Catching up with this entry....

Okay, just to catch up with some stuff:

The car is sold! She was loaded on an enclosed carrier and shipped to Michigan. The new owner is exactly the kind of owner I was looking for and promised to give her a good home. I think a GT TIAL and full motor rebuild is in the works for her...DAMN, you're looking at MONSTER power at that point, like SEVEN HUNDRED HP or thereabouts. He'll keep me apprised on his progress. Driving her down the street for the last time and watching the carrier drive off was like saying goodbye to a very good friend. The new car love affair has certainly blunted my sadness abit.





Re. movies, you all know how much I love esoteric symbolically laden transcendental flicks that require 100% concentration and participation on the part of the viewer, but my favorite movies this year didn't fit this mold. In terms of this last batch of Oscar flicks, I have some gripes:

The Reader: Slow and plodding, and as theDiscourser mentioned, I neither cared for nor wished to identify with any of the characters. But re. the emptiness and confusion at the end; my wife and I discussed this at length afterwords. Most if not all Holocaust subject films make the attempt to discover or uncover or reveal certain "truths" or "meaning" about a certain aspect of the systematic slaughtering of millions. "Life is Beautiful" was a lesson in courage, "Shindler's List" put on display quiet heroism, "The Pianist" destroys all illusions about so called inherent humanity, etc,etc. But in "The Reader", the film-maker made no attempt to reveal any truths....none....and that was his intention. The viewer is left feeling empty. At several points in the film, he gave it away:

Lena Olin's character was asked "what did you learn?" with her experience at the death camps and she responded "Nothing...there was nothing at all to learn". Hanna Schmidt was asked twice, once by the tribunal and again after years of incarceration by Feinnes character. The tribunal asked her "Why? How could you?" and she gave NO answer that came close to satisfying anyone's desire for meaning and closure. And after years of incarceration, she was asked again "What have you learned from all of this?" and her response resonated with Olin's, "What is there to learn? The Dead are still Dead". And I suppose that was the point. Move on and live your life. The past, however devastatingly tragic it might be, is still the past. You've survived. And the last scene of the movie typifies this sentiment; Fiennes character unburdening himself of his past and making his first steps at repairing his relationship with his daughter...all of this juxtaposed against Hanna Schmidt's grave.

"Slumdog Millionaire" was certainly NOT the best film last year. In my opinion, it wasn't even the best Indian film last year! But I get why it won. I see most Hollywood garbage like I see fast food: easy, brainless, dumb, and yummy. No effort is required by the viewer, you just open your mouth and say "AHHHH", and they feed you greasy yet delicious fat fried food. The hook with Slumdog is that the American 18-35 yr.old demographic will taste it and think "Wow, this tastes like a double cheeseburger!" and not realize they've just eaten steamed vegetables. The movie is soo appealing that most American's won't even realize they've watched a tiny small budget foreign film, experienced a different culture, and cheered on lead protagonists who were Muslim. "Foreign" to Hollywood are: the night shots in Budapest in some explosion ridden spy-movie, the bad guys, the bad prison guards, etc. And can you name any movies with attractive likable Muslim leads except perhaps last year's "Kite Runner"? So I understand why it won...but it wasn't the best film last year.

My favorite films last year surprised even me. I loved "Vicky, Christina, Barcelona". Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johannson, and Bardin (the serial killer from "No Country for Old Men") what more can I say? Such a smart film. And I loved "The Dark Knight" and "Ironman"....yes, big budget Hollywood films, but I'm a sucker for anything Comic and both both these movies were AWESOME. "La Misma Luna", a Mexican film about the immigrant experience...soo cute and heartwarming. And my favorite film last year was...and I'm actually embarrassed to admit this..."Wall-E". I loved everything about his film, it was pure magic for me, just absolutely brilliant...and certainly NOT for kids.

Anywayz, gotta go.

The intrapsychic and spiritual underpinnings of the "Zombie Holocaust" fantasy.

My buddy TheWarden is ready, prepared, and looking forward with great glee and satisfaction to the End of Civilization via Zombie invasion and infestation. He offers survival tips and recommendations in his blog: "Leadedcoffee.blogspot.com". You'll see that I'm not kidding.

Regarding intra-psychic and spiritual underpinnings, let me first describe the more common Judeo-Christian example.

My Mother is a devout Christian of a particularly fundamentalist type. And much like most fanatical religious views, the most fervent have core beliefs that have been internalized into working intra-psychic mechanisms. Let me first qualify that the original text from which theses beliefs have its genesis do not necessarily over emphasize these particular beliefs...that instead, the respective cultures have over centuries developed deep and rich symbolic history in art and literature which have amplified certain aspects of certain stories within the text.

