have you ever wondered why in the hell you make the sacrifices you do to work on your car?
why you eat rice with soy sauce for a week just to be able to afford a tuning session or some shiny new coilovers?
why you put in overtime at a job that you absolutely despise, just to have money for that set of rims?
i know i sure as hell have wondered why i do these things. i've spent many a night lying awake trying to find a reason, as i'm sure my friends and family members have as well.
what satisfaction can you really get out of pouring thousands of dollars into a car that's only worth $1,500? how can you really justify such an inproportionate investment? what are the true returns on your dollars spent? the answer to that conundrum is in fact, nothing. that is, if you look at it from a material and real world standpoint.
but who lives in the real world these days right? haha. the real joy of tuning cars is that from the moment you change out that crappy stock spoiler, ugly chrome usdm headlight or needle sized injectors, you become a Da Vinci in your own right. that broken down crx is now your canvas in which to paint your masterpiece and infuse in it a style all your own. perhaps that integra you bought with no motor and quarter panel rust can be your sistine chapel?
with that said, make the sacrifices you make for your passion count, and put on parts and do work that truly satisfy you. never settle.
that's it folks. have a great weekend.
ray
Friday, January 23, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
amalgamation of interests
happy inauguration day supremacy racers,
as change is the driving force behind the new presidential administration, so it shall be on our little corner of the internet here. before i begin my little rant for the day though, i'd like to go ahead and clear the air and just let everyone know that i'm not kel lol. not that there's anything wrong with that, but he's just been telling me how people have been saying that he's posting under this name like some sort of bruce wayne/batman alter ego.
haha let me assure you, my dear readers, that is most certainly not the case, i am me, kel is kel. and the opinions i express are that of my, ray chong chen, and should they offend you in anyway, i have to apologize up front. i'm just merely trying to stay true to my own thoughts.
anyways, one of the most impressive things about the industry now is how far reaching its scope is. by this, i mean that the "tuner" (i hate that word, as i hope you guys do too) market has penetrated so many facets of american life that it's just unfathomable. i'm sure that never in some people's wildest dreams did they ever imagine it would get to this point. for that, we have a variety of factors to thank, the first, as much as we may not want to admit it, is the fast and the furious. believe it or not, i honestly feel that this movie may have done the scene more benefit than harm in the long run. it made it mainstream, made it ok to want to drive an import, and ultimately showed people how NOT to do it.
but, the coolest thing that i felt came out of this generation Y revolution, is the melding of all the subcultures that we as america's youth are into. everything is beginning to meld together, cars, clothes, extreme sports, video games. i don't know about you guys, but i find this to be cooler than all hell. the best example of this is the dc sports rally cars.
back when we were growing up, you either had to be one thing or another. you were either a skater, a wannabe thug, a music head, a videogamer or what have you. but you were one thing, you hung out with one crew, and that was the end of that. nowadays, you have the freedom to like whatever you want to, as much as you want to and with who you want to.
and that, my friends, is change.
on the topic of change, me and kel were kicking around some ideas for the shop, and it might be time for supremacy to get its "shine" on. ;-) stay tuned kiddos!
as change is the driving force behind the new presidential administration, so it shall be on our little corner of the internet here. before i begin my little rant for the day though, i'd like to go ahead and clear the air and just let everyone know that i'm not kel lol. not that there's anything wrong with that, but he's just been telling me how people have been saying that he's posting under this name like some sort of bruce wayne/batman alter ego.
haha let me assure you, my dear readers, that is most certainly not the case, i am me, kel is kel. and the opinions i express are that of my, ray chong chen, and should they offend you in anyway, i have to apologize up front. i'm just merely trying to stay true to my own thoughts.
anyways, one of the most impressive things about the industry now is how far reaching its scope is. by this, i mean that the "tuner" (i hate that word, as i hope you guys do too) market has penetrated so many facets of american life that it's just unfathomable. i'm sure that never in some people's wildest dreams did they ever imagine it would get to this point. for that, we have a variety of factors to thank, the first, as much as we may not want to admit it, is the fast and the furious. believe it or not, i honestly feel that this movie may have done the scene more benefit than harm in the long run. it made it mainstream, made it ok to want to drive an import, and ultimately showed people how NOT to do it.
but, the coolest thing that i felt came out of this generation Y revolution, is the melding of all the subcultures that we as america's youth are into. everything is beginning to meld together, cars, clothes, extreme sports, video games. i don't know about you guys, but i find this to be cooler than all hell. the best example of this is the dc sports rally cars.
back when we were growing up, you either had to be one thing or another. you were either a skater, a wannabe thug, a music head, a videogamer or what have you. but you were one thing, you hung out with one crew, and that was the end of that. nowadays, you have the freedom to like whatever you want to, as much as you want to and with who you want to.
and that, my friends, is change.
on the topic of change, me and kel were kicking around some ideas for the shop, and it might be time for supremacy to get its "shine" on. ;-) stay tuned kiddos!
