Bonus! Song o' the Day!

The Aquabats!, "Yo, Check Out This Ride!" from the Yo, Check Out This Ride! E.P. (Captain Thumbs Up!)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Ereyesterday

Mittwoch, 21. Januar
The Link Quartet, "Alfa Romeo Duetto" from Beat.It (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: "Duetto" is a nickname for the Alfa Romeo Spider, the iconic roadster produced in four generations from 1966-1994. Above is a highly customed third generation Spider (1982-1990).

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Ereyesterday

Montag, 2. Dezember
War, "Low Rider" from Why Can't We Be Friends? (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Autobahn: 100,000 & Counting…

The Shuttlecraft Odysseus has reached 100,000 miles! I did not watch the odometer tick over to 100,000 miles—it would have been dangerous & irresponsible to drive with my eyes fixed on the odometer instead of on the road—but I did glance at the odometer at 099,999 miles & then again at 100,000 miles. I was on my way to a Eucharistic procession & holy hour of adoration, & I cannot think of a more fitting journey on which to cross the 100,000 miles threshold.

I look forward to another 100,000 miles, if I act as a good steward of the Shuttlecraft Odysseus. 200,000 miles, here we come!

Autobahn: 99,000 & Counting…

After recent trips to & from Mackinaw City (gateway to Mackinac Island) & Xanadu in verdammt Ohio, the Shuttlecraft Odysseus's odometer has ticked over to 99,000 miles. I missed the Lumi's odometer ticking over to 100,000 miles & the Malibu Stacey was wrecked before she ever reached that milestone. Within the bounds of safe & conscientious driving, I hope to witness the Shuttlecraft Odysseus's odometer ticking over to 100,000 miles. Stay tuned.

Autobahn

This afternoon, while motoring through Grand Blanc, I espied a remarkable sight: A Pepto-Bismol-pink Maserati Quattroporte sporting the vanity license plate EATCAKE. Whether this is an exhortation to eat cake (of the carpe diem/you only live once variety) or an echo of Rousseau's "let them eat cake" ("Qu'ils mangent de la brioche"), I leave it to you to decide. I found the pink paint to be garish, but was at the same time delighted with the coincidence of the day before being the Laetare Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, on which priests & deacons vest in pink. (Technically, the vestments are "rose," but I have little patience for clerics who are persnickety about wearing rose not pink, yet casually refer to their usual Lenten vestments as purple when theliturgical color is technically "violet.")

Commentary The pink Quattroporte above is not the car I saw—I was too busy driving to take a photograph—but the fruit of an internet image search for "pink Maserati."

Bonus! Song o' the Day
Real Can of Yams, "Always, Grand Blanc" from the Nothing Can Kill the Grimace E.P. (Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Explorers' Club, № CMXI

The Porsche 911—In continuous production since September 1964, through eight generations, the 911 debuted as the 901, until Peugeot objected to the name; distinctive for its rear-mounted, flat-six engine, the 911 has endured several attempts by Porsche to replace it; in motorsport, 911s have won races as diverse as the 24 Hours of Le Mans (as the 935 Turbo) & the Dakar Rally (as the 953).

Semper exploro.

Bonus! Song o' the Day!

The Aquabats!, "Demolition Rickshaw!" from Charge!! Special One Year Anniverdsary Edition (Captain Thumbs Up!)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAfter Party

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "Decide" from When God Was Great (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Bonus! Hello Rockview Song o' the Day

Less Than Jake, "Five State Drive" from Hello Rockview (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: In a delightful coincidence, "Five State Drive" is the R.B.D.S.O.T.D. on the very day the valiant Wolverines of Team 142 are playing against the conniving Cornhuskers in Lincoln, Nebraska, which is a five-state drive from Ann Arbor, Michigan: Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, & Nebraska.

Go Blue!

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

"Weird Al" Yankovic, "She Drives Like Crazy" from U.H.F.: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' America o' the Day

James Brown, "Living in America" from Rocky IV: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"Super highways, coast to coast, easy to get anywhere,
On the transcontinental overload,
Just climb behind the wheel, how does it feel?
(When there's no destination) that's too far
Somewhere on the way, you might find out who you are…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

The Wombats, "Girls/Fast Cars" from The Wombats Proudly Present This Modern Glitch (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"I'm a man of simple tastes,
No whiskey or caviar,
And what I feel is what I say,
I'm not trying to be smart.

