In the cult classic The Big Lebowski, Mr. Lebowski wonders aloud to The Dude, “What makes a man, Mr. Lebowski?”  

What is it? What makes a man, a man?

Is it scent? Is it responsibility? Is it clear, clean skin? Well, if it is indeed any of those things, the new product from Irish Spring has taken all the thinking out of it for you.

My daughter inspected the fresh bottle of Irish Spring before I did. She popped the top, took a whiff and said, “That smells like a man, dad.” The fragrant scent of citrus/orange definitely lent itself to manhood and all of its pitfalls.

When I saw that the new Irish Spring Clear & Fresh Skin Body Wash provided by Colgate was also the first mass male body wash to “treat and prevent” breakouts, I was intrigued. There are a ton of other body washes on the market and the majority of them do not begin to broach the subject of acne.

Rather, many of them load up on scents and perfumes but don’t really do anything in terms of preventive maintenance, especially strictly for acne. However, I was slightly hesitant because I have sensitive skin that dries out in no time, and generally, any acne fighting skin solution has the potential to really dry you out.

The texture of Irish Spring was something I liked the second I poured it into my hand; it wasn’t a thick, gloppy substance that was just going to coat your body. After the texture, the next thing I noticed was the scent. It had a nice refreshing kick to it and wasn’t laced with the smell of chemicals.

Irish Spring worked itself into a lather in no time; I literally had huge bubbles extending across my body almost immediately and I just felt clean. It wasn’t difficult to wash off either, and it didn’t leave a sticky film. But the most important part to me was that my skin didn’t feel dried out — it didn’t itch and I didn’t need to add an additional moisturizer or lotion after I stepped out of the shower.

Another facet of the Irish Spring product worth mentioning is the 8 HR Scent System. Sure, the scent was great when my daughter popped the bottle and after I used it, but that’s the easy part, friend! Roughly six hours after taking a shower and using the Irish Spring, a (female) friend at the local Mai Tai Lounge commented on how fresh I smelled. At this point, even I didn’t notice that I smelled like anything, let alone that I smelled good. So just imagine how many times you go out thinking you don’t smell like anything and you actually smell bad, buddy.

Try the Irish Spring Clear & Fresh Skin Body Wash for yourself and let it take the thinking out of body wash for you. Between your job, new old lady, ex-wife, mortgage and ’99 Mazda 626, don’t you have enough on your mind already? If you tried the original Irish Spring Body Wash in the past, be sure to try the new and improved version by heading to the official website.

Shaving has come a long way and it has gone even farther now with the new Schick Hydro Power Select Razor, which is the world’s first custom power wet shave razor! Bullz-Eye tested this new shaving system from Schick and came away impressed with a super close shave.

According to Schick, this custom power razor allows men to tailor their shave to power up and customize their morning grooming routine like never before. With 25 electronic parts, an interactive LED display on the handle, and blade cartridge technology featuring the Schick Hydro system that hydrates throughout each shave, the Schick Hydro Power Select allows men to interact with their razor in a brand new way. And from what we experienced, Schick is right on the money. With a switch, I was able to choose from three settings on a one-touch control button that allows users to adjust before or during a shave to see what works best for them. The easy to read LED screen communicates visually to clearly distinguish which vibration level is in use so you know exactly what fits your shaving needs.

Adding to the elements of the Schick Hydro Power Select is a unique water-activated hydrating gel reservoir and five Ultraglide blades with skindguards with flip trimmer for precision trimming. This cutting edge shaving technology is neatly packaged into a sleek design with an ergonomic handle that rounds out a strong new product for men today. The competition is tough out there in the men’s shaving world, but that’s part of the reason why we can purchase new and innovative products like the Schick Hydro Power Select; and my day starts out a little better now because of my superb shave! Head over to www.schickhydro.com to learn more.

I wasn’t very impressed with the products from Minus 417, which symbolized everything that’s wrong with a lot of supposed “high end” men’s skin care products that are on the market. Just because it contains a litany of exotic sounding ingredients and is high priced ($98.00 for the kit), it doesn’t mean it’s good.

Hyped as a product that was enriched with “dead-sea minerals” and “vitamin A, vitamin E, sweet-almond oil, carrot-seed oil and olive oil,” it quickly devolved into a cacophony of ingredients. The dizzying array of natural substances that comprised the line, from what I could tell, was all hype. I can’t tell the difference between a dead-Sea mineral and carrot-seed oil once it’s on my skin, but if it’s a moisturizer, make it refresh my skin and keep it moist for an extended period of time. If it’s a shaving cream, make it easy to apply to my skin, shave and rinse off my blade.

