Archive for the ‘Review’ Category

Book Review: “Driving Like Crazy” by P.J. O’Rourke

November 29th, 2009  |  No Comments »

I have read two of P.J. O’Rourke’s books, Eat the Rich and Parliament of Whores. In reading them, one thing was abundantly clear about his political views: He does not like the left.

Hence, given that a former American automotive giant has recently become little more than a subsidiary of the federal government – and thus the American taxpayer – thanks to a Democrat President and Congress, a P.J. O’Rourke book entitled Driving Like Crazy (and furthermore subtitled Thirty Years of Vehicular Hell-bending Celebrating America the Way It’s Supposed to Be – With an Oil Well in Every Backyard, a Cadillac Escalade in Every Carport and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Mowing Our Lawn) promised to be interesting, to say the least.

There are indeed plenty of shots at both the Obama Administration and Congress. However, given the span of Driving Like Crazy, there are many more digs at figures like Carter, Clinton (both Bill and Hillary) and Al Gore as well as at liberals (the “Fun Suckers”) and liberalism in general.

I should admit I might be out of O’Rourke’s target audience in a couple of ways.

First, I am about half as old as he is currently, which is approximately the age O’Rourke was when he wrote his National Lampoon satire, the thoughts and author of which he takes to task in a sequel. It isn’t just his “neophyte self” he picks on; young people as a whole take a few verbal jabs throughout the book, though nothing like his political foes.

The other is partial function of my age, though much more relevant to reading the book. While I definitely like cars and appreciate a well-designed automobile, I am in no way a “car nut.” To prove my point: O’Rourke races a 1939 Chevrolet in the California Mille, which is a race I had never heard of prior to reading his book. Furthermore, the only thing I know about a ‘39 Chevy is that since it was manufactured between the two World Wars, it likely was made with about the same amount of metal as a Sherman tank.

Neither of those facts, however, stopped me from enjoying Driving Like Crazy.

O’Rourke believes that cars attract good people. A byproduct of this is that in the hands of O’Rourke, those people, among others, become interesting subjects. He contrasts the phoniness (as he saw it) of Los Angeles with the founder of Rent-A-Wreck, a man who supposedly would not deal with anyone, employee or customer, who didn’t seem like fun. A trip through Pakistan and India during the extreme heat of summer becomes an experience worth having because of journalist colleagues with great senses of humor, equally great driving skills and a vehicle that apparently can sell itself.


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There are a couple of moments where a reader may weigh the book’s level of harmless middle-age male sport versus that of unnecessary mischief. O’Rourke and a companion took a poor, unassuming French journalist through some of the parts of America that would not appear in your typical travel guide. There is also a series of waitresses – they’d be servers now, but at the time of the story, they’re still waitresses – who had to put up with the antics of four overly cranky motorcycle riders. Some may call both “hijinks.” A few, especially those who also have been employed in a restaurant, may consider the latter quite cruel. Each account is honest, if nothing else.

Fortunately, there are many more examples of honest fun. You will almost certainly have a sense of participating in the races O’Rourke depicts even if you’ve never been to their locales. It may not have been fun for O’Rourke and his fellow journalists to deal with the preposterously meticulous Indian customs agents, but at least you’ll get a good laugh out of it. And although I can’t say for sure, I can’t imagine that there aren’t many parents who will read O’Rourke and his wife’s experience in choosing a family vehicle and not arrive at the same conclusion about the minivan: perfectly sensible, absolutely practical, and there’s no way they would drive it.

There is also much to learn from O’Rourke. For example, breaking down in a classic automobile can turn seemingly hostile locals at a bar in the middle of nowhere into friendly strangers willing to help. It may not result, however, in the mechanical problem actually being solved. (Another lesson: If a trip down to Mexico for some off-roading with your wife or girlfriend sounds like a good idea to you, you might want to consider a change in plans.)

Driving Like Crazy undoubtedly is aimed at O’Rourke’s contemporaries: conservatives and libertarians nearing or at retirement age who share his political bent and passion for cars. However, if you consider a car more than a simple object of transportation, you will most likely enjoy Driving Like Crazy, no matter how old you are. I’m not sure if I’d suggest the book for a liberal – that is, unless you are giving it to one as a gift. Something tells me O’Rourke would very much approve of that.

Review   

Long John Silver’s Baja Fish Taco: Sounds weird, tastes…

August 13th, 2009  |  No Comments »

I always figured that there is a room at Yum! Brands headquarters where employees and management bet on what kind of stupid things they can get people to eat. Well, in their ad for their latest, um, creation, I believe Yum! has finally fessed up.

The commercial features Long John Silver’s Baja Fish Taco. In it, both through their supposed taste test guy and in their tagline, they say the taco “sounds weird.”

This is the same corporation that gave us the KFC Famous Bowls, that oversized cracker they call The Edge, as well the Chalupa, Gordita and all that other non-Mexican Mexican crap on the Taco Bell menu. Since they’re suddenly being honest about their ideas of their menu items, why don’t they come clean about that “technically a” taco salad they advertised earlier this summer? “Batshit insane?”

At any rate, true fish tacos usually have grilled fish diced or in strips, lettuce, pico de gallo and a few other things that vary between restaurants and chefs. The funny thing is that with their “Freshside Grille” items, Long John Silver’s could have come closer to what most people would consider a fish taco to be.

