TINTIN the personal web space of Justin Fox

I've decided, on a whim, to re-upload my old blog. I started it back in 1998 (pre-blogger). You can check it out here, it's pretty juicy.

Tortillas

Dianne has put up her pics from last weeks Tortilla night on Be The Foodie.com

Spotted: My old S2000

Gah I just saw this pic... my old S2000, spotted last night in Homebush. I miss it all of a sudden!!! :(

Twitter

I put off owning a mobile phone for years but eventually I was forced to use one, now I've been thrust into Twitter.

The new Australian INfront will go live soon and due to technical issues the old site was torn down today and a new INfront twitter feed has been created to keep everyone informed on the progress.

PS: MC Cyclery are now on Twitter and FaceBook too.

2 more featured rides on JDMST

We've just featured 2 more members rides on JDMST. Wilch's R33 GTST & FRPilot's Mark II Tourer V JZX100. Enjoy!

2009 MS Sydney to Gong ride update

With the help of people with big hearts I've managed to raise $335 so far for this weekends Sydney to Gong ride. I've had no preparation at all for the 90km ride but the vibe on the day will be awesome and that alone should see me reach the finish line.

My good buddy Sean Torstensson was recently diagnosed with MS, it has made the Gong ride all the more relevant to me now. If you'd like to sponsor me, please click here (you know, stock up on that good karma baby).

Coral Sea Aquariums

Last Friday I visited Mark at Coral Sea Aquariums in The Spot, Randwick. I hadn't visited him in a year or so, maybe more. We had a chat for a while, always great, he's a nice guy who has run the shop for 40 years.

In all those years he's seen The Spot change so much, from what was such a great little community of diverse little shops to basically a "Little Thailand" (nearly every shop there is a Thai restaurant now).

The sad news is that the old couple who had been renting the shop to him for the past 40 years have recently sold the building to a developer. This developer has already kicked out the post office and the chiropractor next door and if Mark wants to keep running his aquarium shop he'll have to pay 3 times his rent when his lease runs out early next year.

When the developer first met Mark he already mentioned that he didn't like the idea of an Aquarium shop in his building and that he would have prefered a restaurant instead (he already has one Thai restaurant in the corner shop). Of-course Mark can't afford to pay 3 times the rent, it's simply a way of telling him to get out.

Mark is not sure if he's got it in him to start a new business and despite running the shop for 40 years he's never seen himself as a business man. He started out young, and had a telent for keeping fish and shared that through his shop. Like my Uncle John (who also runs an Aquarium shop), running the shop is his life.

A sad conversation I suppose. Mark is obviously very upset but I told him to look at the positives, that running the shop for 40 years was massive, a huge achievement. On leaving the shop we joked about him most likely not being there if I dropped in again to say hi in a years time.


Mark had a few Peppermint Shrimp which I grabbed (I need them as they eat pest anemones), he had a hard time trying to catch them as they were in a display tank (not to mention his eyesight is pretty bad too!). He ended up having to take out all the rockwork and when he took out one particular piece we heard a huge loud cracking noise. Mantis Shrimp we both said! Turns out it was this guy, what looks like a Tiger Pistol Shrimp (the largest one I've seen in real life). Mark, like many aquarists, didn't want him (and would have killed him most likely) but I think they're harmless and damn interesting creatures so I took him.


Whilst I'm on aquariums. I also bought this Blue Starfish (linckia laevigata) earlier. I also have a couple more interesting star fishes now. I'll get pics of them some time soon.

Danks Street Festival

What's with the rain?!

Christina, Felix, Dianne, Jamie, Richie and I are off to Melbourne next month and so we got together for a meal on Friday night to sort out what we're going to be doing when we're there. I forgot my camera but Di took a couple of pics which she might end up plugging on her blog.

On Saturday Christina and I checked out the Danks Street Festival which was totally rained out. Danks St in Waterloo has become the new yuppie place to be for fine fresh foods + designer furniture.


Lined with food stalls selling amazing stuff which we were itching to try.


The weather held up for all of 15 minutes though and then it started pouring.


Instead of eating outside (kinda the whole point of the Festival) we ate at Fratelli Fresh instead. Such a cool concept store which is basically a warehouse in which you have to walk through the loading dock to get to the fresh food supermarket and then go up industrial staircases to get to the hidden cafe.

ADVAN industry night part 2

Advan have just updated their web site with some photos from their industry night. Some funny pics in there for sure!


