Endurance, Beauty, and Perseverance: The Fedora Story

The title says it all; there is no hat that has stood the test of time.  From its height of popularity with Justin Timberlake, to its recession when Kevin Federline poisoned the trend, the fedora has survived almost anything imaginable.  Today the fedora is the most versatile hat in modern history.   The fedora has the look that says you’re all business, but its time to party when business over!

The beginnings of the fedora are relatively unknown.  The origin stems from 1889 during the play Fedora Sarah Bernhardt where the character Princess Fedora debuted the hat.  However, the inventor is not known to this day, adding to the sexy as eff mystique of the fedora.

Between 1889 and 1995 the fedora had a cult underground following in the hipster scene (which explains why you probably never heard of it).

JT Being GQ with the Fedora

That was until one man who was GQ enough set the world on fire with the fedora in 1995, that man was Justin Timberlake.  From that time on, the popularity of the fedora spread faster than a herpes infestation on a small university campus.

The fedora reached the peak of its popularity during 2002 when it appeared in the Justin Timberlake video Like I Love You.  Stores could not keep up with the demand of the fedora.  Extreme measures had to be taken to keep up with demand; prices for fedora were $100 minimum.  The fedora became so expensive; the average person could not wear this beautiful hat, which led to its downfall.

The fedora became exclusive to the rich like the D&G brand, a symbol of wealth.  This should have secured the popularity of the fedora.  However, one infamous d-bag was lucky enough to marry rich.

Kevin Federline nearly taking the Fedora off the map

That man was the ex-bf of Britney Spears, Kevin Federline.  From that point on, nobody wanted to touch the fedora.  Not even Justin Timberlake who trailblazed the trend.  The fedora’s popularity faded faster than HD DVDs or croc rubber shoes.

Stores were backed up with the inventory of fedoras; they couldn’t get rid of them.  The fedora nearly saw its extinction when store’s had to burn most of their supply to make room for other products.  With the absence of the fedora, men needed a new hip headpiece.  Everything was tried, trucker hats, flat caps, upside down visors, one by one they all failed to replace the fedora.

All hope was lost, until one man’s dedication to the fedora paid off.  That man was Ne-Yo.  His gentlemanly appearance was the ultimate counterbalance to K-Fed’s douchebagery.  With Ne-Yo giving the fedora credibility, the conditions for the fedora to return came together.  Society regained its respect for the hat.

Ne-Yo Bringing the Fedora Back

Store’s ensured than fedoras were only sold to respectful men.  Which leads us to today. When you see a man wear a fedora, you will know he carries the qualities of a gentleman.  You know that man will understand what cutlery to use at a table, how to serenade royalty, likes his martinis shaken not stirred, and you know he will ‘always return the favor’.   We owe a great deal of gratitude to the Ne-Yo.  Thank you good sir.

100 Facts about John McCallum – Part 1

John McCallum is the MP for Markham-Unionville in the House of Commons. He also happens to be SDP’s favorite MP and one of the guys who first got us interested in politics. So we wanted to show him some love. But that’s not really important… what is important is few have challenged J-Mac to a gauntlet of physical events. Those that have haven’t lived to tell the tale. Here are 50 of our 100 other actually important facts about the big man in the HoC:

