We made our annual visit to the 2006 Twin Cities Auto Show at the Minneapolis Convention Center on Saturday, and this year’s show was probably the best in the few that I’ve been to. All of the major domestic car makers had some major new car design concepts to unveil and they all looked great. Here’s my top five from the show:

1. 2008 Dodge Challenger
This design blows the other retro/new muscle cars off the road. I had seen images of this online prior to the show, but didn’t believe it could possibly be real. When I was making my way through the Chrysler cars and saw this beauty off in the distance, I almost ran to it. What a cool car.

2. 2008 Chevy Camaro
Doesn’t quite grab me the way the new Challenger does, but I think GM came up with a very nice design for the new Camaro. You can see the elements from the late 60’s Camaros in this design to go head to head with the late 60’s style new Mustangs. The new Camaro seems a little more inventive and original than the new Mustang or the new GTO, I worry a little about how consumers will respond once this car hits the show room. Is it a little too much?

3. 2008 Shelby GT 500 Mustang
I didn’t think it would happen. Carroll Shelby and Ford’s relationship was rumored to have been ended forever back in the 90’s, but with the new Mustang coming out I think everyone craved a new Shelby Mustang just enough to bring it back. Although I’m a huge fan of the 67 and 68 Shelby GT350 and GT500 Mustangs, this design just doesn’t seem to get me as excited about the car as the original 60’s cars. The Saleen Mustang that was at last year’s Twin Cities Auto Show was actually a lot more impressive. Let me see the new GT500 in another color and I might change my mind. Dark blue with white stripes? Black with silver stripes?

4. Ford Relfex Concept
Sure, it kind of looks like my electric shaver, or a toaster, but there’s something really special about this car design. It appears futuristic, yet seems very retro at the same time. Gee, retro sure is the trend these days in car design, isn’t it? Often times a concept car won’t appear to fit in with a car brand’s line when it’s not a redesign of an existing car. Ford’s concept car last year didn’t look like a Ford at all, it was more like a Jaguar or a Porsche. With this concept, I think they pulled it off. This really looks like a Ford. I wouldn’t expect to see this on the showroom floor anytime soon, but I’d like to see elements from this design start to show up in new Ford cars.

5. 2007 Pontiac Solstice
Pontiac has always been a favorite car brand of mine, and the new Solstice is a really cool car. When I saw one outside my local Arby’s a few weeks ago, I thought it was a BMW. The cool thing about the Solstice is that although it looks a lot like a high-end BMW roadster, it’s about 1/3 of the price. It certainly borrows elements from a BMW roadster, but it still has the unique Pontiac look that makes it a great new car.

Out of these cars, which would I buy? I’ll take one Challenger and one Solstice, please. Out of the show, the car I’d be most likely to buy would be the new Pontiac G6 2-door GTP. I’ve really been loving my Grand Am and think the next generation of my car is a nice step forward. The G6 looks great. As for Lizzie, she still refused to let go of her loyalty to Kia. She was very impressed with the Kia Sportage and Kia Sedona SUVs. Seems like a realistic choice in the next year or so as her car will be paid off within the next year. Then we’ll be looking for a new one for her, and the Sportage seems to be her first choice after being at this show.

I’ll have a full gallery up in the Photo Album soon like I do every year. For the time being, I put photos of the best cars, including multiple angles of the Top 5 I’ve been talking about on the PhotoBlog.

Now that I’ll be writing here a lot more often, I’ll probably review a few movies every month. Recently I saw a couple of pretty good ones.

The Brothers Grimm. I went and saw this in the theatre last week, and I really liked this movie. It’s an action-packed, adventurous, suspenseful, funny, and magical film, not to mention the cast was pretty solid (minus a couple of the supporting actors). The Brothers Grimm is a story that sheds light on a good number of our childhood fairy tales. Although this movie is a fairy tale itself, it creates a humorous, adventurous nature to the Grimms tales, giving the viewer a visually stimulating tale of fantasy that is a pleasure to watch.

One aspect that I really didn’t care for in the movie was the stupid French character that was assigned to accompany the brothers on their task. I realize he wasn’t meant to be a likable character, but he certainly didn’t make a very good villain either. He was more of an annoyance. Most of the time I couldn’t even understand what he was saying. When he wasn’t talking he was acting retarded. The part was played by Peter Stormare, who you may remember from Armageddon, in which he played the Russian cosmonaut. In The Brothers Grimm his character will grate on you like a sour lemon or fingernails on a chalkboard, and not in any kind of good way, but in a bad movie you don’t want to watch kind of way.

Aside from that, the story was ultimately pretty well laid out. Special effects were handled wonderfully with technical expertise, but not so much that you were beaten to death with them. Some of the scenes, particularly in the forest, were not lit very well. The occasional dark scene can add suspense to a film, but too much leaves you wondering “Who was just in that scene?”

Ultimately, it was a pretty good movie and worth an afternoon’s diversion.

Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. This just came out on video recently and I wasn’t planning on seeing it, but Lizzie borrowed it and so I figured what the heck, might as well check it out. I had never really heard of The Hitchhiker’s Guide before this movie came out, and I’m glad I hadn’t. All the old school cult-followers of the book, the radio show, the tv show, and the older version of the film seem to be pretty unhappy with this film. I usually never enjoy a movie after having read the book either, and that’s obviously the case with those that didn’t enjoy this film. Having nothing to taint my experience I found this to be very enjoyable. It’s cute, funny and very weird in a Monty Python meets Star Trek kind of way. It was a really nice change of pace from what I’ve been watching the past few years.

Not much to talk about regarding me this weekend, so I thought I’d give a little book report. Got tired of spending my lunch hours listening to talk radio in my car, so I’ve gotten back into reading again, and I’m glad I did, because I recently stumbled upon a great story.

I just finished reading “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini. The Kite Runner is a gripping tale of a family that grows up in the politically torn nation of Afghanistan. Hosseini weaves in the turmoil of everyday life under the Russian occupation and the hell of the Taliban into the story, all the while the fabric, heart and soul are ripped from the country and it’s people.

The story is at its best when the writer puts you in the land of his childhood, which seems like an idyllic place to grow up, and also during the main character’s relationship with his best friend. As the story unfolds, your heart goes out to the people of Afghanistan who were vitimized by the events of the past three decades in their country. At its core Kite Runner is a human story that educates the layman about a war torn country that has garnered a ton of media attention over the past 4 years.

Amir, the main character and narrator, is hard to like at first while reading. He lives his life with his eyes closed to the sufferings of others as he was taught from birth. But once you start to feel how much his guilty conscience effects every aspect of his life, you truly start to truly feel sorry for him. The main theme of this story is Amir’s struggle to realize, and then reject, his false attitude of superiority. In the end, this is a novel of self-realization, and a kind of personal emancipation from prejudice and ingrained cultural discrimination. It’s also a novel of salvation, hope, and faith.

Ultimately, The Kite Runner is a beautifully written, powerful, and interesting portrait of the life of an Afghan family. I highly recommend this book.

You’ll see a few additions to the sidebar of the journal. I’ve added a live weather feed so you can see what it’s like where I am while you read my posts. Also, there’s a weekly poll, which I’ll use for current events questions or even things I personally could use a little help with. And then I’ve added some “currently” links that show what I’m reading, listening to (music), and what I’m watching (movies). I just thought you might be interested in all that.

I’ll try to get those Brainerd photos up this weekend, so watch out for those. See you next time.

Lizzie and I went out and saw “The Incredibles” last night and I think it was definitely one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. I’m a big fan of all the Pixar movies such as Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Monster’s Inc, as well as the Dreamworks animated movies such as Shrek, but out of all of those “The Incredibles” is definitely my favorite so far. The Incredibles was excellent in every way, unexpectedly so and an absolute must see for adults and children.

I went knowing that I’d enjoy the movie to some extent. I was surprised to find that it was incredibly well written, acted, and the artwork was just outstanding. I left the theater with a goofy smile on my face, and we discussed the film all the way home. Timeless, intelligent, and extremely humorous. What more can I say? Go see it and find out for yourself!

Driving home Saturday morning I noticed a lot of people in orange walking around the fields and trees, which means deer hunting season has started in Minnesota. Knowing this made me kind of nervous driving down the highway, Minnesotans aren’t exactly known for being the best hunters in the world. You hear every year about hunters shooting each other accidentally, or farmers’ cattle getting shot because the hunters can’t see that it’s a cow and not a deer. I started laughing hysterically when I came up on a farm that had big huge orange coats on its cows, they looked awfully silly but it’s a pretty smart idea to keep your cattle from getting shot at.

I’m sure we’re all winding down now from a very big week last week. On Tuesday, the Dunkin’ Donuts crowd prevailed over the Starbucks crowd. The leaders of both crowds talked about finding a common ground and finding a way to end the division that has resulted in this country from the campaigns. I think this idea is fabulous, it’s what I’ve been saying all along. Lattes at Dunkin’ Donuts and Glazed Doughnuts at Starbucks. It will be a much better country to live in. Just kidding, I mean finding common grounds politically in this country, of course.

I must say, I’m very glad this election is over. I’m glad it wasn’t close, and that it isn’t going to stretch on for months like it did in 2000. I’ll never forget this election, though. I’ll never forget all the heated arguments, the hundreds of thousands of protesters at the RNC in New York, the biased media (for example the forged CBS News documents that CBS says were “fake but accurate,”) and i’ll never forget about all the other vicious attacks, complete disrespect, and conspiracy theories thrown at the President of the United States which really backfired on them with the people in this country who like to hear optimism over pessimism. All I can say is that the Democratic party really needs to change their platform if they expect to win in 2008. No more “I’m better because I’m not George Bush” or in next time’s case, “I’m better because I’m not of the party of George Bush.” The hate and pessimism, as I’ve said all along, really backfired on them. They need to stop trying to be like Michael Moore, basically. Sorry, his version of reality isn’t as popular as you think.

