Tuesday, March 31, 2009

What To Do With the Uyghurs

An interesting discussion of what to do with the Uyghurs in Guatanamo here.

CKY

Reverse Raked Rear Windows

Mazda Carol

Citroen Ami

Lincoln

Ford Anglia

Mercury Monterey

CKY

Monday, March 30, 2009

The Classiest Ironing Board Spoilers

Toyota Supra: The Subtle

Plymouth Superbird: The original

Ferrari F40: The iconic

BMW E30 M3: The Teutonic

CKY

Quantum of Solace Location Fonts

This weekend, I bought Quantum of Solace on DVD to complete my 007 collection. After watching it again, this time on the small screen, I came to realize how beautifully shot the entire movie is. What caught my eye again were the unique fonts for each of the movie locations.

Britain's Tomato hand-designed the fonts. But what do the different fonts signify? I don't have insight into the mind of the designer, so here are my own interpretations. Talk about a Rorschach test!

Talamone (Matthis's home): This was an old Etruscan city. The font reminds me of the Etruscan alphabet.

Siena: The "S" looks like a treble clef. Siena is known for its art and architecture.

London: Uptight, formal, understated.

Port Au Prince: Haphazard, chaotic.

Bregenz: Founded as a fortified town, the bottom of the "G" looks like a pike.

La Paz: The blue Pacific, the blue peace.

Kazan: Industrial city, stenciled paint job.

CKY

Truck Alphabet

Source: Rebel Art

CKY

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Mendocino's Kwan Tai Temple

The Chinese are everywhere, literally. Here is the Temple of Kwan Tai in the town of Mendocino.

CKY

Mendocino Photographer Jon Klein

On a recent trip to Mendocino, I found the work of a remarkable local artist, Jon Klein. Here are some of his masterpieces.

Sunset at Ten Mile Beach

Sunset from a Sea Cave

Sunset at the Mendocino Headlands

Moon Over Russian Gulch

Dawn Moonset

Bowling Ball Beach at Dusk

CKY

Range Rover Convertible Conversion

While running errands this afternoon, I saw a new Range Rover convertible conversion. Most likely, the top was chopped by Newport Convertible Engineering. I remarked to my passenger: "You know, that reminds me of East German leader Erich Honecker's Range Rover convertible conversion." To which my companion replied: "You know, only YOU would make a comment like that."

Green Range Rover picture courtesy Stefan Thiele

CKY

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Thursday, March 19, 2009

BMW X6 Rear End

I sat behind a BMW X6 at the stoplight. First, those tires are WIDE. Plus, after watching the entire Planet of the Apes series, this is the only thing I saw in my mind when confronted with that rear end.


Notice the resemblance?

CKY

Holy Smokes: Tonga Underwater Volcano Eruption




CKY

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Restaurant Service Test: Recession Edition

Have you noticed that ever since the recession started, waitstaff at restaurants have been a lot friendlier to their patrons, i.e. you? Next time you go out to eat, no matter where you go, see for yourself. At places you've been to before with great service, the service will be even better. At places with notoriously bad service, you'll get a smile. Trust me and check it out.

(This message has been brought to you by the National Restaurant Association.)

CKY

Astroscan Telescope

I used to be an astronomy buff. Today, I listened to SETI's Are We Alone on the local NPR station. I want to get back to stargazing. But rather than spending thousands on a behemoth of a telescope and even more on eyepieces and other accessories, I'm going to go simple and inexpensive this time. I think I'm going to get an Astroscan. Here is a great review of it. I hope to bring in astronomy as a new blog topic to accompany my posts about dirty apes, Citroens, and Central Asian/Latin American geopolitics.

CKY

Irony Day: Global Warming Edition


These scienticians plan to traverse the Northwest Passage and measure the thickness of the ice with a Hummer H1. Listen to the NPR interview here.

No word yet on whether the Hummer will have room in the back to carry the carcasses of drowned polar bears it is responsible for killing.

CKY

My Favorite Flying Buttresses

As I meandered through a dark alleyway on this St. Patrick's night, I spotted a Jag XJS with a smashed up taillight. Of course, what caught my eye was its c-pillar flying buttress. Here are some of my favorites-- on cars.

Jaguar XJS flying buttress. This is THE flying buttress of flying buttresses.

Ferrari 599 flying buttress. This understated, almost vestigial flying buttress evidences that Ferrari's designers continue to be peerless.

Corvette C3 flying buttress.

Dodge Charger flying buttress.

Maserati Merak flying buttress.

CKY

The Simpsons Planet of the Apes Musical

I am watching the entire Planet of the Apes series right now. I'm halfway through Escape from Planet of the Apes. I'm really getting into this. Is it wrong to name your first-born Cornelius?

Here is the Simpsons musical, starring Troy McClure (RIP Phil Hartman).



CKY

Sunday, March 15, 2009

I Want to Be A West German Highway Patrolman

Porsche 924 Polizei police car

CKY

Nagorno-Karabakh And Public Relations

As a disclaimer, I do not side with either the Armenians or the Azeris on this issue. The enclave piqued my interest recently because there was a piece about the Goris-Stepanakert Highway on DW-TV's European Journal. The slick video below was no doubt created by Armenians abroad on behalf of what is essentially the Nagorno-Karabakh chamber of commerce. What I want to know is how we (and our congressmen) would feel about the whole conflict if Azerbaijian was Christian, had a rich and politically connected diaspora in the West, and hired a DC lobbying firm and a talented film editor.



CKY

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Road Trip In A 1947 Tatra T87

The Internets is a wonderful thing. While searching through Google Images for pictures of Transformers based on black and white Japanese patrol cars, I came upon this site covering a monumental road trip which reached the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans. The only thing more beautiful than the Tatra itself is the scenery.







CKY