Enstrybacks.

There are certain moments in life when most dads are ultra proud of their sons. You know, like when he slides into home plate or something like that. Well, that moment happened to me this week in my own Kyality-sort-of-way. Mrs. Kyality randomly asked Kyality Kid No. 2, let’s call him Pants, what was his favorite Star Wars movie. Fully expecting Pants, who is not even 4 years old yet, to say something lame like Episode I or the Clone Wars cartoons—he instantly replied: “Enstrybacks.”

When I got home from work she told me to ask Pants the same question. The answer again came immediately: “Entstrybacks. You know, the one with the snow bear.” A father couldn’t have been more proud. Apparently my very discerning 3- almost 4-year-old is able to catch the drama, the nuance and the wit of The Empire Strikes Back! Amazing! Granted he hasn’t yet seen Episodes II or III to taint his vision. But at the same time he hasn’t been tempted by the likes of Jar Jar Binks or the Ewoks, because as Hurley says, "Face it, Ewoks suck, dude."

I was 4 when Empire was in theaters—I remember seeing it with my dad, Normality. And at that time it was my favorite movie too and here’s the proof:

That’s a 6-year-old Kyality and yes, that’s a young JessInTheCity. But then Return of the Jedi came out just as I turned 7 and it took me until high school to realize what everyone knows: Enstrybacks IS without a doubt the best Star Wars flick. Well done, my son. Well done.

Sexy Beast

Yes, this is a reality. No, it's not a Cooper, apparently it's just a Coupe. Check out the full gallery here! Now imagine this thing as a body-style option for the MINI E, their electric car that's being test now!

(1000) Days of Summer and Counting...

For all you fans of (500) Days—we’ve already seen it twice and we’re about ready for our third viewing—here’s a great little interview with first-time director Marc Webb and editor Alan Bell post on the Pro section of Apple’s site. The filmmakers go into some detail about working with the perfect everyman protagonist Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the stunning starlet of a siren Zooey Deschanel. They also breakdown the theoretical and technical concept of the flick, which is pretty cool, but let’s just say they throw around the term postmodern far too cavalierly.

One funny quote was this one by Marc Webb concerning Zooey’s prep time: “Zooey prepares in a more private way. She's extremely thoughtful, but her greatest gift is her intuition. She flows in this magical way, reacting to the life in the moment. You can sense she's feeling everything that Summer is feeling.”

So basically what you’re telling us there Mr. Director is that Zooey did her best to basically play herself in this one. Nice. Be sure to check out these killer production photos that came along with this article. No matter what Kakie says about Joe’s wardrobe… Zooey’s is pretty amazing as well. But it doesn’t really matter what she wears, cuz let’s face it, all you’re really looking at are those eyes.

Now is it just me or is Marc Webb sporting some serious Kyality-style here or what?

Now THIS is a Camper. (Part II)

I've been checking out cool camper designs ever since I spotted this one. Industrial designer Robert Millington posted a pretty rad camper concept to this Coroflot portfolio. I'd tow it. Notice the super aerodynamic teardrop shape...
...the sweet whitewall tires...
...and of course don't forget the skipping stone-shaped pillows.
Wonder if it'll come in Pepper White?

B-day Booyah!

I guess it's becoming a habit for me to post the cool Kyality-style gifts I score for various holidays. Well, my birthday was yesterday and once again the fam came through with some sa-weet goods. Mrs. Kyality got me ISO50's 1976 Heather Grey t-shirt (the year I was born... perfect b-day hook-up) and a rad new book called Helvetica forever: Story of a Typeface.

And the Kyality Kids got me a slew of DVD's: the anniversary edition of Tron, the collector's edition of the doc Long Way Round and my very own set of the original Star Wars flicks—since the Kyality Kids seemed to have commandeered my previous discs. Yeah, it was a sweet haul.

All The Cars You Ever Owned

The thoughtful designers at People Will Always Need Plates have developed an awesome system of creating custom posters of all the cars you've ever owned. Obviously, it really helps if you've owned a whole bunch of really cool cars. Maybe one day my poster will look as cool as this one.

In other car-related graphic design news, I came across this rad graphic tee of the original Austin Mini Clubman. It's designed by Chris Jackson and available for purchase at redbubble.com, but don't buy it cuz I kinda want it.

Like my color coordinated post?

10 Years, a Winding Road and a Camaro

This week Mrs. Kyality and I celebrated 10 incredible years of marriage. With a fun/busy career and three cute/crazy Kyality Kids, it was time for a break. We booked three nights at our honeymoon suite at a B&B in Northern California near Mendocino. And of course, one of the first things I thought when we planned this 9 months ago was… what car should we rent? Yes, I have a disease… apparently a contagious one, thanks for nuthin’ Normality!

Anyways. I opted to reserve an ultra-compact economy car, wait to see what was sitting on the lot and hope for a decent upgrade. Well, the day of the trip finally came. With aunts firmly in place to hold down the fort, Mrs. Kyality and I jet-setted off to the Bay Area.

As the rental car shuttle entered the lot I noticed a large sign: “Manager’s Special” sitting atop a brand new Camaro. And I thought… why not? It was seriously a smokin’ deal… actually less than the econo-car quote! We definitely would have gotten a yellow one if they had it (hello, Bumblebee, duh) but in an effort to avoid being too much of a CHP target—we opted for standard silver over ruby red.

The huge hot rod swallowed our luggage despite a particularly small opening to the trunk and with a sweet iPod integration system, we were off to the races. First impressions… the car’s MASSIVE, I mean, I know I drive a MINI but I also drive a minivan and this car felt bigger and much more lumbering than that. Next the interior’s pretty spectacular. It’s clean, futuristic and comfortable. Finally the engine sounded incredible. I couldn’t wait to open ‘er up.

After stopping by the Oakland Temple for some quick memory making, we decided to head up one of the most classic drags in all of North America, the Pacific Coast Highway, a.k.a. Highway 1. The PCH winds its way up the craggy (yes, it's a word) Nor Cal coast for nearly 150 miles between Sausalito and the Mendocino area. Hang on to your lunch, this was gonna be a long, twisty ride.

After a few hours behind the wheel of the beast, a couple things were pretty obvious. This rod is a head-turner for sure. Industrial Designer J. Saxton via Upto12 said it best; GM knows how to design a killer Hot Wheels car. The other thing that was obvious was I had gone and pulled out a driver to use on a putting green. Whenever there was a straightaway, I’d romp on the gas and have some fun, but for the tight, technical turning I’d have traded muscle for MINI in a heartbeat.

Finally, I dunno if you’ve noticed the side windows on this car, but they’ve easily got to be the lowest profile production car windows on the planet. So I did a little experiment. I rolled them down and did my best to Dukes of Hazard my way into this thing. The results were far less impressive than I’d hoped:

It was NOT happening and I even slimmed up a bit for the ten-year festivities! Sheesh.