Gorgeous Lady of the Week — Amy Adams

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With her girl next door good looks, peaches and cream complexion and megawatt smile, Amy Adams is a born ingenue and the stuff that Holywood dreams are made of. But she’s more than just a wholesome all-American girl with a decidedly pretty face. Ms. Adams can flat out act.

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After struggling in Holywood in the early 2000s for several years without much to show for it, Amy Adams broke through to widespread critical recognition in 2005’s indie hit, Junebug. Her irrepressible Ashley Johnsten in that film earned the then-30-year-old a Best Supporting Actress nomination. And she has’t looked back since.

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In 2007 she was Princess Giselle in Disney’s megahit Enchanted and quickly followed that up with starring roles in the underrated Sunshine Cleaning and another critical success alongside Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia, which hinted at something more in her than just sweetness and light. She explored her tougher side further in David O. Russell’s excellent The Fighter as boxer Mickey Ward’s tough-as-nails and fiercely protective working class girlfriend, Charlene Fleming. After a return to perky form with The Muppets, Ms. Adams continued to mine a darker vein as the manipulative power behind a cult leader in P.T. Anderson’s grim The Master.

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With major roles in this past year’s Man of Steel as a fair haired but pitch perfect Lois Lane and another David O. Russell success, the recently released Oscar contender American Hustle, Amy Adams is now securely on Hollywood’s A-list for leading ladies and it would seem that the hard working 39-year-old’s best work is yet to come. With a smile that can melt the most cynical heart and an inner toughness that can tame the most unruly leading men, it’s certain that Ms. Adams is determined not to let her wholesome looks typecast her as just another good girl. Which suits us just fine — there’s nothing we like more than a little spice with our sugar.

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tomvox1’s watches for sale — December Selection

MFL is proud to present links to tomvox1’s ads for vintage watches. These are sales posts you might otherwise have to search the web for or miss entirely before they are sold. These watches are eclectic, cover a wide range of price points and offer the discerning gentleman the opportunity to acquire quality vintage timepieces that are guaranteed to be authentic and add penache & elan to a man’s wrist & wardrobe.  Most of all, they are backed by one of the world’s foremost collectors and always certain to be accurately and lovingly described down to the last detail. Simply put, you can buy a watch from some other random seller on the Internet with a lot of vague claims and small pictures or you can buy a tomvox1 watch and know exactly what you’re getting before you make the leap.

Vintage Rolex ref. 1655 Explorer II Straight Hand Freccione — Click here for complete Vintage Rolex Market ad: SOLD

Vintage Rolex ref. 3696 Pink Gold/SS Tropical Bubbleback w/BLACK Dial — Click here for complete Vintage Rolex Market ad: SOLD

Vintage 1950s Omega cal. 355 Bumper Automatic Calendar w/ TÜRLER Dial — Click here for complete Timezone Sales Corner ad: SOLD

Guitars We Love – The 1962-1975 Fender Jaguar

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Nearly immaculate 66 Jaguar in Sunburst finish (Image courtesy www.fenderjaguar.net)…

There might not be another guitar in the world that has had such a scrappy rise to fame and fortune as the Fender Jaguar. From a debut full of big hopes, to a slow decline into the cheap seats, to a meteoric resurgence that ended in a  permanent place in guitar history, the Jag has had quite a ride so far. Equally loved and hated by guitar players and collectors, the Jaguar is a one of a kind guitar, and my personal all-time favourite.

Amazing condition 1965 Jaguar in very rare Charcoal Frost finish (Image from Jay Rosen)…

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A Quick HIstory-

Introduced by Fender in 1962, the Jaguar came loaded with all sorts of bells and whistles, and was meant to be Fender’s new top-of-the-line model (priced accordingly higher than a Stratocaster!) For better or worse, this plan didn’t succeed. Most customers felt the Jag was a bit too flashy or weird looking, and the Stratocaster remained the king of the Fender line-up. Fender then began marketing the Jaguar largely as a  “Surf Guitar”, as Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys were known for playing them at the time. They also tried to lure customers in by offering custom nitrocellulose lacquer finishes for a 5% add-on to the sticker price. But alas, even the cool finishes couldn’t do much to boost the popularity of the Jaguar. By the late 60’s the Jaguar had been relegated to the backseat of Fender’s line-up, and production of the original guitar finally ceased entirely in 1975.