Just to clarify my overly circuitous language with an example: Hell. When comparing the extent to which the Bible discusses Hell to the extent to which our culture has richly elaborated this concept in literature, song, imagery, and government throughout the centuries, you see how this particular notion/concept has easily captured our imaginations and placed a degree of emphasis not commensurate to the Biblical text.

Now regarding the intra-psychic spiritual underpinnings, the point I just wanted to make is simple, actually: that we believe what we believe because it meets both our spiritual and intra-psychic needs. My Mother searched for years to find a system of beliefs that made the most sense to her, that suited her particular psychology, that gave her the greatest comfort, and gave her the greatest sense of purpose. I don't fault her for that...and I don't fault theWarden for choosing his own particular set of beliefs. To theWarden, an End of the World scenario involving Zombies suits him, gives him great purpose, and gives him (albeit a perverted) sense of comfort.

I categorize and easily elevate theWarden's beliefs to the realm of the Spiritual given the striking similarities between aspects of his psychic mechanisms with those who believe in the more common religions:

- Both see themselves as "enlightened". TheWarden believes he is a member of an enlightened few who are strong enough and willing enough to see the "Truth" about things to come.

- Both evangelize their beliefs. TheWarden wants to help you save yourselves when the Zombie shit hits the fan.

- Both foresee an End of Days where there is Judgement. This is a KEY element. TheWarden sees the masses of people as mostly "complainers and whiners" and power "cannibals and petty warlords", where morals, ethics, values, and even common courtesy have devolved irrevocably. And in the end, it is these who will be judged and "exposed to sheer horror", as he puts so well. This is theWarden's Hell for people on Earth, it is a World not only of chaos, but of ZOMBIE chaos. Chaos is simply not enough for the Warden, but he wishes for the worst possible end as a means of "punishment". And I'm sure there is something deeply scarring in his personal history with respect to this oral theme of being eaten alive as is with me and being "possessed" by Satan in its truly personally horrifying fear of being totally out of control of my impulses and wishes...but I digress.

- To emphasize, Judgment AND PUNISHMENT are concepts shared. For theWarden however, ZOMBIE PUNISHMENT is transformed...he REVELS in other peoples agony and terror but escapes his OWN guilt regarding this desire by inserting and exposing himself to the same terror and potential agony as all those being punished. However disturbed this sounds, I find it no more disturbing than the Judeo-Christian much sublimated wish for the wicked to "Go to Hell".

- And as with the Biblical End of Days, even the Meek and the Righteous shall suffer, but those who have prepared themselves spiritually will be saved. Do I need to say more about the "Preparedness" issue with theWarden? TheWarden is prepared...and much like other types of believers, he is strengthened by his preparedness, resolute in his strength to persist, and righteous in his wish to save others.

I have to stop here but I should say that we all have certain beliefs and even wishes, however irrational, about how our world should End if it ever does. These fantasies speaks specifically to our individual psychology and most of the time alert us to our psychic foibles and scars. For me, I have several, and all are completely irrational but serve me psychologically. I'll share them with you as theWarden has at another time. In any case, given my attraction to Sci-Fi and the time-travel genre, I have a disturbed fantasy of having each and every human alive today wake tomorrow in the world as it was just after the Ice-age; no buildings, no power, no government, no laws, no rules, no metal, no money, no ships, no cars, no TV's, no sneakers, no shoes, and just the clothes off your back and your determination to survive, and ultimately how how little or how far each person would be willing to compromise their Humanity in the course of their own survival.

Regardless of how I've come across in today's entry, I nevertheless enjoy theWarden's blog and have at times we've even gleefully discussed specific Zombie scenarios...because in the end, you never know....

I've found a buyer!

The last 2 weeks have been a mad dash to get the car up and ready for sale. I won't bother you with all the little details but thanks to NTT's Brain, I put up an Encyclopedia of an Ad on blogspot at stage3s4.blogspot.com. He took some great pics.

I could have completely blanketed the web with Ad postings on Audizine, Craigslists, Autotrader, and even Ebay. But I want my car sold to someone who knew all about the Love/Hate relationship and constant tweaking involved in owning a Stage III car. I chose just Audiworld and in just a couple of days I was inundated with nearly 20 different emails form folks all over the Country! One thing to note re. my price...it is ludicrously low. Eight months ago, before our Country's economic downturn, Stage III cars were regularly selling for 16-18 and up. Lately, they've been selling for a pittance and the Stage III community is up in arms. After posting my Ad and the asking price on Audiworld, a board that I've been a member of for several years, I was greeted with some angry remarks about how I'm ruining the market on Stage III's with my price-point. One guy even called me "High" and another one an "Idiot". Several folks came to my defense saying that the price was fantastic but its also what the market will bear at this time. If I priced it at 14, I'd wait months to find the right buyer...oh well.

