Scott Griffiths
CEO - 18/8 Fine Men's Salons
Professor - Grazadio School of Business and Management -
Pepperdine University
The University of California Irvine - Chief Executive Roundtable
Member - Luxury Council / Board - The Surf Heritage Foundation
If you believe as I do that life is something special and becomes more special when we squeeze as much nectar from it as possible…then this site is for you.
If you know that to be curious is to be interested, and to be interested is to be interesting; and if you believe that education comes from books and your experiences... then this site is for you.
If you enjoy the arts, cooking, and excellent foods; if you appreciate a handmade super-180 suit, a fine 25 year old Macallan’s with a vintage Cohiba; if you travel to other countries to learn their languages and cultures; and if you believe that business is what you create and build, not just what you manage…then this site is for you.
Along with my team and our readers, I will be posting interesting, intriguing, and useful articles on art, wine, spirits, travel, restaurants, and grooming, along with great recipes for guys and features exploring the subject of renaissance men. This site is for you as interesting and intriguing men…and men on the path to becoming more interesting and intriguing...
In our newest column, Alexa will be offering the advice you need to become an 18/8 man; that man who is well-versed and cultured, who knows how to impress and captivate a smart woman, and who wants to be the best that he can be.
I found this list the other day and I thought I would share it on my column. I believe these are 10 steps every man should follow to become a better man, even perhaps an 18/8 man. Not only do incorporating these pieces of advice make you a better person, but they also make you more attractive to women.
Go over the list and see how many of these you’re already doing, and which ones you could improve on..
-Alexa
- 1 Know your stuff. A worldly-wise man knows things, lots of things. Read books, talk to interesting people, and debate a wide variety of topics. Keep up to date with current affairs by reading a daily newspaper. It doesn’t take a lot of these kind of actions for others to notice and listen intently as you display your vast knowledge. Also, the ability to read body language is useful, particularly when analyzing the opposite sexes’ impression of you. Be interesting in, and know enough about Art and Philosophy.
- 2 Be independent. Drive a car, and know how to look after yourself. Be financially secure, and own your own place.
- 3 Travel (Before and after University can be particularly helpful for this). See the world, experience things, other cultures. This is a major step in becoming interesting. Immerse yourself in foreign cultures and come back from travels having ‘seen the world’, having done things. You should be able to show people this in many different ways, for example, in a bar, have a sophisticated alcoholic drink that is known as an acquired taste (e.g. Guinness over lager).
- 4 Be fit. An interesting, intelligent person is almost always relatively fit, it shows you care about your health and can look after yourself. Playing a sport helps. Health and fitness also give you a certain energy, and add to your presence with both the ladies and the guys.
- 5 Play an instrument. This is particularly effective, and yet very accessible. The Piano is a particularly good one. Learn different styles and show them off, this makes for a very interesting person.
- 6 Have presence. This can be achieved in a number of ways: have immaculate manners, be charming, and smell good. Know how to dance, and well. A very important step is to have a decent handshake. This is a classic greeting that when done wrongly sets a bad first impression (Limp handshake = limp personality). Be firm, but not too bone-crushingly aggressive. Know how to counter someone who has a dominant handshake (palm down). Another important step is knowing how to order wine in a restaurant. Basically, the top tip is to match the origin country of the food type you are eating with the origin country of the wine (e.g. French wine for French food).
- 7 Be fashionable and stylish. You don’t have to be a ‘fashionista’ for this. Essentials like knowing how to iron a shirt properly, wear a suit properly, tie a bow-tie properly and having a proper pair of shoes will do. Own an expensive watch. You don’t have to spend loads of money on your fashion sense and clothes, but don’t go cheap.
- 8 Be multilingual. If you aren’t already, become multilingual. This has links with travel, and is very effective for becoming interesting and cultured. English and Spanish are a must. Far East languages like Mandarin are also very good.
- 9 Be Exciting. Drive a fast motorbike, play poker properly (Texas Hold’em) and be good at it. Live dangerously, to some degree. Be an amazing dancer, and a great cook.
- 10 Be organized and fulfill your commitments. Keep your agenda well planned and never over commit or make promises that you can’t deliver. A man of word entices respect and admiration from others.
There are the books you read, and then there are the books that change your life. We can all look back on the books that have shaped our perspective on politics, religion, money, and love. Some will even become a source of inspiration for the rest of your life. From a seemingly infinite list of books of anecdotal or literal merit, we have narrowed down the top 100 books that have shaped the lives of individual men while also helping define broader cultural ideas of what it means to be a man.
Whether it be a book on adventure, war, or manners, there is so much to learn about life’s great questions from these gems. Let us know in the comments which of these you loved, hated, and the books that meant a lot to you and should have made the list (you can even get really indignant about your favorite book). And without further ado, this is our list.
