DragonDon.net

I was browsing some of the luxury car sites to see what is happening on them and it is amazing what you find.  The competition is seriously heating up in the luxury market while the compact market seems to be doing good for imports but domestic guys are kinda just wandering around.  I’m seriously disappointed with Chryslers’ lineup.  Although they are ‘launching 16 new vehicles’ this year (or some such surprisingly large number of models), we’re still waiting. Oh wait…they just announced the 300 S8 and 300 S6.  I mean, what the hell is the big deal?  Here’s what AutoBlog has to say:

“The big difference between the new cars (both are badged with “300 S” instead of the more Audi-infringing S6 and S8 monikers) and the regular 300 is the grille. Gone are the full chromed snouts of the normal 300s, in are blacked-out grilles with chrome surrounds and body-colored accents. The doors are “shaved,” the mirrors are body-colored and the headlight bezels are darkened. And, of course, the 20-inch wheels are highly polished.”

Ah yes, can’t be infringing on trademarks, unless you like law suits.  So you get a fancy grill.  You mean like this one and this one or maybe even this one? Geeze.  This is ‘new’?  All Chrysler did was simply use some popular grills that have been seen on tons of modded cars.  Way to go Chrysler for killing the aftermarket segment! Seriously though, can you tell the difference between the 300C and 300S? 

Don’t get me wrong, I think the 300C itself is a great car.  For example, this is what you can do with a Rental car:

Not that I would have anything to do with this picture of course  Still, nice car, nice ride, would buy one in a heartbeat given the right circumstances a few years ago.  Now it would only be for the right price because GM has stepped up their game with the CTS and style.

2005:                                                                                          2008:

The pics don’t show it but the fenders are a little more flared giving it a much more muscular stance.  Oh, and how can we forget about this:

2010 CTS-V:

A damn fine car that’ll run circles around the 300C….err…S.

So moving on to imports.  I check out the Lexus IS-F.  Blown away by their site and presentation of the car!  You don’t even have to like the car to enjoy the presentation method!

What is cool is that as far as I know, Audi’s R8 site was the first one I saw that went into such details as to make it a mini-movie!  Gave me a freaking woody and Lexus got it.  They understood the online marketing mentality and the more people talk, the more they get free advertising.

Hyundai’s Genesis Coupe is a newcomer that is giving everyone second thoughts.

People used to say “It’s a Hyundai…..” with such condescending tones you knew that the owner couldn’t afford any ‘real’ car.  Now they say “It’s a Hyundai!” and marvel at the 300+ HP the V6 has!  That’s right…300 in a V6.  306 to be exact.  Even the 2.0 Turbo 4 cyl has a respectable 210 HP.  Not overly exciting but given some of the after market mods are getting 360+ HP, you really are into some fun then!

I eventually make my way over to Mercedes website to see what my friend was raving about the C-63.  Boy, after viewing the above sites I was pretty seriously disappointed.  First, the cite seems rather clunky…..or perhaps ’stodgy’ would better suit the Germans?  Eventually I get to check out the C-Class page and there is some life to the site but wait…what is that?  The Alll New 2008 C-Class.  2008?!  Umm, hello…..2010 calling.

I see this all the times.  A websites gets updated but never updated later because it is ‘low priority’ or something goofy like that.  This just kinda looks bad.  It’s like it hasn’t been updated in 3 years.  A simple edit to say “restyled in 2008″ would suffice.  Probably take all of 5 mins for their graphics guy to do and upload to the site but they let it slide and believe that noone notices.

I think I may do a little research project and record a buyer’s experience and post it up to compare all the dealers in the area….

There seems to be a relatively new trend for using a modified version of sign language for babies. I don’t know what the long term behaviour will be but the short term I have seen some pretty dumb things.

For example I’ve seen a parent get mad when their child uses a sign for milk and promptly scolds the kid with “Use your words!” This is quite contrary to teaching the kid ’sign language’ then confusing him by reprimanding for using the language he was taught in the first place.

Now there are all kinds of baby sign language books like this one pictured

So upon I see a number of useful signs, I guess. Yet I really have to question the inclusion of the sign for coffee!

What the heck does a baby need the sign of coffee? Seriously! Maybe it’s for when mom’s all tired out and baby can use the coffee sign to tell mom “Hey, get a Tim’s so you can spend the next 60 mins cleaning up after I tip this fish bowl over!”

I just don’t see this baby sign language being anything useful outside of a fad.

Smokes, castration and “Nope, no extras here”

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Learning to ‘hook’ and Hummers!

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Magic Brownies!

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Homer/Queen/Porn, T-Shirts in Walmart for sure and the “Rollback Special”

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Just eat it, Basset Hounds, Mole Mamma, Grandad’s Ghost Busters, Semen and gagging

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Every now and then you are in situations that you just simply have to take advantage of.  The other night I was hanging with some friends and the conversation went rather wild. I just had to record clips of conversation on my Google HTC Dream. The following MP3 clips are severely rated 18+/Adult.  Having said that, if you listen to them you have agreed that you are of age of majority for your respective country and not hold me liable for any of the content you hear

I’ll be presenting these over the next few days, enjoy!

Porn/Guerrilla Marketing inside of Wal-Mart and Strippers

http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-nature/emotions/happiness/being-happy/5-signs-not-happy.htm

This article, in the pathetic attempt to be some sort of authority, claims that an economic indicator is the sale of coke in a country.  Here’s a quote from the article and my response.

‘ In times of war and political strife in recent years, Coke sales have dipped; when stability returned, so did the soda consumption”

Are you kidding me?  Somehow a nation’s economy and happiness is based on coke sales?  talk about the dumbest thing I have read in a LONG time….geeze, let’s hope the sales of BMW’s aren’t affect by war either…..oh wait….

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I didn’t even bother read the rest of the article.  I’m sure other brain-dumbing and ‘not obvious to anyone with an IQ above 4′  facts are in there as well….like how a house will _actually_ get wet during a rain shower!  My god!  Car cruise nights attendance drops too!  Shocking but true!

It’s schlock like this that affirms the statement “The Internet makes you stupid.”

Personally, I’d like to know how that site gets funded when crap like that is spewed out.

So browsing my daily does of stupid, I come across this article.  it simply floors me at the lack of people’s vision.    Then again, mass media brainwashing pushes them, the education doesn’t do anything but feed fact with zero thought behind them (i.e. the blindingly obvious fact that history is written by the winners….rather one-sided information at best).  Read the article and you’ll see my response.  I’ve also posted it below as well….

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So now companies are so badly managed, as to not withstand a downturn in the economy, they turn to crying desperate pleas of ‘they are walking on our lawn!’ so that noone else can possibly sell anything that even hints at competition. Where will it stop? With Loreal now sue Sears for having a Britney Spears perfume sitting on the shelf next to it because ‘people may buy the OTHER perform because it’s trying to be like Loreal’? No different in the digital world. This is simple a shift in mentality and what, used to be called, an open market is. With searches and ads being built on keywords, how does this differ than any other advertising campaign? Maybe I should start a company called “Advertising Campaign” and sue anyone who ever uses those two words in their corporate documentation? Are people so confused that they actually believe that competition never, ever uses another company’s product to promote their own? How soon people forget their history lesson (http://legacy.lclark.edu/~nilsen/whitelaw.html). But companies will do anything to get more advertising for free I suppose….