Transitions [s]

I bought the Sealy cal king that Costco stocks. It's comfy, it's big, it needs a frame.



I cleared off most of the master balcony, though I'm not quite sure what to do with the shelving that's in pretty good shape - albeit pink trimmed. The foosball table is going out there, I think that'll be the place to be come summer.



Heather's departure has freed up prime real estate for a study. My fantasmical workshop of killer apps and photography is now situated between the media room and the garage. I don't really need the upstairs anymore.



I'm rolling right into a second playthrough of Mass Effect 2. The first run was a bit hasty so I could use the finish bonuses for the second, real effort.

• I could almost see Master Chief in the final cutscene. It's a proper second-of-three, plotwise.
  
• ME1's music was better. The sequel's isn't bad, but it's not quite as distinct nor complementary of the action.
  
• ME2 consists of more shorter, more numerous missions. The finale is about the length of an average ME1 chapter. It's nice to know doing just one more won't keep you up until three. It also cuts down on the monotony of each dungeon.
  
• The galactic news bits still inform and entertain, but they don't match the awesomeness of the first since Mass Effect switched anchors. Using the Beyond Good and Evil voice actor for the first one was so clutch.

Precedents [s]

Renovation
I finished drywalling the 6x4 loft made accessible by the closet removal. It still needs to be patched, textured, and painted, but that's a breeze. What will it be? Storage space? Cat flat? Panic room?

I patched a couple areas on the lower terrace where the stucco had bubbled. Doing stucco sucks, so I gave thin set a try. The front wall had a couple spots where paint had peeled off, so I took care of that.



Dog
The pup may be getting over his fear of water. On our weekly run he charged through the stream crossing that recently swelled and washed away its footbridge. His display of courage emboldened Jes to do the same.

I've given him free reign of the garage now. The first day went well, the second day he learned to open the interior garage door (but didn't thrash the house).



On the third day he ate 31 (I counted) packages of Zack's Brainiac Snacks. Virtually none of it was digested. Curious how he got through so many, I gave him one and watched as he tore it apart with the grace of an intoxicated raccoon.

He's considerably smarter now.



Mass Effect 2
There are reviews everywhere, a few other thoughts:

• Darkness is totally the new pink. Empire did it. Batman did it. The sequel is much darker and seedier than the first. Fatalism dominates the mood throughout while there's an emphasis on moral ambiguity.
  
• Hooray for feedback. No planetary rovering (though it was great in doses). No endless buying/modding/selling equipment that only differs by level number. Load times have decreased appreciably.
  
• I'm worried that the number of primary characters will make their back stories either tedious or shallow. Thus far, however, I'm highly impressed that they brought back the best ME1er (Garrus). I wouldn't be the first to say the Doctor is awesome for his grim pragmatism and rapid, streamlined, multithreaded conversation style.
• The combat system is a definite improvement over the last, but falls a bit short of combat-centric games such as Gears of War and Army of Two.
• The mid-cinema interjections provide endless fun, but being ready for them is mutually exclusive with stuffing Funyons in my gaping craw.
  

More creatively, LittleThingies said,

My heart sank when i went to HMV at lunch and the guy told me they only received three copies of the special edition and they were all reserved. But he recognized me and started calling around. He managed to track down a store that had it. I went back after work and he had it waiting for me. Even God was seen to shed a tear of happiness that night.

I'm finishing up my PS3 game at the moment, hopefully will be done by tonight. I'm gonna spend all weekend playing this game in the dark, my phone will be off. My subwoofer arrives tomrorow, just in time for this game. When I was a kid and mommy told me there will be plenty of time for games when I'm grown up and making my own money. She must have been talking about THIS MOMENT.

SFS countered with:

Yesterday evening I paid CR an unexpected visit. The sight I saw was jaw
dropping: CR wearing grubby sweat clothes tucked away in a sleeping bag on
a bean bag chair playing D&D [Ed: SFS isn't "with it" anymore, he has never even been to Small Bar]. Next to him was unfinished hot pockets and cereal.

The smell accompanying the scene was "30 year old unemployed guy living in parents' basement."

As I left his house, I experienced envy for the first time in a long time.

DAMN YOU CR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Super Sunday
Since Players has canceled the annual Super Bowl event, we've been forced to relocate to a residence.

