Movie Review: Blackthorn (2011)

Photo from the blackthorn website

I didn't really know what to expect from this movie. I read the summary and it had good actors so I gave it a watch. The basic premiss is that Butch Cassidy did not die in the shootout with the Bolivian army as we once thought. He has been hiding out in the hills and finally decides to go home. There are some great aspects to this movie from the rugged yet fashionable costumes and the beautiful horses. The great casting of actors that actually look like young and old versions of the same man. The high plains and mountains of Bolivia as a breathtaking backdrop. The feelings of what it means to live by a strong moral code. The loneliness of the outlaw life. It was a pleasantly surprising movie and one that I would recommend to all. Good entertainment and some great lingering philosophical thoughts.

Car of the Week: VW Alltrack (and a rant on lame car companies)

Car shopping has to be one of the most frustrating things ever. You would expect that if you had a stack of cash containing over $30,000 you could get the car you wanted. There is not a single new car available to me that meets all of my requirements and so car shopping becomes an exercise in settling and trade-offs. I would buy a Subaru outback if they sold a diesel. I would buy a Jetta diesel wagon if they sold it in an all-wheel drive version with some ground clearance... What is that you say? They make that car? You are correct, VW is making a beautiful thing called the Alltrack.

Photo from the VW UK web site

The Alltrack is a Jetta wagon with a diesel engine and all-wheel drive and ground clearance. All of this from a company that has a reputation for making cars with great fit and finish as well as cars that are alive with nice handling and good driver feel. Sounds like the perfect car right? You can't get it.

It will not be sold in the US. Aaaaggggghhhh! Why is this so ridiculously backwards and lame. I have money and I am stupidly willing to strap myself with a car loan so that I can have a reliable car that does what I want... But the car companies don't want my money. The list of cars that I would buy if they were shipped to the US is long: Audi Allroad diesel, Subaru Outback diesel (near 48mpg), Toyota Rav4 with a 2.2 liter diesel (40mpg), Nissan X-Trail diesel, Honda CR-V Diesel and on and on.

The real insult to injury comes with US car companies that make diesel cars that are not available in the US! Though I loath most US cars as they are cheap unreliable and not very well engineered, I find myself willing to buy one if they would only offer what I want. I stooped so low the other day that I was on the Jeep site trying to see if I could get a wrangler in a diesel. It meets one or two of my needs but fails most, and I was still considering it. Why? Because I am so desperate for a diesel off road car. Cars that I would love to own are available but they are luxury cars way above my pay grade. Think BMW X-5, Audi Q7, VW Tourag or Mercedes-Benz suv's and crossovers which land in the $50,000 and above category. Even used ones are too much.

I cannot justify spending the $30,000 unless it is a car that will meet all my needs. The closest I get is the Jetta diesel wagon; room, over 40 mpg. The problem is that I will never take it up to my dad's house (rough dirt road) and so it becomes a $30,000 car I can't use. Instead I spend my days searching for used cars and weighing the trade-offs. I land on 1980's Mercedes diesel wagons. They offer good fuel mileage, have room, and they are cheap enough that I would be willing to drive them on dirt. Of course they are aging and while they are reliable, with so many parts that are now 30 years old it is only a mater of time... weather stripping is aging, I worry about the lack of safety features and where are all the creature comforts that society says I need?

So here is a message to all car makers (if only they would read it), What does it say about your car company if I would rather buy a 30 year old car than buy a new one of yours? Hint: it says that you have no clue about your market and your company makes cars they think the public will buy and not what the public wants. Let me give a few examples of how car companies are clueless. The Toyota Prius is a car that was not supposed to do that well... All the critics said it would not sell because no one would pay more for a car that was small and slow just to get better mileage. Shocker, lots of people bought them. By February 2012 over 2.5 million were sold world wide.

Example two: There are endless car journalist that can be sited as saying that Americans will not buy diesels. And yet, VW diesels account for 23% of VW sales in the US. I would also be willing to bet that this number is low as they do not offer a diesel engine in all their models in the US. If I wanted the minivan I would not even have the option to buy a diesel version. If we could I bet the numbers would increase. There is a Facebook page titled "Bring Subaru Diesel to the US!" where they tout sales figures and goad Subaru that they are missing out. And they are. I would buy one.

To close, I have chosen the VW Alltrack because it seems like the most likely of the diesels (that I want) to have a chance of making it state side. I like VW cars and have been impressed with the quality of their current models. I have driven the new VW Golf tdi and the Jetta tdi and I love the feel and handeling. I bet VW $30,000 that they don't bring the Alltrack to the US.

