Happy Birthday Porsche Style

No comment on this one folks.

Back to the Knight Rider

When it all boils down to it, this blog is all about intersections. Here's a perfect example of movies, TV and cars colliding. It's a legit redux of Back to the Future meets Knight Rider. Enjoy.

Automotive Zoetrope

Not to be confused with American Zoetrope, the smart marketers at Forza Motorsport create an automotive zoetrope to tout the game's 5th edition. This life-sized, McLaren-powered flipbook animation makes for what is easily one of my fave commercials of the year thus far. Thanks for the heads up JamFactory!

Sinking Into Oblivion

Due to a variety of circumstances, I finally saw Oblivion for the very first time this weekend. For some bizzaro reason, I had no idea that it was a Joseph Kosinski brainchild. It's been a while since I've written a good film review and for me—even though I'm late to the game—Oblivion merits one.

First things first, it's more than obvious when taking both TRON: Legacy and Oblivion into consideration that Kosinski has taste. This guy knows how to inspire with both stunningly cool visuals and straight-up radical soundtracks (Daft Punk + M83 = Awesome). Both of his films feel like their cut from the same cloth in respect to their style… and I'm totally okay with that.

Next, Oblivion does a fun job of helping you feel like you already know this world by drawing on conventions and references from a slew of other flicks. Just off the top of my head, Kosinski references everything from the Stars both Wars and Trek, not to mention Wall-E, Planet of the Apes and even TRON: Legacy. In doing this, you almost instantaneously feel familiar with this film in a good way and Kosinski doesn't have to do a ton of heavily-lifting exposition all by himself.


Now, the area of opportunity that he may have missed. In conjunction with Lucas, Cameron and Roddenberry, I also grew up with with a healthy dose of Kubrick, Asimov and Bradbury… guys who created more 'science fiction' than 'sci-fi'. And their brand of science fiction didn't always end wrapped with a pretty bow. I feel if Kosinski could have introduced a little more of this brand of science fiction into his sci-fi, we'd be set.

That being said… I loved Oblivion. It's the kinda flick that just makes you feel cool while you're watching it. And was it just me or was Andrea Riseborough super crush-worthy?

Finally, between TRON and Oblivion you know that Kosinski has a deep love and respect for graphic/motion design, architecture and art direction. This little clip has some awesome insights into his graphical, storytelling process.
 

And this is an awesome behind the scenes on the creation of "The Bubble Ship"—just ignore Tom's whole, "You know… I'm a pilot." Enjoy!
 

Late-night Ride

Here's yet another downtown LA Porsche run with the brilliant Magnus Walker. Enjoy!

I Drive NY

Digging this love letter to driving in NYC by the spectacular filmmakers at Petrolicious. That is some Porsche perfection by the way.

Full Detail

Loving this smooth auto detail vid of this classic 911 SC. Want.

MINI Countryman ALL4 Camp

Okay, I think I could really see Mrs. Kyailty and I rolling in this step up one day. Imagine an epic roadtrip to as many of the National Parks as we could hit.

Cars And Films

This just in from Upto12. Seville-based graphic design Jesús Prudencio has a great little project he's created. It's a series of posters featuring the combination of two of my favorite things in the world: cars and films. The project is aptly named: Cars And Films. I love the simplicity of these prints.

I also love the way he's cropped his gallery thumbnails. The gallery actually becomes a bit of a quiz. Give it a whirl, I guessed 9 outta 14. What's your score?

And last but definitely not least...

The Unassuming BMW

Loving "The Bavarian Experience" series that Petrolicious is presenting all month long. This vid on the venerable E28 ///M5 is epic. I still shudder from time to time when I realize my dad had one of these.

And the sound of this E30 ///M3 is all you need to hear to know this next vid is flawless as well.

Keep up the amazing work gents!

Trouble Will Find Me

Well, I'm head over heels digging The National's new album, Trouble Will Find Me. And this track and its accompanying video push this album even further up the charts for me. I'm so stoked on this one, that Mrs. Kyality and I are literally passing up Bob Dylan/Wilco/MMJ tix to see them at this year's Twilight Concert Series here in SLC.

Thanks to Upto12 for the heads up on this vid. 

Bagged Bag

A couple of years ago, I spent nearly 18 months in search of my ideal messenger bag. My old mish buddy pinged me looking for bag suggestions not too long ago. He didn't know what he was in for. After a barrage of questioning to determine what his everyday carry (ECD) really looked like, I was able to prioritize a list that really informed what bags would work. 