Friday, January 16, 2009
CITY OF GOD'S SON
“City of God’s Son” is an experimental hip-hop opera starring Nas, Jay Z, Ghostface, Biggie Smalls, Raekwon, Samuel Jackson, Delroy Lindo, and Laurence Fishburne. It is a crime drama/coming of age tale of three fictitious characters growing up in a crime ridden mythical city in a jungle. This project explores the icon of the gangster in modern media, and weaves musical history and gangster film history into an operatic music based story of brotherhood and survival. An homage to 90’s New York hip-hop, “City of God’s Son” is the redefinition of the remix. Featuring legendary soul singer Joe Bataan. A sound film/hip hop opera by Kenzo Digital.
City of God's Son
SOURCE
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
thriving for individuality
how goes it supremacy racing fans?
so here i am again to kind of share with you all my thoughts on how the import racing scene, particularly regarding hondas, has changed since i've left it. feel free to consider my opinions that of my own and not of the good folks over at supremacy racing, just my $0.02 is all.
imports, and racing, has always been a hobby of competition and of one-upping the next guy, but nowadays it seems as though it's been taken to the level even above the next level. i'm not necessarily saying that change is a bad thing, because it has to happen one way or another for the sport to evolve, but some of the things people do are just weird.
back in my day (i say this as though i'm an old fart, but it was only really a couple of years ago), people would paint their wheels pink or lime green, just to get a second glance. then, they'd move on to polishing them out. somewhere along the line, the wiretucks came along and everything just started poppin off from there.
i can't say i escaped the hype and not wanted to do something drastic at one point either, like powdercoat my doors or something. not that i did that, but i'm just using it as a point of reference. so what i guess i'm trying to say is, being different is only cool to a certain degree.
i know that a lot of people go out there and say that they build their cars for themselves, but when you angle your wing up like 90 degrees, or chrome out your hood or paint your side mirrors yellow when your car's black, it's pretty obvious that you're doing it for attention. with that said, i'd like to just end this post by saying, "simplicity never goes out of style."
and i mean that whether it be for cars, clothing or your life. stay up ya'll.
so here i am again to kind of share with you all my thoughts on how the import racing scene, particularly regarding hondas, has changed since i've left it. feel free to consider my opinions that of my own and not of the good folks over at supremacy racing, just my $0.02 is all.
imports, and racing, has always been a hobby of competition and of one-upping the next guy, but nowadays it seems as though it's been taken to the level even above the next level. i'm not necessarily saying that change is a bad thing, because it has to happen one way or another for the sport to evolve, but some of the things people do are just weird.
back in my day (i say this as though i'm an old fart, but it was only really a couple of years ago), people would paint their wheels pink or lime green, just to get a second glance. then, they'd move on to polishing them out. somewhere along the line, the wiretucks came along and everything just started poppin off from there.
i can't say i escaped the hype and not wanted to do something drastic at one point either, like powdercoat my doors or something. not that i did that, but i'm just using it as a point of reference. so what i guess i'm trying to say is, being different is only cool to a certain degree.
i know that a lot of people go out there and say that they build their cars for themselves, but when you angle your wing up like 90 degrees, or chrome out your hood or paint your side mirrors yellow when your car's black, it's pretty obvious that you're doing it for attention. with that said, i'd like to just end this post by saying, "simplicity never goes out of style."
and i mean that whether it be for cars, clothing or your life. stay up ya'll.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
BAND OF OUTSIDERS SPRING 09
Band of Outsiders presents its upcoming collections for 2009 via a series of high-def videos. A further team-up with popular boat shoe makers Sperry is once again in the works as we are met with some new interpretations of the traditional boat shoe style. Check both videos for a better idea of what’s in-store from Band of Outsiders for 2009.
Untitled from Band of Outsiders on Vimeo.
Untitled from Band of Outsiders on Vimeo.
Untitled from Band of Outsiders on Vimeo.
Source: HYPEBEAST
Untitled from Band of Outsiders on Vimeo.
Untitled from Band of Outsiders on Vimeo.
Untitled from Band of Outsiders on Vimeo.
