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artdjgblog · 4 years ago

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Innerview: Sonya Baughman / Review Magazine

July 2008

Image: DJG's "Live & Let Die" Record by Paul McCartney & Wings

Note: Interview for a magazine feature.

01) Where did you grow up and where do you live now? My young cloth diapers treaded a lot of dirt, dead animal and doggy acres in the North Central stick regions of Missouri, Mid-West, USA. Currently, adult plastic diapers drag and sag me in mid-town Kansas City, MO. The first six years had me bucking bales, falling off hay wagons, piercing my cheek on a hay bale stinger, assisting with the old cow stuck in the mud, designing elaborate tunnels and forts from tomato cages, watching “The Muppets” and “Star Wars” a lot, hearing scary stories of Leopard Man, posing for many pictures with dead and live animals, rocking out in cowboy boots to “Live & Let Die” on my Papa Smurf guitar, and crying at night to my raccoon wallpaper…among many other early formative brain tattoos. Act Two had many dry summers and the bank repossessing the farm and moving us to the home and acres where my Dad grew up. The new place had a blacktop in front of it and a gravel lane with a bridge/creek. The blacktop was a reservoir for leaving behind summertime shoe and bike impressions and for popping tar bubbles in the blistering heat. I also was of age to really explore and build many forts and treehouses in the ditches, barns and woods. Also, I started to go hunting and spend time in the fields with my Dad. We never had a shortage of animals and pets too. A lot of spare time was also spent in the sandbox or in the bedroom designing and building things based on what I saw and experienced. There was also a massive in-take of drawing and pop-culture from comics, books, music, television and movies. There wasn’t much of a cap on what my siblings and I could devour. Oh, and loads of sugary sweets and cereals. Go through the yearly motions and I end up at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, MO. There I got some very formal education and incredible interaction with students and design professors from the great making thing ways of Eastern Europe and Russia. I pretty much maxed out my art and design class card and was even making a ton of design work on the side for musicians. I then received a higher calling to drop out of school and make my guts out in Kansas City, MO which is where I’ve flopped around now for the past seven years. 02) Talk a little about your artistic background. Are you self-taught, did you go to college for art (if so, where)? My background is painted with loads of pop-culture from the 1980s and ’90s mixed in with the soil of farm life. I also designed and built many elaborate tree houses and forts up until the age of eighteen and spent most any spare minute in the sandbox or locked in my room drawing, reading, studying, video game playing, movie watching and just playing in general. I’ve never understood people’s ability to get bored or to not use the creation within them to ooze life out. I’ve enjoyed drawing comics, sports mascots and WWII battle scenes with my Dad at a young age that involved aircraft carriers, tanks and flags of those involved in conflict. My older brother would also draw a lot with me. He was better though. My younger sister and brother were pretty solid too. We have no idea where our creativity came from other than a great uncle, maybe? Also in my youth I would make giant collages out of magazine clippings and lots of mix tapes of Dr. Demento’s bizarre radio program and recorded and memorized many a variety of cartoon episodes and cool shows like Pee-wee’s Playhouse. I’ve also been a constant collector all my life. Back in the day I was all about the whole spectrum of toys, comics, ball cards, cereal boxes and loads of other junk…even kept dead animal parts under my bed. In the fifth grade I won a county wide logo contest for a skating and bowling fun center and it was the first time I realized disappointment with design as my logo was butchered by those higher-up. In middle-school up until my junior year of high school I studied more comics, logos, sports architecture and wanted desperately to design new-vintage baseball stadiums until the realization of my poor math skills hit like a ton of collapsed buildings. I even won a Kansas City Royals baseball essay contest. Getting made fun of daily in high school stunk, but it really fueled my work ethic, dreams and caused me to lock up in my bedroom at night. Though, I still wish I would have worked harder in my youth. I still really enjoy working hard and being alone to this day. In the summer of 1996 I was selected to attend the first ever Missouri Fine Arts Academy and learned that I had more to offer with my insides and got a chance to interact with more likeminded minds. I came back to my senior year of high school with notebooks of typographic graffiti designs and a whole new language of what I thought was the art world. There was also a new art teacher at my school and he was serious and seriously cool and recognized that I had something to offer. I also came back to my senior year with more confidence in expressing myself and decided to dive into the world of graphic design for my post-high school studies. I had no idea what I was going to really do with it, but I knew I just wanted to use my gift of making stuff for the rest of my life. And graphic design somehow promised a bit more security in money than going the fine art route. Though, I’ve now managed to merge the two and to still not make any money. My high school scores had me at number 12 out of 24 in my class and I scraped the bottom of the test barrels to get me into college. Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, MO said I could come and so I did. They were the only institution I applied for and I had liked it from my three week stay at Fine Arts Academy the previous year. College was great, but I could tell quickly that I wasn’t a top art pup like I was in my small school way back down the line. I was with the bigger dogs now. I struggled with drawing classes because I realized that I wasn’t as good as I had been told I was for the previous eighteen years. That was a set-back and I still wish to this day I would have worked harder at drawing. But, mostly I have trouble drawing in a cramped room with a ton of people breathing down my neck and at certain times of the day. The introduction and foundation art classes were more my calling and I could take the stuff home and work alone and all night. Most of my friends complained because they couldn’t wait until sophomore year when we would be on the computer for design. I didn’t really understand what I was getting into with graphic design. In fact, one day I exclaimed to my friends that I was taking the graphic design route that didn’t use computers and was entirely hands-on. They thought I was pretty insane for saying that and pretty much called me a fool. It’s kind of funny now though. I was so naïve at 18 and 19 to what the formal graphic design world was and I think I still am ten years later. Back when I was more bushy-tailed, I just wanted to make things and cut stuff out and not chain up to a computer…and I guess I’m still bushy-tailed, though I have a computer and use it mostly as a tool. When I finally did get placed in front of a computer, it was a struggle and I just couldn’t get into it and past the screen barrier. It almost stopped me from majoring in graphic design. But, we weren’t on the computer all the time as we were taught to conceptualize and to think and to be hands-on too. But, we needed to know the computer too. I just couldn’t get along with the computer for the longest time. Of course, the computer whiz kids just couldn’t wait for the next semester that involved a wordy world called typography. Which, naively enough I thought was about the art of map making. I liked maps, so I was excited too. But, I soon found out it was a whole new world that would poison the ABCs in me forever…good and bad. At least in type class we were still taught to think and do things by hand before messing with computer fonts. That first year or two of official design school was just terrible for me as I felt I wasn’t really “getting” it and didn’t think I would be happy as a graphic designer. I was just fulfilling project requirements and with zero heart or much care. It wasn’t until I haphazardly signed up to duel major in illustration that things started to make music inside of me. I began to really pour myself out and realize that I could approach things in a similar light as to when I was a child and be happy. Illustration saved me and I found my voice with it and my classmates and instructors started noticing. The energy there was great and everybody fed off of each other and helped each other see in new light(s). I also began to understand the valuable importance of the experience of my schooling as the instructors not only had a unique style of teaching, but they also had interesting backgrounds and culture from Eastern Europe and Russia. I could mildly relate to them as I was a transplant from the foreign farm world of North Missouri. After many design trips to studios I began to feel a very empty feeling with the profession I had chosen to represent my working life. It was not what I wanted to do with a “career”, or my time. I didn’t wish to work in a factory of fried monitor goo-lash. I wanted to just make stuff and at my own pace and pleasure. I was also very protective of my work and wanted parental rights and not for it to belong to another man’s name or dream. My love for music started to fuse with design and I began to start making many things on the side for musicians, which spread to other types of word-of-mouth work for me. An eye-popping lecture by modern rock poster designer Art Chantry sealed my personal deal for wanting to do my own thing. Shortly after that I decided I needed to change many gears in my life and secretly drop out of school following my final design class in the fall of 2001 and live with a band (and some) in a big old dilapidated orange house behind the original Lamar’s Donuts in Kansas City, MO. While some senior students had trouble looking for one real world client to work with for their final projects, I had close to 10 off the top of my head and whole bunch of future blank pages to fill. 03) During the time you have been making art have you always been drawn to this type of graphic expression? Did you “find” a style or did a style find you? I’d say a bit of both. I’ve never really gone for a set “style”. I’m sure that I’ve got one that has become recognizable to my thumb prints. Honestly, I never really think too hard about what I’m making or the why or how of the making until I have to answer questions like this. Then I start to over-think things. Also, whenever I’m told that I’m a good collagist or good at hand type or so-and-so rendering, then that is the only time I really make an effort to switch gears. I have boiled the majority of my output to be relational to the immediacy of my moods, thoughts, tickles, inclination and whatevers. Though, sometimes life can get in the way and I’ll have to slide down a small sliver of time and energy depletion, like I am with trying to get this writing out on time! But, I’m a big fan of cranking stuff out no matter what. Life is pretty darn short to sit on my hands. It seems that style can be a bit of a drag for some people and/or a hole. I’ve always been more in-tune to the folks who just follow what their gut, heart, hands and eyes speak instead of creating a set template. Some people never stray too far from that and only a few can truly get away with it. Edward Gorey is perhaps one of the few who could really make it work for me. I would certainly love to draw and think as well as he did, but I might be quite miserable doing the same thing over and over even if I was able to do it for a living. I think that a lot of people get confused and think they need to have a style and either invent one or pick other people’s noses instead of sniffing what they’ve been wearing all their life. Style to me is a lot like decorating or something. Though, at the same time that decoration might marriage perfectly to what somebody thinks they need. I don’t know though. Sometimes I think it’s funny when we as people think we need something to look or feel a certain way that’s already been communicated or visualized. I think that sometimes we are too caught up in what’s done before instead of thinking for ourselves. I’m guilty too. What’s really confusing to me, on a personal level, is when I get a request like, “We like all your work so make whatever you want!” and then the client ends up being really disappointed because it wasn’t in their “style” and then it’s awkward. Style is just an odd thing to me. But, most things are. I try to just trust my gutty heart and just make. 04) Do you see your work as communicating your identity or as helping to communicate the identity and message of others? … or both? I see it as me communicating what I’ve gathered from being on the Earth for 29 ½ years and spreading that manure the best I can. It’s a heaping helping to tell the story of others by telling my story. Most of my work fits into fine art and design, at least I’m always told that. I’m not really sure. Of late I’ve been pushing into more of the fine art bin. But, I’m not a big fan of labeling things and I would like to do many things with this thing I do. With design, one does have a role to play with helping somebody else tell their story, and at times, sell their story. There is also a responsibility to the venue the product is in or where it will eventually end up, whether a fine package on a shelf or a poster in the gutter. I feel it can be easy for a designer to lose perspective of the role playing. With leaving behind an identity…well, I like the idea of a paper trail, time-line and bruising thumb prints on this life. However, I don’t necessarily have the intent to say “Hey, look at me.” I am just another human, and one who happens to make things. If the work speaks or inspires (probably frightens and confuses on occasion), then that means a lot to me, especially in these fast-paced and flashy “everyone’s a designer-decorator” times with millions of images and advertisements everywhere. I think it’s great to recognize and at times celebrate gifts and achievement. But, I feel there needs to be a healthy balance. It can be a dangerous thing to play with at times. Some artists I feel become the work of art themselves and end up playing God with the gift and this saddens me as it usually ruins them in the long run. 05) Is there anything about your geographic location that has given you a unique perspective on design and the art you create? Certainly, growing up country might have my visions at a stranger advantage, and a howling merge to that with the city life now. You might see a lot of wonderfully strange things on the streets of the city due to the amount of activity by varieties of people and culture. But, only in small town Missouri do the deer pile up outside the meat locker and blood runs next door to the Baptist church as the high school band splash-marches through it. Growing up it was easy to take my lifestyle for granted. I enjoyed it immensely, but when I was 15 to 18 I wanted to get out a bit more. I was hungry to explore, and not just the many acres we lived on. I wanted the rest of the world. I became a little disgruntled with growing up country and I think that there is a certain stereotype placed upon people anywhere they are, but country folk get it pretty bad. I definitely ate from both sides of the fence, but also didn’t want to be hung up in it for a living. As I grow older I appreciate my roots a lot more and celebrate them and am very thankful. I enjoy going back home. And some day I’d like to move outside of the city to a small plot of land with a making things shack out back. But, my family home isn’t too far down the road for a getaway weekend visit to sit with the stars, coyote yips and fish. 06) What do you consider influences on your art? (this can be other artists, music, philosophy, nature – anything. this question is not just limited to “I’m a big fan of Banksy”) First thing, I believe in the compiling of all days in life to influence an artist’s output (horse apples or clean streets). Our walks tell a lot about who we are in the present prints. I feel that one would be lying to me if what they created was not in their full vision. But, I too think that we all wear and share influences as witnesses to what we’ve seen and where we’ve been. We all help shape each other. I’ve rattled off my early influences of popular culture. I think I’m more in-tune with my child’s self now than I was then as I sit alone and make things and pull from all my days. It’s also easy to feel that I was really moving and discovering more back then with naïve, childlike faith that I’m trying to get back now. I have some good days though and mostly when I’m not thinking too much. I’m still a fan of absorbing lots of things and from many angles. Of course I have my artistic influences. One of my big influences as a child was my Grandma Gibson. She is from the old school of the country and a very hands-on person with making many things like clothing, dead animal backpacks, blankets, pillows, fridge magnets and game board pieces. I still have a lot of the things from those years. I think a lot of my approach to making things came from her. My “professional” art world as a kid had an outside knowledge from trips to museums and PBS specials, though I felt a little detached from that world and still kind of do. My heroes were at the movies because they were more immediate to me, guys like Jim Henson, Stan Winston, Dr. Indiana Jones, Rambo and Han Solo. But, it was Henson’s world that opened me up to the first idea of an artist’s legacy, vision and spirit and glimpse of another world. Something big-time ached in my decade old gut the day I found out he passed away. Musically speaking I was very much a child of my Mom’s Beatles records, “oldies” music and a ton of television theme songs, novelty sing-alongs and old church songs. I still put a lot through my ears now and my biggest influences in music in my older years are Bruce Springsteen, Jeff Buckley, Elliott Smith and Bob Dylan. Also, I am still a big fan of tons of picture books and just anything really. I just know that I’ve never had bare space on the walls and shelves of my home and head. Oh, and wherever I am I’m usually distracted by the stuff on the ground. I’m a big collector of found notes, writings, scribbles, addresses, children’s drawings and good-bad-silly-stupid-smart designs. I like to collect ‘em all. I’ve also collected stamps since I was 10. I’m a big nerd. Here’s a listing of some names in the art and design canon who have made things that either attracted, influenced or moved me in some ways (in no particular order): Saul Steinberg, Seymour Chwast and Push Pin, Lester Beall, Edward Gorey, Ray Johnson, Art Chantry, Henryk Tomaszewski, Vaughn Olver and V23, Raymond Pettibon, Paul Klee, Stanley Donwood, Stefan Sagmeister, Cy Twombly, Saul Bass, Ivan Chermayeff, Ralph Steadman, Robert Rauschenberg, Jean Michel-Basquiat…most anybody who has something to say and develops a bad back carving out their paper trail. Movies are also a giant influence on my work and I study them almost daily. Some of the filmmakers who capture a certain craft of unique spirit that I enjoy include P.T. Anderson, Wes Anderson, Michel Gondry and the Coen Brothers. Folk Art is another big mind-blow and one of my favorite areas to study and get ticked by the of-the-moment heart, purity and passion. I love the idea of somebody just up and making something for the heck of it and not for art’s or ego’s sake. That’s the childlike thing I miss the most. The makers and shakers that move me the most from the folk art movement are Henry Darger, Bill Traylor and Robert E. Smith. And sometimes I get more out of the work on display in county and state fairs by everyday arts and crafters than so-called “professional” art and design work. 07) What is your perspective on the place of poster art here in the Midwest (or KC specifically) as it interacts with the rest of the art community and how the poster art coming out of this community may be perceived on a more national level? I’m curious about this because of the recognition Kansas City artists in general have been receiving lately on a national and international scale and how the art world tends to waffle between interest and disinterest in artists in this region. The music scene here is very interesting to me and a lot of times I think that it is just like 20 people all making it happen. Though, there is a lot of talent, diversity and genre-bending for a small town like this. There are a lot of groups making a mark here and down the highways, same with the people making stuff for them. Though, I get a little strange sometimes because I sometimes feel that the small scene mixed with the internet’s social networks and fewer record stores (oh, and most of my posters take up a whole bulletin board!) makes the poster almost secondary information and so-so decoration. In the same thought though, most of the stuff I see on the internet passes by me in a two-second window like that of highway advertising. Though, some do stick out to me because I’m always on the look to get tickled. And I don’t feel the art of the printed piece will die any time soon. Anyway, the scene just works here in Kansas City somehow and everybody takes care of and appreciates each other’s roles and contributions. I’ve had some great response to what I’m slapping up, but at the same time I think that a lot of people don’t get it. What’s not to get, it’s not too special? But, that’s fine with me. I’m not sure where I am in the scene. Maybe more-so in the “seen” department with my meager budgeted work hanging above a stool in the blurry-eyed late hours. I still think that toilets are one the best places for information gathering. Poster art in general in the last ten years alone has received a great breath of fresh air. Many of the makers are respected within a small collective, and have also been breaking through to represent on a national level of design aesthetic, as well as a well-rounded view of the printed timeline to life and culture. It’s also something that anybody can do and a lot of bands still just make their own stuff, which I’m cool and whatever with it. Everybody has their own style, agenda and empty pockets. But, the personal computer has saturated the landscape with a lot of “samey”. Then again, if it works, it works. In the end if it gets people interested and enthused, then what is there for a bum like me to complain about? And sometimes I really get a kick out of unskilled design stuff(s). I try to stay out of design politics for the most part. There is more to life than design dogma. Though, there is design all around us as we interact with it in every way from the tip-top of a tree to a paper scrap for this article. I enjoy the simple act of creation and inspiration that comes from something that seems like nothing, yet has always been a “something” growing and building and will continue to grow if the viewer lets it do so. You just have to add the proper mix of ingredients, I guess. And I guess my brain isn’t one to formerly function on the full realization to what it’s thinking. So, I’m babbling right now. I do know that something I’ve always enjoyed about the concert poster is the relatively short life span it has and how that can be used to the advantage. I just want to encourage people out there, designers/artists, non designers/artists or even church secretaries, to really push things and work harder. I don’t really care if everyone isn’t versed in design and art. In general I just encourage more to experiment with poster art, find your voice(s) and find new ways to spread the good word. Even if it’s not for a concert or an event, just make something and get it out there. Throw your junk off the overpasses if need be. 08) How has your work been received within the arts community here (and also in other geographic regions if you have been branching out)? For seven years now I’ve somehow managed to remain fairly anonymous and at the same time have sparkled a bit of attention…maybe just a glittering. Life and day job dwindle my hours to where it’s hard to even pay attention on my own stuff sometimes, so I don’t get out much here in the city. Though, I guess it is easier to keep up with things on the internet, papers and here-say. I think Kansas City is making her own dent right now with a wide variety of things going on in the arts landscape. The town is kind of booming and bustling right now. Being that we’re a small town, it’s easy for a small fish to get more wet feet. Though, I’ve never put my whole foot into anything. I just do my thing. Some days I’m not really sure what that thing is, but I do it despite my muck. When I first started on my design quest, like when anyone tackles something head-on, I was head-over-heels and not sleeping much. I was also living with bands and interacting more and actually going to shows several times a week. I don’t know how I did it without exhausting my ticker, but for some reason it all worked. I started to garner a little bit of buzz here that seemed to spread quick outside the state and international borders. Many people contact me from all over and slap my stuff alongside some of my design favorites in magazines and books. It’s a hoot. People are always interested in my story and creations. It’s all still really odd and blushing to me in some light that the little things I make are reaching a selective audience on a much grander scale. Anyway, I’ve certainly learned now that sleep is important and that it’s better for me to work smarter, not harder. Though, that’s not entirely the truth as I still work pretty darn hard and I believe in it greatly. Still, I’ve struggled with my own brand of discontent since I fell from a slide and blacked-out at the age of five. It’s something that I’m working and wrangling with. But, with any kind of actual work you’ve studied, worked hard with and duct taped up the switch with 24-7, you learn to just not think and rather DO and the moves become mechanical. I just have to put to use different types of oil to keep from rusting. It all becomes a fluid thing, or something constantly coming down on me in the grocery aisle, tree leave holes and side walk crack scribbles. It can be challenging when life stuff gets in the way, but I shouldn’t see it as getting in the way. I easily get confused, but then I realize that the things I experience and see and do (good-bad) all go into my design pot mixed with my past and then I just have to do the upchucking as I move forward and I tend to feel better. Recently I’ve definitely stepped back on my massive production of concert posters and I’m sure that many people reading this will think, “Geesh, I don’t think I’ve ever even seen this idiot’s work?” Not only has my life changed in some ways, but I also had to give myself permission to take a time out and to learn to say no to some things. A break was needed before burnout and bitter rotted my worms in the apple, among other things. I had a year of little activity and practiced sitting on my nest. I still made a bunch of stuff, but a lot just for me. I’ve also been involved in various group art shows around the country, design books and special art projects with friends spread about. Another thing I did, and still do, is just to see what other avenues I’d like to take my one man show. I’m learning to use the internet for the medium that it is too. Anyway, I’ve always got some stew samples back burning, but my biggest competition is myself…on top of time, energy and money. Mostly myself, as I’ve always been extremely hard on myself. Though, I’ve been told I make it look easy. I’ve never been good at math, so you go figure. I get exhausted from trying to figure this out. 09) Is artwork your main profession and, if not, are you intending to make it so? It’s really flattering and kind of sad when every spring I get more and more inquiries from freshly plucked and talented college students about a possible internship or job with DJG Design. In general, due to what most think to be a large and varied output of work, people who don’t know what I’m about think that there is a D, a J and a G making things. It always excites me to be contacted by enthused students and other design people (any walks of life, really) who saw something or connected to my work and got a spark. It makes me rosey, but it also keeps me a little down as I don’t make enough money to do this full-time. But, it all keeps me at my little basement bay working on my bad back and poor eye sight, keeps me (under)grounded in some ways. I’ve always worked full-time jobs and have been married now for three years. So, certain responsibilities come with walking hand-in-hand with another. For now I just spin the day job blues and try to stay content and disciplined, burning the fuel before and after work. But, age is setting in a bit and I’m getting antsy. I also grow tired easier. Good things do come out of day jobs, good design work does too. For the first four or five years I was a janitor and groundskeeper. So, loads of perks came from great finds, discards, dumpster dives and lots of free food and more time to read and study and draw. Heck, I even designed a few posters between clock punches. Currently my position has me staring at a computer doing data entry. The health care, artificial air and hours are great and I can walk out my back door and be there in seven minutes. But, it can be difficult to know that I’m sitting and squandering something back home. I do take it with me everywhere upstairs, and I do a bit of networking during the day time, but there is still that itch to make things full-time and not have a full plate of non-stop. It’s all hard to balance. But, making things is the only thing that I’m told that I’m somewhat good at. Well, other than eating junk food, watching movies, being confused and petting my four kitty cats. I am fast approaching thirty and the visual of time stacking is more evident than ever. Each space between second hand clicks is another scratch of tiny pine box to me. I am slowly checking off my list of “Before 30 Goals”, but I’m usually several cars back and sometimes it’s a pileup. Life takes a different course too. But, I have caught back a hold of a torch of some sort. I am constantly tacking up side boards to the wagon. After eight years of looking at Gigposters.com, I finally have ALL of my poster work up on there. It’s a great way to generate exposure and get my work out some more. I also have my new website up and an extensive volume of imagery on my Flickr.com account. It can be a bit odd to put one’s self out there in such a reservoir fashion, but I do like the idea of the timeline and personal file cabinet. And if my house burns down, it’s all digitized and makes it easier on my friends when they have to move me. So, day jobs…they are both blah and bling in my mind. My sling shots just point back at me on certain days. Sometimes they change direction with every sentence. At least I’m now under a thousand dollars on my student loans. I don’t make a thousand dollars in most years on design. 10) Tell me a story – have you had any strange poster requests? A project where you just about lost it? A poster that succeeded beyond expectations or failed in a way that took you totally by surprise? A project-situation-chaos that always sticks out when I’m asked a question like this happened to me back in June of 2002. It’s not a poster, but it’s pretty whacky and ended up being one of the best things that I think I’ll ever make. It was a special run of 250 homemade CD packages for the band Elevator Division. I’ve had many projects that demand more production time than my little brain imagines, but this one was the worst. Actually, the finished piece is a lot tamer than my initial idea. Though, the final image’s concept married to what the band was communicating on the disc inside is way better. The following true story I’ve released for a previous interview, I just tweaked a few glitches… The idea came at the night I started printing. Well, actually it was spray paint. I had an image made for a month or more and then changed it at the last stroke of inspiration. It married the themes for the album “Whatever Makes You Happy” perfectly. With reflections of war and relationships in the songs, I made an image of a hand shooting off its index finger like a missile. It was the idea of shooting off one’s options and making decisions. It was aggressive, inviting, serious and humorous all in one. It was not only fitting for the band/music but also to the national/world agenda and climate. I went to war that night with many cans of spray paint and the idiot mind to do two-hundred and fifty all in one massive sweep, and in my basement, which is something I will never do again because I could have died. I will probably also never be involved with another package like this again (take that back, I have been). Anyway, each one was hand-cut from cardboard and handmade stencil sprayed and rubber stamped. Inserts were cut, folded and glued. At the last mist of red spray a crack of thunder shook the massive turn-of-the-century home and I bolted from the basement and out the front door to a down poor fit for Noah himself. I was like a much less cool version of Dr. Frankenstein though. I leapt off the front porch and slid head first down the embankment and into the street turned river current. But, like a taxidermy nightmare, I was born again. The drug dealing squatters across the street were on their front step perch per usual summer evening, looking at the fire in my eyes and the red paint streaming from ears, nose and mouth. It was a high much higher than that of chemical substance. Well, maybe a three pack of design, life and paint fumes. 11) What is it about the poster as an art form that you feel is unique among other art forms? What purpose does it serve in your mind that can’t be served by another type of visual art? I’ve hinted at this in a previous question. I like the idea of the poster’s life-span being short, relative to the date and time…event, whatever. But, if it connects in the right way, and it can be different for everyone as art-design-whatever, is all relative to the viewer, I think that even a concert poster’s impact can last a long time. Since my first year in Kansas City I’ve had people find me out and say that they had a bedroom wall filled up with my work. It really moved me that something so simple (and sometimes stupid) that I squeezed out caused somebody else to be moved enough to hang it above their dreams at night. It means a lot to me when others get something out of something I’ve made. I know from child to adult, I myself have gotten something out of the stuff I’ve collected and tacked to my walls. It’s odd, yet a really nice feeling to know I’m somehow contributing to a landscape in some way. Making things is an act that I’ve always needed to do and has helped me get the best out of many days. I’ve always had difficulty with contributing in many forms of communication and on some days it’s terribly hard even just to be out and about. Making things has served as my calling with communication. It’s nice to know it can help others too in whatever way. -djg

