It’s Monday. We had the heat over the weekend, but we also got a little bit of everything else—some sunshine, plenty of clouds, and even a healthy dose of rain. The rain was definitely needed, so it’s hard to complain too much, even if it put a damper on a few outdoor plans.

The girlfriend was out of town visiting family over the weekend, which left me with a rare stretch of uninterrupted guy time. That meant a healthy mix of gaming, movies, and doing absolutely nothing productive.

One of the movies I finally got around to watching was Longlegs. If you’re into horror and genuinely unsettling films, I can recommend it. It’s equal parts serial killer thriller and nightmare fuel, building a constant sense of dread as an FBI agent hunts a mysterious murderer whose crimes seem to have a supernatural connection. The atmosphere alone is enough to make your skin crawl.

After that, I did a complete 180 and fired up Ford vs Ferrari, which remains one of my favorite car movies. It tells the true story of Ford’s quest to build a race car capable of taking down Ferrari at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans. Even if you’re not a racing fan, the performances are excellent and the racing scenes are absolutely worth the price of admission.

The last movie I watched was Send Help, a darkly funny survival thriller that strands an overlooked employee and her obnoxious boss on a deserted island after a plane crash. What starts as a straightforward fight for survival slowly turns into a twisted game of revenge, manipulation, and shifting power dynamics. I’m still a little on the fence about it overall, but it definitely held my attention from beginning to end, which is more than I can say for a lot of movies these days.

Of course, I also caught the NASCAR race from Michigan. Since they regularly flirt with the 200 MPH mark at Michigan International Speedway, there was no shortage of high-speed action, close calls, and wrecked sheet metal. When the dust settled, Denny Hamlin was the last man standing and took home the checkered flag for the second race in a row.

And with that, the weekend is officially in the books. Time to quit screwing around and get back to work.

-keep

It’s Friday! Earlier in the week I made my way out to the season opener of the Tuesday Night Cruise Night in Plainfield, Illinois. After what felt like an endless stretch of gray skies, bitter cold, and snow-covered streets, it was a welcome sight to see the streets closed and filled with chrome, horsepower, and smiling gearheads once again! Winter may have overstayed its welcome, but it’s finally in the rearview mirror and the automotive faithful are back where they belong.

The turnout was very impressive for the first show of the season, with everything from classic muscle cars and vintage cruisers to modern performance machines on display. Owners were polishing fenders, swapping stories, and soaking up a beautiful summer evening while spectators wandered from car to car checking out the automotive eye candy. If opening night is any indication of what’s ahead, it looks like another great summer of cruise nights and car shows!

As always, I snapped a bunch of photos while wandering through the show and put together a gallery featuring some of my favorite rides from the evening. So scroll down and enjoy a healthy dose of automotive goodness, along with the usual Friday lineup of double babes and double jokes. That’s a pretty solid way to kick off the weekend if you ask me!

-keep

It’s Thursday. Who needs expensive carbon fiber when you have common cardboard? Down in Clearwater Beach, Florida, one local cyclist apparently looked at the multi-million-dollar engineering budgets of professional racing teams and thought, “Nah, I got an Amazon box and a dream.” Armed with nothing more than cardboard, duct tape, and an unwavering belief in backyard science, he transformed his bike into what can only be described as a Tour de France prototype designed by a middle school science fair champion. According to the reader who sent in this photo, the guy said the homemade aerodynamic fairings actually work, proving once again that the line between genius and insanity is only about a strip of duct tape wide!

-keep