Wisconsin Car Spotting

Yep. Now, instead of posting new car spotting here all the time, and making things a mess, I have created a new site called, Wisconsin Car Spotting. Were I will post any supercars, or other interesting cars I find. I also have a way that other people can post findings as well, and they can have there findings featured on the site as well. This way, it will be more organized. You can browse by the make of the car, etc. And it has a theme more fitting to its purpose. So yes, from now on, all my car spotting will be feature there.

Wisconsin Car Spotting

Super Car Spottings In Wisconsin

I love cars, but didn't really pick up on that until I got my first car. Then everything made sense, why people go mad over cars. It makes me notice more than just the normal brands here like Chevy or Dodge for example. Now you see those other brands like Saab, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, etc. But anyways, living here in Wisconsin we really don't get to see the super cars like other parts of the US do, but they are here. I have actually found an auto dealer in Milwaukee, WI that sells exotic cars like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Porsche, and other foreign cars like Alfa Romeos.  Kinda neat for here. Anyways, here are some of the super cars spottings in Wisconsin that I have actually seen and taken pictures of. Some though I really wasn't able to get a picture of sadly.

Audi R8 V10 Spyder - Madison, WI
While traveling to the Five Guys Burgers and Fries in downtown Madison, WI my friend noticed a car in the Super Target parking lot that wasn't in a parking stall. He said it looked like an R8. My first reactions where like, no... there is no way an R8 is parked here in Madison. It probably was an Audi that has that similar front end of an R8. But I turned around and took a look, and boy was I surprised to see it was an R8. I turned the car right around and drove right to the R8 and took some pictures of it and with it. It was already a pretty awesome day, but seeing an Audi R8 V10 Spyder parked here in Madison made it even better.


Lotus Exige - Madison, WI

It was only a couple weeks or so earlier than the Audi R8 spotting, but me and my friends also spotted this Lotus in Madison on our way back from Five Guys. It was traveling down University Ave in downtown Madison, WI and we tried to keep up with it for a bit. It was pretty neat, as I had never seen a Lotus in person before. I actually didn't know a huge amount about Lotus at all really. Interesting though, driving down the road more, there was another Lotus that was yellow, going the other direction. Was a pretty cool day...



Aston Martin V8 or V12 Vantage - Cross Plains, WI
I say V8 or V12 Vantage because I was not sure what it said, but I was able to make out Vantage. This is the only spotting that I have seen more than once. They live around Cross Plains, WI. The first time I saw the Aston Martin was when it was driving through town. And the other time I was working, and when I went out the deliver food to someone's car, I saw it across the street at the Kwik Trip gas station filling up. I wasn't able to get it's picture because it was either going the other way, or when i was working. I was actually talking about this in school when someone else came out and told me they've seen it around Cross Plains, WI as well. So someone in that town must own it.

Tesla Roadser - Milwaukee, WI

This is technically the first spotting I took a picture of, but at the time I wasn't much into cars, and really didn't know much about this thing. I just took a couple of pictures of it. While I was at the Discovery World Museum on Pier Wisconsin right around downtown Milwaukee, WI they were demonstrating this car out to people there, and I think were giving rides. I really wish I could have gotten a ride now... oh well. I think this is pretty cool now to find that I have picture of the Tesla Roadster, and I've been right next to it.



Nissan GT-R - Black Earth, WI

Now, seeing this thing drive down the main street through my hometown was pretty cool. But being that I was standing on the sidewalk and not having any cameras ready means I didn't really get a good picture of it. But i did manage to get a snip of it. I whipped out my phone and ran down the street and tried to get a good picture of it, but I just got the back end of it with a bunch of motorcycles behind it. But yeah, me and my friend were just standing there on the sidewalk and he says, "Hey! Isn't that a GT-R?!" and I look and i was like, "It is!!!" and we ran after it. This was also the day that that we first saw the Aston Martin drive through town.


Well, there you have it. As I start to see more super cars, and hopefully this summer head to some cool dealerships, I will add more photos to this collection. Thanks for reading!