LOL Nads.


Charles and I


What's so funny?


Mark wins the door prize.

More pictures on the Advan Site

Mark Pakula logo design

I've just finished this logo design for Australian Photographer and friend Mark Pakula.

I love designing logos more than anything else when it comes to design, maybe because they're more about form, playing with letters, symbols and shapes not to mention they're super challenging as they have to represent others.

I always start in black and white first as working with colours too early can get kinda messy, especially when the client hates a colour you're using in the mock-ups. Working in black and white also assures that the logo can be photocopied or faxed.

Mark's logo came about fairly easy. I had the music up loud and I was having fun with it. We went through a few refinements and in the end we have 2 logos which we're both happy with (it's a great place to be when you've met a client half way and both parties are happy with the end product).

Be sure to check out Mark's Blog here. Next up is his site which I also get to work on so stay tuned!

Rockin Joplin

I've been having a blast on the Anthem lately. Ever since I've gotten rid of the clip-in pedals and replaced them with flat pedals I've had a lot more confidence and I'm now doing stupid shit on the bike.

It's still skittish going downhill, especially on loose stuff, and it's nowhere near as playful as my Reign but it's still the fastest bike up a hill, even without clip-ins it's fast.

I've gone a step further now and installed a Joplin on the bike, it's a seatpost which has a remote control on the handlebars which allows me to raise and lower my saddle whilst riding. It'll allow me to drop the saddle on the fly for downhill stuff which will hopefully = more fun! Fun in this case comes at a weight penalty though and the bike now sits at 11.4kg's with computer, lights, joplin, flat pedals and dirt (she was 10.7kg's without pedals brand new).


Joplin cable routed on the downtube.


Cockpit is looking damn busy with the front fork lockout on the left, lights in the middle, computer and joplin seatpost controller on the right.

Single Speed

Ever since the Ti build was finished the Hardrock has been hanging there without parts (the fork went onto the Ti). Inspired by Jarods new wheels + Jings new VOODOO I thought I'd put a bit of love into the old Hardrock to get it back on the road.





More images here.

Finally in the water!

Today it was a scorching 35 degrees inland (I was visiting the boys at JDMyard) and to make matters worse I was stuck without aircon on the M5 on the way home due to a savage car accident which stalled everyone for at least 30 minutes. Stevey followed me home though (he got there a lot quicker than I did on his motorbike) and we went for a swim at the rock pool down the road. Water was freeeezing cold but damn it was great. I brought a snorkel down with me and spotted a huge octopus, the largest one I've ever seen in real life. It's body was the size of 2 fists and it was missing 2 tentacles. We dunked a few beers then we thought we'd get the death trap out for a spin.


Stevey has a go at the Deathtrap!

Strip it

Quote: Originally Posted by Tonba: Apart from no aircon, how do you find the stripped interior? Do you get sick of it? What was your reason for doing it??

The reason why I stripped it? There are a few reasons. Sure, weight was one, the rear seats were sun faded and never fit right with the roll-cage back there. I had an audio system in there but prefered listening to the car than music, so that went (as well as weight).

I was, and still am, VERY inspired by race car interiors. How do you explain something you love so much? The rawness of it, how tough it feels, all the extra noises you hear, that sound deadening crap is like censorship. Seeing a freshly painted stripped interior with cage does more for me than a freshly painted exterior any day.

If I had the option from factory to not have all that tar/sound deadening material, extra wiring, audio etc I would go for it. Even with the Jazz. If it was an easy job to strip it to the level I took the GT-R I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Monday Loftus Oval night ride

Pics from last nights great Loftus night ride. Great weather yesterday made for a dry trail. At 7.30PM (our usual meet up time) there was still light.


The MCC boys (David, Sam and Ash).


Sam.


Jings new Voodoo SS.


David.


Felix.


David, freak face off picture!

Babalouie's Hakosuka

Photography by Kelvin Ng.

With over 70,000 views, Babalouie's Hakosuka build thread in the members rides section on JDMST is the most viewed thread on the forum and so it was an obvious car to feature.

I interviewed Babs (Kevin) over MSN (had to force him to download and install it! Old man he says!). He's a walking JDM encyclopedia, a great driver and he's been a great inspiration to me over the years.

Click here to check out the feature.

