2015 Grand Prix of Monaco — Qualifying results

Hamilton reasserts authority in Monaco with dominant Pole for Mercedes, Rosberg relegated to 2nd; Vettel’s Ferrari a game 3rd

Personal engagements prevent me from intensive blogging on today’s qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix but I will say that Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton laid down a marker for Sunday’s race with his first-ever pole in Monte Carlo. Rosberg locked up his tires on his final lap in Q3 and could not get closer than .34 back and Sebastian Vettel was a game P3 for Ferrari after it seemed that the Scuderia may have been primed for a surprise fast lap this weekend. The rest of the Top 10 for tomorrow’s Grand Prix are below, including no Williams but two highly-placed Red Bulls, two young Torro Rosso’s and one surprising Force India and Lotus respectively.

POS.	NO.	DRIVER	TEAM	Q1	Q2	Q3	LAPS
1	44	LEWIS HAMILTON	MERCEDES	1:16.588	1:15.864	1:15.098	28
2	6	NICO ROSBERG	MERCEDES	1:16.528	1:15.471	1:15.440	25
3	5	SEBASTIAN VETTEL	FERRARI	1:17.502	1:16.181	1:15.849	24
4	3	DANIEL RICCIARDO	RED BULL	1:17.254	1:16.706	1:16.041	28
5	26	DANIIL KVYAT	RED BULL	1:16.845	1:16.453	1:16.182	26
6	7	KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN	FERRARI	1:17.660	1:16.440	1:16.427	23
7	11	SERGIO PEREZ	FORCE INDIA	1:17.376	1:16.999	1:16.808	22
8	55	CARLOS SAINZ	TORO ROSSO	1:17.246	1:16.762	1:16.931	29
9	13	PASTOR MALDONADO	LOTUS	1:17.630	1:16.775	1:16.946	30
10	33	MAX VERSTAPPEN	TORO ROSSO	1:16.750	1:16.546	1:16.957	2

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race starts at 8AM EST Sunday morning and can be watched live on NBCSports.com. Hope to see you then!

tomvox1’s Watches for Sale — May selection, Pt. III

Closing out the merry month of May with another classic diver, this one a 1970s Scubapro 500. Sold by the legendary diving equipment manufacturer, the Scubapro 500 has become an icon to vintage dive watch enthusiasts. And this is a very fine and honest one-owner example with desirable automatic movement, lovely Mint original dial, unpolished case and original matte black elapsed-time insert with Tritium triangle secured in the big, chunky unidirectional ratcheting bezel.

Overall, this classic diver shows use but is in Very Good to Excellent vintage condition with just the right amount of tool watch WABI. And its robust ETA 2784 automatic movement with quickset date has just been completely overhauled, giving you peace of mind and years’ more faithful service.

An unmistakably masculine look with plenty of wrist presence and tremendous build quality, the Scubapro 500 makes a rugged and stylish companion for all of life’s adventures. In fact it’s such a cool watch that I’m sorely tempted to keep it for myself — so grab this great vintage diver before I change my mind.

~~Check out the full ad with many more high-res pics and complete description over at Timezone.com’s Sales Corner.~~ SOLD

What we’re listening to — Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell by The Flaming Lips

This little beauty from The Flaming Lips keeps popping up on shuffle so I figure that’s a sure sign I should be sharing it. From 2002’s slightly incoherent but often brilliant not-quite-sort-of concept album, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, “Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell” is one of the loveliest songs in the Lips’ impressive canon.

A companion piece in regret to the album’s angular opening track “Fight Test”, “Ego Tripping” has a bouncy, wet bass line pushed way up front in the mix, a typically quixotic Lipsian choice for a ballad about lost romantic opportunity. But when Wayne Coyne’s high, vulnerable vocal kicks in it definitively evokes that hollow, melancholy feeling familiar to anyone who’s ever hesitated when they should have made a move. “I was waiting on a moment/But that moment never came… I was wanting you to love me/But your love it never came.” Yeah, I think we’ve all been there before.

Coming directly after the amazing artistic breakthrough of 1999’s The Soft Bulletin, a verifiable masterpiece of beautifully orchestrated neo-psychedelia, Yoshimi may not be quite as consistently great an album as Bulletin. But a gem like “Ego Tripping” still shows The Flaming Lips at the peak of their powers. Best of all it’s one of those albums available for free streaming with an Amazon Prime membership, so there’s no excuse for letting the moment pass you by.

