Gear Patrol

Around the country, where people can’t easily access a natural body of water, they’ll flock to fake ones for some relaxation, fun, and relief from the heat. This is the seasonal blessing and curse of the fortunate few who own — or have access to — a pool. If you fall into this category and are already bemoaning your hosting duties to come, may we remind you of the wise words of “Uncle” Ben Parker Voltaire, “with great power comes great responsibility”. Think that bowl of corn chips (“but they’re restaurant style!”) and playing some Jimmy Buffet from your puny laptop speakers answers the call? You are woefully mistaken.

It’s time to take your waterside shindigs to another plane. What we’re talking about is the kind of event that’ll haunt Charlie Sheen’s dreams and leave the neighborhood gabbing for decades. We’ve got your shopping list right here.

Selecting the 100 best books for men requires some audacity — but so does hitting a good tee shot or giving a toast, and we like those things fine. We figured the best way to do an honest job of it was to imagine ourselves as audience members: What do we want to read? The answer we discovered, after some hemming and hawing, was simply something we’ll enjoy.

So that’s what we did. Our 100 selections are our all-time favorites — albeit considered in the light of how much they changed our lives, and might change yours — and each of the six “auditors” had a general (but not universal) slant. Our car editor loved motorcycle manuals and top-tier action novels. Our watch and diver fanatic loved tales of true survival. One co-founder was into age-of-thought-shifting sci-fi. I had a definite classics fetish.

Ultimately, we realized that each of our individual favorites made up an extremely wide range of suggestions. And really, on a very large scale, that’s what a library is. Sure, we have an immense amount of room to go, and some incredible literature has been missed. But we’ve also hit at least a small corner of what most might consider the “core readings”; and, sticking to our previously mentioned “read what you like” rule, there have to be at least a few you’ll truly enjoy.

Bond, James Bond. Admit it; you read that with an accent. Was it Scottish? We ask because the upcoming Blu-ray release of Skyfall ($25) could cause you to reconsider your lilt. Under the direction of Sam Mendes, in what is certainly the most visually stunning of the franchise, Daniel Craig delivers a 007 that easily challenges Connery for the crown.

On-screen chemistry isn’t something to be overlooked (just ask Padme and Anakin). Luckily, Jake Gyllenhal and Michael Peña don’t suffer the same wooden fate. As LAPD Officers Taylor and Zavala, the two actors shine in a dark world, providing just the right amount of wit, raw humor and law enforcement street cred to make End…

What could you have possibly done to make the monkey so mad? Temple Run 2 (free), much like its predecessor, is insanely addictive and madly difficult. Yes, you’re still fleeing through a sparse, badly maintained network of paths, using your fingers to slide, leap, turn and tilt. These sorts of games have a definitively juvenile…

Streaming music to the four corners of your house might still be considered a luxury, but a new face in the hi-fi streaming game, Pure, claims to undercut the competition in price and ease of use with its Jongo speaker series. The line provides multi-speaker streaming for radio, podcasts, Pure Music subscriptions and more via…

To the inexperienced, the words “techie” and “guy” seem synonymous. Sure, most guys do like technology these days — but like does not true a techie make. So while this list can absolutely be applied to any modern man, its real target is the hardcore gadget nut. The one who scours the blogs and refreshes…

There’s a coffee table book for everything these days, so we’re a little surprised it’s taken this long to address a topic so near and dear to anyone with even a scrap of inner childhood left kicking around: tree houses. Maybe we’re just rusty on our Swiss Family Robinson. Taschen’s Tree Houses: Fairy Tale Castles…

They speak to Adobe software like a petulant brother, organize bookshelves by color for “fun” and fill photo albums with typefaces. They find calm through arranging objects in right angles (whether it’s their property or not) and take pleasure knowing that they’ll always notice the details we philistines ignore. “They” are designers of course, that…

You watched the creation, the fall, and the epic rise of your favorite (face it, the best) superhero in theaters. Now complete your Christopher Nolan trilogy with The Dark Knight Rises ($18) on Blu-ray, out today. The set also includes DVD and digital copies so you can watch Christian Bale, Michael Cain, Anne Hathaway and…

Eff Yeah! Gotta love Journey! Oh, wait… not the genius rockers of “Don’t Stop Believin’”? Okay, we can settle for a visually stimulating, comprehensively impressive video game, instead. Journey by thatgamecompany ($15) is being heralded as one of the most beautiful video games ever. It’s more of an adventure than a save-your-health, fight-this-boss-to-save-the-world epic; but…

One look at the Sailrocket 2 shows that your teacher wasn’t full of s**t when he said physics can be fun. This 600-pound carbon sailing vessel is truly a testament to the ingenuity and craftsmanship of its British sailing team (and the badass sailor that steers it). Reaching a certified speed of 54.08 knots (62.2…

We can’t all be members of the Bel Air Circuit. For those scorned by the secret society, there’s Prima Cinema ($35,000). Designed in California and built in the U.S.A., Prima Cinema is a combination system/service that delivers Hollywood’s latest creations directly to your own private screening parties, simultaneous to their theatrical release. The system comprises…

