#example; the world of the Clutch Powers movie can tie into the show with the idea that eventually Clutch left his homeland to explore a
Note
(""""Weekly"""" ask about A New Spin number like, 4? Already lost track lmao)
Anyway
Is the background of some characters expanded upon in ANS?
Like for example giving a bit context as to a certain character got to this point, how/when did they get their powers (if we're talking about elemental masters here), who their descendants were
Sort of like how Skylor originally was supposed to get her own book iirc, which would've revealed info about her origins (but was ultimately cancelled)
(Some examples you could come up with as well are the previous elemental master of ice, and potentially Jay's biological mom, or any other character tbh)
(oh my god locel I missed yr ANS asks. so glad you're back fuck yeahh)
OKAY, so, I DO plan on expanding on several characters and their backgrounds. One that I've actually been thinking a LOT about recently is Bolobo, because I LOVE nature plant powers so I was thinking; okay, maybe he comes from a city where his power are revered for their special properties? Maybe a person with the power of nature rules over the city? Maybe the city is actually very clean and in an artificial forest?
Maybe explain more about Tox and Paleman, because they're from a TOTALLY different Lego franchise, and it's be cool to explore how they went from criminals in one Lego theme to Elemental Masters in another?
#this makes me think of my super awesome expanded universe idea#which is like; a HUGE array of Lego themes all in one universe#and it's like; idk how to explain but I've been slowly piecing together how all the worlds can fit together#example; the world of the Clutch Powers movie can tie into the show with the idea that eventually Clutch left his homeland to explore a#magical and mystical set of islands; the islands of Ninjago#maybe Lego City exists in this world and as a result; Chase McCain and Lego City Adventures exist in this world#also how all the themes that have 2 do with space could tie into ninjago world#somehow#IDK I'll make a document eventually explaining it but ty for the ask!#the-locel-guy2#ninjago#asks#ninjago a new spin
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Automobile’s 2017 Holiday Gift Guide
Picture a Range Rover, ready to show up anywhere dressed to kill, and you will have a pretty good idea of what Aether is all about. The Los Angeles-based company specializes in reshaping utilitarian outerwear into casually sophisticated clothing. Aether’s take on the classic waxed cotton jacket is a perfect example of its ethos. The ornamentation is gone. The contrasting brass zippers and buttons, the floppy and impractical belts all disposed of. What’s left is a jacket stripped to its essentials.
Simplicity of line, thoughtful engineering, a nod to history. It’s not surprising that Aether cofounder Jonah Smith would be a Porsche guy. Smith and longtime business partner Palmer West traded one savage racket for another. As producers, the two have credits in major films, including “Requiem for a Dream,” “A Scanner Darkly,” and Bill Maher’s “Religulous.” Not content whipping on films, the two plunged into apparel as a way to indulge outdoors inclinations: skiing, motorcycle adventures, and driving cars.
Smith’s black on black Porsche 964 is as understated as you can make the thing. Up on Mulholland Drive in the hills above Malibu, he’s gentle on it. Revving it out, applying clutch, giving the gearbox plenty of time to settle before picking up the next gear and letting the clutch take up again. It’s easygoing, methodical, and appreciative—the driving of a man who cares about a classic.
There is a similar steady pragmatism to Aether’s design, the knowledge that most of us don’t need the bright colors and ice-axe-swing-friendly cut of mountaineering jackets. That a complementary fit shouldn’t be sacrificed to sealed seams and insulation. That those fancy mountaineering jackets mostly get used in town or on early morning drives.
Aether’s L.A. outpost is all dark wood and enabling. Casual outerwear shares floor space with the technical stuff, waterproof jackets and pants for snow sports and hardcore armored adventure gear for motorcycling. It all slots neatly into a careful, tidy color palate. Lots of black and gray, dusty reds, greens, and blues.
Custom-built Ducatis and Timbersleds and composite kayaks are placed around the shop. Broad tables feature things that encourage adventure, such as Butler’s maps of twisty roads and the occasional camp tool. Most impressively, in the middle is a large walk-in freezer, an advantage when selling outerwear in L.A.’s sunny weather.
South La Brea Avenue is all fancy bistros and vintage denim shops, the curbs kept clean by valet stands. It might have a clean storefront similar to its neighbors, but Aether’s curb is often awash in dirt-spattered adventure bikes and road-worn sports cars—rides owned by the Hollywood elite and the hoi polloi alike. It’s inevitable that Aether’s clean take on classic looks will filter into movies and onto a new generation of idols. But for now, wear that updated waxed cotton jacket with your old Porsche. If experience has shown us anything, it’s that a classic is always cool.—Chris Cantle
Bee Line Coffee
$16-$20, beelinecoffee.com
You already know how well cars and coffee go together, but you might not know Bee Line. This automotive-themed brand makes truly delicious joe. Some of our favorites:
Flat Track: Colombian coffee from La Union farm in a direct-trade arrangement that pays farmers more of what their coffee is worth.
Streamliner: Uses a special drying technique that results in more sweetness as well as a richer flavor.
Classic Blend: Combination of African and West Pacific beans.
Pocket Squares
$21-$90, cyberoptix.com
Detroit-based Cyberoptix Tie Lab offers the coolest handmade, graphic screen-printed car-themed ties, scarves, and pocket squares. Choose from a Packard Motors logo scarf, an automotive leather necktie, British racing green to Martini Racing stripes, engine “rosettes,” spark plugs, exhaust patterns, or six-speed manual gearshift knobs. Be sure to check out the Cargyle ties. You’ll recognize the argyle pattern as connecting images of the original Ford Mustang.
Blipshift, 710 and The World Is Flat Mugs
$15, blipshift.com
If you like your coffee like some of us do, you can turn the 710 mug upside down without spilling a drop—and in doing so, you’ll be in on the joke.
Aether Apparel Hudson Jacket
$350, aetherapparel.com
One of our favorite Aether offerings is this Hudson Jacket, a wool-nylon piece that functions best in the chillier seasons in the city. Think less about an ascent up a frostbound mountain and more about a slushy slog down to the metro station. That’s not to say it wouldn’t keep you warm if you decide to take it upstate. Deep pockets and a midweight design mean you’ll still be toasty for a quick walk around a frozen park. Get it now online or at one of brand’s shops in L.A., San Francisco, Aspen, and New York.
Velomacchi Hybrid Duffle Pack and Tool Roll
$400/$75, velomacchi.com
Still using a backpack for overnight adventures? You’re better than that. With 50 liters of storage space and watertight construction, this duffle-shoulder-backpack is the best of both worlds. The rugged materials mean you won’t worry if it’s caught in the rain. Make sure you also pick up the Velomacchi Speedway toolroll, compact enough to strap to your bike even when filled.
Goodwood Road Racing Club Mechanic Overalls
$120, goodwood.com
It’s not easy to get an invite to run at the Goodwood Festival of Speed or the Revival, but with the Goodwood Road Racing Club mechanic overalls, you can pretend you did. Available in white or khaki, these overalls are best worn while trapped in the dark engine bay of a Triumph TR6, in the fuselage of a Spitfire, or changing the tire of a Lotus in the Silverstone pits. Or add a leather belt, a flat cap, and a scarf, and you’re ready for teatime at the Revival.
