MEDIA MEDITATION # 2: 458Italia

The 458 Italia is a mid-engined sports car produced by the Italian sports car manufacturer Ferrari. The 458 Italia replaces the Ferrari F430. The 458 Italia was officially unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show on 15 September 2009, and costs around £170,000 (Base MSRP of $230,675 for US market).

On August 24th, 2010 BBC News reported that ten 458s had either crashed or caught fire in just three months. Ferrari responded later that it was aware of the fire-related cases, and was in the process of investigating them.

On September 1st, 2010 Ferrari officially recalled all 1,248 of the 458s sold to date. A spokesman commented that the problem had been traced to adhesive used in the wheel-arch assemblies, and that in certain circumstances, the glue could begin to overheat, smoke and even catch fire.

Owners who had reported fires that were later confirmed by independent engineers, will now receive a new car. All other cars will be modified, replacing the adhesive with mechanical fasteners.

MEDIA MEDITATION # 1: Talent.

Ryan Leslie

(born September 25, 1978, in Washington, D.C.) At the age of 14, Leslie scored a 1600 on his SATs. In 1993 he applied to four University of California campuses as well as Stanford, Yale and Harvard. He was accepted to all except Yale. He ultimately decided to attend Harvard College. At the age of 19, Leslie graduated from Harvard with a degree in Government, concentrating in Political Science and Macroeconomics.

During his freshman year at Harvard, Leslie devoted many hours per week to creating and developing music in a studio basement on campus. He taught himself basic production skills and also developed a musical style. As the semesters progressed, Leslie spent more and more time in the school's studio molding his craft.

In the summer of 2003, Ryan landed a production internship with producer Younglord. He has said in interviews that he considers this 30-day internship the jump-start of his career in the music industry. Within the first week, Leslie produced the song “Keep Giving Your Love To Me” that would later be performed by Beyoncé for the Bad Boys II soundtrack. The soundtrack was supervised by Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was impressed by Leslie’s production style and offered him a management contract upon meeting him.

He is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, entrepreneur, and singer. Founder of the media company NextSelection Lifestyle Group, Leslie has produced singles for a number of artists in a variety of genres.

Click here for more videos of Ryan in the studio.

Larry David is My Hero...

Lawrence Eugene "Larry" David

(born July 2, 1947) is an American actor, writer, comedian, and producer. In 1989, he teamed up with Jerry Seinfeld to co-create the television series Seinfeld, where he also acted as head writer and executive producer. In 1999, he created the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, a partially improvised sitcom in which he stars as a fictionalized version of himself. As the co-creator and executive producer of Seinfeld as well as HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm Larry has amassed an impressive fortune north of $300 million.