The Hot List: Volume 23

Every week we sift through a truly amazing amount of “stuff” in the dozen or so hours we spend online—you know, the time spent not driving sweet cars. A lot of the cool stuff we find has to do specifically with new cars, naturally, but there’s also a huge amount of awesomeness that doesn’t completely fit in the normal Winding Road world. Once, we were in the habit of simply reading, watching, or talking amongst ourselves about this web detritus, but recently we thought it might be a good idea to start sharing it with you all. Thus, The Hot List.

 

We aim to bring you a list of the most interesting bits of information we run across. Ten worth-knowing-about things that may or may not be related directly to the world of cars, but all of which we think our typical enthusiast readers will be able to really dig into. We don’t know, from week to week, what will show up on this list, which is part of the fun for us and for you.

Read, enjoy, and comment. If you happen to know of something that you think would make for a good inclusion on next week’s list, drop us a line at [email protected].

 

 

 

 

Ever wanted to put a few holes in the grille of a car that’s following too close? Well, you still can’t, but you could make it look like you’re going to if you had this Gatling exhaust tip. We’re not sure how it would affect exhaust flow, though.

 

 

 

 

Reader Bill Bennett tipped us off (thanks, Bill!) on these aluminum composite brake rotors. The lightweight material allows extra reinforcement in areas of the rotor where it’s needed. They are expected to be stronger and last longer than current rotors.

 

 

 

 

This 1000-pound work of art is made completely of butter, displayed at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. After the show, the artist is donating it to a dairy farm, which will feed it to Paula Deen put it in a methane digester to supply the farm with electricity for three days.

 

 

 

 

When you open up this Darth Vader helmet, instead of finding his weird, veiny, pale, bald head, you’ll be able to pop in a CD (they still make those?) and listen to your favorite album. It also functions as an AM/FM radio, and has an input for your MP3 player or other external audio source.

 

 

 

 

This collection of letters from various designers and creative thinkers celebrates the personal touch that can’t come from an email, text message, or tweet. This second edition contains even more correspondence than the first, and features a limited-edition slipcase. A percentage of proceeds from this book will be donated to the National Literacy Trust.

 

 

 

 

Nick DeWolf travelled from New York to Stockholm Sweden in 1959, and photographed the journey. Check out some of the best pictures, featuring amazing images of people he encountered and places he visited.

 

 

 

 

Are you prepared for the upcoming zombie apocalypse that everyone’s been expecting? The Zombie Apocalypse Store has all your survival needs for when the dead rise from their graves to terrorize humanity. From weapons to rations to zombie related kitsch, it can be found on their website or in their Las Vegas storefront.

 

 

 

 

These awesome posters by artist Marko Manev feature all your favorite superheroes and villains from the Marvel comic book universe. Whether you’re a fan of Spiderman, Nick Fury, Magneto, Doctor Doom, or Cyclops (really, your favorite character is Cyclops?), you’ll find a really cool, very simple piece of art representing them.

 

 

 

 

While Winding Road does not condone the wearing of sweatpants in public, you could maybe get away with it in these Dress Pant Sweatpants. They’re comfortable enough for you to lie down for a nice little sobbing nap on your office floor after a stressful (yet snuggly soft) meeting in the boardroom.

 

 

 

 

The Soundwagon is a portable vinyl record player shaped like a Volkswagen Microbus. Turn it on, and place it on a 33-rpm record, and it will drive around on top of it, playing the album’s music. It sounds like a great way to sample records at a garage sale or used record store before you buy them.