Hot Wheels Car Culture: Modern Classics
$4, hotwheels.com
You never truly outgrow Hot Wheels. While the regular blue-card Hot Wheels are as rare as rocks, these mini models are part of the brand’s popular Car Culture premium series. The design team behind the cars is hard at work yanking influence from past and present automotive trends, resulting in some seriously cool diecasts. With detailed paint schemes, metal bases, and rubber Real Riders wheels, these are collector darlings. This series features some of the greatest hits from the 1980s and ’90s, including a 1985 Honda CRX variant.
Hoodoo GT40 Victory Series Guitar
$6,000, gt40.com
Garage art can be a tricky thing, especially when the line between tacky and tasteful is so blurry. For the Americana enthusiast, check out Safir GT40 Spares and Hoodoo Guitar’s take on what a GT40 looks like in guitar form. Like the racing prototype that rocked the world more than a half century ago, this limited-edition axe features headlight and hood slot cutouts, along with special GT40 badging, VIN designation, and historical livery. If you’d rather strum than let it gather dust on the wall next to your car, it’s actually a very sharp-sounding piece, thanks to the craftsmen at Hoodoo’s shop in Calgary, Canada. They’ll make only 100 of each of four different liveries.
Nuna Rava Convertible Car Seat
$450, nuna.eu/usa
The Rava works as both a rear- and forward-facing seat, so take comfort in the safety of that tiny poop monster just home from the hospital all the way up to the 4-foot, 65-pounder who won’t stop asking, “Why, mommy and daddy? Why?” The Rava comes in a variety of colors from charcoal to berry, so it’ll match the interior of most of daddy’s cars.
“Josef, The IndyCar Driver” and “The Spectale: Celebrating the History of the Indianapolis 500”
$16-$40, apexlegends.com
Chris Workman’s children’s motorsports books are perfect for introducing a new generation of potential race fans to America’s open-wheel circuit and its most famous track, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While intended for kids, the books will inform and refresh even the sport’s full-sized veteran observers.
Carrera Digital 132 ’80s Flashback Slot Car Set
$400, carrera-toys.com
Carrera is one of biggest names in the slot-car business, and the German company offers an astounding number of tracks, cars, and configurations. We distracted ourselves with the new Digital 132 ’80s Flashback set, pitting a 1:32 scale 1979 BMW M1 Procar against a Zakspeed Ford Capri Turbo. Joining these two old-timers were incredibly detailed models of the No. 68 Ford GT race car and the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.
Vulcan Innova Winder
$25,000, vulcaninnova.com
“When an engine block is engineered, its shape is pure function for maximum performance and no regard for beauty. As a result, it made for an extremely intriguing aesthetic, one that I wanted to celebrate,” says Vulcan Innova’s Sean Cheng, who has produced his bespoke watch winders from salvaged BMW M52 straight-six engines since 2015. Design, engineering, production, and assembly are all done in-house. The Vulcan Innova is plain bananas: Lock the watches in place in winding mode, insert and turn the key, and the watches will rise forth from the winder’s pistons. Custom paint and leather are available to match the winder to your E36 M3.
Vintage Kart Company Italiano
$6,975, vintage-kart-company.myshopify.com
Looking very much like the great monoposto grand prix racers from the 1920s and ’30s, this pint-sized blue bullet is the product of Vintage Kart Company, an Arizona-based outfit that offers karts as kits or turnkey toys. For about $7,000, DIY-ers can assemble a bare matte aluminum kart, replete with Gatsby appeal and charm. Power comes from a Honda GX-200 one-cylinder four-stroke, pumping out a healthy 6.5 hp at full chat. Considering the Kart weighs around 300 pounds, this is plenty. Once you complete the build, slap on some period-correct racing graphics and sign up for the annual Grand Prix of Scottsdale, Arizona, to compete with other Vintage karts.
Land Rover Experience Heritage Program
$1,200-$1,500, landroverusa.com
If you’ve always had a taste for British bricks, the backwoods, and a bit of trail-bashing, this program is just the ticket. Spend either a half or full day of guided driving in the Defender 90 and other Range Rover and Land Rover models. Off-road courses include mud, water pits, and terrain so challenging you won’t believe you made it through, but you will. Locations in California, Vermont, North Carolina, and Quebec, Canada, mean you’re no more than a short flight from the off-road experience of your dreams.
“Crashed and Byrned”
$45, crashorbyrne.com
“There were lots of things Tommy Byrne didn’t know. He didn’t know tomorrow had a limit, that he wasn’t just going to keep on surfing this beautiful wave forever. … He also didn’t know what on Earth Ayrton Senna was talking about in early 1982 when he burst into the Van Diemen office, ranting and raving, calling Tommy a ‘f——- thief.’” This excerpt is from Chapter 6 of the autobiography of perhaps one of the greatest race-car drivers you’ve never heard of. If you enjoy tales of human experience, triumph, failure, and dark humor—and learning the ins and outs of professional motorsports—you need this in your library.
“Uncommon Carriers”
$9, amazon.com
If you know of John McPhee, you know this is going to be a great read. If you don’t know McPhee, go buy everything he’s ever written, starting with “Uncommon Carriers.” As much as it’s about transportation by plane, train, and truck, it’s also a sketchbook of the characters who pilot these machines. Through their eyes we see the world not as it should be or even as it really is, but exactly as it looks from the long end of a career devoted to getting people and things to the right places at the right times. It truly is, as the book’s dust jacket states, a classic work.
“A Man and His Watch”
$35, amazon.com
With his new book, Matthew Hranek has created the style bible for any watch collector. Hranek masterfully weaves the stories of 70 unique timepieces from the men who’ve owned them. He also uncovers examples of deep historical significance such as Steve McQueen’s Heuer Monaco and astronaut Wally Schirra’s Omega Speedmaster. “For me,” Hranek says, “it wasn’t just about the watches, it was about the stories behind them that made them so interesting.”
“Stars & Cars: Mythical Pairings”
$31, amazon.com
Author Jacques Braunstein shares our passion not only for cars and entertainment but also for the cultural impact automobiles have achieved through their appearances in some of Hollywood’s most memorable movies and television programs. His latest book includes actors who have raced—from Dean to McQueen to Newman—and car-entwined characters such as James Bond, Mad Max, and the Blues Brothers, not to mention specific films and shows and the cars they helped to make famous. You’ll find plenty here to satisfy your automotive cravings.
Richard Mille RM 50-03 Tourbillon McLaren F1
$1,000,000, richardmille.com
If you have a cool million sitting around—yes, we know—and are looking for the proper timepiece to match the McLaren BP23 you’ve ordered, you’re in luck. Richard Mille has created the wrist cleavage of your dreams. The RM 50-03 is made from Graph TPT, a composite created by injecting graphene-containing resins into layers of carbon fiber and weighs in at 1.4 ounces, including the strap. No one ever said that channeling the bleeding-edge nature of F1 and distilling it into a timepiece this flawless is for the masses.
