Oh, I Think So

 Okay, okay, "Top Gear" has its grip on me.  I watched the episode below where the challenge is Jeremy and James driving to the North Pole and Richard going via dog sled.  Jeremy and James drive in a Toyota Hilux, moving slowly over frozen sea water, getting stuck in a field of snow boulders, having to get out using a chainsaw.  Richard, skiing next to the sled, running next to it, exposed to the elements for days, growing impatient, who, when asked by his very optimistic and cheery female guide if he wanted to try on the lead dog harness as she's looking for a new lead dog, says, "You can try but there's nobody else here and I have a shovel." If you're easily freaked out by a wintery scenario, it is as scary as anything you can imagine.  And yes, I want a Toyota Hilux and a pair of Icelandic mechanics following me wherever I drive. You Tube/Top Gear/Not Me has removed it from this blog.  Here is the You Tube link: http://youtu.be/WNkvASxfEWQ?list=P...

Look, I'm a bonehead.  These guys are clearly boneheads.  It's a match made in bonehead heaven.

Just today I had lunch with a friend who was talking about the cable TV options that are available to him and his husband.  He wanted BBC News but that was only available on the premium option.  The middle option had BBC Americas which he said he really didn't like because, "the only thing that seems to be on is 'Top Gear.'" He was shocked when I then said, "Oh, my god, I love 'Top Gear.'" I am not a gear head, a car lover, an automobile know-it-all.  I know a smidge about cars but not enough to impress anyone at all, not even myself.  At work when I get a client into a rental and I don't know what it is, I will tell them, "I don't know because I'm a girl."  I say this several times a week.  I can't drive a stick and if some rental genius tried to get me to take a car with a manual transmission, I would certainly refuse as the car would be nothing more than paperweight and/or a hotel room.  Ixnay on the ickstay, say I....

Today is the day of Super Bowl XLIX, except let's argue about Roman numerals.  Considering it is 49, and if the I is put in front of a numeral in order for it to be one less, then should it not be IL?  As we have no actual Romans to consult and Latin scholars want nothing to do with this, then we can agree to disagree. SO!  Patriots or Seahawks?  Gisele Bündchen's husband or Russell Wilson?  At work, the two of us who talk football decided it was Russell Wilson.  While Tom Brady is every kind of great QB and very handsome, Russell Wilson seems like the sweeter guy and wow, that guy is built, so GO SEAHAWKS!!! Old lady lust is not an exact science. In honor of Super Bowl XLIX, a good friend told me about the clip below.  Marshawn Lynch has been all over the media for not wanting to talk to the media on Media Day, preferring to say that he was there so that he wouldn't get fined.  He said it in response to every single question.  Watch th...

Did you seriously think I was going to let something as wonderful as this go by without comment?  Long story short:  Somehow the footballs used by the New England Patriots in last week's final playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts lost air pressure.  This is a big deal because a deflated ball is a ball that is easier to catch and throw.  The QB can get a better grip on it when he throws and whoever catches it also can more easily grip it.  Famed, very, very rich and very, very beautiful supermodel Gisele Bündchen's husband, the very, very rich and very, very beautiful Tom Brady, is at the center of the controversy because allegedly he is the most logical person to have taken air from the balls.  More mysterious still, the balls seemed to gain pressure in the second half of the game. 1.  If the ball is found to have been tampered with, the result of the game will not be reversed.  The Pats will still have royally creamed the Colts' corn and...

Chicago's many fans of the Bears are rejoicing because there is a new head coach -- John Fox, who has taken the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos to the Super Bowl -- and there is a new general manager -- Ryan Pace, who started as a very young college graduate with the New Orleans Saints organization.  There is already much speculation about how soon the Bears will be going to the Super Bowl again.  People are happy!  Joyous!  Delighted! Hold your horses, I say.  We still have Jay Cutler as our number one QB. Maybe Mr. Fox can make a silk purse out of Jay's ear of sow, but I am so wary about all this that I just can't be so elated. So these points: 1.  Phil Emery did the stanky bad deal of the century when he extended Jay for so many years with a guarantee for two years.  (Jay's agent?  Really very bright, that one.) 2.  Marc Trestman was not a very good fit with the Bears. 3.  It will be a building year.  (I am w...

The Paris march against terror earlier today started from the Statue of the Republic -- whose name is Marianne -- at the Place de la République.  According to Le Figaro, 3.7 million people turned out for the rally in the capital, including 40 world leaders who walked arm in arm.  To encourage people to attend, subway rides in Paris were free.  (Bus rides might also have been free, but with 3.7 million people clogging the streets, would you want to be on a bus?)  In Lyon, 300,000 turned out; 150,000 in Toulouse; 100,000 in Bordeaux; 60,000 in Marseilles; 115,000 in Rennes; 100,000 in Grenoble; the list goes on.  In just the provinces, 2.5 million people turned out to march against terror.  The population of France is 66 million.  At least 10 percent of the population -- all religions represented -- turned out to say they were against terror. Here is the Statue of the Republic, taken on that one November vacation day when it didn't rain . Allons enfan...