ICON CJ series

You may remember my SUV Showdown poll last July, in which the Land Rover Defender crushed the competition as the best SUV on and off the road. On my wrap up post, I mentioned one of my personal favorites, the FJ series by ICON. ICON is a Los Angeles-based company which takes old Toyota Land Cruisers, strips them down to their frames, and completely rebuilds them with all new components. Old Land Cruisers are amazing on their own, but these are simply incredible.

I recently noticed that ICON is now offering a line of CJs. CJs (including the most well-known models, the CJ-7 and CJ-8) were civilian versions of the Willys jeep, and the predecessor of the Jeep Wrangler. Like FJs, CJs are awesome in their own right, but the ICON versions are true off-road monsters.

Like the ICON FJs, the CJs are available in both "old school" and "new school" styles.

Old school

New school

Interested in one? Hopefully you've got pretty good credit because the two CJs that are currently available for sale on the website are $96,000 and $101,000, respectively. If that's a bit of sticker shock for you, just look at some more awesome pictures and wish for the day that you finally win the lottery.

More New Music

I haven't bought any new music in a while, and going on a retreat this weekend, last night I thought that it might be time. I went on iTunes and this is what I got:

A.A. Bondy- When the Devil's Loose

I got A.A. Bondy's first album, American Hearts, last May (I did a post on it then) and loved it. When the Devil's Loose, his second album, has been out for a little while, but just I finally got around to buying it. I purchased it with little hesitation, and upon the first couple of listenings, it has not let me down. It should be noted that Bondy is originally from Birmingham, so obviously it's good, since nothing bad has ever come out of Birmingham (except for Larry Langford).

Robert Plant & Allison Krauss- Raising Sand

I based my decision to buy this album mostly on hearing the songs "Killing Blues" and "Please Read the Letter," which I had heard on internet radio stations before. I figured that it might be similar to All the Roadrunning, the album that was put out in 2006 by Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris (an album which I hate at first, but eventually became one of my favorites). The actual duet on Raising Sand are easily some of the highlights of the album, and I feel like Krauss' solo songs are a lot weaker. It could have something to do with all of the pedal steel that's present in the duets... Perhaps the other songs will grow on me as I listen more.

Zac Brown Band- The Foundation

Part of me still can't believe I bought this album. One of the main reasons I don't like popular country music is because of the trite and cliche lyrics. Perhaps no song embodies trend this more than the Zac Brown Band song "Chicken Fried," but for whatever reason, I absolutely love it. There are a couple of Jimmy Buffetesque songs on here too which I would love to listen to while sitting on the beach by the Gulf (assuming there aren't tar balls everywhere). It comes across as a pretty unsophisticated album at first, but I think that there is some better instrumentation and some more lyrical depth than there initially appears, and the guys are from Georgia, so how could I not like them? Plus, Ben the Bunnyman, of the Regular Guys fame, is featured on the last track. I guess I can consider this my "guilty pleasure" purchase.

Photo tour: Casa de Hovey

Based on the pictures of her apartment that Hollister Hovey has posted on her blog over the years, it is certainly no secret that she and her sister, Porter, have a knack for decorating. However, the two were recently featured in an article on Apartment Therapy, and any questions about whether their apartment is one of the most awesome places in Brooklyn have been put to rest. I am going to be moving in a few weeks, and this article is definitely going to be lending some inspiration for my new place, though it appears that I am going to need to seriously up my quota of taxidermed animals. Go here to check out the article and be sure to view the slideshow.

Nothing like a dead animal on your wall make your room look more badass

Picked this up today at Kudzu in Decatur (which I wrote about in November). Perhaps it is fitting that my version of deer hunting happens at an antique market rather than in the woods. I assume it's a whitetail, can anyone verify this for me? As much as I like bird hunting, I have yet to do any deer hunting. There is always next season, I suppose.

The rack is pretty small, but he is in good condition and was 25% off. Now I am finally on track to acquiring a taxidermy set to compete with the Hovey sisters (highlights here, here, here, and here), but that will be a long road.

Countdown to the LOST Season 6 Premiere

This post is dedicated to my community group from All Souls, and to Chris Robinson from the R & R Review (which will hopefully be updated, one of these days).