#innerviews

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unholyhelbig · 6 years ago

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Based on the anon ask, prompt: “Aubrey Posen believed in lots of things, but love was not one of them. That is, until she met Emily.”

SEND ME PROMPTS HERE

Aubrey Posen believed in a lot of things. When she was ten years old, she started to believe in ghosts. Her mother was driving down a long-winded path and fog seemed to take up every inch of spare expanse that North Carolina had to offer. It was cliché, really. But the man she saw standing on the side of the road dressed in a slate grey uniform convinced her that ghosts were real, as real as the clothes on her back and the blanket that was covering her lap. She didn’t’ say a word, but she knew her mother had seen him too.

When she was sixteen she believed that things happened for a reason. A letter coming in the mail stating that her father was going back into the infantry. He would travel and see the world. He would write, and he would stop writing. And she would sit between her two older siblings, blindly reaching for their comforting touch when they got the news that he was coming home. But only to pack his things.

She crashed a car when she skidded on black ice at nineteen, learning to believe that it was okay to make mistakes. Her older brother pulling her into a minty embrace instead of screaming about his wrecked jeep. He wasn’t angry, instead, he squeezed her shoulders and hastily warned her never to scare him like that again.

Aubrey Posen believed in a lot of things, but love wasn’t one of them. That is until she met Emily.

She had felt the light like never before that day; a star that hung high in the sky pressing heated rays against exposed skin. It was a warmth that she couldn’t ignore, the atmosphere clear despite the musty scent of rain taking up home in her lungs. Aubrey loved the smell of the rain and the even sharper scent of incoming snow. That thankfully didn’t present itself this early into October.

Booths lined her on either side, some of them boasting signs that were carved expertly. They advertised peaches and corn. Sweetgrass baskets that had been so expertly woven in the spare time of their crafters. Aubrey bit into an apple, her teeth pressing past soft green flesh as sticky juices dripped down her chin. This was home, for her, this had always been home.

