WHILE WE anticipate Saturday’s awesome Victorian Ball, let’s go back in time to our last Rogue night in May – Rogue’s “Heroes and Villains” party with General Bovine & The Justice Force 5, Freudstein and Phil Power.

And what a night it was – superhero escapades were had all round. Must’ve been fun cos we remember next to nothing. Probably something to do with a certain someone carrying a water pistol loaded with rum around the place…

Still, Mr Barry Hobbs, Rogue’s in-house photographer has compiled these wonderful top trumps for all to enjoy. Are you in there?

photos & design by Barry Hobbs (www.ph-art.co.uk)

words by Charlie Frame

Mealy cabbage aphids are found clustered together in nooks and crannies

I was happily cutting the first young leaves from my beautifully healthy-looking curly kale for supper the other day, when a little white fly flew up in my face.

‘Ah-ha!’ I thought, and began rummaging around for further signs of cabbage whitefly – an annoyingly common pest which I’ll go on about at greater length elsewhere. Because what I found when I inspected the leaves more closely was far worse: huge clusters of grey, dusty-looking mealy aphids hunkered down in the crenellations of my kale leaves, sucking them dry with a grim determination.

They aren’t such a problem to the actual plants if the infestation is moderate, like this one. My kale plants are growing on sturdily without so much as a minor check to progress, aphids or no aphids. I’d say they’re even big and burly enough by now not to succumb to virus – the other side-effect of an aphid colony, as aphids are a key carrier of plant viruses.

No: the thing I hate about mealy cabbage aphids is that it’s the devil’s own job to get them all off your leaves once you’ve picked them. And nobody likes their kale served with extra aphids.

Here's the culprit, with some mini-culprits: mealy cabbage aphids produce up to five young a day

So even though they’re not affecting my kale, I’m still going to attack them with everything I’ve got. My main weapon is insecticidal soap: basically just fatty acids, you spray them all over the plants and they coat the aphids, cutting off their air supply. Hah. That’ll teach you to try landing on my kale.

I’ll also be looking over my plants regularly now – never mind waiting for the first warning signs: I should have caught this infestation long before it got to be a problem. And next year I shall try growing kale, along with my cabbages, sprouts, calabrese and broccoli, under fleece or mesh.

I’m increasingly won over by this method of keeping insects out: because brassicas don’t need pollinating, you can cover them up as much as you want, and not only does it stop mealy cabbage aphid finding their way in, it also blocks out flea beetle, cabbage white (and other) caterpillars, cabbage root fly and whatever else might have designs on your cabbages.

It’ll probably make my poor allotment look even more like an explosion in a net curtain factory than it already does: but if it takes aphids off the menu for my Sunday lunch, it’s got to be worth it.

Yes please.

I’m to the point now where the book is done, but it’s a bit too short so I’m fleshing areas out. One of the ideas I’m playing with is the seeding and foreshadowing of future plots. There are a few major arch-villains that I’d like to introduce down the road, and I like the idea of this hinting and slow building of their appearances. It won’t be something major, but it will be a hint.

In the time since I conceived Challenger Storm, the basic concept has changed a little. In the beginning, the idea was to keep it as real as possible, and I tried to keep that in mind as I fleshed out the concept. There’s still some elements that I try to keep less than fantastical, but the lure of some of those fun pulpy things is too much to resist. Because of this direction one of the things I’ve been toying with is that Storm’s world (and the world of The Cipher, should I actually get off my ass and do work on that) is one where things have been changed by the existence of these characters. I don’t want to use the term “Dieselpunk” to describe the idea because a) I don’t really like that phrase and b) as soon as people hear it, they get preconceived notions about what to expect, but it will be a pulp-era world where certain things never happen and things that didn’t happen will occur.

Also: The Black Wing. I’m not feeling him. When I originally threw his concept out there, I thought it would grow but it hasn’t. Maybe a web-comic or something like that could happen with an artist-collaborator down the line but alas, I think I’m going to officially remove him from my character listings for the time being. It saddens me, but at the same time I realize that when I started this I had bitten off more than I could chew. If I had done this several years earlier, I would have had plenty of time to work on all my ideas equally but times change and more important things come first. And so, Black Wing, you will have to go. Au revoir for now, mon frere. May your crusade find more fertile skies in the future. And thanks to the MARDL feedback scientists for your thoughts on this character; I’m sorry I wasted your times.

