Friday, July 31, 2009

Can-Am











I was too young to know about Can-Am...but then saw these cars at the vintage races as a teenager.


Mom would take me to Mid-Ohio and turn me loose in the pits...


I would look at and study just about anything there with wheels, but somehow knew that the Can-Am cars were it.


You need to see them move, hear them...

Can-Am cars are entirely visceral, a total assult on everything calm or subtle.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Can-Am










I am going to subject you to Can-Am pictures for a few days.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Kill 'em all










Oh, we'll kill them all.

Just keep shooting...


We'll kill every last one of 'em.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Birthday



Well, I don't really feel any older.

I do have a couple gray hairs, I guess.



Are saying I look older?

I look old?

Maybe it's this stupid gaucho shirt.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Can-Am






Shit.


You might think I am obsessed with dragsters, if you have been snooping around here for a while.
You, I guess, would be right...


I am more compelled by Can-Am cars, however.

With their injected aluminum big block Chevy motors, brutal nature and rule bending use of technology...

Can-Am is the one racing series that I wish I could have witnessed in person.



I'll load up some pics, for your consideration.
Can-Am week, at pretty not good, is coming.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

The Lonely Bull










Yeah, I dig Herb Alpert.

You gotta problem with that?

Friday, July 24, 2009

Forty Friday


One of these handsome bastards is turning 40 today.

No, not me.
Not the Crazy German.
Ray isn't handsome.
Isn't Mike.

Old coot...

Old School


I haven't posted up any skate stuff for a while.

This is just so you know I didn't forget.


Best thing about a monkey on a skateboard?

The variety of available grabs is doubled.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

History

Monday, July 20, 2009

Sweet Custom Vans



It wasn't that long ago that a dude could roll around in a panel van, with flaming Playboy graphics and slot wheels - and be considered cool.

The ladies may have been into the dude - because of his cool custom van.






There was a van "culture" that supported multiple magazines and van cruises and giant van shows.






There were extreme custom vans, built for the show circuit - with crazy modifications, interiors and giant murals on wrapping their exterior in fantastic visual narratives.

And then it just kind of stopped.


There were "conversion vans" sold through dealerships.
Maybe the cool factor was destroyed by the advent of conversion vans?
The invention of the mini-van pretty much killed that auto market niche.

Family focused buyers were still compelled by the sweet wood paneling on the early Dodge Caravans.

Perhaps some custom van carry over, the love of wood paneling...


Do they even make new vans anymore?




The Dice Magazine guys have been rolling this thing to shows lately.
Maybe vannin' is not entirely dead.




In Japan, there are these guys into custom trucks - like delivery trucks, not pick-up trucks.

Custom box vans.
For some reason I have collected a bunch of pictures of 'em, I will post up some other time.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Rules


I am not so good with long lists of rules.
But I do understand the need for some base definition of a scope of operation.

Things, such as vacations, do need guidelines I suppose.

For example: try to make it to a restaurant within an hour of ones reservation, overstock the liqour cabinet/snack cupboard early to avoid late night runs to the store, avoid fighting with the locals.

It makes a vacation more enjoyable.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Uber Alles




Welcome to California.

Just watch out for the hippies, boomers, techies, douchebags, earthquakes, ants, Okies, tweekers, cops, coyotes, gangs, shitty-weed-dealers, politicians, drivers, muggers, car-jackers, spiders and the rest of it.


It'll be fun.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Fuller Friday








Yup.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Wompin' Wagon Wednesday








I assume you dig these kinda pictures as much as I do.

That is real-deal evidence, right there...

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Vacuum Chamber



When you are working on a plan to take over the world, which involves a moon base, there are lots of things to consider.

Hell, look how long it's taken NASA to do anything but stop by the moon and drive around a moon buggy.




It is all about small steps and giant leaps.


So, I just finished up this giant freaking vacuum chamber here at the Earth Operations HQ.
This will let me test space stuff and what not.

I didn't get then giant robot in here, yet...
Branson spilled a caramel mochiatto in the damned auto-gyro and half crashed it while he was out for another joyride (with Paul Allen, again).


Fucking investor PR takes a lot of fun out of taking over the world.


Anyway, the robot suit is nearly fixed up and I'll certify it for outer-atmospheric use in just a bit.



In the mean time, it is kinda fun to put stuff in the vacuum chamber and see what happens.
I will spare you the pics...

Saturday, July 11, 2009

California Sun




I am out here, having fun.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Flying Wing Friday







I don't know...

It seemed like today called for flying wings.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Top Gear





I don't really watch television shows about cars.
I gave up the Speed Network when I moved to Cali.

There is one show I do watch, if it happens to be on-
Top Gear, the Brits do this one and it's genius.


This clip is the most genius car review, ever.

All automotive journalism should be judged against this.

I think you will agree, after watching this clip, that I am perfectly suited to assume the role of their Yank correspondent.
Top Gear, if you are looking, I am right here.

Bevatron!




Bevatron is such a great name, isn't it?


I just read that there are going to demolish the Bevatron, which is an atom smasher just down the road from me.

It is sad that such an important part of the history of science will be lost.


The historians loss will be my gain, however...



