Featured

2013 Dodge Charger Flexes Its Gay Muscle

One of my favorite shows this summer was “In the Big House” on LOGO. In one scene, former mobster “Big Lou” tries to give his gay son, Luis, advice on building muscle mass. Luis points to his ripped abs and asks his dad what he’s talking about. His dad counters, “Yeah, but it’s gay muscle”. Point being, there’s powerful-beat-up-the schmuck-you’re-intimidating muscle and then there’s hey-I’m-sexy-and-pretty muscle. Both are hot, but the latter will get you in a lot less trouble. (Well, usually.) [...]

Fine Art Friday: Megan Green’s “Lebanon Valley” Photo Series

The “Lebanon Valley” series is one of my more personal series because it involves family and memory. When I was a kid, my sister and I were occasionally allowed to go with my cousins and uncles to the races there. One uncle had started racing cars at 16, and worked on a pit crew for a friend’s car. My first camera was a Kodak Instamatic, and I would sit in the stands with my father watching the cars and carefully frame my photos, believing in my naive eight-year-old-heart that my picture was special and it would look like a pro shot of a racing car, not a crappy snapshot with the chain link fence between me and the blurry car. [...]

General Motors Heritage Center: The Museum That Almost Made My Head Explode

I’d flown to Detroit to experience the Woodward Dream Cruise, an enormous, cult-ish meeting of extremely enthusiastic vintage car owners and their rides that takes place for two days each summer on the first paved road in America. I saw someone driving around with two skeletons in the backseat of their late-80s Oldsmobile Cutlass Convertible. It’s all a bit strange. [...]

2013 Scion iQ: World’s Smallest “Four-Seater”?

Scion calls its tiny iQ “the world’s smallest four-seater”, which is like calling a tent with a zipper porch “the world’s smallest mansion”. It’s a stretch for a car that is so shrunken. The back seat is more like a padded shelf, barely large enough for an elf and his iPad. But unlike the iQ’s closest competitor, the Smart fortwo, there’s at least a backseat — and a lot more. [...]