Mythical 27

This being the second big racing weekend in Montreal, I feel like doing another race related post. No worries, there will be a bit of EVE news at the end :)

In Quebec culture, two elements of sports are venerated almost to the point of religious fanaticism. The first is obvious, the Montreal Canadiens hockey team. 100 years of history, 24 Stanley cups, and names like Richard, Lafleur and Roy make sure of that. The second element is Gilles Villeneuve, who is celebrated as one of the greatest of the greats even by his own peers. On that dark saturday morning, the 8th of May 1982, Gilles' 126 C2 was wearing the number that have since become a token of success in racing, at least for us Quebecers: Number 27. I know it sounds stupid, but this number is seen almost as a good luck charm, even after it had been worn in one of the nastiest car crashes ever to occur in Formula One. Here is my little pictorial of the number 27 in Quebec racing history.

The car that started it

In 1982, Gilles Villeneuve was at the top of his game when in Belgium he got a bit too aggressive in qualifying, trying to beat his teammate Didier Pironi, and he hit Jochen Mass's slow-running March on the rear right wheel. The Ferrari's ground effects got unglued from the track and the car litterally took off, tumbled, and ejected Gilles. To this day I still think how awesome it would've been if Gilles had had better luck and survived to do battle with then up-coming Alain Prost, and a couple years later Ayrton Senna. There's your Holy F1 Trinity right there!

Like father, like son

This past May, just before the Indianapolis 500 race, I wrote a post about Jacques Villeneuve winning the race in 1995. Here's another picture of JV's Reynard-Ford, the car that could do 505 miles faster than the others could do 500.

Ferrari 412 T and No. 27... winning combo!

Limousine service provided by Michael Schumacher, no less

Only 2 short weeks after JV had entered racing history, the Canadian Grand Prix was taking place on the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. And it is here that Jean Alesi got his only win in his lenghty career. The fact that Alesi was a Ferrari driver, and that Montreal is very well-known for its Tifosi population ensured that the post race celebrations were nothing short of chaotic, with people storming the track as the cars were still on the finishing lap trying to get to the pits. Alesi's car didn't make it to the pits though, running out of gas a few turns after the finish line. Seeing Alesi stranded on the side of the track, a certain Schumi stopped by to offer limousine service for the victory lap, one of the greatest show of sportsmanship I've ever seen from him.

And the future? JV in a Sprint car sporting the Right Number

Why not! Andrew Ranger winning the NASCAR Canandian Tire 100 in Montreal

Although he's never run a full season in NASCAR, Jacques Villeneuve did manage to get in a few races, and not without a certain amount of success. In 2008, in a rain-soaked Montreal NASCAR 200, JV was litterally showing the NASCAR pilots why the track is named after his dad. The extreme weather caused his windshield to fog up during a caution lap and he unfortunately rear-ended another car. The weather was so bad the race had to be cancelled, and victory was given to Canuck racer Ron Fellows. At one point in the race 4 canadians were in the top 5: JV, Fellows, Patrick Carpentier and Andrew Ranger, all 4 making mince-meat of drivers who have never set 4 wheels on a wet track. It should also be known that JV has won in Montreal in 1993 Toyota Atlantic, and though he's hit the Quebec Wall twice he has had some good runs in F1. To come back to NASCAR, last year JV came in 4th at the Montreal race, and other Quebecers have also done good: Patrick Carpentier finished 2nd in 2007's inaugural race, and Andrew Ranger won the 2008 Canadian Tire 100, in none other than a car sporting the mythical Number 27. To get even crazier with this, in 2008 Jacques Villeneuve entered the 24 Hours of LeMans with the Peugeot Team and got 2nd place, beaten only by Audi. Audi's car was sporting the number 2. The Peugeot car, number 7. I tell you, mythical !!!

To tie in with EVE Online, I will admit that as a great fan of Gilles Villeneuve, all my Claw interceptors are called GV27. And I have had some luck with 'em! Speaking of EVE, yesterday was my big night of hauling in preparation for the corp switch, which should be done this coming Sunday. So this is officially my last post as a member of Letrange's ChaosStorm Coporation. It's not like I'm leaving the alliance though so I'll be seeing him around (plus he lives like 15 minutes from my place!). The new corp (which will be announced after all is said and done of course) is starting to concentrate its assets in one place, and soon we should start doing roams and hopefully racking up kills. It's been a long time since I rockn'rolled :))

Remember, speed is everything.

Fly fast.

o7

Post race edit: No. 27 prevailed again as Ranger won the CT 100 once more, and track heir JV got 3rd place in a chaotic 200.

Good job les gars !!!

Friday's Electric Lunch Hour

For those who do not know, my job has this very cool feature about the schedule: I get off at noon on fridays. Yes, hate me please! So I've decided to put my own spin on the weekend opener blog post. Crazy Kinux has various videos, Ga'len has revived WDA's Fail Mail, Roc Weiler has recipes, Kirith has fiction, so all those were taken. So I'll go with my number one passion: music. But I'll warn you straight away, I like my music loud, weird, or both. Once in a while I find something that can make the toughest bullies cry. Some tunes will be classics that everyone know, and others will be more obscure stuff. And once in a while I'll put in something from Quebec's best bands so you can practice your "joual québécois". So grab that cola or beer or whatever drink you fancy, crank up the volume, and annoy the crap out of the neighbours :))

On the EVE front, the changes announced by Letrange and I are getting under way, and now I have a lot of hauling to do. Unfortunately my buddy Si Gong had to put his account on ice a while ago so his Orca can't be used. Oh well, at least I don't have too much distance to cover, for now. The official corp switch isn't quite here yet but things are getting ready.

Until next time, fly loud.

o7

Mindboggling

Just watch this:



Now I need to find 1.6 million quid...