Rolex Milgauss
$8,200, bobswatches.com
Similar to daily worn dive watches, the Omega Speedmaster’s NASA flight certification, the Breitling Navitimer’s slide-rule function, and true moonphase-equipped models, a great number of watches possess seemingly ridiculous capabilities that are entirely too specific for the average desk jockey. The colorful Rolex Milgauss is so-named for its resistance to up to 1,000 gauss of magnetic force. Before the advent of modern computers and digital watches, scientists working with magnetic fields needed timepieces designed to resist these forces. The Milgauss is one of the most recognizable of these scientist specials, sporting a lightning-bolt seconds hand.
VistaJet
$10,000, vistajet.com
There’s a reason the tarmac at Monterey Regional Airport is lousy with private jets during Monterey Car Week. Driving yourself—or even worse, flying coach into foggy and oft-delayed MRY—is a big drag. VistaJet, with its global fleet of branded Bombardier Global 5000 and Challenger 350 aircraft, takes the idea of the shared economy to the next logical and expensive level. Choose from either VistaJet’s on-demand or longer-term program, and you’ll never get stuck waiting for a connection again.
Döttling Colosimo Watch Safe
$33,000, doettling.com
Since 1919, Döttling has produced some of the finest safes in its factory in Sindelfingen, Germany. Named after legendary turn of the century gangster “Big Jim” Colosimo and inspired by bank vaults Big Jim would knock over during Prohibition, Döttling created a 1:13-sized vault replica. The Colosimo is an aesthetic gem we wholeheartedly endorse.
Montblanc StarWalker Spirit of Racing Doué Fineliner
$465, montblanc.com
If you appreciate fine watches, cars, and design, it doesn’t make sense to sign documents and letters with the 10-cent ballpoint you picked up from your insurance agent. The StarWalker collection is one of Montblanc’s more subtle product lines, offering subdued, dark designs accented primarily with platinum finish and a crystal endcap. Part of the Spirit of Racing line, the pen wears a rubber tread pattern wrapped around the resin barrel. This example uses the felt-tipped fineliner cartridge but can be had as a ballpoint or fountain pen.
Pagnol M1A Auto Jacket
$650, pagnol-motor.com
Pagnol, an established purveyor of high-end riding gear, looks to break into the four-wheeled sector with the fab M1A Auto Jacket. Just like the motorcycle jacket, the M1A features the same slim leather construction, retaining the accordion stretch panels at the center back, under arm, and above the elbows, and replacing the thick, bulky Kevlar abrasion guards with matte Lycra. Like any good riding jacket, it features zippered pockets, ventilation slots, and zippered sleeves.
The Balvenie Peat Week, 2002 Vintage
$99, us.thebalvenie.com
Ahh, peat. That rich, funky, decidedly Scottish stuff that makes whisky so magical. If you’re a peat lover, you’ll love The Balvenie’s Peat Week, the result of experiments undertaken in 2001. In 2002 and every year since, the Speyside distillery has set aside a week each year to using 100-percent Highland peat for barley drying. In the process, the malted barley absorbs the smoke. Highland peat imparts an earthier, woodier flavor. Look for hints of butterscotch and honey in the nose with citrus, smoke, and oak on the tongue and creamy vanilla on the finish.
Source: http://chicagoautohaus.com/automobiles-2017-holiday-gift-guide/
from Chicago Today https://chicagocarspot.wordpress.com/2017/12/15/automobiles-2017-holiday-gift-guide/
0 notes
Text
Automobile’s 2017 Holiday Gift Guide
Picture a Range Rover, ready to show up anywhere dressed to kill, and you will have a pretty good idea of what Aether is all about. The Los Angeles-based company specializes in reshaping utilitarian outerwear into casually sophisticated clothing. Aether’s take on the classic waxed cotton jacket is a perfect example of its ethos. The ornamentation is gone. The contrasting brass zippers and buttons, the floppy and impractical belts all disposed of. What’s left is a jacket stripped to its essentials.
Simplicity of line, thoughtful engineering, a nod to history. It’s not surprising that Aether cofounder Jonah Smith would be a Porsche guy. Smith and longtime business partner Palmer West traded one savage racket for another. As producers, the two have credits in major films, including “Requiem for a Dream,” “A Scanner Darkly,” and Bill Maher’s “Religulous.” Not content whipping on films, the two plunged into apparel as a way to indulge outdoors inclinations: skiing, motorcycle adventures, and driving cars.
Smith’s black on black Porsche 964 is as understated as you can make the thing. Up on Mulholland Drive in the hills above Malibu, he’s gentle on it. Revving it out, applying clutch, giving the gearbox plenty of time to settle before picking up the next gear and letting the clutch take up again. It’s easygoing, methodical, and appreciative—the driving of a man who cares about a classic.
There is a similar steady pragmatism to Aether’s design, the knowledge that most of us don’t need the bright colors and ice-axe-swing-friendly cut of mountaineering jackets. That a complementary fit shouldn’t be sacrificed to sealed seams and insulation. That those fancy mountaineering jackets mostly get used in town or on early morning drives.
Aether’s L.A. outpost is all dark wood and enabling. Casual outerwear shares floor space with the technical stuff, waterproof jackets and pants for snow sports and hardcore armored adventure gear for motorcycling. It all slots neatly into a careful, tidy color palate. Lots of black and gray, dusty reds, greens, and blues.
Custom-built Ducatis and Timbersleds and composite kayaks are placed around the shop. Broad tables feature things that encourage adventure, such as Butler’s maps of twisty roads and the occasional camp tool. Most impressively, in the middle is a large walk-in freezer, an advantage when selling outerwear in L.A.’s sunny weather.
South La Brea Avenue is all fancy bistros and vintage denim shops, the curbs kept clean by valet stands. It might have a clean storefront similar to its neighbors, but Aether’s curb is often awash in dirt-spattered adventure bikes and road-worn sports cars—rides owned by the Hollywood elite and the hoi polloi alike. It’s inevitable that Aether’s clean take on classic looks will filter into movies and onto a new generation of idols. But for now, wear that updated waxed cotton jacket with your old Porsche. If experience has shown us anything, it’s that a classic is always cool.—Chris Cantle
Bee Line Coffee
$16-$20, beelinecoffee.com
You already know how well cars and coffee go together, but you might not know Bee Line. This automotive-themed brand makes truly delicious joe. Some of our favorites:
Flat Track: Colombian coffee from La Union farm in a direct-trade arrangement that pays farmers more of what their coffee is worth.
Streamliner: Uses a special drying technique that results in more sweetness as well as a richer flavor.
Classic Blend: Combination of African and West Pacific beans.
Pocket Squares
$21-$90, cyberoptix.com
Detroit-based Cyberoptix Tie Lab offers the coolest handmade, graphic screen-printed car-themed ties, scarves, and pocket squares. Choose from a Packard Motors logo scarf, an automotive leather necktie, British racing green to Martini Racing stripes, engine “rosettes,” spark plugs, exhaust patterns, or six-speed manual gearshift knobs. Be sure to check out the Cargyle ties. You’ll recognize the argyle pattern as connecting images of the original Ford Mustang.
