Gear Patrol | Spirit of Adventure, Passion for Gear

Grips with both hands on the wheel

Drive confidently swerves around pigeonholes. Pink scripted credits, seemingly plucked from an 80s billboard, burn over opening shots of the LA skyline, right before plunging into a tense getaway that would make Michael Mann grin from ear to ear. The protagonist — whose proper name is never revealed throughout the entire flick — barely speaks [...]

Thinking Ahead

No matter what the law dictates in your particular state, not wearing a helmet while riding is one of the dumbest things you can do. That doesn’t mean lugging around a bulky dome guard is any fun for commuters. The Overade aims to make riding slightly more convenient and just as safe. Designed in France [...]

The First American Cookbook

American Cookery ($10) is the first cookbook written by an American. Strangely, the only details that are actually known about its author come from the words “American orphan” found on the cover. Other hints from the book’s text suggest she was a domestic laborer who lacked formal education. The book was published originally in 1796 [...]

Making the most of a bad situation

Cancer is poor topic for a comedy, but then again, humor has always served as tent pole for those suffocating under grief. 50/50 also isn’t your generic, “let’s get edgy” script, because its writer Will Reiser was actually diagnosed with spine cancer, and his real life friend, Seth Rogan, actually stood by him through the [...]

All will be revealed

Patrick Lee wraps up his Travis Chase trilogy with another mind bending, stomach churning adventure. Deep Sky ($8) finds said protagonist and fellow covert Tangent agent Page Campbell on a journey that will take them across the country and through time and reality itself. They are hunting for a secret so sensitive it hasn’t been [...]

Cause and snowball effect

The problem with charitable giving is the lack of transparency. Sure, pitching in your money to the larger channels gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling, but wouldn’t you like just a bit more control over what and how you do your charitable giving? Online giving isn’t new, and it may not just yet be [...]

The ultimate cheat sheet on human experience

Having a firm grasp on history has always been a core pillar of a proper education. It provides context, insight and understanding on how things came to be, which is especially invaluable for those seeking to innovate. There are obviously innumerable texts on the subject, but for those looking for a casual refresher, it doesn’t [...]

The whole Bondchilada

MGM has announced the mother of all boxed sets in celebration of 50 years of James Bond wooing women, breaking gadgets, and thwarting global disaster on the silver screen. Never before have all 22 films been available in high definition Blu-ray and compiled into one epic collectors item that’s truly a must have for any [...]

Unique films, everyday low prices

Here’s a nice concept for the cinephile. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a service, like Netflix or Hulu, that pooled and sent you (or that you could choose from) great independent films to discover and watch — all for just a few bucks? Well, there is. It’s called Prescreen, a start-up video-on-demand platform [...]

Chasing the light and an explanation how

The first in a series of upcoming editions, photo artist Bruce Percy has compiled 40 of his incredible photoworks into The Art of Adventure: 40 Photographic Examples (~$61). Spanning the waterfalls of Iceland, to the Bolivian Altiplano, to Nepalese buddhists, each photo — like Patagonia’s Pehoe Curve (pictured above) — are stunning examples of Percy’s [...]

The wrong kind of touchy-feely

Contagion is a germophobe’s worst nightmare. Director Steven Soderbergh and his usual team tackle a well-worn niche, ploughed by titles like Outbreak, to create a pandemic horror story that will leave most viewers running to stockpile Purell and hesitant to enter airports. Much of its success comes from a grounded depiction of how the world’s [...]

Mang-nificent

Who can forget the gorgeous De Tomaso Pantera, the Italian built and American (Ford V8) powered sports car? Feline and ferocious, it bore a certain panache and style that was fresh at its inception into the sports car world in the 1970s. It certainly adorned this author’s wall in poster form in the 80s. But [...]

Show Tunes

Box of Vision is a company that still remembers the days when showing off your music collection didn’t involve a scroll wheel and being a true fan meant owning every album, instead of the five best singles. Subsequently, their archive products are designed to act as a showcase for displaying the complete works of legends [...]

Back in time with no DeLorean in sight

Midnight in Paris features plenty of Woody Allen trademarks, while avoiding many of the quirks that have irritated us about his work in the past. “Pair-eee” has rarely looked so good in a film and leaves viewers pining to hop a plane to de Gaulle as soon as the credits roll. The cast boasts a [...]

Liberty City goes mobile

The game that changed the gaming industry and inflamed parents across the globe thanks to its unabashed encouragement of senseless violence recently turned 10. To celebrate, Rockstar has re-released the classic for newer iOS (iPhone & iPad) and Android devices for a shocking price of $5. Essentially it’s the same experience most will remember, just [...]