The first sample I used from the Body Care Kit for Men was the Mineral Shave Cream. I could tell from the moment I put it in my hand, just by the texture, that it wasn’t very good. I squeezed a large amount from the tube into my hand and rubbed them together, but when I did that, instead of having the product expand like most shaving creams, it gradually dissipated thanks to the friction in my hands. So, I squeezed out even more and did the same thing, this time applying some water, but it didn’t help either. After a third squeeze, I got enough out to apply on my face, but it immediately began to sting. Not only that, but it felt like I was putting lotion on my face rather than a shaving cream. It got to the point where I was literally glopping it on my face to cover the entire area.

I started dragging the razor across my face and it came up pretty easily; I didn’t have to go over the same area multiple times. But getting the cream out of my razor was a pain, and a thin layer of it coated my sink when I was done. It was not a pleasant experience.

After I washed my face, I applied the Active Moisturizer After Shave. In addition to the scent being completely overbearing, I could tell from the minute I applied it I would have to keep putting it on, over and over, because one application dries your skin out rather than moisturizing. After I put it on, my skin was dry and flakey, worse than if I hadn’t applied anything.

Finally, I used the Body & Hair Shampoo for Men. It was akin to the free shampoo you get from a hotel when you forget yours; it just wasn’t very good.

I was not impressed with any facet of the Minus 417 Body Care Kit for Men. It reminded me of a cheap substitute attempting to masquerade as a high end product. You can put a pig in a dress, but at the end of the day, it’s a pig wearing a dress.

Check out the company’s official website for more information.

Are you coming down to the wire with your holiday shopping?

One thing to always keep in mind, particularly for last minute gifts or gifts you can bring when visiting someone or going to a party, is gifts of food. Thing of stuff that’s unique and interesting that people will love but won’t necessarily buy for themselves.

As pointed out in our “For Her” gift guide, Macaroons are hot this year:

Move over, Cupcake! Make room for Macaroons!

Trendy and delicious, fancy and French macaroons are one of those little luxuries which are so hot right now. They also look like little works of art. Making them can be fun but receiving a beautiful box from Paris – even better! Fauchon macaroons are just one special way to give this diabolical treat! Saveurdujour, Danny Macaroons and Macaroncafe are also great places from which to order.

It’s obviously too late to order online, so you’ll have to rely on Google and find some in your area. But as you can see from the beautiful photo above, Macaroons look great, and most women appreciate beauty. They taste great as well, so this gift can compliment the other stuff you have in mind.

Do you ever just pick something up because it looks cool? I couldn’t even tell you the last time I did, but when the cruZer products from Braun arrived in the mail, I had to play with them because they just looked cool.

The cruZer line is a series of shaving devices created to express the diverse personalities of the men who use them. Your facial hair and body style express your own personality and attitude, and the cruZer line was designed to “underline your personal style.” And how does Braun plan on doing that? Unparalleled versatility.

I received two electric shavers from Braun: the CruZer6 Face and the CruZer Beard & Head Trimmer.

The CruZer6 Face electric razor is marketed as a 3-in-1 shaver, styler and trimmer, and it really was each of those, not just slick marketing. Its primary function is to shave your face, but even if you rock a goatee or Fu Manchu, you could still use it to touch up existing facial hair. The Trimming Comb is a plastic sheath that fits over the head of the shaver that you can adjust to four different lengths, which makes it ideal to trim and maintain a beard or other type of facial hair.

Another feature that speaks to the versatility of the CruZer6 is the Twistable Trimmer on the back side. The trimmer has long been a staple of an electric shaver, but unfortunately, its lack of adjustability is also well known. Not only does the CruZer6 trimmer extend out from the base of the shaver to give you an additional couple inches to work with, it also has two different sizes of trimmer head — narrow and wide. Instead of adjusting your style to fit the function of the razor, the CruZer6 adjust to the needs of the user and provides additional flexibility that other electric razors don’t. In a pinch, you could even use the CruZer6 to shave and manscape or trim any other body hair because it is so versatile.

