Firefly is one of the best restaurants off of the Las Vegas Strip

If your a Las Vegas local like myself and don’t have wheels, the most frustrating thing is finding a good place to eat close by, but NOT on the Las Vegas Strip.  Convenience is a giant factor when your looking to eat good food, but in this particular situation I will hand glide to get there if I have to.

There is a place in Las Vegas called Firefly, it’s a Tapas or as my bro pronounces it because he has an F’ed up English and American accent, Tap Ass. My girlfriend has taken me here several times, and last night we wanted to take my bro out for dinner not on the strip and this place fit the bill perfectly.

Even though it’s casual dining and they have two locations in Las Vegas,  One on Paradise and the other on the West side on W Sahara, it’s nearly impossible to get a reservation and if you do, don’t be more than 15 mins late or they will give away your reservation to some other foodie fiend.

The place is casual and dark, but screams character for days. Even though it’s loud and the table’s are quite close together and you can’t hear your own thoughts sometimes, that all goes out the window as soon as you take a sip of arguably the best red wine sangria I have ever tasted. All your pressures stresses and worries for the time your there, seem to dissipate because of the infectious ambiance, the food  and your third pitcher of sangria.

Since Tapas calls for Spanish style small plates, it’s easy and fun to share what Firefly has to offer with their extensive menu, whether it’s their stuffed dates which are wrapped in bacon and goat cheese, to their sizzling shrimp in a lemon garlic butter sauce, to their spicy lamb sausage, you are guaranteed to have a great meal and leave completely satisfied. To view the other tasty options Firefly has to offer, please click here 

The best part about Firefly is that it’s extremely well priced. You can literally have almost everything on the menu and drink a shit load of sangria for almost $30 dollars a person with tip.

With a menu to die for, two locations in Vegas off of the strip, a great atmosphere that’s casual comfortable and relaxing, the best sangria in town, and incredibly well priced. Firefly is definitely one of the best restaurants off of the Las Vegas strip!

Social Distortion returns to Vegas

Mike Ness and the Boys of Social Distortion will blow the doors of the Joint at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas, Friday January 27, 2012. I am sure this show will sell out! They are one of the most exciting punk rock bands in the world to watch and I can’t wait to see them rock out for the tenth time.

To get your tickets, click here now!

The HoTel wants you to have safe sex with The Love Box

So check this, It’s a Saturday afternoon in Vegas, my brother flies in to visit me from Boston and he checks in to The Hotel at Mandalay Bay. I check in with him and notice in the room above the mini fridge in the middle surrounded by classics like Snickers, M&M’s and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, very discreetly displayed next to the Travel kit is a Box wrapped in plastic that says The Love Box.

I mean, could we be any more subtle. Back in the day there use to be a black box with black writing that you had to run a black light over to figure out it was a box of condoms. but this is just like, get ready to do the nasty! I thought it was an interesting way to promote safe sex. There is no mistaking what this box is or what’s in it. It’s almost very basic, I love it. The back of the box says the contents which read

two prophylactics
two personal lubricants
two mint packets
one massage lotion
one feminine fresh wipe
two lover’s scratch off games

I mean this is like a frigging adult happy meal without the meal. I must say this is quite original and takes the pressure off for when you want to shag!

IWC finally goes back to basics for SIHH 2012 with the new Big Pilot Top Gun Miramar Chronograph

The last 5 years have been absolutely miserable for IWC as far as I am concerned. The shit they are producing gets progressively worse as they seem to have been moving away from their identity. The product line is practically almost unrecognizable except for the IWC Pilot’s Chrono and the Big Pilot in Steel.

This year for SIHH 2012, IWC have released a watch reminiscent of their past with the new 48 mm Big Pilot Top Gun Miramar Chronograph.  Miramar, is a place in California where the legend of the elite Pilot’s were created. This new watch pays homage to those elite proctologists pilot’s. According to IWC pusher CEO George Kern,  “Back then, only wristwatches with the highest possible precision were good enough for navigators: the pilot and his crew would synchronize their watches to the navigator’s.”

What can I say, the watch is good looking, even though Hamilton makes something that looks similar for like $2,000 The only thing not so straight about it is that is has the Top Gun logo stamped onto the back of the watch case. Of course the dial is very military, where the arabic numerals read in the 24 hour variation. The case of the watch is dark grey ceramic, while the rest of colors  used such as beige for the hands and chapter ring, together with green for the strap, achieve the desired look. The textile strap leans visibly on the tough webbing belts. It is complemented by two high-tech materials, typical for TOP GUN, that were introduced to watchmaking by IWC as early as the 1980s: zirconium oxide for the case, along with titanium for the pushers and caseback. The watch itself almost serves as a camouflage instrument and depicts a certain era and feel for that true IWC collector who can appreciate what a real Pilots watch has to offer.

