By Mood Dude
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Unlimited bling in toxic green, bile orange & GT40 blue liveried H2. |
Wheels are not just round things that make the car go round. It is the simplest piece of hardware that completely changes the character of a car. The sky is the limit as to what you can do as long as wallet permits. As to matters regarding taste, that's a whole different ball game.
Bigger is not necessarily better
Wheel manufacturers continued to push the outer limit of the largest diameter wheels offered, with 28-inch and 30-inch examples on display. The size of the wheels seems to be only limited by the size of available tires. Check the Hummer in the pic tuned by Geiger Cars with gullwing doors, 556hp and giant 30-inch wheels. Yes, that's the largets DUBs you can put on your vehicle. Of course, don't expect the ride to be the least bit comfortable. Bigger the wheel, more the pain to your backside. At around 9000 USD for a set of four, they are at least expensive in this lineup.
What you don't see
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Or you could opt for see-through wheels. |
Forgiato is a crazy company that is building the most radical wheels ever. If you have upgraded the brake system on your car and really wanted to show off your new carbon ceramic brakes, this is the best way to do it. Forgiato created the transparent wheel just for this purpose out of 2-inch thick polycarbonate. Suggested retail is $5000 per wheel, so you will need to spend $20,000 to get a full set of this transparent wheels on your ride.
Problem is how you clean up the brake dust that will coat the inside of the wheels over time. But then again, cars like these are hardly driven.
All that glitters is quite expensive
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and ‘cheap’ $ 250.000 diamond encrusted DUBs a.k.a wheels. Wonder how these would look on a rickshaw. |
The world's most expensive rims started off at $250,000 a set. Hand-built by a company called Lexani these are designed to fit the Rolls-Royce Phantom (sticker price $332,750 but they'll negotiate).
At first the company considered using diamonds to completely bejewel the wheels, but calculated that such a design choice would push the retail price above $2 million a bit steep even for its moneyed customers.
So Lexani did what so many do who can't afford the real thing: they opted for cubic zirconia. Each of the five spokes in each wheel is adorned by a jeweler with 21 princess-cut zirconia stones. Each stone is screwed into place from the back of the wheel; as the nut is tightened, tiny ring mounts clasp the stones.
So far only one (undisclosed) customer has purchased a set. But that's nothing compared to what Asanti has done by creating a set for a million bucks. The three-piece forged wheels from Asanti rival the similarly priced diamond-studded Victoria's Secret bra as the most impractical item ever to cover with expensive gems. Featuring over 12,000 diamonds and 800 sapphires totaling 1,100 carats of precious stones. The whole getup comes with a 'free' Bentley Continental GT and two bodyguards to look after your prized wheels.
Right Side of the Moon is the sixth and final episode of Sam & Max season one, an episodic series of adventure games based on comic-book characters Sam (a dog) and Max (officially known as a "hyperkinetic rabbity thing").
The team has gotten into some interesting trouble along the way, and this sixth and final episode wraps things up nicely. If you've played any of the past five episodes, you're obviously going to want to know how it ends, and, overall, it ends pretty well.
The episodes leading up to this final encounter have all dealt with different forms of hypnosis. Here, in the finale, you're finally clued in as to who the mastermind behind all these world-enslaving schemes is, and you must travel to the moon (in your old clunky car, naturally) to stop him.
There are plenty of laughs to be found, plenty of returning characters, and the puzzles in this installment are pretty interesting. The only real negative about this installment is that it feels shorter than some of the others, and it's awfully straightforward. You know who you need to take on right at the beginning of the episode, you take him on and then it's case closed.
Of course, if you were to look at this as an individual product, and not a part of something bigger, you would be completely lost. More than the previous episodes, this one requires that you know what's happened up to this point to understand the story and get the most out of the humor. However, this isn't a bad thing per se, because it's just a factor of this being an episodic series.
Best if you can buy the entire season and playing it start to finish. If you wait till 28 August the entire compilation will be out on one disc and should get here in BD within a short time. It's a great game and you won't be disappointed.
