We weren’t playin’ when we said we were riding hard for boat shoes this summer. They’re the quintessential summer shoe—you can wear ‘em with jeans, khaki’s or shorts. No matter which brand you go with—Sperry Top Sides, Eastlands, Vans—your summer will be all the better. And while there’s no right way to rock a pair, one of the most classic boat shoe looks involves having the laces tied up in a spiral that has become known as the Eastland Knot. As an added bonus to the Best of Boat Shoes post, Complex asked Eastland how to tie the eponymous knot. Thank us later.
The world of peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P) was dealt a serious blow yesterday as one of the most popular torrent search engines, The Pirate Bay, was reportedly purchased by the Sweden based Global Gaming Factory X for $7.74 million. While that’s great news for the people behind The Pirate Bay (TPB), it’s horrible news for all of its 20 million users, as TPB will now only distribute legal user uploaded content in an attempt to compete with YouTube. Good luck with that. You might want to start out by calling yourself something other than “The Pirate Bay.”
But we’ve seen this story before: a file sharing company gets taken down only to be replaced by it’s competitors. And though TPB will be missed, users will no doubt move on to the many other torrent sites on the ‘net. If you’re looking for a new go-to torrent search site, or just looking to get into the torrent game, check out our five favorite sites below…
WHY WE COSIGN: Located in the antique district of Buffalo, Krudmart was designed to fit in with the rustic vibe of the neighborhood, but still stocks the sick streetwear and cool guy stuff so you don’t have to rock an ironic mustache or hipster trench coat to hang with the crew. This is also one of the dope online boutiques we’ve come across recently. Founded by Steve Kay, the shop mainly carries the coveted A.P.C. denim and most T-Shirts range from $20 - $30. Inside the shop, the walls are an artistic approach to streetwear brands and lifestyle but still has some skate roots and relaxed vibe.
BRANDS CARRIED:10.Deep, Black Scale, Arkitip, Cheap Monday, Crooks & Castles, Durki, Flying Coffin, Fuct, Gentle Fawn, In4mation, Mishka, Ludwig, Reason, Sugarcraft, The Hundreds, Sabre Vision, and Quiet Life
WHAT’S NEXT: Expect future collaborations with Erik Brunetti of Fuct, artist Donny Miller and a design by Andy Mueller of The Quiet Life and Girl Skateboards.
See below for the store’s most popular items, more pictures of the space, and our interview with the founder, Steve Kay…
I was honored to have the opportunity to interview Grant Morrison. My goal was to not ask questions that are repeated over and over again. Therefore, in this interview, I touched on a topic that didn’t solely benefit Morrison or myself.
We covered content beneficial to anyone who dreams of being in the comic book industry. I hope you enjoy the interview and I ask you to please leave comments so I can relay them back to Mr. Morrison. Thank you for watching!
Special thanks to Comics On Comics for the video coverage!
A-Trak has been making moves lately, taking his start as Kanye’s awkward wonder-kid DJ and parlaying it into time in the spotlight as emerging style icon, putting Cudi on, and turning Fool’s Gold from a party series to a note-worthy record label. A-Trak’s visual partner in crime, Dust La Rock has been working with the young Canadian, designing Fool’s Gold graphic identities for a bit and A-Trak’s signature “Greatful Bear” icon, an image that the two just turned into an 8-inch 3-D vinyl figure with toy maker Kidrobot, which goes on sale today.
Today’s Buy It Now, is the Kidrobot x A-Trak x Dust La Rock “Greatful Bear”, essentially A-Trizzy as a Furry sucking down a tab of acid and rocking his calling card sunglasses—always a must when you’re messing with those psychotropicalsuperdingdongpills. Hit the jump for purchase info, and get on it, these are limited and priced to sell.
FUN FACT: Vans has been holding it down for over 40 years and started making special customizaions in the early days of the company (when iD was still something that Freud talked about). Shoppers could bring their favorite fabric by the factory, and the Van Dorens would put together a pair of shoes for them that week. You can design your own Vans through the company site today.
WHY COMPLEX IS CO-SIGNING IT: While the kids are going nuts because Vans is O.G. skate, affordable, and there are about a billion colorways to choose from, this book breaks down a history of the company. History is boring, right? Author/curator Doug Palladini pre-empts your study hall whining by giving you the tales from the super heroes’ mouths. Chapters with skaters Tony Alva, Steve Caballero and John Cardiel; surfer Joel Tudor; music legends’ tales from the Warped Tour; and a photo essay on Frenchman Dimitri Coste’s crazy collection each show a facet of the company that you wouldn’t know otherwise. When it comes to reading we need a lot of pictures to look at, and this does the trick with 208 pages that include photographs by champions of the lens CR Stecyk, R. Grant Brittain, Art Brewer, and Trevor Graves.
Even if the only deck you’ll be on this summer is in the back of your friends house, a nice pair of boat shoes should find their way into your wardrobe sooner than later. Yep, we’re still co-signing the boat shoe. If you’ve been paying attention, you’d have noticed a bunch of designers dropping their own renditions of the classic silhouette that up until a couple years ago was known solely as the footwear of the prep set.
From the OG Sperry Top-Sider to the more casual stylings of Vans and Band of Outsiders, Complex picked out the 10 Best Boat Shoes of the season. Just because you won’t be on a yacht this summer, doesn’t mean you can’t act as if. Word to Boiler Room.
In his weekly column, rapper John Brown—the self-proclaimed “King Of Da Burbz”—will be offering his insight into politics and current events to the Complex readers. Check out “Politickin With John Brown” every Thursday.
Michael Jackson was the most influential pop icon in modern history. So it’s no surprise that when he passed away last week, many political leaders from around the world delivered written condolences acknowledging his unparalleled impact. Some reporters even questioned President Obama’s lack of a formal response, noting that MJ had a long history of using his star power to influence humanitarian efforts.
In fact, MJ holds 13 different titles in the Guinness Book Of World Records, one of which names him as the most philanthropic pop star of all time—donating over $300 million to charities. So in honor of the King of Pop, here are some of MJ’s most high-profile encounters with the political world…
