September 10, 2008
sign of the times
A Vegas Hummer dealer is switching to SMART.
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comments:
- Michael Smith: Joel’s Dream Date: Phantom Menace; Cat urine cologne; Deron.
- Joel Bernstein: For the record, if you pay to see this, you are no longer my friend.
- Deron Bauman: Meow.
- Joel Bernstein: This must be why I fuck so many cats.
- Michael Smith: Seems to me the experiment almost does itself.
- Casey Cichowicz: No. It is not possible. I can assure you.
- Joel Bernstein: Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes?
- LaurenH: I’m with those who say get that girl out of that household. The father has now very effectively...
- Rick Neece: Holee sh..!
- Rick Neece: Asian calligraphy, ‘cept instead of a brush, hot glass. The image of her controlling the glass and...
- Rick Neece: For the gull-wing, I’m sure it would knock me in the chin every time I opened it.
- Marco: Oh god yes.
- Rick Neece: Chuck, testes, testes, One-Two-Three. I can hear you breathing. (TAP,TAP,TAP) “Is this thing...
- Joel Bernstein: Chuck Testa
- Rick Neece: I know the Jag has gone through changes since Ford owns the company. It makes me a little sad for the...
“Towbin’s will be the eighth HUMMER dealership to close this year so far.”
Good.
I want a SMART car.
A friend of mine had one of the first SMART cars in Dallas, and she just sold it. She couldn’t take all the attention–people honk and stare and want to talk about it all the time. She also didn’t feel safe in a city still dominated by Escalades and Hummers. She sold it for quite a bit more than she paid for it, to a couple frustrated by the long wait for a new one. She bought a little Nissan hatchback–not as fuel efficient as the SMART, but still a responsible choice.
To be honest, the SMART cars MPG isn’t all that impressive, “The fuel economy is 33 in the city and 41 on the highway” ever since they made the engine different from the Euro model.
It is still a responsible choice but a Honda Civic is better for MPG (40 MPG city) than it.
Thanks for making me feel better about my new Civic, but it doesn’t get 40 MPG, ever. Maybe the Hybrid does?
Yeah, it’s the Hybrid. I neglected to mention that.
Have I ever mentioned that my 49cc Aprilia SR 50 gets 100 mpg and that most good quality scoots that go highway speed can reasonably get 70 mpg?
Mine arrives October 2nd! Yay!
Oooh, tells us how you like it.
Andrew, I wasn’t aware that 49cc’s were highway speed or highway legal. In California anyway, they aren’t classified as such. Also, it kind of sucks that you have to get an M2 license to drive them.
My mountain bike uses no petrol.
My old Schwinn road bike used no gas either on our 50 mile Labor Day ride. Of course, we had to drive 30 miles out of the city to find pleasant riding conditions, but beyond that
It was cool to see the Smarts in Europe. And within a lot of those old towns with narrow streets and slow speed limits, they make a great deal of sense. I can’t imagine being in one on an American highway or freeway. I’d be scared to death. If I lived in a nice little town like Fredericksburg or Bisbee or Sedona, it’d be cool.
Ok, can somebody explain what you mean by smart? Do you mean, small car? Most cars over here are small compared to American cars. Until recently, at least.
Mike, I love long road trips and rides too, but I’m living about 12 miles outside of a city here, right now, so it’s kind of perfect bike commuting distance. This is a perfect place for a cycle trip, also. County Clare. Incredible.
Lucy, Smart Car is the actual name of the tiny car in the picture. Like Ford or Lexus. (Or is it the model name and not the actual make? Shit, I guess I could look it up, but I’m too lazy.)
I might like to ride a bike if it didn’t involve going outside.
Sounds nice. I could ride around here, but it’s pure selfishness that makes me seek out wooded trails, hills and country roads. Skyscrapers are fine, as is countryside. But the suburban in between–which stretches on here for miles–is intolerable.
Yes, I remember my first taste of America was actually the suburbs of Nashville, Tennessee! I was amazed to be in a place where ‘suburb’ literally meant 60 miles outside of downtown. And then downtown Nashville itself, which is so sucked dry. It is such a strange place. I had such a strange, particular time there. Big roads are not much fun to ride on. You’re just watching out for your safety and the cars are just so close to the bikes here in Ireland, with our comparatively narrow roads. Denmark was amazing in this respect. The whole country is cycle laned. Even the highways. Where do you live? By the way, I really dug your camera obscura room. That was inspiring. Also the cat tail on the return.
Lucy–have you seen the Jim Jarmusch movie Mystery Train? It’s set mostly in Nashville (or is it Memphis?) and is wonderfully strange.
Also, about bicycles used for transportation: I read a study recently that showed that since food is the fuel–it actually costs more per mile on a bike than driving a car does, in many cases.
Andrew–I drove a motorcycle for many years. It was great, but the heater was bad in the winter and the AC wasn’t so good in the summer. Also the roof leaked bad and purchases had to be small.
I love Mystery Train. I saw it and Dead Man in a double feature at the New Beverly, years ago.
It goes well with a croissant.
Daryl Scroggins, Mystery Train takes place in Memphis, which is home to Graceland.
That you haven’t learned this after all these years makes me feel like such a failure.
Yes I saw Mystery Train a few years ago too, when I discovered and devoured as many Jim Jarmusch movies as I could eat. I need to watch it again, thanks Daryl. Memphis was my second taste of America, after Nashville. It was also intensely strange and particular, but definitely friendlier and more fun. It was also where I was held up with a gun. That is another story.
Re-bike costing more in terms of food than gas: well I like my beans, but you gotta fart a hell of a lot to emit that much greenhouse, dude.
Sorry Cindy. Things run together a lot these days. At least I can still quote good lines from it! “You gonna eat that?”
My favorite J.J. film is Down by Law. I also like it that J.J. himself appears for a moment in Sling Blade; he works at a fast food place and wears a paper hat.
got any more exotic fruits from around the globe?
Roy Orbison.
Lucy! Forgive the boast, but I happen to be a Pooter Extraordinaire! It might have something to do with my high fiber vegetarian diet. I’ve actually wondered in recent years if I’m contributing to global warming.
Some flockers know that I can poot at will. I especially like to poot in quiet museums, and I sometimes use my gift to imply that another person has pooted–a kind of poot ventriloquism.
And I love beans.
Poot poot poot
Hey, man. My name IS Dave.
So this is the perfect moment to introduce a note on the etymology of ‘fart’ in the Danish language, and thank you for this opportunity, Cindy.
In Danish, ‘fart’ is rendered, ‘prutte’. Pronouncing ‘prutte’ is not as easy as it looks, Danish is fiendish. And so if you imagine the sound you make when you are really really clearing your throat in the attempt to gather sufficient resources for a really good spit, the kind that is going to really impress the object of your affection, then shorten the sound, and put that sound right after the ‘p’ in ‘poot’, add a little ‘eh’ sound at the end for affectation. Well, now you know how to fart in Danish. God bless you.
Thank you, dear Lucy. I believe I can do this, having seen Babette’s Feast numerous times. (By “do,” I mean both to fart in Danish and to describe it using proper pronunciation.)
Who says Americans can’t learn other languages?