The case of this watch is a robust 48 mm because it houses the largest chronograph movement IWC has ever conceived. The movement also happens to be the most advanced with flyback function and analogue display for stopped minutes and seconds. 

Overall,I am impressed but not amazed by any means, this is a step in the right direction for IWC, now if the price would be somewhat affordable, that would be nice. 

Fred Perry and Peter Jensen make the coolest Harrington jacket ever!

I have had an extremely cool upbringing. I was born in India, I lived in the Greek Island of Cyprus at 30 days old until I was 2, moved to London until I was 5 and then settled in Boston for 27 years and then was in London and LA and now I live in the city of sin that is Las Vegas.

Going home to London for the holidays always makes me nostalgic for things I grew up with like Cadbury’s chocolate and Fred Perry clothing. I have been in love with Fred Perry button down shirts and polo shirts and the whole mod fashion.

I recently went to the Bicester outlets in England in Oxford and stumbled in to the Fred Perry shop and immediately gravitated towards this really cool red Harrington jacket with a blue laurel. Of course I bought it!  This jacket is so mod, lightweight, comfortable and one hell of a true classic.  It has the most amazing double button up collar which is definitive sixties style that the scooter boys in London once wore, which makes it a timeless icon. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that this jacket was co designed with london based Danish fashion designer Peter Jensen, who is responsible for re working the Harrington jacket as part of his capsule collection.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Peter Jensen’s work, he has caught the attention of the most acclaimed fashion critics from all over the world as well as has the support of celebrities including music icons like the late Amy Winehouse, Kayne West and Rihanna, to actors like Orlando Bloom, Nicole Kidman,  and Lindsay Lohan to legendary movie directors like John Waters.

Fred Perry is a brand that will never die for me, it will always stay relevant, fashionable, wearable,  cool and original. I have to say out of all the Harrington jackets that I have seen, Fred Perry and Peter Jansen have knocked this one out of the park and made the coolest Harrington Jacket ever! 

Howler is the new Indie band to watch out for in 2012

The Band

The New Record America Give Up coming out 1/17/12

So, on my way back from my trip the other day from London to Vegas, before I boarded the plane, I was scratching my bum trying to figure out what the F to do because I had two hours to spare at Heathrow airport in London.

I sat, I observed, I got antsy, I wanted a drink so fucking bad, so I walked around, stopped at my favorite sandwich institution Pret a Manger. I was amongst a herd of sheep flocking for the same freshly made pre packed sandwiches, but I was the victor in securing the last Peking Duck with Hoisin sauce wrap with cucumber and scallions, take that you fat turds! So, I sat down devoured my sandwich, sprayed sparkling water all over myself and everyone around me because I still don’t know how to open a bottle that’s carbonated at the age of 36.

After making an explosion of a mess with my litter, I got the sweet tooth for some British chocolate, good old Cadbury’s, Maltesers, Terry’s chocolate orange and of course the latest issue of British indie rock bible NME (New Musical Express) . It was a special issue on the 100 hottest new bands to listen to. I started reading about Howler and was immediately fascinated. They had this very young yet accomplished Strokes thing going on and at the the ripe old age of 19, NME hailed Howler as the number 3  new band of 2011!  According to the band, they make pop music and add a bit of dirtiness to it. As soon as I had an Internet connection when I arrived back in Sin City,  I tried to get my hands on anything I could find. On the NME website I was able to find the track Back of Your Neck, which is the single off of their first album America Give Up, which will be released on Tuesday 1/17/12.

I must say, I was impressed by what I heard, they sound like a modern day Strokes with a lot more raw dirtiness, still in a very pop way. The band formed in 2011 out of Minneapolis, and released their first EP, This One’s Different, February 14, 2011 in the US and was later signed to Rough Trade Records that summer and released This One’s different August 2, 2011 in the UK. The band comprises of 5 members and even though the lead singer has a Bieber like haircut and the rest of the band look like school boys, they have a very nonchalant sensibility that make them different from a lot of the formulaic bullshit out there. Even the drummer is rumored to be the son of Pop Icon Prince. To get the latest news and tour dates from the band please click here.

 Press Play to watch the Back Of Your Neck video from Howler.

Wrist Shot of the Week 1/9/12-1/15/12

The wrist shot of the week comes to me all the way from South Africa! I have to admit, I am not the biggest Breitling fan, but this one has made me chub up. This would be the stainless steel Breitling Navitimer 3 register Chrono, with date, silver dial and black buffalo strap with contrasting white stitching.

