Most people use their job as a way to get a car. Dorian Valenzuela, however, is not most people: he used his 1970 Alfa Romeo Giulia 1300 Ti to land a job, in this case at Singer Vehicle Design, where he helps create that company’s bespoke Porsche 911s.

Nor did Valenzuela follow the typical path to a career in the automotive world. While still in university–where he was studying transportation in the hope of one day working on a race team–he applied for an internship at NASA and eventually landed a position at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Valenzuela would go on to spend more than ten years in the aerospace industry and some of his work, in the form of the Mars rovers, can now be seen roaming around that red planet.

Always a car enthusiast, Valenzuela spent his evenings and weekends at home wrenching on his Alfa and Porsche 964. One day, needing parts for the Porsche, he responded to an advertisement and found himself walking into the Singer shop, just outside of Los Angeles. The clean, classic builds and attention to detail in the Singer cars immediately resonated with him, as he shared similar goals for his Alfa. Once the folks at Singer got a look at that Alfa, they agreed. Valenzuela soon found himself changing careers, moving from the space age to the world of vintage (or, at least, vintage-looking) cars.

Given the time he’s invested in the car and the doors it has opened for him, it’s hardly surprising that this Alfa Romeo has a special place in Valenzuela’s heart. Indeed, as Valenzuela puts it, the car is an extension of him and while he doesn’t consider himself an artist, this car is absolutely a work of art.

More films, articles, and photos: Petrolicious.

Angelika Ejtel, Dallas, TX, USA.

The true measure of a man is not his intelligence or how high he rises in this freak establishment. No, the true measure of a man is this: how quickly can he respond to the needs of others and how much of himself he can give.

P.K.D.

ALMEEVA + Gavin Miller and Thomas Ragsdale + Lucy Claire + Anna Peaker & Teresa Winter.

The Poet is a kinsman in the clouds
Who scoffs at archers, loves a stormy day;
But on the ground, among the hooting crowds,
He cannot walk, his wings are in the way.

C.B.

Mount Kimbie – ‘Blue Train Lines’ ft. King Krule. Taken from the album ‘Love What Survives’.

“The Blue Train Lines video is a fictional re-creation of two Anthropologists (Robert. F. H and Theodora. K played by Raf. F and Tegen. W) who have been called in by the authorities to study a man they seem to believe is the last of the Yahi of California.

Upon stumbling into civilisation in 1910 the man unknowingly became the life’s work and obsession of a pair of human scientists who housed and cared for him while they studied his every move.

However, the story takes a turn when the pair fall out and one of them tries to sell all his belongings on eBay. Luckily, the buyer, who goes by the name ‘Frank. L’, acquires all of the wild man’s things, only to reinvest them back into further studies in a tale exploring the lines between student, teacher, collaborator, scientist, historian and friend. Rest in peace Ishi”

Directed by Raf Fellner & Tegen Williams.

The strength of a person’s spirit would then be measured by how much ‘truth’ he could tolerate, or more precisely, to what extent he needs to have it diluted, disguised, sweetened, muted, falsified.

F.W.N.

Koan (Suduaya Remix) + ErinStereo + Pional + Bachar Mar-Khalifé (Almeeva remix).

Life has but one true charm: the charm of the game. But what if we’re indifferent to whether we win or lose?

C.B.