I was rootling about in the garden the other day and turned over a plank of wood – and look what I found.

Sorry if you’re eating while reading this: but you knew it wasn’t going to be long before the slimy things turned up.

This has to be the most hated creature in the country. Spiders? Mere lightweights. Snakes? Positively wussy these days what with all that touchy-feely stuff about wildlife-friendly gardening and grass snakes in the compost. But slugs? They scoff in the face of rehabilitation. They laugh at the mere suggestion of being friendly to anyone. They are, irredeemably, pests of the highest order.

Alongside this pretty enormous horror were numerous horrors-to-be in the form of a pile of slug eggs. If you ever see these little white pearls, set the chickens on them forthwith (or put them on the bird table if you haven’t got chickens). These are the seeds of future grief: there must be 100 slugs lurking in this little heap alone.

Every one is a future slimeball

The trouble with slugs being the gardeners’ no. 1 pest is that the methods of despatching them proliferate almost as fast as the slugs do. Just take a look at the slug-busting shelf in your garden centre: there are bits of copper, packets of gravel, mats you put under your plants, garlic you sprinkle around them… Almost as numerous are the old wives’ tales you’re told about everything from coffee grounds to eggshells keeping them off.

So last year I set about trying them all out. In a rather unscientific though very revealing sort of trial I planted a lot of baby lettuces – slug caviar, as we all know – in little patches and protected each patch with a different slug bait. And of course left one completely unprotected as a control.

Results were as follows:

Award for Most Hopeless Slug Buster: Beer traps

These attracted slugs from miles around – half of whom wouldn’t have found my baby lettuces without the helpful whiff of beer to guide the way. The baby lettuces in this patch disappeared even faster than those left entirely unprotected.

‘So-so’ Awards for Not Very Effective Slug Busters: Coffee grounds, that gravel stuff you buy in big boxes (including the one flavoured with garlic), eggshells

These were all barrier methods and the one big weakness with the lot of them was that they needed a great deal of topping up, especially after rain. Some of them vanished completely into the soil within half an hour of rain beginning to fall, leaving your baby plants unprotected just when the slimeballs are relishing the wet conditions and getting to work.

 Expensive but Not As Good As They Should Be Slug Buster Awards: Copper rings, copper-impregnated mats

The mats were a lot better than the rings – I think I must have enclosed at least one slug within the copper ring when I put it in place, which is almost impossible to avoid since slugs are very good at hiding. They (the mats) do need weighting down – they blew away at least once till I’d figured this out – and they’re not ideal for rows as you need to fit them round the plants. Might do well for courgettes though. 

and the ones you really want to know about….

Award for Best Non-Chemical Slug Buster: Bran

The surprise winner: not only did it not disappear into the ground in the rain, so you weren’t forever topping it up, but also the slugs exploded when they ate it, which they did in copious numbers – they appear to be dumb as well as ugly. Nasty, but entirely organic and the best barrier method I found.

Award for Best Chemical Slug Buster: Slug Pellets (But Not the Mean Ones)

By which I mean the ones based on ferric phosphate which are nice to wildlife (or at least, don’t kill them) rather than the metaldehyde ones which should not be used under any circumstances – even if wildlife don’t eat the pellets themselves, they’ll get an unpleasant tummyache if they try eating slugs killed by them.

Anyway, the ferric phosphate ones are my personal counter-slug tactic of choice, as they’re the easiest to use – you just scatter them thinly, and I mean very, very thinly, around your plants and top up every week or so, and bingo, your plants are protected, even the seedlings. I’m not that bothered about ferric phosphate going into my soil in such tiny quantities, but you may be: if so, use the bran.

There were others I didn’t try – nematodes, for example, as I only had one veg bed to do this in so couldn’t do a separate trial. One day, I’ll put these microscopic wormy things up against more conventional slug busters and see how they do. Now if you want a horrible way to despatch your slugs, that’s the one: the nematodes eat them from the inside out. Come to think of it – I hate slugs. But I’m not sure even I hate them that much.

J. Crew has just put the wraps on a fantastic new Spring/Summer collection with the help of brand partners including Rogues Gallery, Red Wing, Alden, Timex, Mister Freedom and Baracuda.  Look forward to seeing this stuff in shops…

Rogues Gallery’s classic Quoddy produced deck boot is given the full vamp leather treatment for Fall/Winter 2009. If you didn’t already know, Quoddy is synonymous with hand made in Maine. Nothing we haven’t seen before, but this all black boot is a certified banger. Now available direct from Rogues Gallery for $498 USD. Lower cut boat shoes and canoe mocs are also available, but not quite as practical for these wet, cool days ahead.

