At the risk of seeming like I care, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are splitting and in the article it mentions that they met on a blind date. Something about this just seems odd to me...although I think most would agree that whichever perspective you take (male or female), this was probably the best blind date setup in the history of mankind.

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Chrysler 300.

Two of the more interesting cars of the year for me have been the Chrysler 300C and Volvo S40. The Chrysler isn't really my style (though I do like the Crossfire), but I like the idea behind it and I've always been a fan of Chrysler because we had Dodge Caravans growing up. Plus I hate Ford and Chevy. The Volvo is a little more of a reach; I haven't heard as much about it as the 300C, which has gotten a ton of press and been named car of the year by a few magazines, but the new Volvo is certainly the coolest Volvo since Val Kilmer drove the now-defunct C70 coupe in The Saint. I just read that again and saw I used the phrase "coolest Volvo"...alright, whatever.


Volvo S40 T5 AWD w/Dynamic Trim Package and 17" rims

In any case, both cars have relied on a similar, unusual ad strategy: use the black man. The "baby Bentley" looks of the 300C got it into a 50 cent video before it hit the streets, while Volvo tapped Kanye West for the rollout of the S40. The 300 has shown bling can translate to mainstream sales, though let's hope they don't get carried away and add spinners (which for the record I think are retarded) as factory options.

If I had to get a car right now I'd definitely consider the all-wheel drive, turbo-charged S40 (the T5, which is a five-cylinder turbo engine). It's got 218 hp and 200+ ft-lbs of torque, and the AWD gives you back some of the cruddy handling you'd expect from the cheaper FWD version. It's not cheap though--low- to mid-$30k, so I'd say it's pretty comparable to a Saab 9-3 Aero, which is another dark horse fave car of mine. I can't imagine you'd actually have to pay that much given you could get a 3-series or A4 for the same price, and both of those cars have the advantage of not being a Volvo.

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Speaking of The Saint (segue!), I saw it about a month ago and it got me wondering whether Elisabeth Shue (in her role opposite Val Kilmer) or Denise Richards (from the Bond flick) is the least-convincing cinematic nuclear physicist of all time.

The obvious answer is Denise, because she comes off as far more of a bimbo, but that ignores an important aspect of their roles. Whereas Denise Richards is certainly an unlikely nuclear phyisicist, Elisabeth Shue's character discovers a process for cold fusion. I don't remember Denise Richards accomplishing anything close to that, so it's kind of a sliding scale. Given that Elisabeth Shue has a Harvard degree and Denise Richards married Charlie Sheen, I'm going to have to condemn Denise as the least likely nuclear physicist in movie history.

Aside from that, The Saint is one of those underrated action movies. I've always liked Val Kilmer and this movie had Elisabeth Shue in her extremely-hot-yet-vaguely-accessible prime.

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One thing that struck me when I was looking at the S40 was Volvo's logo: it's the circle-arrow combination symbol for...the male sex. What? I'd never noticed it before. Ironic given the brand is very conservative and most known for its soccer-mom station wagons. In any case, I looked it up and evidently the male symbol also represents iron or steel, which Sweden apparently exports a lot of. There you go. Also, Volvo is latin for "to roll" or something like that, which most of their cars do.

Other random car trivia:

*BMW's logo is supposed to depict a spinning propeller against a blue Bavarian sky, with the black, blue and white from the Bavarian flag. BMW began as a plane, boat, and motorcycle manufacturer before they bought a car manufacturing operation in the late 1920s, hence the propeller.



*BMW's first plant was in Eisenach, East Germany, and after WWII it was used to continue making cars, but they were renamed EMWs and the logo was changed so that the blue became red--for obvious reasons. Fucking communists.

*Audi's name is derived from the last name of one of their founders. August Horch merged his company with three others (hence the four rings of their logo), but he couldn't name the company Horch because a previous company of his (which he had left) had the naming right to it. So he translated his last name (which means "listen" or "pay attention" in German) into Latin--and got Audi.

*Saab is an acronym for Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget, which manufactured aircraft for the Swedish military before they started making cars. Stick to cars, guys.

*Porsche is the name of company founder Ferdinand Porsche, but the most famous car he designed was the first Volkswagen Beetle, which he got Hitler to help fund in the 1930s.