RIP B.B. King, 1925 — 2015

B.B. King, one of the legends of the Blues and arguably the man who did the most to popularize it with a diverse worldwide audience, has died at the age of 89. Sometimes overlooked by Blues “purists”, King was nevertheless an authentic Mississippi Delta original, albeit a performer who incorporated external influences such as Big Band Jazz and R&B in creating a signature sound with broad popular appeal. A tireless, good humored performer forever on the road playing one-night stands first to all-black audiences then to all comers, B.B. King’s very endurance insured that he would be able to capitalize on the big Blues revival of the 1960s. Sure enough, his biggest hit, the seminal “The Thrill Is Gone”, came in 1969, over 20 years after he had left a life of sharecropping and poverty on the Delta for the lucrative rewards of DJing and performing in Memphis, Tennessee.

While not name-checked as frequently as some other Blues guitar legends, King’s expressive playing style was nonetheless influential on generations of musicians. He made his big, curved Gibsons, always named Lucille, sing and cry with restrained, elegant power. His wonderfully well-modulated yet still raw singing style was indelibly unique — when you heard him sing an opening verse you knew right away just who was doing the singing. And by dint of his longevity, his many skills as a performer and showman and his pure enthusiastic passion for playing B. B. King came to embody “The Blues” for generations of listeners.

The excellent multimedia New York Times obituary is here.

2015 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Results & aftermath

Rosberg reigns supreme in Spain, Hamilton forced to settle for hard-fought 2nd; Vettel in the mix for Ferrari with another podium

Pictures courtesy GrandPrix247.com

After being thoroughly dominated by his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in the first four “fly away” races of the 2015 F1 season Nico Rosberg desperately needed to reestablish his bona fides as a championship contender. The question on everyone’s mind as the series returned to European soil this past weekend was a simple one: could he muster the will to throw a scare into Hamilton and truly make a fight of the championship? In Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix the world received an answer. Rosberg emerged form the three-week break refreshed and relaxed and proceeded to do some dominating of his own for a change. Starting from the pole, the sensitive German put his self-doubt and the rest of the field in the rearview mirror, checking out on the first corner of the first lap. With an all around impressive race weekend in which he was undoubtedly the fastest man on the track, Rosberg put Hamilton on the defensive for the first time this season and the victory revivified the prospects for an authentic intra-team battle for the championship. With Monaco coming up in two weeks, the jewel in Formula 1’s crown and a race Monte Carlo resident Rosberg has also won the past two years, it would seem to be game on again for the two Mercedes rivals.

Because of his teammate’s untouchability on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Hamilton’s race came down to damage limitation after a poor start saw him immediately overtaken by Sebastian Vettel Ferrari. Continue reading →

2015 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Qualifying results

The boys of Formula 1 are back after their 3-week layoff for the Spanish Grand Prix. And if it’s Saturday that means it’s 3 rounds of knockout Qualifying to determine who starts from the Pole on Sunday. Would Nico Rosberg finally get the better of his dominating Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton? Or would Ferrari jump the Silver Arrows with their ever-improving performance?

Rosberg serves notice with dominant Pole for Mercedes, Hamilton 2nd fastest; Vettel snags P3 for Ferrari

Pictures from GrandPrix247.com

Nico Rosberg returned from the three-week break after Bahrain refreshed and up for the fight in Barcelona. The German contender and last year’s championship runner-up served notice to his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton that he was not ready to concede this early in the season. He laid down an untouchable lap midway through Q3 that clocked in at a mega fast 1:24.681. And despite having a chance to overtake Rosberg with his typical last lap heroics, Hamilton could not quite manage it this Saturday. He was a mere .267 behind and will settle for P2 on the grid. It remains to be seen if Rosberg can make it happen in a race and with Hamilton winning 3 of the first 4 Grand Prix another victory for the Englishman would be hard to overcome. Still, Rosberg seems even more comfortable than most at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Formula 1’s default test track, and a win could do wonders for his badly shaken confidence, as well as the Championship battle as a whole.

Ferrari had mixed qualifying results in their return to Europe after showing steady improvement in each of the “fly away” races that start the season. Sebastian Vettel was back on form and was able to grab 3rd position barely half a second behind Hamilton. But Kimi Raikkonen, who placed an impressive 2nd in the last Grand Prix in Bahrain, struggled after one of his fresh sets of tires was bizarrely burnt beyond using by the warming blankets and had to settle for P7. That left Williams’ Valtteri Bottas in prime position to capitalize and the young Finn didn’t disappoint, hooking up a fast lap good enough for 4th on the grid. His teammate Felipe Massa was not nearly as quick and ended up a rather inexplicably poor P9, not what the desperate-to-overtake-Ferrari Williams team was looking for at all.