Regardless of how you take it in, Sam & Max season one has been a successful series up to this point due to its great voice acting, compelling puzzle design, and outstanding sense of humor.
Source: Gamespot
By Sabhanaz Rashid Diya
They say young brains make us think twice. Well, I don't know about brains, but I know about energy exuded by a bunch of 15-16 years old “kids”. Bonny Prince started out with Aymaan (guitars), Abaan (bass) and Faraaz (drums) in the summer of 2005, and settled with their band in 2006 with Rezwan on vocals and Zahin on guitars. They read of a flower called Bonny Prince in a book in school, and found the name hilarious. They had jokingly considered naming the band Bonny Prince, and eventually had no choice but to do so.. Covering Tool and Radiohead numbers, each member of the band is inspired by unique artists, namely Radiohead, Porcupine Tree, The Beatles, Tool, Pink Floyd and Steve Vai. Already scooping out a decent crowd response, the boys are looking forward to performing more concerts this summer.
Encore is more of a vision of by 5th graders. Close friends, Amid and Zeheen (guitars), Tahmid (drums) and Yamin (bass) performed at an unplugged concert. Following which, Tahmid had an accident and stopped playing, and Encore was complete by bringing Zulyad in on drums. The band takes pride in being the only band from Bangladesh to be featured on Channel V Amp (Asia). With two originals, the band labels as Alt/Rock and is influenced by RHCP, Incubus, Blink 182, Green Day, Stone Temple Pilots, Supernova and more. The band promises to 'rock' their crowd this summer!
By Ahsan Sajid
MTV has finally recognized wizard rock as an official genre; it's only right to bring it to the masses now. What's wizard rock you ask? Think bands, not necessarily rock bands, metal bands or even rap acts, singing about Harry Potter! It's not just one song, or one concept album, it's not one band either, it's over 200 bands, doing what is now properly recognized as wizard rock.
Fans of the Harry Potter books and movies have done something magical, and practically unheard of, with their devotion: They've turned it into music. Yes, there have been songs inspired by other cult books and movie series (Led Zeppelin and "Lord of the Rings"), but wizard rock isn't a song here or there or even a concept album (Crimson King by Demons and Wizards about famed Stephen King character). It's become a genre!
It started in 2002 with the band Harry and the Potters. They sang songs with a Harry Potter theme, from the point of view of the boy wizard. As a joke, another band started up, Draco and the Malfoys, with songs from the point of view of Malfoy, taunting Harry and asking Voldemort to wipe out Harry once and for all. Soon other bands followed, and today there are over 200 wizard rock bands. Amongst them are: The Remus Lupins, The Parselmouths, The Moaning Myrtles, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Band, We-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named etc.
The lyrics are usually humorous and simple, and many bands write songs from the point of view of a particular character in the books, usually the character that features in the band's name. If they are performing live, they sometimes also dress as that character. Though most fans of the music are previous fans of Harry Potter, some bands have attracted listeners outside of the Harry Potter fan base. Jace Crion of band Talons & Tea Leaves says that it's about teen angst; "My parents weren't killed by an evil wizard, but people relate to all that teenage angst."
On an independent level, bands are recording albums, shooting videos, touring, putting together compilations and, like Harry, trying to save the world! Via collectives such as the Harry Potter Alliance and charity compilations such as "Wizards and Muggles Rock for Social Justice," there's a strong push in the wizard rock world to connect issues in the book to those in the real world.
"Literature is open to interpretation," Maggiacomo of the Whomping Willows said, "but you can relate Voldemort and his movement to what's happening in Darfur. The theme of purebloods, it's pervasive." Maybe that's why there are so many love songs for Ginny Weasley you don't have to read "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" to understand the theme of young lovers confused by forces beyond their control.
Wizard rock is definitely here to stay. With the release of the seventh book it will only grow. Harry Potter does not tie them down, as the bands will go out of their way to tell you. They will continue their music. As the lyric to a certain song by Voldemort, Wizard Metal goes, 'it's too sexy for evil, too sexy for Azkaban'. If you are looking for CDs by these bands then I regret to inform you that they're not major label artists with actual CDs. Seeing as you can't catch them live either, myspace.com is the way to go.