R32 old vs. new

We were in Alexandria today buying an outdoor setting from Harvey Norman and we found this guy (his name is Justin too) writing a note to put on Suga's R32. Nice to have the old and new next to each other to compare the differences. I love the old shape, lots. Boxy, squat (he did have it lowered) like a bulldog.

Beach Aquariums

Now that the renovations are pretty much done I've started putting a bit of love into the aquarium again. I've got the protein skimmer working at it's best once more and I've replaced a cannister of carbon (long overdue). New light tubes are in too. The road to recovery is going to be a long one but I'm sure I'll get there.

I paid my Uncle John a visit this weekend. I've finally snapped a shot of him (he hates being in front of the camera!).


Here's the shop on Beach Road in Bondi Beach, as my Dad left it back in the 80's. John hasn't done one single thing to it, the shop is so dirty and run down inside that a lot of people that walk in just walk straight back out.


My Uncle John, Dads youngest brother, the hippy (John the Beatle is what my family calls him). I love the guy.

Food bits

The Locks often haunt Insadong, a Korean BBQ joint on Rowe St. in Eastwood. The place is always dead quiet, which is a shame as the food is great.


I love any crispy beer.


Bibimbap.


On every single Saturday, all year round the Locks have a table booked at Excellent Chinese Seafood Restaurant in Carlingford for yum cha. I've been on a few occasions now, basically anyone in the family that wants to rock up does which sometimes makes for a very tight squeeze. It's just such an awesome thing to have.

Framed

Christina and I hit the framers this weekend. We have 4 great Kozyndan prints to frame and a small Amy Sol print too. All signed of-course!


Amy Sol print.


Kozyndan HORNY print. That's them in the poster :)


Signed love.


Perhaps their most famous print.


Yup signed!

ADVAN industry night

ADVAN are now officially operating in Australia, we have them on JDMST as advertisers at the moment (thanks to the guys at go2space) and they invited us to an industry night at Cargo Bar last Wednesday night. Great venue, great people, great presentation by Christian, their head marketing guy (I loved how many times he mentioned "JDM"!), heaps of food and drinks on tap till late too.


The Advan girls from the Advan industry night. The first thing I asked them was "Are you guys from Japan?".


I've always had a soft spot for the brand and their products.


Used semis on display, nice!


Shida and Stevey.

No internet!!!

Yesterday, at about lunch time, my internet went down. I tried to restart the modem, no go. I left it alone thinking that it was probably an outage in the area as there was some freaky weather here in Maroubra (very strong winds and some rain). This morning there was still no internet. I called Telstra, some guys wasted a shitload of my time and at the end of it he said he couldn't help me any further because I wasn't using a Telstra modem. FUCK! I am 100% sure the DLINK modem I am using is a Telstra approved modem (it says so on the box?!), in any case I called Telstra sales and ordered a new modem from them. $99 on special, great, but it might take 3-5days to get to me (not great).

Yesterday I also had a built-in wardrobe guy come around to give me a quote on a wardrobe for the bedroom + a linen closet for the hallway. He was going to email me the quote today but since I have no email I got him to send the quote to my Mums email addy (I'm at my Mums now). The quote came in at $4900 for the bedroom wardrobe and $2300 for the hallway one. FUCK! That's a shitload of cash. I can't see how I could justify that at all. One thing he did say was that the flor wasnd't level in the bedroom, that freaks me out a little. If I bought an IKEA wardrobe ($1800-ish) it might not even sit right? I tried to call the guy but he didn't pick up so I sent him an email, complete with sob story. I'm really hoping he will bring the quote down ($5k for both wardrobes would be AOK).

So, no internet = no work. I might as well read (something I rarely do, maybe a book every 2 years?!). I've just finished reading Dan Brown's Digital Fortress, it was so crap but I couldn't put it down. Christina bought me The Godfather to read (I'm 30 pages in and it's reading like a bad 80's porno). Friends on FaceBook have suggested a few books though, might run out and buy a couple of them.

Paino gets a tune-up

Last year I rode my 80's Paino roadie in the Sydney to Gong ride and she was amazing, especially in the hills (nothing I've ever owned goes up a hill as fast). She's been completely refurbished since last year, new paint job and I've polished all her bling bits. I've been feeling very precious about her (so much so that I don't even ride her!) but I've decided that I'm going to ride Paino again in this years ride. Today I gave her a quick tune, she's ready to go. Bring on the Gong!

