I’ve been busy with a few odds and ends recently. But certainly, a flying car – in 2010 – will catch my attention.
The people at Terrafugia are the brains behind this flying vehicle, the Transition, which has received much online and television attention.
I should note that while it captures human attention, there was another flying car from Moulton B. Taylor of Longview, Wash. It was called the Aerocar – and yes, newsreel cameras captured it flying in the 1950s.
The Aerocar is on display at The Museum of Flight in Seattle. And I will say this about the Terrafugia Transition – it is inspiring.
If you only look up at the Victorian architecture in this city that borders the Puget Sound and Strait of Juan de Fuca, you might miss a fascinating human-powered vehicle.
That’s right – this red-and-white tricycle with hearts, beefy tires with fins in the rear, a long-necked steering wheel and wooden pontoons that would make any floating bridge engineer happy.
Given the number of colorful floppy disks attached to the Honda Civic at the Seattle Artcar Blowout, one question needs to be asked: Is a memory stick car soon to be created?
The artcar show is was part of this weekend’s Fremont Fair in Seattle - and before my family and I left Saturday, we walked around in search of some good-looking cars that have been given the tender, loving care that only artists can give to their creations.
And smiles came to our faces when we spotted the whimsical, colorful vehicles sitting in a parking lot.
Yes, after seeing the clip above, the only thing I’m waiting for is an actual online video game in which a person can go to Google maps (or some version of them), pick out a car and drive it (virtually) in a city just like this great video from Honest Directors.
Such a video game might actually exist. But you know, I’m a bit old school. I might be out of the loop.
Ah, yes: Google maps. You can do much with them these days. I actually still have paper maps of China, if you can believe that.
It is tempting to post a consecutive string of stop-motion clips of various sights because, well, they’re so fun to make.
I was ready to move on to other types of postings since I made stop-motion clips of a larger-than-normal chess match and Snoqualmie Falls in the past few days.
But then, I spotted a pretty big jar of kimchi at a local Korean grocery store. We’ve bought seaweed salad, seasoned squid and kimchi there before. My wife suggested that I buy more kimchi. This $10 jar seemed to fit our needs. We didn’t have any and it was an easy move to replenish our supply.
It might be easy to criticize many U.S. suburbs for lacking a central public square – where you can sit, people watch and enjoy the type of civic life that other cities offer.
But in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, there is one place that’s worth visiting – Crossroads Bellevue, a mall that offers a large, boisterous food court with plenty of offerings, a stage with live music and a great larger-than-normal chess board.
Yes, it is not a grand square that many European cities have and it’s not a central place such as Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
There was so much rain and wind in the Seattle area that when I pumped some gas today, I saw at least three people wearing hoods from their jackets.
Ah, yes. Late May 2010. Seattle area, USA. Good times.
Last Friday, I thought it would be a good time to watch Akebono sing Journey. This Friday, I thought it would be interesting to look at rain from inside our car.
Rain is essential, right?
Earlier this month, it was so sunny that my family I visited the International Fountain near the Space Needle for a great afternoon of outdoor fun.
Watching rainy weather, for some reason, brought back memories of that old television show, WKRP in Cincinnati.
Anything that can make people stop and think about themselves, their surroundings and others nearby really can serve the public good.
Art, photography, architecture and even the news media can fill these societal niches – which hopefully will help us think in new, more broad ways.
So, I’m sure the sidewalk art video produced by Brian Stillman and posted on NYPost.com last week has produced page views as well as questions and thoughts.
My thanks to Gil Asakawa for posting this on his blog, Nikkei View. He also gives his thoughts about Akebono, sumo wrestling and the clip.
Yes, I remember Akebono, the sumo champ who was born in Hawaii. He made it, um, big in Japan.
I admit that I owned albums (as a kid)Â by Journey. But I’ve never watched “Glee.”
Oh, yes. This video, in a way, reminds me of the fun exhibited in this trailer, which is part of the Chinatown Film Project in New York City. And Asakawa spotted the Akebono clip on Angry Asian Man.
UPDATE: The original video that I saw on Nikkei View has been removed by the YouTube user. I’ve posted the same video from another YouTube user. AsianCorrespondent.com gives context on the issue of Akebono, the former sumo champ who sings, if you’re interested.
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