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“Watches, Stories, and Gear” is a roundup of our favorite content, watch or otherwise, from around the internet. Here, we support other creators, explore interesting content that inspires us, and put a spotlight on causes we believe in. Oh, and any gear we happen to be digging on this week. We love gear.
The Complete Kubrick
I think an unspoken goal for many writers (myself included) is to one day have one’s surname become an adjective. For me, with a novel and nearly a decade of bylines trailing behind me, I sometimes wonder what “Braleyan” could be described as – my guess would be something wildly pretentious and with only a loose understanding of how a credit score works.
And so, for the time being at least, I leave the eponymous adjectives to those only slightly more well-known artists and thinkers who have come before me. Here are some examples:
- The current times we live in are Orwellian
- I have a Pavlovian reaction to put in the CVC on my credit card whenever Nordstrom has a sale.
- The stare my pug-mix has on his face when I don’t wake up to give him his breakfast can only be described as Kubrickian.
That one is my personal favourite, Kubrickian. I use it regularly to describe a variety of situations, being one of the few shorthands I have that perfectly sums up the very specific feeling of being unsettled, in a strange, slightly sterile environment (I am, of course, talking about any time I visit a Buc-ees).
And luckily for me, I will soon be able to find a thousand more reasons to add this word to the top of my vocabulary now that Criterion has opened the pre-order for the Complete Kubrick box set, a thirty-disc 4K UHD and Blu-ray collection featuring all thirteen of Kubrick’s features, three shorts, more than twenty-five hours of supplements, and packaging inspired by his own archive. It’ll be a Herculean feat to wait until it ships in October, but I’m willing to try.
Michael Caine’s AI-Generated Voice to Narrate ‘The Odyssey’ Audiobook
Well, well, well. I guess Michael Caine wasn’t up for the Odyssean challenge of narrating the upcoming audiobook, released ahead of Christopher Nolan’s much-anticipated adaptation of the Homeric epic. The 13-hour audiobook will be narrated by an AI version of Caine’s voice by ElevenLabs, which has caused quite a controversy among AI skeptics and raised broader questions touching on the future of voice acting, who “owns” an actor’s legacy, and how Homer’s dactylic hexameter will sound against Caine’s Cockney accent (I can’t be the only one wondering this).
And while most AI critics deal with the free-for-all theft that runs rampant with LLM’s, it should be noted that Caine agreed to this arrangement, having licensed his likeness and voice out to the company in 2025. I’m not sure if that makes it any better; if anything, it’s a bit spookier. It’s as if the 93-year-old has decided which house he wants his ghost to haunt.
The Honda Element Is Returning in 2029 as a US-Built Hybrid Crossover
I will be the first to say that I know nothing about them, but I am very much a “car person”. By this, of course, I mean I like to share photos of vintage Porsches in my instagram story and drive 15mph over the speed limit quite regularly. And while my eye has never really been on the erstwhile Honda Element, I am sure the news of its return to market is undoubtedly good news for eco-conscious readers and my gym teacher who drove a lime green one all throughout my high school years.
The new and improved Element will return to market as a hybrid crossover in all its boxy glory, while fitting into Honda’s larger push to make hybrids a more central part of its business. With 100,000 units expected to sell in the first year, the Japanese automaker is betting big on this return.
From the archives: our original review of the Grand Seiko White Birch
As my Botox injector says, it’s all about the gradual upgrades and not about big changes. It seems that Grand Seiko also got this message. This week, the Japanese brand announced a refresh of the Evolution 9 collection, adding more tapered bracelets, new micro-adjust clasps, wider use of Ever-Brilliant Steel and High-Intensity Titanium, and movement updates across the collection.
This announcement sent me back into the Worn & Wound archives to our original write-up of the White Birch from a few years ago. As Zach Weiss noted in his review of the White Birch, the first regular-production model in the Evolution 9 series, it’s undeniable that a major selling point of this series was, and still is, its beauty (exotic, beautiful, and elegant were all adjectives that peppered that initial review). Luckily, the White Birch colorway remains part of the updated lineup, with Black Birch, Green Birch, Genbi Valley, Atera Valley, and Lake Suwa in blue and black rounding out the rest.
Slow Learner Dust Jacket
I love the idea of a performative reading, using a book as an accessory to appear smarter, more sensitive, more worldly. I’m sure it happens in larger cities, but here in Pennsylvania the last book I saw a guy reading in public was No Shirt. No Shoes. No Service. No Problem! by Jeff Foxworthy, so I have to believe that one was for personal interests alone.
But if you’re tired of lugging around your copy of Lolita or Slouching Towards Bethlehem in a Trader Joe’s tote, might I recommend the Dust Jacket? This clever little coat from British brand Slow Learner comes in four colors and is designed in an oversized, unisex fit. Labeled as “anti-workwear,” the Dust Jacket has a set of interior waist pockets sized to fit a book (or two), plus pen or pencil holders, an interior breast pocket for small books and notepads, and expandable exterior pockets for even more books or, as Slow Learner notes, even your laptop.