We’ve all got one. Maybe it’s you: The mediaphile in the family who’s impossible to shop for because he has it all and he’s seen it all — twice. His TV? Projected. His surround sound? 9.2. His wardrobe? Needs work. His love of movies and music has been fueled in the past by those enabling…

Pine pollen is a powder that contains the cellular material used to produce male sperm cells in coniferous plants. It’s available on Amazon.com as a supplement to increase testosterone, with some companies marketing it as a source of “perpetual youth”, claiming that it helps with everything from improving endurance to regulating prostate function. As part…

Polishing your six-string chops on the road usually means you’ve either got a motorcade in tow lugging your amps or you’re strumming away unplugged. Vox Apache series guitars keep things cranked during travel and fill in for the band that you’re not yet frontmanning. The Vox Apache Series I ($299) incorporates both an on-board amp…

Whether you have the urge to gun down some terrorist types or get screamed at by whiny preteens, Call of Duty consistently delivers. The franchise is built on fast game play and fun online chaos; that continues in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, which comes out Tuesday. This time, you play as the offspring…

21st century moviegoers think technology has taken the dirty work out of filmmaking, leaving the job of faking the “impossible” in the hands of the hardest working person in the Hollywood: CGI. But the best action directors still understand there’s no airbrushing when it comes to the strain of a man at his desperate limits….

After you watch Skyfall and discuss its epic quality with your friends, you may feel a bit of a pinch in your gut. This is Bond withdrawal. Sure, you’ve got Thanksgiving Day marathons coming in a few weeks, but what will you do until then? Keep your Bond high rolling with Greg Williams’ Bond on…

I’ve gaped at car chases, grinned from ear to ear over sly one-liners and left theaters flushed with the gory glory of Daniel Craig’s stone-faced massacres. No arguments here: theatrical James Bond is the perfect feel-good character for a whole sect of males. Cars, women, subterfuge and wit — that’s not a hard pill to…

And so James Bond reluctantly retires his Beretta 418, in .25 ACP — and takes up the Walther Polizeipistole Kurz (police pistol, short) as his issued weapon, in both the original novel and the movie. Ian Fleming had Bond’s original Beretta catch in his holster in From Russia, With Love ; but in 1956 he…

Mom, baseball, and apple pie might just be the only things more American than Budweiser beer. Except Bud’s not — American, that is. Though the logo of the number-one-selling beer in the U.S. remains burned into our national psyche, Anheuser-Busch is now a wholly owned subsidiary, bought out in a 2008 hostile takeover by the…

You’ve watched all the Bond movies — yes, even George Lazenby’s go at it. But the on-screen secret agent born from the extravagant wallet of Albert R. Broccoli bares only a fleeting resemblance to the card-carrying killer of Ian Fleming’s 14 seminal novels. The entire Bond book series has always been available in paperback form…

We’ve all argued it vehemently while playing License to Kill, Slappers Only mode: which Bond wins in a Battle Royal? It’s a complicated issue. Certainly, we have our favorite and least favorite Bonds (cough, Moore, cough), but beyond cheesy storylines and awful Tarzan vine-swinging moments, pure and utter deadliness is tough to rank. While we’re…

A fine movie poster adds color and character to a blank wall, but it also reveals a lot about you. Austin Powers smiles goofily from your den? You’re groovy baby, yea. Is Jason Bourne giving the cold stink eye from above your bed? You take your action raw and you’re probably a realist. But a…

Upstart Allied Maker is one of those stories we love exposing. All the elements are right. An individual pursuing a passion, an obsession with making things and a handsome product. Craftsmanship. The most overused word in recent history, but we’re saying it anyway. The young man behind Allied Maker is self-taught woodworker Ryden Rizzo. But…

If you’re lucky enough to visit the Limeys in London, you’ll need a memento to remember all the rare roast beef, English IPAs and au naturel smiles. Forego the last minute airport tchotchkes and get the far more clever MONUminis by Another Studio (~$24). These tiny etched stainless steel pieces lock and fold together to…

“You stand on the very brink of the unknown, and every duck that you shoot bears pebbles in its gizzard which come from a land which the maps know not”. Before satellites, before Google Maps, before GPS on your cell phone, there was bold-faced exploration. For a young medical student by the name of Arthur…

While it’s undeniably cool to adorn your home theater with minimalist or unique movie posters (like these, and these), we know your sound-proofed walls need art as nuanced as your taste in film itself. The Los Angeles Film Map (~$40) has you covered in every direction. Littered within its 24 x 32-inch borders are the…

Napoleon had Marengo, Speed Racer had the Mach 5 and Magnum P.I. had his Ferrari. Man has always tethered an emotional bond to his mode of transportation, and that much more so with the automobile. But what of the men who’ve boosted the contemporary car’s ascent to a beloved, even worshiped, object? Masters of Modern…