protect yourself!

the MINI people are at it again.

check out Counterfeitmini.org and learn how to protect yourself from imposter MINIs! XD

[ETA: i can't believe i missed out on this, but in case any of you did as well, on this lovely Love Day, i present you with Hello Cthulhu. in case you doubted my feelings for you. XD]

[ETA^2: right. the Franz Ferdinand performance last night? Mssr. McCarthy looks an awful lot like Special Agent Dale Cooper playing a guitar. that's all i'm saying...XD]

this just in...

only 121 days until MiniMeet2004~~~!

Blackhawk Farms Raceway is really cool, too. i can't wait. <333

i go away for a week, and look what happens...

we knew the 2004 Chicago Auto Show was going to start while we were away, and while HSL has in the past gone and had quite a bit of fun (especially last year, when the MINI and Subaru booths were placed conveniently right next to each other, so it was like a mini-playground in the midst of the wasteland of yicky SUVs and other such overly-offensive-to-the-eyes items), we knew we probably weren't going this year.

which, of course, is why MINI USA chose the 2004 Chicago Auto Show to unveil the MINI Cooper S MC40.

it's amazing that this is being put out here, but what's even more amazing is that it seems (and please correct me if i'm wrong and have missed something) that it's only coming out here. it completely blows my mind that this wouldn't get released elsewhere. i mean, i'm not sad it's coming out here, but i almost feel as though it's cheating---how many people here would really care about the history this is meant to honour? the limitedness of it will probably ensure it goes to people who truly care. at least, so i hope. but it still feels weird to me.

not bad, just weird. :)

just because you can...

got a semi-usual e-mail from Moss Mini detailing their winter sale and new stuff they've got in stock. all was well and good until i got down to their newly-on-offer Altezza taillights.

...admittedly, the black ones aren't so bad. but the clear ones seem to be what people with no sense of style whatsoever seem to like putting on whatever car they've currently got their hands on. they are hideous. there really is NOT a car that these look good on (despite the fact that that Lexus comes with them from factory), IMHO. the clears tend to look cheap, and tacky, and more to the point---just like everything else. because everyone puts them on.

really, i thought the point of modding one's car was to make it one's own---if one wanted it to look just like everything else, why wouldn't one just leave it stock? SO. CLICH?D.

(blargh. honestly, there ought to be a What Not To Wear for vehicular infractions. :P)

songs about cars

NPIMH: "chansons sur les filles." catherine.

yesterday's C-spot drive party experience may or may not have had to do with the subject of my dreams last night.

as dreams usually tend to, there were lots of strange things that didn't fit together at all in the one i remember from last night. one of these was that Our Favourite Postie Paul apparently had a Mini (not sure if it was Austin or Morris or Rover or what have you) which he needed watched. and so, i was watching it for him at my house, which looked strikingly similar (yet not at all) to the one Mariam's family used to have when we were growing up.

the Mini itself was a bit like a Mini Designer (scroll down and click the link so designated to learn more about the Mary Quant connection), only it didn't have the big flower on the bonnet---instead, it had places on the upholstery inside where it was obvious some sort of horrific big flower-motif prints in that same general shape had been removed fairly recently, so the outline could still be seen on the fabric that was left.

it got stolen out of the drive in front of the house (which is strange, since there was no drive in front of the real house). and then i woke up.

so, er, not that he ever would---but i think this dream clearly illustrates that if Postie Paul happens to have need of someone to watch a Mini for him, it really shouldn't be me. XDXD

(for the record, i think at least part of the blame for this dream lies on the shoulders of Mini Magazine, who had a feature a couple of issues back on a diamond white Mini Designer that some lady had restored. and my horrified fascination with the big scary flower across the bonnet. XDXD)

bwahahahah

have been watching the old Twilight Zone marathon that's been on SciFi the past couple of days. haven't watched all of it, but it's mostly much more worth watching (or at least having on while doing other stuff) than anything else on. this morning, they played an episode i've seen before but which Spaz didn't recall---"Once Upon A Time."

it involves a time-travel helmet, and travel by one man from the 1890s to, er, whenever it was that this episode was made (not sure what year, exactly). the scenes in the 1890s were done to look like a silent film, which was really cool.

and i thought the gentleman doing the time travelling looked familiar, but i couldn't quite place him. both times i've seen this ep.

this time, i saw the ending credits. and felt really silly upon realising that yep, that's Buster Keaton. XDXDXD (i think they're doing another festival of his films at Doc this summer, IIRC...)

i've been having more car dreams lately, too. last night's involved me winning a Ford Focus ZX3 somehow. lots of weird stuff had been done to it---i think there was a Cosworth wing on it, too. which can probably entirely be blamed on this absolutely mental modded Mini City in last month's issue of Mini Magazine, which this 16 year old kid had gotten a few years before he was going to be able to drive it, and had been working on restoring with his uncle and his dad. amongst other things, he stuck a Cosworth wing on it, crafted a custom dash out of MDF when he decided he didn't like any of the ready-made ones he was finding, and also used a Red Bull can as an ignition coil. XDXDXD

oi. it's funny, yo. XDXD

still not as teeny as a SMART car...

although it hasn't been updated in awhile, there's still more than enough to keep one busy over at Oh My God Dad, That Car's Teeny!---should said one be particularly interested in a whole lot of links to information about virtually every classic Mini there ever was.
several links are of course dead, but those that aren't are quite interesting. it's too bad most of the ones in the "history" section aren't working, though...;.;

er, just thought i'd mention. ^^

(it's true. the SMART City Coupé is 2.5m in length, whereas the MINI Cooper is 3.6m. which makes it a half-metre longer than the original Minis, but they'd still be longer than the SMART. so nyah. XD)

brake, baby, brake---taking me in with all your charms

currently spinning: "my white noise." blur.

right, then.

who needs the utterly unnecessary remake of The Italian Job, anyway? certainly not i. i can get my Mini (and MINI) fixes elsewhere. aside from having the original on its way to me even as i type this (and i checked---it really did ship out this time), i just found out that this DVD came out here. WEIRD. considering the original Minis weren't really anything like prevalent over here, and hadn't been put out here for decades. i know that people who are into them here (as well as elsewhere) are usually REALLY into them, but still. i've been frequently amazed at some of the things that have come out here, though---i guess this is just one more thing to add to the list. aha! it's Kultur! no wonder! they put out all sorts of random stuff like this---and what's cool is, a lot of it is R1. granted, at this point it doesn't really matter too much for us, but that makes it a little easier and cheaper, and will look slightly better for not having to be converted...^^

also, if i get really desperate, i can always go watch Fresh Gear on TechTV and hope Sumi Das talks about her MINI Cooper S some more. ^-^ and heck, despite how much i really don't care in the least for DiCrappio's mildly retarded younger brother Matt Damon, i think i'd actually prefer to sit through The Bourne Identity if in desperate need of a MINI fix rather than this thing i saw the trailer for. *shivers* yeesh.

(er, and i think we've been watching a little too much TechTV lately. oops. ^^;;;)

also, on a completely unrelated note, new recipe up at Licking The Spoon. enjoy!