An Impulse: Julius AW10 Denim Bending Pants

Traded my AW10 cowl neck coat for these after recently noticing I wear grey far too often to not have a pair of grey pants. The distressing and zippers are sick as fuck.

Beck in the studio, photographed by Jason Lee.

An Impulse: Julius AW10 Waxed Knit Bending Pants

Currently waiting in agony to receive these in a trade for an _7 SS10 cotton double zip fencing and an MA FW09 ribbed cotton tank.

An Impulse: Diet Butcher Slim Skin SS10 Rayon Cardigan

I don’t think that I’ve ever had a truly decent cardigan, and with Autumn just barely starting to peek in here in Texas, I couldn’t have come across this at a better time.

Haruki Murakami at the finish of the New York Marathon in 1991.

Via Discovery: During the Gemini flights, food wasn’t really needed (as astronauts only spent a few hours in space), but to see how the human body reacted to consuming food in microgravity was important, especially as longer forays to lunar orbit in the upcoming Apollo Program required food supplies for a few days.

On the March 23 flight, NASA had some food experiments to test on the two-man crew of the Gemini III space capsule, Commander Gus Grissom and Pilot John Young. The prime focus was to see how astronauts could work and eat efficiently while keeping mess and odor to a minimum.

The Gemini III menu contained hot dogs, brownies, chicken legs and apple sauce, all contained in squeezy tubes or small packets. Each item was delicately packaged to save on space, improve on safety and convenience. The main point here was that it was to be a controlled scientific experiment.

Alas, John Young had other ideas.

A little under two hours into the mission, just as the two astronauts were discussing the food that had been packed for them, Young produced a corned beef on rye sandwich from his flight suit pocket and presented it to a surprised Commander Grissom.

The following discussion ensued:

John Young shortly before the Gemini III launch… plus concealed sandwich (NASA).

Grissom: What is it?

Young: Corned beef sandwich.

Grissom: Where did that come from?

Young: I brought it with me. Let’s see how it tastes. Smells, doesn’t it?

Grissom: Yes, it’s breaking up. I’m going to stick it in my pocket.

Young: Is it?

Young: It was a thought, anyway.

Grissom: Yep.

Young: Not a very good one.

Grissom: Pretty good, though, if it would just hold together.

Young: Want some chicken leg?

Grissom: No, you can handle that.

Grissom: What was the time of that booster again? What elevation?

The whole episode lasted for 30 seconds, and the corned beef tasting session lasted for only 10 of those seconds. Apparently the sandwich didn’t cope very well in microgravity conditions.

Needless to say, NASA and Congress were not amused.

Via You Might Find Yourself: On a trip to Japan in the early 1980s, Jobs asked Sony’s chairman Akio Morita why everyone in the company’s factories wore uniforms. He told Jobs that after the war, no one had any clothes, and companies like Sony had to give their workers something to wear each day. Over the years, the uniforms developed their own signature styles, especially at companies such as Sony, and it became a way of bonding workers to the company. “I decided that I wanted that type of bonding for Apple,” Jobs recalled.

Sony, with its appreciation for style, had gotten the famous designer Issey Miyake to create its uniform. It was a jacket made of rip-stop nylon with sleeves that could unzip to make it a vest. So Jobs called Issey Miyake and asked him to design a vest for Apple, Jobs recalled, “I came back with some samples and told everyone it would great if we would all wear these vests. Oh man, did I get booed off the stage. Everybody hated the idea.”

In the process, however, he became friends with Miyake and would visit him regularly. He also came to like the idea of having a uniform for himself, both because of its daily convenience (the rationale he claimed) and its ability to convey a signature style. “So I asked Issey to make me some of his black turtlenecks that I liked, and he made me like a hundred of them.” Jobs noticed my surprise when he told this story, so he showed them stacked up in the closet. “That’s what I wear,” he said. “I have enough to last for the rest of my life.” (Excerpt from Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.)

An Impulse: Julius AW10 Nylon Serge Cowl Neck Coat

I’ve been eying this since last fall, and I’ve finally been able to acquire it–at over $900 below retail!