MC Cyclery + Sydney Bicycle Film Festival

I've had a bit of fun the past few days working on a faux movie poster for MC Cyclery, who are giving a bike away at this years Sydney Bicycle Film Festival. Higher resolution images + links + more discussion can be found here.

Picton Karting Track

Yesterday myself, Suga and her cousins (+ a few friends) hit Picton Karting Track. The Karts are faster at Eastern Creek, but the guys who run Eastern Creek tend to be a little too strict (I get black flagged all the time there grrrr!). The guys at Picton basically let you do whatever you like, not to mention they're awesome guys too who wear a smile on their face and seem to genuinely love what they do (that makes all the difference in my opinion).

We did the Grand Prix (3 x 20 minute sessions, 1 x qualifying, 1 x race and 1 x final) and had 9 people all up (with a few first timers). Stevey ended up with the best lap time of the entire day (including other groups that went before us). All the best lap times were done in Kart No.3 which I was sitting in for our finals but stupidly, last minute, I gave it up to sit in the same Kart I used in the previous race (stupid stupid me as Steve took the No. 3 Kart and scored the race win AND the fastest lap of the day).

Suga's cousin Annie took these pics (thanks Annie!):


The carpark. Took us just under 1hr to get there and we were 45 minutes early!


Steves bike complete with battle scars.


Suga's Shoei + my Bandit.


Suga and I (Steve in the bg).


Felix and Di decided last minute to come along! :)


Felix (note: Keichii gloves).


Suga and I ready to go.


Norman spinning out.


Di and Suga.


Norman leaning in.


Post qualifying.


Me.


Peter.


2nd race times.


Grid for the final race.


Suga.


Stevey got the fastest lap time of the entire day (bastard!).

More pictures here!.

Rockpool Bar & Grill

On Friday night we went to Neil Perry's new Rockpool Bar & Grill to celebtrate Richie's Australian Citizenship (again hehe). Awesome venue (used to be an old bank apparently), felt very Gotham City. When ordering "medium rare" at Rockpool you really get just that, medium rare (it was almost bloody). In future I'd consider ordering my steak "medium". Suga ordered the grass fed rib-eye on the bone and I ordered the grain fed and it was awesome to taste the difference (the grass fed actually tasted like a mouthful of grass after eating the grain fed).

Thumbs up from me, kills Prime (2 bad experiences there, will never go back).

You picked the wrong planet

I've had a Dyson vacuum cleaner since 1999 (the first model ever released). Back then I was a super keen design graduate, and design, be it industrial design, architecture or graphics, was on the brain day in and day out, when Dyson products were launched I was instantly a fan. I still am (except I now think they look ridiculous where once I thought they looked cool).

The old Dyson has had plenty of use, it's electric chord doesn't retract into the body anymore but apart from that it still works, which is impressive, but we knew these new ones had to be much stronger so we took the plunge and bought one (Bing Lee sold it to us for $620, rrp is $739).

It's heavy (11kg) and feels very plasticy but it sucks, hardcore, so hard that the carpet actually lifts off the ground.

MS Sydney to the Gong 2009

My 2009 number.


My growing collection of race numbers :)

I got my registration pack for this years Sydney to Wollongong bike ride in the mail last week. I did the ride twice when I was in high school and I also did it last year. I've had an awesome ride every time. Last years event was huge, we didn't even get going until 5km in because there were so many riders. The event gets bigger every single year with more riders every year and more money raised for the MS Society too.

I've set up a BikesMoveUs.com Team for this years ride. We've already raised $415. I'm sure we'll raise a lot more. You can check the page out here. Please consider donating (hit the big "Donate Now" button!) or better yet, dust off that old bicycle in the shed and come join us!

Couch surfing

Daintree Eagle

Last weekend we went couch hunting but all the couches we liked were $5k+. Dream couches, but way out of our budget. On Monday we said goodbye to our old couch which we sold on eBay and on Tuesday we thought we'd drop in to King Furniture.

The old couch was a King Furniture couch (old model Delta, non-storage), it was huge, deep seats which made me slouch a lot and it just looked so damn heavy (in fact it was very light due to an aluminium frame). It put me off King Furniture but after seeing the prices of European designer couches (art I'll call it) I thought we'd at least drop in to have a look.

