Hat tip, Paul Robichaux.
Oct 262008
Citing declining revenues, as well as continued lack of American interest in the sport, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile today announced that for the 2009 season, it would import NASCAR’s fan base into the fan base of Formula One, the highest class of open-wheel racing and generally abbreviated as F1.
Associated further changes are expected. Effective next year, Formula One will be renamed the NASCAR F1 Copenhagen Long Cut Series. The schedule, to be released in the next few weeks, is expected to include stops at Talladega, Daytona, Bristol, and Darlington. Many traditional NASCAR sponsors will also begin fielding F1 teams.
NASCAR fan reaction is mixed. Jerry Leathers of Cullman, AL, is excited. “We’re fer that Argentinian feller what don’t speak no English,” he said. “WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” he added.
On the other hand, Martin Andrews of Anderson, AR is disappointed. “How can they trade paint with the damned tires stickin’ out?” he lamented. “Who the hell ever heard of a Mercedes race car?” he continued.
F1 fans welcomed the change. “Sharing this fine motorsport with our transatlantic brethren shall be a fulfilling cross-cultural experience,” said Scheid Ankarr of Amsterdam. “Additionally, I am given to understand that our concessionaires shall begin offering something called ‘Miller Genuine Draft,’ which I look forward to sampling.”
Oct 252008
Yipes! Is it really nine months since our last date?
Lea and I went out tonight for dinner and a movie. We went back to Surin and ordered exactly all of the same things we did the last time, but our chocolate martinis, though still reasonably tasty, were not at all what we had last time. That was a big part of the reason Lea wanted to return, so that was a little disappointing. Otherwise it was a great meal.
Next up was Appaloosa. Lea first suggested we see it together a couple of weeks ago. Westerns aren’t my favorite, but I’ll watch and enjoy anything that’s well-acted, and the cast looked promising. (We did wind 
up watching it two hours later than we planned because dinner took just a little bit too long for us to catch the earlier showing.)
It’s a nice, solid steak and baked potato of a film. You’ve eaten it all before, but it’s a damned fine cut of meat, and it’s expertly prepared. It’s full of well-crafted characters saying and doing well-crafted things. The sets are marvelous, as is the camera work. There are no wasted scenes.
I’m going to pick at it for one thing, though. This might be the most trivially-rated R film I’ve ever seen. The tip-it-over content was easily omissible (a handful of “fuck”s, basically; I think the brief and faraway shot of Renée Zellweger’s bare bottom would have flown in a PG-13).
And that’s what it should have been rated (for violence and language). The art of this film would not have suffered a tenth of a percent, and an audience open enough to include unescorted 13-year-olds would have been a good thing (given a lot of the other fare pitched their way).
We made excellent use of six hours tonight.
Oct 242008
- Today is the first all-day sweatshirt day of the season.
- Two weeks as of yesterday.
- “Minuscule” is one of the most frequently misspelled words I encounter. I’ve always suspected that minimum/minimal breeds “miniscule.”
- Watched a bit of Game 2 with Charles last night. Baseball in high definition makes me wish (a little) that I still followed it closely.
- An old classmate of mine sent me a note yesterday telling me that my blog cracks him up, and that he “(bets) the campaigning is (my) playoffs and the election is (my) super bowl.” What a cool thing to say. I’m really trying to keep election stuff to no more than every third or fourth post, because I know even folks who are interested get tired of it. Hell, I get tired of it. Nevertheless, I have two or three more posts planned between now and Election Day, and I’ll ratchet it down considerably after that.
- Terrence Howard is out and Don Cheadle is in for Iron Man 2, reportedly over financial differences. Too bad. I like Cheadle generally, but Howard did a great job in Iron Man.
- Oh, and Barack Obama is still not a socialist. Keep moving. Nothing to see here.
Oct 222008
You’d never know it from many media sources, but a lot of the polling has gotten interesting in the past several days. That unstable old lunatic and that detestable cover girl bitch just might make a contest of this thing yet.
If McCain does pull it out, go ahead and brace yourself for months of tortured flagellation over the Bradley effect, as I fear there shall be no reasonable explanation whatsoever for an Obama loss but creeping, insidious racism.
Heh. Love to be wrong, mind you. I’d like to think disagreement with his agenda would plausibly explain such a defeat to anyone seeking insight on the question. But I think the temptation to sit around examining and reflecting upon just how fucking rotten we all still are, whether said rottenness is real or imagined, will just be too great.
Incidentally, Sarah Palin gave me a good chuckle today in a piece of a People interview:
People interviewer: Tina Fey plays you sort of bubble-headed.
Sarah Palin: That’s funny. I play her bubble-headed too when I imitate her.
Less than two weeks to go, folks. McCain supporters: Don’t give up. Obama supporters: No worries. Obama’s The One. He has it in the bag.
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