A sad, constant bid for attention

[spookyfish]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
Chevy didn't make a 327 in '55, the 327 didn't come out till '63. And it wasn't offered in the Bel Air with a four-barrel carb till '64. However, in 1964, the correct ignition timing would be four degrees before top-dead-center.

What's more, positraction was not available on the '64 Buick Skylark. [Positraction is] a limited slip differential which distributes power equally to both the right and left tires. The '64 Skylark had a regular differential, which, anyone who's been stuck in the mud in Alabama knows, you step on the gas, one tire spins, the other tire does nothing.

Are you shoooooah?


ETA: Scary when I think about this a little more -- my father was a mechanic.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by bold_n_brazen
So, wait! I think what Penske is saying then is that ppnyc is really Hank's sock! Is that right?

Wow. Props to Penske for figuring that out.

And to Hank for getting us all worked up, and collaborating with TM and all.

Excellent. We've all been FBPunk'd.

Fringey and DTB both know what i look like. They'd call bullshit right fast if T ever said I wasn't pretty.

[robustpuppy]

Originally posted by spookyfish
Are you shoooooah?

I'm funny how? I'm funny like a clown? I amuse you?

[Not Bob]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
Chevy didn't make a 327 in '55, the 327 didn't come out till '63. And it wasn't offered in the Bel Air with a four-barrel carb till '64. However, in 1964, the correct ignition timing would be four degrees before top-dead-center.

What's more, positraction was not available on the '64 Buick Skylark. [Positraction is] a limited slip differential which distributes power equally to both the right and left tires. The '64 Skylark had a regular differential, which, anyone who's been stuck in the mud in Alabama knows, you step on the gas, one tire spins, the other tire does nothing.

Please forgive me for the cheap shot. You, indeed, are all that.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
It's the wilde west baby, there are no rules. I will PM you my winnings. Unless you prefer schmoke signals.

JFC. RT and I go away, and this is what we get?

Penske--what model of Treo do you have? (W p, p)

[greatwhitenorthchick]

Originally posted by patentparanyc
You sound like that court scene in "My cousin Vinnie" with Marisa Tomei.

That is surprising, to say the least.

[robustpuppy]

Originally posted by greatwhitenorthchick
That is surprising, to say the least.

I've never even heard of Marisa Tomei.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
I'm funny how? I'm funny like a clown? I amuse you?

you sound like in that bar scene in Goodfellas with Joe Pesci

[bold_n_brazen]

Originally posted by greatwhitenorthchick
That is surprising, to say the least.

Especially since RP's biological clock is no longer ticking like this.

[robustpuppy]

Originally posted by bold_n_brazen
Especially since RP's biological clock is no longer ticking like this.

I used the voice-activated snooze.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
I used the voice-activated snooze.

I'm pretty sure she was referring to your mantrapping.

[ThurgreedMarshall]

'I won't ruin the ending, which features an inevitable rematch between the Rock's team and a preppie team of evil white kids that destroyed them in their first game. But I did find the symbolism interesting. When "Rocky" launched the lovable underdog boom in '76, we rallied around a mildly talented white boxer who nearly toppled an invincible black champion. Two years later in "Rocky II," the white guy finally knocked out the black guy -- I still remember everyone in my theater STANDING AND CHEERING at the end -- quickly followed by Rocky facing an even more menacing black opponent in "Rocky III," a sneering, mohawked wrecking machine who hit on Rocky's wife ("Hey woman … hey woman!"), knocked him out and inadvertently caused Mickey's death. That's just the way it worked in the '70s and '80s, cresting with "Hoosiers," when a team of underdog white kids rallied to beat a team of taller, more talented black kids. There was an underlying lesson, even if we didn't want to admit it: Black athletes are better, but white athletes can beat them if they try hard enough.

Now things have flipped: we don't need the likes of Rocky Balboa, Danny LaRusso, Crash Davis, Lickety Split, Jimmy Chitwood, Henry Steele, Reg Dunlop, Roy Hobbs, Scott Howard, Paul Crewe and Jonathan E. anymore. Inner-city kids, prisoners and juvie kids have become the heroes, blacks are just as likely to play lead roles as whites, and characters become decidedly unsympathetic if they attend a school with enough money to afford uniforms with names on the back. Coaches have emerged as the most important characters, not because they're the most interesting, but because it's the role most likely to attract a major star (and there really aren't any major stars under 40 anymore). If you can find a setting that can be accentuated by the right hip-hop soundtrack, all the better.

Hey, I'd like to tell you that this is progress. I'd like to tell you that most of the classic sports flicks catered to white people to an embarrassing degree, that the current shift of focus was long overdue. I'd even like to tell you that this is a great sign for society as a whole -- 25 years ago, a sports movie with a black star and a mostly black cast probably wouldn't have finished No. 1 in its opening weekend.

But the truth is less stimulating: Hollywood just ran out of sports movie ideas. Switch the color of the cast and it FEELS like a different formula ... even though it isn't. There will always be an underdog player/team that can't get it together, there will always be a coach/manager/team willing to save them, and there will always be an evil/invincible opponent that needs to be toppled. This recipe has been working for three decades now, and it will probably be working three decades from now. One day, I'll stop enjoying it. I just don't know when. There are worse ways to kill two hours.'

Interesting take. I wonder if the point he shoo'd away isn't a bit more legitimate. Is there a new definition of underdog in Hollywood? Are more and more black actors finding work (even if they do have to play gang members and criminals*) because of society's undeniable draw to black culture?

It used to be that whites straight copied black culture and although, in most cases, they weren't as talented, in tune or connected to the culture they were copying, they made the most money. Now, aside from Justin Timberlake, people seem to want the real thing (or at least what they imagine the real thing is). You'll never see a Vanilla Ice again.

I watched The Wire for the first time last night and the writing was authentic and the characters were what I've seen in some neighborhoods I tried not to spend much time in.

I know I'm rambling, but what does all this say about the music and movie industry and its current treatment of race?**

TM

*I guess that hasn't changed much.

**Feel free to read this as a rhetorical question.

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
Winfield is terribly underrated. The man killed a pigeon with a baseball from 50 ft away.

That is a center fielder with a gun.

Right fielder and seagull, but yez.

TM

[Jack Manfred]

Originally posted by Shape Shifter
Isn't "Fake LA" redundant?

Touche.

[spookyfish]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
I've never even heard of Marisa Tomei.

She likes short, pudgy bald men.

(Lucky for Wonk.)