November112012
4 Comments
automotive, business, cars, design, iedei, men, sports

B8 RS4 spotted in the USA.

This is THE sexiest and most exciting Wagon  (Avant in Audi language) on sale right now….and having been forbidden for as long as it existed, could this be the first time that Audi is thinking of importing an RS Avant to US shores?  Look at those fenders.  Wicked.  Fruitfully spotted by our friends at Quattroworld at a recent GTG.

There is now a FB page devoted to getting people to join; to convince Audi of America there is a market for this car.  I, for one, am severely interested!  I am currently on the order list for a 2014 Audi S3, however if I was told this would be arriving I would have to re-evaluate things!  The Facebook petition worked for the TT-RS, did not work for the RS3, but let’s hope it works for this.

Dear AoA:  Take the steps we all want you to take.  I can’t tell you how disappointed I was when the 8P RS3 did not come to the US market, and it would be a shame if the B8 RS4 Avant doesn’t come here either.  These are the cars we want and will pay money for!  

Join the FB page HERE

HA! “you just got beat by a wagon” sticker at the top of the back window!

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November112012
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art, creative, culture, design, iedei, men, New York, NYC

carl fudge.

Very, very cool.  Heavily influenced by Vorticism.

“The works presented by Carl Fudge follow the success of his exhibition The Black Country, presented by Galerie Richard in New York in 2011. Fudge is recognized as one of the first painters to incorporate digital processes into his technique. Fudge’s work refers to an area in the West Midlands of England. This region became intensely compromised during the industrial revolution, as coalmines, iron foundries and steel mills had left their black mark on the landscape. Fudge found inspiration in a series of woodcuts picturing this region by artist Edward Wadsworth, a member of the avant-garde Vorticism movement. Wadsworth’s woodcuts of slagheaps and furnaces provide a point of departure for Fudge in this new group of paintings and woodcut prints. Fudge’s ability to retain the influence of Wadsworth’s traditional woodcuts, even while deconstructing them through a digital process, is truly fascinating.  Because this series uses mostly a red palette, the viewer may decipher images of a crumbling city plagued by turmoil. In this way, this exhibition has a pulse that strikes a chord with the economic crisis we find ourselves in today.”

Galerie Richard

 

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November112012
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Advertising, art, cameras, creative, culture, design, gadgets, iedei, men, men's accessories, photography, technology, vintage

M5 brochure.

No, not that M5—-the 1971-1975 Leica M5.  Some of my favourite excerpts from an original M5 brochure.  In my opinion, the most beautiful camera ever made by Leica!

src: keh

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November82012
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art, cameras, creative, gadgets, iedei, New York, NYC, photography

view005.

me and my trusty M8 .1 + Summicron 40mm

 

(below with new 39mm Leitz Orange filter, which i’m sort of in love with at the moment.  Bought it for B&W photos, but am starting to use it for orange tint)

 

 

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November52012
1 Comment
art, business, cameras, design, gadgets, iedei, men, men's accessories, photography, technology

BeoSmart phone concept.

Well here’s an idea by designer Hugo Andre Costa Fernandes Vieira which incorporates a Bang & Olufsen stereo system, Leica 12 mp CMOS digital camera, Gold headphone jack (?), and a 3.5 inch OLED display mated to an Android OS to create what is known as the ‘BeoSmart‘ concept mobile phone.

Well it’s not a real phone, yet…and while i’m not generally a big mobile phone enthusiast, i do use my iPhone quite a bit and it is arguably the most important and useful device I use on a daily basis.  I have been daydreaming of a really kickass camera mated to iOS for a while (although the iPhone camera is no slouch really)—-however a Leica mobile phone camera?  My wallet is ready for action.

I doubt this will ever get made…as Leica doesn’t strike me as a company that interested in stepping down to mobile phones.  That being said, i can see them putting their name on a mobile phone camera lens like they do with some of the entry-level Panasonic point-and-shoot cameras.

src:  yankoDesign

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November42012
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art, automotive, business, cars, design, iedei, men, racing, vintage

Renault, Caterham, and details of ‘new’ Alpine coming soon.

(above  and below renderings by Volatile Vertex)

A press conference has been scheduled for November 5th (Monday) to be co-hosted by Renault and Caterham to discuss the details of the upcoming Alpine project.  Very exciting news indeed.

