Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4, originally uploaded by antgoo.

I finally got around to sorting, culling and editing the 450 photos I took at the Lamborghini Experience at California Speedway (I seem to get a lot done when sleep is being elusive). Anyway, pop over to my Flickr page to see the rest of the photos.

This thing seriously looks scientifically designed to fuck up the hipsters’ shit. Do the math. Spike Jonze + Arcade Fire + Nostalgia + Magic + Monsters + Divorced Moms + Snowballs + Scribble Font + Shouting Off a Cliff. Throw in a scene in which the Wild Things are pounding PBRs while complaining about their freelance graphic design jobs, and Williamsburg would be washed away by a tidal wave of you know what…

Nice. Check out the trailer below or find it in HD @ Apple Trailers

Hot on the heels of the freshly unveiled 240-horsepower MiTo GTA, we find rumors surfacing (and images teasing) a 1.4-liter, turbocharged, 180-HP Alfa Romeo MiTo Veloce.

This unconfirmed model settles between the base 155-horsepower, turbocharged engine of similar displacement and the (also unconfirmed) 1.75-liter GTA. Additionally, the Veloce will receive the full gamut of upgrades (brakes, Koni suspension, aerodynamics, graphics, and wheels), but details are mostly hazy still.

The MiTo Veloce is (tenatively) set to be unveiled at AutoRAI, which runs from April 1-11.

[via Autoblog.com]

We had our first look at the “too hot for America” Alfa Romeo MiTo compact at the 2008 British International Auto Show and were impressed, if not a little disappointed that we’d never get to drive one. Now that Fiat Group is looking to seriously bring the Alfa Romeo brand to the colonies, we feel it’s time for a second look at a hot variant of this hatch.

Extensive use of aluminium and carbon-fiber keep the MiTo GTA's weight down. (Credit: Alfa Romeo)

The Alfa Romeo MiTo GTA (Gran Turismo Alleggerito) goes on a carbon-fiber diet, reducing weight and boosting the power-to-weight ratio. The ultra-light carbon fiber is used in the tailgate spoiler, the roof, and the mirror fairings; while aluminum is used to reduce weight in areas where the composites can’t–for example, the braking system, suspension and some parts of the chassis. The body has been stiffened and reinforced at where Alfa’s engineers deemed necessary. The end result is a MiTo that is not only lighter for better acceleration, but is also specifically lighter where it counts, lowering the center of gravity and sharpening the handling.

But Alfa Romeo couldn’t just reduce the weight and leave well enough alone. Tucked under the hood is a 1.75-liter, 240-horsepower four-cylinder engine with turbocharged direct-injection and in the wheel wells is an Alfa D.N.A. system that controls the responsiveness of the steering and suspension, larger 19-inch wheels wrapped around four-pistion monoblock Brembo brakes, and new high-performance tires specially developed by Pirelli.

Shown here in the special "Tritecno" white, the GTA's lines are meant to evoke those of the 8C Competizione. (Credit: Alfa Romeo)

Outside the MiTo GTA receives the requisite more-aggressive front air dam and a body kit meant to increase downforce, while echoing the curves of the dead sexy Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione. Inside the cockpit, drivers are treated to a RadioNav color display that displays navigation information, configuration info associated with the Alfa D.N.A. system, various indicators such as the engine oil temperature, turbocharger pressure and the throttle valve opening percentage, and acceleration trends and G-forces in real time.

Hello? Mazdaspeed3? If the Alfa Romeo MiTo GTA’s ever hits North American shores, it’ll be knocking on your door for hot-hatch supremacy.

[Originally published @ CNET Car Tech]

[via failblog.org]

I’ve been test driving the 2009 (2010?) Honda Insight hybrid for CNET Car Tech.

The Insight’s cabin is kinda high-tech, kinda chintzy. One nice touch is the illumination behind the speedo at the top changes from blue to green to let you know when your driving is “green.”

I thought Tony Stark was more of an Audi guy, but apparently he also drives a Toyota Camry.

Images of this 24k gold Camry have been floating around the net all day. View more of them here.

1. The Dark Knight is LOOOOONG. I mean Lord of the Rings long. Fortunately, it is essentially 2.5 hours of nonstop action. It’s exhausting, but in a good way. I managed to keep myself from reading any spoilers, so I was kept on the edge of my seat the entire time. But that much adrenaline can tire a dude out.
2. While the Dark Knight is not the best film I’ve ever seen, it’s damn close. It’s easily head and shoulders above Batman Begins on almost every level. I hesitate to say whether it’s better than Iron Man (so far the gold standard for summer action movies) because they’re two very different kinds of movies, but it the Dark Knight is better. Metaphorically speaking, Iron Man is more of a comic book movie while the Dark Knight is more of a graphic novel. If you forced me to chose, I’d say the Dark Knight is the better movie.
3. Try to sit through the entire film without laughing at least once at Christian Bale’s Batman voice. I dare you. Don’t get me wrong, I think Bale is a PHENOMENAL actor. There is, however, much unintentional comedy to be drawn from his Bat-Monster-Man gravelly voice. Anyone who went to see Batman Begins knows of what I speak.

Definitely check it out the Dark Knight and be on the look out for the full on review in the near future.

Okay, so I’ve seen Wall-E twice now and I’m not sure how I feel about it. A part of me thinks this is an incredibly depressing film. Yet another part of me thinks Wall-E is incredibly heartwarming. The only thing I am sure of is that this is that the trained monkeys at Disney/Pixar have done it again and created an incredibly brilliant movie.

The trailers paint this film as a fun filled romp in the future starring our Johnny 5-esque hero Wall-E, the trash compacting robot. And to some degree, it is just that. But like all of the good Pixar movies (with the obvious exception of Cars), Wall-E is so much more.

Our story takes place in a dystopian future, where a corporate-controlled mankind has trashed the earth to a point of being uninhabitable and subsequently abandoned it to be cleaned by an army of robots. Wall-E is the last functioning of these machines and has developed a curiosity about (and a huge collection of) the junk he’s been charged to compact. One day a ship lands and a new, superior robot appears. Her name is Eve. While there are plenty of cute moments involving Wall-E finding various common items and not knowing what to make of them, and his obvious obsolescence when compared to Eve (especially funny is Wall-E’s old school Mac boot sound when done recharging). However, underlying the story is a palpable sadness.

Wall-E is clearly lonely, being the last of his kind and longingly watching romantic musicals at night. His loneliness is only highlighted by the appearance of and his interactions with Eve. But the story of Wall-E and Eve is a cute one, the real element of this film that got me depressed was the state humanity left the world in and the state of humanity itself. I don’t want to spoil too much, but at some point near the middle of the film, mankind shows up and boy are they in a bad shape.

Like I said, I’m not going to give too many spoilers, so I won’t go into too much detail about the human condition. I will say that once the action kicks in there’s not much time to spend feeling sorry for the characters. It’s quite a roller coaster ride. Of interesting note, I actually forgot that I was watching an animated film until the humans showed up. The transition was a bit jarring.

Overall, even though the story is quite melancholy at parts it manages to tug the heartstrings with a genuinely heartwarming set of main characters and beautiful (if not a bit eco-preachy) ending. I don’t know how they manange to do it, but Pixar has made me tear up at the ending of almost every one of their films (particularly Monsters, Inc., Ratatoullie, Finding Nemo and now Wall-E). Overall, Pixar’s incredible work will not disappoint. Wall-E is a must see film.