A New Car!!

cue "Price Is Right" music --

Ta Da Daa - Da Da Daa

That's a "new" car - new to me, that is....

music winds down, and stops. -- cricket chirps --

I've not been in the habit of "naming" my cars like I've sometimes known others to do. But this one might just be worthy of a name, but I want you to help me. Submit your -- um -- submissions -- either using the comments below or e-mail me. I'll announce the entirely arbitrary winner here!

To help, here are pictures of each:


Old & Busted...




The New Hotness.

-----------------------------------------------

By the way, anybody interested in buying a slightly used car? This little number has served various members of my family for over 15 years!

FEATURES:

Radiating heat -- who wants a pesky fan blowing hot air on their feet anyway?

Dangling muffler -- you want others to not only see you coming , but hear you as well.

Nearly a quarter-of-a-million miles -- the mystique of wondering just how far it will go before it lets go is nearly addicting!

Automatic oil changes -- no need to visit your local jiffy-lube, just add a couple of quarts of the cheapest motor oil you can find and wait until it drips out the bottom of the engine -- repeat.

Crooked front bumper complete with mis-aligned headlights -- a convenient cover for nighttime highway deer shinin' -- yee haw!!

Hanging headliner decorated/shredded by random alley cat -- the foam that flakes off also adds a stylish splash of yellow to your head and shoulders!

Infinite trashcan -- sick of squeezing all your trash into those tiny little ashtrays in your car? Just throw your trash anywhere! the passenger side floormat area was my personal favorite, though the entire backseat is also available for those larger trash items -- also works for spare change!

Excellent gas milage* -- and getting better every time pieces of the car fall off from wrecks and rust! Less weight = better gas milage -- am I right, or am I right?

Speaking of right, the left turn signal works great! -- and let me tell you, it's amazing how many places you can get making only left turns! If the occasional need arises for a right turn, you get a healthy dose of fresh air when you put your window down to signal your turn manually, plus, people think you're quite friendly waving at them!


*gas milage claims have not been independently varified, your milage may vary, some exclusions apply, void in Indiana and every other state


Films Recently Seen:

Batman Begins (2005) dir. by Christopher Nolan

The Maltese Falcon (1941) dir. by John Huston

The Fly (1986) dir. by David Cronenberg

Top Hat (1935) dir. by Mark Sandrich (This guy's name woudl make Scooby-Doo hungry!)

Sense and Sensibility (1995) dir. by Ang Lee
Director Ang Lee has done films with amazing variety. He first came to my attention with his wire-fu epic, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Next, a comic-book superhero film Hulk complete with comic book style frames on screen (sheer genius, in my opinion). Having enjoyed both of these, when Lee again came to the forefront with his controversial, critically acclaimed, now oscar-nominated film, Brokeback Mountain, Lee's look at the American Western, I looked back and was surprised to see Sense and Sensibility, a costume drama/period film adapting an English literary classic among his directorial credits as well. I figured that Christy would enjoy watching this with me too, so we did. It was very well done. Emma Thompson acts in the film along with Kate Winslett and Hugh Grant, but Emma Thompson also wrote the adapted screenplay and won the Oscar for it in 1996. I've never read Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, but I could still appreciate Thompson's adaptation. She helps the viewer to understand the culture in both obvious and subtle ways. I've tried to watch A&E's Pride & Prejudice (another Austen novel/film adaptation) starring Colin Firth and got bogged down in it partly due to some of the complexities of the era and writing style. These issues are also present in Sense and Sensibility, but the skill of Emma Thompson and Ang Lee triumph here.

The Seventh Seal (1957) dir. by Ingmar Bergman

Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) dir. by Edward D. Wood, Jr.