I will be checking the junkyards, as I am sure that there is something getting scrapped that would be useful for the moon base.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Wompin' Wagon Wednesday







That looks like a stock axle from some 30's Ford under there, no fancy tube.

Check out the ventilated brake backing plates.


Late sixties car stuff just blows me away...

The kool-aid must have been good.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

History

Monday, July 6, 2009

Great Moments in Television-The Fall Guy



Did you forget about this one?

Man, The Fall Guy had everything I was looking for in entertainment.


Really, it probably still does.




Per Wiki-
Lee Majors plays Colt Seavers, a Hollywood stunt man who moonlights as a bounty hunter. He uses his physical skills and knowledge of stunt effects (especially stunts involving cars or his large GMC pickup truck) to capture fugitives and criminals. He is accompanied by his cousin and stuntman-in-training Howie Munson, and occasionally by fellow stunt performer Jody Banks (played by Heather Thomas).

Typically, an episode starts with Seavers' crew performing a stunt for a film or TV series. They are then assigned to finding, for example, a man who has skipped bail. His case turns out to be more complicated than it first seemed. In the course of dealing with the villains, Seavers performs a stunt similar to the one shown at the beginning of the show.

The series is known for its frequent cameos by Hollywood celebrities and the occasional in-joke referring to Majors' previous series, The Six Million Dollar Man.




Honestly, I don't remember any story line from this fantastic show and that really doesn't matter.

There were car chases, dudes jumping out of helicopters, fist fights, jokes, bikinis and GMC pick-ups flying through the air in every episode.

And they were hour long episodes...

So there was plenty of time for more beachwear, bad guys and stunts.



What in today's broadcasting line up even comes close?

An aging stunt man/bounty hunter goes on adventures with his comic relief and hot chics...

That is a recipe for entertainment right there and you know it.


Now, you get shows about suited college grads.
Doctors and DA's standing in offices, looking pensive, as they make the hardest choices of their careers.
Big fuckin' deal...


I want cars jumping over moving trains.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Wunderbar




Glorius Independence Day!



Rammstein just wishes they were from America.

F'n America



Yeah, America.
Fuck yeah!


I am kinda weirded out this year, this fourth of July.

There is so much totally freaked out shit going down around the world.
Hell, it is going on right here, as well.

I am not even going to start listing stuff off.
It will just depress us both.





Oh, and the year is half over?
Half done, gone, really?
Shit!


Anyway, this god-damned drought has made the county I live in ban the sale and use of fireworks.

I feel as though I should shove a cherry bomb up somebody's bum and light it off, just to puncuate that sentence.

Hell, I can't even find sparklers.



Sure, there will be some giant Latter-Day-Saint sponsored fireworks display a few blocks from my house bigger than anything I could come up with.


Well, I could probably come up with something bigger...


See, I am the kind of American that likes his explosions without Morm-God influences.


I can see God's face in the screaming fire ball from a Roman candle, shot in my direction.

I can feel God's hand in the concussion of a mortar that is perhaps a bit larger than I had imagined.

I can find my own God as I run, like a little girl, from a half lit bundle of bottle rockets - thank you very much.

But not this year...


So, I ask you to get out there and blow some shit up!

And when you get that funny one, that one which might have lit but isn't doing anything, the one with really short fuse, the scary one...

Run back over and light it again...

As you run away, stooped over and half scared...

Think of me.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Black Cats


Oh man, I love Black Cats.

They are just satifying little fire crackers.

You can light 'em off individually.

Maybe leave a little string of them together for some machine gun type fun.

Hell, light the whole brick and you have your own Chinese New Year parade.


Not quite a boom, but bigger than a snap and that little puff of smoke.


Black Cats are just right for throwing at your friends, too.
Maybe that is why I don't have many friends...

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Food Writing


I have mentioned the idea of writing about food here, for you, a couple of times.

It seems like a no-brainer, I likes my foods and I am able to put words in a semi-coherent order occasionally.

Yet still, there is a struggle in the whole concept for me.
It doesn't seem to come together.


And I have realized what it is - it's the pictures.


People want to (I presume) see what food looks like when they read about food.
Otherwise, I think, food writing gets a bit like a romance novel - you have to come up with a lot of goofyness to describe things.
I guess with the food writing I could swap fruits in a fashion opposite of romance novels.

The cherry torte bore it's burgundy passion through it's upper crust as if it were an engorged...

Yeah, I am not going to write like that.
It is kind of a funny concept though, when I think about it.

Melons as giant bazoobies, rather than vice versa.
That actually appeals to my inner twelve year old.



So one has to take pictures of the food.
And there is the rub...


See, when I am cooking there is all of that cooking going on and usually some drinking too.
There is a lot to manage, while cooking - and when I do cook, I tend to move fast and have three things going at once.
I never take pictures...
It simply doesn't occur to me.


Alternately, when dining out, I just can't bring myself to interrupt conversations and service with the total douchebag move of pulling out a camera to photograph dinner.
Sure, people do it these days.
They take pictures of their meals and write about it on all manner of bloggy things.
I haven't gotten quite that bloggy myself, yet...

So, I think about writing about this joint or that, but don't.
I figure there should be pictures.


I'll keep the food label here, but I am nut sure what I am going to do with it.
I will figure something out.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Wompin' Wagon Wednesday





7