Aubrey didn’t’ miss the stuffy suits or the smog that coated New York Cities risen air. The cases that stacked against her desk were long forgotten as her mind buzzed with nothing other than making her way carefully through the farmers market. Everything was muted and enhanced all at once. She loved her visits home and loved the stillness of them even more.

“Oh, shi-“The voice pulled through the low buzz of the market, not many people looking up from examining their tomato’s, poking and prodding until it looked bruised enough to beg for a discount. But there she was, struggling to lift a case of mason jars from the back of a rusted old ford.

They dripped in a golden syrup, bubbles catching a certain aim of lighting from the very sun that warmed Aubrey’s cheeks. She could practically taste the sweet substance as it barely sloshed around. The booth simple stated: Honey. Little symmetrical combs were slathered in yellow at the corner of the board. It was simple, and at this rate, it was going to lose all of its merchandise.

“Here, let me help you,” She said.

Aubrey wasn’t one to rush towards a stranger. She wasn’t one to try and show off by lifting something that was a little too heavy, even for her. She could feel the subtle burn in her arms, and the moisture that collected against her collarbone. None of that could make up from the bright, almost impish, smile she received in return.

She set them down on the shaded countertop, rolling her shoulders back as she looked at the stranger. She was tall, even with mud-stained converse on, sporting a worn t-shirt and a flannel. The girl’s features were soft and kind, and damn, did they feel like the sun. The flower that bees were drawn to driven by the very nature instilled upon them.

“Thank you so much,” She panted, pulling the red baseball cap from her forehead, she dragged her forearm against it, smearing dirt and sweat. “You have no idea how much trouble I’d be in if I dropped those.”

“It was really no problem.” Aubrey just chuckled at the girl’s frantic words, she was still panting in the heat. Watching as the stranger ripped into the box that she had just set down. “What are you-?”

“Here,” She produced an amber colored jar. “It’s on the house. Assuming that you actually like honey, this here is the best stuff. Homegrown. Well, home harvested.”

“Thank you,”

Aubrey absently ran her fingers over the printed label. It had that soft yellow background that her booth occupied. The same logo too, but up close, Aubrey could see the tiny script of Emily’s right above the bulky text. She glanced up, Emily suited her. She started to take the rest of the mason jars out of the cardboard box, humming along to an odd tune that the lawyer couldn’t quite place.

She walked away that day, the weighted glass of honey still prominent in her hand as she shifted its contents. There were little flakes of yellow pollen swimming in the stagnant warmth. A certain heat pressed against her abdomen, an odd place for the sun to reach, but she swallowed it back.

The coffee coated her throat, it’s bitter edge never too strong. Willow Heights was never known for an intoxicating brew. Instead, she settled for the burnt flavor and the washed-out white mugs that used to have logos sprawled against them. Now it was just little black spots where the paint hadn’t exactly faded yet.

Still, Aubrey gulped it down hungrily to wash away the taste of the pie that she had eaten, nothing but crumbs were left on her plate and the waitress dressed in a sickly mint green ensemble took that as enough of a sign to clear it and refill the mug with little conversation. She almost liked it that way, the quiet.

There was a mother watching her son destroy an ice cream Sunday in the corner of the diner. He was missing his mouth, coating his fingers in a sugary mess of black syrup and cherry juice. She winced at the thought of how sticky he would be, but the woman seemed not to fret too much. She gave her a knowing glance. It practically screamed kids will be kids.

There was, of course, the cook, but his focus was on spraying clean dishes in the back of the house. The waitress smacking her gum like the blood that rushed past Aubrey’s ears. It was rhythmic in a gross kind of way. The bell above the door was accompanied by the deadpan cold that ran through town when the sunset.

The girl from the farmers market.

It had in fact rained. She was quick to peel off her soiled jacket and hang it on the small coat rack by the door. An unused umbrella rested against the glass door frame. A missing cat poster with eminent water damage dog-eared at the excess of wind.

“Hey, Em” The waitress mustered a sunny disposition. “The usual?”

“You bet,” She rubbed her hands together in the heat of the restaurant. Aubrey couldn’t help but stare, her expression was soft and captivating all at once. She had seen beauty before, really, she had. But Emily had a certain rawness like unsweetened honey. It was smooth but had a bitter kick that she craved the taste of. “Oh hey,”

Aubrey blinked dumbly for a second, licking her lips. They tasted burnt, the coffee still lingering as she registered that she was actually being spoken to. “Hi”

“Mind if I?”

Emily gestured to the stool next to hers. There were other seats available at the counter, but Aubrey had the feeling that if she had taken any of those, she would be caught staring violently at the girl. Not out of lust (Not entirely anyway) but out of pure captivation. She gulped down the sour taste in her mouth as she nodded.

The waitress eyed Aubrey as she set down a big glass of what smelled like root beer in front of Emily. The girl denied a straw before downing a quarter of it in one fail sweep.

“I’ve never seen you around before, stranger.”

“Stranger? Oh. I’m not from round’ these parts.”

She laid on the southern accent thickly, a hint of a smirk pulling at her lips. Emily seemed to redden at this. Aubrey supposed they did sound a little too dramatic for her taste, almost as if she could reach into her belt and find a pearl embossed pistol at the ready. All she would have to do is spin the barrel and hope she didn’t’ load it.

“Very funny,” Emily nudged her shoulder. She smelled like rain. “I just don’t know what a girl like you is doing in a town like this one.”

“I’ll have you know, I grew up here.” Aubrey straightened her back and raised her own mug to her lips, taking another long gulp of stale caffeine. “What gave it away?”

“That you haven’t been home in a long while?” Emily quirked a brow “No one in Willow Heights has a manicure.”

Aubrey’s grey stare flicked to her nails instinctively. They were painted in a nude color, but they had been done professionally. Half of her wardrobe was pressed and trimmed and tailored just to fit the standards of a courtroom. A small farming town like this one didn’t’ even have a nail salon. But Aubrey liked it that way.

“You’re very observational for a beekeeper.”

“Thank you,” she straightened her stance, drawing in another gulp of her soda like the heat of the carbonation didn’t bother her at all. “You kind of have to in my position.”

Aubrey could only imagine. One false move and little insects with sharp stingers would find their way past a strong suited woman. It wasn’t like dealing with slimy defense lawyers who had slicked back hair and venom dripping past their teeth- no, this was something delicate.

The waitress chewed her gum silently as she set a large plate of chocolate chip waffles in front of Emily with some silverware. Whipped cream was stacked to the very top, a few strawberries made dents in the mountain. “Thanks, Erica!”

She hummed in response and filled up Aubrey’s cup once more, earning a grateful nod in response before she went back to playing some matching game on her phone. The mother in the corner of the diner hastily tried to wipe away the syrup on her sons’ fingers.

“Oh my god, how can you eat that?” Aubrey chuckled into her cup.

“What? You mean this?” She shoved a strawberry into her mouth, chewing happily “Easy. Breakfast for dinner is the best.”

Aubrey cocked a brow, sitting back in the bar stool as she watched the woman slather her food in a coat of maple before cutting it into small little pieces. Breakfast was something that was limited to a protein bar, lunch a lack-luster salad, and dinner was something from the vending machines at the office. Certainly not a mountain of cornstarch and syrup. Emily didn’t’ seem deterred in the slightest as she shoved her fork into the bite she had just cut.

“Open.”

It was a demand, not a question, Emily holding up the fork as she watched Aubrey expectantly. The blonde let out a heaving sigh, close to rolling her eyes as she leaned forward and took the bite that Emily so easily offered. She could barely stop the moan that slipped past her lungs, blood rising to her cheeks as she got a triumphant smile in return.

“The secret is the honey in the batter,” Emily wiggled in her seat, letting the fork drop onto the plate as she beamed “Technically it’s mine so I’m biased but-“

She was interrupted by a fit of giggles, her body turning to face Aubrey, almost completely. Emily beamed, covering her mouth to muffle a snort. “What? Seriously?”

“Nothing, it’s just” She leaned forward.

This moment wasn’t perfect, not by a long shot. The chairs that they were sitting in creaked and groaned under their weight. The light in the far corner of the restaurant was buzzing away like the very moths that they attracted. The rain was pressing against the window and blurring the downtown streets. And Aubrey had whipped cream all over her nose.

“Here, let me get it.”

Emily’s touch was soft. Her fingers cold against Aubrey’s cheek as she brushed her thumb easily against the whipped cream on Aubrey’s nose. The sugary substance coated the pad of her finger. She brought it to her lips, licking it clean with a stray smile and a simple shrug.

“Thank you,” Aubrey rasped.

Aubrey Posen believed in a lot of things. The ghost that she saw on the side of the highway in North Carolina. The way her father still sent Christmas cards every other year, still containing blatant wishes and a twenty-dollar bill. How her older brother still laughed at the wrecked jeep that he let her borrow for one night too many.

Most importantly, Aubrey Posen believed in Emily.

The way she would tell the story of how they met for years to come. The box of honey would grow in size and the jars in weight. She would change the small storm outside to a monsoon and the kid in the corner digging into an ice cream Sunday had vanished altogether.

She had bought Emily a bouquet of sunflowers. Then a waffle maker, even a dog. But the most important thing was a ring. A simple gold band with two green stones and a flashing diamond. Because she made Aubrey believe enough to drop down to one knee, to envision a future never imagined.

Yeah, Aubrey Posen believed in a lot of things, but love was not one of them. That is until she met Emily.

#Emily Junk #Aubrey Posen #Fanfiction #request #junksen #ask

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adrenalineguide · 3 years ago

Text

Kia Stinger GT AWD: Putting a smile back in people’s faces

Text and Pics By Michael Hozjan

Sorry for the long delayed absence dear readers but I suffered a concussion several weeks back and under doctor’s orders my time on the old squawk box is limited to a few minutes a day. On the positive side I’ve got some great rides in store for you and I’m happy to start with a ride that I can never get enough of, it’s one of those vehicles that just brings fun back into driving.

“A Kia Stinger” he whispers to his wife, almost as if it was a sacred artifact and we were sitting in church, but we’re at the gardening center, making good use of the Stinger’s spacious trunk and large opening hatch.

Truth is everywhere you go with the Stinger, people look at you like you’re a movie star. Most seem to shy away, the bold few throw up their thumbs and smile. The even bolder ones yell out “Nice car!” Such is life with the Stinger, not for the faint of heart, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before. Although it’s been a few years since the Stinger graced my driveway, it remains in my top ten favorite drivers and top five affordable drivers and while I’m not making lists but would probably easily make it into the top three affordable sedan drivers.

If you’re more about driving enjoyment than about logos and status nameplates, then the Stinger is sure to please your soul as well as your pocketbook while offering the performance, features, and ability to go up against many a German sports-sedan. And no wonder, as most of the top brass at Kia have been shanghaied from the top German marques, to perform their artistry in Korea. Included in the plot is none other than Albert Biermann, the ex-BMW M Division suspension guru. It tells you a lot about how strong Kia feels about making their sedans world competitive, and not just in price.

Aside form the bold new Kia logo, the 2.0L four cylinder has been retired, in its place, yes even in the $46,905 entry level GT motivation comes from the 3.3L twin-turbo V6. Rated at 365 horsepower with the 376 lb-ft of torque coming in at 1300 rpm all the way through to 4,500 rpm the V6 has always been the right powerplant for this sports sedan. The longitudinally-mounted V6 will send you down the pike with a lag free rush of power that’s guaranteed to have smiling from ear to ear. Although all Stingers are all-wheel-drive, a rear bias setup adds to the fun factor.

Above: Buckets have just enough bolstering for comfort and to keep you in place on the twisties.

Sadly with the population becoming more and more left foot challenged, Kia is following other manufacturers by offering only one tranny. While the eight-speed automatic is lightning quick when left to shift for itself, the paddle shifters leave a lot to be desired for sharp driver inputs.

Above: No matter where you look the design is timeless

The Stinger's interior is well designed, spacious and attractive with lots of legroom fore and aft. What the Stinger lacks in interior material quality from its Bavarian counterparts it makes up for in spaciousness, and of course price.

Above: You will not find rear seat legroom like that in a Merc or BMW unless you move into the 6 digit figures

Don’t think that at under 50 grand my entry level Stinger was a bare bones model. On the contrary leather seating, a full–width sunroof, wireless phone charging, heads up display, 8” multimedia screen, 15-speaker Harman Kardon audio system and Kia’s own connected car service package are all part of the standard deal. The driver in you will be happy to know that a limited slip diff and Brembo brakes are also there. Now what other 5-passenger sports sedan offers all that at that price?

Pet peeves:

A few of my friends have complained recently about the lack of decent backup lights. Why is it that manufacturers can give us headlights that blind oncoming drivers yet won’t give us a backup light that we can see where we’re backing up to. Yes, the Stinger too falls into that category.

The most frustrating part of the Stinger’s drive has to be the channel selector. Whoever designed the audio system needs to be told that we count top to bottom. In other words channel seven should be below channel six and channel 95 below channel 75 when using the thumb controls on the steering wheel.

If you want to get out of that look alike, drive alike, boring SUV and want to put some excitement back into your life while still being able to haul four adults around in a spacious environment, consider the Stinger. I can always tell those of my friends who have made the switch, even without seeing what they drove up in, they have a silly grin on their face and are always happy to revere me with their latest Stinger experience.

Price as tested: $47,155*

*Includes color change premium, delivery and destination fees,

#kia #stinger #sports sedan #korean #hatchback

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afterspark-podcast · 4 years ago

Text

G1 Episode 41: Transcript

[This can also be found on AO3!]

[Stinger]

S: What's his face- the one that you said Rodimus would make out with-?

O: I like that!

[Intro music]

O: Hello, and welcome to the Afterspark Podcast, an episode by episode recap of the Generation 1 Transformers cartoon! I'm Owls!

S: And I'm Specs.

O: And today we're going to be talking about episode number 41: Making Tracks. Let's talk about giant robots today, shall we?

S: Sure, let's do it. Once upon a time in New York City, something, something, cars being pretty-

O: So we open up with two punks in the background on a rather beat up pink car.

S: In the foreground we see a blue corvette stingray with a large winged Autobot logo on its hood.

O: ‘Cause it's a Tracks episode y'all!

S: One of the punks says, “Those wheels are rude!”

O: Wait, wait is that- was that actual 80’s slang? I feel like I've never actually heard that used by, you know, a person.

S: Neither have I and I don't know- neither of us existed then, which I guess dates us rather.

