Category: Lifestyle (Page 232 of 274)

The Men’s Shop at ULTA Beauty

June 11, 2012 / Bullz-Eye Staff

With Father’s Day coming up, men’s grooming products are always reliable favorites for dad. I remember giving cheap after shave as a kid, but now you can step things up a bit with high-quality products at stores like The Men’s Shop at ULTA Beauty.

The site has a great selection of gift ideas at any price point. The experts at ULTA have identified this season’s hottest items from classic colognes to lighter body sprays perfect for gym bags and traveling, and Father’s Day favorites including shave gels and hair sculpting clay. ULTA is also gifting a free insulated tote or roll-up picnic blanket with any $30 fragrance purchase for dad!

They sent us several samples to try out, including the Lacoste Rouge Eau de Toilette pictured above and the Dolce and Gabbana The One Sport Eau de Toilette pictured here to the right. Both are excellent fragrances that would upgrade the cologne collection for most men. This Lacoste fragrance for men has a clean, crisp, fresh scent with a light and cool feel. The Dolce and Gabbana product is also a fresh, clean fragrance with “light and energetic top notes accompanied by an unmistakable Mediterranean aroma of rosemary, the freshness of water and saltiness of the sea. The middle notes feature sequoia wood enhanced with the energy of cardamom. Patchouli and musk naturally compliment the fragrance’s base notes.” Basically, it also will make you smell great!

Check these and other products out and find something cool for everyone on your list this Father’s Day. Check out our guide for more ideas.

Grooming, Lifestyle

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Samson Meteor Mic

June 11, 2012 / Bullz-Eye Staff

Father’s Day is coming up on Sunday, and in the gadgets section of our Father’s Day Gift Guide we’re focusing on stuff beyond the obvious choices like phones and iPads.

The Meteor Mic from Samson fits that criteria perfectly. It’s an incredible device that is chrome-plated and beautifully designed so that you can record great sound or use it as a speakerphone on services such as Skype. It looks like an old school mic, but it’s also portable as the three legs of the stand all fold up perfectly to make it easy to store in luggage or a briefcase.

Most importantly, the sound quality is so much better than what you’ll get from tiny mics or the mic built into computers. Features include:

– One of the largest condenser diaphragms (25mm) of any USB mic available to produce rich, CD quality recordings

– Fold-back leg design allows for the optimal positioning for any recording application

– A stereo 1/8-inch headphone output, no latency monitoring, and headphone volume knob give user complete control

– No drivers are required, allowing users to start recording right out of the box

It’s a great gadget for anyone and a great gift idea as well, so check it out online or at Best Buy.

Gadgets, Lifestyle, Stuff to Buy

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Like Steve McQueen: Triumph Bonneville brings 60s cool to the new millennium

June 10, 2012 / Joe Gustafson

The Triumph Bonneville is etched into motorcycle lore. When it was created in 1957, it was one of the world’s fastest bikes. The epitome of fast and loud, it’s the original bad boy bike from across the pond. In 2001, Triumph brought it back for a new generation, but times have changed. The superbike of yesteryear is but a mildly fast ride today; that doesn’t mean that the bike has lost any of its legendary qualities though. So, can a retro-styled bike deliver an exhilarating riding experience without the latest tech and stratospheric horsepower numbers? In short, yes it can.

The Bonneville comes in three separate trims depending on how much you have to spend and the look you are going for. The Base and SE have cast wheels, and the SE adds two-tone paint and a tachometer. The T100 adds wire wheels, a different two-tone paint scheme and more chrome for a definite ‘60s vibe. The Scrambler is styled like a vintage desert sled and the Thruxton looks like a café racer of old. For this test, I took out the base Bonneville, no frills and no extras, to see how it performs.

Classic looks revisited

The Bonneville is not just a motorcycle, but a snapshot in time. Mods vs. Rockers, café racers, swinging ‘60s, Steve McQueen, Bob Dylan; the Triumph Bonneville was around during a truly exciting period in culture and history. To bring this look back may seem like a no-brainer, but it carries a certain amount of risk in that it can’t be a carbon copy or too different than the original. The base Bonneville strikes a good balance. Its cast wheels bring the look up to around the mid-70s, but don’t age the bike too much compared to modern machinery. And like your boomer parents, the Bonneville is plumper today than it was back then both visually and on the scales.

Park anywhere, though, and you might as well be stepping out of a time machine. People continually ask not where to get the bike, but how old is it, where to get one restored, and how much it costs. Slathered in gold paint, the vintage look is played up, but people are honestly surprised when you tell them it’s brand new; and for much less than they think. You can walk out the door with a brand new base Bonneville for $7699. However, all the good looks in the world are useless if the Bonnie is not an engaging ride. All other retro bikes lean on their classic looks to not provide a modern riding experience, but does the Triumph do the same?

