Clio Sport 200 ... Automatic

I would like to take a second to ask everyone to hold a moment of silence for one of the most beloved petrolhead wonders to have ever graced us with it's presence, the manual gearbox. Apparently, it's not going to be with us for very long, and to see why that's a very sad thing you need to drive this car:

the new RenaultSport Clio 200 EDC

To get something straight from the beginning, the new 200 is fast. The switch to a turbo solution will not really cause much nostalgia, as the small bugger pulls hard, loves to rev and screams wonderful songs through the cabin and all around. The handling is just beautiful, it corners incredibly well and the chassis balance is just amazing. All tires screeching already mid-corner and you need more turn-in? No problemo, ask for more and you shall have it without wobble, wiggle or hassle.

So ... this means it's great right? Power, balance, what more could you want?? Well ... how about a freaking gearbox? The automatic has quite a few problems ... First of all, despite the Double Clutch thing in EDC, it's not so fast ... I could not really tell a big difference from the Mini and that's a single clutch, which I don't really love to bits either. Fortunately you can switch to "Race" mode (don't bother with the "Sport" one) and you get a manual gearbox feel .... but, you start getting this horribly annoying BEEP BEEP sound every time you need to switch gears ... it just annoyed the hell out of me. Other problems? Well, the interior is not at all to my taste, the steering wheel is sooo thick, the seats are too mushy, the acceleration pedal is very soft and lacks any real feedback and it's very cramped inside (I can barely sit behind myself) ... The design problems continue outside, as the aggressive wide-street-fighter look of the previous generation is completely gone.

And so we come to our conclusion which I would like to draw as an imaginary letter that will never be read by anyone that could do anyting about it...

"Dear RenaultSport,
Manual gearbox, wide-body, Recaro seats.
    Thanks in advance,
    Random Petrolhead"

North by Northwest

It's March and the wind is blowing on the vast field of empty space called my blogging for this year. It is probably a very relevant indicator of the chaos that has barged into my happy cosy life. But, through all the chaos, and from the ashes, a blog will rise! And it starts now, with Iceland... or, actually, it starts with London ...

Heeeey, hold on a second ... I said London, not China!

Oook, that's better. So, as I was saying, it actually started in London, as we did a quick pit-stop before heading out to our very promising destination. So, things we did in London besides Chinatown: drank a ton of coffee,  went through the parks, visited a very non-cultural museum and saw an (exhausting) movie from a very comfy couch.

Unfortunately, the queen was too busy ... again ... So we decided to pack our things and continue our journey North, where a new dawn was waiting ...

but more on that later ...

Slacking in the Lobby

It was half past eight and I was slacking away in the hotel lobby waiting for my taxi. The past month I've seen many lobbies... too many for my taste... But the one I was sitting in was a bit special. Unlike my hotel room at that time, it was not a dump, which was great ... a small claustrofobic dump it was, my room.

I hate business travelling a lot right now, and I have a special thought of appreciation for whoever booked me this fine hotel on the edge of Copenhagen...

I wish I was off skiing somewhere... but even more I simply wish to get back home.

I should be there in a couple of hours...

Most Disappointing Car 2012

With all the press raving about the second coming of the sports car, I decided to take a test drive with the thing and prepared to bow down in astonishment ... and so comes the next award ...

Most Disappointing Movie 2012

So... Here are the facts...
- A geologist gets lost in a cave he just mapped and guided people through
- A biologist reacts like he just met Boo the dog when he meets the first alien life form in the history of mankind
- An explorer takes of his helmet somewhere inside an alien base on a distant planet because ... what the heck? I'm not gonna die now, am I?

So here it is, you probably guessed it ...

Worst Trip 2012

I have recently realized that I've never given this prestigious award before, and it's not fair... For where there is a winner there must surely be somone at the opposite end to call a loser. And if the excitement of this year's best trip was something to remember, then so is this...

2012 Awards

The time has come yet again to name those special moments that have marked the year. Have no fear... The 2012 Scullder awards are here!

Worst Trip 2012
Worst Most Disappointing Movie 2012
Most Disappointing Car 2012

A Hobbit

Have you ever seen 48FPS? ... in 3D? It is ... overwhelming, your eyes will have a very hard time coping with it. For me it took around two hours for my eyes to adjust and afterwards my brain was left performing the child pose for the rest of the night. Most people are saying it's a very bad thing ... but to be honest I'm not quite so sure... they were saying the same about 3D some years ago, and now  they're starting to like it...

But, back to the movie ... and it's glorious glorious 3D ... I think it has the best 3D I've ever seen, most probably even better than Avatar's. It is with very little doubt the best 3D there ever was, which doesn't really hurt ... since the story ... Yeah ... the story ... and it's many many glorious monsters and sceneries ... I think it has most probably the best special effects I've ever seen, most probably even better than Avatar's. There were quite a few moments when I thought the monsters were to grossly close to real ... Which is quite an accomplishment.

But, back to the story ... I was never really a big fan of Ring Lord, I like it more or less. It's cool with adventure magic monster stuff but the lack of light sabers turns me off a bit. So it is probably because of my mild ignorance that I really don't understand why so many people complain about the story. It has action, adventure, drama ... suspense ... For me, the story sits very well on par with the rest of the hobbit-orc-goblin-elf-dwarf stuff we've seen in the original trilogy ... very well ... and I could not have hoped for more.

So ... crazy visuals ... glorious 3D ... really great monsters ... I think this movie was quite good. Even only for the Gollum scene, which raises the bar of CGI characters and digital effects in general to a completely new level, everyone should see this movie. But go prepared ... your eyes will scream for mommy.

Superman's protruding ... Muscles

As you might already know, there'a new Superman movie coming out soon and there's a new poster for it ...

One you get past the blaring lens flare effect you might notice that this guy has some really big muscles on him ... which brings me to the real problem of things ...

Last time we saw him he was more ... exposed ... he was leaving a more long-lasting impression ... hitting you in the face unexpectedly with impressive visual styling. All this dark tone and contre-jour flares seem to be hiding away his real protruding image ...

So ... Is the magic really gone?

Is it really all gone?

Nope! ... there it is!

Weekly News strikes back

Monday
Let's face it, Monday is tough. And if you just spent your weekend in an 8hrs/day training it's even worse ... It was not a great Monday for me ... at least not until I saw that Lamborghini released this stupid madness that looks like it's ready to chop some heads off ... (because it doesn't have a roof ... get it?)


Tuesday
Tuesday is yet another day that will go down in history as one of those days we should really forget about ...

Wednesday

On Wednesday evening we watched The Avengers on Blu-Ray (actually A. fell asleep at one point, so technically I watched it more than we did). I keep forgetting to post about how we saw it in Mexico City, so since there's not much news here we go ... it was an interesting experience...
We went to see Los Vengadores in the most luxurious cinema from Mexico City. It was such a luxurious place that you were sitting in a wide leather seat that you could slide into a bed-like shape and you had a remote control to order popcorn, drinks or food. It was ... quite pathetic ... Besides the fact that there were people walking around all the time bringing food and drinks which was quite distracting, if you placed your drink on the table next to you it was very likely to block your view of the screen ... but who cares about that? luxury rullz ... Anyway, the movie kicked ass in a MAJOR way so it was great in the end ...

Thursday
I found out that this cat hates me, and probably you as well...


Friday
Construction workers are always cutting power cables, blocking roads and in general messing with our lives in ways we haven't learned to appreciate despite their best efforts ... Apparently they have decided that the world is not enough and pulled a moonraker on us (kaboom James Bond joke FTW) ...
For more details: click here.

So, that's that ... geesh ... this news thing is quite tough ...