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stickydiljoe

'Stickydiljoe' aka Joey Lee is a freelance photographer, writer, and creator of The Chronicles.
Attacking The Streets Of Long Beach In A Civic Type R… CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #18

Attacking The Streets Of Long Beach In A Civic Type R… CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #18

We went to the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach this past weekend to support friends and see some racing. What makes this racing event so unique is that it takes place literally on the streets of Long Beach, California. Originally I had planned to go so that I could document Amir Bentatou’s RS Future K-series turbo NSX. A few friends were competing for Global Time Attack’s portion of the event for the first time but he unfortunately ran into some engine issues the day prior. With tickets and time already set aside to go to Long Beach, I went and sought out a perfect candidate to be our substitute; Jose Mejia’s Art of Attack Honda Civic Type R. I had always wanted to do some in-car footage of Jose’s FK8 on the track but it just never happened—Until now.

A 450-horsepower turbocharged Civic with an aggressive driver on a street course in Long Beach, what could go wrong??…

Honda Homecoming 2021 Coverage… Part 2…

Honda Homecoming 2021 Coverage… Part 2…

Hmm… I, uhh, kinda don’t have anything else to say about this event. Lol. I think with the previous post and it circulating online as well as through social media, I developed a good understanding of how people feel about it. If you’re on the inside, you’re gonna defend the position of those who were and have always been a part of this event. If you’re not, you either have a good grasp of what I was trying to explain or simply do not care enough about it to give it your time. Some of you are just here to see photos. I wouldn’t say that there was a wrong or a right. It’s just all dependent on perspective. If anything, I saw it as a small social experiment to see how people would react…

Honda Homecoming 2021 Coverage… Part 1…

Honda Homecoming 2021 Coverage… Part 1…

Hopefully many of you have seen the Vlog episode about this event and have heard some of my thoughts on it. I was expecting a more polarizing response but I suppose people are familiar enough with this event, since its been around for some years now, and have already formulated their own thoughts on it. I was never even supposed to go to this event and was brought in last minute as a guest of sorts, so I won’t be too harsh about my criticisms, lol. I’ll actually be very nice about it, okay? Because overall, it’s a good event. Correction: it’s a very VERY good event—if you happen to own an S2000, an NSX, or an FK8. If you don’t own one of those models, you don’t have to give a fuck about this, because they don’t give a fuck about you either. And that’s as blunt as I can put it. I feel like it would have been necessary to call this the “Honda Homecoming” with an asterisk at the end, because it’s not really “Honda” vehicles as a whole. It’s just those three particular platforms I mentioned with a sprinkle of Integra Type Rs and display vehicles brought in by vendors.

Honda Homecoming 2021, The Secret Event We Weren’t Invited To… CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #17

Honda Homecoming 2021, The Secret Event We Weren’t Invited To… CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #17

While I was off on a little vacation in Hawaii, @HondaPro Jason sends me a message about a massive Honda event held at Honda headquarters in Torrance, California. I had no idea what it was, can’t say that I had ever heard of it before, and was also told to not speak of it until it happened. I was intrigued. He asked me if I was interested in going because he could try to get me a pass but I’d also have to wear this t-shirt and risk getting my family kidnapped if I didn’t follow the rules. Maybe that last part wasn’t true but it sounded serious after he showed me the 30-page instruction booklet and NDA to not post anything about it.

I’m terrible at keeping secrets so I went and filmed it. Here you go.

The Hoonigans Club Days 2021 Coverage…

The Hoonigans Club Days 2021 Coverage…

Most of you will probably have noticed that I went on a little vacation for a week to Hawaii. It was a bit of an impromptu decision but I had been itching to get out of California lately. I’m so used to traveling I was honestly getting a little too comfortable being at home all the time so I wanted to get away. When Sara told me that she had to go to Hawaii to film a new project, I decided to tag along. This would not only provide me with the opportunity to catch-up with some friends out there, I’d also get to experience Hawaii from the point-of-view of someone who had lived their for half of their life. I grabbed all my camera gear thinking I might be able to see some car stuff out there but because of the current state restrictions, I found it difficult to host a meet or do anything car-related. After I checked into my hotel, I also realized that the WiFi was super spotty there so I couldn’t even get any work done—so I was forced to treat it like an actual vacation and did absolutely nothing…

Meguiar’s “Portrait of an Icon” 2010s-Era Shoot…

Meguiar’s “Portrait of an Icon” 2010s-Era Shoot…

For the fourth installment of the Meguiar’s “Portrait of an Icon” series, we head into “The High-Tech 2010s”. This one was a difficult one for me because I wasn’t able to tap into my ‘nostalgia’ bag since the 2010s were just a few years ago.

I had to consider what were the big trends of that time, be it pop-culture or automotive, and 3 things immediately stood-out to me; bolt-on widebody kits, digital streaming services, and well, not to toot my own horn but—The Chronicles. I thrived in the 2010s and I don’t think many would argue that my work was very pivotal to the growth of Japanese tuning culture during that time.

The Chronicles Midsommar 2021 Coverage…

The Chronicles Midsommar 2021 Coverage…

Behind the scenes, I’ve been quietly planning to do a meet over at the shop all summer long. The Chronicles & Coffee meets here have always been pretty solid but the main issue was being able to house all the cars and people that want to attend. Our facility isn’t particularly big and realistically, you can’t even fit 50 cars in our front lot without having to block most of the areas going in and out of the complex. I remember specifically there was one that we hosted here where I felt a sense of panic because it got so full that people could barely get passed the entrance gate. I started announcing these meets later and later with the last few going public less than 24-hours before. It alleviated the crowds but I felt like a lot of the older guys who aren’t online much would end up missing the event because they would see the announcement much too late. That and a lot of these enthusiasts have families and jobs now so a 24-hour turnaround isn’t exactly something most could factor into their schedules…