The folks I have known who were exasperated with their VW's, generally had issues with the car and with VW of America, but were more sympathetic to the dealer. I keep reading how VW wants more sales in the US market and feel that they should be viewed as a superior product to the Asian and American brands, yet their dependability ratings remain below average and brand satisfaction lags. VW's answer is to introduce a new Jetta - with lower content levels and interior quality - to appeal to the masses who might otherwise buy the better quality Asian brands. Yeah, they get it.This guy feels (not "thinks" or "believes" but feels) that VW should be seen as better than other automakers despite having inferior dependability and brand satisfaction.
In other words--according to this guy's own statement!--people don't like VW cars because they fail more often than their American and Asian counterparts. This guy feels that people should ignore such practical considerations.
Back in the air-cooled days, VW made cars which were cheap, dependable, easily maintained, and fun. Somewhere along the line, though, VW turned into a hipster douchebag brand; these days they're overpriced. If they're less reliable than similar cars which cost less to boot, why should anyone buy them?
* * *
Only the police chief was left after arrests in that California town where the elected officials were paying themselves exorbitant sums of money.
Coincidence?
* * *
No "Contract on America" bullshit here but I'm sure the Democrats and their friends in the media will find a way to twist the words.
* * *
Ace drops a train on Mike Castle.
But yeah, dude -- Cap and Trade? DISCLOSE? Your supporters, your voters, were passionately against those things, and you would have known that had you bothered to ask them, but you didn't, so STFU, Loser.Emphasis his.
* * *
I knew Meghan McCain was a moron the instant she said anything. This is the review of her book which says, "It is impossible to read Dirty, Sexy Politics and come away with the impression that you have read anything other than the completely unedited ramblings of an idiot."
Heck, I felt that way after reading one sentence from her.
The mainstream media, of course, loves her to pieces, because she purports to be a Republican and supports all kinds of lefty-liberal causes. The mainstream media would support Adolf Hitler if he had voted the right way--did support him, in fact, until he turned on Stalin and attacked the USSR. As it is the mainstream media looks longingly at the state constructed by Mao on the bodies of some fifty million political murders and wishes they could do that, too.
* * *
The season premiere of House, MD was pretty good.
I don't know--when I see the warning come up for "sexual situations" on that show I groan inwardly, because nearly all the time I don't want to see it. The way they generally portray love and sex on that show is incredibly non-erotic, to the point of being distasteful. But this time it wasn't so bad. By that I mean it still wasn't good; it just wasn't as bad as usual.
...generally Hollywood is no longer capable of showing a romantic scene which is actually, y'know, romantic. It's all sweating and heaving and tonsil-licking and frantic disrobing, which looks more like "lust" than "love".
Actually, it looks more like "we just hosed these people down with gorilla aphrodesiac!" or "we're electrically stimulating the part of their brains that deals with sexual desire!" than anything remotely approaching love. Of course, a lot of folks out thataway don't know the difference, anyway.
Out: tender looks (except when it's man-on-man love)
In: ripping off your clothes while tongue-wrestling
*sigh*
In fact, it's somewhat indicative of how Hollywood does things. Tender looks being the province of homosexuality now comes from the fact that most people don't want to watch butt pirates in action; they'll stop going to the movies if they have to watch a lot of men pounding ass and packing fudge. But Hollywood can now show all kinds of heterosexual action without anyone raising an eyebrow, so the director can get out the waterproof camera and go for all kinds of hardcore shots.
(Note: the phrase "butt pirates in action" sounds like the title of gay pr0n. It probably is. NO, I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW. Google works the same way for me as it does for you; if I really wanted to know, I'd Google it. I haven't. You do the math.)
Generally speaking I think sex scenes ruin the plot flow of movies. I mean, unless it's a love story, does it really add anything to the story if you spend five or so minutes on people humping?
The love scene in Watchmen is a great example. Like Dr. Manhattan's dong, if it hadn't been in the comic book it wouldn't have been in the movie, but--again, like the dong--the movie spent way too much time on it.
* * *
Anyway, so next up is Smallville. There are two basic reasons I still watch that show:
1) Habit
2) Allison Mack.
That's it. I've been watching the thing since it first started showing; generally speaking I like most of the characters and I find the show entertaining. It's kind of fluff, but mostly entertaining fluff and it rarely pisses me off.
Besides: Allison Mack. Enough said. Okay? The instant she leaves the show is pretty much when I stop watching it; I already decided that. It entertains me, but my tolerance for fluff is pretty low. Allison Mack makes everything okay.
Shows that routinely piss me off don't last long. I stop watching shows that irritate me.
Example: ER. I watched it from about midway through the first season, and really liked it until it started being the "Carter whines about being rich" and "Carrie Weaver is a lesbian!" show. Then I stopped.
I have some simple advice for a trust fund rich guy like John Carter: If you don't like being that rich, transfer your trust fund to me. You can earn your own way in the world--shit, you're a doctor; you'll live well!--and I can relax and watch anime. Everyone's happy: you no longer have to feel guilty for being so rich you could buy the hospital, and I no longer have to worry about where the money's coming from.
He whined about how his grandfather made the money he's in charge of. (Grandpa had the gall to sell coal during the Depression and earn a profit! That BASTARD!) He whined about how the foundation was administered. (As soon as he was put in charge of it, he changed it into some kind of health care foundation.) He whined about how awful it was that he didn't have to work. (He worked at a city hospital in Chicago. He may not need the money but the hospital hired him because they needed his skills. Isn't that enough?)
I just want to hit people like John Carter with a tire iron. I didn't think he was noble; I thought he was an idiot. I got very tired of his "poor little rich boy" crap precisely because it was nothing but crap. You don't like being rich? Don't be rich! Give it all away! But if you're not going to do that, then don't sit there and whine about how terrible it is while you continue to live in the mansion and sit on the board of the foundation and play at being a doctor in your free time. Okay? If you don't want to work for a living, keep the money--but do not then complain to the rest of us who do have to work for a living about how terrible your life is and how awful it is that you have to deal with all this filthy money when you just want to help people. You're not noble; you're stupid and a hypocrite and your guilt just looks like self-pity.
And "Carrie Weaver is a lesbian!": God damn it, that was irritating. It's like the production staff suddenly realized, "Hey, we don't have a homosexual in our series!" I guess after Gedde Watanabe's gay male nurse stopped showing up they realized that they needed someone to be openly gay, and it had to be a main character rather than a token backgrounder. Since Carrie Weaver never had any romantic relationships in the series (ever) suddenly--without any foreshadowing whatsoever--she turned lesbian.
The writers' exploration of the usual issues (that every damn series with a homosexual character explores quite literally ad nauseum) were tedious and heavy-handed--moreso than usual--and when her lover's parents tried to take away the child her lover had borne of an anonymous sperm donor I stopped paying attention. (Two women can't have a baby without help from a man. Nature is giving you a clue about the viability of a family with two mothers and no fathers.)
Shit.
...it pissed me off, all the good characters had left the show years earlier, so I stopped watching.
Smallville is entertaining; but besides that: Allison Mack. Smallville entertains me, but my tolerance for fluff is pretty low. This kind of thing fixes that:
What more do I need to say? Really?