I’m still going to tweak this layout a bit – I want bigger text when you read a post and more width in the post area, and I need to clean up my widgets and add more photos to more posts to make it look right – but basically, you can see it coming together.

What do you think?  Am I crazy?  Any suggestions?

Would like to thank the fellows over at WPSHOWER for the base code.  If you guys want any of my tweaks, just let me know.

And my design jaw dropped.

Here is the Sonata before:

Really – this is your run-of-the-mill, bland, mediocre, sedan.  This doesn’t say anything but functional, practical, low-cost, lazy.

I now give you the 2011 Sonata

I’m not a car guy at ALL… but this is SOOO head and shoulders above the previous model, my designer-mind couldn’t resist figuring out what is going on over there at Hyundai.  Even just pulling up to the rear end, I couldn’t believe the character it had.  Then, following the side panels to the front view, it had impressive use of line and curve to make it look both sporty and luxurious.

What a design transformation.  I would actually buy a car that looked like that.

Doing a bit more research, it turns out that Hyundai has been investing in design for the last decade, bringing up design centers in California and Germany, and are starting to pay attention to the design of their vehicles.

Way to go Hyundai.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704754604575095102431859856.html

The Orelhão is the Brazilian public phone booth which, rather than being coin operated, runs on a preloaded telephone card that you can buy practically anywhere.  You simply insert the card, make a phone call, and watch the “unidades” (credits) on the card drop to 0.  When you run out of unidades, you have to buy a new card.

This makes these little “cartões do telefone” awesome collectibles.  Because they are so temporary, they are often graced with beautiful designs, photographs, or time-sensitive celebrations.

The design of the Orelhão is quite ingenious.  It is inexpensive to make, acoustically shielded from the noisy street that it is on, and beatiful in its curves, shape, and color.  It is modern, fun, and adds quite a bit of flair to many otherwise dreary city streets.

Near Sao Paulo, in a small city called Itu, there is a really big Orelhão, a shrine to the Orelhão’s wide adoption and beautiful design.

I wasn’t a Texan when I lived in Brazil, but seeing this now certainly appeals to my “everything’s bigger in Texas” mind set.  GO ITU!