I Speed Silver & Black

Here it is, the first installment of what will become a very common occurrence on this blog. The cornerstone of my new blog. The license plate spotlight. This is my very first one, so comments are welcome, but here we go.

The perpetrator: a silver Dodge Magnum with black racing stripes. There it was sitting in the scalding hot parking lot of the Dublin Best Buy. In case I was unsure of the fanaticism of the vehicle, it was adorned with a back-window filling Oakland Raider's sticker. In seven characters this driver let it be known that he was the biggest Raiders fan this side of the Caldecott Tunnel.

"ALDAVIZ" on this California piece of stamped aluminum is what it said. That is a reference to Al Davis, the Oakland Raiders owner and overseer of operations. The aging and possibly senile captain of the Silver and Black has lost a majority of popularity among die-hard fans since the team's return to the Bay Area.

This would not phase this fanatic, since his car could not be older than the 2002 model, the year the ugly car was introduced. Seriously it looks like a sumo sat on a Dodge Durango.

In seven characters, this person decided to enshrine his team and their senile leader. Don't get me wrong, I love the Raiders and have season tickets, I just don't think it was the best choice for this person to put the slightly Hitler-like owner on his car. And to spell it with a "z" instead of an "s" makes me wonder if there is a bigger idiot out there (or maybe Al himself) who has claimed the original spelling.

Who knows? It could be Al's son, I know he lives in the area, but putting your Dad's name on your car would be a little strange. Like making a Michael Jackson joke now that the King of Pop has passed away. It is OK, Al Davis is better at collecting debt. I just am not sure about the motivations of a person who chooses to put the name of an NFL team owner on their car.

Do you think this use of seven characters on a license plate is worth the extra money each year you have to pay to keep it? I don't think so. The person with the plate could have spent the money on something more pertinent, like parking at the Coliseum's lot. $20 a game adds up.

Second Transformers, Twice As Nice

I saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen the other day and I thought it was fantastic. Megan Fox running around looking scandalous and Bumblebee kicking butt, it was awesome. So awesome, that it made me forget that I was watching a two-and-a-half hour Chevrolet advertisement. I am all for helping bail out a major corporation, but I have to say as a Chevy owner, that I was disappointed with a couple of the vehicle selections.

Bumblebee is the the Camaro Transformer, and like the last movie, I thought he was awesome. The other Autobot I was happy to see was Sideswipe (Movie version pictured). He originally was a Lamborghini in the cartoon version, but like Bumblebee switching from a Beetle to a Camaro, Sideswipe makes the transformation into the jaw-dropping Corvette Stingray Concept. Ratchet and Ironhide return as their original vehicles from the 2007 movie, a search and rescue Hummer H2 and a GMC Topkick.

The cars I was disappointed with were the twins, Mudflap a red Chevy Trax and and Skids a green Chevy Beat. The third disappointment was Jolt the Autobot who transforms into the blue Chevy Volt. The nature of these Autobots are small cars that work together to form a powerful combination. The twins ended up being a bunch of babbling idiots and Jolt ended up only doing one thing in the movie. The choices for their cars were what had me struggling to eat my popcorn. I loved the movie, but Chevy almost ruined it for me.

Other than my slight disappointment with a few of the vehicle choices for the Autobots I thought the movie was great and I can't wait for the next one to come out two years from now.

Box This Lap: Full Service

Hello everyone. I am back from my blogging break and I have decided (once again) to change the format of my blog. I tried for a while, while I was commuting via bus to campus, to try and write about my daily commute. While that plan didn't turn out to be a success, I found in its attempt my love for everything automotive. And the most common thing I come across on my daily driving (other than people who cannot drive) are those oh-so common vanity plates.

This is going to be the "new" shtick of my blog, while also talking about new vehicles, my own vehicle searches and professional motor sports. Sorry, no NASCAR here. I for one think it is not difficult to turn left for 500 miles.

Since I have changed the blog format, the URL and my blog name, I am hoping that you will hang in with me while I change around the settings and try to come up with a custom blog design that fits the new format. I have sort of a backlog on vanity plates that I am itching to get up on this thing and some will come real soon.

So make sure to drop in regularly and also add/comment about the absurd, funny, freaky and confusing vanity plates you see out there on the roads.