Category: Lifestyle (Page 234 of 274)

100% Waterproof Eco Terra Boombox

June 7, 2012 /

As someone who grew up in the 80s, I miss the days of being able to carry around a boombox. Of course things got ridiculous as rappers carried around boomboxes as big as a house, but it was so easy back in the day to create a spontaneous party with a killer boombox.

Today, everyone is doing their own thing wearing their headphones with their iPhones or iPods. There’s nothing wrong with that of course, but it doesn’t lend itself to much socializing.

With the Eco Terra Boombox you get the best of both worlds as you can slide your phone or iPod into the boombox and share your music with friends. It’s the perfect gadget to take with you as you’re tailgating, hanging by the pool or anything else you might want to do with friends. It’s so easy to use and produces good sound.

It’s also 100% waterproof so you don’t have to worry about water splashing on it and ruining your phone. The internal waterproof casing houses your music player or smartphone, as well as some extra cash, credit cards, car key or driver’s license. The outside poly-carbonate shell with rubberized impact bumpers, fortifies your device and the boombox’s two 3” full-range forward firing speakers. Eco Terra also floats and is fully submersible. If you drop it into water the case will always rotate to point the speakers up! Pretty cool.

With Father’s Day around the corner you should check this out for the dad who misses his boombox but also loves his MP3 player.

Gadgets, Lifestyle, Stuff to Buy

New sneakers from Recon

June 7, 2012 /

There are so many sneaker styles out there, but we’re always on the lookout for truly unique designs. Recon is a new, under-the-radar brand, and they sent us a sample of their new line of sneakers which come in three color styles. The Recon line is described as a “new category of covert footwear for the true, ever-changing athlete” and you can see that they’ve come up with an innovative and distinctive design.

Recon marries traditional styling, strong colors and functional athletic design for a versatile sneaker you can wear on the court and out on the town. They’re very comfortable, and better yet, the sneakers are very affordable as well. Check them out online along with Recon’s equally stylish t-shirts at ReconBrand.com, or you can find them exclusively at FinishLine stores nationwide. FinishLine operates more than 660 stores in 47 states, connecting to young, fashion-conscious individuals through a premium brand experience featuring the best selection of authentic, sport inspired products.

Celebrities like Jay Z, Sean Combs, Kellan Lutz and Jerry Ferrara have already nabbed a pair of the initial introductory styles of the Global Hi-Artist Series. The three unique styles were created in collaboration with renowned graffiti artists Stash, Wane and Futura.

If you’re looking for something new, you should definitely check these out. Also, with Father’s Day around the corner, you should consider these sneakers for the fashion-conscious dad.

Lifestyle, Stuff to Buy

Drink of the Week: The Lucien Gaudin

June 1, 2012 /

The Lucien Gaudin Last week, I decided it was time to finish off my Campari bottle in preparation for my upcoming move. I have now completed what I started — not the move, but the Campari bottle — with a really tasty classic cocktail featuring three other somewhat more common cocktail ingredients. Made correctly, this simple yet exacting cocktail named for a once world-famous fencer can parry the tastiest thrusts of all but the sharpest competitors.

The Lucien Gaudin

1 once gin
1/2 ounce Campari
1/2 ounce Cointreau or triple sec
1/2 ounce dry vermouth
Lemon twist (garnish)

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice, preferably crushed or cracked, and stir — stir, I tell you — vigorously. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add lemon twist. En garde!

****

According to some older hands at the cocktail blogging game, not to mention Encyclopedia Brittanica, the late Mr. Gaudin apparently suffered from a much too sensitive ego. The story goes that the 1928 Olympic French gold medalist committed suicide in 1934 after receiving a presumably not so grievous thumb wound from a non-fencer in the course of a duel.

How much more would the champion’s ego have been hurt to find that the relatively obscure drink named after him seems to be the subject of vastly more Internet posts that his actual life or accomplishments? To be fair, it is also rumored that Gaudin, who was a banker by trade, suffered some financial reversals during those middle years of the worldwide great depression. Even so, it’s a shame he couldn’t have pulled it all back together somehow, if only for the cocktail’s sake.

Well, at least the Lucien Gaudin is a dandy drink. Just be sure to be as accurate with your measurements as a duelist needs to be with his thrusts. When I strayed even slightly and by accident from the proportions listed above, the cocktail was nowhere near as refreshing.