More Pictures

Audi R8 V10 Spyder - Rear

Another picture of the Tesla Roadster

Closer up to the Lotus Exige

Another picture of the R8, front-side.

The Least Expensive Best Looking Car In The World

My current car is a 2002 Pontaic Grand Am SE, its got a 2.2L l4 150hp engine in her. I personally think she looks brilliant. It has that aggressive front end, and sporty body style. That is what I like. Now, this car is mostly owned by my parents. So, when my brother is going to get his first car, which isn't isn't to far in the future anymore, he is going to get my Grand Am. Leaving me to get my own car. So I've sorta been thinking about what to get. Always thought about getting another Grand Am. Though the Grand Am GT, with the hood scoops, and in manual transmission if I can. But I've also been thinking about getting myself a Porsche 944. They are rather in-expensive, sporty, and a Porsche for gods sake, and a Porsche I like the look of. But while doing my random lookings, I came across the car I absolulty love. The Alfa Romeo 159. This thing just looks like a beast from the front, it has clean sleek lines running down the bonnet. The back looks good as well. And it looks sporty. The interior of a car matters too. Inside my Grand Am, it is styled very sporty. Its the same with the Alfa. Very sporty looking, some models even come with carbon fiber trim around everything, with colour contrasting red and black stitching leather bucket seats. I'm just in love with the 159.

That sexy aggressive front end...

The engines options that the 159 has also arn't bad. Granted, this is not a sports car... A 1.7L l4, 1.8L l4, 1.9L l4, 2.2L l4, or a 3.2L V6. Now even the lowest of the lot, the 1.7L straight 4 has 200 HP. And she sounds pretty good for just being a 4-cylinder. Now, it would be my dream to own the 3.2L V6 one, that sounds even better, and has even more power, etc.

But the greatest thing about this car is... its sensible. Its a reality to own it. In the UK I've seen really good condition used ones going for just over $8,000. This thing was deigned to not cost alot. Alfa Romeo wanted people to buy them, so they made them in-expensive.

An Alfa Romeo 159 spotted on Interstate-94 in Michigan 

Now, recently Fiat bought the Chrysler company, so thats why we are starting to see Fiats here again. And Alfa Romeo being a Fiat division, they also said Alfa Romeo is coming back to the US. As, the 159 is not available of course here in the states. Even though some 159s have been spotted in the US before. So, with this return to the US, Alfa says they are bringing the 159... they better be. Or I'm importing my next car... And I am very serious about getting this car one day. It will be... someday...

The Classic GTO

Well, no actually. This isn't a post on the old 60s & 70s Pontiac GTO. But about the newer model GTOs. If you don't know me then, I love Pontiacs. I love the specific Pontiac style. The arrowhead pointed front ends, the split grills, the aggressive "angry" fronts and styling. Its just has that special style that just makes me not look the other way. Why did I title this the "classic GTO?" Even if its not new, I think it just deserves to be called a classic.

Interesting bit though, the Pontiac GTO really is Australian. It is basically a re-bagged Holden Monaro. But its a little bit more than that. They did change the front end of the Monaro to match classic Pontiac styling. Which I do believe made the car better. If you compare the standard Monaro to a GTO, the GTO just looks more "badass". Same goes for the Vauxhall, and Chevrolet variant of this car as-well. The Pontiac version just looks the best in my opinion. If I ever lived in Australia, or other places, I would still have the GTO version.

The Australian Holden Monaro Front End

The American Pontiac GTO Front End

I have a thing for new cars. Most people have a thing for old cars, me, not as much. I like some old cars. I do like the older GTOs as well, and I do like the old Trans Ams as well. I also have a thing for the original
1970s Pontiac Grand Ams as-well. But when it comes to the GTO, I'll take a 2005 model over any other. The new GTOs carry a 5.7 or 6.0L V8 in them, shoving out 350 or 400HP. Even though this is technically a muscle-car, it screams European sports car. There you go, if you want an American car thats like a European sports car, the GTO is perfect. Wait! You say, I thought this is Australian. Well, I guess technically, yes. But if you think about it... Holden is a division of GM. Which is American, just Holden is there Australian division. Basically just designed in Australia and has an American engine in it.

