Oh My, Your Magazine is so Hot!

The newest issue of Minnesota Bride is just about to land on your local newsstand and there is one little page dedicated to gentlemanly groom things. Be sure to check it out if there is a betrothing in your near future.

The cool thing about a lot of wedding magazines, Minnesota Bride included, is that they have photos of actual weddings that have happened around town. The ceremonies look great and all, but I have something that very desperately needs to be said: Gentleman, the boutonniere goes through the buttonhole.

A Brief Word About the Greatest Annual Sporting Event

You see, the main problem in the Tour de France so far is that the 'other' main contenders failed to force Astana into yellow jersey. Now they'll take easy ride to the Alps, which really don't look that tough.

And don't the cows just love it!

One thing we've noticed here is that with the great saturation of standard layout horizontal laptop and messenger bags, there has been a pretty decent demand for a cool vertical style bag that maintains a high volume. Previously, all of our vertical bags had been of the light traveling minimalist variety, but I think we now have an alternative. This week we just got in a cool new bag from mp3 stalwarts Malcolm Fontier. It is an updated version of their lighter Entertainer bag, with a new compartment on the back, a cool wallet detail under the flap and a linen canvas lining (so your documents don't get sweaty). It still retains all the standard Fontier features like coated canvas body construction, multi-position magnetic closure and overall vegan-ness (that leather trim? not real). We also received some of their wallets in new colorways in extremely supple vegan leather.$245

Fire Safety < Fire Availabilty

One of the things we're pretty proud of here at MP3 is ridiculously cool selection of lighters. If you've been in the store, you'll certainly remember what I'm talking about. Now, I should preface this by stating that I don't really smoke, but I have been known to keep a tin of Cohiba Minis on hand just in case (in case what? I'm not sure). Regardless, not smoking isn't a good reason to not own a lighter. I was never a boy scout and even I know that sometimes you need to light a fire. But then, I have history of lighting things on fire. No, not in a good way. I digress but the point is we've got my absolute favorite lighter back in stock -- the JP Windmill.Above are the polished and black. Both are terrific, but they don't hold a metaphorical candle to king of all the Japanese lighters:

Yessiree, there it is. The forest green JP Windmill Stormproof lighter. I'm not sure why the green strikes me as that much better than everything else. Maybe its because it reminds me of camping gear. Or the army. Or something that construction workers carry along with their thermos and steel lunch box.

It packs a punch functionally as well. All Windmills have that nifty blue torch flame and stormproof really means stormproof. These babies never fail to light. This particular model also has the little compression ring, so it attaches to your car keys, boat keys, divot tool, tackle box, grill tools, purse, necklace, whatever! Just don't let the valet kid take it.

$65

I'm not sure why we didn't get this in sooner...

The great irony today is that recently I very severely sunburned the tops of my ears. This happened because I thought it was too hot to wear my cotton summer hat and several weeks ago I lost my only straw hat. So of course, what do I unpack today? These very cool bao C-crown hats that are really light. As you can see, they are minimally adorned so as to look appropriate at Canterbury downs or a small tropical island accessible only by those nifty planes with industrial floaties (or more likely, in your backyard with brats on the grill).



$35

TokyoBay Restock

There are some things in the store that we take for granted, such as our unfortunately finite supply of vintage cocktail shakers (I'm not quite sure what we'll replace those with when they're gone). Fortunately, the supply of cool watches from TokyoBay is seemingly infinite and we're pretty excited that we just unpacked a boxed packed with our five best selling styles, below.

If you are unfamiliar with these watches, you're clearly missing out. All TokyoBay watches feature accurate (important for a watch) and reliable Miyota movements and come in all kinds of preppy colors. Although, if you didn't go to private school, they could just be summery. Or better yet, you could make up a private school. You see that red one in the lower left? Those are the official colors of, er, Pointerbury School. For Boys. Upon Minnehaha. Right?


Now, you might wonder if you have enough Benjamins left in your wallet after you tried to buy that Patek over on the right hand of that link. The answer is Yes! The watches pictured cost a mere three quarters of a Benjamin, leaving plenty of space in your life for a fun and very unserious watch. Lucky you.

Nothing says Happy 3rd of July like beer paraphernalia.

At mp3 we'd like to think that we're a mostly classy bunch, but that may be at odds with putting on a cowboy hat and one of these babies to hit up the Taste of Minnesota. Now before you go ahead and choose your favorite cheap hipster beer to slap on your favorite belt, consider the interesting sub-genres of beer related belt buckle wearer you could be putting yourself in.

This particular trio says something like "I really love Guided by Voices and the 400 Bar."

And this set says, "I used to live in Wisconsin, but now Minnesota."

And finally this set says, "I consume these beers following my Tea and Finger Sandwiches, while Lawn Bowling."

Or maybe nobody will think about these that much and I'm taking this too seriously.

$20 each plus belt ($25-$95)