thin Adaptive fabric here, but only on the the front of the shirt where you’re going to get really sweaty. the sleeves and back of the jersey are all made of the thicker ventilated Vapodri material, while the underarms and side panels are made of stretch fabric to improve your ease of movement. You also get the same crew-style collar as the 2018/19 on-field shirts.

This shirt is designed for the weight room and the training pitch – it might not keep you quite as cool as the Superlight tee, but it more than makes up for it in the ruggedness of its build. It also has smart little design features such as an elongated rear segment, which means you won’t show off too much when you’re bending over to pick up a ball or rack some weights!

We’ve had a pretty amazing summer, weather wise, here in the UK, and as a result it’s easy to forget that it won’t always be warm and dry when you’re hitting tacklebags on a Wednesday evening! Before long, you’ll need to protect yourself from the elements, and thankfully Canterbury has us sorted in that department too.

The Ospreys Vaposhield hoodie has probably been the most impressive bit of kit we’ve tested here – it’s just so damn useful. It’s lightweight enough to wear while exercising without getting too hot, but solid enough that you won’t worry about someone grabbing and ripping it. The hood design is also very smart – it’s a three-piece construction that has a peak and a neck/lower face protecting segment to shield you from the elements while not compromising visibility.

The real kicker is the material it’s made of. Vaposhield is Canterbury’s water-resistant fabric – you may remember it from the 2017 Lions jersey – and we’re hugely impressed at how it performs on this hoodie. From light showers to absolutely torrential downpours, the water doesn’t penetrate at all, and all from a fabric that feels like cotton and doesn’t have that horrible ‘wrapped in clingfilm’ non-breathability that waterproof clothing can sometimes have.

When things get a bit chilly, however, we’ll be reaching for the Thermoreg 3/4 zip jumper – this ridiculously light-weight top is great if you’re standing around in the cold waiting for the rest of the team to turn up, but it’s remarkably breathable once the action starts, too.

It’s also the perfect bit of attire if you’re in more of a spectating frame of mind – it’ll keep you warm on the terraces without making you feel claustrophobic. Definitely not what you’d want to be wearing in the rain, though – those ventilation pores work both ways!

When it comes to boots, we’ll be the first to admit that we’re no experts – after all, the name’s Rugby Shirt Watch! – but if someone sends us some rugby gear to test, then dammit we’re going to test it. And in the case of these New Balance Furon 3.0 Pro boots, we’re really glad we did.

Many of us in the rugby world are a bit set in our ways in terms of boots – especially if we were born at some time before 1990 – but if you’ve been telling yourself that the same old pair of boots that are older than your colts team fly-half are all you need to play your best… it’s time to meet 2018.

Slipping on the Furons is genuinely like putting on a pair of your favourite slippers. Everything about the fit, the support, the flexibility and general comfort is absolutely uncanny – and they’re so light you’ll instantly forget you’re wearing them. And with an elasticated collar for better ankle support and sprinter-inspired stud layout, you’ll at least tell yourself it makes you faster – regardless of evidence to the contrary.

Okay, so if you’re of an old-school bent you may not be comfortable wearing boots in a ‘look at me’ neon yellow – though they do come in black! – and we wonder how much punishment that super comfortable and responsive TPU/polyester mesh upper could take compared to traditional leather boots. But if you want a boot that will get you performing at your best while making you stand out from the crowd, New Balance has you covered.

The most pleasant surprise in our training package was the one thing that, to be honest, we weren’t exactly excited about. After all, can we really get het up about socks? Well, maybe you should try a pair of Stance socks before you answer that question…

Stance might well be a new name to you, but they’re a big noise in the US, where they’ve scored contracts with the NBA and MLB to provide on-field/court socks to some of the world’s best athletes. They’re now expanding into Europe, and have just signed up England star Billy Vunipola as an ambassador – so rugby is clearly on their agenda.

We know what you’re thinking – ‘£14 for a pair of socks? Really?!’ Well yes, they’re certainly not cheap… but if you think that these Distances Crew socks are just overpriced versions of the five for a fiver tube socks you get from Sports Direct… well… think again.

Stance socks are designed to make sure you never get sore feet again – and if you do, it won’t be because your socks have let you down. There’s cushioning where you need it on the heel and foot pad, no seams and extra padding around the toes to protect the most fragile bit of your foor, and arch support to work in conjunction with your boots or trainers to keep you working for longer.

Quite honestly, these are the most comfortable and supportive pair of socks we’ve ever worn. Don’t worry about training – we wish we had a pair for every day of the week!

If ‘look good, feel good’ didn’t have an element of truth about it, every sports team on the planet would be running around in plain black or white kits with short back and sides haircuts.

The truth is that whether you’re playing sport every week, or just want to spur yourself into being a bit more active, kitting yourself out with some new gear won’t just help you when you’re working – it’ll inspire you to get out and do it in the first place.

The gear we’ve tested today from Canterbury, New Balance and Stance works superbly in practice, but it all looks absolutely awesome, too. If you’re looking to inject some excitement into your training routine for the new season, a fresh look might be just what you need.

For more information about Canterbury’s 2018 training gear, visit Canterbury.com, to find out more about New Balance shoes and boots, head to NewBalance.co.uk, and to learn about Stance, check out Stance.eu.com.

Rucked & Rated: Best Rugby Training Gear 2018 No matter what level you play rugby at, as the the start of a new season is usually a mix of excitement and dread - excitement for getting back on the field with your teammates, dread at the slog of weekly training in between!

#Canterbury #Features #New Balance #Ospreys #Rucked & Rated #Stance #Training #training gear

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ruck-style-uk · 3 years

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Happy birthday to Mrs Ruck Style UK @gemmabak Hope you have an amazing birthday. Cant wait to have a fun day ahead https://www.instagram.com/p/CTG-mN8jO6b/?utm_medium=tumblr

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scottishzoomer · 4 years

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Replacement front wheel hub has arrived. Thanks to Lee at Ruck Style UK for having a rake through his spare bits and pieces 👍

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Freaky Trailer Breakdown With Director Christopher Landon

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It’s such a brilliant premise it’s almost impossible to believe we haven’t seen it before. Slightly dorky teenage girl is attacked by a serial killer but in the crucial moments a mystical intervention sees the two swap bodies. “It’s like Freaky Friday the 13th” director Christopher Landon explains, recalling the initial pitch from his co-writer Michael Kennedy. There seems like no one better to helm a high concept horror like this than Landon who made Groundhog Day-style slasher Happy Death Day – now the first trailer is with us.

While there were rights issues over that as a title, the shorter, cleaner Freaky works just as well. The first trailer is here and it sees Millie (Detective Pikachu’s Kathyrn Newton) body-swap with Vince Vaughn’s psychopath. The trailer promises laughs, a rather delicious revenge narrative and a whole lot of gore.

“I’m excited for people to experience the movie as a whole, because I think that it’s a really fun, thrilling ride,” says Landon. “I think they’re going to be surprised by a lot of stuff in this movie that’s not in the trailer. Both some of the violence and the kills, but also, there’s a surprising amount of heart. There’s this really special relationship between Millie and her two best friends that really shines in this movie. That’s one of the elements of the film that I really loved is that it’s really about the power of friendship as well.”

Landon talks us through the key moments of the brand new Freaky trailer.

00.01 – Blumhouse Productions

“I think this is my ninth movie with Jason (Blum) and working with Blumhouse. We’ve got a long history and they are a very filmmaker focused company and filmmaker friendly. You get a lot of creative control, which is rare. The movie that ends up on the screen is the movie that I really wanted to make. That’s the real joy and the pleasure of working with them is that there’s a lot of support there. As long as you can make your movie for a certain price. I think that’s the challenge.”

00.05 – “That’s me, Millie“

“I would describe Millie as a very shy, introverted girl. She’s lost her father recently, she’s really struggling to figure out how she fits into the world, she’s a caretaker and she often sacrifices her own joy in life at the expense of others. I felt like that was something that I really related to, and I think a lot of people can relate to that. That people give up on their dreams or give up on their hopes because they’re just constantly trying to please other people. I wanted Millie to really go on a very specific and a very articulated journey in this movie. When she inhabits a serial killer’s body she begins to learn things about herself that she never really saw clearly before. That was really the fun and the joy of making this movie. It was really going on this adventure with this young character that I related to.”

00.07 – “I think I saw it at Discount Bonanza…”

“We really wanted to show that often the most terrifying things in life are the most real and the things that we all encounter daily. Bullying is one of them. I can speak again from personal experience growing up as a gay kid in high school. Sometimes just that walk down the hallway to your first class is like a gauntlet. That was something that we really wanted to explore in the movie, because so much of this movie ends up being about how Millie has to become a stronger person. Real world horrors are always, I think, a key element in my films. Teenagers can suck in a major way.”

00.40 – The Transformation

“In the movie we introduce a mystical Aztec dagger. There’s a character in the film who’s an art collector and the knife is this ancient evil artefact that draws evil to it. When Millie is stabbed with it, this is the catalyst, this is what causes the body-swap to happen. This knife plays a big role in the film because once you’ve been stabbed and you’ve swapped, the only way to swap back is if you can stab the other person again. It becomes the catalyst and the story engine and the ticking clock of the movie. It was a lot of fun getting to create and design this particular weapon.”

00.49 – Welcome to the Murder Lair

“I wanted it to be the ultimate killer’s lair, in a way that’s a bit over the top, because there are points in the movie where we’re winking at the audience. In some ways it’s almost a parody of what the killer’s abode would look like. There’re severed heads and mutilated animals and mannequins that have been defiled. There’s a lot of stuff in there that I think are nods to old movies from my past that I watched growing up like Maniac, which is a really brutal horror film. That killer is surrounded by mannequins. For some reason mannequins terrify everybody. It was really just having some fun with those tropes.”

00.52 – “I woke up in the killer’s body!”

“Genuinely, I had two people on my list that I wanted for this movie and it was Vince and it was Kathryn. It was honestly one of the first times in my career where I got both. Vince is a really big guy. He’s tall, he’s very intimidating, and he’s an incredibly versatile actor. He’s obviously known for his comedies, he’s incredibly sharp and funny, but he’s also someone who can play intense and scary and do that convincingly. I needed somebody like Vince who could really pull off both roles. He does it with such authenticity. I think that’s what works so well about the movie and why his performance is so good in the film, because he’s not playing cute or playing to the comedy of the film, he’s genuine all the way through.

“In terms of preparation and getting into this stuff, both actors made video diaries. I worked with them to make these videos in character, so that they could share it with each other and begin to understand who they were as characters, their physicality, their mannerisms, the way they walk, et cetera. Then once we actually got into pre-production and I had the actors with me, we just started to sit and do a lot of rehearsals together so that they could really understand their characters physically and mentally.”

1.00 – “You’re black, I’m gay, we are so dead!”

“Michael and I tried to really employ the meta stuff very sparingly because we didn’t want it to overtake the movie, but we certainly thought there were appropriate moments to wink at the audience and remind them that we’re all in on this joke together.”

1.27 – Ice Cold Killer

“That was a cryo-chamber. We had been struggling for some time in trying to add a kill to this particular character in the setting that she had to be in. This was an idea that I came up with quite last minute. I initially thought, “Oh my God, this is, A, ridiculous, and B, really hard to pull off,” but I had to do it. I think it speaks to all of the deaths in the movie, which are really big, wild, gory, over the top deaths. I think each one is really unique. That was something that I really wanted to go for in this film, is just kill people in horrible ways that we really haven’t seen before.”

1.45 – “I’ll make you wish your stupid face was never born”

“I’ve always loved blending comedy and horror, and I’ve grown up with that stuff, all the way back from Evil Dead and so on. I’ve always thought that comedy and horror make interesting bedfellows and work really well together. In this movie, sometimes the horror is just horror and sometimes the comedy is just comedy, but then there’s so many moments where they are happening simultaneously, which are really my favorite moments. I feel like it’s one of those things where you get to go on this wild ride when you are making the audience scream and laugh. For me, it’s just the perfect combination of a good time.

“There’s a definite revenge element to this movie that plays out very organically, because Millie, as a character, is bullied a lot and put upon by people at school. When the killer inhabits your body, these same people are still coming for her. They’re still trying to pick on her or bully her, but now they’re messing with the wrong person. I think there is a certain revenge fantasy that’s unfolding in this movie. I have to say, it’s weirdly satisfying because I think often the audience will be rooting for the killer.”

2.18 – Wood Work Class

“I think everyone has had a teacher at some point in their lives that was particularly cruel. This character, Mr. Bernardi, who’s played by Alan Ruck, who is fantastic, he’s so good in the movie, but he’s the teacher that is quite abusive and he found a pretty unpleasant demise.”

2.37 – Chainsaw Massacre!

“It’s funny, Kathryn, she’s laser focused and such a professional, but I think this was new for her, having to really embrace this incredibly dark and violent character. Initially, in our rehearsals, I could feel her hesitation, but once we got going, she really moved past that and embraced it. Then I think she really finally started to enjoy it. She really got into it. By the time we got to that scene where she was using that chainsaw, she had come full circle. She was a killing machine. “

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Freaky is coming soon to UK cinemas

The post Freaky Trailer Breakdown With Director Christopher Landon appeared first on Den of Geek.