Hello-Hello and Happy Wednesday!

How is everyone doing? Here at the Prepatorium we are clawing our way back to health (a tad overly dramatic, don’t you think?!) but the absentee rate at several local school districts is at 30 – 32%. Ouch.

We start with a look at a new collection from one of our faves, LL Bean.

Courtesy LL Bean via WWD

The company’s new Signature line was revealed to fashion writers last week.

Courtesy Photo via WWD

We have more details from this story in WWD (Women’s Wear Daily, subscription req’d.):

“…200-piece collection, split evenly between men’s and women’s, is clearly indebted to Bean’s past but the line marches into new territory with items like relaxed cotton suits and washed oxford dress shirts for him, and wrap dresses and sandal cork wedges for her.”

The company is engaged in a number of initiatives to broaden their appeal; some readers may recall this August post chatting about the return of Bean’s classic Norwegian sweater.  Here are more looks from the new collection:

More from the WWD story:

“Carleton pulled in diverse bits of Americana, from the Forties, via Hepburn-style denim pants and jacket, to the early Eighties, by way of bleached plaid shirts and ringer polos. The influence of WASP casual also abounds in the oxford cloth dress shirt, madras blazer, sun-bleached knits, and leather moccasins.”

We have previously talked up award-winning designer Alex Carleton, occasionally featuring pieces from his Rogues Gallery line; Mr. Carleton was hired by Bean to oversee this collection. Below, styles from Rogues Gallery demonstrates why he was the perfect choice for the Signature line.

He also designed for LL Bean before moving on to create the Rogues Gallery line.  Simply put, Mr. Carleton gets it – the lifestyle, the look, the legitimacy we all demand.  Below we see Mr. Carleton and a model at the press debut of the collection.

Courtesy GQ

A number of looks for women:

Photo via Style List

The reaction from Style.com:

“Fittingly, the look ran from rugged (plaid button-downs, khakis) to more feminine (ditsy floral shirts, preppy striped knits, a little madras dress). There were also great accessories in leather carryalls, oversize totes, and cute macramé belts with tortoise buckles.”

Glam’s take on the new line:

“…a line of easy breezy separates that college prepsters and beach bound fashionistas will be coveting…”

This one has the potential for the Official Seal of Prepaliciousness.  The collection officially launches in March, you may want to bookmark this site for future reference.

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Reclining while recovering has allowed us to spend more time than usual browsing that unholy pile our carefully curated collection of magazines. While doing so yesterday we fell upon this photo in Elle.  Recognizing every single reader may have long ago seen (or perhaps posted) this image, we still felt compelled to share the pink and green fun.

Photo: Thomas Whiteside/Elle

We have word a few Sales & Savings opportunities, beginning with the J. Crew Fall Sale.

Lord and Taylor is offering their version of Friends and Family.

Use promo code FRIENDS at checkout to receive 25% off most merchandise.

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Recently we mentioned the newest version of the Armani phone; in the interest of equal time here is the new Dior phone.  If planning on one of these for a stocking stuffer you will need to make choices: color, plating and the recipient’s preference for sapphires or diamonds.

Don’t dawdle, they become available in December and it is possible they will go quickly.  Indeed.

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We close with these images accompanying Refinery 29’s story on four-legged beasts taking jobs away from human models – oh no!

Courtesy Opening Ceremony via Refinery 29

Opening Ceremony is using these furry style stars to market the outstanding bow ties created by Alexander Olchs. Below, a few more looks at the dogs…. ummm, we mean the ties.

It’s all about the ties. Absolutely it is.

Courtesy Opening Ceremony via Refinery 29

Silly Tilly was feeling somewhat left out. We explained we knew there would be scads of opportunities in her future once she is out of her collar.

That made her feel much better and she returned to her normal state.

She does love her sleep. (She loves her blue binky and burrows into it before sleeping. It is like watching a big blue mushroom move about the floor. She  is truly an amazing creature.)

Until next time dollfaces, may you and those you love stay healthy!

Muse on a Museum

Michael Gross’ new book “Rogues Gallery: The Secret History of the Moguls & the Money they made the Metropolitan Museum” is a true muse into the interworks and relationships that built the cultural empire that sits on 5th Avenue.  The best selling author know for his interpretation of the exclusive lifestyles of the rich and famous in books like 740 Park and Genuine Authentic, Gross now turns his attention to to what he describes and a social and philantrophic playground of the people his had formerly profiled.

