Because why not?
On Bad Guys and Anti-Heroes
I was walking to work the other day and had Mad Men on my mind. It’s a show both my wife and I enjoy and the previous night we had been talking about how, contrary to most people, we actually enjoy it more with Don being happily married and leading the life of a relatively good man.
I was curious so I started to mentally sort through other shows and movies to see if I could find an example of a masculine man who could get the job done and wasn’t fatally flawed. I couldn’t think of one. It seems that all the entertainment that depicts men who are good at being men also uses men who are fatally flawed. Even a show like Breaking Bad, where the main character goes from being weak and pathetic to being a man who gets things done, is really a show about how a man can sell his soul to hell one small step at a time.
I did a post a long time ago about positive portrayals of masculinity on TV and even those are all men who have major character flaws.
It creates a false dichotomy of good men who are effeminate and wimpy or bad men who are masculine and manly. There are few examples of good men who are good at being men. The more I thought
It seems that there is an intentional starving of any masculinity. That way, when it’s presented in the form of bad men, average guys are so deprived they’ll readily drink it up and believe that’s who they need to be. It’s akin to a starving man eating a poisonous loaf of bread just to satiate his hunger.
I don’t think that’s an accident.
44 Cal Ring
Messenger Bag
Familiarity Breeds Comfort
I wish I could tell you there isn’t an adjustment to wearing better clothing but there is. Even a button-up shirt and slim pants are going to fit and feel differently than your XL T-shirt and cargo shorts. A suit is going to feel even more unusual and uncomfortable for a while. But I promise you that the more you wear nicer clothing, the more comfortable you will be in it.
I had a job interview yesterday and had to take the motorcycle because my wife needed the car on the other side of the valley. Not a big deal since I take the bike to work every day that I can, but she died on me as I was on my way home. I got off to see if I could diagnose the problem, tried kickstarting her a couple of times, and eventually pushed her about a quarter of a mile into a golf course parking lot that would let me keep her there for a few hours until I could come back.
As I was sitting in the parking lot, trying to diagnose the problem, and waiting for a ride, I had four guys on a golf cart ride past me and start heckling me about being in a suit getting my hands dirty with a vintage motorcycle. It was the first time since I left the interview that I realized I was even wearing one and how odd it must have looked to anyone who saw me trying to fix my own motorcycle. But I’ve worn a suit almost every day for the past nine years. I’ve full-on sprinted to catch buses and hung out in Toronto laundromats in a suit. I’ve been West-Coast swing dancing and even a session at the skate park in a suit. It’s easy for me to forget I’m wearing one because I’ve gotten so used to.
Now few of those are expected situations and not all of you will get to where you’re that comfortable in something as dressed up as a suit. The point is that the discomfort of wearing better clothes won’t last and – sooner than you think – you won’t even think about what you’re wearing except for how good it makes you look.