Gorgeous Lady of the Week — Emily Blunt

Talent, intelligence and beauty — sloe-eyed actress Emily Blunt has those attributes in spades. Descended from a prominent English family of over-achievers, Emily was precocious enough to go directly from secondary school to starring opposite Judi Dench in a revival of George S. Kaufman & Edna Ferber’s classic lampoon of theater prima donnas, The Royal Family. After more well received stage work, including a very fitting Juliet, it was natural that her lovely visage and electric acting should grace British television, where she had a breakout performance in the award-winning dark and complicated My Summer of Love.

Following yet more British television success in Gideon’s Daughter, Ms. Blunt broke through across the Atlantic in 2006 in the hugely popular The Devil Wears Prada. Her pitch perfect Emily Charlton, the icy veteran assistant to the great Meryl Streep’s Anna Wintour-like fashion doyenne, served as the ideal foil for wide-eyed ingénue Anne Hathaway and her performance was just as important to the overall success of that picture. Nominated for a BAFTA and Golden Globe for the role, Emily was now on the A-list in Hollywood. She followed up that breakthrough by de-glamming and teaming with Amy Adams in Sunshine Cleaning as very funny misfit sisters trying to start a business cleaning up after dead people. She showed more comedy chops alongside Ewan McGregor in 2011’s charmingly offbeat Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and with Jason Segal as a couple perpetually thwarted on their journey to the alter in 2012’s The Five-Year Engagement.

Showing her versatility as well as bankabilty, Ms. Blunt then jumped easily into high-concept sci-fi action with standout support to Joseph-Gordon Levitt and Bruce Willis in the trippy and original 2012 time travel thriller Looper. Caught in another time loop this year, she was more than a match for Tom Cruise trying to repel alien invaders in the would-be blockbuster Edge of Tomorrow. Emily is also slated to be part of the cast of the upcoming big screen adaptation of Steven Sondheim’s Broadway musical, Into the Woods. If she sings as good as she looks in a futuristic exoskeleton battle suit, or most other clothing really, we’re there.

Still only 31-years-old, Emily has been married since 2010 to The Office actor John Krasinski and the couple welcomed their first child into the world this past February, daughter Hazel. To which we can only say, congratulations. And also: keep taking those improv classes, fellas, because it seems that funny guys get all the babes. That’s definitely QED by Emily.

F1 Grand Prix of the United States — Results & aftermath

Hamilton makes decisive pass on Rosberg to win in Austin solidifying Championship lead, Nico clings to hope with 2nd place; Ricciardo a solid 3rd for Red Bull

In a typically exciting Grand Prix at the beautiful and demanding Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton again found a way past Nico Rosberg, his teammate and nearest rival for the Championship, going on to claim victory in the United States for the second time in the last three years of the reborn race. Despite the fact that Rosberg started from Pole and led the race handily for the first 23 laps, it somehow seemed inevitable that the daring Englishman would overtake his German foe. And with an impressive outbreaking maneuver into Turn 12 on lap 24, overtake him he did. With that pass, Hamilton sailed away into the distance never to be recaptured and with the victory stretched his points lead to 24 over Rosberg with only two races remaining in the season. Six years after winning his first Championship with McLaren at the age of 23 Hamilton looks very likely to grab his second at the wheel of his nonpareil Mercedes F1 W05 Hybrid. But by coming home second Rosberg is still mathematically alive for the last two races, especially with the last race double points gimmick, so if Hamilton has a recurrence of the bad luck that befell him midseason and has a sub par finish or retirement in Brazil or Abu Dhabi, the German contender could still find himself able to secure his first Championship. One thing is for certain, though: with Hamilton’s late season surge leading to a stunning five Grand Prix wins in a row Rosberg has no room for error or misfortune himself if he is to achieve the dream which once seemed so very close to his grasp.