O: We were but a twinkle in our fathers’ eyes.

S: Apparently, Tracks is just what they've always wanted as the two punks pick his door locks and hop on in.

O: One gets into the driver's seat and the other spots an expensive looking red boom box in the back seat.

S: They jam to some tunes on our buddy Blaster.

O: I'm really confused, why do they not just use Track’s stereo?

S: Maybe they're listening to whatever cassette Blaster has got in his player.

O: Ah, yes, the soothing sounds of Eject. Please note: Eject does not actually appear in this episode.

S: Yep, he is Sir-not-appearing-in-this-film today.

O: Because Soundwave is allowed to have buddies but Blaster does not get any for a while, I swear.

S: They're on break. They're always on break.

O: They're always on break.

S: The two punks drive the new joy ride to a shady warehouse and meet an even shadier man.

O: Apparently Tracks is only worth $800.00, which is still too little- even adjusted for inflation at $2526.99.

S: Oh, that's so accurate.

O: Thank you, inflation calculator.

S: I would think that he'd be worth, you know, closer to $8000.00 in current, uh, US dollars but this is probably a chop shop and they're definitely not getting paid market value if we're here- for anything here.

O: I’d say they're getting ripped off, even.

S: Yeah.

O: So Tracks says nothing about this clear insult but transforms into robot mode, scattering all the humans.

S: One of the punks is still carrying Blaster, who transforms and picks up both the punks like two naughty little kittens.

O: The shady chop shop guy makes it just outside the door before running headlong into Optimus and then he pulls a gun on Optimus and shoots at him.

S: And it's a laser gun, no less. How did this man get a laser gun?

O: Though the power of 80’s cartoons and they're not allowed to use real bullets.

S: Oh maybe this should have been our first, uh, hint about who our true enemies are on this episode.

O: Perhaps, maybe.

S: The Autobots head on back to Sparkplug’s garage after, you know, finishing busting up that chop shop

O: Is this a new thing that Sparkplug’s acquired since getting chummy with the Autobots or has he had this this entire time?

S: He's the most interesting man in the world, I mean it could be either.

O: It really could, but to make this more confusing when they arrive back at the garage it really does look like an Autobot construction of some sort, not a man-made one.

S: It's even Autobot orange, how about that?

O: Hey, you know, do you- do you think they went shopping for just the right Earth paint color to match? Like they can- or did they have paint on the Ark? I-I have concerns, I have questions.

S: Someone probably went and got, you know, color swatches and compared them to the Ark.

O: They made Sunstreaker do it.

S: Oh, Sunstreaker, Tracks, and they went and, you know, got Carly because she had better color vision than Spike.

O: Obviously. So Tracks talks about how he likes New York and he could stay here forever.

S: His teammates poke fun at Tracks cosmopolitan preferences, even saying he'd rather hang out with humans than them.

O: Okay, so apparently Tracks is so attracted to humans even before meeting Raoul that the other Autobots regularly kink shame him about it.

S: Oh, he just cares about the culture. He's a man of culture-

O: [Laughter] Uh-huh, uh-huh.

S: If you will.

O: Sure.

S: Our current New York roster includes not only Optimus, Blaster, and Tracks, but also Powerglide, Cosmos, Seaspray, and Hoist and Huffer.

O: Yay, Cosmos!

S: It's gonna be a weird, weird day for New York.

O: Yeah, they must be used to it by now. Optimus sends these various Autobots out to patrol the area but Tracks walks off in a huff to go take a drive.

S: And apparently the state of New York City is so bad in the 80’s that immediately after getting on the road three dudes run out into the street and try to rob whomever they think is driving Tracks.

O: Those windows are either tented or these are the dumbest robbers in existence who are trying to rob an empty car.

S: They're opportunists. Dumb opportunists, because they are in fact the dumbest robbers in the world as they eventually realize that there is definitely no one in that damn car.

O: And they also have laser guns and shoot at Tracks.

S: One of the shots hits his tire and he goes careening into a convenient lamp post.

O: Obviously, Tracks is devastated by the cosmetic damage.

S: He has discovered that New York is not all bright lights and fancy shit.

O: It's also men with laser guns.

S: Tracks tries to transform but apparently getting dinged up like that was just too much damage.

O: A young man sees Tracks and is basically like, “Oh well, it's damaged but still a sports car. I'm going to take it home with me.”

S: What he actually says is: “Well, apparently nobody wants you so that makes you mine,” like, that is not how that works Raoul!

O: Haven’t you read fanfic? Of course that's how that works!

S: Well, considering some of the random accidental baby acquisition things that I've read-

O: What!? [laughter] Baby acquisition was the thing that got said to me today! I had to hear it now so do you, dear listeners.

S: Let's put it this way sometimes fanfic is very weird.

O: Indeed.

S: Accidental acquisition- accidental baby acquisition. ...Yeah, no, that is not how any of that stuff works. Tracks is currently unable to drive and the man enlists some people to help push him into an abandoned lot of some sort.

O: Of course, this young man, as we alluded to earlier, is Raoul and he, again, comments on whoever owned Tracks before, he owns him now.

S: Tracks replies, “Nobody owned me, I'm mine.”

O: Raoul did not expect his new car to talk to him tonight.

S: Well, I think if I was Raoul i would have, uh, maybe taken a step back to-

O: Rethink my life choices?

S: Yeah, but so- yeah, Tracks asks Raoul to repair him and we find out that Raoul intends to sell him, presumably because he has promised a car to two dangerous characters named the Geddis brothers by midnight.

O: Raoul says, “The first time I try to steal a car and I get one with a big mouth.”

S: Track is being somewhat snooty about however Raoul got car parts at this time of night but Raoul's not in the mood to get, you know, a lecture from a car.

O: He pops open Tracks’s hood and comments on “What the hell is all this machinery?” only, you know, without the hell because we are talking about an 80’s cartoon, before snipping an innocent looking wire.

S: Cutting said innocent, delicate, little wire completely incapacitates Tracks.

O: Because, apparently, that's the main cable to his computer and that seems like quite a design flaw. I hope that doesn't become important in any way, shape, or form later in this episode!

S: [Laughter] Hint.

O: Hmmmmmm..

S: Sea spray is patrolling the river and is cranky about humans being litter bugs.

O: While Powerglide and Cosmos report to Prime that they have not seen any Decepticons or Tracks.

S: Hoist complains about being stuck in traffic due to a car accident and hops out of Huffer to help.

O: Which is hilarious because Huffer is shorter than him in robot mode but Hoist apparently has no problem riding in him.

S: And when we say riding in him, we mean riding in his cab, not in his back seat or you know-

O: Whatever you want to take that as an innuendo for.

S: Well, that wasn't what I was thinking- I was just- he's not riding in like a pickup truck bed or something.

O: Oh, yeah, okay I get ya. Huffer laments that they can't all just fly like Tracks before we cut back to Tracks and Raoul.

S: Tracks is looking much better as this front end has been hammered out and, you know, fixed up and Raoul is in the process of polishing him.

O: Which I'm sure Tracks is appreciating.

S: Mm-hm. Two large, adult men have apparently stopped by to shake this teenage boy down.

O: These are the Geddis brothers and they want their car and even call Raoul a bad little boy.

S: Yeah, that's, um, well I mean that's incredibly creepy, by which I mean it's the creepiest thing they could have possibly said.

O: In this exact scenario, yes. Raoul’s in immediate danger! Cut to commercial.

S: Or Shockwave modeling, you know, striking a pose.

O: And after we're done with that, uh, we're back and, uh, these guys insinuate they're going to give Raoull his own set of cement shoes.

S: Well I guess they're part of the mafia or something?

O: I don't know what they are but yeah they're like, “Uh, can't give us a car? Murder.”

S: Yeah, and then Tracks comes to the- well, comes to the rescue by driving up and transforming and putting the intimidation on and because, you know, and the guy's grand plan to get away from the giant metal man is to chuck Raoul at him.

O: Who is, obviously, caught gently in Tracks’s hands and is totally fine.

S: Tracks is a very careful fellow.

O: Yes, I would hope so.

S: So the two Geddis brothers hop in their car and speed off.

O: Cue a not so high-speed car chase as Tracks transforms and chases after them with Raoul in tow.

S: Passing by such renowned New York locations as the Casablanca Abba Cafe.

O: Don't forget about the Appliance Store and Bar or, quite possibly, the Store and Bra. We can't tell.

S: It's unclear. Also the Fashion Forker.

O: Because I don't know what was going on with these names but, boy, are they a joy to read. Raoul thinks that they have lost the Geddis brothers but Tracks says, “Hardly,” and takes to the air.

S: And it is at this point that, uh, rap- Tracks finally introduces himself to Raoul.

O: Yeah, Raoul's basically just been calling him ‘car’ this entire time, I think.

S: I'd rather suspect Tracks has been pouting over that.

O: Probably. Uh, Raoul and Tracks do lose sight of the guys near the docks and head back to the empty lot from before.

S: Tracks has reached the conclusion that the Geddis brothers are working with the Decepticons.

O: Which, you'd think, if you were working closely with either the Autobots or the Decepticons, you'd take the time to learn their damn badge colors so you don't accidentally ruin your entire plans by mouthing off to the wrong bot, because I don't remember what the Geddis brother said to Tracks but they were, like, “Wait? What are you doing here?” or something, I think, to Tracks.

S: Yeah, something like that and, I mean, it's an 80’s cartoon. Nobody's getting points for intelligence here, except maybe Perceptor.

O: Because Percy always gets intelligence points. Tracks asks Raoul to take him to where the brothers are storing the stolen cars and Tracks says he's going undercover... as a stolen car.

S: Again!

O: You know, because that's what you just spent all night doing.

S: He knows what he is. He knows he wants- he knows he has to be the damsel in distress here. They arrive down at the docks and see a parade of cars on a bridge crossing the Hudson into Jersey.

O: I regret to inform you that at this time we are legally obligated to make a New Jersey joke. A-hem! Of course the Decepticons are in [New] Jersey!

S: Ah, the Geddis brothers crossed the bridge and Tracks and Raoul will follow.

O: Back with Powerglide, he reports spotting Starscream to Optimus.

S: Starscream realizes pretty quickly that he's being followed and tries to lose Powerglide but is shot at by Cosmos who wishes him a terrible day.

O: You know, considering the last time they met, I can hardly blame Cosmos for not liking him.

S: Neither can I because, yeah.

O: That whole idol thing? It just didn't go over super well, you know.

S: Yeah. Starscream lands and transforms, running into a shopping mall that somehow- somehow scale to fit them. Roughly.

O: And somehow still open. Like Tracks, earlier, kind of insinuated it was rather late at night, but whatever! Cosmos and Powerglide follow him in but Starscream opens fire on both of them and the smattering of humans in this huge- again- very empty mall.

S: Yep. Powerglide and Cosmos repeatedly lose sight of Starscream, who really should still be in their line of sight.

O: Because he's like one floor up from them! That's how this is going, essentially and so I'm just like, “Do you two need your optics checked?”

S: Maybe!

O: Ratchet, it's time for an eye exam!

S: Yeah, time to check out their sensors. Starscream gets the drop on them again and knocks them off a higher level of the mall before escaping via smashing through the ceiling.

O: Because nobody can use a fucking door.

S: Yeah, no one can really use a door here. Powerglide and Cosmos report into Optimus who, based on Starstream's escape direction, concludes the Decepticons are in New Jersey and most likely the Pine Barrens.

O: Pine Barrens!? I am now massively disappointed by the lack of Jersey Devil in this episode.

S: I don't think they have the budget for the Jersey Devil.

O: I mean, if you've seen the Jersey Devil- I- Honestly, I am devastated, devastated! I did not get to see great Transformers’ animation for this demonic beast, because I want it so bad.

S: Maybe the Jersey Devil will appear in some other iteration of Transformers at some point.

O: But will he be-

S: Just imagine it.

O: But will it be bad 80’s animation, Specs?

S: Well, someone could do, um, Transformers versus American cryptids and potentially do it with bad 80’s animation.

O: That sounds like a delight. However, speaking of the Pine Barrens, the Geddis brothers drop off all the cars and then they send all the drivers back to the city on a bus.

S: Of course, the camera pans over to the right and we see Megatron who was apparently in, uh, plain sight this entire time or showed up extremely stealthily in the last five seconds.

O: The Geddis brothers having delivered the shit ton of cars, asked Megatron where their million dollars is. Megatron being Megatron just aims his fusion cannon at them and says, “Right here.”

S: They shoot at Megatron with their teeny little peashooter laser guns which is just as ineffective against him as they've been against all the other giant robots that have been shot at in this episode.

O: The two humans manage to dodge the fusion cannon blast and presumably run off into the woods.

S: Tracks and Raoul are in the trees nearby and Tracks only just now attempts to contact Optimus but is unable to due to a broken radio.

O: Soundwave and Rumble are loading cars into a giant conveyor belt as Tracks gets closer to investigate.

S: Tracks is really pulling a Daphne this episode, it feels like.

O: [Laughter] It really is.

S: As the cars are pulled into the building Scrapper is waiting just inside with a giant sword- I keep wanting to say laser sword but I don't remember- and he hits them with the sword. Tracks is not happy about possibly becoming robot sushi and the wire repair from earlier conveniently chooses that moment to fall to pieces.

O: Raoul used electrical tape, or at least it certainly looks like electrical tape, and speaking from experience- electrical tape does not just fall apart like that!

S: It's plot.

O: [Laughter] I know it's plot but they should have used, I don't know, like masking tape or something that doesn't stick very well.

S: It’s plot.

O: [Laughter] Oh, right, right, right, right- switching my brain to off.

S: Raoul notices that Tracks isn't moving and whisper-shouts at him to get out of there.

O: Tracks is immortal danger, time for a commercial break.

S: Raoul runs out and yells at the nearby Cons that they'd better not touch his car.

O: Megatron gives him a look that can only be described as “Where the fuck did this one come from? We had gotten rid of the humans.”

S: Unfortunately, humans are a bit of an infestation, Megatron.

O: Raoul-

S: They will turn up wherever.

O: They truly will, and then Raoul lies and says he had a bomb in his car.

S: Raoul goes big.

O: Megatron then threatens him with his fusion cannon for a bit, uh, because he wants him to remove the non-existent bomb.

S: Starscream and Soundwave are just, you know, chilling nearby.

O: Rumble was just here. Is he on coffee break?

S: Probably.

O: [Laughter] See, the Decepticons have legally mandated breaks is what I'm getting from this.

S: They stop at the conveyor belt and Raoul fixes Tracks, who quickly transforms and opens fire.

