Admitting Your Mistakes

It’s sharing time here at Urban Monarch. I have a mistake I made that I need to get off my chest. Everyday I think about this post,I feel a little a bit of guilt.

This was a really stupid idea. The starch didn’t work as well as commercial products. After about a month, it started to smell bad; like damp towels or moldy carpet. Hell, I don’t even do my own laundry anymore, let alone ironing.

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest I feel a lot better. Anything you need to talk about?

P.S. Hot tip, don’t iron your polos, send them to the dry cleaner.

movie preview- david lynch : inland empire

I think it was Tuesday night that I received a strange, two word text from Greg.  “Inland Empire” it cryptically said. In the flurry of other stimulus that night, I forgot all about it.

Yesterday, I did a quick search and discovered it’s the new David Lynch film, which just opened here in Denver.  I’m no stranger to Lynch’s work, having been a fan since sneaking into Wild at Heart while it was still playing in the theatres.  How I missed word of his latest work is puzzling.

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Didn’t You Hear

Didn’t you hear that Cory O’Brien is our newest friend? His website, Didn’t You Hear, has covered Urban Monarch posts since our early days. He describes his website as…

Didn’t You Hear… is a blog about stuff. Stuff people talk about, stuff people wish they could talk about, stuff people have never even heard of. If you hate it when someone starts a story with “Didn’t you hear…” this is the place for you.

I’m personally digging his coverage of the cool hunting tea accessories and the xbox 360 laptop. Check out Didn’t You Hear and our other friends on our sidebar.

hollywood blvd vs. sunset strip: ghetto vs. fabulous?

 

Jessica Alba vs. Paris Hilton. In & Out Burger vs. Mc Donald’s. Good vs. Evil. In Denver, one rivalry is simple to understand; Lodo vs. Ballpark. Two different neighborhoods.  Two different worlds.

Lodo; upscale, chic, more fashion conscious.  An area with the Bentley’s parked at the curb and the models parked on the barstools.  A bit of an older crowd (well, as ‘older’ as ‘mid-twenties and up’ is) with the maturity and quasi-sophistication that follows.  Venues include  some of UM’s favorite haunts; 5 Degrees.  Monarck.  Mynt.

Ballpark; think sports bar casual- where your little brother went to slam kamakazi’s on his 21st birthday before puking on the curb. Location of the Real World Denver house (nuff said).  Venues include some of UM’s least favorite spots; Sports Column, Public House, Giggling Grizzly.

A similar rivalry is emerging in Los Angeles, and I want our club-savvy UM readers to set the record straight.

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How Not To Decorate

At Urban Monarch we are regularly linking resources to improve your pad.  We’ve offered information on improving lighting, finding affordable furniture, and hanging paintings.  Today we are taking a different approach.  With the help of Justin Jorgensen, his library of mens’ personals photos, and his new book, we’re showing you what not to do. Read more

better living thru chemistry: brain boosting drugs

After my recent write up on the increasing influence of  Adderall, I was surprised to learn of another drug that seems to have an even greater impact on the intellect.

According to Professor Gary Lynch of the University of California, Irvine, the drug’s effect ‘rewires’ the brain, at least temporarily.

And he claims that animal experiments suggest that the drug enables the brain to rewire itself or make neural connections between different regions that normally people cannot make.

This rewiring, he claims, may enable people to “build thoughts that are a little bit beyond the normal brain”.

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Tommy Bahama - Set Sail St Barts

While returning some shoes at Nordstrom this week, I stopped by the men’s fragrance counter to pick up a new facial scrub. By the way, Jack Black’s mentholated scrub is the shit. Anyhow, after flirting with the silver foxes behind the glass counters, one invited me to smell some of their new fragrances. Read more

4 easy tips to improve your charisma

Charisma.  To me, it means having an energy around you that’s appealing to everyone you meet.  Men.  Women, everyone.  It can benefit every aspect of your life; work, dating, family, friends, everything.  Thankfully you don’t have to be born with it.

You can develop it, says Tony Alessandra, author of Charisma: Seven Keys to Developing the Magnetism That Leads to Success (Warner Books, $13.95). Here are some ways to do it:

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bar+barbershop= “MR.”

Two Stanford grads have started an upscale barbershop that also features a full bar & lounge.  “MR.” had its debut in San Francisco but the two partners hope to spread the concept to other urban hotspots (Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York and Chicago) in the future.

Rather than a pay per cut business model, MR. offers monthly memberships that allow for haircuts (& follow up trims) as well as admission to the bar / lounge.

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taking the bite out of booze

An interesting article in the Chicagoist talks about the pleasure of ‘cutting’ a hard spirit with something more neutral, such as mineral water.  The benefits are numerous, but one of the most important is your ability to taste flavors that might otherwise get absorbed into the ‘punch’ of the alcohol itself.

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Online Shoe Shopping at Nordstrom

Shopping online with Nordstrom comes at a price higher than its competitors: your time and your money.  In online shopping it used to be enough to just put your catalog online.  Then to compete you needed to offer free shipping.  Now, with offerings like free overnight from Zappos and 2 day no minimum amazon prime, it takes a little more to keep up.   Read more

poll: your favorite ‘type’ of girl?

Any girl can be beautiful in her own way.  When I was in high school (and for sometime after) I found myself drawn to goth girls.  The music was one thing that drew me in, the style and implied sensuality another. 

Nowadays, I’m pretty partial to exotic / ethnic girls.  There’s a lot of talk about women being drawn to men who fit into a ‘tribe’ they either belong to, or want to visit, and I’m convinced it works both ways. 

So how about it Urban Monarchs? Based on initial appearances alone:

 

unintentional google humor

Continuing with today’s comedic theme, I’d like to call everyone’s attention to a gem I found yesterday while catching up with Google News.

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This Is Why I’m Hot

Every once in a while a song comes out that is a prefect blend of infectious verse and vacuous content.  I have no choice but to make it my anthem. Mims, congratulations you have now joined the ranks of Chamillionaire and Justin Timberlake in my eyes. I’m sure I’ll be thinking about this song for months to come.

This is why I’m hot
Shorty see the drop
Ask me what I paid and I say yea I paid a quap

Bonus Comic

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Fiber One Chewy Bars - Stomach Problems & Gas

After Cash wrote his initial review of the Fiber One Chewy Bars, we had no clue the community we would be creating at Urban Monarch.  To this day it remains one of our most popular posts with comments constantly rolling in.  Really, it has become more of a support group for indigestion than anything else. Read more

Initial Biphasic Sleeping Experiences

As Cash mentioned earlier, we’ve been experimenting with biphasic sleeping here at Urban Monarch. After a bit of tinkering, and a few recent events, I wanted to share my experience thus far. Read more

lessons from tyler durden: the path to success is paved with persistance

 

A copy of the book “Fight Club”, wrapped tightly in black tissue paper and a metallic, blood-red ribbon, sat on my dresser for ages.  It was purchased as a gift for a gorgeous stripper with whom I shared a strange, intoxicatingly brief period of time.  She  disappeared into thin air one day, but the book remained. I finally find myself reading it after spending countless nights over the last few years watching the movie.

Chuck Palahniuk is truly a master of minimalist fiction (if you have any doubt, read the hilariously dark ‘Survivor’), and it’s amazing to see how faithfully his novel was adapted to the big screen.  Nod director David Fincher for recognizing near perfection when he saw it.  Dialogue, settings and most of the plot points are all intact.

In reading it, one passage in particular struck me as significant at this point in my life and I never really gave it a second thought while watching the DVD.

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How To Talk To Girls At Parties

The current champion of the Urban Monarch Best Place to Meet Women is House Party / Private Event.  It’s only fitting that author and more Neil Gaiman has a 4 part audio download this week entitled, ‘How To Talk To Girls At Parties.’ Read more

u.s. cities with more single women than men

National Geographic recently published a map showing the areas of the country where single women outnumber single men.

Far be it from me to imply our web savvy Urban Monarch readers might have missed something that hit the Digg front page. (Knowing this, I try to avoid linking to anything I’ve come across there). Today however, I couldn’t resist.

It’s quite enlightening.

“Frontier airlines? Yes; one ticket to Chicago please.”

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Apartment Mood Lighting

Modern Self has a comprehensive article on how to properly light the dim corners in any bachelor pad. Eric, the article author, uses his experience as a set lighting technician to guide the modern man into simultaneously making his apartment and himself look better. Read more

top 10 u.s. hotel pools

With the recent resurgence of cold weather here in Denver, my thoughts are drifting towards the summer sun and lounging somewhere hot with a chilled cocktail in hand.

Sherman’s Travel has a list of the top 10 pools in the nation.

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