Feathers in the Cap - Players

• Waitresses > 0
• TVs > 1
• Draught beers > 1
  

Feathers in the Cap - House

• Entry < $75 Catered food
• Heated(?) pool > 0
• Allowed to shoot dice > false
• Nearest bed < 40ft
  
• Couches > 0
• Wait-dogs > 0
  

Axis
It looks like there may be an Axis and Allies match coming up. I set up and snapped the 1942 scenario. Here is the board in higher res, with initial funds depicted here. There's been some discussion on possible house rules that might even the field and emphasize creative strategies.

• Curt suggested ipc bonuses for quick turns.
  
• I'm thinking a roll for free tech at the outset and perhaps a few turns in.
• East African pirates.
  

Miles [s]

VA
Two weekends ago was a trip out east to the Commonwealth. Justin and I co-opped Army of Two, ODST, and New Mario, start to finish on consecutive days. Monday featured some epic Halo firefight scenarios. Of course we mixed it up with some MST, Always Sunny, and a trip to the Dulles air museum. Mandy was awesome throughout, and filled me in on some of the great new J-isms that I've missed.



Mario provides some nostalgic sidescrolling action, with a few new motion control elements that tend to be very challenging. The game resurrects the Mario 1, 3, and 4 formula but adds three more simultaneous players. Two at a time provided some helpful bootstrapping and agonizing coordination, I await and fear the day Kevin, Cheryl, and Ty come over.



LV
I finally made it to the annual Friendsgiving event at Bret and Courtney's place in Vegas. After a lengthy drive everybody met up to hang out at the MGM. I think everyone did well after leaving the craps tables.



Dawn broke shortly after we finished our Del Taco and *bertos, and it was much like old times.



Many a ping pong ball was thrown, with the fantasy-inspired keeping of statistics and awarding of trophies.



Out back, Kaffey got along splendidly with Buddy and Chunko. The dogs spent most of the weekend flopped on the ground.



Saturday night was all business as every capable chef prepared their dish, and the chef de chefs deep fried the seasonal entree. Of course the meal was top notch.



Sleeping followed. With fantasy matchups and wiffle the next day.



LA
Proper Thanksgiving for me was courtesy of Jessica's family. Again, an excellent meal with novel variations such as sausage stuffing and chocolate bourbon pecan pie.

I had a fun experience on the return trip. The v1 was getting two very strong signals on my tail, and I was soon passed by a chip. The clutchness of the device was demonstrated as the two signals indicated now in front and behind, encouraging me to let the second cop speed past and nab the guy following the first. I'm not sure why they had radar on, but it was a fun procedure to watch.

SD, at last
Today I saw my house in daylight for the first time in weeks. So I put up some Christmas lights and researched appetizers for Connie's thing.



Scott and I went to see The Road. It was very faithful to the book, I almost pined for a few new scenes since I knew how each would play out. While McCarthy's prose does not lack visual descriptiveness, seeing his world is a great way to experience the story. I'm not sure the sense of despair comes across quite as well, but I don't know how it could have been achieved without excessive monotony.



I downloaded Dragon Age since it's Bioware and got killer reviews. I have a long way to go, but it doesn't strike me as much of an improvement on Mass Effect. Of course, anytime EA's involved...

And lastly, a message from Kafka's nose: n chyt6

New stuff, brah [s]

Jessicat and your favorite east county bro spent Halloween was at Mesa. Everyone else's costumes were not G rated. Particularly Ty's.



Forza 3 is in the xbox right now. It looks great and I'm a huge fan of the added tracks, particularly the sprint races in the Japanese mountains. Catalunya is a good one as well, though I wish someone would nuke Silverstone. I'm not one to demand trillions of cars, but the lineup seems a bit small, perhaps to promote online content sales.

It's a bit easier than the last game, though the suggested lines often leave me to wonder. It's a great installment nonetheless and solved some of the FM2 peeves such as 720p and that the prize car for each race series was really only useful in the series you just beat.



I got my new Bridgestones from Cyclegear today. It's too bad BuyMoto closed cause pulling wheels off (to take to CG) sucks. The Battleax set lasted 8000 miles, front and rear. To contrast, the Qualifiers got me 5000 for each of the two rears I've owned, 7000 for the front.

The front wasn't too bad at the centerline and factory smooth on the edges, but everything between was out of tread. The rear was toast on the very centerline, but with some meat outside of that. Farther out it was pretty warn.

A little peculiar. Oh well, three-compound tire.

