Mustang GT500 tease

A tire chewing, gas guzzling, 540 horse power can of whoop ass, and we just opened it all over El Mirage dry lake bed's face. I am editing our experience with this roaring beast right now, but here are a few pics in the mean time :)

James out on the lake bed shooting stills...

Chewed off the tires, there's got to be a tool kit in here right....right?

Still frame from the video

mikeD

What the Zuk!?

Pomona Fairplex has giant empty parking lots, and those parking lots are sometimes filled with cones, and on some days people drive past those cones quickly. This was one of those days. Suzuki had us out to drive the new Suzuki SX4 Sportback AND a couple of their concept cars, the SX4t and the Zuk. It's rare for a manufacturer to let the unwashed masses of auto journalists soil their conceptual babies by driving them, so this was actually pretty neat. Check out the video, shot and edited by yours truly.

some pics from the shoot:

Highlight of the day.... a phone booth!! WTF!? haha

Zuk concept, with Mr. Muzio at the wheel.
Suzuki Cappuccino, its so tiny!
Suzuki PR crew

mikeD

Adam West BAM POW right in the dream catcher

While perusing the massive Comic-con floor, out in the cheap seats where the action figure and comic book vendors sell their wares, I happened upon a small and lowly booth with 1960's era Batman periphenallia, upon closer inspection it was specifically an Adam West booth, and after an even closer maybe creepy inspection I found out that lovable bastard was going to be at the booth! Well HOT DAMN! Why so excited mikeD? Let me explain. Sure I watched the 60's Batman show on TV, I mean what 30 something didn't? oh, you didn't? FREAK! There were lots of neat colors, Batman and Robin kicking ass, hanging out in a cave, cruising in their awesome flame spewing jet car, I mean as a kid what is not to love? At some point Batman drifted away and we got Burton's Batman, and sure I could dig that, the moody darker batman kicking Joker's ass to the sweet beat of a Prince soundtrack. Fast forward to being raped by Batman Forever, although in a truly hilarious, yet still painful fashion.

So somewhere in the malaise between that freakish turd of a movie and the relaunch, I picked up the 60's Batman Feature film. I expected to enjoy some lame campy goodness and share some laughs with my 5 year old. And we did, but in between the laughs, I discovered something. In the dark recesses of that movie and I am sure the TV show as well, there is a grit holding it all together and that silty substance binding the whole thing together is genius. That movie is filled with subversive subtle comedy gold at every turn. From the ridiculous long winded non sensical riddle solving conversations, to the shark repellant and convenient foam rubber conventions, there is either pure comedic wizardry or high level autism at work behind the scenes making this all happen.

Back at the Comic con, with schedule synced I head back to the booth to meet up with Adam West. I am not really the star struck type, and usually avoid hassling celebrities, because truthfully I really don't have much to say to them, I don't know them personally, they sure as hell don't know who I am. This time though, I have lots to say, about the movie, about the genius, about the jet car, I am ready. I approach the booth, there is a small cluster of people snapping pictures, but to my surprise, no line, odd. As I step to the front of booth I am intercepted by a sleazy looking gentleman, he wants to know how he can help me. I explain I would like to talk to Adam West and get maybe get his autograph. He then explains that I need to buy something, ok fair enough, a man has to make a living right, even Adam West. He has a new DVD out, a documentary about Batman, $50 bucks with autograph...WTF!?, ok, obviously I just picked the wrong one, small signed poster, $60 bucks, glossy 8x10, $40 bucks. I don't want to be a douche bag and say don't you think thats a bit pricey, because, well Adam West is sitting right there. So with my head spinning and feeling like I just took a Bat-a-Rang to the crotch I started to wander away. At the very least I should get a picture of Adam West on my phone though right? I pull out my trusty iPhone, raise it to snap the pic and the mcDouche sleaze guy tries to back into my picture, my work here is done. Here is the pic.

