Shopping for designer clothes in Mexico City isn’t the same as it is in other world capitals.
In the tiny Miguel Caballero boutique on a leafy side street in the Polanco district, the jackets and shirts are not stacked according to size; they are stacked according to how well they will stop a bullet from piercing your chest.
“Low” means it can protect you against a .38 Special; “medium” will allow you to survive an assault from a sub-machinegun; and “high” will give you the chance to brag about the time someone tried to take you out at point-blank range with a .44 Magnum.
Welcome to the world of high-security fashion — a lucrative market in a country where there have been almost 3,000 murders this year, along with two or three kidnappings every day.
Miguel Caballero — named after the company’s Colombian founder — sells everything from trenchcoats to dress shirts (to be worn under your dinner jacket) and leather motorcycle jackets. Customers include President Chávez of Venezuela.
The most expensive line, labelled Black, features removable bulletproof panels that are so light and flexible that you can screw them up in your hand like paper. They are also thermo-regulating, meaning that they keep your body temperature between 13C (55F) and 17C. The only downside is the expense: $7,000 (£4,000) for a single jacket with the highest level of protection.
Bottle Service Update: Half-bottle service in Las Vegas
One of my droogs just sent me an article about Bottle Service in Las Vegas.
New York-New York Hotel & Casino’s new nightclub — ROK Vegas — will offer half-bottle service when it opens to the public Labor Day Weekend. It’s billed as a Vegas first. Half bottles start at $175, plus tax and gratuity.
The idea is to “enhance the VIP experience by offering guests more choices for their tables,” according to press materials, plus give nightlife lovers a more budget-friendly club option.
With the Market getting pummeled like Tommy “The Hit Man” Hearns in the third round with Marvelous Marvin Hagler I have been getting tons of emails about how to save Money in a Down Economy.
Here is a great tip:
If you are anything like me, you will have fly girls that you swooped out of Nightclubs, Gentleman’s Clubs, off the street, and from bars at your crib, five nights a week, kicking off their heels and enjoying a few drinks.
The drink of choice, typically, is to make up a Grey Goose (or some other clean vodka) and Soda for yourself and something vodka related for the fly girl. Or pop a bottle of Champagne. But we all know, top shelf liquors and French Champagne can eat into your Bankroll, especially in a Down Economy.
So for a Down Economy Hedge, save your empty Ketel and Goose bottles and funnel in some low grade vodka. Also, go down to the little Italian Market down the street and pick up some low cost Italian Proseccos or Spanish Cavas. Show me a girl who can tell the difference, and I will show you someone with a more stylish Jab than a young Muhammad Ali. (Even Sophistos can’t really tell the difference, and I have done the unofficial case studies to prove it.)
“New Rule, just because you live in the middle of nowhere doesn’t make you are more “authentic” than me. It just means you have a much longer drive to the airport.”
“Ever since Sarah Palin came along, this election has been falsely framed as a contest between “salt of the earth”, Small time Maverick Westerners and Snooty Eastern elites.”
Mitt Romney implied that “The East Coast is where all the Liberals, with all there bad ideas come from. You know, bad ideas like the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution and The Bill of Rights. As opposed to the brilliant ideas that come out of the West like Frontier Justice and wearing cowboy boots with a suit.”
“The ideas this nation was founded on came from the most Cosmopolitan people of their day, The Founding Fathers. Who believed in Science, who looked for Europe for wisdom, and had no use for ignorant hicks like Bush and Palin.”
“Cities are about diversity of thought, small towns are about, well, Crystal Meth!”
“The is so much Meth in Sarah Palin’s town, I am suprised she didn’t have a kid named “Tweaker”!”
I am going to see Bill Maher speak soon at a meeting of Democratic Heavyweights that I was invited to. Should be good.
The Rest is Up to You…..
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA The Seventh Letter
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
The Pick up Artist phenomenon has gathered tons of speed over the last few years. Ever since “The Game” by Neil Strauss came out, every guy who never had success with girls, are now hitting up Nightclubs from Sunset Strip to Miami Beach spitting Game.
Personally, I love it. I think it is great that “regular guys” are learning The Game. Like I have mentioned before, it’s a Modern day “Revenge of the Nerds”. And I think that most Pick up Artist Theory can be very effective when used properly. Furthermore, I can’t really say enough about the Theories of Social Dynamics that the Pick up Artist have come up with.
But, there are some very distinct differences between The G and The Pick up Artists. This is not a diss in any way specifically to The Pick up Artists and the Pick up Artist community in general. I personally have met many prominent Pick up Artists and they always seemed like cool cats. But, I wanted to make the difference between G’s and Pick up Artists as clear as an un-muddied lake, as clear as an Azure sky in deepest summer.
So let’s get things nice and sparkling clear:
Style (and I don’t mean the guy who wrote “The Game” either.)
Pick up Artists: Ridiculous Fuzzy top hats, suspect designer jeans, Christian Audigier Shirts, Smet (or whatever is the “party shirt” de jour). Store bought trendy crap. Contrived “rebel” look purchased from corporations using sweat shop, third world, child labor. Wristbands and other wack jewelry. The Mall.