The youthful Torro Rosso duo of Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen, whose combined age is only 37, continued to impress in their rookie seasons. Continue reading →

tomvox1’s Watches for Sale — May selection, Pt. II

The hits keep on coming in May with this stone classic Rolex reference 5513 Submariner. With an “L” serial prefix, this watch represents the last of the line for plastic crystal Subs and the end of the road for the legendary 5513 reference. Dating from circa 1988 this beauty features a stunning gloss finish/white gold surround dial with only the handsome biscuity patina to the original Tritium luminous plots giving away its age.

With important period correct details like a valuable original 93150 bracelet with correct 580 end pieces and original bezel insert with Tritium pearl intact, this Submariner is a great way to get into the world of Vintage Rolex. And as the 5513 reference gets bumped back another iteration on the family tree by the new Ceramic Subs, this outstanding last series example is no doubt destined to become even more collectible, which seems to happen to all the historical Rolex models as time passes. Putting the cherry on top of the sundae, this classic plastic no-date Sub has just been fully overhauled by my watchmaker for years more of faithful service. Strap it on and see how good it feels to go through your life with a Vintage Rolex on your wrist!

You can view the full ad for this sexy Sub over at Vintage Rolex Forum’s Market section — check out the full description, many more pictures plus a special discount for buyers over there. SOLD

tomvox1’s Watches for Sale — May selection, Pt. I

What better way to kick off May than with a special selection of cool vintage watches! First up, as I mentioned briefly in my previous post on affordable vintage Divers, the highly regarded Swiss brand Fortis was one of the many manufacturers to utilize the iconic big size twin crown Super Compressor case in the 1960s & 70s. And with their classic Marinemaster they did it in a most innovative way: they added an actual dive table printed on the dial in highly legible red and white to be used in conjunction with the inner rotating bezel. With this ingenious calibration a diver could now calculate his safe intervals for surfacing and resting based on how long and how far down he had gone right there on his wrist!

Now, you can find reissue Marinemasters made from NOS parts with Luminova dials and hands all day long. But finding the genuine vintage article from the 1970s with Tritium luminous in unpolished condition and correct crosshatch crowns? Well, that’s something else again. Best of all, this Fortis Marinemaster has just been fully serviced and is ready for years more of enjoyment for its new owner. No, it doesn’t quite fall into the “bargain” diver category. But it’s really not that expensive relative to how hard it is to find an all-original Marinemaster. Some things in life are so cool they’re definitely worth stretching a little for.

Check out the full ad for this mega-cool Marinemaster with complete description and many more pictures over at Timezone.com’s Sales Corner. SOLD

Documentary view — Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007

Everybody has a favorite James Bond movie and a favorite actor who played the legendary British secret agent. But today relatively few have ever read Ian Fleming’s original books. Fewer still know the story of the men behind the myth and their herculean efforts to get Bond to the screen and keep him on top throughout the decades. 2013’s superlative documentary Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007 brilliantly fills in the blank spaces and inside history for both the casual 007 enthusiast and the hardcore fanatic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuFj3-Z_SbM

With unprecedented and officially sanctioned access to the key players in Bond’s creation and remarkably enduring success as a cinematic staple for generations, Everything or Nothing delves into Fleming’s biography to show how his conception of James Bond was forged by his work as an intelligence officer for the British Navy during WWII. A cunning planner of sabotage operations, Fleming was nonetheless primarily a desk man who had to live the action vicariously through the exploits of the men “playing Red Indians”, his colorful term for Special Forces commandos operating behind enemy lines. After the war and with a new Soviet enemy to face, Fleming kicked around a bit before finally finding his calling with the first Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1953. Wonderfully informed with details from his wartime espionage experience if somewhat crudely written in a potboiler style, Casino Royale struck a cord and was an immediate success. This enabled Fleming to devote his energies to writing new adventures for his super spy to please an enthusiastic public if not always the hot-and-cold critics. Between 1952 and his death in 1964, Fleming cranked out twelve full-length Bond novels and two collections of 007 short stories.

James Bond’s exploits were inherently cinematic and almost immediately various film and television producers approached Fleming with ideas for adaptations, with very mixed results initially. Continue reading →

Earworm of the day — Fireside by Arctic Monkeys

OK, so I’m sort of obsessing through Arctic Monkey’s AM track by track. Got a lot of intense noctural listenings down in Mexico on headphones amidst the susurrations of the palms and the moonlight so the album’s kind of burrowed in there. But suck on “Fireside” for a bit and see if its propulsive groove and longing lyrics don’t work their way into your brain pan too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNbLINg3SrQ

Man's Fine Life

The Return of the Well-Rounded Gentleman