In Gross words, his research for this book, meet with adversity in gallery hall and silenced contributors: ”Regardless, he will take his secrets to the grave-at least until his full oral history emerges(Dietrich Von Bothmer), if it ever does.  The Metropolitan Museum is a storehouse of human memory. But it appeared, that day at least, it would just as soon its own be erased.”

A link to our conversation on Talking Tigerlilys:

http://archives.warpradio.com/btr/wgcharchives/TalkingTigerlilys/101309.mp3

We always love when guests sound off and dish on the topics we think are important. Want us to dish on a topic we haven’t yet covered? We want you to share your ideas with us. You can come by the store 241 East Putnam Avenue in Cos Cob CT across from the Cos Cob school and let us know what you want to hear or we can simply answer your questions in person. You can also contact us through our website tigerlilysgreenwich.com or blog talkingtigerlilys.wordpress.com.

Muse on a Museum

Michael Gross’ new book “Rogues Gallery: The Secret History of the Moguls & the Money they made the Metropolitan Museum” is a true muse into the interworks and relationships that built the cultural empire that sits on 5th Avenue.  The best selling author know for his interpretation of the exclusive lifestyles of the rich and famous in books like 740 Park and Genuine Authentic, Gross now turns his attention to to what he describes and a social and philantrophic playground of the people his had formerly profiled.

In Gross words, his research for this book, meet with adversity in gallery hall and silenced contributors: ”Regardless, he will take his secrets to the grave-at least until his full oral history emerges(Dietrich Von Bothmer), if it ever does.  The Metropolitan Museum is a storehouse of human memory. But it appeared, that day at least, it would just as soon its own be erased.”

A link to our conversation on Talking Tigerlilys:

http://gallery.me.com/samanthaknapp#100000

http://archives.warpradio.com/btr/wgcharchives/TalkingTigerlilys/101309.mp3

We always love when guests sound off and dish on the topics we think are important. Want us to dish on a topic we haven’t yet covered? We want you to share your ideas with us. You can come by the store 241 East Putnam Avenue in Cos Cob CT across from the Cos Cob school and let us know what you want to hear or we can simply answer your questions in person. You can also contact us through our website tigerlilysgreenwich.com or blog talkingtigerlilys.wordpress.com.

so i’ve been wanting to try the dogfish head squall ipa since i first read about it in the beer advocate a few months ago but with none to be found in boston i knew i’d have to head north to portland, maine and stop in at novare res bier garden to quench my thirst. my review is simple and to the point cause since i can’t really stand beer folk jargon. if there was a dogfish head 75 minute ipa this would be it, smooth like the 60 min but the bite of the 90 min with out the strong alcohol after taste. i loved every sip and if you can locate it do so and cheers!

Alexander “Doc” Aurroch

Concept: Greek Billionaire Shipping Magnate’s cursed heir. Dad ran afoul of Circe and the son is paying the price. Theoretically. Unfortunately for Circe, young Alex not only seems to enjoy his new form, but uses it to fight her minions  and machinations all over the world. Much to the consternation of The Institute.

[WC] NPC

Attributes: Agility: d8, Smarts: d6, Spirit: d8, Strength: d12+2, Vigor: d12

Skills: Fighting d8, Gambling d4, Guts d8, Intimidation d8, Shooting d6, Stealth d4, Swimming d4, Throwing d8

Edges: Size +2 (over 8′ tall), Filthy Rich, Brawny, Fast Healer, Harder to Kill, Two-Fisted, Connections, Improved First Strike, Improved Frenzy, Bring it ALL On!*, Grab & Hold*, Squeeze Play*, Unarmed Warrior*, and pre-requisites for all of the above.

* from MMA available from Reality Blurs Studio

Hindrances: Outsider, Overconfident

Pace: 6, Parry: 6, Toughness: 11, Charisma: -2

Horns: Damage d4+d12+2 (May gore with a minimum 6″ charge for +4 damage)
Hooves: Damage d4+d12+2
“Athena“: a custom built Sharps Big 50 “pistol” Damage 2d10, Range 20/40/80, Shots 4, RoF 1. One of a Kind, Bolt Action, AP 2

The storefront of Rogues Gallery Comics, located on 327 Chatham Street West in Windsor.