O: And then the two of them basically run away.

S: Yep, and Ravage and Rumble follow on foot.

O: So much for that coffee break, but now Tracks is running low on energy because he's kind of been all over the place tonight.

S: He feels faint.

O: And he plans to make his last stand in robot mode.

S: Hey, you do what you got to do, I suppose. But Raoul runs off, trying to draw the cassettes away.

O: And Ravage nearly gets him before being tackled out of nowhere by Sideswipe.

S: Bee and Jazz arrive as well and the three of them chase off the Cassettes.

O: Tracks and Raoul are brought back to the Autobot base or Sparkplugs’ garage anyway, and shortly after the missing cars which were modified by the Decepticons begin to enter the city.

S: Optimus, Ratchet, and Blaster attempt to stop as many as possible on a bridge. I mean, good idea: natural choke point.

O: Right but then all the cars transform into robots and fire on the group of Autobots.

S: Meanwhile Bee, Sideswipe, Inferno, and Tracks take on the cars that have already entered the city.

O: Thankfully the cars are terrible shots and miss the Autobots. Unfortunately, they end up hitting a nearby skyscraper and it gets on fire now.

S: Inferno goes to play King Kong and climbs up to put it out and then Ironhide, Huffer, and Windcharger engage another group of cars.

O: I love that when these Decepticon cars transform all of their robot modes are the exact same red and yellow color scheme despite their vehicle modes all being different colors.

S: Um, the- the Decepticons got all of that, uh, got all that paint on discount or something.

O: [Laughter] Obviously.

S: On the bridge, Ratchet examines one of the downed cars and realizes they're being, you know, they're remote controlled.

O: So they broadcast a jamming signal and all the nearby cars, at least, stop.

S: The Autobots then head to the Pine Barrens to destroy the Decepticon base of the week that Tracks and Raoul found before.

O: Optimus yells, “We're putting your company into bankruptcy, Megatron!” Did Cybertron have bankruptcies?

S: Either that or the Autobots have been very well educated on Earth's financial systems which I would not put past, you know, Prowl insisting that they know.

O: Right my brain just went- obviously, Spike told them about this. Then they were educated about Earth financial institutions by a 14 year old boy mostly just because it's funnier.

S: Oh and probably, uh, Sparkplug coming in and having to-

O: Correct him?

S: Re-educate them.

O: [Laughter] Anyway bankruptcies aside, another firefight ensues.

S: Raoul has the power of a crowbar and God on his side and runs into the building to destroy the control panel but is quickly snatched up by Megatron.

O: So, wait, you're telling me that not only did Raoul just march off into that building, by himself, to wreck shit but also that Megatron was prescient enough to go inside and stop him despite being outside three seconds ago?

S: Yep.

O: Alright then.

S: Megatron walks back outside with Raoul and tells the Autobots they’d better stop firing.

O: Raoul, to his credit, is attempting to get out of Megatron's hand this entire time.

S: Tracks is threatening to turn Megatron into scrap metal, himself, if he harms Raoul.

O: Again, they've known each other for, like, a couple of hours, tops. They're, like, ride or die, it's great.

S:Mm-hm. Unable to get out of Megatron's grasp, Raoul reaches into his coat and pulls out a can of spray paint, mashes a button on Megatron's torso, opens a panel and then sprays paint into it.

O:This is apparently enough to completely incapacitate Megatron, who falls onto the ground.

S: Soundwave and Rumble grab Megatron and fly off to the main Decepticon HQ.

O: And they're never seen again. Obviously not. But, uh, a well-placed shot from Tracks causes the entire building to go up in flames.

S: Well, that was, uh, incredibly badly built.

O: Are you insinuating that the Constructicons have shoddy workmanship?

S: Well, they may not have been the ones called in to do that this week.

O: I mean, fair. He has so many. Even the Constructicons need a break.

S: Back in New York all the Decepticon cars are parked in and around Sparkplug’s garage.

O: They plan to fix them all and return them to their actual owners but Sparkplug’s not sure if Ratchet and him can handle it, even with Wheeljack helping out.

S: Raoul takes this as his cue to leave but Tracks walks over and picks him up and drops him next to a nearby car, apparently volunteering his labor.

O: The two bicker good-naturedly as the episode ends. So they are a couple now, right? Right?

S: Mm-hmm.

O: Yes!!

S: Or at least ride or die buddies, who may eventually evolve into a couple.

O: For clarification they're not actually in a romantic relationship because this was the 80’s but there is some fanfic which we have for recommendations in a moment but join us next time for: The Autobot Run. In which the Autobots will do no running... because they will not have legs.

B: [Laughter]

S: Oh yeah. It's a race, dudes. So, Owls has, uh, our fanfic recommendations for today. If you would like to take it away?

O: Uh, if you're not aware from my jokes during this episode, I actually really like Tracks and Raoul as a pairing so I just actually had these all ready, uh, which doesn't happen that often. Um, so our two picks for today are: “Danger, Sudden Swerve” by Chibibee or, uh, Rebecky_Mo in parentheses. It is G1 Cartoon, it is PG-13, it's slash, our pairing is Tracks and Raoul. Our characters are Tracks and Raoul, and in summary, “All it takes is one wrong turn to find yourself somewhere new and amazing.” Uh obviously this is based on this episode having Tracks in it and it is a collection of shorts.

O: And then our second fic for today is: “Following the Tracks” by LittleMissSweetgrass. Continuity is actually Transformers Prime for a change. It is rated T, it is slash again, characters and pairings are Tracks and Raoul although I do want to point out that there's actually a lot of characters from a lot of different continuities that get pulled into this one which makes it a lot of fun. So a lot of the human characters from IDW show up, um, as well as some Autobots that basically got humanized as human characters within the context of they were in relationships with some of the other human characters but, uh, it's really neat- it's nice to see some of these characters that have basically not popped up in anything for years like, uh, is it Asteria or Astoria? Uh, the one that's in love with Powerglide.

S: Yeah.

O: She pops up-

S: I don’t actually remember her- I don't remember her name, I'm afraid.

O: I bet- but her, the rich chick, uh, pops up. So does Chip. It's really nice, definitely recommend, uh, it is unfortunately ongoing so has not completed yet, so I'm, like, it's- it's very good and I read every single update, uh, but in summary, “At the start of Transformers Prime they mentioned that it's been three years since the last Decepticon attack but what if it was also the last time they lost a team member? Tracks was attacked and abandoned in New York City with no way to contact his fellow Autobots. It just so happens that he meets a young man that will help him survive amongst the humans until he can make it back to his team. But what if they can't make it back to them before they leave Earth?” And again it's a Tracks/Raoul recommendation.

S: I know I need to read that one.

O: It's just- it's okay I have had the worst time keeping up with fics this year because 2020 is the gift that keeps on giving. I realize this will get posted in 2021 but we are recording it at the end of 2020.

S: Yeah, it's been a bad year, folks but I think you already know that.

O: Most people do anyway. So our, uh, [art] recommendation for today is Lantana, uh, they have a Tumblr and a Pixiv and their thing is chibis basically, uh, kind of, uh, that's a bit of an oversimplification but their colors are lovely and they have some very super-super-super-duper cute chibi robots. They're soft, they're colorful, I love them, and I want to give them all hugs. So, uh, some of the ones we're recommending: one of them is, uh, it's basically at least an IDW-esque Megatron but done up as a medic. That makes a lot more sense if you've read the comics, I'm sure, um, and then there's one where, uh, they decide- where his Decepticons decide to get him a birthday present. That birthday present is basically a, you know, a captured and tied up Optimus Prime in a giant present box.

S: Tied up with a big pink ribbon.

O: Of course. And then our other one is a Soundwave with a bunch of itty-bitty kitties and him feeding them. It is super cute.

S: Like, initially, I thought that this was a weird Polly Pocket situation where Soundwave had a Polly Pocket house for cats in his chest- it does not but-

O: That would be funny. They've also got a lot more stuff they've posted since I added them to our recommendation list, that is also gorgeous including some Shattered Glass stuff which, because, I love Shattered Glass and there's not a ton of stuff of it, so, uh, yeah, check out their work. It's lovely.

S: Yeah, it's really pretty. I really like the Soundwave and cats.

O: It's- it's just- it's so cute.

S: It is very cute and that about wraps it up for us today. Remember to check us out on Tumblr or Pillowfort as Afterspark-Podcast for any additional information, show notes, or links we may have mentioned. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at AftersparkPod (all one word) and various other locations by searching for Afterspark Podcast such as AO3, iTunes, Spotify, and Youtube, just to name a few. And feel free to send us questions on Tumblr, Youtube, or AO3! Till next time, I'm Specs.

O: I’m Owls.

S: Toodles.

[Outro Music]

#transcript #g1 episode 41 #afterspark podcast #afterspark

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bowaddictedalex · 4 years ago

Text

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Pros & Cons

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Might need to store longer broadheads at an angle

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Video can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: MTM Molded Products Adhesive Removal Demo (https://youtu.be/hw54Vr0OA5Q)

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{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Review", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Product", "name": "MTM Case-Gard Broadhead Box, Clear" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": "4.9", "bestRating": 5 }, "author": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "UberBows", "logo": "https://uberbows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Logo-Schwarz.png", "sameAs":[ "https://www.facebook.com/uberbowalex", "https://www.pinterest.com/uberbowadmin/", "https://twitter.com/AlexKnobloch4", "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCngUF4JVlaFPMrOhMCLdzDQ", "https://www.reddit.com/user/UberBows", "about.me/uberbows", "https://uberbows.tumblr.com/" ] }, "Keywords": ["MTM Case-Gard Broadhead Box","Broadhead Box","Arrowhead Storage"] } from Uberbows https://uberbows.com/mtm-case-gard-broadhead-box/

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kaedekisaragi · 7 years ago

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Kaede Kisaragi Watches The Flash S4E01 - The Flash Reborn

SAY HELLO TO MY FLASHY FRIEND!

"My name is Iris West... And I was supposed to marry the fastest man alive, but six months ago he left."

Welp... Let's open with a heart breaking scene, why not?

"I promised him I'd run, so that's what I've been doing these last six months, running as fast as I can."

Iris, in a new haircut that looks lovely, oversees stuff at the lab, while Vibe, Kid Flash and Joe-on-the-car hunt down Peekaboo. Also, Kid Flash, seriously, people don't say "duck" to refer to an avian unless they add "roast" on it, nowadays. The hunt continues, Kid Flash showing off all he can do as he pursues our meta teleporter. Iris sagely figures out that peekaboo is teleporting to every third rooftop, and the team does an awesome takedown of our little fugitive, with the finishing blow by Joe and the CCPD... Also, Kid Flash, sitting down, hugging his knees and tapping his feet together in amusement. Dunno, just adorable.

Ooh, new logo.

So, anyway, 1 out of 3 metas escape nowadays, the team not having the old catch rate. And Joe West makes his feelings clear to Wally: "Nobody feeling 'team kid flash'". I agree. Team Joe West is more like it, am I right? As it turns out, Iris is no longer a fun person, becoming religiously devoted to protecting the city and even programming training sims for Wally. Cisco says it as it is: we're one man down.

At the West home, cecile is discussing her box-moving to the west house, and steps on a landmine when she asks Joe to get rid of his record collection.

"They'll be buried with me when I die." "Maybe we can bury them now and you join them at a later date!"

Cecile's savage, y'all.

As it turns out, CCPD thinks Barry's on a sabbatical. With Julian's departure (awww :( no more malfoy jokes), they need a new forensic. Iris is positive Barry is not returning and tells as much to Joe, who is not happy with Iris's not coping with her feelings about losing Barry. I'm sensing a pattern here, I mean, I just had to watch Kara Danvers try to be Oliver Queen and Batman all at the same time, and it was painful. Don't make Iris do this too, okay show?

Iris returns to her apartment. We find she's... pretty much in grieve mode 24/7. She sleeps in the couch and has her photo of barry facing down.

AND THEN A BIG BOOMING SOUND AND SOMETHING RUSHES BY THE WINDOW!

THAT TURNS OUT TO BE A FLYING SAMURAI...

...This show takes me to weird turns of phrases sometimes.

Then Kid Flash talks japanese to the guy (because we need to make Cisco have funny reactions) and the samurai makes clear: he wants the Flash, not second-best. Ouch. Vibe mocks him for wanting to fight them with a sword. So he does a massive shockwave by plunging the sword down. Cisco, don't mock the villains, that's how they get the jump on you. Also, please tell me I'm not seeing them reference superfriends with a flying samurai.

So, it's been 6 months, and people wonder where The Flash is. And Cisco says they got no choice, they gotta bring Barry back, but the whole team is against it, since the speed force would go kablooie on the city once more if they do that. Cisco however has an idea he's been working on with pretty much the entire CW-verse collection of geniuses, which might stabilize the prison and free Barry. Iris is fully against it, saying she's positive Barry is dead and refusing to even allow herself a single glimmer of hope.

So Cisco goes drown his sorrows... at the bad guy bar... where CAITLIN is bartending. Didn't take the show long huh? She's still clearly refusing to return home though, even though she can apparently control herself now. She knows Barry is trapped in the speedforce. And as Cisco continues to try and talk to her, a guy with an emo hair and a white eye comes into the fray. Someone who Caitlin seems nervous to be around. She does agree to help her friend... Wow, that was a quick resolution.

Iris comes to the lab, but no one is there. She pinpoints the van's location, where the whole team is united to do the thing and bring Barry back (nervous about Caitlin aside). Joe does hug Caitlin and shows he is willing to forgive her. Cisco's plan? The speedforce bazooka. Which will fire a sphere attuned to Barry's genetic code and trick the speedforce into releasing him. The team fires up the energy... the bazooka fires... and there's a system failure.

Uh... what? Umm... Okay... Guess that's that. Iris arrives just in time to give a disapproving look.

...until a speed force gate opens in the middle of a street... and a golden lightning flies out of it... until it slams against a car... Showing a glowing and very naked Barry. With a beard. Who passes out.

Iris chews out the team for trying to save Barry saying they could've killed the city. Chews out Caitlin for running off. Cisco finally flips at her and says: "It's like you don't even want him back". But they get interrupted when cecile calls... The CCPD received a delivery from outside the city: Barry. Who is doing a wall-of-crazy on the CCPD, writing all sort of symbols on the wall. And who is talking... gibberish. Speaking disconnected phrases. So... it appears he may have gone insane. Speaking phrases from all previous seasons mixed up out of sequence. They put him to sleep and take him to the lab, where Caitlin says he's actually scarily healthy. She has two theories: either he's suffering from schizophasia, assigning wrong definitions to words. Cisco thinks he can translate his weird symbols into a message with the proper algorhythm. The other theory? Barry might've been stuck in there for over 10 millenia and gone demented.

