You’ve heard the adage, “The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.” It’s true. But while you are saving up for the real expensive toys, like the Aston Martin Vanquish, Veyron Roadster or the perhaps the very rare and macho 2011 Hurst Customized Camaro, you can keep your mind sharp with a few well chosen toys like this. You probably played the plastic version of Connect Four, but this mahogany version from Jacques of London at $99 is more befitting your current style. Until this one arrives, you can practice your game here.
Archive for the ‘Tools & Toys’ Category
A Cool Living Room Game
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010The flashlight that doubles as a weapon
Monday, August 2nd, 2010
You know those cool flashlights the cops and NCIS guys use all the time on TV? It’s true, gone are the days of the 8 D-cell monsters cops used to carry. They’ve been replaced by light, pocket sized, and high intensity models–such as the SureFire E2D Executive Defender
It works as a weapon in two ways: the light can be turned on instantaneously with the thumb switch and shone directly into an attacker’s eyes. It’s bright enough to temporarily destroy his night vision long enough for you to get away; and, if that doesn’t work, both ends of the light are notched striking surfaces. That surface will not only do substantial damage to skin, it will leave a distinctive mark on the attacker that the police will be able to recognize.
The case is made of super strong military spec aluminum and o-ring sealed for water resistence. The lens is thick tempered Pyrex glass, and designed to withstand the shock of hard use–or an intentional shot to an attacker’s forehead.
We carry one frequently, and always when we’re traveling. They make great gifts, too, for the women in your life who might need a little extra protection.
One set of batteries lasts about eleven hours. So, don’t forget to buy extras
A Best Buy For Bits
Monday, May 3rd, 2010In the olden days B4U were born, people talked about atoms and bits. While such nomenclatura’ would, ostensibly “bite” to most cyberpunks, it does adequately convey what could be the best online deal on a small and light portable computer out there this week. Best Buy is offering the T410 ThinkPad (only available in store) for $600.00 while supplies last. While many sell ThinkPads, the BestBuy models come loaded with RAM and storage. The processor is old school (Core Duo, not I3) but you’ll save $80.00 at least over the new I3 ThinkPad T410 Edge–which is still a great deal at $680.00 and also fully loaded. It just ain’t old school looking–effeminate glossy cover and metal accents over the all-black T410–which makes it a lot less punk. As in Rotten. You dig?
No motive. Only clunkers. Sad.
Friday, July 31st, 2009
Motive is a car webzine that was so phenomenal, it made other car blogs pretty much irrelevant. Seems it was so successful that its Editor was offered a job as Editor in Chief at Car & Driver. Quite the poach job. It was either the photography, the video or perhaps the superb use of online typography.
Motive, sadly, has gone on hiatus. Still you must check the back e-issues out. We continue to wonder who in God’s name finances this kind of online production- you know, cars shot like fashion models with “hot and rich” lighting in impossibly gorgeous locations.
Cash for Clunkers. Now There’s a Story.
If you want the real skinny on the latest in cars, you’ll also enjoy autoblog.com, jalopnik.com (a gawker media website), and our favorite thetruthaboutcars.com. This snappy site has a great story on this misguided “cash for clunkers” program that is making cars fly off lots with fake money (the blog can explain).
P.S. We have discovered that Flyp is financed by a large publishing conglomerate. The same simply had to be true for Motive, as well. (submitted courtesy of RoadRake.com)
Ten Grooviest Cars Today
Sunday, July 26th, 2009
The groovyman maxim that “cash alone won’t make you cool” will always apply to buying a car. The new Camaro SS for 31k is the latest example of this principle. The challenge gets trickier, however, when you have less than 20k to spend. The following list should clear up more than a few arguments while saving you dough.
1) Hottest Eco-Mommy-Car. SAAB Sport Combi Wagon. The “hockey puck” window treatment on the back of this bitchin’ ride is reason enough for ownership. Low emissions, very decent economy and a peppy engine only add to its allure. We also like the rubbery feel of the SAAB shifter (although we’re not supposed to.) Best of all, a low mileage, two-year old model goes for around 13-15k.
