Blackbird

11:00am, December 20 2010 at 57a. Click images for higher resolution.

Blackbird, from the album A Tribute to The Beatles - 1967-1970, at Amazon

The Battle of the Valve Jobs

Not really a battle. It's just cool that somewhere there are people making old-style valve radios.

This is a beautifully restored Telefunken Opus 7 circa 1956...

And this is a brand new R801 by Shenzhen V. A. L. Technology in China...

Here's what it looks like on the inside...

The R801 has 7 valves and costs about $848. It's pretty big, too. 54cm x 33cm x 25 cm.

More info at http://www.audio01.com/eng/productClassical.htm and http://www.questforsound.com/tuners/tuners_R801.htm.

Via Retro Thing.

Metropolis II

This is just like the Hot Wheels tracks we used to build as kids. But, we had a few less cars. And I don't think our tracks were quite as long.

Via RetroThing.com

Ride Forever - Leslie Nielsen (February 11, 1926 – November 28, 2010)

This is a grouse song from one of my favourite episodes of the Due South TV series and includes a little bit of lesser-known Leslie Nielsen as Sgt Buck Frobisher.
Apparently Leslie only appeared in 4 episodes. I was sure it was more.
I was bloody sad when I heard he'd died.
Ride forever, Leslie.

Ahh, Southern California...

Ahh, Southern California... beautiful one day, covered in bloody oil wells the next.
Long Beach oil field, California, May 1923.
Move the mouse over the photo to pause or change direction, or click on it to view full size.

Johnny Cash - Johnny 99

In 1983 Johnny Cash released the album Johnny 99. On it were 2 songs written by Bruce Springsteen. Highway Patrol Man and the title track, Johnny 99. Grouse cover photo, too.

More info and full track listing at Amazon.com

'54 Chevy Nomad

The 1954 Chevrolet Corvette Nomad was a concept car built by General Motors and introduced at the 1954 General Motors Motorama in New York City. It was based on the 1953 Corvette. General Motors produced 5 of the 1954 Chevy Nomads for the auto show circuit. Only 3 are known to still exist.

This guy decided to build his own...

Via www.54classicchevy.com, www.netcarshow.com, www.automotivetraveler.com and www.trifive.com

The Intelligence of Crows

I'll never look at crows the same way again.

Via TED.com

Spike Jonze short film for Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs"

The video for the title track from Arcade Fire's August 2010 album "The Suburbs" was shot in Austin, Texas and directed by Spike Jonze. UNCUT magazine said the album was "nostalgic, with a sense of future dread". I'd use the same words to describe this video.

This is the full 30 minute short film "Scenes from the Suburbs" by Spike Jonze.

Via Pitchfork, Gorilla vs. Bear and Vimeo.

Hubless Chopper

Pretty wild.

Click here for more info.

‘55 Chevys - short ‘n’ sweet

A-1 Pro Street

1000hp

Bad ‘55

‘63 Chevy Nova SS 1000hp

You’ll tell me when this 1000hp thing gets boring, yeah?

‘65 Dodge Coronet 1000hp

Continuing the 1000hp theme…

Rocket II Trike

‘Nuff said.

Show 'em the road

Cars, kids, cops, cruisin. Kinda daggy but cool, too. I had a big smile watching it. Even got a tad misty at times.

Honda Rune

I’m all alone on this one, aren’t I… (no pun intended and no irony lost)

Memorable Motorcycles: Honda Rune

Route 22

There's something about road songs. This one’s a good little rocker.

In Dreams

Had a dream about Kate Moss last night. She wasn’t a model. She’d written a computer program for kids and I was helping her polish it up for sale. Pretty soon we started going out and seeing a lot of each other. It was perfect for a while. But at some point I got too needy or jealous. I could see the end coming. I was sad about that. Oh well.


Roy Orbison, In Dreams at Amazon