Jalopnik
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Commenter Of The Day: Jimmy Hutmaker Edition
Though now a much loved song, "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones was released as a B-side on Honky Tonk Woman, not as its own single. In the middle of the song Jagger singsI was standing in Line with Mr. Jimmy and Man, did he look pretty ill/We decided that we would have a soda, my favorite flavor: cherry red/I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy, yeah and he said one word to me, and that was "dead"This has been taken to mean lots of things, including an allusion to Jimi Hendrix. Out favorite origin myth involves Jimmy "Mr. Jimmy" Hutmaker, an individual with an unknown condition who wandered the streets of Excelsior, Minnesota mumbling and chewing a cigar. The story is he ran into Jagger at a drugstore after a show while Jagger was getting a prescription filled (believable so far) and then ordered a Coke but got a Cherry Coke instead, then sighed saying "You can't always get what you want." We find this dubious, but we still like the story. More »
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Commenter Of The Day: Two If By Sea Edition
There's something about American history, specifically American history having to do with the Revolutionary War, that always has to be spiced about up a bit. It's not enough that a small group of citizens organized the overthrow of a global power in order to create a government instituted by men with clear thought given to the protection of minority viewpoints. That's not sexy enough. And so it is with Paul Revere's "Midnight Ride," in which he was sent to warn of the British invasion. It wasn't anything anyone paid much attention to until Henry Wadsworth Longfellow put the story to words in his famous poem. The fact is that at least three riders were sent out that night, but Paul Revere apparently works better (it does rhyme with "year"). And the lanterns were meant for others in case Revere was captured or injured, not for Revere. But people liked to get their history from poems (reality television having not been invented) so now we've got this strange memory of Paul Revere single handedly overthrowing the British and getting the girl and finding the treasure. More »
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Commenter Of The Day: The Lies We Want To Hear Edition
A lie is sometimes an adequate replacement for a truth we don't care to hear or we're not ready to hear. Sometimes, the lie is better than the truth. Did the US Government have something to do with AIDS, the Kennedy Assassination and the cancellation of South On Sunset with Glen Frey? Maybe. But we like living in a world where the bad things don't outweigh or overshadow the good. We want our first dog to be living at the farm where he has squirrels to chase and fresh air to breathe and not underneath the Oak Tree that we once drunkenly passed out under that one Christmas Eve. More »
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Commenter Of The Day: Jeffery Berman Edition
You've probably never heard of Jeffery Berman, but if you've been enjoying the 2008 Dem Presidential primary which, like the Rolling Stones reunion tour, never ends, you have him to thank. Early on Hillary Clinton had a big state strategy that centered around winning a few of the largest states and calling it a day. It was a good strategy except for one small problem: Jeffery Berman. This guy no one ever heard of figured out the delegate math and helped the Obama campaign realize that, for instance, they could match the gain Hillary Clinton made in New Jersey in the significantly smaller state of Idaho by merely trying for the state's delegates with a small ground effort. He also helped them realize that they could win Nevada while losing the popular vote in that state by winning the only district in the state with an odd number of delegates (the even-numbered districts split evenly). More »
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Commenter Of The Day: Wert Returns Edition
With Wert in Korea doing who knows what we've been trying to hold down the fort. So far, so good. In addition to nothing blowing up, all the Saabs have remained safe. You don't know what you've got until it's gone, and it never occurred to us how nice it was to have him around to do all the "grown up" work. That all being said, we did occasionally vent a few times with jokes at the expense of Detwa, the city that he loves. More »
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Commenter Of The Day: George MacDonald Fraser Edition
British authors, we love'em. Whether Dickens or Waugh, Shakespeare or Tom Stoppard, Nick Hornby or Graham Greene. Today, for no good reason, one sticks out in our heads: George MacDonald Fraser. He is probably best known for his Flashman series, in which Victorian-era cad Harry Paget Flashman sort of fumbles his way to fame and glory through most of the historical events of the time despite being a coward and a jerk. We can relate. We're also big fans of his memoir of World War Two in Burma, Quartered Safe Out Here, which recounts more factual but almost equally as entertaining wartime experiences. That being said, most on this side of the pond probably best know his film adaptation of Octopussy. More »
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Commenter Of The Day: 250 Is A Big Number Edition