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thewebofslime · 5 years

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Netflix is to release its long-awaited documentary series on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann on Friday, despite opposition from the missing child’s family and TV industry speculation that programme-makers failed to gain access to key individuals involved in the case. The US streaming service first commissioned the programme in 2017, as interest grew hugely in true crime and cold case TV programmes following the success of Making a Murderer. However, despite spending enormous sums to produce eight hour-long episodes, its release has been repeatedly delayed, raising speculation over what, if anything, the show has uncovered, and the state of behind-the-scenes wrangling over its content. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Madeleine McCann went missing when she was three during a family holiday. Photograph: PA Kate and Gerry McCann, whose daughter went missing in 2007 when she was three, while on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, have repeatedly refused to take part in the show. They have also urged those around them to resist efforts by London-based Pulse Films, which is making the programme on behalf of Netflix, to get them to give interviews. Clarence Mitchell, the family’s former spokesman, who still assists with media inquiries, told the Guardian: “Kate and Gerry and their wider family and friends were approached some months ago to participate in the documentary. Kate and Gerry didn’t ask for it and don’t see how it will help the search for Maddie on a practical level, so they chose not to engage.” Instead, the programme is expected to lean heavily on interviews with the Portuguese officials who originally investigated the case, many of whom have since established media careers discussing the incident. Production staff are thought to have interviewed more than 40 individuals, although some leading Fleet Street journalists who covered the story at the time have said they declined to take part. Sign up to the Media Briefing: news for the news-makers Read more Those who are thought to have given interviews include the Portuguese detective Gonçalo Amaral and the journalists Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan, who wrote a book on the case. Others include people questioned by the Portuguese police such as the Briton Robert Murat and the Russian Sergey Malinka, plus the child protection experts Jim Gamble and Ernie Allan. Some associates of the McCanns did take part. Brian Kennedy, the millionaire businessman who helped fund the initial search for Madeleine, has also talked to the show. The McCanns have kept a lower profile in recent years, being selective in their media appearances. Despite £11.75m being spent by the British police, there remains no sign of Madeleine after 12 years, although the Metropolitan police have continued to fund Operation Grange until the end of this month. Earlier this month, the programme was listed on Netflix’s new release schedule for 15 March, only for the show to be removed from the public list. Although the Netflix programme is subject to delay, it is expected a trailer will be released on Thursday, with the rest of the show to follow a day later, concluding a sometimes torturous route to screen for a programme that was at some points speculated to have vanished for ever. In line with Netflix’s secretive style, the show was never formally announced as a commission, aside from speculation in the industry press. The streaming service also has a tendency to drop shows with a minimum of advance publicity, instead relying on the power of its home screen’s algorithm and word-of-mouth publicity to spread awareness of its new shows. However, individuals with knowledge of the production say a trailer was due to be released last week, only for that to be pulled at the last minute. Our insatiable appetite for true crime leaves behind a moral hangover JR Hennessy Read more British documentary makers are also looking enviously at the programme’s production values and wondering what Netflix will have to show for its enormous investment, amid speculation that it is heavily reliant on archive footage rather than new material. The show’s executive producer, Emma Cooper, recently left the independent production company, which is owned by Vice, for unknown reasons. While the Netflix show is speculated to cost more than £1m for each hour-long episode, the 2017 BBC Panorama documentary Madeleine McCann: Ten Years On is understood to have cost less than £200,000. Netflix declined to comment. One rival documentary producer said: “There’s been a lot of speculation about the series ever since it was first heard about, but particularly since the trailer was delayed. “Around 50 people are thought to have been interviewed for it, so it’s taken a while to make and get everything signed off. Although there are eight episodes, it looks as though it is not going to be a big ‘reveal’ kind of show that some were expecting, more of a narrative piece, although apparently some people are talking for the first time in it.” The McCanns have been offered the chance to view the Netflix documentary in advance, although they declined to do so. The family, who are known for keeping a close eye on claims made about them through their lawyers, Carter Ruck, are not thought to be considering any legal action at this stage. However, media lawyers pointed out Netflix documentaries remain available to view for substantial periods of time, meaning the risk of libel damages could be higher than with a traditional one-off TV broadcast. Topics

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fashiontrendin-blog · 6 years

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The Complete Guide To Men’s Dress Shirts

http://fashion-trendin.com/the-complete-guide-to-mens-dress-shirts/

The Complete Guide To Men’s Dress Shirts

Whether you like it or not, chances are you’re going to have to shoehorn yourself into a tuxedo at least a couple of times over the course of your existence. But don’t worry, contrary to what many men would have you believe, getting dressed up to the nines doesn’t have to be a painful battle between man and mirror. Well, not if you know what you’re doing.

First off, you’re never going to fully channel your inner covert MI6 agent if you don’t have a Bond-like confidence in your outfit. So, if you know that underneath your immaculate dinner jacket, you’re concealing a shirt so ill-fitting it could give Jeremy Clarkson’s favourite pair of jeans a run for their money, it’s going to have an impact on the way you hold yourself during your next black tie soirée.

A quality dress shirt will provide a solid foundation on which to build the rest of your eveningwear and so it’s not a purchase to be taken lightly. “It’s just a white shirt,” you might think. “How difficult can it be?” However, picking the right one out can take a masters in menswear because there’s a surprising amount to bear in mind if you want to elevate your black-tie attire from Dr No Idea to Double-0-Heaven.

To school you in the minutiae of this most troublesome formalwear component, we’ve prepared an in-depth guide, covering everything you ever wanted to know about dress shirts but were too afraid to ask. Starting with the basics…

What Is A Dress Shirt?

Just to make matters that little bit more confusing for you, definitions of the term ‘dress shirt’ will vary based on who you ask. Query an American, and he’ll tell you a dress shirt is anything with a collar and cuffs, that’s smart enough to be worn to the office. However, here in the UK, our definition is a little more specific than a work shirt, and for the purpose of this guide, that’s what we’re going to be talking about. Sorry, America.

First off, you certainly wouldn’t want to rock up to work sporting a dress shirt. Not unless you’re the Queen’s butler or one of those gents who holds the doors open at posh department stores. No, a dress shirt is to be worn exclusively as part of a black-tie outfit, most commonly a tuxedo.

“An evening shirt will ideally have a slight cutaway collar to make a space for the bow tie,” explains Jermyn Street master shirtmaker, Emma Willis. “[It should also feature] a super-imposed rounded or squared bib front either in a stiffer ‘marcella’ pique fabric or pleated for a more decorative look, holes for suds on the front rather than buttons …and a double cuff for cufflinks, which can match your studs.

“The ideal fabric for an evening shirt would be as light as possible for evening cool especially if you are dancing, [always in] white or ivory cotton or silk. The collar and cuffs look very sharp in the white marcella too if you are having this bib front.”