A boy and girl walk into a comic shop; he loves them, she hates them. “Here,” says the owner, giving her the first issue of Y: The Last Man, free of charge. “Trust me, you’ll want to keep reading this.”

This is how Shawn Cousineau, operator of Rogues Gallery since 2005, conducts his business. Generous, but one wonders if his generosity is misplaced in today’s economic climate. It doesn’t help that this particular comic shop, as niche an interest as any, is located deep in the downtown district. Is this the familiar scenario of a well-meaning entrepreneur dying out due to lack of business savvy?

“No,” Shawn flatly states. “You know what’s beautiful about our business? It’s the fact that my clientele…actually, any people, they save a little bit of money for their hobby. If their hobby’s drinking, going to the movies, buying DVDs, playing videogames…whatever their hobby is, regardless of how much money their making, you always save a little bit of money of it because if you don’t…then you go crazy. So honestly? We’re about the same as we were.”

Shawn Cousineau, operator of Rogues Gallery Comics, at work.

He talks casually from behind the counter of what used to be a kitchen, converted into the de facto check-out/office. Formerly a house, Rogues Gallery is now two floors of nothing but comic merchandise. Figurines and posters of the icons like Batman and Spider-Man. But their goods extend beyond the juggernauts of DC and Marvel.

“We sell a lot of local stuff as well. ghawk, take a look on the net; his stuff is beautiful. Rose City Rabbit, a skate company. I forget this company’s name…but he just put out the Punisher/Mickey Mouse t-shirts, which is funny because Disney just bought Marvel. But yeah, we deal with a lot of local artists, local musicians. We try to be as in-tune with the downtown community as we can.”

True to his word, Rogues Gallery holds advance screenings whenever possible at the venerable Palace.

“I could do it at Silver City; sure, it’s a better theatre…but why? I could fit more people; we sell out every time we do an event screening, we sell out. I could do it at Silver City and probably sell out Silver City, but why would I bother?”

Nestled on the corner of Chatham St. West and Dougall Ave., one would assume Rogues Gallery is easy to overlook. Shawn has no regrets on the location.

“Everybody from the start told us not to be downtown. Told me it was the worst idea in the world. We moved downtown…and a year later the bus station opened up right across the street. Far as I’m concerned, that’s a pretty good deal. We intend to work within the community as much as possible and I don’t foresee myself leaving the downtown core at anytime.”

However, this is not wholly a glowing picture of the wealthy self-employed.

“We’re coasting along, mind you; we’ve been open about four and a half years and we’re not making money yet. George Rizok (co-founder of Rogues Gallery) and I do this because we love to do this, know what I mean? It feeds itself.” Shawn prices a stack of comics yellowed with age. “Every now and again we’ll take a couple of bucks here and there but on a whole…we’re not making money yet…but we don’t care because this is what we love to do.”

Interior of the first floor of Rogues Gallery Comics.

But to Shawn, there is a single potential crisis that dwarfs that of the recession. That crisis is recent; that crisis is Disney.

“I think Disney has a way of marketing themselves; they’re in everything. Unfortunately for little comic shops like me, you’re going to see comic books full-blown in Wal-Mart and the like. Issues, trades, toys, games; everything that I carry, they’ll carry…and they’ll carry it cheaper,” Shawn sighs. “Yeah…so I’m not looking forward to that, if they go that route. But right now they say they’ll keep their hands off.”

A customer buys Northlanders Vol. 1, another one of Shawn’s recommendations, and he continues.

“We didn’t get into the business to lose money or to not make any money. The thing with this business is, we’re constantly selling more…but we’re constantly buying more. At some point it’s going to level off and we’ll buy and sell about the same.”

This does not faze him, as the regulars of his store continue to frequent Rogues Gallery, and in greater numbers.

“We’re climbing, we’re getting more file members every month and we’re still doing what we’re doing…since I’ve opened, I have had almost 400 file members; that’s guys that pick up their books on a monthly basis. That’s way more than was in my business plan; that’s way more than I expected to get. ”

Shawn and Byron discuss the return of variant covers and the potential for reader backlash.

Another customer slides Power Girl #5 and Detective Comics #854 across the counter. Shawn slips in a complimentary issue of Sweet Tooth.

“You can virtually put a graphic novel in anybody’s hand if you knew who they are and what kind of stuff they like that isn’t comic book oriented,” Shawn says. “I can just give about anybody a comic book and they’d become a comic book fan. And that’s my job.”