Harry and the Potters: http://www.mys pace.com/harryandthepotters
Draco and the Malfoys: http://www.my space.com/dracoandthemalfoysusa
In their pages there are direct links to other bands. Happy listening! And have a good Harry Potter month come July.
Reviews by Gokhra
Both the following movies are ones I have been waiting for dearly. Although the movies are made up of the cute and cuddly furry creatures, assorted humans and green ogres, these are laborious creations involving much effort. This time around they used special techniques that make the individual hairs on ALL the characters move and flow. They make quite a big hoopla about it although it could have been given a miss.
Green ogres and a short bad man
In “Shrek the third,” the big ogre is seen not too happy with royal life. Worse still his equally ogre-ish wife tells him she is pregnant and he has a nightmare of being attacked by millions of Shrek babies. Scared of fatherhood and grumpy with royalty, he still has to take on the reigns in the interest of family affairs as King Harold (Fiona's father now turned into a frog) falls ill. It's a temporary thing for Shrek and he wants it as temporary as possible. So the old king has to find a replacement before he croaks. This comes in the form of a teenager named Arthur, whom Shrek, Donkey, and Puss hit the road to fetch. And thus begins a great road trip of an adventure.
Meanwhile, Prince Charming, (apparently not dead as a ghost as seen in Shrek 1 and ½) is still fuming that Shrek married his girl. He has convinced a mob of defeated storybook villains (Captain Hook, the Evil Queen, etc.) that they should avenge themselves. Together they attack Far Far Away kingdom. What follows is a hilarious series of twists on the tried and true old fairy tales.
Spoofs and pop culture references of classic and recent Disney animations build up the basic plotline as usual. This time around though the movies main star is upstaged a little by his fellow stars. It ends up giving more character depth to everyone else as they can ham it out a lot more. Although the whole thing is damn funny still, the charm of the original as told through a beautifully drawn book is missing.
Cute and cuddly hitting the waves
Hollywood definitely is infatuated with penguins. The latest black and white coated flick continues with "Surf's Up."
It centres a round teenage Cody from Shiverpool, Antarctica. He is a penguin and a rocker. He is small with spiky yellow feathers and seashell necklace randomly given to him years earlier by the late Big Z -- the greatest surfing penguin of all time.
In "Surf's Up," animated characters are for the first time placed in a documentary format. But it is a documentary with a wry sense of humour. The team made sure it feels just like a real documentary with boom mikes dropping into shots and at times using a handheld camera style. And the action is all set in the sunny tropics of Pen Gu Island providing colour relief as opposed to the stark contrast of frigid ice lands.
Throughout the movie you might be plagued by a question, "can penguins from Antarctica really survive on a tropical island?" But answering that wouldn't be any fun now would it?
Better to go for the story where Cody is on his way to Pen Gu to compete in the Big Z Memorial Surf-Off. In his quest for greatness, Cody makes friends with a surfing chicken and also falls in love with Lani, a beautiful Gentoo penguin lifeguard. And then there is the bad guy (or bad penguin), Tank Evans, reigning champ and bully. Cody gets his furry behind whopped badly and Lani helps him back to health. Lani's uncle, known as Geek, takes a shine to Cody and decides to teach him his surfing secrets -- and the first secret Cody learns is that Geek is really Big Z. And then it follows the underdog (insert 'penguin' after under if you please) story.
"Surf's Up" imparts the message that winning isn't everything. Big Z went into hiding when the extreme competitiveness of his sport took all the fun out of it, and when he crosses paths with Cody, Z takes up the challenge of getting back in the game. In turn, Cody learns that friendship trumps trophies and "winning" is relative. It's the formulaic zero-to-hero movie coupled brilliantly with the documentary format, amazing CGI and a splendid cast. The only out of character is the chicken and that could be attributed to the age old question as to why it crossed the road. Cause it wanted to go surfing.
Both the movies offers excellent stories and a whole bag full of laughs. What beter way to spend a weekend?