If you like LOST as much as I do (which is a lot), you may be constantly wondering just how many hours there are until the first episode of the last season. For your sake, and mine, I have created a timer, on the right side of your screen, so that we can always know just how long we have until the beginning of the end. I can't wait.

**UPDATE**
Thanks do my buddy Dusty for pointing out that the timer wasn't working. I've replaced it with another one that, while visually much crappier, does actually countdown, which I guess is all that really matters in the end.

Volvo 850R

Most people would consider the Volvo 850 to be a pretty mundane (yet somewhat preppy) grocery-getter. Nothing to really take note of other than its unremarkableness. However, from 1995 to 1997, Volvo released a special edition of the 850, the 850R, that was a bit more of a head-turner.

The 850R (known as the T-5R when it was introduced in 1995), had a more race-like body kit, a larger spoiler on the back, a sport suspension, Alacantra suede and leather seats, 17-inch alloy rims, and a turbo engine that was tuned to 240 HP--18 higher than the 850 T-5's 222 HP. The T-5R is perhaps best known for the cream yellow color that it was offered in, but the 1996 and 1997 models were only available in black, red, and white. But really, what other colors could you want? Plus, it was available in a wagon (though I prefer the sedan).

I had the pleasure of owning one of these for a couple of years. A black one. I have to say, I loved that car, and would love to get one back some day. However, the combination of low-profile tires and the ten year old sport suspension were not a good match for the awful pot-holed roads of Birmingham, and the car really took a beating. Plus, taking it into the shop every six weeks or so for some $300 repair wasn't the kind of thing I was looking for as a college student/recent college grad.

I have one picture that I took with the car before I sold it, and tried to find it to post here, but couldn't track it down. I hope that you enjoy looking at the rest of these photos, though (which are not mine).

Porsche 944

Photo credit here

If I were in the all-too-common scenario where someone offered to give me my choice of any non-911 Porsche (not including the Cayman), my choice, hands-down, would be the 944.

Photo credit here

Built between 1982 and 1991, this car just oozes 80s awesomeness, without being as obnoxious as other 80s sports cars like the Lamborghini Countach. While it isn't as fast the 928, it does come in a turbo version, and seems like it would make a great daily driver with plenty of fun leftover.

Photo credit here

Besides, if it was good enough for Jake Ryan in Sixteen Candles, how can you go wrong?

Blog of Note: My Parents Were Awesome

The website My Parents Were Awesome is great for so many reasons. It's like The Sartorialist meets SEXY PEOPLE meets the LIFE Magazine Photo Archive meets your family reunion. Enjoy some recent highlights.

"He can speak French...in Russian."

The Most Interesting Man in the World is my role model. Please enjoy this 7:38 of his magnificence.

Kitanica jackets

The Kitanica Mark IV in Foliage

I have long been a fan of the show Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel. It is one that I always find both interesting and entertaining, and who can complain about all of the stuff that they blow up with high explosives? Anyways, I was watching an old episode yesterday and noticed the jacket that host Adam Savage was wearing. I thought it looked pretty nice, and unlike any I had seen before. Upon Googling it, I discovered that there has been a lot of virtual ink spilled over this jacket, and also found out that it is the Mark IV jacket made by a company called Kitanica.

Kitanica is actually based out of California (where the show is filmed), and Adam had obtained the jacket from the company's founder, Beej Cronin, some years back. The jacket, apparently, had been somewhat of a side-project for Cronin, who eventually went back to teaching. Well, it seems that after people saw the jacket on Mythbusters, there was so much demand for it that Cronin, along with his brother and cousin, started making the jackets again.

The Kitanica Mark I in Foliage

There are two models currently available, the Mark I and the Mark IV. The Mark I is a little more stripped-down, while the Mark IV is clearly the Cadillac of technical jackets. It is made of 1000 Denier Cordura (meaning that it is extremely durable), features a recoil pad, numerous pockets, rib pad, and a spine pad for to make it "easier to crawl under obstacles on your back." Asides from all of these features, it is simply one of the most badass jackets ever manufactured. Plus, it is made in American and has a lifetime warranty.

The Mark IV in ACU Camo

All of this, of course, comes with a hefty price tag as the Mark IV costs $600 while the Mark I comes in at a more economical $500. I don't actually participate in any activities that require anything this extreme, but if I could only have one "technical" jacket for the rest of my life, this is what I would want.

The Mark I in Black