As it has so often happened this season the rest of the field was left fighting for the scraps from King Mercedes’ table. But what fights they were. After a poor start cost him several positions, Aussie Daniel Ricciardo was able to claw them back and then some with a typically determined and gutsy effort for Red Bull. In the end he improved on his fifth place Qualifying position and kept two charging Williams behind him to grab 3rd, yet another podium finish for the young Aussie superstar who has had a breakout 2014. Ricciardo’s teammate Sebastian Vettel, who started the race from the pit lane due to exceeding this season’s engine replacement limit, also drove a wonderful race. With his RB10 trimmed out to the max sacrificing agility for the best possible straight-line speed, the four-time World Champion was still able to control his car in the pivotal esses well enough to finish 7th, even after being forced to pit off-strategy for extra tires early in the race after running over debris. While the outgoing Red Bull driver has had a massively disappointing season his inspired drive at COTA on Sunday reminds us all of what kind of talent the German possesses even if his current car does not suit him at all.

Williams had another good day even though their chassis lacked the finesse required to truly excel at COTA. Continue reading →

F1 Grand Prix of the United States — Qualifying results

After a three week layoff and with only three races left in the season, and with two fewer teams and four fewer drivers competing in them, all eyes turned to Austin and the awesome COTA track for Saturday Qualifying for the US Grand Prix…

Rosberg claims Pole in Austin, Hamilton 2nd and Bottas again 3rd fastest in Quali

With the races dwindling down and starting position at a paramount Mercedes’ pilot Nico Rosberg regained a modicum of momentum by grabbing a dominant Pole position at the modern classic Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The German, who has seemed to psyched out by his English teammate ever since they collided at Spa, made a good start to his final come-from-behind Championship push by mastering the twisty COTA track to the tune of one second in front of his archrival. Hamilton, the Drivers points leader, appeared to struggle to get heat into his breaks but still was able to top Williams’ excellent third year driver Valtteri Bottas by half a second to ensure yet another Mercedes front row lockout. Bottas’ seems to have been consistently 3rd best in Qualifying in the second half of the season and his more senior Williams-Martini teammate Felipe Massa able to claim P4 Saturday. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo took 5th but teammate Sebastian Vettel took only token part in Quali, as he is required to start from the pit lane Sunday due to his 6th engine change of the season regardless of any efforts he may have made.

Fernando Alonso was 6th fastest for Ferrari while teammate Kimi Railkkonen was a characteristic P9. Jenson Button was P7 and Kevin Magnussen P8 for McLaren but Button will be pushed back 5 positions on race day due to a gearbox change. Rounding out the Top 10 was a surprising Adrian Sutil for Sauber, who gave the struggling team a glimpse of hope for some possible points come race day after beating out both Force Indias.

And speaking of struggling teams, Caterham and Marussia will take no further part in the 2014 championship as both teams succumbed to financial woes and fell into receivership. While this unkind fate had been rumored for sometime about Caterham it comes as a particularly bitter pill to swallow for team Marussia, which scored its first ever Championship points in Monaco this year but also suffered the loss of the driver who scored those points, Jules Bianchi, to a critical head injury when he collided with a recovery tractor in the waning moments of the rainy Japanese Grand Prix a month ago. Regrettably there is no medical improvement reported on Bianchi’s condition.

Top 10 Qualifiers here:

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:38.303	1:36.290	1:36.067	20
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:37.196	1:37.287	1:36.443	16
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:38.249	1:37.499	1:36.906	19
4	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:37.877	1:37.347	1:37.205	20
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:38.814	1:37.873	1:37.244	17
6	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:38.349	1:38.010	1:37.610	16
7	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:38.574	1:38.024	1:37.655	17
8	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:38.557	1:38.047	1:37.706	16
9	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:38.669	1:38.263	1:37.804	22
10	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	1:38.855	1:38.378	1:38.810	15

*Note – Button qualified P7, drops 5 grid spots for gearbox change; Kvyat qualified P14, drops 10 for engine change; Vettel qualified P17, starts from pit lane for complete power unit change

Complete Qualifying results available at Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s US Grand Prix airs live on NBC in the States beginning at 2pm EST. COTA is an exceptionally well-designed track with several opportunities to overtake and the race should be a good one — hope to see you then!