2) Best automotive appliance. Nissan Cube. We predict that this car will not sell well because it is simply too different. Essentially it is a direct import of the kind of microcars remain the rage in Japan. You can sleep in the Cube while listening to a great built in boom box with groovy ambient lighting. They advertise this vehicle as a “mobile device.” It really is the first such appliance to be groovy.
3) Best pocket rocket. Mazdaspeed 3. Do we need to cross-reference all the magazines that have appluaded this little beast as such or do we simply need to turn your attention the long-term test in the April, 2009 Motor Trend? With the new 3 model on the market the previous generation is an incredible steal.
4) Splurge Car. BMW Z4 M Series Coupe. Talk to our friends at Sears about this one. It’s better looking than the Boxster and kicks the small of your back with a torque wallop than few cars, in any price range, can match. While it remains a handful at the limit, this is what makes it more fun.
5) Family car. Mazda MPV If they still make this mid-mini van you should buy it for your budding family. While no one knows about these cars, they look great, offer four-wheel drive and can be bought for peanuts.
6) Semi-Splurge Car. Cadillac CTS-V Series, first generation. This car has a few problems. It has a ‘ring-finessed suspension that is harsh on corpulent backsides and it suffers from wheel-hop under hard acceleration. Still its hard to find a meaner four door sedan with knife-edged handling for around 20k right now (with low miles). The 8th or 9th generation Mitsubishi Evos are very hard to find and have likely been driven by boy-racers idiots. The Pontiac G8 GXP will eventually replace the CTS-V in our book but it is still a new car and goes for around 30k (M5 level performance for half the price.)
7) Best truck. Toyota Tundra Truck with the 5.7 liter V8. While even the mighty Toyota has not fully fetted this monstrous engine, this beast trumps all comers. The fact that you can buy one brand new with this engine for about mid-20s makes this a Godzilla-sized great buy.
8-10) Best of the rest. Honda S2000, Lincoln Aviator and well, we would personally buy back a 2003-04 Mustang Cobra for around 14k and start pimping it out all over again if we had the money.
Cars are cheaper in Michigan. The grooviest car of all time.
Sunday, June 7th, 2009Groovy Dispatches
This just in. We have discovered that the best place to buy a car today is in…Michigan. Regional pricing differences are profound across the United States for American-made cars. Thanks to many great new GM and Ford products (primarily) American-made no longer means awful or even “uncool-looking.”
In Ann Arbor, for example, dealers are sending new cars off at 60% off sticker. This means you could snap up the phenomenal Pontiac G8 GXP, the Solstice Coupe the Chevrolet Malibu and a range of Chrysler products–including most of their SRT-8 Series cars with Mercedes suspensions, for incredible deals.
You might also shop for the in-demand cars like the new Ford Fusion hybrid (it just beat ALL other imported makes in Motor Trend). This Ford Fusion, when you see it in the metal, is fantastically re-designed.
The Grooviest Car of All-Time
On a completely different note, the British magazine Octane has recently listed the 25 Coolest Cars of All-Time. Interesting that while we are promoting Jaguars on groovyman.com, this great magazine is thinking right up our alley (such phrasing!). The Coolest-Ever Car was the Jaguar XKSS. It was, literally, a LeMans-winning race car that you could buy from the factory minus the rear wind-vane and a few other deleted parts.
Octane chose the XKSS for precisely this reason–that the XKSS was the last pure-bred car one could buy directly from a manufacturer. It was not the most expensive, fastest, or most beautiful ride, but it was, simply the best race car of the 1950s. You could buy one on Sunday and drive it to the Farmers market on Monday. Steven McQueen (pictured) did just that. Any questions?
Jaguar Mahatma
Monday, May 25th, 2009
Talk about ironic. Jaguar, the lion of British automotive libido (Rolls was never called a “Shaguar”), is now owned by the largest car company in India, Tata Motors. We feel this move to be devinely inspired if recent deals on Jaguar XJs are any indication.
It’s a simple fact that Jaguars have become perenially groovy since 2004. This is the year that Jaguars passed from sexy but unreliable to sexy and more reliable than a Lexus. The XJ Series, in fact recently scored #1 in J.D. Powers latest reliability ratings for luxury cars. You can Google Jaguar to give you the details.