The Key Dress Shirt Components

Still with us? We never said it was going to be easy, but if you really want to wow the shop assistant with your shirting knowledge, it’s important to understand the three key elements that set dress shirts apart and how they can vary across the board.

Collar

One of the first things a newcomer is likely to notice about a dress shirt is the collar. Most often it will be a turndown collar. However, classic pointed collars and cutaway collars are also common. Save winged for white tie occasions.

Cuffs

While casual and formal shirts tend to come with barrel cuffs fastened by a button, dress shirts do away with this in favour of a dressier French cuff, which doubles back on itself and is held in place with cufflinks.

Another more modern option is the cocktail cuff, which was invented by Turnbull and Asser for use in the James Bond classic Dr No. It features a turnback with a cutaway, allowing for buttons rather than cufflinks. All the good looks of a French cuff, without the fuss.

Bib

While we know it best as a tool to prevent babies from getting revolting-looking paste and vomit all over themselves, in the world of eveningwear, an altogether different type of bib is at work.

The dress bib is an additional layer of material commonly stitched into the front of a dress shirt. It tends to be either plain or pleated and gives a thicker appearance when worn under a jacket while allowing the body of the shirt to remain light and breathable.

How Should A Dress Shirt Fit?

Selecting a quality garment is half the battle, but if trying it on leaves you looking like either the a kid wearing his dad’s clothes, or the Hulk when he gets all green and angry and bursts out of his clothes, it will all have been for nothing. Ideally, you want to be aiming for somewhere directly in between those two extremes.

“A well-fitted, well-made shirt is always a must, but even more so when it comes to eveningwear,” says Dean Gomilsek-Cole, head of design at Jermyn Street master shirtmaker Turnbull & Asser.

“A loose fitting shirt will become uncomfortable with excess fabric folding, rucking and rubbing against the skin.

“While a shirt that is too tight can look good standing, but will also become uncomfortable when seated, and can lead to button strain, which is not a good look.”

In short, a good dress shirt should fit much the same as any other type of shirt – the main difference being the length. Dress shirts tend to be made significantly longer in the back and tails for tucking in, so don’t worry if you try one on and it looks like you’re wearing a nighty.

Aside from that, the shoulder seams should rest nicely on, well, your shoulders, the cuffs should be comfortable and shouldn’t extend onto your palm, while you should be able to fit two fingers between your neck and the collar when the front is done up.

What Material Should A Dress Shirt Be?

If you’re lucky enough never to have spent a sweaty afternoon at a black-tie summer wedding, you might think that shirt material is of little importance. However, once you’ve experienced the hell that is a dinner jacket/heavy twill combo in 30-degree heat, you’ll immediately get a sense of its significance.

“One tip from me for formal occasions is to get a bespoke dress shirt made from a voile cloth,” says Gomilsek-Cole. “This cloth is very lightweight and perfect for wearing under formal dress when you have to keep your jacket on for long periods of time.

“The fabric is quite transparent. But the trick is to have the front panel, collars and cuffs and front ‘bib’ made with a heavier cloth and no one will ever know how you managed to stay so cool and composed.”

Aside from voile, pique – sometimes referred to as ‘marcella’ – is the shirting material most commonly associated with the black tie dress code. It was initially created for use with white tie attire, as the way the fibres are woven makes it capable of holding more starch than other cotton fabrics.

Being nice and light, poplin is another good option in the warmer months, plus the smooth, silky appearance lends itself perfectly to a dressed-up look.

When To Wear A Dress Shirt

Easy. If the dress code says anything other than black or white tie, you should leave your dress shirt well alone. No one’s going to look good wearing a starched shirt with a pleated bib with a pair of jeans. While we’re all for individual style, there is a line and wearing a dress shirt with anything other than a tux crosses it by a country mile.

The Best Brands For Dress Shirts

Now that you could give the experts on Jermyn Street a run for their money in a dress shirt-themed episode of Mastermind, let’s take a look at what you should be spending your money on.

Turnbull And Asser

If your end goal is to look like Bond then who better to buy your kit from than the people who dress him? Not only has the luxury London-based outfitter dressed 007, but it has also created shirts and accessories specifically for him, including the famous cocktail cuff.

Turnbull And Asser is steeped in history and has been held in esteem by some of the most important men in Britain and beyond. When it comes to quality and prestige, this Jermyn Street heavyweight is second to none.

Buy Now: £255.00

Hawes & Curtis

Originally founded by London tailors Ralph Hawes and George Frederic “Freddie” Curtis in 1913, Hawes & Curtis quickly became known as one of the most respected gentleman’s outfitters in the capital.

The heritage label is the original Jermyn Street shirtmaker and has outfitted everyone from Hollywood stars to royalty during its time in the city.

Expect high quality, heaps of sophistication and price tags that won’t leave your wallet empty.

Buy Now: £79.00

Next is one of the most reliable names on the British high street and is well known for making slick suits at affordable prices. The brand’s sartorial output doesn’t end there but carries over nicely into the eveningwear arena.

You won’t get handcrafted, made-in-England garments, woven from the most beautiful silk cloth, but what you will get is a solid, stylish dress shirt and change from £50. Can’t argue with that in this stormy financial climate.