I think this car just never got the attention it deserved. A lot of people tell me the styling is boring, and looks like a regular car. Well, for some reason... I like that. I think that its the feeling of finding potential in something that doesn't seem to have potential that gets me. It goes for my regular car, which is a Pontiac Grand Am. It's really just a "family car" but It feels so much like a sports car inside and out, and is a blast to drive.

All in end, I love the 2000s GTOs. And its a shame that Pontiac will never get to make another new one..... maybe..... Thank you Australia for making the car, and thank you Pontiac for putting your touch on it, and giving us a great car. One of these days, I'll own one myself.

Also, here we have a video from Saabkyle04 giving a full tour of a 2004 model GTO:

Need A Movie Suggestion?

Well, then I suggest the movie, "You Are Umasou". It is an anime movie, and yes.... it is more geared towards children. The entire movie is in Japanese, but you can watch the entire movie on YouTube, and with English subtitles. I came across the movie with-in someone's favourites. The thumbnail for it looked interesting, so I clicked it, it was part 3 of 9. I watched it for a bit and became interested, so i started from part 1. Its about a plant eater that ended up raising a meat eater. The meat eater grows up a bit, and doestn't understand why he doesn't like the same food as his pant-eating brother and mother. He would only enjoy berries. Well, as you can guess he eventually finds his true taste in meat, which leads trouble at home. This eventually spins off into another part of the movie, following Heart (the main character, the meat-eater) as he grows up and finds a little something for himself (I don't want to spoil). This eventually ties back into the first part of the movie.

Okay, yes, I am an 18 year old male, and I loved this movie. And I will admit... it made be tear up at several points in the movie. It really makes you appreciate your parents and your loved ones. The movie is absolutely adorable, cute and very heart-warming. I just finished watching it, and I just have this feeling sitting in my heart. A deep feeling of joy and love. It's that good of a movie. Its one of those movies that will put you in a supper happy mood, making you feel like, how could I ever been mean? How could I ever be sad? Type of moods and feelings. Its that good. I think this movie is already going down into my list of greatest movies ever. This movie deserves full English dubbing, and to be seen everywhere. I don't care how old you are... this is a great movie. And it deserves more recognition, and if you got the time you should probably start watching it... like now.

And thank you to the person who translated and put the English subs on the movie. Even if the translations aren't perfect, its very easy to see where the movie is going.

So, here you go start off at Part 1 Here.








I'll also embed here so you can just take a peek if you want:

Jak and Daxter Return

Okay. So technically no... its not a new game. But it sure does feel like something new. The last time we saw Jak and Daxter in a game was earlier this year in PlayStation Move Heros, which I heard was pretty rubbish. Though I haven't got to try it out myself yet, as I haven't purchased PlayStation Move yet. The time before that was in Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier. We all hoped this was the returning title for the PlayStation 3 and to be developed by Naughty Dog. But no, it was made by High Impact Games (And if you've played Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters, you know High Impact games are good at making series not feel part of the series), and was released on the PlayStation 2. The last game that Jak and Daxter were actually in and that was created by Naughy Dog was back in 2005 with Jak X. Which isn't even part of the main series. So techinally the last time we say Jak and Daxter in a game by Naughty Dog, and in the normal series, was in November of 2004. That's a long time.  But just recently announced was the Jak and Daxter HD Collection. This will include the first 3 games in the normal series, Jak and Daxter The Precursor Legacy, Jak II, and Jak 3. In High Definition, 3D, and PlayStation Trophy support. This sounds pretty awesome. Even if its the games I already own on the PS2 platform.