Cisco's idea to wake Barry up with Lady Gaga? Best idea ever or best idea ever? XD But Barry continues to speak nonsense. Iris asks to be left alone with Barry. She breaks down on her own denial to accept his being gone, and now that he's here... He briefly glances over her, interestingly enough. Her urging him to become her Barry again causes him to vibrate and rush off, creating a whirlwind inside the labs, sending everyone flying. Caitlin ends up using Captain Cold's gun to freeze Barry. Just in time for Samurai to return. Wally has a plan though. Dressing up as Flash and using his vibrating to hide his face and skin color? Really? He faces off the Samurai, but the Samurai sees through the ruse, giving Wally another beating and putting him out for the rest of this episode with a pierced fibula.

Cisco still is trying to figure out whether barry is trying to give them the answer to life the universe and everything, but Caitlin doubts Barry wants to tell them 42 (I giggled, seriously). I missed Cisco and Caitlin being a duo. Caitlin says it's all greek to her, which makes Cisco both have an idea and quote two comic companies at the same time: "Great Caesar's Ghost" and "Excelsior". The symbols must be like greek writing, not like your regular alphabet. And the code says...

"This house is bitchin'?"

...

*facepalm*

Cisco is depressed he may have wasted his time building the new flash suit. Caitlin tries to comfort him. He says he didn't do it because he wanted to save the city... He just wants his bro back :(

Joe gently shaving Barry's face inside the pipeline... So sweet and sad. Joe and Iris both sit down, unsure how to proceed. Joe admits he's gone back to going to church on Cecile's suggestion, to help him find his way. One thing he heard in there was perfect for him: "Strength means nothing without faith". Cecile told him to have faith, for his strength alone won't do it. And he believed. Iris just needs to find her little faith. Samurai's 24 hours are up, so Joe leaves Iris alone with Barry.

SO IRIS GOES AND OFFERS HERSELF AS HOSTAGE TO THE SAMURAI, BECAUSE SHE BELIEVES FLASH WILL COME FOR HER. THAT'S BOTH STUPID AND AWESOME. IT'S AWESUPID.

Joe desperately urges Barry to save Iris. It doesn't work, Barry still raving, but when he hears Iris is gonna die, Joe is blasted aside when Barry speeds through the pipeline containment... How much strong is Barry now, if he can do that? The new suit is also gone, mind you. And he's running faster than anyone has ever run. Samurai flies through the wind farm, with Flash chasing him closely. As he runs, we can see this new suit is similar to the one from the future, with gold lightning details and a golden belt. Flash runs up a falling wind tower, jumps from it, lands on samurai, grabs iris, disarms his wings, and leaps off... all in one movement. And the Samurai? A robot.

Iris "Barry, you came back to me." Barry "...Always."

THE FLASH IS BACK! FOR REALS!

Caitlin marvels at Barry's super health, and assumes he must've soaked up speed energy, which explains why he's faster now than ever. And the team has a consensus: we are NOT Team Kid Flash, Wally! But we still got the mystery of the Samuroid (thank you based Cisco!). Barry can't explain how he knew Iris was in trouble, nor he remembers his gibberish moment. But he is very happy to be back. Caitlin says she's back too, to Cisco's glee.

Caitlin goes back to the bar, telling the emo guy from earlier to 'tell Amunet she's out'. When he tries to stop her... She goes full Killer Frost on him, giving him a real brainfreeze, and walks off. But by the time she's out, Caitlin fights back to control of her body... She has no control over it.

At their apartment, Iris says how hard it's been for her. Barry says this maybe was a blessing, saying that he feels like everything that was wrong on his life doesn't hurt him anymore... All gone. All he sees is their future together now. They kiss. Police Sirens. Flash goes off to do his thing.

Stinger. Samuroid assembled by a woman scientist. Her boss and her apparently fully intended to bring Flash back. Her boss, a borg-looking guy in a chair, tells he's still... thinking... their next step.

And we're back folks! And what awaits us for this season? We got a good look at our new villain, The Thinker, and his intentions remain a mystery, but if past seasons proved, Barry will have a big challenge. Thing is, he might not have much problem dealing with these challenges with his new badass speed levels and his carefree new mind. But is he really all that carefree as he says? Is this really the arrival of the truly happy and confident Flash we're all hoping to see?

And what about Caitlin, how many times has she lost control of herself like that? What if she loses it altogether?

And when will we get our new Wells? ^^

All this and much more, this season!

#Kaede Kisaragi Watches #The Flash #Grant Gustin #Barry Allen #Cisco Ramon #Joe West #Faces of Joe West #Caitlin Snow #Iris West #Wally West #Kid Flash #Vibe #Samurai #Superfriends #The Thinker #Speedforce #Amunet #Killer Frost #Samuroid

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realpaperdragon · 2 years ago

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Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Hot Wheels various series different years lot of 18 fair card to poor cards.

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computergamingmania · 4 years ago

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#gallery-0-5 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-5 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

This Certified Refurbished product is tested and certified to look and work like new. The refurbishing process includes functionality testing, basic cleaning, inspection, and repackaging. The product ships with all relevant accessories, a minimum 90-day warranty, and may arrive in a generic box. Only select sellers who maintain a high performance bar may offer Certified Refurbished products on Amazon.com [amz_corss_sell asin=”B07GQBN4KS”] HyperX Cloud Stinger Gaming Headset for PC (Certified Refurbished) This Certified Refurbished product is tested and certified to look and work like new. The refurbishing process includes functionality testing, basic cleaning, inspection, and repackaging.

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smoothshift · 6 years ago

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Why I almost bought a Kia Stinger and why I decided not to via /r/cars

Why I almost bought a Kia Stinger and why I decided not to

I was recently in the market to buy a new car and after doing some research the Stinger quickly came on my radar. My vehicle at the time was a 2015 Honda Accord Sport and I was ready to upgrade. I really wanted the G70 but they are pretty hard to find in my area. Aside from the great online reviews, after emailing a couple of dealers I was getting quotes $9,000.00 under MSRP for the exact spec I wanted. Black Kia Stinger GT with red interior.

So I went to test drive it. It looks great from the front but in my opinion the side reflectors are hideous. I would have had to black them out but that wasn't a huge issue. I think the car overall looks better in pictures but aside from the ugly side reflectors its a good/unique looking car. I noticed the tires were staggered even though the rear tires weren't that wide. I believe it was 225 in the front and 255 in the back. Not sure why they didn't just do 255 all around or go with a wider setup which would make much more sense for such a large car. Maybe to save money? Either way this meant I wouldn't be able to rotate the tires even though my back tires weren't that wide.

Now to the interior. Everything felt high quality. The red interior looks really good and tasteful. Some red interiors look pretty tacky but the Stinger pulled it off wonderfully. The controls were pretty intuitive and after about 5 minutes I knew how most things in the car worked. The seats are super comfortable and the steering wheel felt good. I wish they had Stinger or something else on the wheel rather than the KIA logo though.. This is personal preference but I wasn't a fan of the infotainment screen. It already looks dated and the car is brand-new. The most surprising thing was the visibility or lack thereof. This thing has the visibility of a Camaro when looking through your rear window. I know cars have backup cameras now but this rear window was close to useless.

How it drove. This is where the car was the biggest let down. I was really excited to drive the proclaimed BMW slayer. All the online journalist must've driven fully loaded GT2s on tracks and closed roads because in real life this car does not drive great. The transmission felt hesitant and shifts were jerky. When I tried to accelerate it was like the car was telling me "are you sure?" For most driving conditions it drove like my Accord (which might be a good thing for some people). If I put my foot all the way down then it was fast as hell and fun. It pulled great on the highway but I didn't feel confident on turns. The cabin was surprisingly loud for a car that looked to be premium. The exhaust sounds weren't great but not terrible. It wasn't obnoxiously loud which is probably a plus for some people.

Overall my opinion of this car could be summarized as "eh its not that bad". The dealer was offering me a great deal and for the price point the car offered a good blend of luxury and performance. I figured I could live with the bad visibility and get used to the transmission overtime. It lacked character but checked all the boxes.

I was sitting in the chair about to sign and make the purchase official when someone close to me texted me to just test drive another car just so I had a comparison. It had been a long day and considering what a good deal this was I was ready to sign. Another car I was considering was a Dodge Charger so out of curiosity I googled how far the closest dealership was. I am SO lucky that there happened to be one next door. If not I would have just bought the Stinger as it seemed like a good option at the time. I walked next door and from the instant the dealer remote started that 6.4L Hemi I was smiling. Smiling because I was so close to making such a big mistake with the Stinger and smiling because before I even test drove it, I knew this was the one.

I am sure the Stinger is a great car for some people but it just didn't put a smile on my face like the Charger did. To be honest it barely felt like an upgrade over the Accord. Its a car that's good at everything but not great at anything. This car is being marketed as a sports car when its not. I almost bought the Stinger solely based on what journalists and reviewers said about the car despite not loving it. At 25 this was my first big purchase and I am so glad I did not go with the Stinger. I would have been depressed and stuck in a situation where I was paying for a car I didn't love.

The car I did go with =) https://i.redd.it/t4x3nlkrvim21.jpg

EDIT: Formatting

#reddit #autonews #auto #cars

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itsworn · 7 years ago

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Killer-Looking and Running 1,100-Horsepower 1982 Chevy Camaro

In October 2015, Brian Wise crashed his racer to scrap—but he was able to walk away from it without wounds. He sorely wanted to get right back up on the horse … but didn’t want to build one from scratch out of his back pocket when what he really needed was a good roller, a proven car. Recycling someone else’s pile meant he’d spend less time in the shop and more time out racing. While this is sometimes a good way to go, you might end up unfixing all the crap the other guy did before beginning your project.

He knew right where to go. “This car was built, loved, and raced for 17 years by our good friends Jim and Monika Frendt,” said Brian with a smile. “Jim and I had been discussing what I might build and he tossed out the idea of selling me his pride and joy. After talking with my wife and my pal Troy Aves, we hooked up the trailer and made the 600-mile trek to Jim’s.” During that interlude, Brian formed the rough draft in his head of how to exploit the 1982 Camaro.

On the leg through Kansas, they stopped in Topeka to see another of Brian’s cohorts, fabricator and chassis builder Tim Webb. After hours of sticking their heads together, the boys had filled in the blanks on the rough copy and emerged with the course of action.

“We took the car home, stripped the interior out and test-fitted the drivetrain. It was set for the return trip to Webb’s for the front chassis work to be done and for him to have the headers fabbed up.” Tim’s brother Chris used the lull to string the Spaghetti Menders harness and switch panel that Brian had stripped from his wrecked racer. While he and Tim were up there, they installed the VFN dashboard.

Brian’s a 275 drag radial proponent and active in the Limited 275 class. Mindful of his recent dance on the dark side, he wanted the next envelope to be even more secure. Brian sought steel-helmet refuge under a 25.5-cert rollcage erected by Riffel Motorsports in Newton, Kansas.

Tim Webb carried on, constructing the tubular front clip as well as an aluminum engine mount, the mid-plate, and the radiator support. Menscer Motorsports/AFCO struts comprise the suspension. The Strange Engineering front brakes carry minimal two-piston calipers on 11-inch rotors. To prepare the drive end, Webb hoisted the Moser/Racecraft axlehousing and located it with the multi-adjustable Menscer/AFCO assemblies, an antisway bar, and a modified Spohn torque arm. Wilwood 11-inch discs fit neatly behind the foot-wide rear beadlocks.

Concurrently, many miles from Haysville, Kansas, TRE Racing Engines down in Cleveland, Texas, was building a 582ci DRCE race block with a Callies crank, MGP aluminum rods, and a complement of Bill Miller’s high-compression forgings. The Comp roller features nearly an inch of lift. Brodix Head Hunter castings are CNC-ported and feature 496-cfm intake ports.

A Victor II intake manifold hosts a giant Accufab throttle body and a fat Nitrous Outlet fogger that liberates 800 hp additional. Tim’s last big effort went into building and routing the exhaust system. He stepped the header primaries from 2.5 to 2.75 inches and channeled the trash through 4.5-inch horns that blossom business-like through the fenders, as is the style these days.

For the drivetrain, there was no other choice than a Flip-O-Matic. A what? For decades in Wichita, Flip Williams has been doing automatic race boxes. Since the 582 would make more than ample grunt in a weight-balanced 3,200-pound berserker, the transmission in Brian’s third-gen is a Coan Turbo 400 that Flip converted to a more expedient two-speed operation.

To some of us older chaps, a white drag race Camaro is immediately reminiscent of anything with the name Jenkins on it. It’s not very exciting but considering its mission and its function, the Arctic White palette is perfect, even more so were it dotted with sponsor logos. Originally, the body rehab was administered by Jim Frendt, Rob Seaton, and painter/racer Jake Delmonico in St. Paul, Minnesota. Before it was repainted in 2013, the fuel filler cap was shaved and the car stripped of even more superfluous bits to satisfy the bare-bones weight bogey.

In the cockpit it’s civilized, no echoes, no stripped-out doors or bleak bare floors and it’s all minimally covered with something that looks real. Brian plants himself in the Jerry Bickel carbon-fiber bucket seat, pulls the G-Force harness over his shoulders, hawks the Holley digital gauge pack, and then kicks the shifter into gear. “The car made its first pass in September 2016. It briefly held the Tex 275 class record with a 4.74 at 147. But mainly, I compete in Limited 275 Radial Tire series at Kansas City International, Tulsa Raceway, and North Star Dragway in Denton, Texas.” On October 14, 2017, he ran a 4.70/151 with a tight 1.12-second 60-foot time.

Brian’s been captured by the sheet of solid sound for more than 30 years and says that it was his first job at an automotive machine shop that did it—the owner was big into drag racing. For the white Camaro’s second term, Brian gathered Tim Webb, Chris Webb, Troy Aves, Shannon Wise, James Wise, and Jason Metcalf. Further, he says the calculations wouldn’t have turned out as well without help from Killer Wax, Ultra Collision Repair, Down Right Racing, and Seibert Performance.

