It's 1912 and you are kerpuffling down Main in your new
Stutz Bearcat, the envy of all who witness your
ride. The "dog house" hood, open bucket seats, a tiny "monocle" windscreen in front of the driver, and a cylindrical fuel tank on a short rear deck are attracting stares from passersby.
[more inside]
posted by ecorrocio
on Feb 4, 2012 -
64 comments
"Little is changing modern India more than
the spread of cars, a four-wheeled reflection of its economic transformation and a window into the aspirations of the new Indian middle class."
posted by mr_crash_davis
on Nov 27, 2011 -
23 comments
During the cold war Wartburg and Skoda exported cars from the Eastern Bloc to the United States. An action that was . . . controversial. One dealership received both
love and hate mail.
posted by Mitheral
on Oct 17, 2011 -
20 comments
The American Journalism Review asks,
is automotive journalism fundamentally corrupt? Car manufacturers pay for lavish trips and grant extensive seat time in their most desirable cars – in exchange for good reviews. Journalists who write critical reviews are blacklisted. Among the worst offenders is Porsche, who
blacklisted journalist Jack Baruth after lukewarm (or simply balanced)
print and
video reviews of the Porsche Panamera in 2009. Since then, Baruth, who owns three Porsches, has taken to compiling lists of Porsche’s deadly sins (
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6, but
not 7),
fabricating Porsche test drives,
bashing fellow automotive journalists who he sees as being
too soft on Porsche, and
borrowing privately-owned cars in order to write reviews. Baruth writes mostly for
The Truth About Cars, which guards the independence of its writers so fiercely that its reviews of the Prius, for instance, ranged from the
unremittingly hostile to
defensively positive to
relatively balanced. But what about journalistic independence in mainstream outlets, which often rely on freelancers who simply don't have the funds to be functionally independent of car manufacturers, and which don't want to displease advertisers?
posted by Dasein
on Oct 3, 2011 -
85 comments
Oh, my. These
cows are ready to do the Charleston (with some practice, perhaps). These
curious cows are only mildly skittish and love to exercise.
Some light fun for a Saturday afternoon.
posted by glaucon
on Sep 17, 2011 -
15 comments
It was bound to happen eventually. After
a quarter-century,
26 Academy Awards, and an unparalleled streak of
eleven artistic and commercial triumphs, Pixar's latest project,
Cars 2, is
Certified Rotten. Critics have
assailed the film as a slick but hollow vehicle for Disney's
$10 billion-dollar Cars merchandising industry "lifestyle brand," replacing the original's serviceable tale of small-town redemption with
zany spy games,
hyperactive chase sequences, and even more
lowbrow aww-shucks potty humor from
Larry the Cable Guy. But it's not all bad news! Along with
a fun new Toy Story 3 short, preceding today's (3-D) premiere showings is a first look at next year's
Brave --
a darkly magical original story set in ancient Scotland featuring the studio's first female lead (and
director).
Evocative high-res concept art [mirror] is available at the official website, and
character sketches have leaked to the web, with the apparently striking teaser trailer sure to follow. Also, be sure not to miss the sneak peak of
Brave's associated short,
"La Luna"!
posted by Rhaomi
on Jun 24, 2011 -
263 comments
Researchers at UCSD have modified an MP3 file so that when it is played on a car's stereo system it modifies the stereo's firmware and opens up a security back door into the car's operating system. Using it, they were then able to control the door locks, the car ignition, and change the speedometer reading.
[more inside]
posted by Chocolate Pickle
on Mar 13, 2011 -
148 comments
Joe Simonetti is a 57-year-old psychotherapist who lives with his wife in Pound Ridge, New York. His commute takes him from the northern reaches of exurban Westchester County to his office just south of Central Park. It's about three and a half hours each way.