We got there and it was packed. They were having a store wide Spring Sale. Great timing! We were looking for a 3 seater couch, something super simple and this couch just popped out at us, the price was right too, even before the spring sale discount. There were a million fabric options but Christina honed in on a colour and texture she was after (I love it, very 50's) and we didn't hesitate, we bought it on the spot.

The sad thing is that the couch won't arrive until mid next month. Until then it looks like we'll be sitting on the floor in front of the TV (quite uncomfortable actually).


George Nelson's bubble lamps.

Whilst I'm on the house update. We've still got to get some lights for the bedroom and other rooms in the house. I've wanted George Nelson's bubble lamps for years now but I've never been willing to pay the $1k/lamp asking price. A while back Spence and Lyda had a store wide sale and they came down to $800/lamp. I was there, in the store and I still couldn't do it. I kinda regret it now as I've walked in to a billion lighting stores in the past 6 months and I've not found anything at all that comes close. Looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and spend up on them. I just keep thinking, that if it was my car, or my bike... I'd only want the very best right?!

Back into it

Feels like I've been getting back into a lot of things.

Last year I got back into cycling and recently I've gotten back into cars. I've been doing a bit of design work that I'm actually enjoying lately and I have to say I feel like I'm getting back into design too.

Today I worked on the new INfront. The old site has been there for so long (so long I don't remember when I designed it). I'm determinded, with Dave's help, to get the new site up by the end of this year.

I've just gotten past the mock-up stage on a logotype for Mark Pakula. I love what I've done. It needs a few more tweaks but it's pretty much there. I'd love to show it off, but I'm going to wait until it's 100%. I've also been working on some huge banners to represent MC Cyclery at the Sydney Bicycle Film Festival at the Chauvel Cinema in Paddington. Again, still in mock-up phase but I'll show them off when I'm done.

In the span of 5 minutes I also got 2 work related emails. One from Rimian, a developer mate of mine and also one from Richard from the Digital Wranglers which Caryn and I did a bit of work for a year or so ago. It's funny how things work... isn't it?

Next thing to get back into is my salty fish tank. It sure needs a bit of TLC.

DOOM

Toyota FT-86 - the AE86's spiritual successor

Via Garth at Hachirocku.com.au

JDM Yard EG Civic kicks major butt

JDM yard EG Civic - Photo by Mark Pakula.

Yonas and Zi took the EG Civic out to play last weekend. Apparently it was a shitty day (4 seasons in one day Zi described it and apparently everyone's now got the flu) but they managed to top the times list killing so many amazingly powerful cars (CLK, M3, GT-R, EVO's, Lexus IS-F, you name it).

For the uninitiated, this car is a naturally aspirated front wheel drive Honda Civic up against turbo, twin turbo, rear wheel drive and 4WD cars.

Zi's not going to go around posting the times up as he knows there's a few more seconds to be had but I had to kick him in the ass and let him know how impressed I am. Fact is that he's at the very top of the list. IE: He came first on the day, not to mention it's not all about a time when conditions of that day come into play.

Check the times and list of cars and drivers here.

My sister = master chef

Last weekend my sister and Richie invited Christina's family (the Lock's) over to her place for dinner. Richie and Jamie have been over to the Lock's place for dinner twice now and she wanted to return the favour.

She cooked up a storm, basically, she killed it! Best home cooked dinner I've had in ages. So hearty, so impressed. I'm entering her into Master Chef next year whether she likes it or not!


Jasper - cat in a bag.


Naughty boy!


Entree - Potato Gnochi with Prawns.


Main - Ossobuco!


Toasties!


Dessert - Chocolate Pavlova!


Jamie's signature dish!


Layla went straight for Mr. Lock. She loves the boys.

Honda Fit

In Japan the Honda Jazz is called the Honda Fit. Fit because whilst it's a tiny car it's deceptively huge on the inside and can fit a shitload of cargo.

This morning I managed to fit a full sized (140x80) office table in the back and the Jazz just ate it up.


Mmmm table. Nom Nom Nom.


In other news, this is a huge pile of trash that has to go to the tip. It's probably our 5th load!

JDMST EOMM

Last night's JDMST EOMM was a little different. One JDMST member offered up his family restaurant, Moltofino in Dee Why as the venue with 30% off the bill for JDMST members.

The drive was crap due to bad traffic, and losing our way despite using a GPS, but the food was awesome (I had the shoulder of lamb, one of the best lamb shanks I've ever eaten!).

Here are a few carpark pics. Photos by VinnieVavoom.













More photos here.