Supercar in a Sedan Suit

The first time I rode in @normanity's '88 ///M5, we were cruising along the backroads of Upstate NY. A stock Camaro passed us on the right and without taking his eyes from the road, my dad just said, "Watch this." Within the next second I was pinned to the back of my seat as we then passed the Camaro with time-warping acceleration. After watching this video, my dad will wish he'd never traded her in.

Thanks for finding this gem @mwaissmann!

Scene Stealers

Depth of Speed: My Church

@JoshClason's latest season of his stellar Depth of Speed series launches today and the first installment is fantastic. Enjoy!

Blunderbussed

Third grade was the year everyone in elementary school chose instruments. I clearly remember watching Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine on some random TV show, then turning to my parents and telling them I wanted to play the saxophone. Well, my mom had access to a clarinet and convinced me I needed learn the clarinet first in order to play a sax later.

I don't think I realized how much I love the sound of a clarinet until last week when I had the chase to listen to Jack White's first solo album, Blunderbuss, on a decent pair of headphones. The opening bars of "Love Interruption" came on, and in all absolute honesty, when I realized he had actually worked a clarinet into his orchestration, I got a little misty.



Blunderbuss is everything you want from a classic Stripes album, plus the unfiltered personality of Jack himself. I kind of think that despite how much he's always put himself out there, he still hasn't fully cut loose out of subconscious respect for Meg, random Raconteur/Dead Weather bandmates, or for that matter The Edge and Jimmy Page.

You take a track off Blunderbuss like "Sixteen Saltines" and you quick realize that there's still an untapped energy source buried deep within Jack White that's continuing to find its way to the surface in the form of pure, raw rock & roll.

Little GTI

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I mentally cheat on my MINI with this car more than any other. Also, loving The Pixies cover soundtrack for this short film.

Ginger > Root

I'm way into botanically brewed ginger ales and ginger beers these days. They've surpassed an occasional root beer as my favor soda. Stumbled upon this packaging design video my of one of my top three favorite ginger ale/beer brands: Bundaberg.

Top 10 Favorite Cartoons

I've found myself spending way too much time at work talking about vintage cartoons with this guy and it's lead to me thinking about all the cartoons that have influenced me the most over the years. No, as much as I love 'em, you won't find Ren & Stimpy, Beavis and Butt-head or even The Simpsons on this list. This list's all about those cartoon series of yesteryear that were action-packed with after-school awesomeness.

10. Battle of the Planets (a.k.a. G-Force: Guardians of Space)
This was the first series I can remember watching and simply being in awe. I was about 6 years-old when I saw this and I vowed never to watch Sesame Street again.

9. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Here's a little factoid that I totally know just off the cuff. He-Man is actually half Earthling, have Eternian. His mother was a human astronaut who crash landed on Eternia.

8. Speed Racer
Thank goodness for Nick at Nite. They brought this oldie-but-goodie back right at the age for me to still find it both ironic and awesome.

7. Animaniacs
This is the odd ball of the bunch, but you can't deny the greatness of Wakko's constant Ringo Starr impression, Yakko's incredible Nations of the World song and don't forget—this is the show that brought the world Pink and the Brain, Narf!

6. Robotech
I discovered Robotech at far too young of an age and I knew it even at that time... and that's one of the reasons I loved it. It was one of my first real brushes with a pure anime-style and its more mature themes made me feel super smart and cool at such a young age.

5. Voltron: Defender of the Universe
Before a single Power Ranger ever danced across a screen, there was Voltron. Now, I'm not talking about the crazy vehilce-based version. I'm talking about the straight up robeast-shreading mega-droid made up of freaking robo-lions. Let's go Voltron Force!

4. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
When the ultimate action figure finally got its own afternoon cartoon, you better believe I was all in. But let's just set a few things straight: Destro > Cobra Commander, Lady Jay > Scarlett and of course Snake Eyes > Storm Shadow.

3. Transformers
Transformers were the perfect TV show/toy combination. These things were awesome. It's like a Hot Wheel that becomes an action figure?! Gobots were essentially the same thing and came out about the same time, but it was the Transformers cartoon with its epic characters, stellar theme song and unforgettable transforming sound effect that set it apart.

2. Thundercats
Thundercats probably has the craziest premise of any action cartoon ever. I'm mean, just read the show's plot on its Wikipedia page. It sounds like it should be a horrendous show. But I loved it. I dunno if it was the fact that Cheetara was the hottest cartoon babe of her time or that Mumm-Ra is still the most evil cartoon villain ever, but even though this show produced my most dreaded nickname (Snarf!), I full-on recorded episodes on audio cassettes before we got a VCR!

1. Batman: The Animated Series
After Tim Burton's and before Christopher Nolan's the WB released a fantastic, animated version of Batman that's still my fave. It was dark, epic and has to date one of the best Batmobiles ever. When I envision Batman, this is the first version I go to in my mind's eye. Not to mention it reintroduced Mark Hamill again as a cultural icon—voicing an amazing Joker. And that's not an easy task coming from the guy known for kissing his sister and whining the fateful line: "But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!"