Month: March 2015

Roger Kahn: “Losing After Great Striving is the Story of Man”

Photographer Unknown, (Man Wearing Baseball Cap)

“You may glory in a team triumphant, but you fall in love with a team in defeat. Losing after great striving is the story of man, who was born to sorrow, whose sweetest songs tell of saddest thought, and who, if he is a hero, does nothing in life as becomingly as leaving it.”

― Roger Kahn,  The Boys of Summer

Anne Rice, “The Wolf Gift Chronicles”

Anne Rice, The Wolf Gift Chronicles : Book One- “The Wolf Gift”; Book Two- “The Wolves of Midwinter”

“The morph from human to werewolf is typically depicted with growling, snarling and more of an air of pain and violence. Only Anne Rice would attempt to describe lycanthrophy as a viral infection that transforms the body’s muscle into a sort of erectile tissue, and then draw parallels between the transformation and the physiological process of arousal and climactic release. Rice’s wolf experience is a full-blown orgy of all the senses described with her characteristically florid prose.” -Andrea Sefler. Pop Mythology

For werewolf fans- great books to start a new series. Devour them.

The Tantõ

Awataguchi Yoshimitsu, Tantõ, Mid-late Kamakura Period ca. 1270, Private Collection

The tantõ is a common Japanese single or, occasionally double edged  dagger with a blade length between 15 and 30 cm (6-12 inches). The tantõ was designed primarily as a stabbing instrument, but the edge can be used to slash as well.

The tantõ first began to appear in the Heian period of Japan which extended from 794 to 1185. This period was named for the location of the Imperial Capital, which was moved from Nara to Heian-Kyõ. The blades in this period lacked any artistic quality and were purely weapons.

In the early Kamakura period which ran from 1192 to 1333, high-quality artful tantõs­ began to appear. This Kamakura period brought the emergence of shogun rule. Japanese warlods, shoguns, claimed power from the hereditary monarchy and their scholar-courtiers, giving the Samurai warriors and their lords ultimate control of the early Japanese Empire.

Awataguchi Yoshimitsu was born  around 1229, the son of Awataguchi Kuniyoshi who had founded the Awataguchi School of Kyoto, considered one of the brightest lights in the world of Japanese swords. Yoshimitsu is considered the greatest maker of the tantõ in history. His blades were the most expensive at that time; one thousand pieces of gold were known to have been given to acquire one of his works.

Brice Hardelin

Brice Hardelin, Four Images from Photo Shoots, Models Unknown

Born in Germany in 1971, Brice Hardelin began his career in New York in the early 1990s, first as a textile designer, and then as a high fashion photographer. He has since become a renowned specialist in male beauty through his unique graphic style and use of lighting. He oollaborates with famous names in luxury items such as Chanel and Cartier, as well as new creators. He has to his credit over twenty solo exhibitions in Paris, New York, Milan, Lisbon and Monaco.