"I like girls, girls and fast cars,
You too will feel this shallow
When one melts your little heart…

"I like girls, girls and fast cars,
It's cheap and it's pathetic,
But you can't hate me just because…"

Operation ÖSTERREICH: Exodus 90, Day 94

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in
Last weigh-in: 308.4 lbs
This weigh-in: ?
Difference: +/-? lbs.

'Tis the Wednesday within the Octave of Easter, one of eight consecutive days of mandatory feasting. (No fasting allowed!) As long as my recorded weight is stuck at three hundred eight pounds (308 lbs.), I thought I might as well take advantage of the connection, however tenuous, to the Ferrari 308 G.T.S.

Bonus! Lied von ÖSTERREICH
Mike Post & Pete Carpenter, "Theme from Magnum, P.I." from 100 Greatest T.V. Themes (The Last Angry Magnum)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: Go Blue!

The University of Michigan Marching Band, "I Want to Go Back to Michigan" from A Saturday Tradition (The Last Angry Wolverine)

Commentary: Alas, once again I shall not be present @ the annual Homecoming game, this year due to my favorite day of the year to be a Knight of Columbus, the M.I. Drive, A.K.A. "Play in Traffic Day"!

24 HEURES DU MANS | 12:42:00

L.M. G.T.E. Pro
The European-based duo of Porche 911s (№ 92 & № 91, above, in heritage liveries) continue to lead in class, while the American-based duo both had trouble: the № 93 spent time in the pits with alternator troubles & the № 94 retired. The much-faster-than-in-qualifying B.M.W. M8s have come to (relative) grief, with first the № 82 & then the second-running № 81 losing several laps in the pits with damper issues (in American automotive parlance, we call those shocks), the latter also suffering on-track damage from contact. The № 64 Corvette ran into mechanical trouble early & continues to circulate near the bottom of the running order, while the sister № 63 is running a respectable seventh, one lap down from the class-leading Porches.

L.M. P.1
The petrol/electric hybrid Toyotas continue to run multiple laps ahead of the purely petrol-powered privateer P.1s, with the № 7 leading the № 8 by one & a half minutes, a little less than half a lap. The progress of the № 8 was slowed when it had to serve a one minute stop-&-go penalty for speeding in a slow zone.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

The Wombats, "Girls/Fast Cars" from The Wombats Proudly Present: This Modern Glitch (The Last Angry Man)

Commentary: The actress & Stanford alumna Skyler Samuels (girl) & the Alfa Romeo 4C (fast car).

"I'm a man of simple tastes,
No whiskey or caviar,
And what I feel is what I say,
I'm not trying to be smart.

"I like girls, girls and fast cars!
You too will feel this shallow
When one melts your little heart,
They melt, they melt, they melt your little heart!…

"I'm a man of simple taste,
No chewing on fat cigars,
And what I feel is what I say,
I'm not trying to be smart.

"I like girls, girls and fast cars!
It's cheap and its pathetic,
But you can't hate me just because
I like girls, girls and fast cars!…"

Wayback Machine '15 & Wayback Machine '17. Looking back, it strikes me as odd that "Girls/Fast Cars" was not the R.B.D.S.O.T.D. at any point in 2016. No wonder 'twas such a widely detested year!

Bonus! Song o' the Day

The Puppini Sisters, "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" from Christmas with the Puppini Sisters (The Last Angry Man)

Commentary: The snow appears to have stopped, but all through the afternoon the wind blew & the snow fell & fell & fell, the first blizzard of the winter making the roads genuinely perilous.

Autobahn

Last week, on the same day, I espied both a B.M.W. i3—precisely as ungainly & downright ugly to the Mark I eyeball as in photographs—& a Chevrolet Bolt. Is the future electric? I cannot say, but if it is, let us hope it looks more like the Bolt than the i3, so that even if the internal combustion engine will be dead, beauty & aesthetics will yet live.

Bonus! Song o' the Day

The Wombats, "Girls/Fast Cars" from The Wombats Proudly Present: This Modern Glitch (The Last Angry Man)

Commentary: In the foreground, a girl, World Endurance Championship pit-lane reporter Louise Beckett, & in the background, a fast car, the Caterham 7.

"I'm a man of simple tastes,
No whiskey or caviar,
And what I feel is what I say,
I'm not trying to be smart.

"I like girls, girls and fast cars!
You too will feel this shallow
When one melts your little heart,
They melt, they melt, they melt your little heart!…

"I'm a man of simple taste,
No chewing on fat cigars,
And what I feel is what I say,
I'm not trying to be smart.

"I like girls, girls and fast cars!
It's cheap and its pathetic,
But you can't hate me just because
I like girls, girls and fast cars!…"