cornflakes without the milk!

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREI PADLOWSKI

SO RAINY RIGHT NOW and I don't have proper foul weather gear. I've got my dad's old Barbour jacket, but the sleeves are kind of short and the shoulders droop. Maybe I'd be more into this weather if I imagined I was in FOGGY OL' LONDON TOWN or, better yet, OUT ON THE WILD AND WINDY MOORS (HEATHCLIFF, IT'S ME...).



BRITISH/RAIN/GREY VIBES-

I think these vibes are very special to many people especially young American men of a certain style. Rather than elaborate on my perception of this broad and beautiful vibe, I'll VIBE-OUT impressionistically. If this starts to sound like a 14 year-old girl's CRUSH LIST instead of a SUBTLE EXPLORATION OF MIND-FEELINGS, then you have NEXT-LEVEL POWERS and should E-MAIL me: chadkroeger1@aol.com

I. Clothes

A. Barbour - expensive but handsome, originally made for British Country Gentlemen.

John Barbour was born and raised on a farm in Galloway, south west Scotland, second son of a family whose links through Scottish history can be traced back to the 14th century.
No one could know better than he what was needed to protect a person from the extremes of weather that he faced tending sheep in the bleak landscape of his home country.



Last weekend, before the rain started, I was walking around with Monica. We ended up on the Upper East Side right by the Barbour store. I looked in there while she went to a girlier store (Betsey Johnson?). Then we went to the Whitney and saw some avant-garde shorts by Robert Beavers. They totally had that mystical rainy-day feel. Bottom line, last Friday predicted this Friday and its RAIN/GRAY CULTURE.



B. Wellingtons - Should I drop $439 on a pair of Hunter Crown Waterproofed Leather Wellingtons? Do fine things produce fine feelings or would this send me to DIAMOND HELL?






I like these Argyll Full Knee Farming Boots better anyway. These are $80. I bet you can get a good pair of rubber boots at an Army and Navy store for way cheaper. Do I even want such boots? Rubber boots like these, although with colorful stripes and designs, are mostly worn by ladies in NYC. VIBEZ CONFUSED...

Still, picture me with blunderbuss and loyal dog tramping through Central Park in Wellingtons on a rainy day and you will forget all about Sarah Jessica Parker...

C. IRISH SWEATERS - I actually have one of these but the sleeves are way too baggy. I wear it anyway.


FUN FACT YOU MIGHT ALREADY KNOW: Every Irish family knit a different pattern into their sweaters so that they could identify the bodies of drowned fishermen.

Am I conflating Eire and Angleterre? I think so, but these things happen...

II. Derek Jarman's Jubilee

-This movie is mostly URBAN, but still fits in with my BRITISH/GREY/RAIN vibe. It may never actually rain in Jubilee.
- Jubilee is WEIRD and ARTY. Queen Elizabeth asks a wizard to show her a vision of the future and he shows her this crazy, punk, Communist, post-apocalyptic-looking London filled with violence.



LISTEN TO SOME AWESOME MUSIC FROM THE SOUNDTRACK:

Brian Eno - Dover Beach

This song is really great for a rainy day. This MP3 has some nice record fuzz too. Totally ambient and weird.

Suzi Pinns - Jerusalem

This is a sort of glam/punk version of the unofficial British national anthem "Jerusalem". The lyrics are from a William Blake poem which references the myth of Jesus' coming to England in his childhood.

III. CHARIOTS OF FIRE (the name comes from Blake's Jerusalem!)
-Remember those dudes running on the beach with that kind of faded early 80's film stock...



There's an eerie verion of Jerusalem on the Chariots of Fire soundtrack too. I almost put that up but instead decided to go with Vangelis' HAUNTING theme music.

You already know this song. It might be on a Pure Moods compilation. It's been used in many SPORTS SATIRES. Try to disengage your perception of this song from THOSE vibes and RE-CALIBRATE your mind to the BRITISH/RAINY VIBE of your dreams. See what happens. Nothing? That's OK. Maybe next time.

Vangelis - Titles (from Chariots of Fire)

I can recognize how CHEESY this song may sound. When I was a freshman I lived next door to some TRACK RUNNERS who would play this song in the morning before their warm-ups. At first I found it CHEESY too, but later I was JONESIN' for it. FEEL THE POWER, THE GRANDEUR.

Next time you're running ask yourself:
FOR WHOM AM I RUNNING???????????????????

I'd recommend seeing the movie. It contains VIBE-WISDOM that you may be unaware of.

CONCLUSION:

THERE ARE many places to go from here:

- The BBC's version of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"
-modern architecture
-Boards of Canada
-70's eco-thrillers
-late 90's Radiohead/global anxiety/airports/bleak technological future
-Kate Bush (already mentioned)
-New Jersey
-Brideshead Revisited (BBC mini-series and soundtrack)

Do you feel my vibes? I realize that this has been my most personal post yet and from an outside perspective may lack cohesion, analysis, explanation, etc.

I THINK I SHOULD GO OUTSIDE AND EXPERIENCE THE VIBE FIRST-HAND, OTHERWISE I'LL REALLY END UP IN DIAMOND HELL.