Yes. I am going to buy it. Why? To simply show my support. I do own every single Jak and Daxter game on PS2, but I need to have this. With it in HD (which it actually does look pretty nice in), and having trophy support, I think it will be a blast to play every game over again. I do believe this is a good step in the right direction. Maybe this will lead into a new Jak and Daxter game for PS3, and created by Naughty Dog. That is what I am truely hoping for. If you don't know me, then I absolutely love Jak and Daxter. They are my top in greatest video games ever created. I adore the games. So I am pretty happy to hear something, just something from Naughy Dog here. Like they haven't forgotten about them. Jak and Daxter will always go down in my book of greatest video game heroes. Ratchet and Clank next, following them, Gordon Freeman. I also think this game is good, because so many people I talk to that like the Jak and Daxter games, started with Jak II. They never played Jak and Daxter The Precursor Legacy. That is a mistake. The first game, I almost would say is the best. Now, I really can't offically say that is my favourite out of the series, because I litterally do love all 3 of them, but the first one really does set the bar for the story line for the game. And with the HD Collection, it will introduce the first game to everyone who hasn't played it yet.

I am finally happy about something in the Jak and Daxter series again, even if its not a "new" game, its a step in the right direction, defiantly. Jak and Daxter forever....

Also, here is the trailer for the HD Collection:

The BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics

I first stumbled upon a picture of the BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics by Google Image searching "concept sports car" it caught my eye. I first thought it was a 3D rendering someone at home wiped up. But I later came across it again. Then I came across BMW's official YouTube channel, with a video on it. It was real, there really was a Efficient Dynamics, it wasn't just a 3D rendering. I made me happy. There was something about this car that puts it right in with some of my most favourite cars (which are the Audi R8, and several Pontiac models). This machine has that aggressive look that I love in cars. Just look at the front of it. It has those angry styled head lights. Another thing about this car, is its colour scheme. Its pretty different, but I like it. Now the rear, the rear of the car is pretty neat as well. It may not be my most favourite styling, but its diffidently unique.

Whats the engine in this beats you may ask? Well, that's something too. This car actually only has a plug0-in hybrid 1.5L 3 cylinder turbo diesel engine. Well that isn't the only engine on this thing, in addition to the 3 cylinder engine there are two electric engines each with 139 horsepower. With these engines the car accelerates from 0-100 KPH in 4.8 seconds, which isn't to bad. But get this, the best thing about this engine is its fuel economy. It gets about 75.1 mpg! Now that I want.

BMW announced that there will be a mass production of this car in 2013, which it will be called the "BMW i8".
How much will it cost? I don't think we have a number yet, but im sure its bound to be over $100,000.

Even if most of us cannot afford a BMW i8, it would be neat to see this engine set up with 75.1 mpg in other lower-cost BMW models. Hey, maybe they already have plans to do this. But still, that i8 is a beautiful car, with a very different style, which I like very much.

A Review of HTC's Sense UI

I've had an HTC device for about 8 months now. The HTC Desire on US Cellular to be more specific. When I first had it it had Android Eclair (2.1) installed on it, with the Sense UI version 1 over top of Android. In less than a month I began to grow tired of still running Android 2.1, and was wanting 2.2, also not having very much space for apps, and the so-so battery life. So, I rooted my Desire and installed CyanogenMod 6.1.1 on it, which is running on Android 2.2. I was very happy. My install had cMTD with it so i also had more space for apps, and i also noticed a difference in the battery life, it lasted longer. I also didn't have to see that US Cellular bloatware that they installed on the device anymore. Not to long i began to get board of looking at the same thing every day so I started to experiment with other ROMs for the Desire. I liked many. But I was still on the hunt to find the right ROM, and set up correctly so that I could have plenty of app space. But I eventually got tired of looking at stock Android, and had that feeling in side of me, that missed the Sense UI. But i eventually found a ROM which was based off the official 2.2 Sense UI firmware from US Cellular. Only this ROM also had A2SD support, was still rooted, and had all the US Cellular bloatware removed. Sill though, i dont have a ton of App space, and the battery still i so-so, but i can live with it. Im still waiting for developeres to create and even better ROM with Sense UI, and one that possibly updates the Sense UI to 2.0, or better yet 3.0.