Of course, that’s not what they did.

What they actually did was place one of their fried fish fillets in a flour tortilla, add shredded lettuce and “crumblies” and cover it with a “Baja” sauce.

“Wait a minute. ‘Crumblies?’ What the hell are ‘crumblies?’” I hear you ask. Good question.

Well, when Long John Silver’s fries their fish, they use enough batter to coat a fillet from a great white shark. The fried run-off of the batter or the bits of batter that fall of the fish (or chicken, or hushpuppies, or whatever) are known as “crumblies.”

Yes, Long John Silver’s is making those a selling point.

To be fair, though, it isn’t as if they are selling the taco for a ridiculous price. Then again, for 99¢, you do have quite a few choices for a cheap bite to eat. So is the Baja Fish Taco worth it?

As long as you remember you are getting a fast-food version of a fish taco (and that you paid a dollar for it), there is nothing to be overly disappointed about. The fish was cooked well, but, not surprisingly, dry. The lettuce was good, and the “crumblies” worked better on the taco than they do on the bottom of the box of your typical Long John Silver’s meal. You might expect the Baja sauce to be hot. While it does have a kick, you don’t have to steer away from the sauce if you’re not inclined to eat spicy foods.

Now I did mention I found the fish dry, but I always find Long John Silver’s fish dry, and that is nothing the Malt Vinegar Sauce doesn’t easily take care of for me. However, your mileage may vary.

The Baja Fish Taco is a decent item. It isn’t worth making a special trip to Long John Silver’s for, nor is it something that will make you choose Long John Silver’s over anywhere else that has a value menu.

But if you are headed to Long John Silver’s or one of the “multi-branded” restaurants with a Long John Silver’s menu, the Baja Fish Taco is worth a try, especially if you’re looking for an add-on to a meal. You may even like it more than the tacos at the Yum! restaurant better known for them, though I suppose that’s really not much of an endorsement.

In other words, the Baja Fish Taco is nothing to write home about, but nothing to completely write off, either. A 3 out of 5.

Humor, Review   

“Indoctrinate U” teaches valuable lessons

July 31st, 2009  |  No Comments »

If you want a politically-neutral documentary, Indoctrinate U is not it; both Evan Coyne Maloney and his film are unabashedly conservative. However, that does not mean either deserves to be discounted – far from it. Maloney clearly has a point, and he presents it in a manner that alternates between shocking, frustrating and humorous, but is always engaging.

The tenor of Indoctrinate U is set almost immediately with coverage of affirmative action adversary Ward Connerly’s experience at the University of Michigan. Connerly’s appearance was protested by numerous students and clubs, and the speech itself was attended by an audience overwhelmingly hostile to his stance. During the discussion session, a young (black) woman claimed it was “troubling to see a black man … speak out against affirmative action.” The crowd was quiet as she spoke, yet Connerly barely got a sentence out before his response received a heckler’s veto. Apparently it bothered more people than just her that, in Connerly’s words, “a black man would be against her point of view.”

If that makes you shake your head, then by the end of the hour and a half you spend with Indoctrinate U you’ll have a serious crick in your neck. Incivility to dissenting views is an all-too-common theme.

I found the most gripping parts of Indoctrinate U to be the personal experiences, where professors were jerked around and patronized by their departments, student publications were stolen while the university administration sat idle, and students themselves were threatened, humiliated and bullied by both faculty as well as their peers. While each account was (not surprisingly) a sympathetic cause, two stood out in my mind as particularly outrageous. I’ll leave them for Maloney to tell, but I will say that of all the things I might call conservatism, good or bad, a psychological disorder is not one of them.

Maloney’s investigative segments were also outstanding. Maloney and his cameraman visited a campus office to follow up on specific incidents or, in a couple of cases, claims of diversity. It was quite funny (in both the hilarious and peculiar sense) to watch how the staff of each office went out of its way to avoid answering Maloney’s inquiries. It was also quite pathetic to see how the staff copped out each time … literally.

One professor interviewed in the documentary said that when he gave his students a statement of his beliefs, most of them would agree with him. Much to his credit, he felt there was “something wrong” with that.

What’s wrong is that many students – one-third of them, according to a poll cited in the film – feel their ability to pass a class is not necessarily based on whether or not they know the material, but on how well they can regurgitate their professor’s views. After watching Indoctrinate U, you won’t blame any student in the least for believing that.

Liberals frequently and unreservedly call right-wingers and their outlets (such as Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and the like) narrow-minded, heartless and reactionary. Maloney and Indoctrinate U show that the academic left can be every bit as intolerant, insensitive and extreme as they claim their ideological foes to be.

Conservatives will absolutely love Indoctrinate U. However, anyone of any political stripe who is intellectually honest and values true discussion over censorship will also appreciate Maloney’s work.

I am not the first to unreservedly recommend Indoctrinate U and I’m sure I won’t be the last. I hope that current and soon-to-be college students as well as their parents see the film. Current students will get an idea of what academic life can be like for their peers across the country (and perhaps even on their own campus), while students that plan on matriculating can gain a sense of what they might face in the near future and make a more informed decision.

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