Some reviews [r]

So Bungie finished their contribution to the Halo series and did the dreaded franchise handoff. This has led to the titles Halo Wars and Halo ODST. After Dan came down again I had a jones for more shooter action so I picked up the recent release. As expected, it plays pretty much the same as the last three with minor visual tweaks and new features.

The last game succeeded throwing action at you in a crescendo/decrescendo fashion, everything contributed to the mood. You knew from the music, the scenery, and the dialogue when to expect wandering and when to expect a scarab assault. ODST takes a stab at this, but doesn't accomplish it so smoothly - it fluctuates between Resident Evil and choppy, unpredictable action.

ODST's win comes from the set piece battles that are replayable in the team survival mode that I have yet to try (having no team). Maybe tonight intermixed with Beatles.

It's good and faithful/identical to the franchise, but some of the liberties taken by the designers don't work as well as others.



Also I've spent some time with a 2008 release, Sins of a Solar Empire. Hailed as the epic-est strategy game ever, I like their attempt to make Rebellion right and, to paraphrase their mantra, create a strategy game that doesn't base success on how fast you can click the mouse.

It's grandiose, with culture, resources, economics, tech, tactics, experience, topography, and the lot. It seems like everything, however, is a means to create the big fleet that you will need to win. This stands in contrast to Civ, for example, where you can succeed as an isolationist until the game ends.

But, like I said, it seems everything comes down to a large clash of fleets. This might be cool in most cases - it worked well when I played on the small map. But my two medium map games resulted in a fighting stalemate where I had enough resources to defend my planet but the ai could not be diminished. This owes in part to the number of tiny ships in its fleet and its ability to easily focus firepower while I had to do lots of clicking to send everybody after a particular target. To make matters worse, my ally kept announcing reinforcements had arrived - in the form of one or two light frigates.

The action leading up to this endless frustration is enough to let me give it a few more tries, but if every match is similarly predestined, it'll be a bitter end - like the pointy side of a Novalith Cannon.





I finally saw the last of the Futurama movies, Into the Wild Green Yonder. Excellent. The previous ones either had a muddled story, subpar slapstick, or sparing use of the characters' entertaining personalities. This one succeeds at all three.



Bacon gorgonzola barbecue burger gets an A+.



The grass is coming along.

Unexpected surprises [s]

This past Friday I was honored with my first piece of original art. My old boss came over with his family for some steaks and wings, his wife brought along an awesome Japanese-style painting. (And I did in fact straighten the frame after taking the photo.)



This weekend involved a lengthy circuit of the county. Jes and I stopped by the animal shelter only to be disappointed by the overabundance of abandoned PB dogs (pit bulls) and purse dogs. I snagged some extra lumber for a weekend project, maybe Sunday during the f1, gp, and sbk events. Basically those beams will go up on the wall in the garage. The plywood will lay over them and be bolted on - rather than wood screwed - so that it's easy to remove and reattach. In this way, I can easily add and rearrange climbing grips that will go on the plywood.

I have to establish whether or not the plywood is appropriate for the job, and if this proves to not be the case it'll go over the exposed walls in the side room. The garage will accommodate a modest traversal section, which is a great first step. And apparently toproping is for noobs.



Another stop was Fry's. Awhile back I rigged some coax-rca connections because my audio signal was encountering interference between the tv and amp. Those will now have clean connections and maybe later I'll do shielded wires for each of the speakers. That'll depend highly on a clean coax-bare wire connector.



Red Alert 3 was knocked down to a bargain price, so grabbed a copy.

• Good: Pretty good graphics with really cool water effects, and this one has a lot of water.
• Bad: RA1 looked gritty next to its peers (Warcraft, etc.). RA2 looked grittier than RA1 thanks to better computers. RA3 kind of splits the middle, it's a bit cartoony.
• Good: A third faction.
• Bad: Mechs. This ain't Tiberian Sun.
  
• Good: Tim Curry, Jenny McCarthy, George Takei, that guy from several Laws and Order are pretty funny.
  
• Bad: They don't quite go over the top with the character portrayals, though the script and storyline would support it.
  

• Good: The wonderful elements of the predecessors are there. Smooth action, fortifyable buildings, Kirovs.
• Bad: That's cause EA bought the franchise. Look for Red Alert '09, then Red Alert '10, then...
  