I look back at past elections and I don’t remember the contenders that lost all that clearly, but I will always remember Kerry and Edwards, especially from their concession speeches. I didn’t feel good about Kerry especially because of his consistent support of partial birth abortion, his inconsistent and incoherent stance on the war made me very nervous, and his incoherence on other important issues didn’t give me anything to support him for. The one social issue I disagree with the Republicans strongly on, he didn’t either support or oppose.

However his concession speech brought out a different John Kerry than I had seen throughout the entire campaign. It brought out a man that was truly emotional and sincere. He gave a very statesmanlike, cordial concession speech, and conceding rather than fighting was a very honorable thing to do. You could tell Edwards would have rather had it his way and continued to fight it until they could find a way to win. I guess that’s just the way lawyers are. Edwards’ concession speech was a whiny, sniveling diatribe, and I bet Kerry is now wishing he would have picked a better runningmate. I hope that’s the last we’ll see of Edwards. If Kerry can come up with a stronger platform and coherent stance on the issues, maybe he’ll be a stronger politician someday.

The news media is already bored now that the election is over and there’s no lawsuits or recounts. So they are already speculating about the 2008 election, which I’ll talk about some other time. Heck, we have four years to talk about it, it can wait. There’s also a lot in the news about the Scott Peterson murder case, and I can honestly say that I don’t know enough about it to say if he’s guilty or not, I just flat out haven’t paid any attention at all to it until now. I do find it very interesting and appropriate that he’s getting charged not only for the murder of his wife but also charged for murdering the fetus inside of her as if the fetus was a living human being. But this just really brings up a point that baffles me. When a mother wants to keep the child but it’s killed we recognize that it’s a living human being with rights just like the rest of us. Bu when the mother doesn’t want the child she can just murder it through abortion because it’s just “a glob of flesh” and not actually a human life with rights. Interesting. Anyway, if he did it, I hope he gets all they can give him. Just as in the abortion vs. capital punishment point where liberals say conservatives are hypocritical for being Pro Life but supporting capital punishment, I say that I have a lot more sympathy for an innocent unborn child and will fight for it’s constitutional right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness but I have a lot less sympathy for murderers who have no place in our society. Capital punishment should be used with great restraint, and the possibility of executing the wrongfully accused does make me uneasy about the issue, but if someone killed someone that I love, I would want them executed, no question about it. In a nutshell, standing up for innocent unborn babies is much different than not standing up for murderers.

Also in the news there are reports that suggest the final, no-holds-barred assault on Fallujah has begun. It sounds like nothing is off limits this time. If terrorists and insurgents hide in mosques, the mosques are targets. It’s about time. Our forces are itching to get this done. They wanted it months ago. They know it’s risky and unfortunately some of them will not be coming home, but they still want to finish the job and destroy the last major rebel stronghold in Iraq. I know the troops won’t see this, but I wish them good luck and safe going. I’ll be hoping and praying for success and safety for them and I hope you’ll all be doing the same.

Well this is really getting long, so I’m going to shut up for now. It was a really fast weekend, I wish I had another day. But I already need to get ready to go back down to work tomorrow. I hope you all have a good week, talk to you next weekend.

We went to the zoo Thursday afternoon. We needed something cheap to do, and were desperate to get out of the house. Yeah, we’re being cheap. The money isn’t exactly rolling in and I just had to spend a fortune on final projects for school. Now that I have a new semester starting in July, I suppose I’ll have to spend a ton more on books/supplies. It’s all worth it though. Sometimes, as I’m sure you know, finances can be a real pain in the neck.

So the zoo was fun, but a little dissapointing. I remember going to the zoo a few years again and they had EVERYTHING. Of course I expected the same when I went this time, but to my surprise the zoo seemed much smaller and lacking many of my favorite animals that I remember coming to see. But, at least they had monkeys. Like you see in the above picture. I could sit and watch those little guys all day long.

The zoo has set up a little farm exhibit where they have a full farm with cows, chickens, pigs, goats, sheep, etc. I couldn’t figure out the purpose of this at a zoo. In Minnesota. Apparently it isn’t convenient for the city folk here to drive an hour outside of the city and visit a real farm. Instead they have to go see the picturesque farm at the zoo. I swear it looked cleaner than the city. Freshly painted, no cowpies anywhere, grass clean cut. Everything was perfect, it looked like it was right out of a commercial. Well it even had the “Land O’ Lakes” and “General Mills” logos everywhere so in a way, it was a commercial. But come on, that’s not a farm. The real farm experience is nothing like that. But this is beside the point, I don’t need to pay to come and see a farm. I want to see walruses, penguins, and polar bears. But they didn’t have any of those. At a zoo!

It’s nice to have the semester coming to an end this week, and now I get a couple weeks off and then back to classes on July 12th. I have a bit of a problem with my schedule next quarter, though, as two of my classes are scheduled at the same time on the same days. Hopefully we’ll be able to work that out, I’d hate to have to stay another three months.

This weekend should be busy. I have a meeting with a freelance client today and plenty of work to get done. No plans for what I’m going to do over my break from school as of yet, I’ll let you know if anything comes up.

Recent posts

The Long-Winded Journal is proudly powered by WordPress