Buy Now: £24.00

Emma Willis

The first and only female shirtmaker to boast a shopfront on Jermyn Street, Emma Willis is widely regarded as one of the best in the game. The celebrated tailor counts the likes of Daniel Craig and David Gandy among her returning customers, and when you take a look at her masterfully crafted shirts, it’s not difficult to see why.

For stunning bespoke and ready-to-wear shirts, handmade with premium materials in London, you need look no further.

Buy Now: £350.00

Zara

Thanks in no small part to a highly responsive supply chain, Spanish high-street heavyweight Zara is always at the cutting edge of what’s fashionable. However, that’s not to say its timeless classics aren’t up to scratch, as exemplified perfectly in its range of sharp, crisp dress shirts.

Expect contemporary cuts, modern styling and prices so cheap you’ll feel like stocking up your entire evening wardrobe.

Buy Now: £19.99

Marks And Spencer

A shirt bought from historic British retailer Marks And Spencer is a shirt bought with confidence. Renowned for its reliable quality, huge variety and timeless designs, it’s no wonder M&S has become a firm favourite in the UK.

If you’re looking for a sturdy, reliable dress shirt that you won’t need to sell a kidney to buy, you will find it right here. An ideal choice if you’re only pulling your tux on once or twice a year.

Buy Now: £45.00

T.M. Lewin

Established in 1898, T.M. Lewin is one of the most historic shirtmakers on Jermyn Street and unlike many of its neighbours, the prices are well within most budgets.

These modest price points aren’t indicative of subpar quality either, which goes a long way towards explaining why this heritage outfitter is one of the most popular in the country.

Buy Now: £49.95

Thomas Pink

Founded by Irish brothers James, Peter and John Mullen in 1984, Thomas Pink set out on a mission to challenge the traditional shirt making for which Jermyn Street had become famous. Named after the 18th-century tailor who designed the famous red hunting coat, the label carries on the name and tradition of exquisite attention to detail which was a hallmark of Pink’s work.

Choose a shirt from Thomas Pink and you’re buying into a focus on the more delicate details and a perfect blend of tradition-meets-modernity.

Buy Now: £100.00

Charles Tyrwhitt

Nicholas Charles Tyrwhitt Wheeler founded his eponymous label in 1986 after deciding he could make a better shirt than anyone else. What’s more, he believed he could do it with no compromise on quality, a dash of British charm and at absolute knock-out prices.

Did he succeed? Well, judging by the fact that his business now boasts 27 successful stores worldwide, including a flagship on Jermyn Street, we’d say so, yeah.

Buy Now: £49.95

John Lewis

Having opened the doors of its first store on Oxford Street in 1864, luxury department store chain John Lewis has gone on to become one of the most established names on the high street. The brand has a reputation for its unfaltering solidity, making it the first port of call for many a shopping Brit.

Regarding men’s eveningwear, it’s more of the same. Timeless, quality garments that offer a touch of luxury at not unreasonable prices.

Buy Now: £40.00

For The Menswear Geeks: The History Of The Dress Shirt

Having first appeared on the shoulders of European men in the early sixteenth century, the shirt quickly went on to become the undergarment of choice. Just the ticket for keeping all that sweat away from expensive clothes at a time when personal hygiene was still a pretty abstract concept.

As the years rolled on, a crisp white shirt became a status symbol, as only very wealthy men could afford to keep them pristine. Then, during the Victorian era, and with the rise of the dinner jacket, the dress shirt, as we know it today, was born.

Unlike in the thicker, more substantial shirts of years gone by, shirtmakers began to manufacture shirts with a bib panel stitched onto the chest. This panel could be starched, giving the front of the garment a whiter, crisper appearance, while reducing the thickness of the shirt overall and maximising comfort.

After World War II, the tuxedo became de facto eveningwear, cementing the modern dress shirt as one of the essential components in today’s black-tie attire.

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flauntpage · 7 years

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Lenny McLean vs. Roy Shaw: Battle of the Guv’nors

In the 1970s, working class English hard men settled their disputes in the boxing ring with gloves or on the cobblestones with their bare fists.

Two such geezers with major beef and no manners were Lenny McLean and Roy Shaw. They weren't legit boxers per se. They were two of London's hardest nightclub bouncers. With multiple convictions between them, they were too dodgy to get a boxing license and fought in bare-knuckle bouts, and unaffiliated (unlicensed) matches, not heavily regulated like the ones staged by the British Board of Boxing Control.

Mouth is what started their epic three-bout feud. Roy Shaw had fought in a number of bare-knuckle fights with gypsies and became known as the "unofficial heavyweight champ" and "the hardest man in Britain." Lennie McLean got wind of it and took umbrage. He had made a name for himself as the number 1 street fighter in England, "the King of the Cobbles". In his head, he was the "Guv'nor," and the hardest man in Britain, not Roy "Pretty Boy" Shaw.