• Good: Cool threat level based techs and superweapons.
• Bad: Not many alternatives to the Iron Curtain/Chronosphere.
• Good: Everything is designed around co op play.
• Bad: Opponent ai is still unfun, you're either almost dead or completely dominating. Where's rfq when you need him?
  

Today Jon picked up the Costco foamy I've been meaning to get. It'll be good for noobs and visitors.

Oh and the old patent app I worked on is finally listed.

A few events [s]

Wednesday was Settlers night. There was great anticipation as we finally cracked open Cities and Knights. The expansion adds considerable complexity to the game, it's a little intimidating at the outset, but is great for playability. The development capabilities in the expansion add quite a few options up front, but they also change as progress is made. I am simultaneously excited for- and fearful of the inevitable Settlers/Seafarers/Cities stratorgy.



Connie won. I was a couple resources from a last-to-first comeback when I handed the dice to her. Jon was held at twelve of thirteen victory points for a few rounds when his dominance was (at last) recognized. Curt was not far from the finish either. On account of our newbiness to the expansion, the lack of a dominant force/quick winner, and some very 'contemplative' turns, it took five hours to resolve the victor of Catan. That meant 02:30 on a school night. It never really dragged, unlike Risk or Axis where you can finish a pint before your opponent has decided which three territories he'll invade.

I burned about a quarter of my amputated overhang that night. The wood was particularly poppy and there wasn't a shortage of embers on the wood floor. No housefires or burn marks on the highly laminated (not laminate) surface.

I stopped by Dixieline's home furnishings showroom because their kitchen and bath selection is pretty good. I was optimistic, Home Depot just doesn't have much variety and any store that specializes in such fixtures is overpriced and/or requires install. My original goal was to find a pedestal sink that would mesh well with the tight confines of the downstairs bathroom.

Unfortunately the only inspiring ones were ultra modern, and that would clash pretty badly. I took a liking to the Xylem Essence and Europa vanities because they were very slim and had no cabinets. I liked the Essence more and could even tolerate the countertop vessel, but doing a wall-mounted faucet did not appeal. I settled on the Europa with a one-piece white china top.

Joe sold it to me, he didn't mind discussing the options with me and wasn't pushy, but unsurprisingly all of his knowledge seemed to come from the catalog.

It wasn't until the invoice was printed that I was informed there was a $100 handling charge. Joe seemed to expect unpleasantness and meekly suggested that it was offset by their 25% then 20% discounts (which I intuitively know means 45% off list price!). Anyway, that bs was enough to deter me from returning but I was still okay with the bottom line and went ahead with the order. Joe told me it'd arrive within a week.

Then Thursday I (Jon) called and was informed the sink top was back ordered and they should have originally told me two or three weeks. I cancelled the order and was told there would be a restocking fee but they'd try to get it waived because my arrival date was wrong. I pointed out they couldn't well charge me a restocking fee on something not in stock and made the impression that I wasn't going to put up with any more bs. Joe called me later to confirm.

Unfortunately, for future projects this leaves me with Home Depot and the internet. The former has limited supply, the latter offers only jpgs to suggest the quality and consistency of the merchandise.



I headed over Expo to see if they were still open; the place is in the final stages of Circuit Citying. Selection was pretty limited, but they had a few vanities not unlike the Xylem one for a pretty good price. The only tops available were black glass, which I decided against based on style. I did snag an independent sink drain (rather than the one that comes with the faucet) and after the install I'm very happy with it. It's easier to install, looks better, and is of better construction.



The final pull from Expo was a sturdy shelf probably used for stocking small items. Now it's holding up Rob's big ol' crt tv and the sound system pilfered from Casa Morelos. No more bleeding clutch cables without some tunes or Futurama dvds.



Today we took Jon's xr to Plaster City way out on 8. Ty attended, so did Erik and Ian with their big Hondas. The barbecue was a challenge to secure, but very clutch for the grilling of sirloin burgers.



The terrain was a significant contrast to the previous excursion, tight trails were replaced with 360 degree mobility, packed dirt was replaced with sand.



We navigated terrain, ran a small oval course, hill climbed, and did some jumping.



A few more photos can be seen on flickr at the moment.