Source: HYPEBEAST
Monday, January 5, 2009
"FRESH" for 2009, you suuuckkkaaazz!
hello readers of supremacy racing,
i'd like to humbly introduce myself to you guys and gals, my name's ray and i've been given the honor to contribute some of my writing to this blog.
so as introductions usually go, let me just share a couple of things with you guys just so you know me better, and makes me hopefully, more relevant:
i grew up and went to high school with kel, and we eventually went out separate ways out of the shithole known as modesto, california, him to utah and me to southern california. eventually though, our mutual respect for fixing up honda's made it inevitable that our paths would once again cross.
through that ubiquitous networking tool that we all know and love called myspace, kel and i kept in touch and found that we both kept the passion for honda's alive and strong, him with the racing thing, and me, being in socal, arguably the heart and soul of the honda movement, got pretty involved in making my car as "jdm" as i could, haha thinking back, i realize how gay that sounds but hey, that's just how it was.
just for reference, this is the end result of 4 years spent in socal, being completely immersed in the "jdm" honda culture:
don't let the good looks fool you though haha, that thing was still powered by the single cam before i spun it out on a freeway onramp thinking i was such a cool touge racer.
from there, i began parting out the car, and got into building a prelude, which i hope to maybe get into in a future post, and then i realized that being so involved in the scene required a lot of time and money, both of which i didn't and still don't have. to kel's credit though, he's always trying to get me back in haha, and for that i love the dude (nohomo, of course lol) which he knows i'll gladly do if he sells me that shell :wink wink: but i don't want to spill the beans on that just yet, i'll leave that for kel to let you guys find out about.
so now that you know a bit about me, let me just take a moment to say what i hope to do in my time here. hopefully, i can put people up on how the honda thing was back then, and compare it to how i see it now, because whether or not you want to admit it, it's definitely changed.
other than that, me and kel and the entire crew at supremacy racing share a great deal of interests, including shoes, clothes, sports, movies and other random wastes of money. so you'll hear me bitch and moan about that kind of stuff from time to time.
anyways, i hope i haven't bored you all too much, and hope you'll check back in from time to time to see which shoes i've wasted my money on, what new articles of clothing i long to own, or yet another reason i've concocted to hate kobe bryant. haha.
peace out friends and supporters of supremacy racing, we all hope to see you SOON.
oh, and happy new year.
i'd like to humbly introduce myself to you guys and gals, my name's ray and i've been given the honor to contribute some of my writing to this blog.
so as introductions usually go, let me just share a couple of things with you guys just so you know me better, and makes me hopefully, more relevant:
i grew up and went to high school with kel, and we eventually went out separate ways out of the shithole known as modesto, california, him to utah and me to southern california. eventually though, our mutual respect for fixing up honda's made it inevitable that our paths would once again cross.
through that ubiquitous networking tool that we all know and love called myspace, kel and i kept in touch and found that we both kept the passion for honda's alive and strong, him with the racing thing, and me, being in socal, arguably the heart and soul of the honda movement, got pretty involved in making my car as "jdm" as i could, haha thinking back, i realize how gay that sounds but hey, that's just how it was.
just for reference, this is the end result of 4 years spent in socal, being completely immersed in the "jdm" honda culture:
don't let the good looks fool you though haha, that thing was still powered by the single cam before i spun it out on a freeway onramp thinking i was such a cool touge racer.
from there, i began parting out the car, and got into building a prelude, which i hope to maybe get into in a future post, and then i realized that being so involved in the scene required a lot of time and money, both of which i didn't and still don't have. to kel's credit though, he's always trying to get me back in haha, and for that i love the dude (nohomo, of course lol) which he knows i'll gladly do if he sells me that shell :wink wink: but i don't want to spill the beans on that just yet, i'll leave that for kel to let you guys find out about.
so now that you know a bit about me, let me just take a moment to say what i hope to do in my time here. hopefully, i can put people up on how the honda thing was back then, and compare it to how i see it now, because whether or not you want to admit it, it's definitely changed.
other than that, me and kel and the entire crew at supremacy racing share a great deal of interests, including shoes, clothes, sports, movies and other random wastes of money. so you'll hear me bitch and moan about that kind of stuff from time to time.
anyways, i hope i haven't bored you all too much, and hope you'll check back in from time to time to see which shoes i've wasted my money on, what new articles of clothing i long to own, or yet another reason i've concocted to hate kobe bryant. haha.
peace out friends and supporters of supremacy racing, we all hope to see you SOON.
oh, and happy new year.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
FRESH CHESS SET FROM GRAHAME FOWLER.
Made of 6061 U.S. Aircraft-grade aluminum. The Grahame Fowler Chess Set includes 32 black and silver aluminum pieces.
Source: Coolmaterial
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