Blipshift, 710 and The World Is Flat Mugs
$15, blipshift.com
If you like your coffee like some of us do, you can turn the 710 mug upside down without spilling a drop—and in doing so, you’ll be in on the joke.
Aether Apparel Hudson Jacket
$350, aetherapparel.com
One of our favorite Aether offerings is this Hudson Jacket, a wool-nylon piece that functions best in the chillier seasons in the city. Think less about an ascent up a frostbound mountain and more about a slushy slog down to the metro station. That’s not to say it wouldn’t keep you warm if you decide to take it upstate. Deep pockets and a midweight design mean you’ll still be toasty for a quick walk around a frozen park. Get it now online or at one of brand’s shops in L.A., San Francisco, Aspen, and New York.
Velomacchi Hybrid Duffle Pack and Tool Roll
$400/$75, velomacchi.com
Still using a backpack for overnight adventures? You’re better than that. With 50 liters of storage space and watertight construction, this duffle-shoulder-backpack is the best of both worlds. The rugged materials mean you won’t worry if it’s caught in the rain. Make sure you also pick up the Velomacchi Speedway toolroll, compact enough to strap to your bike even when filled.
Goodwood Road Racing Club Mechanic Overalls
$120, goodwood.com
It’s not easy to get an invite to run at the Goodwood Festival of Speed or the Revival, but with the Goodwood Road Racing Club mechanic overalls, you can pretend you did. Available in white or khaki, these overalls are best worn while trapped in the dark engine bay of a Triumph TR6, in the fuselage of a Spitfire, or changing the tire of a Lotus in the Silverstone pits. Or add a leather belt, a flat cap, and a scarf, and you’re ready for teatime at the Revival.
Hot Wheels Car Culture: Modern Classics
$4, hotwheels.com
You never truly outgrow Hot Wheels. While the regular blue-card Hot Wheels are as rare as rocks, these mini models are part of the brand’s popular Car Culture premium series. The design team behind the cars is hard at work yanking influence from past and present automotive trends, resulting in some seriously cool diecasts. With detailed paint schemes, metal bases, and rubber Real Riders wheels, these are collector darlings. This series features some of the greatest hits from the 1980s and ’90s, including a 1985 Honda CRX variant.
Hoodoo GT40 Victory Series Guitar
$6,000, gt40.com
Garage art can be a tricky thing, especially when the line between tacky and tasteful is so blurry. For the Americana enthusiast, check out Safir GT40 Spares and Hoodoo Guitar’s take on what a GT40 looks like in guitar form. Like the racing prototype that rocked the world more than a half century ago, this limited-edition axe features headlight and hood slot cutouts, along with special GT40 badging, VIN designation, and historical livery. If you’d rather strum than let it gather dust on the wall next to your car, it’s actually a very sharp-sounding piece, thanks to the craftsmen at Hoodoo’s shop in Calgary, Canada. They’ll make only 100 of each of four different liveries.
Nuna Rava Convertible Car Seat
$450, nuna.eu/usa
The Rava works as both a rear- and forward-facing seat, so take comfort in the safety of that tiny poop monster just home from the hospital all the way up to the 4-foot, 65-pounder who won’t stop asking, “Why, mommy and daddy? Why?” The Rava comes in a variety of colors from charcoal to berry, so it’ll match the interior of most of daddy’s cars.
“Josef, The IndyCar Driver” and “The Spectale: Celebrating the History of the Indianapolis 500”
$16-$40, apexlegends.com
Chris Workman’s children’s motorsports books are perfect for introducing a new generation of potential race fans to America’s open-wheel circuit and its most famous track, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While intended for kids, the books will inform and refresh even the sport’s full-sized veteran observers.
Carrera Digital 132 ’80s Flashback Slot Car Set
$400, carrera-toys.com
Carrera is one of biggest names in the slot-car business, and the German company offers an astounding number of tracks, cars, and configurations. We distracted ourselves with the new Digital 132 ’80s Flashback set, pitting a 1:32 scale 1979 BMW M1 Procar against a Zakspeed Ford Capri Turbo. Joining these two old-timers were incredibly detailed models of the No. 68 Ford GT race car and the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.
Vulcan Innova Winder
$25,000, vulcaninnova.com
“When an engine block is engineered, its shape is pure function for maximum performance and no regard for beauty. As a result, it made for an extremely intriguing aesthetic, one that I wanted to celebrate,” says Vulcan Innova’s Sean Cheng, who has produced his bespoke watch winders from salvaged BMW M52 straight-six engines since 2015. Design, engineering, production, and assembly are all done in-house. The Vulcan Innova is plain bananas: Lock the watches in place in winding mode, insert and turn the key, and the watches will rise forth from the winder’s pistons. Custom paint and leather are available to match the winder to your E36 M3.
Vintage Kart Company Italiano
$6,975, vintage-kart-company.myshopify.com
Looking very much like the great monoposto grand prix racers from the 1920s and ’30s, this pint-sized blue bullet is the product of Vintage Kart Company, an Arizona-based outfit that offers karts as kits or turnkey toys. For about $7,000, DIY-ers can assemble a bare matte aluminum kart, replete with Gatsby appeal and charm. Power comes from a Honda GX-200 one-cylinder four-stroke, pumping out a healthy 6.5 hp at full chat. Considering the Kart weighs around 300 pounds, this is plenty. Once you complete the build, slap on some period-correct racing graphics and sign up for the annual Grand Prix of Scottsdale, Arizona, to compete with other Vintage karts.
Land Rover Experience Heritage Program
$1,200-$1,500, landroverusa.com
If you’ve always had a taste for British bricks, the backwoods, and a bit of trail-bashing, this program is just the ticket. Spend either a half or full day of guided driving in the Defender 90 and other Range Rover and Land Rover models. Off-road courses include mud, water pits, and terrain so challenging you won’t believe you made it through, but you will. Locations in California, Vermont, North Carolina, and Quebec, Canada, mean you’re no more than a short flight from the off-road experience of your dreams.
“Crashed and Byrned”
$45, crashorbyrne.com
“There were lots of things Tommy Byrne didn’t know. He didn’t know tomorrow had a limit, that he wasn’t just going to keep on surfing this beautiful wave forever. … He also didn’t know what on Earth Ayrton Senna was talking about in early 1982 when he burst into the Van D
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0 notes
Text
Automobile’s 2017 Holiday Gift Guide
Picture a Range Rover, ready to show up anywhere dressed to kill, and you will have a pretty good idea of what Aether is all about. The Los Angeles-based company specializes in reshaping utilitarian outerwear into casually sophisticated clothing. Aether’s take on the classic waxed cotton jacket is a perfect example of its ethos. The ornamentation is gone. The contrasting brass zippers and buttons, the floppy and impractical belts all disposed of. What’s left is a jacket stripped to its essentials.
