Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2015

I've been able to watch the VS Fashion every year for the last 5 years, without fail UNTIL THIS YEAR (dumb work..) When I was younger, I would put on these lady bug wings from an old Halloween costume, and do a runway in my room like I was one of the angels!

I'll watch it online tomorrow on my day off, but I looked up the looks and wasn't particularly floored with anything I saw, but I was definitely impressed with a few of them! Here are a few of my favorite looks from the show! 

XO
MELANIE

Dot Work Tattoos

Dot work, also known as stipple shading, is a shading technique that artists have been doing for many many years in tons of different forms of art, whether it's pencil, ink, paint, digital art, etc. I've never been able to successfully create something that great using stippling, because I'm an impatient person as a whole. When I say that this technique takes time.... It is such an understatement. It's definitely a tedious technique, that one must be very meticulous about where to place every little dot!

When it comes to tattooing, it isn't much different. Dot-work tattoos have been my favorite style of tattoo for quite some time now, I just wasn't been able to find a tattoo artist in my area that I would trust with such a task, until I came across Alan Lott of Dogstar Tattoo Co. and I fell in love with his work instantly! There are tons of artists who do dot-work, and do it well. If you're thinking about getting some dots done, I wouldn't just go to any tattoo artist. I would find someone who has done it quite a bit, of course! I found the guy who did my most recent tattoo, through a page of tattoo artists all around North Carolina! I feel like a lot of states have pages like this on Instagram, so search for one for your state! One of my favorite dot-work artists is the lovely Hannah Pixie Sykes. It's a dream of mine to get tattooed by her for sure!

XO
MELANIE

Stone brewing co. - Thunderstruck double IPA 19thAnniversary

With fall and winter quickly approaching I'm running out of time to constantly talk about ipa's. Soon I'll be spouting off about browns and stouts and porters and oktoberfesters, but before I do all that I have to tell you to go buy Stone's new Anniversary ale. Of course it's a giant hop bomb, that's expected. What's new and awesome here is the use of 100% Australian hops. Malt too. 4 hops specifically: topaz and galaxie but also newcomers ella and vic secret. The use of these make this beer one intense tropical fruit tasting, super sticky and dank ipa. To no surprise either as Stone is known for being kings of the ipa in my opinion. Sort of a heavy hitter at 8.7% abv this one is sure to please you hop heads searching for the new what's next. Cheers!

My Score: 98

Rate Beer:  97

Beer Advocate: 90

FIREPROOF!

Toph is here with another friggin homegrown BANGERRRRRR <3

This past weekend, Under the Gun Review debuted the new single "Fireproof" for our good homies in Wolfshark. I was really excited to hear this jam, and it didn't disappoint. I'm very proud to have known Colin Guffey as a musician for pretty much forever now, and he's come a long way. He's developed a really cool sound as a vocalist, and works really well with the dynamics the band creates. You end up with this really dope fuck-you-you-don't-even-know-me party jammer. The main riff is a really cool norma-jean esque bit they pull through most of the song without losing the energy of it. The chorus hits you with hint of the Used and maybe a little bit of ETID with the way Colin croons over it. I really love the guitar tone in this band. For being what I and a lot of folks are calling a "Party Metal Band"- I feel the tone is pretty sophisticated. You get this really cool high-end English tube sound with a more natural break up. It's GAWJUSS. :) The bridge starts with the whole band stepping aside and letting our bassist shine. He comes in with this really cool slap-happy riff, where you finally realize how good his tone is as well. Gritty, a bit of a fuzz on it, and only slappy enough to be interesting. Reminds me of He Is Legend's bass sound. And then the whole group gets back into it with this escalating set of bars- starting with some delay on the fiddle and Colin cooing like sexy dove over the top. And then we explode. But Colin doesn't, because he is "FIREPROOF, YOU FUCK!"

I fucking love this jam. Check out the vid below, by our good dude Brandan Lee Keller. <3

See?!? I told you!!!!

Aren is shooting an interview with the dudes soon, he'll be talking to them about how sexy they are AND about their forthcoming Spring 2015 EP  titled "Finding Yourself". Look for all of that and more right here at vilecompany.com. ALSO- be sure to follow Wolfshark on Facebook, and come check them at Cthulhu's 2 Year Anniversary Pizza Slam coming up at the stick March 14th!!!!

XOXO- Toph <3

Founders Mosaic Promise

Mosaic Promise is a simple beer. But that's not to say that it is simple in flavor. From just one hop and one malt (golden promise), this beer delivers some great flavors. Light-medium body. Super easy drinking IPA. Mosaic hops are a hybrid style that blends the citrus hop with the simcoe hop. It's one of my favorite styles and flavors and the fact this beer isn't over slammed with different malts, it really does show off the hops profile. Everything keeps simple with a 5.5%abv and bitterness right down the middle at 50 IBU. This is a one off brew, which is pretty common for Founders and other micro breweries, so cram it down your face hole as much as possible. This beer though, should have come out two months ago. Would have made a great mowing the lawn beer. Cheers!

My Score: 95

Rate Beer: 97

Beer Advocate: 90