The George Hahn Show

In this episode of the George Hahn Podcast, I touch on the success and positive effects I've observed about Citibike bike share here in New York City. Also, I've been listening to "Hesitation Marks," the fantastic new album from Nine Inch Nails. My brother Mark was their first tour manager, working for the group through several tours into the mid 1990s. I recall a story about a booze-soaked experience with Trent Reznor back in 1990 and being reminded of that experience when I ran into Trent a few years ago at the Apple Store. I also touch upon what I'm thinking for the future of the podcast.

In this episode of the George Hahn Podcast, I touch on the success and positive effects I've observed about Citibike bike share here in New York City. Also, I've been listening to "Hesitation Marks," the fantastic new album from Nine Inch Nails. My brother Mark was their first tour manager, working for the group through several tours into the mid 1990s. I recall a story about a booze-soaked experience with Trent Reznor back in 1990 and being reminded of that experience when I ran into Trent a few years ago at the Apple Store. I also touch upon what I'm thinking for the future of the podcast.

In this episode of the podcast, I lend my perspective on the cost of clothing and our often unreasonable expectations about it. To me, the expectation of the cost of a very simple garment like a t-shirt or a pair of jeans should be quite different from that of a suit or a blazer (especially the custom variety), which has a markedly more complicated and intricate construction and is much more difficult to make. And, hopefully, the garment in question is a quality garment, made with high construction standards.

Essentially, a market where we want increasingly more for increasingly less is unsustainable. As a non-millionaire who appreciates quality and craftsmanship, I'm willing to pay a fair (and even more than fair) price for a handsome garment that is made well under fair labor practice. Anything less is a thoughtless pursuit that feeds a gluttonous "fast fashion" monster that pukes more and more crap onto a growing heap of cheap, disposable, trash clothing.

In this episode of the podcast, I lend my perspective on the cost of clothing and our often unreasonable expectations about it. To me, the expectation of the cost of a very simple garment like a t-shirt or a pair of jeans should be quite different from that of a suit or a blazer (especially the custom variety), which has a markedly more complicated and intricate construction and is much more difficult to make. And, hopefully, the garment in question is a quality garment, made with high construction standards.

Essentially, a market where we want increasingly more for increasingly less is unsustainable. As a non-millionaire who appreciates quality and craftsmanship, I'm willing to pay a fair (and even more than fair) price for a handsome garment that is made well under fair labor practice. Anything less is a thoughtless pursuit that feeds a gluttonous "fast fashion" monster that pukes more and more crap onto a growing heap of cheap, disposable, trash clothing.

Inspired by an email I got today regarding the sentiment of "it's not whether you win or lose…" I was reminded of David Lee Roth's now famous quote from an awards show sometime in the 1980s: "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how good you look." The reminder sent me down a rabbit hole, starting with the gems produced a Google image search of "david lee roth," coupled with listening to old Van Halen albums in the process. What did I learn? David Lee Roth was a really fun rock star with an inimitable style.

In this episode of the podcast, I also discuss the onslaught of comments produced by a piece I wrote about riding a bicycle without a helmet ("So I Don't Wear a Helmet. Get Off My Ass," May 30, 2013). Along with some great comments on the piece, both agreeing and disagreeing with my point of view, my approach to this hot-button issue apparently inspires some really low-grade, badly-spelled and poorly punctuated vitriol. I'm fine with all opinions that differ from my own or those of my readers. But I draw the line when commenters use internet anonymity as a license to be an asshole. Disrespectful, lack of civility and simple bad manners goes unrewarded in my house. While the internet at large is a wonderful and democratic medium, georgehahn.com is not a democracy: any disrespect or simple bad manners aimed at me or, most importantly, my readers goes unpublished and deleted.

Aside from that… I'm loving the summer season so far, and I hope you all are, too.

G

In my decade-long career as a web designer, I've never been able to get used to the sheer lack of efficiency in the corporate process when building a project. From gathering assets, to upholding schedule milestones, to meeting deadlines, to making decisions, to arriving at consensus and to completing payment… it's a process that gets irredeemably stuck in the rusty cogs of a bloated machine that has grown too fat to function, at least not with any level of reasonable efficiency. As a decisive one-man band who keeps it lean and works fast, it makes my head spin, leaving me amazed that anything actually gets done. I come from a show business background, where opening night is opening night, no matter how many more rehearsals you wish you had. For my own purposes, I work by a credo I heard from the TV sketch comedy deity Lorne Michaels, who said this about Saturday Night Live: "We don't go on because we're ready. We go on because it's 11:30."

In my decade-long career as a web designer, I've never been able to get used to the sheer lack of efficiency in the corporate process when building a project. From gathering assets, to upholding schedule milestones, to meeting deadlines, to making decisions, to arriving at consensus and to completing payment… it's a process that gets irredeemably stuck in the rusty cogs of a bloated machine that has grown too fat to function, at least not with any level of reasonable efficiency. As a decisive one-man band who keeps it lean and works fast, it makes my head spin, leaving me amazed that anything actually gets done. I come from a show business background, where opening night is opening night, no matter how many more rehearsals you wish you had. For my own purposes, I work by a credo I heard from the TV sketch comedy deity Lorne Michaels, who said this about Saturday Night Live: "We don't go on because we're ready. We go on because it's 11:30."

Having accepted that I don't have a movie star-sized head, I've realized that I can't really wear wide ties if the proportions of the tie, shirt collar and jacket lapel are going to look right on me. Narrower is the game for a monkey with my narrow head. (Same goes for my jacket lapels.) The maximum tie width for me is around 2.5 inches. Also in this episode is my spiel on shaving... which is the same how-to spiel you'd get anywhere else. The truth is that - no matter what you read - there is no new ground to be broken in the "art of shaving." It's well-tread ground on a firmly-established grooming ritual.

Having accepted that I don't have a movie star-sized head, I've realized that I can't really wear wide ties if the proportions of the tie, shirt collar and jacket lapel are going to look right on me. Narrower is the game for a monkey with my narrow head. (Same goes for my jacket lapels.) The maximum tie width for me is around 2.5 inches. Also in this episode is my spiel on shaving... which is the same how-to spiel you'd get anywhere else. The truth is that - no matter what you read - there is no new ground to be broken in the "art of shaving." It's well-tread ground on a firmly-established grooming ritual.

In the wake of a mind-blowing episode of Downton Abbey and with the coming premiere of House of Cards, an original Netflix series, we can't have the same "water cooler" conversations about shows the way we used to because the way we watch TV is changing. In this episode, I talk about how I get my content without cable. I also introduce a new podcast feature: Hidden Treasures on Netflix. This week's hidden Netflix treasure: Dirty Money, aka Un Flic (1972), the final film of French New Wave pioneer Jean-Pierre Melville.