Simplicity of line, thoughtful engineering, a nod to history. It’s not surprising that Aether cofounder Jonah Smith would be a Porsche guy. Smith and longtime business partner Palmer West traded one savage racket for another. As producers, the two have credits in major films, including “Requiem for a Dream,” “A Scanner Darkly,” and Bill Maher’s “Religulous.” Not content whipping on films, the two plunged into apparel as a way to indulge outdoors inclinations: skiing, motorcycle adventures, and driving cars.
Smith’s black on black Porsche 964 is as understated as you can make the thing. Up on Mulholland Drive in the hills above Malibu, he’s gentle on it. Revving it out, applying clutch, giving the gearbox plenty of time to settle before picking up the next gear and letting the clutch take up again. It’s easygoing, methodical, and appreciative—the driving of a man who cares about a classic.
There is a similar steady pragmatism to Aether’s design, the knowledge that most of us don’t need the bright colors and ice-axe-swing-friendly cut of mountaineering jackets. That a complementary fit shouldn’t be sacrificed to sealed seams and insulation. That those fancy mountaineering jackets mostly get used in town or on early morning drives.
Aether’s L.A. outpost is all dark wood and enabling. Casual outerwear shares floor space with the technical stuff, waterproof jackets and pants for snow sports and hardcore armored adventure gear for motorcycling. It all slots neatly into a careful, tidy color palate. Lots of black and gray, dusty reds, greens, and blues.
Custom-built Ducatis and Timbersleds and composite kayaks are placed around the shop. Broad tables feature things that encourage adventure, such as Butler’s maps of twisty roads and the occasional camp tool. Most impressively, in the middle is a large walk-in freezer, an advantage when selling outerwear in L.A.’s sunny weather.
South La Brea Avenue is all fancy bistros and vintage denim shops, the curbs kept clean by valet stands. It might have a clean storefront similar to its neighbors, but Aether’s curb is often awash in dirt-spattered adventure bikes and road-worn sports cars—rides owned by the Hollywood elite and the hoi polloi alike. It’s inevitable that Aether’s clean take on classic looks will filter into movies and onto a new generation of idols. But for now, wear that updated waxed cotton jacket with your old Porsche. If experience has shown us anything, it’s that a classic is always cool.—Chris Cantle
Bee Line Coffee
$16-$20, beelinecoffee.com
You already know how well cars and coffee go together, but you might not know Bee Line. This automotive-themed brand makes truly delicious joe. Some of our favorites:
Flat Track: Colombian coffee from La Union farm in a direct-trade arrangement that pays farmers more of what their coffee is worth.
Streamliner: Uses a special drying technique that results in more sweetness as well as a richer flavor.
Classic Blend: Combination of African and West Pacific beans.
Pocket Squares
$21-$90, cyberoptix.com
Detroit-based Cyberoptix Tie Lab offers the coolest handmade, graphic screen-printed car-themed ties, scarves, and pocket squares. Choose from a Packard Motors logo scarf, an automotive leather necktie, British racing green to Martini Racing stripes, engine “rosettes,” spark plugs, exhaust patterns, or six-speed manual gearshift knobs. Be sure to check out the Cargyle ties. You’ll recognize the argyle pattern as connecting images of the original Ford Mustang.
Blipshift, 710 and The World Is Flat Mugs
$15, blipshift.com
If you like your coffee like some of us do, you can turn the 710 mug upside down without spilling a drop—and in doing so, you’ll be in on the joke.
Aether Apparel Hudson Jacket
$350, aetherapparel.com
One of our favorite Aether offerings is this Hudson Jacket, a wool-nylon piece that functions best in the chillier seasons in the city. Think less about an ascent up a frostbound mountain and more about a slushy slog down to the metro station. That’s not to say it wouldn’t keep you warm if you decide to take it upstate. Deep pockets and a midweight design mean you’ll still be toasty for a quick walk around a frozen park. Get it now online or at one of brand’s shops in L.A., San Francisco, Aspen, and New York.
Velomacchi Hybrid Duffle Pack and Tool Roll
$400/$75, velomacchi.com
Still using a backpack for overnight adventures? You’re better than that. With 50 liters of storage space and watertight construction, this duffle-shoulder-backpack is the best of both worlds. The rugged materials mean you won’t worry if it’s caught in the rain. Make sure you also pick up the Velomacchi Speedway toolroll, compact enough to strap to your bike even when filled.
Goodwood Road Racing Club Mechanic Overalls
$120, goodwood.com
It’s not easy to get an invite to run at the Goodwood Festival of Speed or the Revival, but with the Goodwood Road Racing Club mechanic overalls, you can pretend you did. Available in white or khaki, these overalls are best worn while trapped in the dark engine bay of a Triumph TR6, in the fuselage of a Spitfire, or changing the tire of a Lotus in the Silverstone pits. Or add a leather belt, a flat cap, and a scarf, and you’re ready for teatime at the Revival.
Hot Wheels Car Culture: Modern Classics
$4, hotwheels.com
You never truly outgrow Hot Wheels. While the regular blue-card Hot Wheels are as rare as rocks, these mini models are part of the brand’s popular Car Culture premium series. The design team behind the cars is hard at work yanking influence from past and present automotive trends, resulting in some seriously cool diecasts. With detailed paint schemes, metal bases, and rubber Real Riders wheels, these are collector darlings. This series features some of the greatest hits from the 1980s and ’90s, including a 1985 Honda CRX variant.
Hoodoo GT40 Victory Series Guitar
$6,000, gt40.com
Garage art can be a tricky thing, especially when the line between tacky and tasteful is so blurry. For the Americana enthusiast, check out Safir GT40 Spares and Hoodoo Guitar’s take on what a GT40 looks like in guitar form. Like the racing prototype that rocked the world more than a half century ago, this limited-edition axe features headlight and hood slot cutouts, along with special GT40 badging, VIN designation, and historical livery. If you’d rather strum than let it gather dust on the wall next to your car, it’s actually a very sharp-sounding piece, thanks to the craftsmen at Hoodoo’s shop in Calgary, Canada. They’ll make only 100 of each of four different liveries.
Nuna Rava Convertible Car Seat
$450, nuna.eu/usa
The Rava works as both a rear- and forward-facing seat, so take comfort in the safety of that tiny poop monster just home from the hospital all the way up to the 4-foot, 65-pounder who won’t stop asking, “Why, mommy and daddy? Why?” The Rava comes in a variety of colors from charcoal to berry, so it’ll match the interior of most of daddy’s cars.
“Josef, The IndyCar Driver” and “The Spectale: Celebrating the History of the Indianapolis 500”
$16-$40, apexlegends.com
Chris Workman’s children’s motorsports books are perfect for introducing a new generation of potential race fans to America’s open-wheel circuit and its most famous track, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While intended for kids, the books will inform and refresh even the sport’s full-sized veteran observers.
Carrera Digital 132 ’80s Flashback Slot Car Set
$400, carrera-toys.com
Carrera is one of biggest names in the slot-car business, and the German company offers an astounding number of tracks, cars, and configurations. We distracted ourselves with the new Digital 132 ’80s Flashback set, pitting a 1:32 scale 1979 BMW M1 Procar against a Zakspeed Ford Capri Turbo. Joining these two old-timers were incredibly detailed models of the No. 68 Ford GT race car and the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.