Speed night at the theater [r]

Fast and Furious (6.3)

• Rides (7): Rides has finally been done right. The featured machines hail from many countries, decades, and backgrounds. Caymans, Camaros, Skylines, new Mustangs, M3s; the list is extensive because no car survives more than a fraction of the film.
  The minor details are important, there aren't any Civics racing rx7s or Jettas racing s2000s. The drug runners use a traditional Hummer where many movies would have opted for the commercial H2 or H3. The cartel kingpin rolls in a 'rambo lambo' escorted by 90s-era Suburbans in lieu of the Escalade or late mode Suburban option.
  But because Toretto and O'Connor go through so many rides in 99 minutes, there's no single car that's meant to capture the affection of the characters and audience. The first movie let us cheer for the Ferrari-beating Supra and salivate over the mythical Charger. This movie treats cars only as a means to an end, which isn't a sentiment shared by an audience that will suffer horrible writing and acting to see some fine steel - CR
  A variety of different style cars. Small ones, big ones, big ones with engine things sticking out of the top, big tires... Oh, a Subbie wrx - word to the Subarus! They picked a cute hatchback version in lieu of the sedan, but they did keep the classic Subbie blue color. I can't complain, a little cuteness goes a long way.
  Lots of recognizable street cars - Honda s2000, Porsche Cayman, black Hummer getaway car, and I believe the fake boss man was driving in a Lincoln limosine. - CS
• Authenticity (3): There wasn't much criteria in the realm of authenticity for this movie - Does nitro-meth exist? Does only one person in LA use it? Would it leave a burn mark for CSI: Vin Diesel to find? The rest of the issues are more a matter of being sensible. The tunnel we can estimate to be a half mile based on the time it take fast and furious drivers to race a quarter mile. This sort of feat can and has been accomplished in human history - though usually near a town and rarely matching the width of a car. What I really revel in is that they escape the heat sensor by recruiting fast cars/drivers. But once in the tunnel... underground, they have to drive enven faster to escape being seen by a helicopter. - JR
  Are you serious? This is a movie! No such thing as authenticity. - CS
  The story and dialog are on par with the FF series and any other speed night movie. The action sequences take quite a few liberties with physics and human cognition, but few bits are visually unauthentic (increased frame rate, poor cg). - CR
• Chicas (7): The producer of the fast and the furiouses has obviously made his living off of flashing half naked girls on the screen, this movie was more of the same - but with a latin twist. Especially nice was that they limited the amount of guys in the background to really - as we say in MBA school - maximize the hotness. The female leads had small parts: Letty dies, Mia has become a shut-in, and Agent Trinh is clearly stuck on O'Connor's friends ladder (only females have a friends ladder). Toretto is still a musclebound hothead who is suddenly finding his softer side. This may make some girls gush, I'm really not sure. This softer side also interferes with our chances of seeing Gisele take her gear off. - JR
  It seems, in the previous FFs, the extras all came from one place: import car shows. This applies equally to the flamboyant Civics and the girls straddling them. With any amount of scrutiny it could be determined that they came from a very unappealing reality. Not so with Fast and Furious, despite a prevailing skank level reaching somewhere in the stratosphere, the eye candy is such even when in focus. -CR
  No comment on the chicas. The tall, skinny villain gal's eye candy came across as anorexic, however, Jordana Brewster brings up the flesh category. The non-femmes are dominated by Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, despite the Dilbert attire. A little less shirt would have been nice, but after all said and done, the initial scenes with Han did bump the non-femmes up a notch. - CS
  
• One Liners (6): '20% angel, 80% devil.' One word about how Vinnie looked when he said that: hot. Oh wait, that belongs in the flesh category... - CS
  'You looked under my hood?' 'Now you owe me a ten second car' 'When the gps calls...' Plenty of one liners, both sensical and not. - JR
  There are a few cute ones, 'Sorry, car.' There are a few that make fun of Paul Walker, 'Still a buster.' 'Buster's a gearhead.' And there are a few that are meant to sound in touch with the street racer scene, 'Meth nitrous is for pussies.' While the movie isn't quotially vacant, it's hard to live up to the quotability of the original. - CR
  
• Action Sequences (7): Cars were crashed, but no more than what the Tokyo Drift kid did single handedly. - JR
  I would give it a ten, but since I didn't get an A and CR did, it gets a 9.5. Full-on balls of fires action with exploding cars and leaky nitrous- what more could the dentist ask? The murder mystery added a good twist and actually gave the movie a story, complemented by some good ol' fashioned beat-him-to-a-pulp action sequences.
  The villain guy, however, could have been a little more villiany. He came across like a smug smurf that forgot to eat his Wheaties. More evil, more tyranny was needed. Even Evil Green Car Driver Guy wasn't as mad as he was supposed to be. Mad Max would beat him in madness any day. However, I must say, the Dukes of Hazzard Vin Diesel revenge style was definitely appropriate.
  Overall, the action was quite throttling and deserves a nice high score. - CS
  