*sigh*

Changes, from another point of view

As Letrange has mentioned, changes are in the air here at AMC. It would be useless to repeat word for word the reasons behind the changes because everyone can read his blog entry about it, but while Let will be out riding chokobos, or fragging Zergs, or putting on his virtual general's stars to frag Axis forces, or allied forces depending on the scenario, AMC will still be up and running in New Eden. Finding a replacement for Letrange as Alliance leader wasn't really hard; the mention of me taking over ChaosStorm and thus becoming CEO of the alliance executor corp was so funny it could never have been taken seriously. Just imagining myself at the helm of an essentially carebear alliance kinda freaks me out :)

As it stands right now I'm spending the majority of my time in Wspace, but because of my weird playing schedule it's not the economic boon it should be. Add to that the fact that I lost two expensive ships (one is replaced, the other can wait) and that I do get out once in a while for some The PvP but unfortunately I'm one of EVE's worst solo PvPers (!) means that I'm not exactly as rich as a 35mil SP veteran should be. But I don't care about the ship losses, the tide will turn at some point. Plus, with the reshuffling of the alliance corps this will be the perfect opportunity to start a true combat wing the way Letrange envisioned it; not all the players in AMC are miners and industrialists... some of us are happy only when we see pretty 'splosions, and human 'splosions are always better than NPC 'splosions.

So what is "The Plan"? Well for starters the very few active members of ChaosStorm will be leaving the corp; the only characters to remain will be Letrange and whichever alt he has that's in our corp. Then we will do what we should have done a long time ago, which is concentrate the PvPers under a single banner and stage them in one area at any given time. Too often have I heard "This system is hot!" only to travel 15-20 jumps to find one or two young characters in Local and no one in space. Or "we have invaders, let's fuck 'em up!" only to find out that the entrance wormhole is 40 jumps away. We have learned a lot since the introduction of wormholes into EVE and "helping" usually turns into sob stories. People living in W-space have learned to fend for themselves, to either get rid of invaders if it's possible, or to lay low until the intruder gets bored if it's not. Some asshats don't get bored easy but such is the nature of EVE.

But the most important part of the PvP Revival Plan: the corp that will be designated as the PvP corp will be recruiting. In short, we need new blood. We need players who are active and ready to go out on ops, but casual enough not to freak out or get bored if things are a bit quiet. We're not looking to become the next Alliance Tourney winner, we just want to have some fun. Of course if the alliance becomes at war or some intruder becomes a bit more pesky we will rally the entire alliance, but the main goal of the PvP wing will be to stay always ready by the only way I know, practice. Now we won't go crazy with SP requirements or ship fits set in stainless steel; actually the initial requirements will be quite low because we want people willing to learn as opposed to an army of veterans who all think they have "The Solution" to any particular problem. As of now nothing has been decided for things like the HQ, logistics, etc, but as Letrange's departure approaches these things will become a bit clearer. More detail as things unfold!

To Letrange: dude, I once again thank you for introducing me to this awesome (even if some bits are flawed) game 2.5 years ago. Right off the bat you pointed me to the right people to put me on a fast track to PvP, and it was a great pleasure to put to use what I learned there to help you with AMC post Apocrypha. I hope your break does everything you want it to do for you. And I can tell you one thing, you will be missed. Of course I'll still keep in touch with you about EVE happenings over beer and/or scotch and/or a delicious Number 2 at Magnan's :))

I don't say this often but I'll say it this time: fly safe.

o7

Piwatty backstabbers

The dirty deed: http://andreaskyes.blogspot.com/2010/08/goodbye-python-thanks-for-stuff.html

The reaction: http://evenewb.blogspot.com/2010/08/friendship-is-rare.html

The re-reaction: http://andreaskyes.blogspot.com/2010/08/fuck-you-too-spectre_13.html

Moral of the story: piwats are about as trustworthy as diamond-back vipers.


Sorry, I just had to post about it cuz this is some of the funniest EVE drama I've seen in a long time. Keep up the great work guys, and please have a recorded convo of you two yelling at each other available for download.

God I love this game :)))

o7


Edit: I don't give a flying fuck if this is just another massive troll. It's funny and pathetic at the same time, real or not.

Shore leave, part II

Well it is confirmed, that cliff-side tyrolian line overlooking the St.Lawrence is one badass mofo !!! I sort of bent the rules a bit cuz I did it twice :)) The various suspended rope bridges can be quite a bitch though; make sure you are 1) in shape and 2) not suffering from vertigo if you want to try any of the activities there.

Next up on the Gaspesian menu: the Cap-Chat International Kite Festival. Why is this the best place for this? Easy: Cape-Meow as I love to call it has Quebec's biggest wind farm, so it's the perfect environment for kites. I'm just back from a walk along the shore and I got litterally sand-blasted (oh yeah... surf's up dudes !!!) so all the kite pilots will be having a ball. The RC plane guys... maybe not so much.

So that's it for now. Fly like Cape-Meow's wind.

o7

Shore leave

Do not expect any EVE related posts from me for the next couple of weeks. I am currently chilling out in Haute Gaspésie in the town of Cap-Chat and my only internet-related activities will be to get news and check up on the family.

Upcoming activities:

Arbre en Arbre: arboreal fun on the Cap-Chat Rock cliff. Awesome! That tyrolian over the St.Lawrence looks killer. Can't wait to try it !!!

Various sea and maritime related museums (example): The place is filled with 'em, and the lighthouses are epic.

Sea food: lobster for the price of a Big Mac trio? YES PLEASE !!!

Hiking in the Chic-Choc mountains: Moar Epicness.

Getting cuddly with my girlfriend: yes, Gaspesian girls are hot-blooded :)))


So until I return, fly hard and deadly.

o7