Vulcan Innova Winder
$25,000, vulcaninnova.com
“When an engine block is engineered, its shape is pure function for maximum performance and no regard for beauty. As a result, it made for an extremely intriguing aesthetic, one that I wanted to celebrate,” says Vulcan Innova’s Sean Cheng, who has produced his bespoke watch winders from salvaged BMW M52 straight-six engines since 2015. Design, engineering, production, and assembly are all done in-house. The Vulcan Innova is plain bananas: Lock the watches in place in winding mode, insert and turn the key, and the watches will rise forth from the winder’s pistons. Custom paint and leather are available to match the winder to your E36 M3.
Vintage Kart Company Italiano
$6,975, vintage-kart-company.myshopify.com
Looking very much like the great monoposto grand prix racers from the 1920s and ’30s, this pint-sized blue bullet is the product of Vintage Kart Company, an Arizona-based outfit that offers karts as kits or turnkey toys. For about $7,000, DIY-ers can assemble a bare matte aluminum kart, replete with Gatsby appeal and charm. Power comes from a Honda GX-200 one-cylinder four-stroke, pumping out a healthy 6.5 hp at full chat. Considering the Kart weighs around 300 pounds, this is plenty. Once you complete the build, slap on some period-correct racing graphics and sign up for the annual Grand Prix of Scottsdale, Arizona, to compete with other Vintage karts.
Land Rover Experience Heritage Program
$1,200-$1,500, landroverusa.com
If you’ve always had a taste for British bricks, the backwoods, and a bit of trail-bashing, this program is just the ticket. Spend either a half or full day of guided driving in the Defender 90 and other Range Rover and Land Rover models. Off-road courses include mud, water pits, and terrain so challenging you won’t believe you made it through, but you will. Locations in California, Vermont, North Carolina, and Quebec, Canada, mean you’re no more than a short flight from the off-road experience of your dreams.
“Crashed and Byrned”
$45, crashorbyrne.com
“There were lots of things Tommy Byrne didn’t know. He didn’t know tomorrow had a limit, that he wasn’t just going to keep on surfing this beautiful wave forever. … He also didn’t know what on Earth Ayrton Senna was talking about in early 1982 when he burst into the Van D
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Automobile’s 2017 Holiday Gift Guide
Picture a Range Rover, ready to show up anywhere dressed to kill, and you will have a pretty good idea of what Aether is all about. The Los Angeles-based company specializes in reshaping utilitarian outerwear into casually sophisticated clothing. Aether’s take on the classic waxed cotton jacket is a perfect example of its ethos. The ornamentation is gone. The contrasting brass zippers and buttons, the floppy and impractical belts all disposed of. What’s left is a jacket stripped to its essentials.
Simplicity of line, thoughtful engineering, a nod to history. It’s not surprising that Aether cofounder Jonah Smith would be a Porsche guy. Smith and longtime business partner Palmer West traded one savage racket for another. As producers, the two have credits in major films, including “Requiem for a Dream,” “A Scanner Darkly,” and Bill Maher’s “Religulous.” Not content whipping on films, the two plunged into apparel as a way to indulge outdoors inclinations: skiing, motorcycle adventures, and driving cars.
Smith’s black on black Porsche 964 is as understated as you can make the thing. Up on Mulholland Drive in the hills above Malibu, he’s gentle on it. Revving it out, applying clutch, giving the gearbox plenty of time to settle before picking up the next gear and letting the clutch take up again. It’s easygoing, methodical, and appreciative—the driving of a man who cares about a classic.
There is a similar steady pragmatism to Aether’s design, the knowledge that most of us don’t need the bright colors and ice-axe-swing-friendly cut of mountaineering jackets. That a complementary fit shouldn’t be sacrificed to sealed seams and insulation. That those fancy mountaineering jackets mostly get used in town or on early morning drives.
Aether’s L.A. outpost is all dark wood and enabling. Casual outerwear shares floor space with the technical stuff, waterproof jackets and pants for snow sports and hardcore armored adventure gear for motorcycling. It all slots neatly into a careful, tidy color palate. Lots of black and gray, dusty reds, greens, and blues.
Custom-built Ducatis and Timbersleds and composite kayaks are placed around the shop. Broad tables feature things that encourage adventure, such as Butler’s maps of twisty roads and the occasional camp tool. Most impressively, in the middle is a large walk-in freezer, an advantage when selling outerwear in L.A.’s sunny weather.
South La Brea Avenue is all fancy bistros and vintage denim shops, the curbs kept clean by valet stands. It might have a clean storefront similar to its neighbors, but Aether’s curb is often awash in dirt-spattered adventure bikes and road-worn sports cars—rides owned by the Hollywood elite and the hoi polloi alike. It’s inevitable that Aether’s clean take on classic looks will filter into movies and onto a new generation of idols. But for now, wear that updated waxed cotton jacket with your old Porsche. If experience has shown us anything, it’s that a classic is always cool.—Chris Cantle
Bee Line Coffee
$16-$20, beelinecoffee.com
You already know how well cars and coffee go together, but you might not know Bee Line. This automotive-themed brand makes truly delicious joe. Some of our favorites:
Flat Track: Colombian coffee from La Union farm in a direct-trade arrangement that pays farmers more of what their coffee is worth.
Streamliner: Uses a special drying technique that results in more sweetness as well as a richer flavor.
Classic Blend: Combination of African and West Pacific beans.
Pocket Squares
$21-$90, cyberoptix.com
Detroit-based Cyberoptix Tie Lab offers the coolest handmade, graphic screen-printed car-themed ties, scarves, and pocket squares. Choose from a Packard Motors logo scarf, an automotive leather necktie, British racing green to Martini Racing stripes, engine “rosettes,” spark plugs, exhaust patterns, or six-speed manual gearshift knobs. Be sure to check out the Cargyle ties. You’ll recognize the argyle pattern as connecting images of the original Ford Mustang.
Blipshift, 710 and The World Is Flat Mugs
$15, blipshift.com
If you like your coffee like some of us do, you can turn the 710 mug upside down without spilling a drop—and in doing so, you’ll be in on the joke.
Aether Apparel Hudson Jacket
$350, aetherapparel.com
One of our favorite Aether offerings is this Hudson Jacket, a wool-nylon piece that functions best in the chillier seasons in the city. Think less about an ascent up a frostbound mountain and more about a slushy slog down to the metro station. That’s not to say it wouldn’t keep you warm if you decide to take it upstate. Deep pockets and a midweight design mean you’ll still be toasty for a quick walk around a frozen park. Get it now online or at one of brand’s shops in L.A., San Francisco, Aspen, and New York.
Velomacchi Hybrid Duffle Pack and Tool Roll
$400/$75, velomacchi.com
Still using a backpack for overnight adventures? You’re better than that. With 50 liters of storage space and watertight construction, this duffle-shoulder-backpack is the best of both worlds. The rugged materials mean you won’t worry if it’s caught in the rain. Make sure you also pick up the Velomacchi Speedway toolroll, compact enough to strap to your bike even when filled.