The watch is very vintage looking because this was a model that Breitling actually made in the sixties. In my opinion it’s the classics that live on forever and just shows you, the more complicated the watch the less interesting the watch is over time.

Tim Armstrong will perform with Jimmy Cliff at Coachella 2012

At this years Coachella 2012 music festival in Indio California, it’s official that  Punk rock Godfather, Tim Armstrong of Rancid will perform with Raggae legend Jimmy Cliff on April 13, 2012.

How fucking cool is this, to see two legends of different genre’s coming together to rock out Coachella 2012 on the same stage. Other cool bands performing this year will be, Radiohead, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Bird, Kaskade, Mazzy Star, Pulp, David Guetta, Girl Talk, Florence and the Machine and many many more! To get the latest news on Coachellea 2012, please click here

LAYOP is the hottest new urban wear

 

I am herendous at giving people Christmas gifts. I am great at buying myself gifts. Most of the times when I buy Christmas gifts, I am not thinking is this what the person I am buying it for will like, I am thinking will I like it, just in case they don’t so I can use it for myself. 

This Christmas, I actually grew a heart and got gifts that I thought the people I was buying them for would actually like. 

You know how it is, if your last minute shopper like me and have to travel an international flight, your fucked basically. I love it though, I love the pressure, it’s a rush! So, my friend Dre has the coolest urban wear line called Layop which stands for Live at your own pace. He works at Stitched at the Cosmopolitan Hotel of Las Vegas which is one hell of a badass menswear store. Conveniently, he also has an exclusive co branding with Stitched for his Layop line.  Since I already bought one of his super cool and comfortable Layop t-shirts, I thought it would be appropriate to get my brother in law the hoodie for Christmas. He is the one in the pictures above. I didn’t mean to decapitate him in the pictures, but I though he has the perfect physique to model it as well. He absolutely loves the hoodie and has literally been wearing it for almost ten days straight. He is absolutely amazed at how comfortable and warm this hoodie is and very impressed by the quality of the fabric and how breathable it is. 

You know what they say, slow and steady wins the race and that’s why Layop’s emblem is a fucking turtle which is very appropriate for the whole life style and branding. This is definitely a brand to look out for because this 2012 Layop is about to explode! You can check out more of the urban styles of Layop here.

Nom de Plume is a unique mens boutique in London

 

The Storefront

When you walk in

 

Are We Having Fun Yet?

Cool dsplay

 

Escentric Molecules Fragrance

The Espresso Machine

Time to pay for what you are buying

The Brands

My favorite part about this blog besides not mincing words, is being able to relay my experiences from all over the world. This holiday season. I found myself in the place I love more than watching any live gang bang, that’s right people, London.  England has always been my other home. The people, the culture, the food contrary to popular belief(the English are the best at exploiting other people’s cultures), the music and the fashion. 

So there’s this real cool men’s shop called Nom de Plume in London that I have been going to for about 10 years now. Let’s put it this way, every time I come to London to visit my family, I make it a point to stop by Nom de Plume and say hello to my good friend who owns it. Nom de Plume is a very authentic men’s boutique that houses some of the coolest most avant guard designers without the ridiculous prices you would pay and the snotty twattitude you would receive at let say a luxury department store. 

The interior of the store is small, but captures that original boutique feel with tons of personality and character. Since the owner himself is very much in tune with fashion and has his own style and handles the business completely himself, you can see how his charming but hip taste is detailed in various parts of the store, whether it be displays, the cool modern yet vintage commercial grade espresso machine, or various words or phrases he finds fascinating which are subliminal yet in your face and makes you want to stay for hours and drop some cash. Each client is dealing with and getting the absolute best personal service in the most relaxed atmosphere because you are dealing with the owner who has the most amazing eye and you can actually have a real conversation with him about anything really! 

Even the designers he has chosen to carry are not the run of the mill stuff that you would think of as high fashion, but they are absolutely the most well respected and create an every day wearing sensibility and are quite exclusive and not massed produced.  Even the fragrance he carries is very exclusive and has a small press release presented next to the tester bottle which is called Escentric Molecules and reads “Since its launch at Harvey Nichols in the UK in April 2006, Escentric Molecules has proved runway international success. It has made US Weekly’s Buzz-o-Meter, it was an Obsession for Fashion Wire Daily, and item of the week on Style.com. It sold out in 48 hours in Australia-and it’s still Harvey Nicks’ top seller”

So, if your in Southwest London, stop by Nom de Plume located on 198 Upper Richmond Rd.W London SW14 8AN, get a fashion experience second to none, ask for the owner and tell him JF sent you.