Documentary view — Beware of Mr. Baker

Rock musicians are notoriously eccentric as a whole, particularly those whose heyday was back in the anything goes, drug-infused 1960s and 70s. But legendary drummer and wild man Ginger Baker stands out from the crowd in terms of pure insanity and fearsome ill temper. A very large redheaded man with a seriously bad attitude and a taste for mind-altering drugs, Baker is most famous for being one third of the best power trio of all time, Cream. Along with the late Jack Bruce on bass and primary vocals and the inimitable Eric “Slowhand” Clapton on guitar, Cream redefined the sound of heavy blues in the late 1960s and made an incredible impact on Rock despite the fact that the volatile trio could only keep it together for 2 years. The outstanding 2012 documentary Beware of Mr. Baker chronicles those heady days as well as the pure obstreperousness of its larger-than-life subject who left a trail of destruction in his wake across several continents in the years that followed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqrigN8jxj8

With his gaunt appearance, madman’s eyes and predilection towards random acts of violence and self-destruction, Baker makes an ideal subject for a film. Beginning in the present at Baker’s fortified South African compound and horse farm and tracing his life back to his boyhood during Blitz-ravaged London, Beware makes use of lovely interstitial animation to add graphic novel vividness to the biography and never flinches from recounting the legendary drummer’s troubled life starting with the loss of his tough father in WWII. Baker, who might today have been diagnosed with ADD as a boy, subsequently finds his special quality when he realizes that he has “perfect time” and becomes enthralled as a teenager with Jazz drumming. He was taken under the wing of Phil Seaman, the greatest of the English Jazz drummers in the Gene Krupa style, who turned Baker on to two exceptionally important things that would impact the rest of his life: African rhythms and heroin. By his late teen years, Baker was not only a smack addict but also one of the most preeminent and technically accomplished drummers in England or anywhere else. This naturally led to his contributing to the intense and percolating London R&B scene and he quickly established himself as a force to be reckoned with in The Graham Bond Organisation, one of those big-in-England-but-not-in-the-States-type groups. With an appetite for drugs even greater than Baker’s, Bond’s band soon collapsed but not before Baker fatefully met Scottish bassist and vocalist Jack Bruce. These two polar opposites somehow attracted and were soon to become the fiery odd couple of British R&B making Rock history in the process.

While Ginger Baker disparages Bruce throughout Beware (as well as pretty much every other non-Jazz musician on the planet except Clapton), it’s clear that despite their mutual antipathy the two men fed off each other to achieve the greatest of musical heights. When Eric Clapton tired of his purist exploits in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and chose to return to the heady world of amplified R&B, Bruce and Baker were a ready made fit for Rock’s first power trio, emphasis on power: The Cream. Continue reading →

tomvox1’s Watches for Sale — October selection: Dive, dive, dive! Pt. III

If you find older vintage divers intriguing but you’re looking for a more modern watch that you don’t have to worry about as well as something that really stands out from the ordinary, have I got a timepiece for you: this extra funky and cool Squale Tiger rated to 300 meters. Made by a reborn version of the company that produced so many classic, rugged divers in the 1960s and 70s, the modern incarnation of Squale used new old stock parts from their supply, including original Tritium luminous dials with fantastic patina, to create an entirely new yet still essentially vintage model. Featuring a big asymmetrical case with oversized bidirectional locking bezel that is released for rotation by the red button on the lower right lug (much like Omega’s famed Ploprof), the Tiger doesn’t look like any other watch out there and your unlikely to see it on anyone else’s wrist on land or at sea.

Made of extremely high quality stainless steel and featuring a tough mineral crystal and bulletproof ETA automatic movement but priced under $800, the Squale Tiger is remarkable value for money and a remarkable statement on the wrist. For those who dare to be different while living their life of adventure, this Tiger’s got your name on it.

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

An open letter to agency folks on how to get people to stop hating your spots

Dear ad agency creatives & account people,
I’m sure you’re tired of your friends and family telling you how much they hate the commercials you lovingly write, produce and work so hard to get your clients to grudgingly green light, not to mention the random vitriol from total strangers. Or the many dates that have ended in tears when you mention your work. Or maybe you’ve begun gradually obfuscating your profession in polite conversation, claiming you are in a more nebulous field like “marketing” or “branding” rather than owning up to the fact that you are, in a lot of peoples’ minds, a worthless suckfish clinging to the sleek and noble underbelly of their favorite TV shows.

Fear not! There is a simple way to regain pride in your work and earn the plaudits of your fellow man. You see, the majority of what you produce does not at all deserve such vituperation. In fact, most of it is quite amusing and well-crafted. In the best of your work, only one or two viewings create an indelible connection between the product and its benefit in the potential customer’s mind. And that should be a good feeling for you, shouldn’t it?