Do the ton, eventually

Motivated by an 865cc parallel-twin, the Bonneville has the same type of motor as it did all those years ago, but with more displacement. The powerplant boasts 67hp, 50lb. ft. of torque attached to a five-speed transmission, but those are just numbers. In real life, this means more thrust than your average cruiser, but not enough to warp you into another dimension like the Diavel we just tested.

For all the heritage and history, though, the motor doesn’t want to remind you of any of it. It’s smooth almost to a fault, and with stock exhausts, much too quiet. Fire it up and you’d think you accidently got on somebody’s scooter. Get an aftermarket pipe and she’ll sing the song of the ‘60s all day, but in stock format, the motor has too little personality for what the looks promise.

Lifestyle, Motorcycles

Triumph Bonneville Triumph Bonneville motorcycle

Vacationers Beware! Watch Out For Scammers

June 10, 2012 / Bullz-Eye Staff

With the economy on a downturn, more average people are seeking ways to cut costs. While money may be low, people still want to enjoy themselves and take vacations to get away from the stresses of life. To do so, travelers are finding deals in all sorts of places. The downside of this is that more companies that ever are scamming desperate travelers out of their hard-earned money. You’ll need to be vigilant when booking your trip and should always be on the lookout for these scammers, because they’re most definitely looking for you.

Lifestyle

Drink of the Week: The Corpse Reviver #2

June 8, 2012 / Bob Westal

What we have here, my friends, is a failure to be creative. In my ongoing quest to deplete my liquor supplies in advance of an impending move, while also trying to keep my cocktails simple on account of my current hectic schedule, I attempted my favorite vermouth-heavy martini variation; unfortunately, it seemed that my home supply of Noilly Prat had gone slightly off due to old age. Then I tried making up my own simple drink using an awful lot of Lillet Blanc — an underrated type of fortified wine that’s like a sweeter version of dry vermouth — and gin. The result was not so good.

Finally, I happened upon this week’s tasty yet macabre selection, but forgot to include one key ingredient. Was this the sort of accident which could lead to the creation of an entirely new drink? Alas, no. Sans fresh lemon juice, the Corpse Reviver #2 is more of a coma inducer. Fortunately, with lemon juice, this certified cocktail classic‘s certainly good enough for any living being. I just can’t claim any credit for it.

The Corpse Reviver No. 2

1 ounce gin
1 ounce Lillet Blanc
1 ounce Cointreau or triple sec
1 ounce fresh lemon juice
1-3 drops absinthe (you might be able to substitute other anise flavored liqueurs such as Pernod, Anisette, or pastis)
cocktail cherry or lemon twist (pretty optional garnish)

Combine your ingredients in a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice. Shake loudly enough to raise the dead and strain into a cocktail glass that itself is as cold as death. Add the cherry or lemon twist, if you like. Toast the resurrection of your own choosing. (Fellow nonbelievers may feel free to apply the concept to their favorite sports team or political candidate.)

Alternatively, you can set the absinthe aside and add the drops of anise-flavored bitterness directly to the glass for a somewhat more pungent beverage.

***
Despite the name — we’ll eventually get around to Corpse Reviver #1, I’m sure — this is a simple, sturdy, and pleasurable drink. The absinthe, which is not a personal favorite of mine, nevertheless acts as a very solid alternative to bitters and opens up the drink while the lemon juice balances out the sweetness of the Cointreau/triple sec and the Lillet Blanc. The fresh citrus might not actually bring anyone back from the grave, or even do anything for a common cold, but it is healthy and 100% guaranteed to prevent scurvy, of course.

By the way, the Corpse Reviver’s name actually comes from the fact that this was considered a “morning after” drink and/or a great a.m. pick-me-up. No comment. The first to widely document and popularize the drink was booze pioneer Harry Craddock and a key name in its more recent history is revivalist Ted Haigh, aka “Dr. Cocktail.”

If you’re looking for someone to raise to your corpse reviving glass to, one person whose done his share of onscreen corpse revival — and much more corpse creation — is the great character actor and eternal heavy Christopher Lee of “Horror of Dracula,” “The Wicker Man,” “Lord of the Rings,” and “The Man With the Golden Gun” to name only a very few. Having recently turned a still-going-strong 90, he’s in no need of revival. On the other hand, this does seem like an ideal time to give him his say on the topic of cocktails.