Oddly, I also found that, while the common reasoning given for stirring rather than shaking the drink is strictly aesthetic, it also seemed to taste a lot better without the “clouding” that so bothers boozy aesthetes. I’ve no idea why that would be, though I suppose the emphasis on presentation in cocktails has some solid psychological underpinnings. I did find, however, that while Cointreau yielded the more interesting flavor,  a version made with far cheaper Bols Triple Sec was also extremely nice. So, there’s that much leeway, at least.

In any event, even if the late Mr. Gaudin has gotten the short of the stick both from himself and from sporting history, we at least remember him here.

Food & Drink, Lifestyle, Vices

The Great Fit of RibbedTee Undershirts

June 1, 2012 /

We tested out some new undershirts from RibbedTee and were very impressed. The shirts are super-soft and are cut differently from tradition undershirts. They’re more snug and form-fitting, and they’re cut longer so that they won’t slip out when tucked into your pants. We found this to be much more comfortable. Also, if you’ve been working on your physique and want to show it off, your girlfriend will love how you look in a RibbedTee undershirt, and you can wear it in certain settings without a shirt pulled over and you’ll look great!

But for most situations, you’ll be using this product as a an undershirt so most guys will be more than satisfied regardless of their current fitness situation. We tested both the ribbed version and the traditional version. The streamlined fit also leaves no bunching around the waistline or arms. The shirts are also designed to keep their shape after repeated washing with the collars laying flat in place without sagging.

With Father’s Day around the corner, the RibbedTee undershirts make a great gift as well.

Lifestyle, Stuff to Buy

Drink of the Week: The Campari Cocktail

May 25, 2012 /

The Campari CocktailSo, you’re starting a new job requiring a long enough commute from your home that it will ultimately require a costly move. Then, the second day of your aforementioned lengthy commute, your car starts hesitating in stop-and-start cross county traffic. Next thing you know, you’re staring down the barrel of a big, big transmission repair bill while suddenly finding yourself with a rented Ford Focus in your driveway instead of your charmingly banged-up Buick.

When that happens, you don’t want a drink that requires a lot of fuss. It’s better if it trying it out helps finish up some nearly empty bottles, lightening your liquor load on your impending cross-megalopolis move.

So, I’ll spare you the usual classic cocktail history lesson as well as the tortured connection to current events or this weekend’s holiday. (Could any cocktail possibly be appropriate for Memorial Day, anyway?) This is clearly a time when you — by which I obviously mean “I” — want my evening cocktail to be simple, stimulating for the taste buds, and strong — which is why I’ve gone and doubled the amounts for my version of today’s DOTW. Feel free to halve it if you’re situation is different or if you’ll be driving anytime soon.

The Campari Cocktail

2 ounces Campari
1 1/2 ounces vodka (preferably 100 proof)
2 dashes aromatic bitters
Lemon or orange twist (fairly optional garnish)

Combine Campari, vodka, and bitters in a cocktail shaker. Shake as vigorously as you can manage and strain into — what else? — a chilled cocktail glass. If you like, throw in a lemon or orange twist — it can’t hurt and it might help. Sip and, if you you’re not likely to give a significant amount of your personal worth to a mechanic, thank your freaking lucky stars.

****
I’ve praised the oh-so-sweet and then oh-so-bitter one-two punch of Campari before while discussing the hugely underappreciated Negroni as well as the oh-so-refreshing Americano. As the name implies, here’s a drink where the Campari flavor is really and truly front and center, perhaps too much for some folks. Certainly, replacing the gin in the Negroni with vodka (and actually using less of it), doesn’t do anything to complicate the drink or stand in the way of the Campari flavors, even if they could use a bit of leavening. That’s why I think I found adding in the stronger flavor of 100 proof Smirnoff resulted in a more satisfying taste experience as well as a more effective attitude adjuster.

Vodka-disliking cocktail snobs won’t be surprised that, while I’ve tried this drink with a number of brands, the results with the 80 proof vodkas, however, didn’t vary by much. Indeed, the very cheap Seagram’s and the much more high-endish Kettle One I used to make it didn’t really change the experience by that much. Still, since I like Campari, I’m declaring that a reason to like this drink. In fact, next week’s drink will also feature it, but it’ll be just a mite more complex…unless something else happens to my car.

Food & Drink, Lifestyle, Vices

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