Read more: http://artofmanliness.com/2008/05/14/100-must-read-books-the-essential-mans-library/
This is a map from BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy summarizing all of the world’s oil import/export activity.
Click on the link to access the table with details:
-Definitely an 18/8 Man
Larry Ellison is fabulously wealthy.
And as wealthy people do, he spends a lot of his time buying a lot of extravagent things.
Yachts. Mansions. Golf courses.
And now Ellison has paid between $500 million and $600 million for 98 percent of an island in Hawaii.
We’re still waiting to see what he’s doing with the island — hopefully it will be dinosaur related. But in the meantime, we’ve tracked down some of the rest of Larry Ellison’s ridiculous portfolio.
Definitely an 18/8 Man
Today’s advice comes from Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Group, via his interview with Entrepreneur:
“There is no point in going into a business unless you can make a radical difference in other people’s lives. To me, it’s like painting a picture: You have to get all the little nuances right to create the perfect picture, or the perfect company.”
Artists have a way with the canvas: They find the inspiration, envision the picture before they put the brush to the canvas, prepare the tools, and finally get to work.
They take their time with each brush stroke, ensuring that the end result is as close to perfection as possible. According to Branson, entrepreneurs should approach business with the same delicacy.
“So I’ll throw all the paint up and get all the best people in. By the time it sticks on the canvas, we’ll try to start getting some order into it. Every little single detail has to be right.”
Japanese astronomers claim to have found the oldest galaxy in the universe using telescopes at the Hawaii observatory on the summit of Mauna Kea, The Guardian reports.
The scientists estimate that the galaxy, called SXDF-NB1006-2, is 12.91 billion light years away from Earth (a light year is the distance that light travels in one year, which is about 6 trillion miles).
Can we be certain that it’s really the oldest galaxy?
Not completely. Other astronomers have made similar claims in the past using NASA’s Hubble telescope. In 2011, a group from California spotted a galaxy 13.2 billion light years away. The year before that, a French group found a galaxy 13.1 billion light years away.
However, Richard Ellis of the California Institute of Technology told the AP that neither groups have proved their findings with other methods and the Japanese claim was more “watertight.”
Astronomers think that our universe began 13.7 billion years ago at the Big Bang. The new findings will help them understand the nature of the universe when the first stars began to shine hundreds of millions of years later.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/oldest-galaxy-in-the-universe-2012-6#ixzz1xszPTOsY
Whiskey Stones: A new clink in your drink!
I love a fine single malt scotch from a fine Baccarat Tumbler. I even make my ice cubes out of purified water, so there is no unpleasant impurities as the single cube cools the fire. However, what I don’t like is the dilution of the scotch that comes from the melting ice cube. The product below provides a solution for the aficionados.
On The Rocks
Skip the ice; Serve your drinks on the rocks.
These innovative soapstone cubes were designed by Andrew Hellman, a big fan of single malt scotch, who wanted to chill his spirits without diluting them. After much research, he came up with the idea of using natural soapstone to chill drinks due to its softness (won’t scratch the glass) and its unique ability to retain temperature for extended periods of time. Milled in Perkinsville, Vermont by the oldest soapstone workshop in the United States.Glasses made in Slovenia & the Czech Republic.
Simply chill the stones. Add three to your next drink, let stand for five minutes and enjoy. Sold as a set of nine.
Want to upgrade your gift to top shelf?
We recommend the gift set: Gift Set includes a set of six Whiskey Stones and two elegant sipping glasses (pictured)
Another option is The Whiskey Stones and Stone Shot Glasses Gift Set: includes four soapstone shooters and nine soapstone cubes. Leave the shot glasses in the freezer for at least 4 hours before entertaining for smooth shots of vodka or any sips of your favorite spirits.
Why should I use Whiskey Stones instead of ice?
Whiskey Stones are ideal for drinking with high quality whiskey because they keep it at the perfect sipping temperature (50 degrees), whereas ice cubes can make the whiskey too cold and ruin the flavor.
A handful of ice will take a drink to just under 40 degrees, and to deep freeze a drink quickly, there is nothing better. But some drinks you neither want to dilute nor deep freeze. Temperatures in the high 30s are far too cold for good whiskey. Reason being that the wood oils in the whiskey, which have leeched into the liquid from the carefully selected cask it was aged in and which carry all the flavor, tend to congeal and “close down” the flavor of the drink itself when the temperature goes below 50. The stones are specifically designed to “take the edge off without diluting or closing down the flavor.”
Specifically, 3 stones in a glass containing 2-3 oz. will take the liquid temp from mid-70s (room temperature) to the 50s.
http://www.uncommongoods.com/product/whiskey-stones-gift-set