Shaw was no mug. He was an East End hell-raiser with a dodgy comb over and a tendency to stick the boot in. Case in point, his savage beating of Donnie "the Bull" Adams in 1975. Despite clocking Adams with the very first punch of the match, Shaw pulled him up to knock him out (again) and stomp on his head. Later on that same year, Shaw met Paddy "Mad Dog" Mullins in another unlicensed bout. Overwhelmed by Shaw's brutal, close-quarter punching power, Mullins attempted an early version of an MMA takedown to humorous effect.

Shaw's nemesis would come in the form of Lenny McLean. Despite toxic levels of personal animosity between the two thugs, their life stories were almost identical. Both men were London hooligans who had learned to fight on the pavement arena. Both of them were "Borstal boys", juvenile offenders, who had served custodial sentences and missed the opportunity to box proper in the ring as amateurs or professionals. Yet fighting was their stock in trade, and recreational pastime, and both men odd jobbed as nightclub bouncers, debt collectors and mob enforcers.

It could have been so different for Roy Shaw. He could have been a contender but being a "blagger" (armed robber) and jail time had gotten in the way of carving out a career in the ring. Shaw had fought and won 10 bouts as a pro—under an assumed name when he was on the lam from the law. When exposed as a crook on the run, the British Board of Boxing Control failed to renew Shaw's license, and banned him from performing in any of their contests thereafter.

Hailing from the blood darkened streets of Hoxton in East London, Lenny McLean had been a street fighting man for most of his life. In and out of trouble since youth, he'd missed the boat to box as an amateur and professional and drifted into the milieu of bare-knuckle boxing after a chance encounter with gypsy fight promoter Kenny Mac. What was his motivation for fighting on the cobbles? Social Darwinism (survival of the fittest), and the cult of the personality (reputation).

Photo courtesy of Kellie Valerie McLean

"You've got to fight to get anywhere," McLean once said in an interview on British TV. "If you don't fight, you're just one of the crowd and one of the crowd don't get nuffink."

Nuff said. But headbutting, biting, gouging and kicking a man when he's down? Mclean may have been the best street fighter in England, the so-called "King of the Cobbles," but could he box proper in the ring? Street fighting and glove fighting are too completely different things, after all.

Yet it was in this smoked filled world of "unaffiliated boxing" that the two thugs would meet and play sportsmen. Not once or twice but thrice, the best of three epic bouts. Who would emerge with the title of Guv'nor?

Forty-one year old Shaw, the smaller of this gruesome twosome, was supposed to be the better boxer. He'd beaten twenty-eight year old McLean in their first outing by TKO in May 1977. McLean, the bad sport, cried foul arguing that his gloves had been tampered with. He wanted payback. Shaw, not the type to duck a challenge, or a mouthy loser, was more than happy to oblige the Hulk of Hoxton.

The second bout in April 1978 was held once again at "Cinatra's Nightclub" (with a C not an S) a classless and gaudy venue in Croydon, South London with a 2000 seat capacity. The nightspot was sold out and packed to the rafters with gilt-edged hoods and wideboy punters. They had flocked to the bout via word of mouth down the pub, and articles in the UK tabloid press, and bet big on Shaw mugging McLean just like the first time.

Buzzing on ego, testosterone and ginseng, the white-robed figure of Shaw glided past the topless ring card girls, waving his taped up fists in the air. In the red corner, grunting like Guy the Gorilla on loan from London Zoo was Lenny McLean. He flexed his guns and gurned at the punters and slobs in attendance at ringside. The human dildo was pumped up and ready to unload on Roy "Pretty Boy" Shaw.

In this straightener, there was no love lost. Or trust. Because of concerns over glove tampering, and McLean's complaints of being duped in the first encounter, both men were not laced up until they were in the ring.

The opening few seconds of the contest seemed sporting enough. Both men traded shots in Round 1 with Shaw aggressively probing the defense of McLean with body shots and left hooks to the jaw. Wary but cagey, McLean boxed behind his left jab and caught Shaw with a three shot flurry that sent him back onto the ropes. Smelling blood, McLean swarmed on Shaw and let loose with a tantrum of fists.

Photo courtesy of Lee Wortley

There was no bobbing, weaving or countering. Shaw was trapped in the corner and on the end of a savage and unerring onslaught of punches. Fast, accurate and mortar-like, McLean's boxing was more like milling—a form of all-out fist fighting popular in the British Army. Unable to defend himself against McLean's barrage of one-twos, Shaw flopped about like a mad cow and sunk to the canvas. McLean, oblivious to the Marquis of Queensberry rules, or the looming figure of the referee in black tie, punched Shaw as he was on the ground with a right-handed haymaker worthy of a pub brawl at the Blind Beggar.

At this point of the Round 1 demolition job on Roy "Pretty Boy" Shaw, a man who had entered the ring some fifty seconds earlier as the odds-on favorite to win, the Referee stepped in. McLean, the bully beef fighter, was not quite done with his course. He shoved the Ref back and stomped on Shaw's head with his heel before being controlled and restrained by four heavies from his corner.