Goodwood Road Racing Club Mechanic Overalls
$120, goodwood.com
It’s not easy to get an invite to run at the Goodwood Festival of Speed or the Revival, but with the Goodwood Road Racing Club mechanic overalls, you can pretend you did. Available in white or khaki, these overalls are best worn while trapped in the dark engine bay of a Triumph TR6, in the fuselage of a Spitfire, or changing the tire of a Lotus in the Silverstone pits. Or add a leather belt, a flat cap, and a scarf, and you’re ready for teatime at the Revival.
Hot Wheels Car Culture: Modern Classics
$4, hotwheels.com
You never truly outgrow Hot Wheels. While the regular blue-card Hot Wheels are as rare as rocks, these mini models are part of the brand’s popular Car Culture premium series. The design team behind the cars is hard at work yanking influence from past and present automotive trends, resulting in some seriously cool diecasts. With detailed paint schemes, metal bases, and rubber Real Riders wheels, these are collector darlings. This series features some of the greatest hits from the 1980s and ’90s, including a 1985 Honda CRX variant.
Hoodoo GT40 Victory Series Guitar
$6,000, gt40.com
Garage art can be a tricky thing, especially when the line between tacky and tasteful is so blurry. For the Americana enthusiast, check out Safir GT40 Spares and Hoodoo Guitar’s take on what a GT40 looks like in guitar form. Like the racing prototype that rocked the world more than a half century ago, this limited-edition axe features headlight and hood slot cutouts, along with special GT40 badging, VIN designation, and historical livery. If you’d rather strum than let it gather dust on the wall next to your car, it’s actually a very sharp-sounding piece, thanks to the craftsmen at Hoodoo’s shop in Calgary, Canada. They’ll make only 100 of each of four different liveries.
Nuna Rava Convertible Car Seat
$450, nuna.eu/usa
The Rava works as both a rear- and forward-facing seat, so take comfort in the safety of that tiny poop monster just home from the hospital all the way up to the 4-foot, 65-pounder who won’t stop asking, “Why, mommy and daddy? Why?” The Rava comes in a variety of colors from charcoal to berry, so it’ll match the interior of most of daddy’s cars.
“Josef, The IndyCar Driver” and “The Spectale: Celebrating the History of the Indianapolis 500”
$16-$40, apexlegends.com
Chris Workman’s children’s motorsports books are perfect for introducing a new generation of potential race fans to America’s open-wheel circuit and its most famous track, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While intended for kids, the books will inform and refresh even the sport’s full-sized veteran observers.
Carrera Digital 132 ’80s Flashback Slot Car Set
$400, carrera-toys.com
Carrera is one of biggest names in the slot-car business, and the German company offers an astounding number of tracks, cars, and configurations. We distracted ourselves with the new Digital 132 ’80s Flashback set, pitting a 1:32 scale 1979 BMW M1 Procar against a Zakspeed Ford Capri Turbo. Joining these two old-timers were incredibly detailed models of the No. 68 Ford GT race car and the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.
Vulcan Innova Winder
$25,000, vulcaninnova.com
“When an engine block is engineered, its shape is pure function for maximum performance and no regard for beauty. As a result, it made for an extremely intriguing aesthetic, one that I wanted to celebrate,” says Vulcan Innova’s Sean Cheng, who has produced his bespoke watch winders from salvaged BMW M52 straight-six engines since 2015. Design, engineering, production, and assembly are all done in-house. The Vulcan Innova is plain bananas: Lock the watches in place in winding mode, insert and turn the key, and the watches will rise forth from the winder’s pistons. Custom paint and leather are available to match the winder to your E36 M3.
Vintage Kart Company Italiano
$6,975, vintage-kart-company.myshopify.com
Looking very much like the great monoposto grand prix racers from the 1920s and ’30s, this pint-sized blue bullet is the product of Vintage Kart Company, an Arizona-based outfit that offers karts as kits or turnkey toys. For about $7,000, DIY-ers can assemble a bare matte aluminum kart, replete with Gatsby appeal and charm. Power comes from a Honda GX-200 one-cylinder four-stroke, pumping out a healthy 6.5 hp at full chat. Considering the Kart weighs around 300 pounds, this is plenty. Once you complete the build, slap on some period-correct racing graphics and sign up for the annual Grand Prix of Scottsdale, Arizona, to compete with other Vintage karts.
Land Rover Experience Heritage Program
$1,200-$1,500, landroverusa.com
If you’ve always had a taste for British bricks, the backwoods, and a bit of trail-bashing, this program is just the ticket. Spend either a half or full day of guided driving in the Defender 90 and other Range Rover and Land Rover models. Off-road courses include mud, water pits, and terrain so challenging you won’t believe you made it through, but you will. Locations in California, Vermont, North Carolina, and Quebec, Canada, mean you’re no more than a short flight from the off-road experience of your dreams.
“Crashed and Byrned”
$45, crashorbyrne.com
“There were lots of things Tommy Byrne didn’t know. He didn’t know tomorrow had a limit, that he wasn’t just going to keep on surfing this beautiful wave forever. … He also didn’t know what on Earth Ayrton Senna was talking about in early 1982 when he burst into the Van D
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FEATURE: Aniwords – Why I Want to Show "your name." to Everyone I Know
This article will contain minor spoilers for the film your name (or, if you prefer, Kimi no Na wa).
It's difficult to say exactly what makes your name. is such an enchanting film. I have some ideas, though. First off, there’s Makoto Shinkai's really excellent editing, RADWIMPS' memorable soundtrack, Masashi Ando and Tanaka Masayoshi's soft character designs, and the easy charm the script imbues into the movie's lead and supporting characters. And then, there’s how, out of the potent blend of the film’s sekai-kei-type story and its many contemporary concerns, a remarkably single-minded movie arises. Metaphorically, it's much like the braided cord that ties lead characters Mitsuha and Taki together across the distance between them; in film criticism terms, your name. simply knows what it is and what it is trying to do—and, most importantly, how to do it.
As you may have guessed, I like your name. quite a lot. I was lucky enough to see it twice in theaters (subbed both times, for those curious), and if it's still showing the next time I have a free weeknight or weekend evening, I'd happily go see it again. I've bought the OST (a physical version because I'm old-fashioned like that), and I'm really eagerly awaiting the chance to watch it on BD at home.
And yet, I don't think I'll ever consider your name. a favorite of mine. I was moved by the film both times I saw it, and I think it's gorgeous to look at, and easily rewatchable, but it just didn't hit those buttons for me that my favorites do. I'm not even sure it's my favorite Shinkai work, let alone my favorite thing in its genre. But when I think about this movie, those sorts of personal preferences somehow don't dominate the way I think about the film like I'd expect. Instead, your name. has transcended my preferences and become something more to me. Something bigger than just my individual experience with the film. Something I can't tie down by only thinking about it through my personal lens. Something I feel is important.
In short, your name. is a film I want to show to everyone I know.
Making Anime Accessible
Basically, there are two reasons (although each of them has their fair share of sub-points) why I think your name. makes me feel this way, and both of them involve the aspects of the context of the film. But before we get there, I think it’s essential to mention the all-important characteristic that makes both of those ways of thinking possible: The simple fact that your name. is delightfully accessible.