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What we’re listening to today — Asimbonanga (Mandela) by Johnny Clegg & Savuka

The death of the great man Nelson Mandela has brought back a torrent of memories from my youth, when Apartheid was still the law of the land in South Africa and Mandela was still in prison. No one then could conceive of the astonishing turn of events that would see Mandela one day lead his nation. But I do remember the strong feeling that Apartheid was doomed sooner than later. And as Lord Jim referred to the other day, a lot of that optimism derived from music as a form of social awareness. In my case, the music of Johnny Clegg with Juluka and Savuka was a particular inspiration, especially the beautiful “Asimbonanga (Mandela)”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3LLcikA8-M

To hear a white South African leading traditional Zulu ensembles in overtly anti-Apartheid music was particularly powerful, especially since interracial bands were illegal in South Africa at the time. Despite the official crackdown on Clegg & his bands, including arrests, breaking up their concerts and blacklisting them from radio play, Juluka and Savuka became hugely successful acts in Europe and the music trickled over to America in the “World Music” movement of the 1980s. That is where I first was exposed to it, in high school, as a natural extension of the curiosity inspired by the World Music explorations of Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon and David Byrne among others. I was able to get a cassette copy of Juluka from a friend and “Scatterlings of Africa” was very often on my stereo throughout the school year.

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Cars we want — SRT Viper

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Dodge’s legendary Viper comes stomping out of mothballs and gets back to the business of tearing up the asphalt at face-melting speeds with 3 new SRT reincarnations for 2013-14. Yes, you can call it a crude American muscle car. Yes, it’s a brutal answer to the more nuanced and larger production Corvette. And yes, it’s expensive with an MSRP of around $100,000 before the massive array of performance options that can make this street legal car a sinister and legitimate super car slayer. But with it’s relatively limited production run and defiant rebuke of smaller, turbo charged engines, the new Viper has “rebel” tattooed on its distinctive snarling snout. In fact, one could say that its awe-inspiring normally aspirated V-10, which delivers 610 horses and a brutal 600 pounds of torque, is not so much defiant of the trend towards smaller engines and improved fuel economy as it is a slap in the face and a challenge to a fist fight.

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All you have to do is add up the minuscule gas mileage that the Viper achieves in trade off for all that available performance — a puny 12 mpg in the city, 19 on the highway — and the lack of creature comforts for anyone who does not spend all day turning fast laps at the track — it does not come in an automatic and is as stiffly sprung as a Springfield rifle — and you have the definition of “acquired taste”. But if that taste runs to pure unbridled speed and power on demand, the Viper’s massive power train and minimum available weight of just under 3300 pounds will satisfy that craving in spades. Do the math on that power-to-weight ratio and you come up with 0-60 in 3.1 seconds in GTS trim a top speed of 206 mph. This beast is designed to do one thing: blow away any street car you care to put up against it. That sounds like good fun to us.

After a very good second half in the final season of the ALMS series, the Viper will get its chance to take on all comers on the track, including Ferrari, Porsche & Corvette, in the maiden season of the Tudor United Sports Car Challenge in 2014. It is also highly likely that SRT teams will compete again at next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, where they will look to improve on last year’s results and return to their glory days of dominance at that legendary race.

For bonus gearhead grins, here’s the previous generation ACR-X bitching it around the Nurburgring in 2011 and setting the lap record (since broken by an $800k Porsche 918 Spyder–not exactly apples to apples in MSRP):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e48df97st2s

For more on the rebirth of the SRT Viper check out this classic and laugh out loud funny take from Ezra Dryer at the New York Times. Also worth a read: this LA Times review by Aaron Bragman.

What We’re Wearing – Doyle Mueser / Against Nature

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Above Image Courtesy: Against Nature Copyright 2013

The second profile in a series on my triumvirate of top notch New York City tailors to bring to your attention is Doyle Mueser, a small but very stylish label founded and run by Amber Doyle and Jake Mueser. Ms. Doyle and Mr. Mueser bring a very young and cool sensibility into their tailoring, woven into a foundation based on the traditional English tailoring of Savile Row. They maintain two shops in NYC. Doyle Mueser, located in the West Village, and Against Nature on the Lower East Side. I visited them at the Against Nature store recently, where I snapped a few pictures of their shop.