Strange, therefore, that this model continues to sell in very low numbers relative to other luxury marques. This can work to your advantage, as the time has never been better to buy a classic-looking XJ Series Jag (before they re-design it). We will paraphrase a recent owner on how to buy this magnificent feline beast.
Prices:
04’s, depending on mileage, are now priced in the high teens to low twenties.
Models:
There is a standard length chassis, then the Vanden Plas and Portfolio which have seven or eight extra inches in the back seat. These models are pricier and you pay a little gas mileage penalty with the Portfolio (which is an XJR turbocharged model.)
Deals on the Lot?
Recently a Jaguar dealer in Minneapolis, Minnesota had four or five XJ’s in the used car lot. If you are interested, we have a strategy for getting an even better deal from a no-negotiation dealer that worked well for this car. (In a nutshell, find a car that is not sold by a Jaguar dealer–a non-negotiation dealer–then take that price back to the Jaguar lot and haggle.)
Other Stuff:
Since Tata bought Jaguar and Land Rover, they have been offering good 1.9% deals on financing and ridiculous warranty coverage. A recent purchase of an 2004 XJ with 19,000 miles came with a bumper to bumper up to 100,000 mile warranty for example (age/model independent). XJs also come with air suspension and drive like smaller, more nimble rides due to an advanced aluminum body and frame. This aluminum space frame (new in 2004) is as advanced as that in an Audi A8.
Which, come to think of it, cannot touch the 2004-2009 XJ in the J.D. Powers Survey ratings.
Nor can a Benz or a Bimmer.
Meditate on that.
Malibu. It really is u.
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
Obama said something that did make sense about cars lately. I am pretty sure he gushed about the new Chevy Malibu, and why not? The drivetrain is smooth and quiet. It has a steering column mounted, 6-speed paddle shifting and it has what appears to be actual wood trim, sparingly used on the interior. The exterior design is also pared back and looks quite fetching in a green or gray metallic. Best of all, it just looks more sporting than Camry or an Accord when you have to drive long distances in a corporate caravan. If I had a corporate job, I rent it just to avoid an identity crisis.
The ProCarpenter tape measure
Monday, December 29th, 2008
Using the right tool for the job is more than a cliché. Whatever the job is, having good tools makes it more pleasurable, and, we might add, easier. FastCap bills itself as “innovative tools for the professional woodworker,” and although we’re not professional woodworkers, we do like to putter occasionally and we like what FastCap has to offer. In particular, we’re liking its ProCarpenter line of tape measures.
These tapes come in your choice of six different blade styles, including metric, left-right, flat back and story pole. (A story pole is a stick with markings used in construction to easily repeat measurements. The story pole tapes come with an edge that are easily marked, and erased, by pencil.) The tapes also have an erasable surface on one side of the case for making quick notes, and — this is very handy– a built in pencil sharpener.
These tapes are available at most woodworking stores and at Amazon
Blackberry: Function Over Flash
Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
With all the recent iPhone 3G hype, it’s been easy to overlook the solid line of phones that BlackBerry has released this year. The Pearl, Curve and 8800 World Edition models aren’t flashy, but they’re the best smartphones out there for people looking for function over flash.
Phone First. Sound quality and reception are excellent. You still make phone calls on your phone, right?
Battery Life. Our BlackBerry 8800s only need to be charged about every 2-3 days, even with regular talking, internet browsing and email downloading. Forget to charge your iPhone overnight and it’ll die on you before lunch.
Choice of Carrier. BlackBerries are available with almost every major mobile carrier. If you want an iPhone, you’re stuck with AT&T.
Not Just Business. The BlackBerry web browser certainly isn’t as nifty as the iPhone’s, but it’s plenty good for browsing Wikipedia or ESPN. With an extra 16GB memory card, the BlackBerry serves as a very capable portable media player.
Cost. Most BlackBerry models are cheaper than the iPhone, but the real savings is in the monthly service and data plans.
PS. The upcoming iPhone-like BlackBerry Storm is getting rave reviews.