By bike. [more inside]
posted by zarq
on Feb 22, 2011 -
72 comments
A car dealership in CA has a
brand new 1987 Buick GNX on the showroom floor. It's been there since 1987. GM only produced 587 of this model, and it is believed that this vehicle is the only new one left on the planet. The GNX was a hot rod; turbocharged, high horsepower, and could match any production vehicle available in the US, going 0 to 60 in under 5 seconds. The $29,389 stick price from 1987 equates to $54,771 today. Sorry Buick enthusiasts, the dealership says the car is not for sale.
posted by COD
on Dec 11, 2010 -
85 comments
In 2007, City officials convened a group of stakeholders, including representatives of taxi drivers, owner and passengers, to create a set of goals for the next New York City taxi cab, a project called the Taxi of Tomorrow.
posted by Joe Beese
on Nov 16, 2010 -
40 comments
Anyone driving the twists of Highway 1 between San Francisco and Los Angeles recently may have glimpsed a Toyota Prius with a curious funnel-like cylinder on the roof. Harder to notice was that the person at the wheel was not actually driving.
SLNYT +
video.
posted by chavenet
on Oct 9, 2010 -
116 comments
RACER is a recreation of a
Wipeout-style racing game using "a modified vintage arcade machine, a RC model car with a wireless camera,
an a self-constructed racetrack/game level made entirely from cardboard." [
via]
posted by brundlefly
on Aug 3, 2010 -
16 comments
In the beginning, there was text. The early users of the internet looked upon it and saw that it was good. They used e-mail and also communicated with each other via Usenet, a series of bulletin/discussion boards shared across various networks and the internet. But that was the old way, and open databases are the new way. The best known movie database,
IMDB,
will turn 20 on October 17, 2010, but for some enthusiasts, it's not detailed enough. Were you wondering exactly what weaponry was shown in that episode of
Mail Call? Check
the page on IMFDb, a wiki catalog of guns in movies. Having debates over
what was said in the Book of Eli?
There's a Database for that. Perhaps you're a
fan of vespas or
Hudsons? The
Internet Movie Car Database can
satisfy your
interests. And don't forget to check
the Internet Game Car Database, or the
other sites linked from IMCDb, including the database for
movie car chases (mentioned
previously,
twice).
Soundtrack Collector,
Soundtrack Info, and
Sounds Familiar have (you guessed it) information on soundtracks.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Jun 25, 2010 -
30 comments
Toy Story 3 hits theaters today, and it's already winning
universal acclaim as an enchanting and heartbreaking wonderwork, employing
understated 3D and a
"real-time" perspective that
deftly capitalizes on the nostalgia and can't-go-home-again angst of a generation that grew up with the series.
It has a strong pedigree, with 11-year-old predecessor
Toy Story 2 the rare sequel to equal its forebear, 1995's
Toy Story (itself the first CGI feature in history).
And it joins a lofty stable of films: over the last 15 years, Pixar has put out an unbroken chain of
ten commercial and critical successes that have grossed over $5 billion worldwide and collected
24 Academy Awards (including the
second-ever Best Picture nom for animation with
Up), a legacy that
rivals some of the greatest franchises in film history.
But there's rumbling on the horizon. Although the studio has been
hailed for its originality (of the 50 top-grossing movies in history, only nine were original stories -- and
five of them were by Pixar), two of their upcoming projects are
sequels, both of them based some of their least-acclaimed films (
Cars 2 in 2011 and
Monsters, Inc. 2 in 2012). And while 2012 will also bring
The Bear and the Bow Brave, the first Pixar flick to feature a female protagonist
[previously], fellow newcomer
Newt has been
canceled. With
WALL-E/Up/Toy Story 3 guru Andrew Stanton focusing on
his 2012 adaptation of
John Carter of Mars and with
forays into live-action already in development,
does this mark the end of the golden age of Pixar? Or is this latest entry lasting proof that even the toughest case of sequelitis can be raised to the level of masterpiece?
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Jun 18, 2010 -
227 comments