Written by Byron Tsang; Photographed by Karl Parakenings

CLIFTON FLANNEL

GLASGOW DRESS SHIRT

KENT SWEATER

LABRADOR SWEATER

WORKWEAR VEST

GALLERY COAT

GALLERY WOOL BAG

-MP

Pale and interesting courgette leaves

Leaves of beech trees and blueberries may be getting ready to turn fetching shades of red and orange at this time of year: but those on my courgette plants turn white.

Mildew is as regular a sign of autumn as mists and mellow fruitfulness (and people quoting Keats at each other). It’s a fungus which seems to go off and do something else for the rest of the year: certainly I rarely see it until around September.

As soon as it does turn up, however, it becomes rampant. It seems to particularly enjoy the big, fleshy leaves of the squash plants: my courgette leaves are disappearing under talcum-powder coating, and the pumpkins are showing the first signs, too.

Now, I know from my college days that mildew is caused by dryness at the roots at a time when the air is still warm but humid. So mostly, you can prevent it by keeping your plants well-watered, mulching to hold moisture in the soil, and keeping the centres open and bowl-shaped (particularly important for gooseberries, which are martyrs to the American version).

The first specks are appearing on my pumpkins too

Until now I’ve relied on simply picking off affected leaves when they get too bad, to limit the speed of the spread – the only difficulty being that you quickly end up with leafless courgette plants. So in the end I just leave well alone. It doesn’t affect the fruits, and by the time the plants have succumbed I’ve eaten so many courgettes anyway I’m heartily glad to see the back of them.

But while this is fine for courgettes, it’s not fine for grapevines – a friend of mine has her heart broken regularly every year by her otherwise lovely, healthy vine which drops all its fruit every autumn, shrivelled and grey with mildew. It’s not fine for cucumbers or melons, which are stopped in their tracks. And it’s not fine for redcurrants, whitecurrants or gooseberries which are rendered smelly, rotten and inedible. So mildew is not a very welcome visitor: irritatingly, though, it’s a particularly persistent one, and just refuses to take a hint.

Luckily it doesn't affect the fruit - so the courgette glut continues unabated

If you’ve got one of the non-courgette types of mildew, and sitting and watching it happen isn’t an option, you’ve got a long-term battle on your hands.

Pick off or prune out affected leaves, stems and fruit, and dispose of well away from the plant to stem the spread of the disease. You can spray: some say a 1:10 mix of milk and water works (something to do with amino acids and salts) though I’ve never tried it, and soapy water is also said to help. But the usual recipe, albeit not an organic one, is sulphur dust: this is good for apples, gooseberries and grapevines, and though it’s unpleasant, it is effective.

As part of J.Crew’s ever-evolving brand image, the latest October catalog features the “art meets style” theme that boasts the true art form of their styling capabilities. I think we can all admit that J.Crew has come a long way since the plaid flannel button-downs and cotton rollneck sweaters in every color. This transformation can definitely be attributed to their newest Creative Director, Jenna Lyons. With monthly Jenna’s picks, shoppers can identify key pieces and figure out ways to layer, mix and match with the new J.Crew style.

The Men’s collection which always seems to lack a little creativity even to this day, is partnering with Rogues Gallery for their classic printed t-shirts for fall. I discovered Rogues Gallery early this summer while shopping in Nantucket. I bought this amazing cotton scarf which has become my go-to when there is a bit of a chill or to add a little raw style. With a little research I learned that Rogues Gallery makes cool, comfortable clothing out of Maine that always has a hint of nautical. J.Crew is selling 3 exclusive maritime t-shirts made from custom dyes hand picked by J.Crew on a recent visit to the Portland, Maine headquarters.

Rogues Gallery cotton bird scarf

Check out these limited-edition T’s plus other new fall men’s items from both J.Crew and Rogues Gallery.

Rogues Gallery for J.Crew

Cape Horn, $48

Number 8, $48

Anchor, $48

J.Crew Men’s Picks

Grey Chambray Utility Shirt, $98

Washed Cord Sportcoat, now $98

Wool-Cashmere Cable Shawl Cardigan, $158

Rogues Gallery

Racing Anorak, $228

Deck Plan

Lincoln Corduroy Vest, $148

Juxtaposing the classic with the irreverent, the rural with the urban, and the gritty with the grand, Rogues Gallery’s authenticity is seen and felt in every design, giving each piece a life and story of its own. The Maine based brand collections consist of clothing, accessories and jewelry for men. Stand out pieces include blazers, hoodies, striped sweaters, camp boots, and handcrafted messenger bags fashioned out of technical vinyl. The collection is also known for its ever-changing assortment of t-shirts that feature original artwork (think eagles, buffalos, Indian heads, flags, anchors – as fit for a proud Americana brand ). Here’s a look at RG’s A/W 09 lookbook.

More images after the jump

Playing the computer game “City of Heroes” has definitely helped me with some ideas for future writing projects. It’s helped me flesh out the appearances of some of Storm’s allies and enemies, and helped with the creation of some new ones… like Captain Simon Crowe, who’s both friend and enemy.

Surveillance photo of Simon Crowe

Crowe is a bit of an “anti-Storm”, a guy who has access to all sorts of planes, assistants, and devices, but who operates on the other side of the fence from Clifton Storm and the MARDL trouble-shooters… or at least, he operates on that fence. He is an opportunistic air-pirate, the leader of a band of like-minded individuals who call themselves “The Black Brigands”. Their motto is “Audentes Fortuna Juvat” (“Fortune Favors The Bold”), and they are indeed bold about searching for, and claiming, their fortunes. Their home base is on Icepick Island, a 10-mile sliver of land somewhere in the North Pacific Ocean. It’s a tiny place, free of laws and restrictions, a place where people go to get lost. Crowe owns and runs the only drinking establishment on Icepick Island: The Jade Lounge… and unbeknownst to a lot of its visitors, he owns most of the island as well. In the north, hidden by dense jungle, is the Black Brigand’s home. It is here that several airplane hangars hold the swift fighter planes piloted by the Brigands, along with their mobile base of operations, the zeppelin “China Doll”.

The Black Brigands are made up of smugglers, pirates, con-men, and thieves from everywhere in the world. A handful of this group are Tito, the Honduran second-story man who is Simon Crowe’s right-hand; Steve, the white-collar embezzler turned gun-for-hire; Mickey Zippo, the arsonist; Karl, the ex-mob enforcer; and Chester, the hulking brute with the simple mind of a child. Another member of the Black Brigands worth mentioning is the German inventor, Professer Heinritz, who furnishes the crew with the occasional gadget or device… whether or not these gadgets work correctly is another thing entirely, as the Prof is a bit of a hair-brained crackpot.

A meeting of Crowe and the Black Brigands. In the foreground is Mickey Zippo (L) and Karl (R)

The Brigands operate under Crowe’s code of honor, a kind of “Robin Hood” mentality: they never take from those who can’t afford it, and if anyone is targeted by the group, it’s because they’ve got it coming. Those who don’t operate under the Brigands’ policies regarding their operations has to answer to Captain Crowe himself.

And what of their leader? Standing just under six-feet, Crowe isn’t necessarily an imposing man, but his body-language and attitude speaks volumes. Rough-shaven and gruff, he’s also surprisingly educated and refined. Beneath his captain’s hat is a weathered face full of character that is quick to either smile around his nearly-constant cigar, or to scowl in thought. Beneath his beaten-up black leather raincoat is a pair of mismatched pistols, each with their own story (hint: each one comes from a dead man). Without a shirt, Crowe’s torso and arms are covered with exotic, beautiful, and/or ribald tattoos, gotten from all over the world. Life for him is a life of opportunity, of swashbuckling derring-do and action, but also one of self-discovery and reflection. Simon Crowe and the Black Brigands walk the line between darkness and the light, balanced by their own moral gyroscope.

www.roguesgallery.com

-MP

Reissued 100 percent wool L.L. Bean Norwegian Sweater – Kommer i november.

Og i mars kommer  L.L. Bean Signature. Blir spennende å se hva Alex Carleton, grunnleggeren av Rogues Gallery, kan få til.

/Kenneth Tangnes

If you’re more of a nautical prep, than Rogues Gallery is a brand you should know. The Portland, Maine based brand has a loyal following because of their edgy sailor aesthetic. You may remember the name Alex Carleton as he has recently been in the news because he was tapped by L.L. Bean to do their signature collection for the spring. For a couple years now Rogues Gallery has been something of a high-end L.L. Bean with a little kick to ‘em. If you’re heading off to sea or just want to look like you are, then check out the Rogues Gallery Fall ‘09 collection.