The G: Expensive, Sinister, Hand tailored Custom English or Italian tailored suits. Saville Row. Milan. Naples. Rome. Etro. Gucci loafers. Jermyn Street for custom shoes. Dunhill Lighters. Ozwald Boateng. Brioni. The Height of G Fashion. G’s dress like how men are supposed to dress. My Grandfather always told me; “Style and Taste are for men. Trends and Fashion are for the ladies.” G’s stick with Style and Taste.
Game
Pick up Artists: Solid foundational stuff but much too unnatural and studied. Canned routines. Demonstrations of higher value. Negs. Approaches “sets” and picks up on girls. Local.
The G: Natural. Unscripted. Smooth as silk. Girls pick up on G’s because they feel the higher value. International.
Target Girls
Pick up Artists: Ex-sorority middle America. Status Quo. Girls who look ok now, but have bad genetics. Girls Gone Wild.
The G: Model Girls. Extremely wealthy high-society girls. Daughters of CEO’s of The Fortune 500. International girls. Exotic Dancers. Sophistos. Daughters of Crime Bosses. Nightlife Princesses. Playboy Playmates (just to balance it out).
Background
Pick up Artists: Never successful with girls prior to studying The Game. Suburbia. Places you have never heard of or places you would never go in your right mind.
The G: Has Swooped girls from the cradle. Urban environments, stunning beaches with water the color of Curacao liqueur, worlds best cities, and places you want to spend the rest of your life in.
Pick up Artists: Can’t get enough of getting in nightclub “Party Pics” that are put on crappy websites.
The G: Avoids all cameras. (Unless its pictures with Liberal Politicians, Civil Rights Leaders, or Muhammad Ali. And you have all copies.)
Soundtrack to life
Pick up Artists: Not sure. Crappy Pop? Emo? (whatever that is.) Goggly Gogol? Johnny Zhivago? The Heaven Seventeen?
The G: Curtis Mayfield. Issac Hayes. Mid-nineties “Golden Age” NYC Hip-Hop. Jazz. Soul. Blues. Frank. The glorious 9th by Ludwig Van. Angel trumpets and Devil trombones.
Drinking
Pick up Artists: Preach a no drinking policy when picking up on girls. But I am sure gets plenty of Bottle Service.
The G: Top shelf booze. Clean Vodkas with soda and a lime. Big Reds. Spicy Zins. Absinthe. (Cuidado with the Absinthe). Cold Sake. Moloko-Plus. Vellocet or Synthemesc or Drencrom. Whatever is the national drink of whatever country you are currently peeling girls in.
Heros
Pick up Artists: Mystery, Neil Strauss, Mehow, etc.
Pick up Artists: Who knows? Accountants? Office workers? Regular guy jobs?
The G: Heistmen. Standover men. Clockers. Leveraged Buyouts. High Finance. “Gray Market” Commerce. Developing. Import-Exports. International Business. Submarine brokering (serious, I know this Russian cat on the Sub-flipping tip. Tells me is pretty lucrative too.) Impeccable Hustles. Mansized Crasts for the big, big, big money.
Smoking
Pick up Artists: Non-smokers.
The G: Chain smokers. First rate cigars. Chronic sometimes. G-13. Lebanese Blond.
Slang
Pick up Artists: Acronyms. “Stacking”. “Peacocking”, IOI’s “Sargeing” Etc.
The G: Language colored by many travels. Argot of the street. Lexicon of the true Game.
“Wings”
Pick up Artists: Loves to roll with a “wingman”.
The G: “Wingman” not in the G’s vocabulary. Too “Top Gun” (gayest movie of all time). Goes for Dolo. Or with a G Manifesto Certified Running Partner.
Drugs
Pick up Artists: Probably against.
The G: Never uses drugs to inebriate girls, and considers doing so, a horrible crime. Takes drugs himself, if the situation absolutely calls for it.
Street Cred
Pick up Artists: None.
The G: Thorough in every Borough, and double all across the Bubble.
CASH
Pick up Artists: Swears on never buying girls drinks, paying for dinners or spending money on girls.
The G: Has class and has connections to the old-school, so in the right moments buys deserving girls drinks. Is CASH rich, so paying for a dinner doesn’t hurt Bankroll. Loves haute cuisine and realizes it doesn’t hurt to have a beautiful girl next to you while wacking down some Jamon Iberico, cold Albariño and imported cheeses. Understands that having a beautiful girl in tow will only get The G better service, comped meals and more props next time he rolls to the spot.
Which brings us to the main difference between the philosophy of the Pick up Artists and The G Manifesto:
Pick up Artist Theory helps you pick up girls, The G Manifesto is The Guide to Getting More out of Life.
A higher level of The Game, if you will.
Sure, swooping girls is 99% of life, but I want the freshest, most marbled cuts of Toro too.
Winner and still Undisputed Champion…The G Manifesto, by Second Round KO (only because we carried them a round).
The Rest is Up to You…..
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA The Seventh Letter
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