What for him was the most challenging aspect of the accelerated 10-month build we asked? “Being patient,” he said. We think there’s more to come from Brian Wise and his dedicated cabal. CHP

Tech Check

Owner: Brian and Shannon Wise, Haysville, Kansas

Vehicle: 1982 Camaro

Engine

Type: Chevrolet Performance DRCE 2 block

Displacement: 582 ci

Compression Ratio: 14.0:1

Bore: 4.610 inches

Stroke: 4.375 inches

Cylinder Heads: Brodix Head Hunter 24-degree, CNC-ported, 496-cfm intake runners, 2.40/1.85 valves, blended bowls

Rotating Assembly: Callies crankshaft, MGP aluminum connecting rods, BME pistons, Total Seal ring packs, King bearings

Valvetrain: Jesel 1.8:1 shaft rocker system, titanium retainers, Victory valvesprings, Jesel beltdrive

Camshaft: Comp Cams 60mm roller (0.950-inch lift, 288/316-deg. duration at 0.050), TRE fabricated rocker covers

Induction: Edelbrock Victor II intake manifold, Accufab 2,200-cfm throttle body, Nitrous Outlet Stinger 3 fogger (800-shot), Holley Dominator ECU, 3-gallon RCI fuel cell

Ignition: MSD Digital-7 Plus controller, MSD primary wiring

Exhaust: Stainless stepped 2.5-to-2.75-inch primaries, 4.5-inch collectors built by Tim Webb (Topeka, KS)

Ancillaries: Meziere water pump, SPAL fan, custom radiator support

Machine Work: TRE Racing Engines (Cleveland, TX)

Built By: TRE Racing Engines

Output (engine only): 1,100 hp at 8,000 rpm, 800 lb-ft at 6,500 rpm

Drivetrain

Transmission: Coan Turbo 400 (assembled/converted to two-speed by Flip-O-Matic Transmissions, Wichita, KS), Coan converter, finned pan

Rear Axle: Moser M9, spool, 4.10:1 gears, Strange Engineering 35-spline shafts, Precision Technologies 3-inch chrome-moly driveshaft

Chassis

Front Suspension: Stock spindles, tubular clip by Tim Webb, aluminum front- and mid-plates, Menscer/AFCO struts, AFCO springs, chrome-moly rollcage 25.5-cert installed by Riffel Motorsports (Newton, KS)

Rear Suspension: AFCO springs, Menscer/AFCO dampers, Wolf Racecraft antisway bar, modified Spohn torque arm

Brakes: Strange Engineering 11-inch rotors, two-piston calipers, front; Wilwood 11-inch rotors, two-piston calipers, rear; Strange Engineering master cylinder

Wheels & Tires

Wheels: M/T Pro 5 15×3 front, M/T Pro 5 (w/ Racecraft beadlocks) 15×12 rear

Tires: Hoosier Drag Front 26.0/4.5 front, M/T Pro Drag Radial 275/60 rear

Interior

Upholstery: Jerry Bickel Race Cars

Material: Cloth

Seats: Bickel carbon fiber

Steering: Custom post, Grant Performance GT wheel

Shifter: TCI Outlaw

Dash: VFN fiberglass dash hydrodipped in carbon-fiber film by Leading Edge Graphics

Instrumentation: Holley EFI 5.7-inch digital screen gauge pack, wiring by Tim and Chris Webb

Exterior

Bodywork: Jim Frendt, Jake Delmonico, Rob Seaton

Paint By: Jake Delmonico (St. Paul, MN)

Paint: PPG Arctic White

Hood: Down Right Racing fiberglass (Vero Beach, FL)

Grille: Stock

Bumpers: Stock

The post Killer-Looking and Running 1,100-Horsepower 1982 Chevy Camaro appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

from Hot Rod Network http://www.hotrod.com/articles/killer-looking-running-1100-horsepower-1982-chevy-camaro/ via IFTTT

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jamiekturner · 7 years ago

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Signature Font Examples: Pick The Best Autograph Font

Are you looking for a signature font? The style of signature fonts is one of the most important typography choices you will ever make.

While it is true that computers nowadays have the ability to produce a number of unique fonts, many designers share the opinion of random letter arrangements and handwriting styles being a leading autograph font option.

This is why there are many computer programs that let you create handwriting-inspired signature fonts, and use those in a variety of design projects.

Signature fonts resemble closely the structure of any other font, but they look more ornate and fit better in headlines and tags. They won’t be suitable for larger text portions and paragraph boxes, as they’re not exactly legible and easy to understand.

Handwritten-like autograph fonts can be downloaded for both personal and commercial use, and access is usually administered with a font license offered for Windows and Mac users. They come with a preview link you can use to check how the font looks applied on custom text.

Which are the best signature fonts? Let’s check:

Noelan

Noelan is a free-course ornate font provided by Pixel Surplus that is also free to use by private and commercial clients. It is clean, modern, and very international, so you should consider it for mixing and matching styles.

King Basil

King Basil and Mats Peter Fors and Missy Meyer’s flagship cursive font that caters well to a number of digital and print projects, among which posters, logos, stationery, and more. You can also get this font for free.

La Sonnambula

La Sonnambula is commonly referred to as the best font for signatures, and for a good reason. The masterpiece font created by freelance designer Fernando Caro is handwritten and extended, and uses calligraphic text units to meet the needs of elegant and attractive titles.

Webmaster Haro, who is also known as an eclectic typographer, named the font after a Vincenzo Bellini opera from 1957, and inspired many creative designers to contribute to it with fresh ideas. As a result, the font has expanded significantly, and even features a Bitcoin symbol.

Lily of the Valley

Lily of the Valley is only one of famous Gregory Medina (Dcoxy)’s attractive signature fonts. I is free of charge for personal use, and comes with few adorable letterforms for lower and upper case characters. It is also enriched with symbols and special accents, and offers a suite of numbers for premium users.

The Woodlands

The Woodlands is another beautifully designed signature font. It was crafted by Jeremy Vessey who praises its calligraphy aesthetics as the leading reason for its popularity, and claims his work gives designers the freedom to create a lettering feel they will love. The Woodlands is free of charge for personal and commercial users, and is available to download on Behance.

Milkshake

The credit for a font as substantial and appealing as Milkshake ought to be given to typographer Laura Worthington. As she reveals, it was exactly the roundness and thickness of this font that makes it sturdy, and moreover able to hold up against overwhelming and bold backgrounds.

She shared the font on Fair Goods, and recommends it for titling and headlining treatments.

Variane Script

The elegant Variane script was drafted by Boy Moch Tomi, and reminds viewers of luxurious, stunning scripts from the classic design era that work perfectly in a variety of scenarios.

According to Tomi, complex fonts like Variane are difficult to find and afford, and that’s what inspired him to offer his work for free. He hopes that his fonts will be useful for everyone, and reminds prospective users to consider their vintage charm for a 20th century, truly American signage.

Lavanderia

Lavanderia is entirely James Edmondson product, and a charming typography solution influenced by San Francisco’s Mission District Laundromat windows. Its features are mostly open type (including the three weights), which means you can use it as a script font for al kinds of headings, but also body text.

Fabfelt Script

The signature font Fabfelt was designed by Frech artist Fabien Despinoy, whose main intention was to inject an industrial vibe. As he describes it, the Fabfelt script is retro and natural, and has no graininess.

Black Jack

As indicated by the name, Black Jack is an elegant and sophisticated signature logo solution executed by Ronna Penner. The font is cursive, and offered in one style only, but it nevertheless comprises of 177 characters, including lower case, upper case letters, and numbers.

Allura

Allura is a very stylish, yet easily readable autograph font, and leading script format offered by the Allura Pro Family. It is notably cursive, and often used as a display/invitation template.

Dancing Script

The name says it all – Dancing Script isn’t posh at all, but designer Pablo Impallari certainly worked his ways on making the script lively. You will have the impression that letters are changing and bouncing around, in particular the capitals whose size often goes below the baseline. It is commonly related to popular 50s scripts, and offers an informal and friendly look for your designs.

Anke Calligraphic FG Regular

Anke Arnold (www.anke-art.de) designed what is today one of the best open source font projects, and did so including Fontgrube Media Deisgn’s popular international characters. However, this font can only be found in TrueType with 100+ built in kerning pairs hat offer more or less the same benefits. You can use this font for free.

Oleo Script

Oleo Script is often described as a flowing, legible, and slightly disconnected signature typeface. The font is very cursive, and thus perfect to use for a display typeface. You can find it within Google’s Webfonts library, and choose between bold and regular weights. If you wish to combine both, get the Swash Caps version.

Honey Script

Honey Script is a whimsical, very easy to spot font that can be ascribed to the experienced typesetter Dieter Steffmann. The work is distributed entirely for free on all approved website, as Steffmann considers typefont to be an integrate part of his cultural heritage. On the user’s side of the axis, this font has just the right cursive lines to appear personal and handwritten.

Marketing Script

Speaking of the works of Dieter Steffmann, we could not skip Marketing Script. This font proves that Steffmann, despite of being an amateur designer, promises plenty when it comes to versatility.

This time, he offers us a flowing and well-connected signature font with perfectly balanced spacing, which is available in three separate styles (even a shadow one) to meet the needs of different users.

Pacifico Regular

Vernon Adams is the person behind Pacifico Regular, another cursive font you can find on newtypography.co.uk, and use it for advertising purposes. It is also available in the Google Web Fonts library, and free to use online.

Little Days

Little Days was produced by West Wind Fonts, and aims to inject a childish and naivety vibe in informal designs, unlike the rest of the company’s offerings.

Aguafina Script Regular

Aguafina is Sudtipos’ most eye-catchy and professional signature font, lavished with clean and precise lines and excellent use of space. It drafts and assembles letterforms in a very economical way, as it reduces the capital A, for instance, and transforms it into a normal up/down stroke that looks extremely stylish. It will look amazing applied on a bold headline.

Freebooter Script

Freebooter is a product of Canada’s popular designer Graham Meade, who wished to offer the world an extravagant, curvy font with plenty of bold lines, trills, and swishes. It will suit perfectly current Edwardian or Chopin script users who are looking for something more personalized.

Wisdom Script

Wisdom Script is the role model of how a truly retro script should look like. Signed by James Edmondson (the creator of Lavanderia), this font accommodates easily in display and headline scenarios, and has a nod towards a musical treble clef depicted in the letter S. Personal users can get it for free, while commercial ones have to pay a modest fee of only $30.

5th Grade Cursive

5th Grade Cursive is Lee Batchelor’s leading handwritten font with a retro look and feel, and one that is commonly applied in different vintage designs. For a more natural look, you can consider using its Open Type features.

Christopher Hand

El Stinger is the designer of Christopher Hand, a signature font that may not be the ‘miracle of technicality’, but offers some of the easiest letterforms and kern pairs. You may feel a bit challenged combining its letterforms, but the effort will certainly pay off!

League Script

League Script is built and distributed by The League of Moveable Type, offering a cute alternative to otherwise dull and boring body texts. The best way to depict how it looks is to think of a creative girl’s diary, as it is exactly such ligatures that designer Haley Fiege considered to come up with this masterpiece.

So far, it has been downloaded more than 216,000, which we believe says enough on how popular it really is.

Grand Hotel

Grand Hotel is presented to you by designers Jim Lyles and Brian J Bonislawsky (Astigmatic).

To create it, they got inspired by the popular 1937 movie Cafe Metropole and its title, thinking of a solution that would have a classic subtlety and weight, but yet inspire an artisan, craft signage feel with cursive lowercase letters. Consequently, Grand Hotel is believed to meet pretty much the needs of all users.

Hermes

Hermes can be used for a number of different designs, including letterheads, logos, badges, posters, invitations, and so on. It is cursive, mono-line handmade fonts whose lines are simply gorgeous, and can match multiple calligraphy styles.

Hanni Script

Hanni Script is a Petra Burger product, and an exclusive signature font crafted in a handwritten manner. It is exactly its simplicity that makes it look sophisticated, and many people are using it for their birthday and wedding invitations.

Brisk Wondering

Brisk Wondering is actually a suite of well-matched and elegant fonts that work seamlessly with one another, and has beautiful swishes and curls that make it appear truly handwritten. Its best use is for highly personalized projects, as for instance letter signature fonts and greeting cards.

Cityallir Script

Cityallir helps foremost artisans and designers make their projects more beautiful. It is handwritten, and yet very modern, and features amazing letter strokes for all types of labels and signage.

Garlic

It may be difficult to conclude by the name, but Garlic also has a lot at stake to captivate viewers’ attention. It is developed as an up-to-date brush script font, which means it is cursive, vivid, and bouncy, and applies pretty much on any design project.

Gullami Rice Script

Gullami Rice Script is a premium signature font intended for official and formal application. You will see it quite often on customized event invitations, printed quotes, magazine titles, packaged products, and so on.

Redheads Script

Redheads Script is a great calligraphic solution with cursive lines and stylish swirls, and works the best within feminine projects like birthday parties and fashionable greeting cards.

Jolies Typeface

Jolies Typeface was brought to us by Maulana Creative, as their main cursive and handwritten typeface. It brings the best of the contemporary and classic writing, and looks very simple and hassle-free.

Yusuf Kral Artistica Font

This signature font is best known for its thick brush feature, and looks crisp and organized. The best places to use it are printed quotes, T-shirts and similar clothing, totes, and more.

Harley Quinzel

Design Dukkan created Harley Quinzel using a thick marker, and provided it with a unique and recognizable style that plays along designs like badges, logos, and rustic-themed invitations.

Stylish Script

Stylish Script is a gorgeous solution for posters, greeting cards, and similar branding materials. It is handmade and very contemporise, and packs as many as 402 glyphs, decorative characters, and a charming baseline.

William Kidmon

William Kidmon is often referred to as the most modern and leading signature font. You will recognize it easily for its pretty swirls and large lines, which give it a central role in signage, letterheads, and similar personalized projects.

Janesville Script

Janesville Script comes with an elegant, yet casual look that is just cut for authentic and handwritten designs. You will adore the retro swirls dancing on a simple baseline, and certainly recognize the strong vintage feel it inspires.

Bounderas Script

Bounders Script is a great example of what the designers’ community likes to call a ‘romantic signature font’, namely a very cursive and modern script that looks gorgeous on greeting cards, invitations, printed quotes, and even graffiti.

Paris 1920

For most of us, the first association of Paris is vintage, and that’s exactly why this font is given such a name. It is classic and handwritten, comprised of both sans serifs and scripts, and fits perfectly retro themed designs.

Mastura

Mastura is another appreciable attempt to combine modern and traditional typefaces. This signature font does an excellent job showcasing embellished calligraphy in up-to-date projects, and injects a classy and romantic vibe with its pointy-edge, yet smooth pen styles.

Asfrogas Typeface

Asfrogas is the ultimate signature font based on a design-friendly concept. It is entirely handwritten, and highly recommended for personal blogs, menus, and pamphlets.

