Zombies: always delightful
Zombie Reagan Raised From Grave To Lead GOP
As is The Onion, where I stole this.
Zombie Reagan Raised From Grave To Lead GOP
As is The Onion, where I stole this.
As a design geek paying absurd amounts of attention to the world of cars, I sometimes find myself wondering why I’m reading auto blog x again or paying $12 for a copy of UK Top Gear or Car magazine. It’s going to be the same thing as always: reviews of hypercars I can’t afford, pictures of vehicles that aren’t on the US market, concepts that are dolled up to the point of insanity, etc.
I keep reading. And reading. And reading.
And sometimes, like yesterday, there’s a pay-off. Audi debuted the new A8 at Design Miami – with Lucy Liu as emcee, no less – and the event was the perfect opportunity to not only gush over the gadget-y goodness of this new barge but also to put to use a crazy level of knowledge about the design direction the car takes.
First, the car. A few of my favorite images for you.
2011 Audi A8
Those headlights. God damn. I can't wait to see the full LED lights at night. (If I'm run over by an A8, this is why.)
And the interior is jaw dropping in its serenity and cohesive use of shapes and materials. Blows the doors off this:
Fuck you, 2009 A4 interior. Why are half of those buttons where they are? What's with all the chintzy looking cheap plastic? Especially since we started here:
Soothing. Logical. Clean. Simple. (And a 2005.) Stop chasing BMW because they are the only ones that can do crazy and asymmetrical.
But I digress. Sorry about that tangent. The message I’m trying to get across here is that the new Audi A8 is absolutely beautiful. What’s more, it’s a direct descendent of a recent show car, the 2009 Audi Sportback Concept.
I absolutely love that you can see the waterfall grille evolve its shape in this concept and find it applied in the A8. And they one upped the lights.
I do prefer the angles and curves of the concept to the final A8, but this was supposed to pave the way for a more curvaceous (and younger) model, the A7 so I can understand the more grandfatherly finished product.
Imagine. A concept turned to reality. And my joy at paying enough attention to see it happen.
If you’d like to see more about the Audi A8, Fourtitude is carrying some of the best photos of the launch and will certainly be chiming in with thoughts soon.
I just hope that some of these innovations make their way down to the A3 by 2012.
Well, it was fortuitous that our plans brought us to PIttsburgh this year, as my mom was imprisoned at Magee Women’s Hospital for the last 12 days. Instead of seeing only Kate’s family for Thanksgiving dinner, I was quite accidentally able to see my own family, too. Imagine that!
On our way back from the hospital – where mother received her release just moments later – we decided to stop on the top of Mt. Washington. In so doing, we found this amazing scene where the rain collided with the sun. And a lovely rainbow.
I have to admit that I’ve got a secret: most of the music I’ve recommended, loved or listened to in the last few years has found its origins from one music video blog, Cliptip. However, Since April, Cliptip has been more or less on hiatus as its author traveled the world and generally, it would seemed, lived a more fabulous life than any of us could hope to have done. I felt cold, alone and abandoned with Cliptip’s updates.
Where else could I find amazing music videos? And not just that, but amazing music videos that are also high quality?
So many blogs seem to focus on getting the newest artist out as quickly as possible (and rely on the crappiest video quality possible to do it.) Cliptip not only finds great new music but also the absolute best quality available. In its previous incarnation, Cliptip relied on QuickTime where possible but it seems that we’ve now gone for the speed and ease of using Vimeo. While I will miss the ability to download my favorites, at least we are back up and running. Look for a link in the right sidebar (I love it that much.)
(Thanks, Dave.)
During a much needed break to read gadget blogs today, I found myself thinking about racing games. No, not because of my recent infatuation with Forza 3. I was actually reading a review of a massive steering wheel and stand combo (verdict: not so great.) This wheel has a Porsche logo on it and the brand purist in me finds it repulsive to think of “driving” an Alfa-Romeo or Ford in the game with a Porsche logo still on the wheel.
Not that you really have time to look down during most races. Right?
And this got me thinking…in a conversation with Kate on iChat:
Me: I want to design a racing game that has commuter challenges.
Get to the Target, the Petco, the post office and back to your office all in a lunch break.
Beat traffic on to the highway before the light.
That sort of thing.
Kate: i’d never play it
too real
Me: I would.
It would be awesome.
You could hit pedestrians.
Ram “competitors.”
Power slide into parking spaces.
Jump speed bumps.
Crash through store fronts.
Basically all the things you wish you could do in reality.
Kate: LOL
ok
i’m won over
Okay, I know this sounds like a weird game concept, but I’d absolutely find this enthralling. (Full disclosure: I played Need for Speed on the PC and would occasionally drive the tracks at the speed limit just because. I also played an entire level of Grand Theft Auto while endeavoring not to damage the Volvo station wagon I had stolen.) You have to admit that it would be far more enjoyable some days to be able to smash the crap out of the other cars you are stuck at an intersection with than it would be to take the checkered flag at Monza in a Ferrari. Who’s with me?
I’m ninety-nine percent certain that the four horsemen of the apocalypse are using my nasal passages as a means for entering into our plane of reality. Right now, I’m busy passing pestilence, but I’m sure the others aren’t far behind.
Seriously, though, I can’t freaking breathe. I feel fine otherwise – aside from the mystery aches and pains of this past Friday and not being able to use my respiratory system for its intended purpose. I’m not sick, dammit.
In other news, Audi Financial Services mysteriously lowered my monthly lease payment today by $35. If this sticks, it will save me about $420 each year. I’m not going to complain, but I am confused.
Also, researchers at IBM are all excited because they’ve successfully mapped the neural structure of a cat’s brain. Is this scientist-talk for having done nothing at all with your grant money? Because we all know that cats don’t have brains…