But here’s the rub: once we the viewing public see your little bit of genius 5 times in an hour, well, even the sweetest rose will begin to stink like a freshly opened can of lutefisk. And that not only tarnishes your formerly sterling work but also drags the client right into the crosshairs of our discontent as well.

Take, for example, this typically funny commercial for DIRECTV featuring Rob Lowe and his super creepy doppelganger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMfzh8Zfi5U

Well done & kudos! Except that there are only two spots in this campaign so far and they have been played to death already. Continue reading →

F1 Grand Prix of Russia — Results & aftermath

Hamilton keeps surging with 4th win in a row; Rosberg recovers from 1st lap mistake to take remarkable 2nd; Bottas grabs another podium with 3rd

All pics sourced from the excellent GrandPrix247.com.

The inaugural Russian Grand Prix from the brand new Sochi circuit was essentially decided on the first corner of Lap 1 when Nico Rosberg pulled ahead of his pole-sitting Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton but lost concentration while carrying too much speed and locked up massively on the slick new asphalt. This badly flat-spotted the German contender’s tires and he was forced to pit far earlier than planned for a new set of rubber. Rosberg’s improbable mission from then on was to advance through the field while preserving his rubber until the end, as the track caused minimal degradation to the field’s tires and made one-stop strategy the only feasible competitive option. But he was able to rescue his race in impressive fashion to finish 2nd and claw back important points in the Drivers’ Championship that he appeared to throw away with his sloppy first lap mistake, staying within striking distance of Hamilton with only three Grand Prix remaining this year. Rosberg’s impressive recovery also allowed Mercedes to secure the 2014 Constructors’ Championship, their first and a well-deserved reward for an absolutely dominant season during which their chassis has been far and away the best of them all.

In the end Hamilton increased his advantage over his Mercedes teammate to 17 points and thanks to Rosberg’s uncharacteristic error, the Englishman was able to swan away easily for the fist-ever Formula 1 victory in Russia. Continue reading →

F1 Grand Prix of Russia — Qualifying results

Hamilton takes first Pole at new Sochi track, Rosberg 2nd for yet another Mercedes front row lockout; Bottas impressive again to take 3rd in Qualifying.

Pics from the always excellent GrandPrix247.com

Less than a week after a devastating freak accident at rainy Suzuka left Marussia driver Jules Bianchi in a coma the Formula 1 circus made its way to Sochi, Russia for the inaugural Russian Grand Prix. With their injured comrade much on the minds of everyone in the paddock, Mercedes ace and Drivers’ Championship points leader Lewis Hamilton put the attention back on competition with the first-ever Pole at the Sochi track. His teammate and rival Nico Rosberg took 2nd to lock out the front row yet again for the Mercedes factory team and Williams’ Valtteri Bottas continued his breakout year to grab 3rd on the grid. The young Finn had been on a flier that may have eclipsed Rosberg’s time in Q3 but had a lurid slide at the very end of the lap that cost him that chance. The new Sochi circuit was quite green, as was to be expected, and tire degradation was far more moderate than at any of the other tracks so far this year. That should make tire strategy particularly interesting come Sunday, as some teams may chose to gamble on very long stints to cement or gain superior track position. The opening lap could also be eventful with Rosberg keen to reestablish the dominance that has deserted him the last few races and desperately trying to claw back points from Hamilton.

McLaren’s Jenson Button showed very good pace to run the 4th fastest lap, while teammate Kevin Magnussen came home P6 but will receive a 5-place penalty for a subsequent gearbox change. Russian national Daniil Kvyat had a dream quali for Torro Rosso to take P5, ahead of not just teammate Jean-Eric Vergne in 10th but also both of the senior team Red Bulls, which struggled with straight line speed. Daniel Ricciardo could only muster 7th but it was even worse for Sebastian Vettel who failed to advance out of Q2 and will start a lowly 11th on race day. Ferrari also had a disappointing Qualifying after an awful zero-point race last weekend in Japan. Fernando Alonso, whose F1 future is somehow now in doubt for next year, could only get as high as 8th and teammate Kimi Raikkonen was a mediocre 9th. Between his DNF at Suzuka, his suddenly uncertain status for next season and the accident to Bianchi, the normally cocky Spaniard has seemed subdued all weekend long. It’s not too likely in the uncompetitive F14 T chassis but here’s hoping the great former 2-time Champion can find some race pace come Sunday when the lights go out.