Comic Con 2009

I got to go to the San Diego Comic-con this year and I was paid to do it, haha! I was shooting video and interviews for Future US, and more specifically for MaximumPC.com. I was insanely busy while I was there, maybe 3-5 hours of sleep each night. I had a chance to walk the floor a few times, but missed all the panels, would have loved to see Kevin Smith. The videos are up on MaximumPC.com. I took a ton of pictures, a lot of them ended up in my twitter and zannel feeds but I will include some here as well. Future threw a party at the Tiki Thai Lounge and hosted the Crash Kings who played live, great bunch of down to earth guys, sounded great live and their musical sound in general is definitely a win. Check them out at http://www.myspace.com/crashkings

I shot a few songs at the party, not sure where or when those are going to surface, but I'll keep you posted! I really hope this becomes an annual thing for me, had a fantastic time even though it took me about a week to recover.

Some Pics...

Love the red stormtrooper and then the Battlestar combo, Awesome!

I wonder if this guy knew that his Commander costume would be better than the piece of S$#t in the movie? Really we should have just shot the movie here at the Con with these guys, couldn't have been worse.
One of my favs at the Con, these "zombie" stormtroopers, RAD!
SoooOOOOoooo many Boba and Jenga Fett variations, really too many to count...
Full size Iron Man collection at the Marvel boot was way impressive
Just a rad giant robot down in the cheap seats :)
Oldschool cylon woot!
mikeD

Infiniti G37 Convertible

I am not a huge fan of Infiniti, for no other reason that I think they look boring. To be fair I have never driven an Infiniti, I have sat shotgun in a few, and the FX35 long termer at KBB managed to haul my sweet ping pong table from the sports store to my house with minimal damage to the roof rack. So what I'm getting at is really, well nothing, except here is the G37 Convertible review that I shot and edited for Kelley Blue Book :)

A few pics from the shoot,

James our camera car driver/camera man/stills/everything rocks, picture speaks for itself...

Had a brief scare when after lowering and raising the roof 839 times it just kind of stopped...
Ahh sweet industry...
Rocking scooter sidecar combo on Long Beach Blvd...

MikeD

the Stepfather Trailer-Art of Editing or Spoiler Fetish?

Either the art of the short film has been mastered or movie trailers have just lost all sense of purpose. Just one example of many, the Stepfather is everything I hate about movie trailers and everything I love about ultra efficient film editing. All the fat and calories of an entire feature length film in a tasty 2 and a half minute 30 foot wide bite size morsel. We are officially to the point where movie trailers need spoiler alerts. The entire purpose of a movie like the Stepfather is the mystery in whether the new Dad is evil or are the kids/wife/babysitter/cocker spaniel neurotic and paranoid. In the trailer to the Stepfather, not only do we see that the Stepdad in question looks kind of like the police sketches that are freaking everyone out, we also see him attacking people with power tools and then growing a unibomber beard that the sketch had, so that there is absolutely no doubt he is the evil serial killer guy. So hey audience, this is that type of movie, no really we are not f&#king around, this is that movie, seriously, here is how it ends, just so you know we are serious, check it out, look, LOOK! I am thinking the Snakes on a Plane approach might have worked better for the title, Creepy Bearded Dad Kills Step Family, Hot Daughter Lives. Oh, and there is a Cars cover song in the trailer, Micah's is better, rollonred.com.

Bentley GTC Speed

Wow, so yeah its not everyday that you get to hang with a $240,000 car, yes that is the right amount of zeroes. Enter the Bentley GTC Speed, top speed over 200mph, swankiness everywhere you look and touch and strange things tucked away in its nether regions. I haven't done the exact math, but I think I could fill out most of my dream garage and have enough left over for a life time supply of burritos with that Bentley cash. That being said, that second wave of cash for clunkers cash might be coming through soon, so there's never been a better time to put $4500 down on a Bentley ;)

mikeD

Lexus HS 250s

The Lexus HS250 is Lexus' first dedicated hybrid, this just means that there will not be a gas only version of this car. Lexus is quick to point out that this is not a premium Prius, it is a different platform altogether. At the launch, the technology elements of this car were front and center, a lot of time was taken to point out all of the systems, from the hybrid drive to the Onstar like service now offered, which was actually had some intriguing features. When chatting with a live person, they could look up your destination, whether you knew the exact name of what you were looking for or not, and then upload the directions to your navigation in car. Check out our HS250 video for the rest of the low down...

mikeD