It's finally here. The 2011 Mazda 2.

Zoom Zoom. That’s what Mazda say about their cars. I must agree ever since I’ve experienced the new Zoom-Zoom Mazda 2. I was fortunate enough to be invited by Mazda Motors US to be part of the unveiling of the 2011 Mazda 2 at the Los Angeles International Auto Show. The LA Auto Show ran from December 4th to the 13th, but my day was not with the general public. I was invited to the LA Auto Show’s press day which was December 2, 2009.

I’ve never been to a press day and that itself is a story to itself. However this is about the new Mazda 2. As sweet as the car is, the car is only going to be even sweeter when more details come out and when we eventually get to test drive it.

The Mazda 2 is well placed with its other subcompact “C” segment cars. However I think among its rivals it is quite the ravishing hunk. Sure it shares some of its innards with the Ford Fiesta, but its still different enough to say that Mazda has a winner on its hands.

The press day event did not reveal its engine size or interior, however Mazda promised it would reveal those as the days go by. I look forward to it.

I must thank David Harris of Mazda US for inviting me and Lisa Negri for being such a sweet heart even though I arrived a bit late. I also must thank Mazda for providing the sweet Flip Mino HD camera for us to help commemorate the birth of their new child. I must also thank Mazda for the sweeet Zoom Zoom Concentrated drink they had for us. I took one home to keep it in my fridge to remind me of the good times. I also must thank Jenna Britten from Rebel Industries for setting up the sweet luncheon at the ESPN Lounge @ LA Live. I really enjoyed it. I just wish I could remember who else was there. I am sorry if I forgot to thank you.

Top 40 & Commercial FM Radio

Living in Los Angeles has its benefits. It is the media capital of the world. Its a trend setter of sorts for mass media, what happens here is followed else where. The downside of living in Los Angeles is that if you listen to any sort of media especially the Radio, you are exposed to the same commercial music that has made the Grammy’s predictable since 1984.

Case and Point: Listen to AMP 97.1 and KIIS 102.7 FM any point of any day and you are bound to run into the same song playing on two stations. When 97.1 went from all talk to music, the press were told that the AMP format was to revolutionize commercial top 40 radio in the Los Angeles market. I am sorry to say those PR Folks, Industry Folks and CEO’s were wrong. It is just another manufactured crap station.

Give me back Adam Carolla & Tom Leykis. Give me back Indie103.1, give me something more than Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, or any of the American Idol Stars. I miss good ole music from creative people. I am not asking for the next Bach or Pagadini. I am asking for the LA market radio station to play more variety of music.

You probably are asking, why all this resentment. You rarely listen to the radio, you have a hard drive filled with music in your car. Yes I do, and I have it because I cant stand the same songs playing over and over again on my midday drive down the 5 to Orange County.

I’ve been a Radio DJ for 3 years. I know what I am talking about. I had a pretty popular on-demand variety show called the “Whatchamacallit Show” on KSSU AM 1580. Yes its a college radio station but it gave me quite a bit of insight into what users want. What LA needs is an Indie Radio Station and a person to fund it without questions and give me and a few more people the reins. I understand its a commercial business, but if you want to save the music, stop playing the same manufactured shit and give some airtime to bands that really have talent and deserve to be heard.

Trials and Tribulations of Buying a New Car

In May 2008 my beloved 2000 Ford Focus LX finally bit the dust. I really did love that car. She never complained once until she reached 120,000 miles. That’s when it slowly started to have problems. Even so at 160,000 miles my beloved focus was a complete trooper. It even made a trip up to central California wine country with a sticking valve.

With her final breath at the Chevron Gas Station on Corner of Tampa & Nordhoff (incidentally the same place where I got into my motorcycle accident a week before) I had to go out there and look for new transportation (remember bike was in the shop).

So in this series, I will dictate on how I went about buying my new car.

Seen at Walmart… Green but not so much…

These days everybody wants to “Go Green”. No longer is “Green” a symbol of money and the all mighty dollar, but it has also known to be associated with greed and environmentalism.

Well what do you get when you put those three together? Well corporate America’s next big cash cow. Why do I say corporate America’s next big cash cow. With the increasing awareness of environmental problems and Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” fresh on the minds of the public,  hearing the word ‘green’ and are being bombarded from every direction to be green and earth friendly has made the public more aware of what their impact to this world is.

Walmarts - Save Money, Live Better - Go Green for Earth Day

So it comes to me as a surprise that corporate america suddenly can start producing “green” products in such short time. Products  with labels & marketing that leaves good vibes and a feeling of elation that you have done something good for planet earth.

I ask, how green are these products. The answer is probably not as green as they would like you to think. A case and point “Earth Day 2008”. Retailers were in high gear promoting everything “Green”. I was walking in Walmart (yes not so green of me) and I noticed “tee shirts” that were on sale for a rather cheap price with a sign “Go Green in Style”. I was hey, finallWy almart is doing something good. However something looked funny, it did not feel like organic cotton and the price was way too cheap to be considered to be an organic cotton sourced material. Further more I do not believe they used “soy dye” for the printing either. In any case I had to snap a picture of the box that those tee shirts were put out on the sales floor.

The caption if you cant read it says “This product makes a difference. By using cotton from fields that are transitioning to Organic”. I dont know how that is going to be. From what I understand its not something you can transition to right away. Fields that have been used to grow commerical cotton cannot transition the next season to organic.

People who were buying these tee’s where all exicted that walmart is going green. I doubt this would be considered green under the eyes of the die hard environmentalists.

[Picture taken April 23, 2008]

Airforce One at LAX???

So the other day I was on my way to LAX to pickup a relative flying in from the midwest. As I was waiting at the light at the end of the ramp of 105W exiting sepulveda, what did I see….

Airforce One, well its not called Airforce One when the president is not on board but still, the plane was sitting at a remote bay. I had to do a double take on it. I did not have my camera with me but I did manage to snap a hazy picture of the plane with my iPhone.

Just to let you know that is NOT the current Boeing 747 based aircraft but the previous generation. They would not leave the current aircraft to be that accessible.

Interesting things you see when you least expect it.

[Picture taken September 23, 2008]

Welcome to my Blog!

Finally.. after  years of blogging (officially and unoffcially under a assumed name) I have finally decided its time to put my thoughts down for real with my identity visible. The idea behind this is not to duplicate anything I done in the past but rather as a stepping stone to some of my thoughts. It might be off the wall but hey its a blog right?