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Welcome to InsideHook’s Staff Picks, a compendium of what our editors are digging recently.
Mercado Storage Basket
This basket is woven together in a fair-trade Mexican factory with hand-braided palm leaves and leather handles. The whole process takes three days! I’m furnishing an apartment in a couple weeks, and plan on picking up one in medium ($99) for my room. I have no clue what I’ll use it for — laundry? blankets? books? — but it’ll make me happy regardless, especially once I inevitably end up shooting rolled-up socks into it JR Smith-style from across the room. — Tanner Garrity, Associate Editor
Walk This Way: Run-DMC, Aerosmith and the Song That Changed American Music Forever
Pretty much nobody saw how a collaboration between a young New York hip-hop trio struggling to get airtime and a washed-up Boston hard-rock band desperate for a comeback was going to, yes, change music forever. In his new book, Washington Post national arts reporter Geoff Edgers chronicles the making of the iconic (and cheap and somewhat racially divisive) video, and how the two musical acts behind the song really didn’t care for each other. You can read an excerpt here. — Kirk Miller, Nation Editor/Managing Editor
Proof Strong Shirt
The material this shirt is made from is halfway between chambray and denim, meaning you’re going to get all the flexibility and comfort of a chambray shirt, but all the durability of a sturdy denim work shirt. The double breast pocket, while a tough maneuver to pull off, works well on this one and allows for optimal storage of your phone or beer can or pens or really whatever else you’re working with that fits into a breast pocket. Except now you have two of them! If you’re wearing jeans I would recommend wearing unbuttoned with a solid tee white tee underneath to avoid the Canadian tuxedo look. But hey, if that’s your game, no shame in that either. — Eli London, Director of Partnerships and User Acquisition
Grecian Bust Pot
Not long ago, we detailed how to become a houseplant person. I have since nursed most of my plants back to health, save for one. Maybe it’s the lack of sunlight in my apartment, maybe it’s the rapid temperature fluctuations or maybe it’s something else entirely. Either way, this lil’ guy is basically on life support. If you have a similarly stubborn shrub, I found a solution: replant it inside this Grecian bust pot. That way, even if it withers away, you can pass it off as aesthetically intentional. And if it dies, the pot looks just as good on your windowsill empty. — Alex Lauer, Senior Editor
Mercator K55K Black Cat Folding Knife
So you want to buy a folding knife. This is good! Folding knives are handsome and useful and exceedingly low-profile, in a way that say, a bulky Leatherman is not. Now, there are two basic formats to choose from: a slipjoint (like the douk douk) and a lockback, which is what the Mercator is. The difference? Lockbacks have a locking mechanism, which means you’re marginally less likely to cut off all your fingers while attempting to shotgun a beer one-handed in the dark. Small odds or not, I’ll take them, which is why I’m a Mercator man. The design itself is 160 years old, and if you take good care of it, you can expect yours to last for at least a quarter of that. Forty is a long time in knife years. — Walker Loetscher, Editor in Chief
Sole Premium Weighted Blanket
Wife could not sleep, often flopped around like fish. Much nocturnal distraction. Purchased weighted blanket, placed it over wife at bedtime. Wife now sleeps like cat in sunbeam. 10/10, would place over wife again. — Danny Agnew, Creative Director
Uniqlo Harrington Jacket
For years, I have been toying with the idea of investing in a Baracuta G9 Harrington, the iconic jacket worn by everyone from James Dean to Steve McQueen to Elvis. Thing is, the real-deal version sells for nearly $400, which, I dunno, always strikes me as a lot to spend on an item whose usefulness is limited to spring and maybe fall. I’ll eventually buy one, but for now, I’m going to give the Uniqlo interpretation a shot. It lacks some of the original’s details, like the unmistakable plaid lining, but the cut is similar enough and the general idea is the same. And at $49, if I find out that I absolutely cannot pull off the red version, it won’t be too costly a lesson learned. — Mike Conklin, Executive Editor
THE BEST THINK WE DRANK (FROM) THIS WEEK
Adventure Copper Shot Glass Set
I’m a big fan of anywhere you can drink outdoors — the beach, stadium parking lots, the wilderness — so this copper shot glass set from United Blue is perfect for any festive, fresh-aired occasion I find myself in. The set contains four hand-welded copper shot glasses, constructed with high-quality copper and finished with a tarnish-reducing lacquer interior. Each glass is stamped with spirited phrases like “Made for the Mountains” and “Adventure Awaits” (to spawn any extra courage the liquor didn’t provide). And for every purchase, United Blue removes one pound of trash from the world’s oceans and waterways, so I’ll be drinking to that. — Logan Mahan, Editorial Intern
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