Amazingly, the contest was allowed to go on. If this was any other fight, McLean would have been DQ'd and possibly banned for life. Not this night. Not this fight. Not this mug's game. It was box on time and Shaw was still game for the ruck. So was McLean: who thumped Shaw with a four-punch combo that snapped his head and sent him through the ropes and onto the first row. The arse over elbows finale cost Shaw a bit more than his rep. He'd placed a £10,000 side bet that he wouldn't get dumped or knocked out of the ring.

Headbutts. Hitting guys when they're down and stepping on their head bouncer style. There are few sporting niceties in an "unaffiliated" boxing match. This is dirty boxing at its best and you see fighters doing all sorts of brutal tricks. And pity the poor Ref in these old time fights. He's reduced to being a pusillanimous figure, unable to stop the flow of backhands, rabbit punches, headbutts and Don King head stomps. Unsportsmanlike conduct and riotous proceedings aside, the score was one a' piece and the good folks of London town wanted a best of three. So did McLean and Shaw.

The venue for the third and final straightener was the Rainbow Theatre in North London. A big, three-thousand seat arena more used to staging rock concerts than unaffiliated boxing matches between two aging hoods.

First time it was McLean with the excuses. This time round, in September 1978, it was Shaw. He blamed his second defeat on ginseng, saying that he has accidentally ingested too much of the stuff and went into the contest out of sorts. Never again. This time the veteran thug in the blue corner was going to show McLean who was mustard, and who was not.

Making his ring entrance to Daddy Cool by Darts was Lenny McLean, the minted champ of the outlaw ring. Shaw was a mean old dog but McLean, the bigger and younger man in the red corner, was not going to relinquish the title of Guv'nor so easily.

The bell clanged and Shaw came storming came out of the trenches with left hooks galore. Sensing the power, McLean, the taller of the two men, held onto Shaw's head, pulling him down into uppercuts and right hands. Not one to play the mug, Shaw took the opportunity to open up to the midsection of McLean with rib busting shots. Rather than have a recce in the first round and give the punters their money's worth, Mclean broke off from holding (and hitting) to unload a meaty series of one-two shots that shook Shaw's head and sent him stumbling like a drunk at closing time.

McLean overwhelmed Shaw, one-two, one-two, one-two, ad infinitum. Unable to parry or counter, Shaw collapsed under the rain of knuckle sandwiches and rabbit punches. The boy from Stepney was the loser, once again, 2-1 to Lenny McLean of Hoxton.

The bell went ding-a-ling-ding. The bout was over. McLean was declared the winner and he shouted out into the crowd of cockney punters, "I'm the Guv'nor!" The noisy nightclub doorman from Hell was still the "unofficial heavyweight champion of Great Britain," still "the Guv'nor." There was no arguing with that.

With an improbable record of "4000 street fights" and "20,000 barroom brawls," was Lenny Mclean the hardest street fighting man in Britain? Even his own cousin, and sometime promoter, Frank Warren wrote him off as a big-mouthed monkey brawler.

"He was a terrible bully, Lenny. One of the biggest bullies you will ever meet, always intimidating people. I had a couple of scrapes with him myself. He used to say he'd had 3,000 fights, which was crap. He had 15 fights and lost 5."

Yes, McLean may have been the "King of the Cobbles" but the nightclub doorman was an unlicensed boxer with a so-so record. He lost twice for the title of Guv'nor to Cliff Fields in 1978 and 1979 by TKO (rumor has it that McLean went around London buying up every available copy of the fights to destroy). And the man from nightmare alley lost twice by KO in the 1980s to Johnny Waldron.

As for the street fighting bit, was he King of the Cobbles or King of the Cobblers? Though boasting that he could beat anybody in a fight, McLean had been KO'd by the likes of George 'Pappy' Langley, and lost face when he ducked a straightener from Bartley Gorman, "the King of the Gypsies" and a pro encounter with Dave "Bomber" Pearce, the British heavyweight champ.

Nonetheless, McLean went on to have dramatic tear-ups with some memorably named figures. One such encounter was his 1986 bout with Mad Gypsy Bradshaw. Bradshaw made the mistake of nutting McLean as they touched gloves. For that sleight, McLean went to town on Bradshaw and decked him. That wasn't the end of it. Like Shaw in his fight with Don Adams in 1975, McLean picked Bradshaw up and whupped him with a series of pub style blows before using him as a doormat. And there was much head-butting on display in his encounter with Man Mountain York. In fact, McLean is so liberal with the nut that he makes Evander Holyfield look like a choirboy.

Shaw and McLean never met in the squared circle again. Mclean retired from unlicensed boxing in 1986 and made a new rep as "King of the Bouncers," scaring a generation of club goers during his stint as a doorman at the Camden Palace and Hippodrome nightclubs in London.

In the 1990s he found fame as an actor and stole the show in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels before succumbing to lung cancer and dying in 1998. Shaw fought periodically until bowing out of the unlicensed game aged 45 in 1981. His record was 9 wins, 8 knockouts and 2 losses via Lenny McLean. He died in 2012, but, like his archrival, he is a much-missed character.

In the old days, barehanded or gloved up, working class Englishmen settled their differences with their fists. These days it's done with guns and knives. Tut-tut, where's the sport in that?

Lenny McLean vs. Roy Shaw: Battle of the Guv’nors published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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