After no more than about 90 minutes, I found it: the STM Velo. There was absolutely no question. This was the one. My buddy had to agree. Here's some pics of his recent acquisition.

And here's his ECD:
• STM Velo Laptop Bag
• Dell Laptop (company issued)
• Power cord and various adapter cords
• Mail/Bills that need response
• Magazines
• Checkerboad Mighty Wallet
• DVD sets on loan
• Gifts cards I need to use up
• Scout Book with pen and pencils
• Belkin portable mouse
• Opinel Knife – Classic Carbone
• Knockaround Fort Knocks Sunglasses
• Security Badge
• Skullcandy Ear Buds
• Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone
• Lint Roller (just got a dog)

A Hundred and Three 'Arrested' Jokes

The doods at Struck have burned the midnight oil to crank out an ode to Arrested just in time for Netflix's Season 4 launch. Love it.

Indian River Road

Although I wouldn't mind seeing this car haulin' a bit faster down these winding roads... I still love this car's aesthetic against a forested backdrop.

Let Fun Reign

Still can't get enough of this spot by my team at Struck for Lagoon. I went to Lagoon on every childhood vacay from my home in NY while visiting fam in SLC and this captures so much of the essence of those summer evening memories.

Color Scheming a Go-Go

A few years ago, I did a sweet little series of blog posts that I affectionately referred to as Color Scheming. I took each of the MINI factory colors and paired well-designed products with them by color. It was a ton of fun.

For a while now, I've been thinking it'd be cool to do this for a client dynamically. Well, leave it to Nike to do it first. Nike PhotoiD is a tight little web app designed to analyze the colors of an Instagram of your choice. It then applies the colors to a sneaker and beautifully overlays the custom kicks on your pic. It then allows you to share the image and even purchase the shoes.

In discussing the notion of color scheming at work, @magicspoon turned me onto a cool experiment called Matchbook. In this somewhat sassy study, book cover designs are paired with, well swimsuits… primarily bikinis. It's honestly pretty inspiring and definitely not hard to look at.

All this color scheming has inspired me to start a new pinboard dedicated to the art of color pairing. I'll be loading it up over next few weeks, so enjoy!

Sleeping Giant

I recently realized that come September, I'll have three of The Kyality Kids in elementary school. I typically haul them to school in the morning. But the MINI only has two buckets in the back and Mrs. Kyality won't let them sit in the front until they're like 18 or something. Upon realizing this, I told my wife that either I needed to get a new car or else she'd need to take the kids to school in the morning. Her response was brief and to the point. She simply said, "Run the numbers."

Photo by Stopped.

After reviewing my always-evolving next car consideration set, there was only one car in the bunch that had the kid-hauling capacity and cool factor I desire. So, for the first time seven years, I've broken with tradition and made the jump from MINI to VW. The GTI is the ultimate hot hatch, possessing along with MINIs an amazing combination of sport, economy, luxury, personality and style. It actually wasn't that tough of a decision and happened relatively quickly partly because the only MINI I'd consider that has five seats is well over $5k more than a GTI and is not nearly as fast. 

I know I've dedicated numerous posts to my love of MINIs and I still love them, but honestly I was a Porsche guy way before I was ever a MINI guy. And let's face it, Porsche guys are VW guys. So I scored a black four door and I seriously dig it. The GTI has a giant-sized power to weight ratio and is incredible in the curves. It's a much more refined ride than the Clubman, for better or worse. And it's a great looking ride, though it's way more under radar than a MINI. I've learned that MINIs are attention grabbers, where as GTIs are sleepers. Only people in the know can spot a GTI in a sea of Golfs. 

I took my son to baseball the other day and when we got out of the car he goes, "It's freakin' cold!" I kinda just said, "Hey, don't say freakin'." He quickly retorted, "Can I say you have a freakin' cool car?" I simply responded, "Yes. Yes you can." 

I know I'll drive a MINI again one day. But for know, I'm totally enjoying being a GTI guy. And yes, an official photo shoot will be coming soon.

Jay + Urban Outlaw

I recently posted a cool video called Urban Outlaw about Porsche designer/remixer Magnus Walker. Here Jay Leno reviews Walker's signature 1972 Porsche 911 72STR. Despite Jay's chin, it's a pretty amazing look into a very cool custom car. Enjoy!

Manual Designs

Graphic design meets automotive design meets fine art. Love it.

Ultimate Paintball Duel

This is just good fun.