A Journey Back To Innocence

I thought about a recap on 2010, then realised I have almost no recollection from all the months that have passed, so let's not go there. Blogging has taken a back seat for me in the last month. Work has become very hectic, lots of new responsibilities, training and meetings. It's exactly what I signed up for so I'm not complaining. Just learning how to adapt and adjust so I can continue to do the things I love outside of the office. It is my intention to make necessary changes and really to become something of a great force within the company. Not just for myself, but the team I have been blessed with and anyone else who wishes to come on board. This has been viewed as 'ruffling some feathers'. So be it. Some times a good plucking is what's needed to take things forward! This year my family did lose two beloved members. Maxine Joy Boswell, and Robert Gordon Boswell. I really couldn't have asked for better grandparents. Joy was the embodiment of Love and

It's been a while so said Stained, and it has. But I've just realised how I can bring Sexy, I mean blogging back. Mobile blogging. Wow am I slow or what? So it'll look ugly compared to posts done on a pc but it'll work. Update - it's been snowing. I turned 35 this week . Also Samir Nasri is on fire. That's it for post #99, I'll try to make the next one Big! -Bossman

Very good question and one I'm sure so many of you are asking yourselves......or not. Truth is I speak to lots of you often, and update FB quite a bit, so really you know what's been happening with me. But this is my forum to make things that little bit more interesting, to present things in a way that's different to what you have already seen or heard. So let's try and do that. Since my last post, I've certainly been busy. But right at the start I got to have a catch up with an old friend, meet a new friend, and grab some much needed R&R. I'd like to blog these things individually and add a couple snap shots if I may. This post is really to say I'm still here and checking in on all the blogs I'm a follower of, and to say don't give up on me. Keep your eyes open...

In 34 years I hadn't heard that said, and now I've said it a dozen times in a week.  I recall it being a Tuesday in early September, a particualrly torrid one to be more precise, that I thought I'd better check my hotmail and see how much junk there was to delete.  I love the little message they give you "Wow your mailbox is clean!" or some shit once you've deleted all the Russian Brides / Nigerian Billionaires / Cheap Viagra scams. A little bit of OCD goes a long way it would seem. Kudos to you Microsoft.  So I see sitting right on top an email with the subject of " New Balance Pub Pack Competition ". Hmmm another 'better luck next time but keep following us' email? Worth a look I thought. Only I was wrong, because the email started with -   Dear Paul , Bastard! My shoulders sagged, I reached for the Delete key and that impending "Wow.." message but then saw a little more beneath -   Congratulations - you're the w

Saw this today on HFCC Blog  and having worked with KL product, it's a must have. Already emailed MM about international shipping, otherwise my brother is going to receive a package to send onto me shortly.

The Texas Tornado . The Modern Day Warrior . He brought us the Iron Claw . The one, the only, Kerry Von Erich . The Von Erichs are the most famous family of wrestlers from Texas. I used to love watching these guys, and even caught an live event as a youngster. I remember this sh t in black and white, so it had to be very early in my childhood. I spent many a Friday night in front of the TV and on the sofa bed, wrestling for the title as my hero The Texas Tornado. Often against my toddler brothers and cousins. I had a 5 year start how could I not win and retain the title right? Sadly his personal life ended in tragedy. Kerry committed suicide by shooting himself with a 9 millimeter handgun in the chest, at his father's ranch in Denton, Texas, on February 18, 1993. Kerry drove a Jeep over a steep embankment at the time he shot himself. R.I.P. Kerry Gene Adkisson (February 3, 1960 – February 18, 1993). Photo : the Von Erich Brothers (Kevin, Kerry and Mike)

Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms  I believe this was the first real album I actually had for myself.  I think the UK got this album in 85 so I must have been 8 or 9 when I got it, on a clear plastic cassette tape, and I played it all the time on my Walkman­™  I was brought up around lots of music, LPs and live performances. For that I am eternally grateful.

The Dallas Sidekicks Whilst we're in a football mood, another childhood memory. I had all the players cards and followed football very closely. TATU was my favourite player.

It's no secret that I am down on Theo Walcott. I don't feel he has lived up to his potential but Wenger still sees something in him so I repsect that much. Still, if we got a £10 Million offer I'd not hesitate. Today he got his first hat-trick for Arsenal, albeit against a mostly 10 man Blackpool. Still, he made the difference by actually finishing in front of goal. I'll take that away from this game, and he of course takes the match ball. Kudos to you Theo, kudos to you.

Found this snippet of an article on Hypebeast and wanted to share. PW - "Marc Jacobs is the godfather. In no specific order, there’s Karl [Lagerfeld], Junya Watanabe, Rei from Comme des Garçons and Tommy Hilfiger is creeping up too – he has a nice couture line . Let’s get Nigo in there as well! All of those guys are the kings of all kings. The fact I was able to meet those people and work with them was really cool." Never in a million years did I think I'd see that type of accolade from P Willy, guess the $3Billion buy out did get some people's attention. I love my job, and the brand I represent.

A couple of cartoons that I remember watching a lot of and getting me thru. Underdog and Casper The Friendly Ghost

I'm running behind, what with all the Kelly Brook nakedness that's happening at the moment. Yes I just bought the Playboy with her in it. No it's not as awesome as I'd hoped. But she is still lovely. So I'm going to bend the rules once again and feature four favourite arcade games from my early childhood. So many days playing Q-Bert and Frogger usually at the gas station. And some very special nights watching my Dad and his band whilst rooted to the Dig Dug or Miss Pac Man table. Great Rock & Roll, hot old school bar maids, a sweet cherry in every glass of Coke, and quarters all night long. I miss those nights.

...another Kelly Brook naked moment. Looking forward to the magazine release on Monday!

So the theme of the blog for the next week is going to be childhood memories. No not the kind I speak to my therapist about, I don't have funny anicdotes or photos for those events, but I have some cool ideas and I hope you'll like them. These are in absolutely no order, but my brain is buzzing which makes me happy that I have so much to remember to make me smile. Let's start with cheating a little bit by having two things, but they featured heavily together back in the dizzle so that's my get out clause. It just didn't get much better for a young boy than the Transformers. And to have these guys doing battle on Earth or Cybertron was a dream come true. I could have chosen so many charaters from the show (ok let's be real the toy collection), but there was nothing like the mighty Dinobots & Constructicons!! DINOBOTS - LEARN! I wanted to give a special mention to some of the other characters but it's just impossible. I loved so many.

My buddy James brought a big smile to my grumpy tired face last night. I got home at 10pm to find a small envelope from Japan. I wasn't expecting anything but already knew it would be something awesome. And it was! James is a very thoughtful individual and you should do everything in your power to befriend him. Start by viewing his blog at eastfashioncollective and get the knowledge long before any of the usual haunts. CHARM Info

As usual lingerie brand Agent Provocateur finds interesting and innovative ways of promoting their new collections. Last season we have seen a great short film, for Fall/Winter 2010 they present the Private Tapes series of videos. It is a nice idea, as usually you would not want a private tape to be leaked on the Internet. The films were shot by music video director Johan Renck, who also previously worked with Beyoncé. (via Highsnobiety) More Videos

Wow Nike coming tough! I like. Nike 6.0 gave us an exclusive look at their limited run quickstrike t-shirts for Holiday 2010. Printed on premium shirts and featuring the most progressive graphics we’ve seen from 6.0, the highlight is definitely the skull swoosh above which sources told us “would never pass the swoosh police.” Peep the rest of the run after the jump. (via RadCollector) Nike 6.0 Quickstrike T’s

Nike Sportswear Air Force 1 Country Pack USA, part of the World Basketball Festival initiative of the brand. The sneaker comes in an all dark blue leather colorway with the American flag placed on the tongue and further details appearing on the outer sole. (via Highsnobiety) Maybe my only purchase of AF1s. We'll wait and see what the price tag comes in at. Pic 1 Pic 2

What I want to say tonight has already been said before, and better than I could put it. I need to find it and share it with you properly. So tonight is kind of a cop out, but it's been a week of daily updates and a refreshing look at things. I'm happy and I hope you are too. Until tomorrow.......

Stussy and NEIGHBORHOOD will revisit their 2008 Boneyards project with a follow-up capsule set for holiday 2010. The whole Boneyards concept was inspired by a secret surf location in San Pedro, California and the bike gangs of East Los Angeles in the 50′s through the 70′s. Stussy’s casual and easy-going surf styles are combined with the motorcycle and military sensibilities of NEIGHBORHOOD. The collection will encompass 36 pieces with a photozine of East LA bike clubs. Stay tuned for more details and looks into the collection . (via Hypebeast) I thought Chuey Quintanar's designs were the most rad last time around. I hope he is involved again. Can't wait for a preview of this collection!

Up to now I have been writing these entries off the top of my head. But I'm gonna venture off that track tonight. I had this thought rattling around my head late the other night and so jotted it down in my notebook, and I'd like to share it with you. It's a well know fact that exercise is a great way of alieviating symptoms of depression. Having a 40 hour a week job, 10 hour a week commute, and two (Rad) kids means I don't have time nor money for the gym. Sure, I have a bench (thanks to the MIL) with some free weights and I try to make time for that where possible, but my steady and reliable exercise of choice has been jogging. It's something I struggle to enjoy, but find it very rewarding. I also stick with it because my body reacts well to it. What I can't take pride in my body? Come on give me a break! So I was laying in bed after having had a great run (ignoring the fact my knees felt shot to pieces), and I was wondering why jogging seems to work so well

"It was the twelfth of September. That day I'll always remember, yes I will. 'Cause that was the day that my daddy died. I never got a chance to see him. Never heard nothing but bad things about him. Mama, I'm depending on you, tell me the truth." Driving home from work today, stereo off, windows down, and I smelt a bonfire. It's August people, stop f cking with my emotions will ya! Bonfires are for winter. And I both Love and Hate winter time. Sure it's a beautiful time of year, I can appreciate that, but it does something very strange to me. I'm working on breaking the habit so that I can enjoy the holiday season with my family and children more. I hope it's not something that's irreparable. I'd love to be able to enjoy all 12 months of the year, so if any of you take that for granted then shame on you. Grown ass man crying in the car all because of a smell. Taking that to my therapist that's for sure. So I started this blog ent

Sticking with the 'blog subject that makes no sense' theme. So another weekend is eaten up. And it's also August. 8 months down the line in 2010. We can still say it's summer, so that's good at least, though forcast for tomorrow is light rain and 24°C. Mmm sticky, balmy and wet. Sexy or what? I can't wait to count the number of (I've tried to think of descriptions without the racial slur but can't so bite me) wet backs on the way to work tomorrow. Always a treat. Today has been a bit like treading water for me. Woke groggy, went back to bed for a top up nap and that just escalated into a migraine. Navigated my way through that mess only to find I'd gone and blown most of the day. Still, got to play games with the kids, no journeys out of the house except to buy Dr Pepper and Skittles. AND I even got to watch the Arsenal on TV. I think we're going to be a surprise to everyone this year, most of all ourselves. This post is really just a re-ca

Did I mention that the subjects of my posts may have absolutely nothing to do with the post itself? You're all pretty smart, some just pretty, some just smart, never the less you'd have worked it out. I really don't know what happened today. If I look back over the past 16 hours, at no point did I have any reason to get upset or have cause to moan. And yet, by lunch time I had turned into a complete ass hole. The only way I can describe it is that my brain was sending both positive and negative messages simultaneously, and I just couldn't work out what was going on. Already an unpleasant state of mind to be in, then add guilt and anger to the mix. So I had zero patience with the kids, and barely spoke to anyone else. I muddled through but couldn't have made it more obvious that something was wrong, I just didn't know what. I still don't. I've long ago figured out that running is very good for my physical AND mental health. I took a leisurely jog t

Some days keeping it simple works the best, and reaps the most rewards. I'm talking spiritual and emotional rewards. I'm thankful today for the Sun, our home and garden, my children, wifey working, my job and the holiday it entitles me to, and all of our health. " How d'you know where're you goin' if you don't look back ?" Man I love House of Pain . I've experienced enough to know that you have to move on, but I've yet to understand how to forgive and forget. And I'm still grasping the art of reflection and mastering Self Acceptance. So as much as I'd love to agree with Everlast, on this one I gotta stand beside Joel Osteen when he says - " Are you determined to forget what lies behind? I know many people don’t fully understand what it means to forget the past. They wonder, “How can I forget something that’s happened to me?” But one definition of the word forget means to disregard intentionally, or to overlook. You have to i

I hope you didn't think I'd forgotten! It's been a busy day and I have a small bit of down time to do this before bed. I was brain storming like crazy last night, scribbling away in my note pad whilst my wife slept. I won't lie, I'm finding it much trickier to get up in the mornings when I've stayed up 'late'. I won't however tell you what time I consider to be late. Hey I'm still a cool guy, at least for now. So things are happening. Great! Only I can't pour it all out at once, that reminds me of the lyrics - "If I could stick my pen in my heart And spill it all over the stage Would it satisfy ya, would it slide on by ya Would you think the boy is strange? Ain't he strange?" Yeah that's going to feature heavily in my blogs from now on. Little snippets of lyrics and what not. So how do I choose what to run with? Do I need to think so much about it? I'll try not to over complicate things. Let's start slo

Whilst having what I believe was my sixth poop today (my stomach hates me), I got to thinking that this blog has been kind of flakey and not exactly what I set out for it to be. Hence the various layout and design changes over the last few months. I can't quite make it sit right. So maybe I'm looking at it all wrong. I feel I have some sort of creative block on currently (actually it's been over quite some time but I'm somewhat in denial). I admit, I've grown to love Facebook, after my initial resistance to it. And it offers a great deal, but I want to give this blog what I can't necessarily give Facebook. Maybe a more personal part of me, and seeing as not many people actually read this anyway, I think I have pretty much free range to bare all and go wild, figuratively speaking. Although a very good friend of mine gave me a wonderful gift of a writing pad, I've not used it nearly enough, and so in the short term at least maybe this can spark my passion

Whilst I'm at it why not show a Legend scoring against the Scum? Good luck in NY TT!

Ok one more hot chick and footwear related video, as it's Friday. I love these sneaks. Had my first pair when I was 15 or 16 I think, so was very happy to be able to pick up another after all this time.

It's no secret that I love Estevan's work. It's also no secret I love boobs and tattoos. So this is my treat for Friday. Enjoy. T.I.T.S. x Estevan Oriol Ft. Megan Daniels Photoshoot from TITS Brand on Vimeo .

Nice window dressing previewing our new Away strip, at the store here in London. Cesc is staying, deal with it Barca fans.

Sneaky peak from the showroom of the collection that will be released later this year at select dept. stores and independants. It's a very strong and more diverse selection this time around. Colourful, fresh and unmistakebly Keith Haring. Apparel in way of tees and hoodies will also be available. The kid's wear stuff is awesome.

" - without a blog post to step to." Rakim would turn in his grave at me using that for this, wait, he's not dead is he. I better watch my back then. But yeah, phone is fixed, major source of my photos and therefore blog ideas. I'm back.

Via Highsnobiety and EIZO

Limited Edition apparel, footwear and bags.

Made a visit over the weekend to my good friend Lee over at Aching Soul Dermagraphix. Fortunately he has a spot for me next month. I can't wait to get in the chair again. Mr Pullen is an absolute gent and a fantastic artist. I couldn't wish for more. Also popped into Frith Street to discuss some work and left with a big smile on my face. If a consultation date in Sept can make me feel that good, wait until you see what I'm having done. Much love to Valerie and the crew at the shop. More to come.

Very clean. I'm a big fan of this brand. Lovewright Co. Winter Trailer 2010 from The Social Trust on Vimeo .

Cool video from the launch party for Vans OTW. Catch Muggs, Everlast, Estevan, Toons and RZA in the video. SA all fucking day baby!

My latest obsession. How can I get one of these? (via Highsnobiety) - Japanese brand Neighborhood linked up with Hamilton to collaborate on the Khaki watch. The watch comes with a croc leather strap, which was designed by Neighborhood. Also Neighborhood has been engraved on the back of the watch case. Answers on an e-card to my address please.

Nike Sportswear x Mr. Cartoon "True Colors" from hypebeast.tv on Vimeo .

Need to find this elephant! Will keep an eye on this elephant and see what sort of price it's at nearer the end of the auction. Though word is we already have a possible buyer from the company and this big red fella could be in our showrooms at the end of the summer. Fingers crossed! #247 Tommy Hilfiger Red Elephant