Team Marssusia prepared Jules Bianchi’s car for the race but will not use a replacement driver. The chassis, in which the Frenchman scored the team’s only World Championship points this past summer in Monaco, will remain in the garage in silent tribute to their fallen teammate.

Top 10 Qualifiers here:

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:38.759	1:38.338	1:38.513	18
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:39.076	1:38.606	1:38.713	18
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:39.125	1:38.971	1:38.920	23
4	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:39.560	1:39.381	1:39.121	22
5	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	1:40.074	1:39.296	1:39.277	27
6	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:39.735	1:39.022	1:39.629	21
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:40.519	1:39.666	1:39.635	21
8	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:40.255	1:39.786	1:39.709	25
9	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:40.098	1:39.838	1:39.771	26
10	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	1:40.354	1:39.929	1:40.020	27

Complete Qualifying results available at Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s inaugural Russian Grand Prix airs live beginning at 6:30 Eastern in the States on NBCSN.

tomvox1’s Watches for Sale — October selection: Dive, dive, dive! Pt. II

Here’s another special watch that I’m offering on consignment and, yup, you guessed it — it’s a rare vintage diver just like the Benthos. Only this one has a more conventional type of stopwatch complication even if it’s just as scarce. It’s a circa 1960s “Skin 666” with Aqua-Lung logo, a highly water resistant diving chronograph featuring a beautiful black dial with gold accents and intricate Tachymeter & Telemeter tracks. The gilt hands compliment the dial beautifully and their original luminous fill has acquired a lovely patina.

Inside the screwed steel back is a very robust and classic Landeron caliber 248 column wheel chronograph movement. Unlike most chronos, this Landeron starts the timer with the top pusher but stops and resets it with the bottom pusher, a welcome bit of uncommon quirkiness.

This Aqualung “Skin 666” was constructed by Schild Co. in Switzerland and then imported by California’s US Divers Company to be sold along with their top-of-the line diving equipment. You can check out some of their cool catalog images below — love that vintage ad style and layout!

In amazing true Near Mint condition and even featuring its original Tropic rubber strap, this Aqualung chrono is 38mm in diameter by 47mm long, just the right size in my opinion. In terms of wrist presence it wears similarly to a Rolex Submariner of the period. But for all its charm, scarcity and functionality, it’ll cost you way less than one of those. I always say you don’t have to break the bank to make a statement with a cool vintage watch. This beautiful Aqualung diver’s chronograph from back in the day is surely proof of that!

~~Check out the full ad with many more pictures and complete description over at Watchuseek.com’s Private Sellers sales forum.~~ SOLD

F1 Grand Prix of Japan — Results & aftermath

Marussia driver Jules Bianchi was critically injured Sunday

The Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, already under threat from a menacing offshore typhoon, was marred by a freak accident in rapidly deteriorating weather late in the race when Marussia driver Jules Bianchi lost control at Dunlop Curve and collided at high speed with a recovery tractor on the circuit. The promising 24-year-old Frenchman, who scored Marussia’s first and only Championship points at Monaco this year, aquaplaned and his low slung car appeared to submarine the edge of the tractor, which was on the scene attempting to remove Adrian Sutil’s beached Sauber after he had also lost control on that exact corner. Bianchi was taken by ambulance to a local hospital (the mandatory medical helicopter appears to have been grounded by the weather) where he was diagnosed with a severe head injury, underwent emergency surgery and is now listed in critical but stable condition. This is the worst on-track incident in Formula 1 since 2009 when Felipe Massa was hit in the head during Qualifying at the Hungaroring by a spring that had come off of the car in front of him. Having only just seen the recently released video of the incident, this accident looks must worse than Massa’s and I can say without exaggerating that it is remarkable that Bianchi survived the shunt. It is also remarkable that the hurtling vehicle did not collect any of the safety personnel on the scene.

The Bianchi incident prompted a red flag that prematurely ended the race on lap 45 and overshadowed what had been an exciting day of wet weather strategy and dynamic racing. Lewis Hamilton was declared the winner and in truth it looked like no one had anything for the Englishman even had the race gone the full 53-lap distance. Continue reading →

Man's Fine Life

The Return of the Well-Rounded Gentleman