Vork

I find Vork to be the most amusing member of The Knights of Good. How about you?

May

James May is my favorite presenter on Top Gear. Who's yours?

Return to the Dollhouse

The second season of Dollhouse, "television's next big science fiction epic," premiers tonight on Fox. I encourage you to check it out.

The Right Tool

Life is too short to use the wrong tool for the job.

Dragon*Con 2009: Post 2

No, this post is not the one where I finally put up our Dragon*Con photos. Instead, I thought I'd point out an amusing shot of Felicia Day that was taken at the con. Sadly we didn't see this live, but I'm quite sure that we missed it by less than 5 minutes; I believe this photo was taken immediately after the Guild panel, and "Vork"---along with doppelgangers for all the Knights of Good---was sitting right behind us.

Dragon*Con 2009: Post 1

I know: I'm a bad, bad man* for not posting the 250 or so photos we took at Dragon*Con this year. I plan to get around to it, really. In the meantime, I thought our readers would enjoy seeing some details of the creation of one of the more impressive costumes we saw at the con: Bioshock's Big Daddy.

* And not in a Leroy Brown kind of way.

The Horribleness of the Emmy Awards

In other Dr. Horrible news, everyone's favorite supervillain musical internet series had a good year at the Emmys. Not only did it win the new award for short-format, live-action program last Saturday, but last night's Emmy broadcast was "interrupted" when the good doctor hacked into the network to deliver an amusing diatribe on the end of television.

Sing Along with Dr Horrible Again

Joss Whedon has just announced that a sequel to Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog is in the works. It's not clear yet whether this installment of the good doctor's story will follow the low-budget model of the original or if external backers will supply more money. Either way, I'm excited about this news. You?

Welcome, Emma

As most of you know or can guess, I bought a car---another Miata---during our trip to Atlanta for Dragon*Con. (I'll post the oft-requested photos from the con shortly.) Actually, for logistical reasons, I sent the money to my father and had him make the exchange for me a few hours before our near-midnight arrival in the ATL. (Thanks, Dad.) Interestingly, I never actually laid eyes on the car until after the purchase. I asked a lot of questions of the seller, who seemed very honest about the vehicle's merits and demerits, but it was my former roomate/overlord, Masta, who made the long-distance purchase possible. He gave the car a thorough going-over and test-drive. Since he's a mechanical engineer, a car guy, and a former Miata owner, he was just about the perfect person to inspect the car for me. (Thanks, Masta.) I'd also like to acknowledge JD, from my local Miata club, who also attended Dragon*Con and offered to haul back all the bulky extra bits in his truck. (Thanks, JD.) (Come to think of it, all three of the guys who helped me with the purchase are Georgia Tech graduates. Interesting.)

The "new" car is a 1995 MX-5. Thus, it's a first-gen (NA) Miata with a 1.8-l engine. I've chosen to name her Emma, because the Miata's alphanumeric designation is pronounced "Em Eks Five." The color is called Laguna Blue Metallic, and, as you can see, it's quite attractive. Laguna Blue was only offered in '94 and '95, so it's considered fairly desirable. I didn't buy this car for the color, however.

You see, my plan is to make Emma a dedicated motorsports and fun car, leaving Mia to be my daily driver. By design, no great transformation is required to turn this vehicle into a track rat and toy car; the previous owner---whom I found via Miata.net---was using her for exactly those purposes, and he outfitted her with a number of performance modifications. That is why I bought this particular Miata. The car came with all of the following:

• Stock seats plus Cobra Suzuka S race seats.
• Stock seatbelts plus 5-point harnesses.
• Stock 14x6" wheels with Falken Azeni tires (205/50-14, I think) plus 15x7.5 6UL wheels with Nitto NT01 tires (225/45-15).
• Stock steering wheel plus a tiny, 280-mm Momo race wheel.
• Bilstien PSS9 adjustable dampers and springs.
• Racing beat front anti-roll bar.
• Hard Dog Hard Core Double Diagonal roll bar.
• R Speed intake, Jackson exhaust manifold, and Flyin' Miata exhaust.
• Deleted soft top.
• OEM hard top, in Laguna Blue.
• R-Package-style front chin spoiler and rear lip spoiler.
• Tow hooks.
• Other assorted goodies.

All-in-all, I think I got quite a lot for my money.

I do have a few things I want to do to the car to get her even more track-ready and to make me more comfortable, but once I get her registered and titled in Maryland, there's nothing stopping me from hitting the track.

Retractable Headlights

...are very distracting.

Our Truck

I mentioned before that Rex, my 1991 Honda CRX, is our "truck;" we use it to carry large items from Home Despot and other stores. Here's some photographic evidence of our abuse of the poor little car: