Welcome back for the latest installment of Signals. Signals is our bi-monthly round-up of anything that has caught my eye recently, repeated here in an unedited stream of conscience. It really doesn’t have to relate to menswear or fashion or anything — it’s a true grab-bag in that sense.
Please also consider liking, commenting, or sharing — your engagement really goes a long way! Either way, I hope you enjoy.
Welcome back and happy new year! For the first time in a while, I’m finding myself excited about the new year and am looking forward to what the coming months bring.
There’s a lot of new faces around these parts recently, so before we get into the men’s lifestyle world’s favorite newsletter series (as voted via an n=1 poll of just my wife), I’d like to say welcome aboard! Not sure where you guys are coming from, but happy to have you around regardless.
If you’re not sure what to expect, this blog is my public attempt at navigating our increasingly strange and, at times hostile, zeitgeist through the eyes of someone generally sensitive to design and style. I do none of this in a professional capacity, and this is mostly for fun — I personally am an engineer who works in biotech, so I have no real connection to the menswear/fashion/design world, beyond the few that I’ve made from poasting.
That said, if you wish to financially support my endeavors, I’d be endlessly grateful (and a million thanks to those who already support me!!). Any proceeds will go toward making the world a more beautiful place. These efforts will, of course, be documented here:
Movie/book Reviews
I saw someone post a note in the Substack app lamenting the fact that movie and book reviews are almost entirely focused on what’s coming out now, and she wished instead that people would focus instead on writing detailed reviews of things that have already been out for a while, as they come across them.
As I read this, I had one of those “Why not me?“ moments, so now you’re all going to be subjected to my takes on movies and literature that have been out for decades.
In classic not-following-my-own-rules fashion, I wrote my first movie review on Robert Eggers’s latest film Nosferatu, which released on Christmas. You can read it here (spoiler alert I fucking loved it).
That said, I just finished reading Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum, and provided I’m analytically capable of crafting a coherent review of that behemoth, you can expect a post on it (relatively) soon.
Is New Years the new Black Friday?
Many people are asking this…
For the nᵗʰ year in a row, 2024’s Black Friday sales were lackluster (I wrote about this last year too). Nowadays, we pretty much get a month-long 20% off, even from stores that have way better sales randomly throughout the year (looking at you, J. Crew). It feels like the shopping equivalent of getting a limp-wristed handshake.
Now I’m not positing anything crazy here, as most stores have had some sort of New Years sale for a long while now, but I am noticing that the sales at this time of year are significantly better than their Black Friday counterparts.
My guess is that marketing analysts have picked up on the fact that people are primed to spend big money over the Thanksgiving weekend, and have realized that they can eke out slightly more money (in the short-term — everything feels like it’s only about the short-term nowadays, an infuriating economic trend) by offering dogshit sales and hoping that people won’t notice…
Still, they need to offload their past-season items at some point, and it seems like the time for those bigger deals has now fully shifted to the New Year, at least for the brands that I tend to watch out for. Here are a few that I’ve been tracking:
Todd Snyder Extra 40% off sale — Up to 70% off total, some good deals on outerwear and niche footwear. This Donegal Balmacaan coat is awesome and a really good deal at just over $500.
Peter Millar 30% off — Definitely check it out if you’re into golf or have an SEC burner account. My favorite golf clothing in general. Caveat Emptor: The summer comfort polos fit at least an entire size big — I’m 6’2” 205 and am absolutely swimming in a large.
SSENSE up to 70% off — Old reliable. This sale has been going on for a while now, but usually it’s good to wait til about this time, once thing start going on super discounts (sidenote, I was on Vacation in Ireland recently and saw for the first time people (I guess whatever the Irish version of a chav is) wearing those CP Company goggle hoodie things and they look SOOOO stupid in real life… Like genuinely how do you allow yourself to walk out of the house looking like that?!)
Trinketmaxxing and the Bauhaus school
My wife found some of the Leuchtturm 1917 on sale at TJ Maxx sometime in 2023, and bought me one, upon which I immediately fell in love.