Here are some of the ideas being thrown around:  Weight of a little over 1 tonne (!!), target launch 3-5 years from now, 200-250hp, less than 4.3 meters long, and that it will “look like the A110 Berlinette”.   5,000 to 10,000 units per year.  Target price of 35k-40k Euros. Very exciting.

There are some questions over what the functions of the original Dieppe Alpine factory would be, if the entire task of the new Alpine’s construction and engineering are left to Caterham.  More details as they evolve, obviously.

 

(above photo via Renault Sport’s FB page)

UPDATE:  Renault and Caterham have revealed that they will both get a version of the upcoming Alpine.  Theoretically the car will likely be a roadster for Caterham and a coupe for Alpine (sounds right!).  Prices will be low (under 40k Euros), and most interestingly—-Caterham now will take a 50% stake in Alpine as a marque!  I find this last sentence very interesting.

src:  lePoint, expatica

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November22012
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art, automotive, business, cars, design, iedei, men, racing, vintage

Lancia is finally dead.

After years of punishing, brutal and inhumane torture against the legacy of Lancia; easily one of the finest marques of automobiles ever to exist.  Sergio Marchionne has finally unleashed the final blow and has announced that he is killing off the Lancia marque.  Finally, the marque will not be insulted by minivans and over-the-top rebadged 300C sedans.  I am quite frankly relieved after seeing the marque decay over the past decade especially.  There was hope with the 2003 Fulvia Concept, but after that project was killed off—-it all went to regurgitated scum.

Read about it at Truth About Cars.

(photo by D-negative)

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November22012
2 Comments
art, business, cameras, culture, design, gadgets, iedei, men, photography, technology, vintage, world

Leica ABCDE (1970) and Leica S1 (1996) prototypes.

Well here are 2 very strange prototype cameras.

The Leica ABCDE looks like a GREAT SLR design from 1970 (albeit with possibly the worst name ever for a camera…lol).  Why didn’t they use it? I haven’t the slightest clue.  Not much is known about this concept, however it was seen on a Leica Factory Tour in 2009 by DPReview.com (the link to their tour, unfortunately, does not work—however the pictures are found in search).

 

The Leica S1 (below) from 1996 has to be one of the least useable camera designs ever!  I cannot even imagine focusing while holding a gigantic ring—-or maybe it’s genius!?  Who knows….all we know is that it seems to have cool digital buttons on the top.  The colour is right as well.  It may make for a nice steering wheel though.

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November12012
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art, automotive, business, cars, design, iedei, men, racing, sports, vintage

1969 Pininfarina Sigma Grand Monoposto F1.

Well that’s a bit of a mouthful.  So what happens when Pininfarina decides to design an F1 car for Ferrari in 1969?  This happens!

and in its most recent state:

 

foto src: carStyling

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November12012
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art, cameras, creative, culture, design, iedei, technology, vintage, world

Deconstructed.

Todd McLellan does  some really cool deconstructions and shows the extraordinary detail of things we consider ‘ordinary’.   He has some videos on his site as well…so make sure you check them out.

 

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October292012
8 Comments
art, automotive, cars, design, iedei, men, mossad, politics, vintage

“Anti-imbedded-Mossad Party” Cadillac Seville Limousine.

I laughed so hard when I saw this car.  I laughed from far, and then i laughed from up close! Spotted in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  Apologies for the water on my camera lens, as there is a hurricane outside when I was walking around!

For those who don’t know, the Mossad is obviously the controversial Israeli intelligence agency (equivalent to the CIA in the US government).   “Mitochondrial DNA”, interestingly enough, is generally passed down from one’s mother.  I am still trying to interpret these quotes in full.

 

Here’s my wife pretending it’s her car! (it’s not, obviously….lol)

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October282012
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art, cameras, creative, culture, design, gadgets, iedei, men, movies, photography, technology, television, world

self-projection.

This is so wicked. The future of presence.

Experiments into the Kinect for live 3D capture and overlay projection.  Coded by Sarat Babu and Stefan Dzisieswki-Smith.

 

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October282012
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art, automotive, cars, design, iedei, men, racing, vintage

A110 x-ray cut-out.

still the greatest car in the world….ever.  IEDEI = Alpine. Some things never change.

src: Renault Sport Official

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October272012
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art, cameras, creative, iedei, men, New York, NYC, photography

view004.

