MCA

Adam Yauch (aka MCA) of the Beastie Boys has died at age 47.  Wow that is yet another shock to the mind, reminding me of just how old I am getting.  I remember buying the Beasties' Licensed to Ill album, that was the very first rap record (yes, it was a vinyl record!) I ever bought when I was in 7th grade.

Some useless BeastieBoys trivia.  Did you know that the number on the tail of the plane from the album cover (3MTA3) reads backwards in a mirror as EATME?  I didn't even know that until last month when I read it in an Automobile Mag article.

RIP Adam and thanks for all the great music and memories.

Adam Yauch Dies (LA Times)

photometric

Congratulations to my brother-in-law JT and his beautiful bride Kim who had their wedding yesterday.  I of course brought my Nikon D5000 along for photos.  Yesterday was an awesome day of fun and love, topped off by a fantastic sunset dinner cruise through the San Francisco Bay, under the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge.  It was a small, intimate wedding day so it was truly special and full of emotional moments.

I think the D5000 takes great pics but for these kinds of low-lit and back-lit situations I am starting to wonder if I should upgrade and get a DSLR with a full-frame sensor.  At night there were definitely some times where the autofocus was not working too well in the dark.  I could probably also benefit from an external flash.  Oh what an expensive hobby.  But the technology advances so quickly now.  Nikon has the new D3200 DSLR now and it has a whopping 24 MP resolution (compared to the 12 MP of my D5000), and it costs less than what I paid for my D5000 new.  Of course it's not a full-frame sensor either, but it is tempting to make a small upgrade and still be able to use my AF-S lenses.

hyperdrive

The home office setup - it's where all (ok, most of) the magic happens. Excuse the clutter, I'm multitasking!

designs

The design and style of cars, and particularly sports cars, has been on my mind a lot lately.  Let's take a visual look at some of the beautiful design ideas that have been swimming through my head lately.  I would love to own any one of these cars someday:

Acura NSX

Alfa Romeo 8C

Aston Martin Vantage

Audi A5

BMW 507

Bugatti Type 57 Atlantic

Chevy Corvette Stingray

Ferrari 458

Ferrari 250 GTO

Ford Mustang

Lotus Esprit

Lotus Evora

Porsche 918

Toyota 2000GT

And if I were to design my own sports car, I would probably borrow heavily from the shapes and lines you see above.

advertising

The Super Bowl, America's ultimate celebration of NFL football championship is coming this weekend.  To tell you the truth since it's New England vs. New York we West-Coasters don't really give a rat's ass who wins this year.   Since I'm not really a huge football fan I tend to watch just as much for the Super Bowl ads as for the game.  Usually there is a lot of hubbub about the incredibly expensive and often creative television ads that major companies will debut at this hugely-watched event.  No doubt Doritos and Budweiser will have some spots that will be the water-cooler talk-of-the-town for days after the game, but right now I'm seeing a lot of sneak previews on the automotive websites, showing both some pretty cool and pretty lame ads for various auto makes that are hoping to kick start their 2012 sales and become part of the  post-Super Bowl buzz.

Kia's new ad for the Optima sedan is one such ad that to me seems to hit the right spot:  it's creative, it's funny, it targets their ideal demographic, and it features Adriana Lima, Motley Crue, and UFC fighting.  Need I say more?

Oh, I do?  Well how about a supplemental 5-hour video of Adriana Lima waving a flag in slow motion, compliments of Kia?  Ok, you're welcome.  Hit the link below to see both the ad and the 5-hour slo-mo Limafest.  I envision lots of people just putting that up on their big screen TVs and using it as a backdrop... not just because Ms. Lima is there, but because the happy little bossa nova beat is just fantastic as background music.

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/02/02/kia-debuts-adriana-lima-infused-super-bowl-ad/#continued