Lotte signature font

Lotte was inspired by the tiny fruit-bearing tree Widara, and its out-of-the-box cursive style works the best on product packages. It is also very urban, which makes it suitable for fashion branding.

Heart Signal Typeface

Heart Signal is an easy-to-use typeface that requires literally few strokes to create an amazing personal signage style.

Autograf

Autograf is an autograph font delivered by Mans Greback, perceived to be a top-quality signature solution with round and bold strokes. It is best suited to use on official and formal correspondence.

The Valleys Script

The Valley Script is Zerowork Studio’s most elegant signature font that features mainly mono-line shapes. Designers recommend it for all types of design works..

Sansa Dior Font

Sansa Dior, as it can be revealed by its name, targets users from the fashion, appeal, and beauty industry. Designers agree that it is a charming brush script based on genuine handwriting, and recommend it because of its carefree, feminine vibe.

Night Flight Marker Font Family

Night Flight is relatively new in the typeface industry, offered as a pack of diverse and contemporary fonts that can be combined for all sorts of projects.

Hello Neighbor Script

Hello Neighbor will help you design beautiful posters, printed quotes, and greeting cards. You will be particularly impressed by the modern signature tone, and the number of alternative letterforms that can make your projects unique.

Mon Voir

If looking for a signature font that can beautify your wedding or another important moment in your life, look no further than Mon Voir! This beautiful typeface offers a unique and elegant lettering style, and can be used in all romance and charm concepts. Its designer is Mon Voir Studio’s artist Jenna Rainey.

Sakura

Sakura will captivate attention with its cursive letters that look inspiring without overwhelming the viewer. The bouncy baseline and slightly exaggerated strokes give it a long lasting charm one just can’t neglect.

Befindisa

Befindisa is a meticulously designed font with a variety of romantic and girlish letters. Yet, it is more modern than traditional, and looks breathtaking on stationery and invitations.

Drama Queen Script

In this case, plenty has already been revealed by the name. As suggested by it, Drama Queen cherishes foremost contemporary handwriting, and brings elegance and flare under the same roof. As you will see, it is an absolutely irreplaceable choice for printed posters.

Proudly Signature Script

Proudly Signature Script is the ideal choice for any contemporary design project, in particular because of its intricate strokes and extended lines. For some observers, it may even be reminiscent of classic manly penmanship.

Sbastian Signature Clean Typeface

Sbastian features long stokes and lines, and supports predominantly urban-looking projects. We would suggest it also for stationery materials, quotes, and business logos.

Katastrope Font

Katastrope goes as far as possible from a catastrophe, as it is beautiful, modern, and carefree, and works great for all branding and printing purposes.

83 Script

83 Script is a relatively new arrival on the market, and combines even 83 regular scripts (lower and upper case) with just as many sans (upper case only). In such way, 83 Script helps make posters, invitations, and other branding materials look more professional.

Bammantoe Typeface

Bammantoe is an irregular handwritten style, and a cursive font for modern homeware and packaging design. On the other hand, it can be used as a sophisticated text overlay on virtually any background image.

Taken by Vultures

Vultures’ Taken is another leader among modern handwritten fonts, and works amazingly well for branding and photography.

Birdhouse Script

Birdhouse Script was created with markers, and features a number of flowing letters and beautiful, elegant swirls. The best way to make use of it is to include it in food and fashion branding projects.

Colatin Script

Colatin Script features some of the most stunning characters in this design branch. It is also packed with gorgeous twirls that will tempt you to use it for handwritten quotes, name tags, and different social media designs.

Pattersonville Script Font

Pattersonville Script has recently introduced a new kit of international characters, which further confirmed its role of a modern and universally applicable calligraphic font.

Rinstonia

Ristonia’s flowing characters and gracious continuity are just stunning. This signature font is therefore perfect for all types of artistic design, but also business cards and branding materials.

Saffron Handwritten Font

Saffron enables real refreshment in the cursive font landscape. Handwritten and simple, Saffron works for any design project.

Murtics

Murtics is the master of simple, clean lines brought to life with extra swirls. You will certainly remember it when you see it, which is why so many popular brands rely on it.

Pretty Pen Handwritten Font

Pretty Pen delivers crisp and unique features, which helps us compare it to distinct penmanship from many different aspects. The font is very cursive and modern, and looks its best when applied on blog headlines.

Everlasting Script

Everlasting Scripts have both a romantic name and a romantic overlay. Packed with flourishes and swirls, they look the best on save-the-date and wedding invitations, but yet come with an easy-to-spot contemporary tone that matches different typography fonts.

Gloriant Signature Script

Gloriant is, in fact, a suite of a clean and a brush font that can be brought together in graceful and cursive combinations. The vibe is mostly vintage and girlish, and space is adjusted properly for a balanced amount of sophistication.

Twin Oaks Signature Script

Twin Oaks is a Greg Nicholls product used for quick and simplified writing, and yet very legible one. You will meet it often with artistic signatures, posters, watermarks, and image overlays.

Blesing Signature Style

The Blesing suite features neatly arranged and natural lines, and counts as one of the most modern styling fonts. To impress users, Blesing combines both alternate and regular characters, which, by the way, secures it a place in almost any design project..

De Novembre

Skyla Design is the company behind De Novembre, an elegant and sleek font where style and class are instantly visible. You should consider it primarily for high-end branding.

Astronout Signature

The strongest side of Astronout Signature is its handcrafted and authentic vibe. Businesses benefit from it for more personalized branding, which is why this font appears on book covers, website headers, and a number of great packaging designs.

Arion Signature

Arion brings the charm of old-world writing and contemporary posting under the same roof, and that is its main competitive edge. You can see it quite often on T-Shirt and logo designs by popular brands.

Otella Signature

Otella is handmade and refreshing, and thereof used to beautify a number of otherwise dull designs. You should consider this signature font for layout designs, logos, and taglines.

Ending thoughts on these signature font examples

Beautiful cursive and script fonts are all over the web, often representing a truly digitized form of professional handwriting that makes it easy for non-professionals to create attractive fonts.

For the purpose, they won’t need any special knowledge on how to map and scan artwork, or how to manage complex font-generating programs.

If you liked this article with signature font examples, you should check out these as well:

Bold Fonts: 42 Free Thick Fonts To Use For Headlines

Arabic Fonts: 60+ Fonts Available For Download

Cool Fonts: 100 Free And Unique Fonts To Download

61 Free Russian Fonts Available For Download

The post Signature Font Examples: Pick The Best Autograph Font appeared first on Design your way.

from Web Development & Designing http://www.designyourway.net/blog/typography/signature-font-autograph/

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robertkstone · 7 years ago

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2018 Kia Stinger 2.0 First Test: Look out BMW, Here Comes Korea

A funny thing happened on the way back from the Mojave Desert the other day. Someone tossed me the keys to a Kia, and I decided to take the long way home, seeking out some of the great driver’s roads that snake through the San Gabriel Mountains before heading down the Angeles Crest Highway into the hustling bustle of the City of Angels. Kia and driver’s roads … it sounds an unlikely combination. But the 2018 Kia Stinger is a car that will shatter your perceptions about Korea’s value brand.

Here the thing: My ride was the base Stinger, the one powered by the 255-hp turbocharged four-banger, rolling on 18-inch alloys shod with modest section 225/45 Bridgestone Potenza tires, not the loaded, top-of-the-range, $49,500 GT, with the punchy 365-hp twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 under the hood and bigger wheels and tires all round. The only option fitted was the $2,000 Advanced Driver Assistance Systems package, which bundles together active safety technologies such as forward collision warning, lane keeping assistance, and rear cross-traffic alerts. Total price? $33,900.

It’s a steal. There isn’t a better sporty, rear-drive, four-door coupe for the money in the business. Actually, there simply isn’t any other sporty, rear-drive, four-door coupe for the money, period. This Kia is in a class all its own.

The Stinger looks the part, with a sweeping roofline, a broad shouldered stance, and strong graphics. From some angles there are distant echoes of the Maserati 3200 GT designed by Giugiaro in the late 1990s; it’s a trick of the eye, of course, because the two cars are completely different, but it speaks to the effort Kia—and now also Hyundai—design supremo Peter Schreyer put into a car that in many ways has been a personal passion project. I recall Schreyer showing me a sketch of a car that would become the Kia GT concept unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt Show—harbinger of the Stinger—and insisting he was going to get it made.

Apart from the smaller wheels and less aggressively styled front and rear fascias, there are few visual differences between the Stinger and the more powerful GT. The GT gets also some extra badging, smoked chrome trim, and red-painted brake calipers, but that’s about it. Both cars rock quad exhausts and vents on the hood and bodyside. The Stinger might be the entry-level model, but it doesn’t look it.

There are a few more tells inside, however. The base Stinger is the only model in the lineup (the others are the $37,000 Stinger Premium, the $39,000 Stinger GT, the $43,500 Stinger GT1, and aforementioned $49,500 Stinger GT2) with an old school foot operated e-brake and a simple 3.5-inch LCD display on the instrument panel. All others get a state-of-the-moment electronic e-brake switch and a 7.0-inch TFT screen between the tach and the speedo. The V-6-powered GTs also all come with a flat-bottom steering wheel, aluminum trim instead of gloss black plastic on the center console, and GT logos embossed into the headrests. That’s not to say the base Stinger is a penalty box. Standard equipment includes a leather-bound heated steering wheel, leather seats—which are power adjustable and heated up front—and a 7.0-inch audio display touchscreen that can run Kia’s UVO infotainment system along with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The Stinger is built on the Hyundai/Kia rear-drive architecture, which will also underpin the forthcoming Genesis G70. As we’ve noted before, it’s a surprisingly large vehicle, 7.5-inches longer overall than a BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe, with a 3.8-inch longer wheelbase. The longer wheelbase helps not only deliver a roomy interior and generously proportioned load space, but it also delivers decent rolling ride quality, especially on L.A.’s notoriously choppy freeways.

At 3,649 pounds, the base Stinger weighs the same as a 2.0-liter Audi A5 coupe, despite having two extra doors and a hatchback, and is 356 pounds lighter than a fully loaded, V-6 powered Stinger GT. Developing its 255 hp at 6,200 rpm and 260lb-ft of torque at 1,400-4,500 rpm, the turbocharged 2.0-liter four-banger under the hood boasts better power density than similar engines from Audi and BMW. That doesn’t translate to a performance advantage on the track, however.

The Stinger runs 0-60 mph in 6.6 seconds, 1.4 seconds slower than the 2.0-liter A5 coupe, and 1.1 seconds slower than the BMW 330i sedan we tested earlier this year. The quarter mile takes 15 seconds even, the Kia sailing through the top end at 95.2 mph. The Audi nails it in 13.8 seconds at 100.5 mph, and the BMW nails it in 14.3 seconds at 98.5 mph. Things are a little closer on the figure eight—the Stinger’s 26.8-second time is just five-tenths of a second off the A5 coupe and seven-tenths behind the BMW sedan.

A lot of the performance advantage enjoyed by the Audi is down to its smooth, efficient, and lightning fast DSG transmission; the Stinger’s Hyundai/Kia engineered eight-speed shifts slower, and its torque converter chews more power. The BMW’s advantage is mass—the smaller 3 Series sedan weighs 112 pounds less—and the fact the guys in Munich still know a thing or two about making a car go around corners. But part of the issue is the Stinger’s engine; although relatively quiet and refined, and with good mid-range punch, it doesn’t quite have the crisp throttle response of the Germans, especially below 2,000 rpm.

Think about those last couple of paragraphs for a second, though: We’ve just been comparing a Kia with an Audi and a BMW. Of course anyone can play the numbers game on the track, and any comparison with Germany’s elite would be meaningless if the Kia Stinger drove like a cheap and cheerful bucket of bolts on the road. The point is, it doesn’t. That sound you hear is sharp intakes of breath in Ingolstadt and Munich.

The Stinger drives more like a European car than anything from Korea so far and most things from Japan. There’s a measured, almost Germanic, weighting to all the controls and to the body motions. It doesn’t have the grunt to indulge in smoky powerslides with all the nannies switched off—as you can in the rear-drive V-6s—but the chassis feels lively and entertaining, nonetheless. A little more initial bite from the brakes would be helpful to smoothly settle the car on corner entry, and a touch more front-end grip would complement the accurate steering, but otherwise the Stinger feels impressively consistent and composed through the twisty bits.

As dusk settled on the run back to L.A., it became obvious the standard headlights were better suited for cruising the bright lights of Seoul than the dark canyons of the San Gabriel Mountains, the Stinger easily outrunning even high beam. However, the $37,000 Stinger Premium is available with brighter LED headlights (and the extra money also buys you a sunroof, a power adjustable steering column, the 7.0-inch TFT screen in the instrument panel, the electronic e-brake, memory for the seat adjustment, sat-nav, and a 15-speaker Harman Kardon audio system, which makes it a solid value). And we prefer the snickety-snick action of the electronic PRNDL shifter on the top-level GT to the slightly clunky feel of the old school T-bar item on the rest of the lineup.

Yep, we’re down to picking nits. For a first effort at a car like this, the four-cylinder Kia Stinger is genuinely impressive. And the more we drive it, the more it reminds us of a proto-BMW 3 Series. It’s not yet fully formed and not yet fully mature, but it’s a car that, should it follow a logical evolutionary path, could eventually occupy the same hallowed ground as the 3 Series once did among enthusiasts who wanted an affordable, sporty, rear-drive car they could drive every day.

And the chances of that happening? Well, as former BMW M engineering veep Albert Biermann is now Hyundai/Kia’s head of high performance vehicle development, you’d be foolish to bet against it, especially given the Korean automaker’s lavish R&D spending and the dizzying speed with which it brings new vehicles to market. Be afraid, BMW. Be very afraid.

2018 Kia Stinger (2.0 RWD) BASE PRICE $32,795 (est) PRICE AS TESTED $34,800 (est) VEHICLE LAYOUT Front-engine, RWD, 5-pass, 4-door sedan ENGINE 2.0L/255-hp/260-lb-ft turbo DOHC 16-valve I-4 TRANSMISSION 8-speed automatic CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST) 3,649 lb (52/48%) WHEELBASE 114.4 in LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT 190.2 x 73.6 x 55.1 in 0-60 MPH 6.6 sec QUARTER MILE 15.0 sec @ 95.2 mph BRAKING, 60-0 MPH 126 ft LATERAL ACCELERATION 0.85 g (avg) MT FIGURE EIGHT 26.8 sec @ 0.67 g (avg)

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