1. Chuck Norris was going to run for MP in Markham-Unionville.. but he didn’t want to get roundhoused by John McCallum.
2. John McCallum would golf… but he has no off season.
3. During question period… the speaker directs his comments to John McCallum.
4. John McCallum is the only MP who uses his desk to store an extra set of fists, just in case.
5. John McCallum is asking the IOC to make parliamentary badassery a sport so he can win the gold.
6. John McCallum gave Colonel Sanders the special recipe.
7. Jay-Z and Kanye wanted everyone to Watch the Throne because John McCallum was sitting on it.
8. John McCallum wrote the lyrics to every song the Beatles ever played.
9. John McCallums comforter isn’t full of down… It’s full of $100 dollar bills.
10. John McCallum isn’t allowed to compete on Iron Chef because they know he’d win every episode.
11. The Real World approached John McCallum to be on a season but he was to busy saving the Canadian banking system.
12. When they wrote the book “Too Big to Fail” they were talking about John McCallum.
13. John McCallum was the fifth man on Canada’s 1996 Olympic 4×100 relay team.
14. John McCallum used to be Ryan Reynolds workout partner. Oh, and his fashion consultant.
15. When CBC goes off the air it’s because John McCallum had a day off.
16. Twitter was invented because John McCallum was sick of texting.
17. Barack Obama only ran for President because John McCallum was busy gardening.
18. Everyone wanted the caribou to be Canada’s national animal… but John McCallum is a beaver man.
19. John McCallum was asked to be on Dragon’s Den… but he refused to give up the whereabouts of his lair.
20. The Liberals lost seats in southern ontario because there wasn’t enough room for them with John McCallum in the caucus.
21. Besides the Governor General, John McCallum is the only person allowed to prorogue parliament.
22. Steve Jobs resigned because he thought it was the only way to get John McCallum to agree to be CEO of Apple.
23. John McCallum and Mike Holmes are renovating west block with their bare hands.
24. John McCallum is the only man who a downpour has never been sustained on.
25. John McCallum posted the first video on youtube.
26. John McCallum has so much gravitational force the moon revolves around him.
27. After first reading all bills go to John McCallum.
28. Paul Martin legalized gay marriage because he thought he had a chance with John McCallum.
29. John McCallum is the only man to ever swim the Pacific Ocean.
30. McDonalds was talking about John McCallum when they said Big Mac.
31. Blockbuster went out of business because John McCallum tweeted that it wasn’t cool to go there anymore.
32. Micheal Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team because the coach only needed one player… John McCallum.
33. John McCallum directed E.T. but put his friend Steven Spielberg’s name on as an alias.
34. John McCallum was the only reason any province joined confederation.
35. John McCallum wrote the script for Good Will Hunting.
36. Cuba Gooding Jr. is a b-list actor because John McCallum was bored.
37. John McCallum was once in two provinces at the same time.
38. In mythology, John McCallum was the only warrior with the fortitude to pick-up and use the Canadian shield in battle.
39. The Littlest Hobo was cancelled in the eighties because John McCallum was kind enough to adopt the dog.
40. The Rockies were created when John McCallum went for a morning jog.
41. No one knows John McCallums age.
42. The only reason we have stock markets is because John McCallum was bored of running the entire worlds financial system.
43. When the U.N. security council has a vote they need to teleconference John McCallum in so they don’t do anything rash.
44. John McCallum gave Mr. Dressup all the clothes.
45. John McCallum owns every season of The OC.
46. The first call Alexander Bell places was to John McCallum.
47. John McCallum is a man, a myth and a legend.
48. John McCallum invented google so people had a way to find him.
49. Some politicians give speeches… John McCallum gives wisdom exposures.
50. The first issue of Gentlemans Quarterly has John McCallum on the cover.

BOOM. The next 50 to come soon. If you have any ideas for JMac facts please just drop an email to sustaineddownpour@gmail.com

Getting into Club Harper

Harper rallies are extremely easy to get into, that is, if you follow a simple set of rules. It’s sort of like trying to get into a nightclub: you need to wear the right things, say the right things, and you definitely need to make sure you don’t have anything murky in your past. We at SDP have put together a simple list of requirements for entry into Club Harper:

Harper enjoying a beer at Club Harper.

• Show up alone! Friendships are for socialists.
• Quebec ID? GTFO!
• No Ed Hardy.
• Frosted Tips? I think you want the Green party rally down the street.
• No red ties, shirts, pants, jackets. Please just don’t wear red.
• If you’re an environmentalist you must consent to a full body cavity search, hippy.
• Don’t come with any questions unless they’ve been vetted  by one of our staff… only the first four will be accepted.
• No jerseys or long necklaces.
• Thursdays are Criminal Record Holder Night™: VIP Line for our friends… Mega jails for everybody else.
• Long Guns welcome.
• No gays.
• One week before the event your Facebook profile will be vetted for any ties to the CPC enemies list. Prepare ahead.
• Dress code: sweater vests only.
• Be able to produce ID, no one under 35 allowed.

Remember if you bring your bible you’ll get no line no cover and be entered for a $100 bar tab*. Just remember that if you want to head to a rally before May 2nd we have everything you need to know right here. The bar is running a big deficit so make sure you hurry down before the bank calls in our loan.

 

*to be used for red communion wine only.

Replay Rainstorm!

 

New feature on SDP is the Replay Rainstorm! From time to time we will make sure that you can catch all the real action right here. So if you haven’t been paying attention for the last week be sure to check this out.

Rain All Year Around

Sustained Downpour is here for one reason and one reason alone: to make sure that there is a constant rainstorm across our great country. There is no better time than now for the great people behind SDP to jump into the blogging lifestyle for so many reasons:

Rebecca Black has 44 million views on youtube.

Justin Bieber got a haircut and the boys at SDP followed suit.

Jack Layton is punking us all into thinking there is going to be an election when he really plans on voting for the budget… I know Ashton K’s just waiting to jump out.

Finally here is how the boys at SDP see the rest of the world:

End of the day the SDP boys are here to stay… but only until we get a follow friday from Mike Tyson on twitter. Because really we all know that no one starts to blog or twitter for any other reason, other than to get a #ff from the big man.

We’re here to talk about politics, news, current events, pop culture, food, alcohol and absolutely anything you want. So please drop us a line at sustaineddownpour@gmail.com with ideas on what you’d like to hear about and we’ll be sure to give you some social commentary. BOOM.