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Dear Friends,
I’ve received a fair mount of spirited feedback from my post on Dec. 27th– with some even going so far as to call it a “manifesto.” Did I go out on a limb? I sure the hell don’t think so– but be that as it may, I meant every damn word of it. Think I’m joking? Hell no. Let’s put our “lust for life” in front of our “pursuit of stuff” and take this shit by the balls. Live more, and obsess less about the superficial jockeying that the world would have us focus on. Let’s leave a mark that years later will be recognized with a fist pump and a hearty, “Hell, yes.”
I feel very compelled to make this the year, 2011, the platform to push myself and TSY forward– into the presence of something bigger than ourselves. Now. This is the perfect time to go out and discover those living amongst us that truly inspire, create, innovate, and challenge– those who are living life on the edge, and on their own terms. There is a new generation of natural born world shakers out there that will one day be immortalized in the annals of history. They are courageously doing their own thing, and heeding the ultimate call– I feel it’s my humble calling to seek them out.
This is a chance for us to be a part of history in the making– what the hell sounds better than that, I ask you fine people?
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Dragline: “Stay down. You’re beat.”
Luke: “You’re gonna have to kill me…”
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The Selvedge Yard 
” Let’s put our “lust for life” in front of our “pursuit of stuff” and take this shit by the balls. ”
HELL YEAH!!!
Those are the magic words!! Totally agree there with you!
This makes for the insipration to turn shit around, Living Life to the fullest!
I’m there with ya!
Great article JP, keep up the great insight on where things need to go.
Bis vivit qui bene vivit!
“He who lives well, lives twice.”
” There is no shortcut. Just a long line of wannabes. How you live your life is your brand.”
Appreciate those words o’ wisdom, so here’s my HELL YEAH!! from Lisbon, Portugal.
Thanks for the inspiration this morning! Love the site.
One recommendation for a true original of our time: Shinya Kimura a true craftsman and artist!
Hell yes! Wait…
HELL YES!
I look forward to TSY getting grander and finer. I love coming here and getting inspired by the stylish and sometimes outrageous icons that you remind us exist, or existed and live on. If I can muster an ounce of the joie de vivre so many of these folks have/had, it’s more than I had before reading the post. I love the Selvedge Yard!
Hell Yeah. In the words of James Dean “Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.” TSY is amazing. Keep it coming. Never stop.
Oprah? Is that you?
Just kidding, looking forward to TSY in 2011. What you do here is greatly appreciated.
Like.
Hell Yeah!!! cheers man….
Yes, let’s take the world by the balls and shake it up! I plan to do so, first, by spending everyday of 2011
reviewing every blog that contains photos and links to heritage clothing and Kodachrome photographs. As we move forward, let us always live in the glory of the past and spend our time vicariously online.
bitter sarcasm ftw.
Thank goodness you chimed in with that clever comment. I was nearly afraid the internet had run out of cynical dickheads. Phew! Safe again. I don’t know about you Van Nuys, but I plan on spending everyday of 2011 dripping with predictable sarcasm and reading false negatives in between lines of true positive. Activate!
Hey JP!
Love the mantra! We all need to lead our lives not in quiet desperation, but rather in LIVE OUT LOUD to the fullest, face to the sun, all hearts in sync!
Keep rolling the thoughts in 2011!
MJ (yeah you know who)
Right on JP! Brilliant! I forwarded this to all of the “world shakers” that I personally know and love…
The concepts of ‘power’, ‘ambition’, and the like are just a douchebag’s mirage. The money will be in their hands, but their souls will crumble into nothing in the process. Break free from that ‘rat race’ and go about life by the beat of your heart!
You, sir, are an inspiration.
Damn straight.
Grabbing it by the balls here, boss.
Really feeling what you said, sir – clearly echoing my thoughts about youth/fashion these days, basically a brand copy paste of whatever termed ‘ cool menswear ‘
I am loving me some TSY! – Consider 2011’s balls grabbed fine sir.
you mentioned in you post on the 27th that each of us is our own brand, and if we are true to that brand there is no conflict. but the conflict is that we think of ourselves as a brand. as something to be consumed. i know we all need ‘things’. tools. clothes. furniture. and people need to make that stuff, and sell it in order to make a living. but the notion of consumerism is leaving me feeling very flat lately. and the attempts of ‘heritage’ or ‘authentic’ brands at making me feel somehow connected to something more real in order to get me to buy the stuff just leave me feeling even more hollow.
i dunno. someone needs to find a way to introduce products to market in a way that assumes that i know what i want, and will buy it if i like it. but don’t tell me that i should like it if i want to be thought of as a certain type of person, to meet some level of individuality that is just like the individuality of the guy standing next to me, or the guy i saw on tv with the cool boots. (were those red wings? with patina? oooh i NEED those, man. $250 bucks? no problem. that’s half of my take home pay this week, but shoot, i NEED them. i wanna be like him… an individual…)
it’s all bull shit. wear red wings if you need boots to last a long time, and work with metal and wood and tools. don’t collect a pair in every color. that’s retarded. that’s the world gone off its axis. buy. buy buy. CONSUME. ugh. it doesn’t leave me with anything that makes me feel better about myself. the things you own should be a reflection of the values you hold. i own old stuff, or well made stuff because it was built to last. but even that has now become a market. i’m all for a free market, capitalism. but don’t be foolish. a report on the news this morning said that we are at our strongest since 2007 because retail is at its highest point since then. why are retail sales of consumer goods the benchmark of a healthy economy? why isn’t saving a little nest egg the benchmark? why aren’t people going back to work so they can put food on the table the benchmark? why is the whole world asleep to REALITY and awake and paying attention to what everyone else says, even though it leads them down a path that goes nowhere but off a cliff?
here it is folks: the doing is the thing. go do something. leave me with something REAL to admire. your boots aren’t what i’m looking at.
Look at you go.
riding bonneville salt flats-the nationals-everything else is just waiting.keep this rippin site-rightous-slainte
I had a carhartt jacket for about 10 years. The sleeves were frayed, it had holes in the elbows, and the collar was nothing but strings. I loved that jacket. It became identified with me, not the other way around. When someone would say “isn’t it time for a new jacket?” I would say the one line we as men have all said before: “I just got it broken in”.
to me, that phrase says it all about being a man…
As thingumy bob said in The Right Stuff . . . “with you one hunnert and ten percent . . ” Hell yeah !!!!!
Love it. Keep up the good work, chief.
I love your manifesto & I couldn’t agree more! Life is short and sweet & passive living is for the dead.