Read the rest of this entry »

When Focus Features drops you a line and asks you if you’d like to head to New York City for an overnight stay at the Waldorf Astoria in order to attend a screening and press junket for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” based on the novel by John le Carré, you don’t think about it. You just say, “Yes.” And so I did. After catching a screening of the film on a Friday night, I got up on Saturday morning to begin the interviews of the day. First up: director Tomas Alfredson and one of the film’s screenwriters, Peter Straughan. (Alas, Straughan’s co-writer, Bridget O’Connor, who was also his wife, died of cancer in September 2010.)

One word of warning: the potential for spoilers exists within the piece. But, look, given that the original novel was published in 1974, followed by the TV miniseries in 1979, it’s not as if you haven’t had plenty of time to absorb this information already…

Journalist: How liberating was it for you to be told (by John le Carré), “Don’t reshoot the book?”

Peter Straughan: Very. [Laughs.]

Tomas Alfredson: Yes, very. I was much more so, I think. Peter wasn’t too worried, but I was very reverential about the book and was very nervous about taking a foot off the path. So it was just very good that John le Carré was there to push us off the path and tell us to do something different.

J: Can you each tell us about your first encounter with the book, if you had read it a long time ago? Did either of you?

PS: I’d read it, yeah. And Bridget had read it years earlier and loved it. In the UK, it’s considered one of the greatest novels of the 20^th century, let alone spy novels. And then we read it again when we were asked to come in to discuss adapting it. Which made us quite nervous. [Laughs.] You read it, and…it’s quite a difficult book to adapt!

J: Because it’s so well known, or because of the complexity…?

PS: Because of the complexity. Because it’s quite an interior story. So much of it takes place in Smiley’s mind and Smiley’s memory. And also because, in the UK, it’s a holy cow. As is the TV series. So there was a sense of…I think we were maybe the only writers who rushed in and said, “Okay, we’ll do it!” Everyone else would say, “No, we don’t want to do it!” [Laughs.] Fools rushing in where angels fear to tread.

TA: I think it’s…very much about not deciding, “Okay, I want to do this,” but it’s about, “I want to start working on this, to start the process.” And early on, it was…I remembered the old TV series and the reading of the book, but also meeting with the actual persons, with Peter and Bridget and le Carré and the producers, who are very nice people. To do a scary thing like this, you need to be encouraged, and if you’re surrounded by encouraging people who you trust, it’s much easier.

Read the rest of this entry »

The great Joe Frazier has passed away at the age of 67 after a battle with cancer. We had the privilege of interviewing Mr. Frazier two years ago. He told us about his epic battles with Muhammad Ali and George Forman and also playfully hinted that he would have beaten Mike Tyson.

Frazier was a class act and he couldn’t have been nicer when we interviewed him. Yet he had to endure years of outrageous taunts from Ali and the bitterness stayed with him for years. But recently that changed according to ESPN:

Frazier, who in his later years would have financial trouble and end up running a gym in his adopted hometown of Philadelphia, took the jabs personally. He felt Ali made fun of him by calling him names and said things that were not true just to get under his skin. Those feelings were only magnified as Ali went from being an icon in the ring to one of the most beloved people in the world.

After a trembling Ali it the Olympic torch in 1996 in Atlanta, Frazier was asked by a reporter what he thought about it.

“They should have thrown him in,” Frazier responded.

He mellowed, though, in recent years, preferring to remember the good from his fights with Ali rather than the bad. Just before the 40th anniversary of his win over Ali earlier this year — a day Frazier celebrated with parties in New York — he said he no longer felt any bitterness toward Ali.

“I forgive him,” Frazier said. “He’s in a bad way.”

Frazier is one of the true boxing legends from its Golden Age and he will be missed.

Let’s get it out of the way now: not only was this the best episode of the season to date – which, given the competition, is a pretty damned impressive feat in and of itself – but it has instantly vaulted into the elite category known as The Best “Breaking Bad” Episodes of All Time.

This is not hyperbole. This is fact.

And with this having been said, let’s get to talking about the proceedings, shall we?

What’s going down ‘round the hospital? Oh, wait, this isn’t a hospital: these are some of Gus’s guys, a rag-tag team of doctors who were clearly prepared for the eventuality that his preventative measures might not do the trick. Unfortunately, they’re not nearly as interested in helping out poor Mike, as evidence by when Jesse says, “This man needs help,” and the lead physician replies matter-of-factly, “This man pays my salary.”