This past week, i bought a new 40mm Summicron F2 for my Leica M8.1 (M8u) and man do i love it.  It is considered one of the finest kept secrets in the Leica world, and they are totally right.  The 40mm Summicron is one of the sharpest and most well balanced lenses, and it really makes the 35mm Voigtlander Nokton F1.4 feel more primitive and just not as nice to use.  Everyone with an M-mount camera needs this lens.  It does have a tendency to flare when pointed directly at sunlight, however most Summicrons and Summiluxes have similar tendencies.  All in all, a wonderfully compact and tight lens which is excellent to use.  Highly recommended!

Here are some of my favourite photos i’ve taken over the past week, taken with the new 40mm Summicron F2:

 

 

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October262012
5 Comments
automotive, business, cars, design, iedei, men, racing, vintage

Avant Heaven.

These are the coolest Avants (Wagons) ever made.  If it were my choice, i’d grab the RS2 and the B8 RS4 for maximum satisfaction.  Best commercial of the year!

Thanks to Skaala for the tip!

 

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October242012
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art, automotive, cars, design, men, racing, rally, sports, vintage, world

200 quattro trans-am…on snow.

Epic photo of a truly dominant race car.  the Audi 200 quattro Trans Am.

thanks to the excellent Audi Motorsport Blog‘s FB page

 

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October242012
2 Comments
art, creative, culture, design, fashion, iedei, photography, world

weird beauty.

fantastically interesting painted faces of Weird Beauty by Alexander Khokhlov

 

 

 

 

 

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October242012
1 Comment
art, business, cameras, creative, culture, design, gadgets, iedei, men, photography, technology, vintage, world

photomanipulation….before photoshop.

I’m not a fan of Photoshop for photo modification, as i find it cumbersome and overused by people.  That being said…there is something more primitively charming about photomanipulation BEFORE the advent of computer software aids.   Does it make it any more acceptable? No, not really!  But they are interesting to look at.  Somewhere in the future…some kid is going to read (absorb?) an article like this about Photoshop and say “oh how primitive they were back then!”

src:  the excellent brainpickings via the book “Faking It”

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October232012
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art, books, culture, design, iedei, men, vintage, world

the machine age.

“The Machine Age” by artist unknown (circa 1916, although thought to be a Vorticist drawing)

This drawing is on sale at Young & Son for a price not listed.

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October232012
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art, automotive, cars, design, iedei, men, racing, vintage

Land of Lancia.

 

Thank you to Bradley for showing me this video.  By an organization known as Petrolicious.

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October212012
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applications, art, creative, culture, design, films, gadgets, iedei, technology, world

Silica-ESC.

The future of computing and net social interactions? I hope so!  A visually interesting and conceptually weird and wonderful short video made by Vladimir Todorovic

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October202012
21 Comments
automotive, business, cars, design, iedei, men, vintage

when Chris Harris became rubbish.

Such a shame, as 2 years ago I used to watch Chris Harris’ reviews on Drivers Republic and thought they were utterly brilliant.  Fast forward to his work with the current Drive channel on youtube—-and with each passing review, I find myself more bored, more annoyed, and frankly in view of tedious, self indulgent reviews which frankly go nowhere except gushing praise or annoyed disappointment.

(1) Chris Harris is exceedingly trying to be Jeremy Clarkson, and is failing miserably

(2) He takes 20 minutes (!!) to do this latest comparison.  Talk about tedious and overbloated.

(3) Anyone who thinks the M135s engine sound better than the RS3 turbo 5-cylinder is on MASSIVE amounts of something…..or has gone deaf…or is paid to say so.

(4) On the BMW payroll? he used to be…probably still is.

(5) He enjoys the sound of his own voice, far more than I certainly do.

(6) Repetitive luddite nonsense…and yet he still prefers a torque converter Automatic gearbox….utter rubbish!

These days, I think Automotive ‘journalism’ has become very cumbersome and quite frankly past-its-sell-date….then again, motoring culture itself is expired.  With every passing week I see new blogs and sites popping up—-all of which are the same stuff regurgitated through a big filter of bland.  Several months before dropping the car-centric IEDEI for a more creative version, I had become progressively disenchanted by ‘petrolhead culture’ and its neverending cliches, stereotypes, and superficiality.  Unfortunately, Chris Harris represents each one of those problems in a uniform package.  Will I watch Top Gear when it comes back? Yes.  Will I watch Chris Harris videos each Thursday? No.

Do i still love cars? Yes.  Do I want to be an active member of online motoring culture? No.

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