A Sense UI homescreen

But enough of that, here is my review of some of the features of HTC's Sense UI 1.0 on my US Cellular HTC Desire.

First-off, the home-screen. Some major differences between stock Android and the Sense UI homescreen are; on the bottom, instead of the dock being orderd: Phone - Launcher - Browser, Sense's is orderd: Launcher - Phone - Add to Homescreen. Also, Sense's is a big curved dock with the Phone button being the largest. I am not a particular fan of this order or set up, though it is pretty and it works well. I would have the App Launcher int he center, with the largest button, and Phone to the left, and a browser shortcut to the right. Yes, like the stock Android dock. I kinda find the Add to Homescreen button pointless, as you get the same result by holding your finger in a blank area on the desktop.

Stock Android calendar - day view

Sense calendar - day view 

Next, lets look at the Calendar app. HTC has spazzed-up the calendar, giving it the Sense UI look and colour, etc. They also changed how it works. I like day view. In the default Android calendar on day view it shows where in the day you are with a red line. Then all your appointments as coloured blocks on the screen and when they start and when they end. It's kinda nice. (As shown to the right). On the Sense calendar they did away with this type of day view and simply changed it to a list and what time they start... Or so you though? Actually that is the default view for day view. In the settings of the calendar you can actually change it show it displays like the stock Android calendar. (As seen on the left).

Sense Browser, with address bar down

browser windows in sense

Now, lets go to the browser. I really do like the browser on Android. Its very Chrome like, that's because it basically is Chrome. HTC has changed the browser a bit in Sense. One big difference is, that on the Sense version, it goes full screen. When its done loading a web page, the address bar hides. And when you start the browser the status bar on the top of your phone hides as well. They don't all show unless you press the Menu button on the phone. This is nice. It gives you full use of the screen real-estate. HTC also changed around the Menu options a bit from the stock browser. On the stock Android browser the first Menu option is "New Page" which opens a new browser tab. I like that option. On the Sense browser the first option is Back. I find  that unnecessarily because you can just use the physical back button on your phone to go back. Also on the Sense browser Menu, an Add Bookmark button is right there. A one-click to add to bookmarks button. On stock Android you have to go into the Booksmarks and click add. Though I will say, ill take the stock Android option and would rather have the New Page button right there. Though managing the open browser pages is alot nicer in Sense. In stock Android its just a list of pages, in Sense its more like the webOS card interface. Also, sorta like Safari on iOS like, giving you a view of the page, and you swipe across to see the other ones.

Badge on Mail app

Now, for the Mail app. This is Sense's replacement of the default Email app found on Android devices. No, this is not the Gmail app. If you use the Gmail app on your Sense UI device, it will look the same as Gmail on a stock Android device. HTC spruced up the Email app (also re-naming it to simply, Mail) by giving it the Sense UI look, and adding those TouchFLO like controls buttons along the bottom. You can also, like normal, use more than one email account with it. It notifies you ever time something new comes in, and lets you know the unread items by highlighting them with a green marker on the left. It will also have a number in a green bubble showing you how many unread emails there are outside of the app, on the App icon, similar to how iOS' icon have badges on the icon. Also with the Mail app, you get a nice little widget for the homescreen that alow you to flip though your emails in a nice realistic looking pile.

The Sense camera

The camera has also been spifified. The stock Android camera works great, but the UI of it is sorta ugly... and could use some work. But the Sense camera is nice. The UI is great, and it works great. There is no shutter button on the app. It shows the camera full screen. There is only a few buttons on the screen, them being; go to the Gallery, Flash on/off/auto, zoom, and the menu for it, which can also be accessed via the physical Menu button of course. The app also has the feature of Geo-tagging the picture with the phone's GPS, which is very nice, but is not enabled by default. The camcorder works pretty much the same, though it only works in landscape mode.