Book of the Week: The Tracker by Tom Brown Jr

Tom Brown Jr grew up learning everything that he could from the teachings of an elder native American. He has written many books and each focuses on a different area of native American life. The Tracker is a collection of stories from Tom's childhood through adulthood. You will find details of how to track and stalk animals, insight into native American beliefs, the challenges of a young man dealing with a changing world,  great philosophical argument of how people should be taught and riveting adventure stories. This book has affected my teaching more than any other source that i can think of. It is also a great read for being here in Dhaka where it is challenging to get out in nature.

I don't know if I could pick a favorite of Tom Brown's books as I like them all for different reasons. Tracking has always fascinated me so this was a natural choice for the first of his books to be featured here. Makes me want to get in the woods and observe. I am also motivated to get my kids into the outdoors as much as possible; giving them an appreciation of the outdoors and confidence in their abilities to flourish in survival situations.

Some of the principles of tracking presented in this book were used in the movie The Hunted. Tom Brown Jr was consulted to make the movie realistic. In interviews about the movie Tom says that there are some really good aspects to the movie but at the same time it is Hollywood and they took some liberties. He sights the knife fight scene as an example saying, "Any one of those wounds would have been fatal..." It was an entertaining movie and a good glimpse of how to track.

You may also have remembered Tom Brown Jr's name from my bucket list. He also has a tracker school where you can go and learn the principle from the book. I would like to attend, and now I am thinking that going with my kids would be amazing.

Car of the Week: Volvo 240 Wagon

Volvo 240

Our 1991 240: 16 inch wheels from a 740 and IPD sway bars

You knew the day would come! How could I not review a car that has been with me through most of my driving life? The Volvo 240 is a wonderful blend of reliability, safety, comfort, and driver feel. I also like its looks. Some crazy people will say that is a box but that is not true. There are wonderful lines that hide the hugeness of the car. It you want to see a poorly designed box look at a picture of the Volvo 740 wagon... yuk. Its reputation cannot be understated. Click and Clack (The guys of NPR's Car Talk) have recommended it as a the perfect car for the young driver. They are inexpensive, reliable, slow and safe; just what you would want from a car for a reckless teen.

The 240 was produced from 1974 to 1993 with only minor changes. The engine had already been around for decades before the 240 started production. The world record for the most miles (2.5 million miles) is a 1966 Volvo with the same basic engine design. Of course there were changes over the years and there are more desirable years but any 240 with a 4 cylinder can be bullet proof. The best were the B230F engines produced from 1985 to 1993. I won't bore you with too many more details but the internals were optimized and a new fuel injection system made these the best.

I am going to pay special attention to the wagon because of its versatility. With the back seats folded down it will fit a twin bed and make a comfortable camper. With the seats up it will swallow gear. I tested many of the newer wagons out there including Subarus, Audis, Mercedes, 850 Volvos and the new V70's and NONE of them can come close to the amount of space in the back of a 240. I have owned 3 different wagons in my life and each holds a special place in my heart. I wish I had my pictures with me so I could scan some of each of these beauties!

The first wagon: 1982 240. This was a project from the beginning. I bought the car without an engine and the engine from a 1978 242 gt. Over a summer I did the engine swap where I had to rewire the engine compartment as the engine had a different fuel system than the car. I put a bunch of money into suspension because the 240 handles remarkable well with larger sway bars and some bracing. This car got me through some fun times at Cal Poly, trips to bike races almost every weekend, two trips to Washington and many trips back and forth from college to my Dad's house. When I sold this car I immediately started having 240 withdraws and soon bought my next one.

1985 240 Turbo: My next project... this thing ran but barely. I would come to a stop and it would hesitate, cough, and die. Many hours of tinkering and fixing the many issues that it had made it drivable but it would still do weird things. I did not care because this thing was fast. I don't mean fast like V8 muscle car fast but more like I have been driving an underpowered Volvo wagon and now this seems fast. There was some turbo lag, so when it finally started doing its job it was impressive. This was a work truck for me while I was at Columbia Junior College. I ended up selling it when I moved up to Arcata.

My family car: 1993 240 (this is the car pictured here). This was a solid running memory maker. At 260k miles it survived a trip up to Canada and back. Jessica and I reupholstered the seats which made it a special one. When we found out we were pregnant with Lola we decide to sell it and buy something with working AC, updated safety features and with less miles on it. We ended up with a 2003 Audi A4 wagon which was nice, and fast, and new... but it was no 240.

A Picture of the reupholstered seats and the white faced gauges.

After periods without a 240, when I buy a new one and slide into the drivers seat and it just feels right. The driving position is more upright than other cars and all the controls offer wonderful feedback. The brakes are amazing for an older car, the steering is precise and gives you a feeling for the road. If the suspension is in good order, the car handles well and is very predicable. With a few upgrades the car becomes impressive in its road holding ability. The turning radius is unrivaled in any other car of similar size which gives it a maneuverable feel. I test drove the new Mini Cooper and its turning radius is way bigger than the 240.

