stan's the man

I just simply love these shoes.

In my opinion, the classic Adidas Stan Smith II's are some of the finest shoes ever created. They're sleek, comfortable, stylin, and more importantly, durable. I've dragged these shoes (literally) through the mud, across nearly every terrain imaginable. They've been with me through it all: everyday walking, skateboarding,mountain trails, bars, running, dance parties, on the beach, driving, playing on stage, climbing the cn tower, puddles, and the paint studio. They've seen everything from my own crowning achievements to heartbreak. From summer afternoons to shitty winter mornings.

One thing I've always done with these shoes is paint them. I believe that maintaining the color of these shoes is some sort of a duty that I must uphold, as an owner. So, while sacrificing looking like a douche bag, I paint them. I usually stick with plain gesso paint. Although water-based, I find this paint to be more durable than your standard acrylics. I dabbled for a while with the idea of oil paint, but I simply never had the time to let them dry, as well as the price of the paint itself. You can usually tell how old the pair of shoes are by seeing how thick the paint is getting on the surface, almost as if you were taking a cross-section of a tree and counting the rings to see how old they were.

Then, when the day comes, I'll paint them another color. At this point, the shoe has lost all structural integrity and has fallen towards the shitter. The laces are crusted together with paint, the toe cover lifts open like the hood of a car, and there is virtually no grip whatsoever. At this point in my head I'll say to myself "Fuck this. They look so stupid anyway, I might as well paint them another color." I like to call these ones Limited Edition, when in reality, they are just old-dirty-painted-runners. My favorites have to be the blue pair, only because they've been gesso'd so hard that it looks like a desert floor from all the cracking. To be honest, as stupid as they look, I (think) I get more respect for wearing them. I've even heard some people say they love them (drunk girls).

The only considerable downside to loving these shoes is that, for me, they are nearly impossible to find. With fancy new shoe designs hitting the counters every week (no thanks to kids between the ages of 15-27, who love that ugly America's Dance Crew multicolored shit with laces), the older models get pushed further and further back in the orders. Here in Toronto, I've visited every downtown Adidas location, which is an embarrassment in itself, with no luck. In fact, I've been without a fresh pair of Stans for almost six months now, and it's getting annoying. It's not that they're not in stock, it's just that they usually aren't carrying my gargantuan shoe size of 13.5. Also, because of the hours that I work, I usually don't feel like walking to one of these locations every day, so I'll set aside one day a week to go to these stores to ask if any are available. According to their employees, the shoes are always that "other" location. Nay nay.

So, I've finally decided to throw in the towel and shop for them online.

I really don't have a point, or even a clever line to go out on.
All I have is this amazing picture of a bull eating shit by the hand of a flaming matador, which has probably proved more entertaining than the entire purpose of this blog entry.

Bulls are funny like that.