Usually we try to fill this COTD slot with some obscure reference neatly (or not) tied into the day's automotive zeitgeist. Today we're going to take a brief break from that to appreciate the 250 Vintage Vehicles post, which we love as much as all of you do. Seriously, what would the morning be without a 1974 Ford Maverick or a 1981 Fiat Strada? DOTS has allowed us to give up coffee, donuts and smack in the morning. More »
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Commenter Of The Day: Rambler Classic Edition
You know what we've always liked about the Rambler Classic? The fact that after all this time the Rambler Classic is actually sort of a classic. Who doesn't remember the Rambler? It's the freaking Rambler. And though the Classic isn't as classic looking as, say, a Rambler Six, it is nevertheless a classic and not just in the way that almost any car from the 1960's is a classic. If we had the option we'd grab a Cross Country wagon, but you probably already knew that about us. More »
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Commenter Of The Day: Eric Stoltz Edition
We've always liked Eric Stoltz. We don't know why given that he's made more than a few movies that we can't recommend (Killing Zoe and The Butterfly Effect to name two) and directed episodes of Quarterlife. All that aside, he shows up as characters we like from time-to-time and he just seems like the kind of celebrity we'd like to hang out with. Anyone who saw Margot At The Wedding may have a somewhat negative opinion of Noah Baumbach, but before that he made one much better film: Kicking & Screaming (not the one with Will Ferrell). In order to get the film released they wrote in a part for Eric Stolz, who was the early 1990's indy equivalent of Samuel L. Jackson in that you couldn't make a movie without him. Despite the fact that he's an afterthought in the script, the weird performance he gives is both memorable and entertaining. More »
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Commenter Of The Day: Let's Do The Time Warp Edition
There's something about The Rocky Horror Picture Show that has always weirded us out. As much as we like campy films, transsexuality and Barry Bostwick, the film has always missed the mark with us as a campy classic (we much prefer Plan 9 From Outer Space and O' Lucky Man). That being said, the movie has been able to maintain its cult following for years. In fact, most major metropolises or college towns will annually, if not weekly, show the film along with some sort of audience participation. Having gone to school in Austin, we were always at risk of going to one of these events. One chilly November night we, along with our significant other, trekked out with some friends to see an exceptionally sophomoric version in a sparsely attended monthly showing at a theatre far north of town. It was boring and amateurish but survivable. That is until we recognized one of the performers as the sister of a high school friend. It got worse when the sister recognized us and thus directed her show towards us. Longest night ever, man. More »
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Commenter Of The Day: Boys Don't Cry Edition
Men tear up, it happens. We shouldn't deny it. And we're not talking about when you drop a battery on your foot or your team fumbles the ball on the one-yard-line in the National Championship game. We're talking about that moment when you let your guard down and an emotion, whether dread or happiness or appreciation, becomes an overwhelming presence. You try your best but it takes you over. Good art can do that. This one is embarrassing but I personally liked the show Northern Exposure when I was in school and the final episode ran when I was in Junior High. As sad as the last episode was I managed to keep it together, manhood intact. It wasn't until years later in the geography lab at college when the closing song of that episode, "Our Town" by Iris Dement and John Prine (a sad song to begin with), started playing on a neighbor's computer. Then she started singing the song. More »
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Commenter Of The Day: The Marshall Plan Edition
After World War II we were faced with the growing threat of communism and the shrunken economies of Western Europe. Equally as important, there were all sorts of countries that were going to need help rebuilding their awesome auto industries. Americans loved their Italian, (West) German, British, French and other European cars. Thus The Marshall Plan was born. We spent billions in Europe and, not only did they end up mostly loving us for a time, they gave us Ferraris, Bimmers and Citroens galore. Anyone who has read Charlie Wilson's War knows that it was proposed that we pour some money into rebuilding Afghanistan while most of the country loved us. We didn't do that. No Afghani cars. In fact, Afghanistan has been nothing but trouble. More »
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Commenter Of The Day: All In The Timing Edition
The future can only be seen in the past, meaning that we can only be wrong or right in retrospect. Today we looked back on the Giugiaro-penned Porsche Tapiro concept, which could be any of the futuristic looking designs of the 1970's. Was it the future? Not quite. Automotive design mostly went another way. That being said, the BMW M1 Homage Concept could be a future grounded in the past. A self-fulfilling future if you will. Either way, most of us enjoyed looking at the future through the eyes of someone in 1970. More »
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