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Ms. Doyle & Mr. Mueser in their workshop

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IndyCar’s Dario Franchitti calls it quits

(Photo via Sports Illustrated/Getty Images)

Four-time Indycar Champion Dario Franchitti has decided to retire from racing on the advice of doctors after a horror shunt during the second GP of Houston on October 6, where his Target Chip Ganassi car was catapulted at high speed into the catch fencing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QjA8k5WeGk

The Scotsman, a 3-time Indy 500 winner, suffered what was termed a “significant concussion”, as well as a broken back and badly fractured right ankle, which required multiple surgeries to repair. The back and head injury were of the most concern to doctors in advising him to quit racing.

The 40-year old walks away from the sport as arguably the most successful open wheel racer in United States history and with his matinee idol good looks and loquacious personality, Franchitti would seem to be a perfect fit in the broadcast booth going forward. It’s probably also a sure thing that he will remain involved in IndyCar in either an official or semi-official capacity. While Franchitti never really got to terms with the Dallara DW12 chassis used in his last two seasons, Dario’s exploits prior to that compare well with any driver in a major motorsports series during any time period. There is no word on who will replace Franchitti in the Number 10 car for Ganassi next year.

What We’re Listening To – “Don’t Ever Let Me Know” by The Bobby Fuller Four

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-B75DgGeW0

The song of the day is “Don’t Ever Let Me Know”, by The Bobby Fuller Four. Bobby Fuller is one of the lesser known heroes of early American Rock & Roll, which is sad because he wrote a lot of really good songs in his all too short career, releasing 17 singles between 1961 and 1966. While many musicians were turning away from rock and into psychedelic music in the mid 60’s, Fuller stayed true to his roots, and no doubt would have gone on to release more great music, had he not died at the tender age of 23 under suspicious circumstances.

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Watch Collector’s Notebook: Tudor by Rolex

Hans Wilsdorf's official Tudor announcementt

In any discussion, Tudor by Rolex must be mentioned as one of the highest quality, most diverse and most appealing brands in the vintage watch world, and one that often offers terrific bang for the buck. Tudor was officially created as Rolex’s junior brand in the post-WWII era as a way to fulfill founder Hans Wilsdorf’s desire to offer Rolex quality at a slightly lower price. They achieved this by outsourcing the movement production.

Ca. late 1940s/early 50s Ref. 951 "Bumper" Auto

Ca. late 1940s/early 50s Ref. 951 “Bumper” Automatic

Ref. 951"Bumper" Auto Movement (A. Schild 1250)

Ref. 951 “Bumper” Auto Movement (A. Schild 1250)

The first “official” Tudors were actually bumper automatics with A. Schild movements. But these did not really fit Wilsdorf’s dictum that the new subsidiary brand should share the full-rotor automatic “Perpetual” movement that Rolex pioneered and, I believe, still had many proprietary rights to even as late as the 1950s.  Therefore, Rolex commissioned outside movement manufacturer Fleurier (FEF) to build a bespoke version of their manual caliber 350 with an auto-rotor module added, thus creating the first exclusive Tudor calibers: 390 (non-date) and 395 (date). You will not find a 390 or 395 in any watch other than a Tudor, as FEF only sold this ebauche to Rolex under exclusive agreement. The debut of these movements marks the real launch of the Tudor “Rotor Self-Winding” Oyster-Princes. Initially patterned after pre-Explorer Oysters, they were also sent on expeditions as their progenitors had been so successfully, to build up their reputation as tough and durable watches for the man of action.

Early cal. 390 ref. 7909

Early cal. 390 ref. 7909

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RIP Nelson Mandela

Photo via ABC News

Photo via ABC News

We don’t really do politics here at MFL but when a colossus of human rights like Nelson Mandela passes on, respect must be paid.

For thorough coverage of the great man’s life and legacy, check out the New York Times’ sterling coverage.

And for those of us of a certain age, it’s not hard to remember that the sainted figure that we pay tribute to today and the cause that he championed was not embraced by all in the Western world. Here’s to those who got it right in real time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlMdYpnVOGQ