Snow.

Every where's covered in white stuff, some prefer it hot, but I like it.

Least Wanted.

Punks, sneaks, mooks and miscreants. Hookers, stooges, grifters and goons. Men and women, elderly and adolescent, rich and poor, but mostly poor. These are the Least Wanted. Their portraits make up a small part of Mark Michaelson’s collection of over 10,000 American mugshots from the 1870s to the 1960s.
Some rather cool, stylish and scary ne're-do-wells spotted here. Flickr

Hanon Kegler Super.

My mates up in the granite city at Hanon are about to release another limited edition collaboration to mark the stores twentieth anniversary - Hanon x Adidas Consortium Kegler Super. A great winter trainer if ever there was one.

An all time favourite model retold, the Kegler has always maintained a cult following since it's original release as an indoor skittles shoe in the 80s before being adopted as a casual classic. Those with more than a clued up eye may notice the inspiration behind the new look, marrying the familiar look of two old school models the Forest Hills and Samba to create a new unique style. Only available at just three stores worldwide with less than 500 pairs produces, each shoe comes hand numbered. Available from Hanon this Friday.

Patagonia Great Divider bag.

What, three bags featured in two weeks? crazy eh?

But this looks cool, originally designed as a functional fishing bag, the Patagonia Great Divider bag is a great general purpose, waterproof and leak free foul weather bag for storing in the boot of your car, camping, festivals or even catching a few fish. Featuring all you'd expect (and then some) from the outdoors mad and very innovative Patagonia this is as serious as a bag can get if a bag can actually be deemed serious.

Available from The Original Store who you may have already heard of, a great online store doing a sterling job bridging the gap between street and functional wear, and of course serious bags.

The Last Detail.

Pea Coats, denim and tattoos, sensible haircuts, shiny shoes and swearing. Badass boozing and brawling. Good ol' naval steez as Jack Nicholson and Otis Young take Randy Quaid for one last adventure across America in 1973's The Last Detail directed by Hal Ashby.

Plastic Boots.

OK it's a very tenuous link, but it's the first thing that came into my head. I couldn't make my mind up when I first saw these, they were either great or a crazy idea, these are actually my brothers but I do like them, they are from Native - the Fitzsimmons boot, a totally innovative take on the classic hiking boot made from plastic. Extremely lightweight, waterproof and pretty durable, they work for me.

Joy Division colouring book.

They'll be making oven gloves next, I actually think this is quite cool.

Joy Division colouring book by Piper Gates design, eight pages of colouring fun, spotted on eBay.

The Killer Inside Me.

Last night I watched The Killer Inside Me an adaptation of the famous American Crime/Noir novel scribed by Jim Thompson in 1952, directed by Brit Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People) starring Casey Affleck (squeaky) Jessica Alba (spanky) Ned Beatty and Kate Hudson.

As I never got to see this during it's cinema release in the summer, I was looking forward to watching what was a very slick and stylish film, reminiscent of both Hitchcock and the Coens, a film which countless others have tried to make previously from Tarantino behind the camera to Brando in front, not to mention Tom Cruise and Demi Moore aswell, but for many reasons it never quite happened, until now.

The film tells the story of an apparent good guy, the young unassuming small town Sheriff's deputy Lou Ford (Affleck). Lou has a bunch of problems. Woman problems. Law enforcement problems. An ever-growing pile of murder victims in his West Texas jurisdiction. And the fact he's a sadist, a psychopath, a killer. Every bad turn he makes he uses his powers to seemingly get away with it and manages to shirk his way out of every wrong doing, beatings, murders, blackmail, until he goes one step too far and it all backfires and quickly unfolds around him.

Upon it's release it was overshadowed by it's very violent and controversial content, notably one scene in particular which I dare say I hardly had the stomach to watch, at one point I raised my foot to slightly obscure part of the picture, I'm not kidding, I couldn't find a cushion, seriously though, it really was 'look away' bad, the kind of stuff I've not put my little eyes through since I saw Irréversible (2002) on the big screen and actually felt a bit sick. I couldn't bear to watch that bit in Antichrist (2009) when that women cuts off her fanny, so that can't count. I won't go into detail or spoil it for others but if you like Jessica Alba's lovely face, don't like violence towards women and blood and stuff, you'll probably squirm in your seat as much as I did, some might have even fainted.

Film goers and critics alike were not too kind to this during screenings early this year, people walked out, people vomited in the aisles (probably) but it stays pretty true to the graphic novel background that's for sure, despite the fact many believe the violent content ruins a very good period picture, I guess it's kind of essential to a story centered around a secret psychopathic deputy serial killing Sheriff.

I'm pretty sure I liked this film, it was fantastically shot, had a great accompanying soundtrack was clever and looked fantastic and left me thinking and thinking, it was a little cloudy towards the finale and probably is demanding of a second viewing, but what about the horrible bits? because undoubtedly that's what this film will always be remembered for.

Holubar.

Another vintage green parka? I know, but I thought this one had a little more too it than the usual obligatory four pocket 60/40's and anyway whilst it's like this outside (looks out the window to yet more pissy rain) I'm none to fussed - it's tried and tested and I like it.

This is from Holubar, another now defunct old school US brand who were based in Boulder, Colorado and were very much the pioneers of mountain wear way back in the day as they say, most notably the first to apply Vibram soles to boots and early creators of sleeping bags and down insulated clothing. They also made a line of old sew-it-yourself kits too, full pieces of outerwear which you had to assemble yourself. Personally, I think old gear like this was built to stand the test of time, if you ask me it looks as good now as it probably did when it was new. Holubar was pretty much gone by the time 1980 had come around so it's a nice archive 'piece', did I just call a jacket a piece? I did, I'm sorry. I won't do that again.

Kånken.

Recently took delivery of the classic Fjällräven Kånken bag, I've wanted one of these for ages but it's one of those things I never got around to, carried by everyone from schoolboys and girls, young and old, rich and famous, hipsters and hippies, these retain timeless cool without getting you in debt. Proper functional, durable greatness hanging off your shoulders. I hear the Kånken features in the forthcoming Sofia Coppola movie Somewhere, it also features in this great bit of footage from Växjö 1985, two and a half minutes in. Available from I Love my Kanken.

At the going down of the sun...

Number Six.

Time for another store visit, courtesy of our pal Richard, situated around Brick Lane's Old Truman Brewery, a cool area to visit in that London as it is, located just a mere stroll from the former site of The Butcher of Distinction store (which I thought was a really unique looking shop) is Number Six, the layout of this place is pretty smart over two levels and I like the one continuous rail of jackets that seems to run forever. The minimal look but with a nice mix of old and new works well for me, as does the recent gallery of 'wet women' ooh err - it's actually an in store photographic exhibition which adds a nice touch. Formed by childhood friends Chris Dacey and Mark Batista and starting out online as 'When We Were Casuals' in 2007 this place seems to have gone from strength to strength, stocking such brands as Garbstore, Heritage Research, Barbour Tokito, Universal Works, Oliver Spencer and old favourites Levis, Ralph Lauren and Clarks and more exclusive offerings such as Mark McNairy and Seil Marschall.

Number Six

6 Dray Walk

Old Truman Brewery

London, E1 6QL

Photography by Richard Johnson.