Meanwhile, back at the SuperLab, Walt’s continuing to make with the meth under the watchful eye of Gus’s right-hand man, but as Walt reminds him for what must surely be the hundredth time, “If Pinkman’s gone, I’m done.” So what’s up with Walt’s figures being off? Is he just frazzled and not paying attention? If so, you have to admit that’s a little understandable, what with everything going on in his world…like, for instance, teaming up with Hank on a stakeout of the Los Pollos Hermanos warehouse. Walt’s less than subtle when asking about the status of the cartel, but it works: Hank’s heard rumblings that a major massacre went down, big even by cartel standards. In return, Hank starts asking about the bruises on his face, once again offering him a friendly ear, but Walt stiffens and snaps, “I’m done explaining myself.”

Looks like they found time to help Mike after all. Jesse discovers just how much advance planning Gus put into the goings-on in Mexico, and it’s clear that, although he’s shocked, he has considerable respect for the man. Moments later, the man himself emerges, looking tired but on his way to recovery. Unfortunately, Mike’s still going to be laid up for a week or more, but Gus assures Jesse that he’ll send for their friend as soon as he’s well enough to travel. The lead doc smiles and prescribes water and rest to Gus, and I swear, I think this was the most human I think we’ve ever seen Gus look. I don’t know how far they go back, but it’s got to be pretty damned far. And speaking of far, it’s a hell of a stroll back to the border, and it’s even longer once Gus casually comments that Jesse can run the lab himself. Jesse understands the implications…and he does not appreciate them.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Anchorman” is one of our favorite Will Ferrell movies, and this promotional video for Ron Burgundy’s “audition” with the fledgling ESPN channel back in the day before it was launched might be the funniest Ron Burgundy clip out there.

As the name implies, this drink is perhaps the very oldest classic cocktail extant and, as with the Martini, it carries with it as much controversy and variation as you can possibly imagine. It’s staying power is no mystery in that it’s based on the fact that whiskey has some natural sweetness to it and, as Julie Andrews and the Sherman Brothers remind us, just a very literal spoonful of sugar really does help that medicine go down

Oddly enough, for such a simple drink, it’s one that only the best bartenders we’ve met seem to have mastered. On the other hand, as “Mad Men” viewers will remember from one particular episode, Don Draper has, too.

The Old Fashioned

2 ounces of whiskey (bourbon, rye, or Canadian)
1 teaspoon of superfine sugar and 1/2 ounce water, or 1/2 ounce of simple syrup
Angostura or Regan’s Orange Bitters
Orange wedge and/or maraschino cheery (very optional)

Dissolve superfine sugar — regular table sugar or cubes will also work but are harder to dissolve — in water or pour 1/2 ounce of simple syrup (i.e., sugar water) into an wide mouth Old Fashioned glass. If you like, muddle (smash) an orange slice in the bottom of the glass. Add ice cubes, whiskey and bitters — again, we personally prefer Angostura for bourbon or rye or Regan’s Orange for Canadian, but it’s your call. Stir vigorously with a swizzle stick or club spoon. If you like it a bit diluted, feel free to add just a bit of water, though purists will disagree wildly.

***

Now, as I alluded to above, there are a great many controversies about the Old Fashioned and what works best in one. Don Draper and I are quite partial to the muddled orange slice and/or marischino cherry, particularly if it’s one of the very expensive gourmet cherries you’ll find at some excellent high-end bars. Famed politics and cocktail maven Rachel Maddow finds all that sweetness to be of the sickly variety and offers only a slice of lemon zest in a move that’s similar to the traditional recipe for the sazerac, a drink we’ll be covering later. She also uses a sugar cube and a muddler rather than my preferred choice of using superfine sugar or simple syrup for an easier sugar distribution, as well as soda water. Esquire‘s resident cocktail historian, David Wondrich, is of a similar mind.

I will say that I haven’t tried using soda water in the tiny quantities that Ms. Maddow does, nor have I tried one with as little ice, but I will be giving  the Maddow/Wondrich historical version a shot soon enough. It might be a bit strong for most people, but since Wondrich and Maddow suggest two of my favorite products — Canadian Club and Rittenhouse Rye (100 proof — yes, sir!) — I’m optimistic that this originalist take might just work as well.

On the the other hand, while I’ve been known to (gasp!) water my Old Fashioneds with just an additional splash or two, using a significant amount of soda water for this purpose is a big no-no, though it’s standard practice at many bars. Moreover, do not use maraschino “juice” in place of sugar/simple syrup, also standard practice at a lot of watering holes. To be scientific about it, it comes out way icky that way. I think me, Maddow, Wondrich, and even Draper would agree about that.