If you think about it, "I want to show this movie to everyone I can," is not really a typical emotion to feel about something. Even just considering my favorite anime, there are plenty of shows that, although I love them, I don't want to show to most people for various reasons—whether it be the inclusion of overt fanservice or just plain weirdness. But aside from the thrice-repeated moment of Taki clutching at him-as-Mitsuha's chest, your name. is almost completely free of anime’s most off-putting quirks.
The results of this accessibility are readily apparent for anyone whose been following the news about the series. Its record-breaking run in Japan, its success in overseas markets like China, and even its penetration into mainstream news outlets despite its limited theater release in the States. Heck, my mom sent me a text about your name. because she'd heard a review of it on NPR before I'd even had a chance to see it! It's an easy film to watch and like, even—and perhaps especially for—people who don’t typically watch anime.
Going Outside the Anime Fandom Bubble
So, on to the first reason I want to show your name. to people. Or, if you will the first context: your name. as an anime outside of the anime fandom.
The accessibility of your name. is a good explanation for the "how" part of explaining your name.’s arrival in this context, but it doesn't show why this film, specifically, is one that I feel is important for anime that’s acquired cultural existence outside of the anime fandom. Of course, it's nice that your name. proves anime can be accessible to people who don't always watch it—that it can exist as an animated film rather than just an anime. But it's also a film I feel has the potential to restructure how people outside of our little fandom bubble think about anime.
With the accessibility point addressing some of the more lowbrow assumptions about anime (tentacles, you know), the other side of the issue of mainstream anime perception is the frustratingly common equation of Hayao Miyazaki with anime of artistic merit. Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's films are really the only product of Japanese animation that have any sort of mainstream cachet in the West, which means that for people who don’t know anime, Miyazaki = good anime (i.e. not sex and violence). And that's why it's grating to hear talk of Shinkai as "the New Miyazaki," when the success of your name. seems like a prime opportunity for anime to break out of the two stereotypical boxes it’s been forced in to. Because if you actually watch your name., it's obvious that—commercial success aside—Shinkai and Miyazaki couldn't be less alike.
This isn't really the place to go into an in-depth analysis of the cinematographic differences between Shinkai and Miyazaki, but that's okay because I think the more salient point is that their fundamental priorities, the themes they tackles, and the stories they want to tell are very different. I don't want to overstate the contrasts between them, but your name., I think, is a classic in an entirely different way that Miyazaki's films are. Whereas Miyazaki's films seem more inspired by the past (I'm thinking references to Japanese mythology and his fondness for stories that feel like fairy tales), Shinkai’s work feels much more rooted in the present day. Even just taking your name. as an example, it’s a modern urban fantasy with a much more localized conception such tradition ("katewaredoki" comes from a dialect, after all).
That's just a single aspect of how your name. steps out from underneath the shadow of Miyazaki's iron grip on the mainstream conception of anime films, but the larger point is that your name. threads the needle between the established high-brow and low-brow stereotypes of anime. Of course, it's not that your name. is the first anime, let alone the first anime film to do this, but it is the first one to do so that's really hit it big enough to make me feel like there's actually a chance for it change something. Because despite defying the stereotypes, your name. also finds a way to embody them—think, for example, of the way it employs the classic anime tripping trope as Mitsuha runs to confront her father near the end of the film. “Classic anime,” a simulcast watcher might say. But for the uninitiated audience, the trope perhaps manages to embody the spirit the trope has lost for hardcore anime fans.
An Open Heart in an Emotionless Theater
The second context for your name. is the wider landscape of pop media in the West. I don't think it's overstating it to say that your name. is one of the most emotionally transparent films that has made it to widespread distribution in the States in the last few years, and it comes at a time when the country is divided and exhausted and cynical, and the mass media either reflective of those cultural blemishes or of the corporations' desire to cash in their multi-billion dollar franchises with another Marvel movie.
Into that gritty, despairing morass steps your name., a film flush with hope in the midst of tragedy and love that blooms out of isolation. Polygon's Julia Alexander tackles one aspect of the film's emotional clarity in her lovely piece on the theme of longing in your name., but the film's honesty is multifaceted. There's the way Shinkai tackles the catastrophe of feelings brought on by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, the way Taki and Mitsuha's cross-body communication mimics the arc of a digitial friendship, and the profound way the film seems to understand and empathize with the millennial experience ("I'm always looking for something... someone... or just a job," Taki says near the end of the film).
I mentioned before that your name. feels like a distinctly modern film to me, but I'd like to clarify that when I say this I mean that it is extremely particular in its modernity. As I discussed in a post on Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju last year, one of the most powerful ways to construct a story that feels universal is to anchor it in the particular and the specific. Between references to real world events like the aforementioned earthquake, incorporation of defining features of the contemporary Japanese cultural landscape like LINE, gestures towards the decline of rural towns and their traditions in the midst of urbanization, and even the recognizably current motion of Taki having completely forgotten the Itomori disaster a mere three years later, your name. constructs a beautifully rendered pastiche of a particular version of our present moment—one that is both deeply Japanese and simultaneously deeply universal.
It is because your name. is so painstakingly specific in its depiction of Taki and Mitsuha's worlds—even if it is often subtly so—that its emotional core is so easy to grasp. The particularity of the setting and its accessible touchpoints draw us into the universal elements of the emotion. And even for someone like me who already treasures emotional transparency and clarity in art, the strength of your name.'s ability to call people into its heart-on-sleeve, unabashedly music video-like nature inspires me. I want other people to see the film because it is so touchingly honest. I want them to see it because it embodies a character of emotional vulnerability and genuineness that almost entirely absent in today's media.
A Reason to Watch, and to Share
i don't think your name. is an especially deep film, but its sound is a clear as a bell. it's beautiful.
— Bless! Thunder Glow (@iblessall) April 8, 2017
I wrote that tweet after I saw your name. for the first time, and although I've come to view the film as having more depth to it than I initially gave it credit for, I think this is still an impression I hold. Because it's not as if your name. works emotionally because it plumbs the depths and complexity of the human condition. There are films out there that address far more "important" issues. But few are as purely distilled as your name. Few speak as directly and simply to our desire for connection, our longing for love and purpose, our fear of the world vanishing around us in an instant as this film does.
And I am convinced that, even more than the hope that your name. might expand the public’s perception of anime beyond boob grabs and Miyazaki, is a hugely valuable—and important—quality. It is that gorgeously clear sound that rings in your ears for days and weeks after you leave the theater that makes me want to show this film to people. I want people to watch this film and experience that kind of emotional honesty. I want people to know that those hopes, fears, and human needs are okay. That we're not alone in them. I think your name. is a film that can do that. And that's why I want to show your name. to everyone I know.
-----
Isaac eases his compulsive need to write about anime on his blog, Mage in a Barrel. He also sometimes hangs out on Tumblr, where he mainly posts his drawing practice as he seeks to become a renowned idol and robot fanartist. You can follow him on Twitter at @iblessall or on Facebook.
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