gti_jesseOG 2002

Jesse Tamburri arrived in October 2002 with a Volkswagen GTI obsession so defining that he named his account after it, introduced himself with "Hello my name is GTI Jesse and I'm an addict," and immediately suggested the site could use "more pictures of Volkswagen GTIs" as a classy touch. He was a graphic designer from New Jersey who ran a website at tamburridesign.com, and his commentary had the confident energy of someone who believed his opinions were backed by professional authority — his analysis of Kmart's new logo as "one of the most technologically advanced breakthroughs of the twentieth century" pivoted seamlessly into genuine design critique about color theory and BP/Amoco comparisons. He interacted most closely with malibu, thatdarngirl, and delliott101, and he ran with the NJ crew that traded car insults like currency — rocksupastar claimed to have seen "a gti get burned by a saturn," skaorsk8 demanded they make a movie about how cerbrato couldn't eat cheese, and Jesse fired back that Subaru WRXs explode at 50,000 miles while Audis keep running thanks to "amazing German engineering," prompting iwz to nervously check his WRX odometer.

In February 2003, Jesse launched V-DUB Productions with Dan Cerato, a film venture whose subject matter would "of course" be GTIs, and he posted a trailer promising "tricked out gti's rollin on big rims." He attended eight events — manhunt games, thefunkyfresh's post-marital engagement party, the Band From Society shows — and was still sharing music recommendations with iwz as late as 2006. web-toedchloe, who happened to work at a law firm, once looked up the actual New Jersey statute for him on pleading down a speeding ticket, which tells you everything about the kind of driving that came with the GTI lifestyle.

eZabel Personality Type: ESTP — "The Gearhead Auteur." Jesse was a man of exactly one brand and infinite confidence, the kind of person who could turn a comment about house prices into a dig at Pennsylvania and a defense of German engineering in the same breath. His 25 comments were short, punchy, and invariably entertaining, and every single one of them somehow circled back to cars.