I recently just finished the journal that she had bought for me, so went back to Leuchtturm’s website to grab a new one, and was delighted to find that they currently have a Bauhaus-inspired collection.
I was so delighted you see, as one of my next-planned reads is From Bauhaus to Our House by Tom Wolfe, a (rather harsh, allegedly bordering on philistinism) critique of the German design philosophy.
I enjoyed this synchronicity and thought it would be a nice nod to design in general to get a Bauhaus-inspired stationery setup, so that I did.
Up to now, I’ve been using the Muji 0.38 gel pen as my daily driver, which I also actually managed to finish up in early December (I’ve never finished a pen before without losing it, wild feeling), and used that as an excuse to go all-in and buy a customized Bauhaus Leuchtturm Drehgriffel to round out the collection. The fact that this one looks like one of those old-school mechanical pencils is really fun in a Baudrillardian sort of way too.
An extra $10 for a laser etching is well worth the cost of making the item feel like it’s truly yours, IMO.
I also recommend switching out the ballpoint pen cartridge with one of these OHTO flash dry hybrid gel cartridges. Makes for an incredibly snappy pen.
Human by Nature Tokyo Athletic Club Hoodie
Friend of the program deliberateindifference made this excellent post below highlighting the Human by Nature All-Nippon Box Hoodie ($92), and I’m inclined to agree with him that this hoodie rips. While the “[x] athletic club” trope is kind of played out at this point, I think this one works well. Maybe it’s the gothic lettering.
The design also reminds me of this brand Tacoma Fuji Records, which is a Japanese brand that “makes merch for nonexistent music”.
Halide Camera App
Hey you
Yeah, you
Do you have an iPhone? Are you frustrated with Apple’s over-processing of your images like I am?
Well it turns out we’re in luck. There’s an app called Halide that attempts to strip the God-awful AI post-processing that Apple applies to every image taken with its native camera app. The app is pretty old, but it’s new to me so it gets a spot.
Every time I scroll past this picture in my photos app it makes me a little mad. The iPhone’s post-processing over-sharpens the shit out of every image and flattens out the lighting, effectively making it impossible to take a picture of my favorite jacket’s tasteful salt wash, instead making it look like a piece of ham steak.
As an amateur photographer, I’m able to notice this difference and simultaneously not have the skill to overcome it — a very frustrating worst of both worlds. I’ve switched over to using Halide, which gives you way more control over things like image sharpness, grain, and shadows, via their Process Zero option. Be forewarned, you have to pay for the app, but I highly recommend it!
Sinus Draining Video
Could save your life this winter:
Farnsworth House on Film
Really enjoyed these photos of the Farnsworth house by zoeplzshutup on Xitter:
Kismas linear lamp 01
I really like the form factor of these lamps. Say what you will about glass block architecture, but I find it nostalgic in a pleasant way.
That said, selling this for 140 euros is pretty insane, given that this is probably $10 worth of parts, it wasn’t their idea, and the LEDs seem pretty underpowered based off of the pictures. Maybe you can make one yourself…
The Brutalist
Interested to see this movie once it’s more widely-released in the US. I can’t claim to understand the appeal of brutalism as a design philosophy, but am interested to learn about architect László Toth’s background and how he came to be so influential.
The movie is a staggering 3.5 hours long and has a very limited release schedule. It was originally released on December 20 to 4 theaters in New York and LA only, with wider distribution to a few more major cities slated for a mid-January release. Even still, only 3 theaters in the Boston area will be showing it, which kind of sucks, since none of them are close to me.
Alright guys, that’s it for this edition of Signals. That’s everything I’ve been up to or have otherwise been thinking about recently.
These posts take a lot of time and effort for me to write out — if you liked this post, I would appreciate a like/subscription. Engaging with you guys really does make a difference in my ability to dedicate time toward putting out quality content.
Here’s to a productive 2025!
