Gonna be honest, I kinda forgot about this blog and my plans to actually regularly post. It’s no secret that the media industry is in a pretty shitty state lately, especially for freelancers (and especially in the automotive space), and it’s tough not to feel a bit helpless and very stressed. On the literal bright side the sun is finally, regularly coming out in Los Angeles, and I’ve had lots of free time to play (and finish) The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which has got to be the best video game of all time.
I have gone on some fun excursions lately. Last month I drove a Lucid Air up to Sacramento and back with some friends, with a story from that trip hopefully coming in the near future. I spent 24 hours in NYC with Maybach for a reveal, and 24 hours in Las Vegas with a friend to help shoot a wedding. Last week I was down in Carlsbad as part of a large Mercedes program involving multiple first drives, future product previews and the reveal of the spectacular Vision One-Eleven concept. I took like 250 photos and videos of the thing, so expect more content on it soon.
My first drive reviews for the Lucid Air Touring and Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid went on Motor1; the former is much more exciting than the latter, though the Toyota is a big improvement over the standard model. For The Verge I wrote a review of the Rivian R1S, one of the best vehicles of any kind on sale today, and I covered the reveal of the US-spec VW ID Buzz, the Euro version of which was one of my favorite cars I drove last year.
I did my best to annoy watch guys in my Jalopnik story on AMG’s new digital IWC stopwatch feature, though to my surprise most people agreed with my take. Also on Jalopnik I published my final two stories from my trip to Paris. The first is on how Paris is doing public EV charging right, something that truly impressed me, while the second is about R-Fit Vintage’s awesome EV restomods for cars like the Citroën 2CV and Renault 5. For years I’ve been talking to anyone who would listen about why electric conversions will save classic cars, and I’m glad they’re becoming more widespread and affordable.
I’m really happy to be working with my friend Jake at Out Motorsports, which hosts LGTBQ-focused drives and rallies in addition to excellent original reviews and other content. For Out I covered the first drive of the great Mercedes-Benz GLE450e, a genuinely compelling PHEV. But what most people will care about is my first drive of the Acura Integra Type S, easily one of the best hot hatches (and overall performance cars) on sale. I think I might be the first person to use the phrase “yassified” in a car review — you won’t find that sort of gayness anywhere but Out Motorsports!
Maybe the most exciting thing to happen to me since my last post is getting my first published story in The Star, the magazine for the Mercedes Club of America. I profiled Mike Kunz, the manager of Mercedes’ overhauled Classic Center in Long Beach, who took me out in a 1966 230 Fintail. What came as a surprise was that my story was used for the cover, with my friend Jon Harper’s excellent photo filling up the whole thing.
Without having super regular writing to do I’ve been searching for other things to get my creative juices flowing. I’ve been doing a bit of drawing again, but man art school really sapped that passion out of me. In attempting to clean out my apartment a bit I discovered a huge stack of full-page car ads taken from magazines, which I’ve been leisurely cutting up (sacrilege, I know) to create collages from while I watch TV. While just doing it for fun, I’m thinking about selling them on Etsy or something. Here’s a couple examples:
I do have one new project that I’ve been wanting to start for a long time: The G-Wagen Spotters Club. So much of my camera roll is taken up by photos of G-Wagens anyway, so I’ve created an Instagram account dedicated to them. Please tag me in your stories and DM me your photos! I already post stories every day, but I want to make hard posts on a more regular cadence as well. (There might be merch on the way too.)
To wrap things up I’ve got some fresh recommendations once again. My bestie Dalal Elsheikh is one of the judges on NBC’s Hot Wheels Ultimate Challenge, which airs Tuesdays on NBC (and next day on Peacock). I’m still obsessing over Vanderpump Rules with anyone who will listen and have almost totally caught up on Real Housewives of Miami, and I’m gonna dive back into Survivor soon. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was incredible and I somehow loved Fast X, and I’m counting down the days until Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One.
Since Tina Turner passed I’ve been listening to a ton of her discography — especially the live albums that are streamable on Spotify — but the song that has been dominating my life is obviously Padam Padam.
Padam? Padam.