On the homescreen HTC added many nice widgets of there own. Them being, a nice Clock, Mail, Texts, News, Contacts,Bookmarks, Calculator, Calendar, Footprints, Music, Photo album/photo frame, settings widgets, and weather to name some. You can also download a few from HTC, such as a Coin Flip, Notes, or a Tip Calculator.

So there you go. Some features of HTC's Sense UI. There is more features of course, but this was a quick look. I may add some more reviews on specific HTC apps, such as Footprints, or the Flashlight.  Anyways, thanks for taking a read of this, and any questions you may have can go into the comments section. Thanks much. Now I leave you with some more screenshots of the Sense UI...

More Screenshots

Quick jump from homescreen pages

Launcher

Weather app

Some Widgets

CyanogenMod 7 RC4

Ah, yes. CyanogenMod. What is CyanogenMod? Well, basically CyanogenMod is an aftermarket firmware for Android devices. For example, my HTC Desire(CDMA, US Celluar) came in box with the firmware of HTC Sense running on Android 2.1 (Eclair). US Cellular took quite some time to officially release Android 2.2 on the device, but a couple months before they did, I rooted my device and installed CyanogenMod 6.1, which is based on Android 2.2. It was quite nice. Well, as you can possible guess, CyanogenMod 7 runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). Right now the offical firmware on this HTC Deisre on US Celluar is HTC Sense UI on Android 2.2. I did try this for a bit, and even though I enjoy the Sense UI, i missed the amount of space for apps. So i went back to CyanogenMod 6.1.1. Then i started playing around with Gingerbread ROMs. I tried CyanogenMod 7 Release Canidate (RC) 2, but found some major bugs. Every time i would restart the device, it would give me an error stating that the SD card is damaged, and must be re-formatted to use. This was a problem. Another thing was the camera. Taking pictures works, but recording 720p videos does not. So, I went to the UltimateDroid ROM, and it seemed to fix all these problems, except, now it had issues downloading certain apps off of the Market. No go. I would try the BlitzRom, which is pretty much out of any beta or RC, and is ready for everyday use, but I am using the Clockworkmod Recovery 3, and the BlitzRom can only install with Clockworkmod Recovery 2. So, I went back to CyanogenMod 6.1.1 and used that for quite a while.

Just today, I thought I would check back in with CyanogenMod. I noticed the RC4 was out! What happened to RC3? I really don't know, and i havent cared to Google that yet. The RC3 isnt even there in the mirrors for downloading. Anyways, i thought i would give CyanogenMod 7 RC4 a try. The install went great, and everything is working good so far. I am also trying out a new launcher, instead of LauncherPro, called GO    Launcher EX and see how i like it.


I haven't had any issue with it yet downloading apps from the Android Market, or any other application store, such as the Amazon Appstore for Android. The video camera also seems to work nice. Another plus is, the camera no longer takes pictures with a strange green tint to them when the flash is on, which is very nice. And i havent run into any issue with the SD card thing.

This is all very good indeed. I have been looking forward to being able to start using Android 2.3 as my daily driver for a while now. And i think CyanogenMod 7 is pretty much there with RC4.

CyanogenMod Website

Devices CyanogenMod Is Available For

My Top 5 Video Game Consoles

Sony PlayStation 2

1. PlayStation 2 For the amount of great games, and the amount of great memories i will always have playing the PS2.

2. Nintendo 64 Once again for the great games, but with the tons of fun with family and friends, since this was a party machine.

3. Sega Dreamcast for the awesome little things this system can do. And again for its great games, and uniqueness. Its just sad that this little system did not get the recognition or praise it deserves. 

4. Nintendo Entertainment System [NES] This guy was my first video game system, and will always remain in the top 5 list forever. It has the oldest memories of family and friends for me with video games. No system or games will ever replace this system's place in my heart.

5. PlayStation 3  This guy can literally do anything, and can be tons of fun, and for all the features this guy has.

Nintendo 64

Sony PlayStation 3

Nintendo Entertainment System

Sega Dreamcast