Förkrossade

I've been devouring recent media coverage (including some in Swedish, with the help of Google Translate) about the rocky state of affairs at SAAB, and I'm pretty heartbroken/crushed (förkrossade) about it all. What I hadn't considered was how Mrs. Viggen* felt.

This morning, she was so verklempt that she blew her rad out. Luckily, I had a safe place to immediately pull over to. I shut her down, opened the hood, and called a tow truck.

Her first owner took delivery in October 1999; I got her in March 2003. The radiator was original; I certainly don't judge it for failing after 12 years / 136000 km. The experts at Beacon Motors had a new rad installed by 3 p.m. I'm back home now, looking out at her... parked in her spot. I love this car. I love SAAB.

*SAAB 9-5 Wagon + SAAB 37 Viggen jet fighter + Carol Burnett's "Mrs. Wiggins" = Mrs. Viggen

articles
Looks Like Saab's Last Gasp (Motor Trend)
"Inside Saab" blog post on the application for reorganization
Finally, Saab's long goodbye is almost over (The Globe and Mail)
Swedish court rejects Saab reconstruction (The Local, Sweden's News in English)

oh noes

fabulous glam omg Queer Idol ANTM

1 Girl 5 Gays
grindr
Johnny Weir
Adam Lambert
gay characters on 90210
omg my school won't let me take my boyfriend to prom

and then there's this

progress is essential; even nice
it's also hard-won and ongoing

old, old

My friends and I have all freaked out about how young Taylor Lautner is (born in 1992). But as Ellen danced to C+C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" today, I realized that Lautner was born after that song came out. It charted a full year before he was born. Oh, and Madonna's "Vogue"? Released almost two years before Lautner's birth.

I decided to re-write the lyrics to "Vogue". It's how I feel this morning.

what are you looking at?
old, old

break a hip
break a hip

look around, everywhere you turn it's walkers
they're everywhere that you go
you try everything you can to stand up
and not die in the bathtub

when your health fails and you long to be
someone younger than you are today
I know a place where you can get away
it's called dementia
and you get it when you're

old, old
feel your body break to the music
hey hey hey
fuckin' old
let your body go with the flow
you know you have Depends on

all you need is your own senility
so use it, that's what it's for
remember when you weren't so effing ancient
your dreams will open the door

it makes no difference if you're black or white
if you're a boy or a girl
if the Geritol's pumpin' it will give you new life
you're a superstar
yes, forget that you are

fucking old
feel your joints creak to the music
hey hey hey
so very old
let your bladder go, let it flow
you have adult diapers on yeah

Canadian hotness

...greets the world at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. I believe this stunningly beautiful man is a member of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation.

I've had a special reverence for the First Nations of Canada's west coast since I was in primary school. I did a project on the Interior Salish. They are wicked cool.

I love you, wolf guy.

R.I.P. SAAB

I'll love you forever.

GM, you suck. You left the brand to grow dusty on the shelf, where it atrophied and ultimately died.

misogynistic doosh begets misogynistic doosh

Roth's hometown (Morrisville PA) is not in the southern US. The last time I checked, if you're north of the Mason-Dixon line, you're in the north. (The article can be found here.)

Whatever. I still cringe when I hear "I Love College" — just as I cringe when I see/hear/read about Eminem. Despite Roth's claims in ILC ("I love women" and "don't have sex if she's too gone"), the video has a fair share of misogynist imagery. And I've read enough about his other songs to conclude that he has a lot to learn about how to treat women with respect.

Oh, and Asher? Putting two condoms on is not* an effective means of protection.

*http://www.nyu.edu/shc/promotion/condoms.dental.dams.html
http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/1139.html