Obviously not everything is amazing, there are some issues. The are getting old now. Even the last one made is now 20 years old! So there are rattles, broken seat springs, a bad AC system design, the wiring the the trunk hinges is probably broken, suspension bushing are probably gone, there is a drive line support bearing that will need replacing, the vacuum line are probably shot, and the odometer might not work. Most of these are easy fixes especially if you know what to look for and once they are taken care of you will have a nice car that will do exactly what you want. For a dose of reality, it will never be a nice car in the way a BMW is a nice car. The 240 has a cheap plastic interior and there are no creature comforts like dual climate control and memory power seats... but one does not need to borrow $30,000 to buy a used one. Despite the issues I would take the 240 over any other Volvo. After the 240 was the 740 (similar mechanically but horrid looks and bad suspension) and then it just started going downhill. The 850 was a move to a front wheel drive 5 cylinder that killed the neutral handling of the 240. The current issues with Volvo transmissions make the newer ones at the bottom of my list of cars to own. As a rhetorical question: What is it about this 20 year old car that makes it more desirable than many newer cars?

I still shop for 240's out of habit and still peruse the IPD web site to check prices (they make the suspension upgrades for Volvos). I hover over the bid button on ebay when I see a 240 with 60,000 original miles and daydream about how I would have it delivered to my house so that when I come home for the summer I will have one to drive... I have a collection of old 240 dealer literature, a model of a 240 wagon and a Volvo key fob that lays in wait to keep the key for the next 240 company. For those interested the price of a good 240 is on the rise. 5 years ago you could pick up a clean one for $2000 and now is is creeping up to the $5000 mark. Sure you can still find the deals for under $1000 but the interior is shot, plastic pieces broken, suspension shot and over 200,000 miles. Not to say that they should be sent to the junk yard, they are still great cars that with some money would be solid. But for the price of the "deal" and the money to fix all the problems you could buy a nice low mileage one that has been sitting in some old lady's garage for the past 20 years and is in great shape. There is no other car out there in this price range that will do it all the way the 240 will... I wonder if there are any new ones on Craigslist?

Book of the Week: A History of the World in 6 Glasses

A History of the World in 6 Glasses

by: Tom Standage

Photo courtesy of http://tomstandage.wordpress.com

Early in my Cal Poly career I developed a habit of strolling through the library (yeah, mostly procrastinating). The place was huge and I could head up to the 4th floor and find the architecture section and lose 2-3 hours grabbing interesting books and looking/reading through them. I was exposed to so much that I never would have seen if I went to the catalog and looked up something specific. So I still stroll through libraries whenever I get the chance, and that is how I came across this title. Seemed appropriate because I have been interested in the processes of making alcohol and have recently developed an addiction to coffee...
The basic idea is to follow 6 of the most influential beverages in human history looking at what they made possible and how they shape our lives. It has the feel of The Botany of Desire which was a book about 4 of the most influential plants in human history. The drinks that are detailed are beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and cola. There is also an epilogue about water that is probably the most interesting section. An example is how beer became a way to store grain and basically became a form of currency for early civilizations. Egyptians that built the pyramids were paid in beer. In fact it might have been the reason that civilization was possible (conjecture and opinion but it is interesting to think about). This book is a bit egocentric in the sense that it looks at history through the lens of these drinks and so makes a history that is centered around the drinks... The author backs up his thoughts with facts and historical sources but I can't help thinking that he was just choosing sources that meet his needs. Interesting and a quick read. So go browse your local library and find something fun or go there specifically for this book.

Book of the Week: Of Men and Mountains by William O. Douglas

William O. Douglas was a Supreme Court Justice that grew up in Yakima, Washington. He has a crazy story during his childhood where he ended up bedridden and was told he would not walk again. Lucky for him, he did walk again and he savored every moment from then on. This book is collection of stories from all ages, about fishing, camping and hiking in the wondrous Cascade Mountains. He has stories of hiking by himself or with wild friends. Stories of near death experiences and soliloquies about how the outdoors has saved his life and changed men. He has a bit of a philosophical take on the world but also has a great sense of humor. This was one of my favorite books for reading when I could not get out into the woods. I have read it 3-4 times and enjoyed each and every moment. My copy has been passed around and shows its use. Out of the dozen "Best Outdoor Books of all Time" list that I have read this book made it onto... none of them and I can't understand why. This is a much better book than a lot of the books on those lists. This is a must read for any outdoors lover, especially if you are a Washington State native.

Book of the Week: Intro

I have been compiling a list of great outdoor books that have somehow not made it on  "The Best" outdoor books lists found on the internet. Some are current, some are historic, others are hysterical, some are young adult and some are old codger but all are amazing for one reason or another. I was going to post them all at the same time but then I figured that I would just do one, in depth review a week. This is good because it will allow for time to reread in order to really do a quality review. Hope you enjoy and let me know if you have any good reads to add.