So, back to the potential buyers. Several of them shot out emails stating "What's it do on the Dyno bro!?"...needless to say, I told them that they probably weren't the kind of buyer I'm looking for. Several others mentioned that this would be their daily driver, another bad sign.

But one guy blew me away with his email. He said all the right things; owned a B5S4 in the past, current owner of two other Audi's including a bad-ass B7 S5 (checked out his profile on Audiworld), and he's an Audiworld senior member. Says he absolutely loves my car and wants to buy it as a project car, a car he can drive on the weekends, and eventually build up to a true MONSTER. Says he is acutely aware of all the problems they can provide but has fallen in love with the Pictures...apparently he wants EXACTLY my car: a black on black 01.5 Stage III with Reiger RS4 bumper and totally immaculately clean...that's my car. A buddy of his came by to look at the car last night, and he had a brand new BMW 335 Twin-turbo! His friend told me that the buyer is soo excited about my car that he's having trouble sleeping!...and his girlfriend is complaining! I just got the deposit to take it off the market and he's arranging for a covered trailer to trailer it back to his home in Michigan! He'll be sending me the balance when he schedules the pick-up. We've been chatting on the phone and going back and forth via email and this guy reminds me of myself in the way I get out-of-control excited about car-shit.

I could not have found a better home for my car, I tell ya.

I am 40 frickin years old...

Superbowl Sunday marked my Birthday. I am 40...my God, I'm an old man. I'm middle-aged for Christ's sake! YARGH! But I look in the mirror and I kinda-sorta look like I did when I was somewhere in my late 20's...I even fit into the same clothes, work out with the same vigor, lift the same amount of weight, and can even RUN now! An activity that was sure to make me puke in my twenties. I can still pretty much eat whatever I want. My tri-glycerides are minuscule, my blood-pressure is still bafflingly low. I still have my hair, though its receded just a bit, but certainly not even close to balding (knocking on my particle board desk as I write)...and I only have a few little white hairs sprouting from my side-burns. And on rare occasions, I even garner a few looks from younger women. I CAN'T BE FORTY!!

Then again, I need more sleep than I used to...I'm simply wiped out if I don't have a good 7 hours. I actually get bags under my eyes the morning after poor sleep. Furthermore, my memory, which has always been horrid, has failed me more often than I'd like. Also, younger people's clothes look more and more ridiculous to me. And I can't drink at all...I get hammered after ONE drink. And to get into summer beach shape, I need a hellavalot more than 2 weeks of heavy working out. And when I get a cold, it lasts a good TWICE as long as it did in my early 20's. And more and more, I'm looking either over or under my glasses to read something. Come to think of it, after being stooped over for any length of time, my back needs more time to uncoil. I guess I am getting older.

I suppose I'll hit that proverbial wall in my mid-40's...or later, I hope. In any case, I'm going to try my darnedest to stave off physical middle age.

But regarding my Birthday, the Discourser, his wife, and MY wife threw me a surprise Birthday Party and I was completely caught unawares! No clue at all...or rather, every clue pointed in the opposite direction. I spent the evening before with theCraftsman and he didn't drop one hint. Rave-Boy even called me and pretended to ask me to game with the guys on Saturday night, going so far as to post a bogus group email to solidify the ruse. I was completely blown away!

When I walked into Havana Restaurant, the host even said "...oh yes, Supergoober, party of four, this way...". I was soo convinced that I wouldn't have a party that when I rounded the corner and saw Moose's towering head, I thought to myself "WOW, what an incredible coincidence! The Moose is here!". But then I saw the Professor and Rave-boy and then I realized what was up.

Thanks to my wife for all her work and her frightening ability to keep a secret. The Food was great...I had Paella and a what seemed like several plate fulls of appetizers. I had trouble breathing given my distended abdomen. I had a fabulous time. I feel a little bad about the cost of dinner so I've decided to make a little of it up next time we game where I'll be ordering take-out for the crew.

And just a few shots of Dinner.

The Menu:



And despite telling myself I wouldn't show faces of friends on my Blog, I've broken that rule with the next two. My apologies. The Craftsman's wife and the Acupuncturist were there. At least you two are photogenic so consider yourself lucky! That's a Mojito in Mr. Acupuncturist's hand.



Gaming at the Hob Nob: