Marimo

Marimo is a Japanese Algae phenomenom where soft balls of algae form naturally in the rivers and lakes.

 A friend brought this back from hokkaido as a souvenier for me after I noticed the one they had.

Arigatou!!!!

This little guy is awesome. Proudly displaying his green algae mound ready for action.

His rear is ready to unveil. His prison uniform shows he likes to show everyone often. The strap part actually has little handcuffs too.

Too funny.!

Opel Inspiration

Recently I've been contemplating race cars. What would be cool to run. I was thinking about Mx5 NA or NB coupe but I don't really have any love for them.

But the Isuzu Gemini / Opel Kadett on the other hand is a different story. I was watching a video of the Zakspeed Ford Escort that led to the knowledge of the German DRM Opel C GT/E and it opened up a world of cool! The wide flares are awesome. In Australia there were some in Group C running at batchurst etc.

As my first car was one of these, It amazes me the amount of stuff that I never knew in isolated Australia.

Opel Aero Top, 2 door sedan and other varients are just cool!.

You may have read a previous post that mentioned I'd like to build one NOT, But maybe that NOT is NOT.

For some inspiration

http://www.kadett-c-club-kaiserslautern-ev.de/indexd.html

http://www.ckadett.de/galerie/galerie.htm

http://www.ckadett.de/motorsport/index.htm

http://www.maxituning.es/coches-tuning/opel-kadett-gte

14900 Euro seems cheap doesn't it for a 190ps widebody 1978 monster?

Aussie ones seem to have all been converted to ZZ/Z bodied cars that don't look so cool.

I like these bumperless TX style cars the best.

Emrik

I used to love my Emrik Blitz III Tennis and Apollo Emrik Squash Racquets. They don't make Tennis stuff anymore. But there were pretty cool. Leading edge of composite materials back in the day.

I was never really any good at Tennis, but I loved playing. Later I got a Dunlop 200G but it twisted after being in the boot of my car.

I haen't played for ages and last time I picked up a racquet, I hurt myself... haha. Gotta start again.

Russ.

On Burleigh Beach

Click this ... Chris Rea On The Beach. Then read.

This song is one of the first I learned as a guitarist. The riff is unmistakable.

I grew up on Australia's Gold Coast and when university time came around, most days involved time in the sun around Burleigh. The above pic is from my favourite contemplation spot on Burleigh Headland.

Afternoon sunsets, skies or storms, and sunny days with empty beaches.
Ahhh..
these pics are 30 years after though. There never used to be many skyscrapers.

Planning a holiday right now.

Russ

The Frog

1983!

I was "Working" at my Dad's shop. I guess I was pretty lucky that my father was a crazy aeromodeller and just happened to own a hobby store...."Brian's Hobby Centre".

I could make some spare cash for my RC car hobby by making "Frogs", "Grasshoppers", "Hot Shot"s and "Hornet"s, for customers who thought construction would be difficult. These were the affordable models since the "Buggy Champ".

The only difficult part was fitting the rear tyres. Pretty tough for a 12year old kid. My dad or bro would slip them on in a second.

But the cool part was... 1 battery test drive! Yehaa.

Russ.

Queen & Highlander

Christopher Lambert was pretty good in this movie.
"I was born in 1518 in Glenfinnan on the shores of Loch Shiel. I am immortal. I cannot die." Connor MacLeod.

Sean Connery definately makes a hmmm "UN?" forgettable entranceWho?
I believe it was ... "Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez Chief Metalurgist to Chief Metallurgist to King Charles V of Spain"

The Kurgen is a champ. "Hi, I'm Candy." "Of course you are!"

Queen, Freddy and Brian MAY(Guitar Legend) Princes of the Universe kind of explains everything. . Who want's to live forever is probably the biggest hit.but I think every song on this movie's soundtrack was a kit of which Queen were a major part.

There were sequels but of course they were crap!

There can be only one!

Speed Racer

Watch the Speed Racer Trailer first and forget the actors, look at the scenery.

This movie is good on sooooooo many levels.

The whole design element is amazing and the green screen involvement is HUGE! The backgrounds for each scene are generated from realworld and fake environments in a mash of tech and life.

It takes My Drift hop idea and actually evolves to a virtual reality.

While some of the acting takes a bit to get used to.... bear with it and enjoy the other stuff.

It takes the original repetitive animations to a whole new level.

Drift Hop

I first saw this FD Rx7 fitted with hydraulics in 2003 at Big X in Ebisu circuit. Very cool.


Recently I have been thinking.

Everyone loves the Xand Y drift angle you get at Nikko's last corner.

And the smoke from 600+ horsepower drifting.

These hydraulic beasts are off the charts.

And when they fly it's awesome.

So who's going to be the first to start the drift hop scene! come on go for it.

You know it's just a transition phase.... wait for the next post....

Russ.

Maker's Mark

I love a smooth bourbon.

It all started at university (OZ drinking age is 18) when a nightclub on the gold coast used to have a Bourbon Club. $1 Bourbon and coke all night. Admittedly they were very weak and cheap ass, but $20 or more later there was no doubting the effect.

I was hooked. A few years later I stubled accross Maker's mark. Pricey in OZ at about $50 a bottle. It is worth the extra.

But these days it seems marketing is going a bit crazy...

Ill have some bourbon coffee in the morning, play a round of golf with my Maker's putter and then eat some bourbon chocolate, smoke a bourbon cigar, use my pc with bourbon mouse pad etc etc etc

Forget that junk, just drink!

Russ.

U2 3d

While on the topic of U2

I should post this. 3D movie. If you get a chance... see this.

One of the best movie experiences. the 3d tech in this was pretty darn awesome.!

I was screaming in the theatre.

Only 4 other people in the theatre. Great!

Russ.

U2 Beautiful Day

I am a pretty huge U2 fan. I must have sung this almost every time I go to Karaoke in Japan.

Sit back and enjoy. I don't know if this lyric is true however...
"What you don't have, you don't need it now"
Some things I don't have I NEEEEEED!

Russ.

ps, by the time this blog is finished, I'll probably have posted the whole U2 collection.

Tarmac Rallies in 1995

In 1995 I was really into Rally. Sainz, Makinen, Auriol, McRae and others. I was dreaming of a thumping rally car. All my friends were into rally and I had some friends that were good drivers. I had upgraded from thrashing my Dato and Celica in the forests of Canberra. But the hunger led me to a 4wd purchase.

Around this time the tarmac rally cars were pretty close to the road going counterparts looks wise. Dumped on (huge at the time) 17inch rims, they looked amazing with some having more aero than others.

Corsica saw the debut of the Evo III. WOW!
Part 1
Part 2

I absolutely WANTED a JDM spec Evo III. But in Australia we only had the 1.8 GSR.

After many test drives there was No match to the WRX out of the box and the new ST205 Celica was $75K! and untouchable.

So there it was, a WHITE 1994 WRX sedan. Power, Grip Grip Grip and then some. Too fast for the street really especially after tuning. It was an animal.

These for me were the highlight of Rally. Road going cars turned into race cars then lots of tech returned to the end user.

Cataluña was refinement

Part 1
Part 2

Tansvision Vamp - I wan't your love.

I was in the supermarket today and I heard and midi instrumental version of this song. Wow the university memories came flooding back.

Wendy James from Transvision Vamp is HOT. that's all I need to say. The song was a bit of an anthem in Australia.

Video Here

Russ.

BMW M1

I loved the M1 when I was about 8 years old. Had a big poster in my room. The PROCAR races were awesome! Built for Motorsport and then turned into a roadcar. That's how it should be.

They were pretty popular in Australia because the F1 drivers could race them at grand prix events and Aussie Alan Jones often got a ride.

I remember the BASF designs when I started racing RC cars M1 polycarbonate body was the best. basic three stripe design was also cool but over a couple of years there were so many designs and liveries.

I like the twin badges on the rear too. Any Warhol painted one that was raced at lemans.

Youtube BBC, Beastly engine note, Some racing.

This slot car link has some amazing history of Group5 cars where some of the procar M1s eventually continued racing.

Another one for the dream garage

Russ.