• Star Power (8): They brought back the original crew. Apparently the first movie had more star power than initially assessed, as Vin Diesel definitely made the movie. It would not have been the same without him. Paul Walker definitely added star power, but he would have taken the limelight had he not worn a Dilbert suit 50% of the time. - CS
  One of the main draws of Fast and Furious is that it reunites the core of the original cast. Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, and Michelle Rodriguez haven't risen to glorious Hollywood stardom in the last eight years, but their careers haven't languished either. It's great to see a cameo by Han, the most amiable character in the series. Walker is only distractingly bad on occasion and the female leads do a good job of portraying unsympathetic characters. I glanced at a review beforehand, it spoke disparagingly of Diesel's acting, claiming he comes across as tired and effortless. I actually saw this as understandable anguish that peaks at an excellent scene that is pointlessly destroyed by O'Connor's spontaneous make up sex with Mia. - CR

7+
The Fast and the Furious (7.7): Genre-defining, quotable, unreal
Gumball Rally (7.5): Still relevant
Initial D (7.1): Cult, riveting, but give us some shine
Thunderbolt (7.0): Over the top for better and worse
6+
Days of Thunder (6.7): Pretty good but not very pretty
Fast and Furious (6.3): New model, original problems
Ronin (6.3): Left in the briefcase: girls, rides, one-liners
Mad Max (6.2): Brutal action, no frills
Truth in 24 (6.2): Good, but too much truth for speed night
5+
Redline (5.7): Fantastic if watched in a foreign language
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (5.6): Sexy, but unfulfilling
2 Fast 2 Furious (5.3): 2 flimsy
4+
Driven (4.9): Succeeds in everything unrelated to cars
Death Race 2000 (4.0): If only they were just racing across town
3+
Movin' Too Fast (3.3): Well, it has cars

A few more shots of the carnage [s]

There are a few wires to dispose of, all in due time. The couch is a bit off the wall to center its occupants more and provide a space for the woofer. Um and I'm terrible at pillowing couches.



I brought the tripods home from my office so I had a bit more snapping liberty.



Dixieline was closed today, grumble. Still, I put the head back.



Surf board rack with wifi. Duh.

Truth in 24 (6)

• Rides (7): The speed night mainstay is a powerful road car that features a wealth of modifications such as blowers, bottles, death proof roll cages, and chaingun turrets. The LeMans circuit is a departure, for sure, but not one that dances off into the fairly land of f1 and the lot where cars - to paraphrase Ferdinand Porsche - should win a race and then fall to pieces. Nay, LeMans racers have to run strong for a contiguous day and have been a testbed for the development plenty of commecial technology.
  Truth in 24 showcases the fastest and least recognizable of the series, the prototype class. These machines are purely designed for function and tend to be a crap shoot for aesthetics. I would have found myself salivating considerably more had they focused on the classes that consist of 430s, 911s, S7s, Corvettes and the like. But that experience may have been ruined every time a LMP breezed by on the outside of a hairpin.
  So while there's little variety or focus on the cars you might actually see in the parking garage at your local hospital, they look good, sound good, and require no increased frame rate or cgi to knock your socks off.
  
• Authenticity (10): It's a documentary. You can't get a whole lot more authentic without jumping formats. Of course I'm accepting the characterization of Peugot as evil. But if they weren't evil they wouldn't have made their cars looks so evil.
  
• Femmes (0): I think I spotted a few in the crowd. For something created by nfl films and shown on espn, I actually expected a few umbrella girls.
  
• One Liners (7): The authenticity and female content aren't a surprise, but the prevalence of quotables was a shocker. None are so cornball to be as memorable as 'danger to manifold' or 'my hand gernade', but they're excellent within the context of the story. The lecherous lead engineer of the Audi powerplant has a few, such as the observation that his turbo diesel is quiet and sexy, in contrast to the 'normal' perception of sexy as involving screaming. Shudder.
  Then there are a few - often through thick accents - that draw a chuckle while you're watching, such as, 'Drive home like grandma'. And then the prophetic, 'It always rains at LeMans'.
  
• Action Sequences (7): I'll start with the 3/10ths empty part of the glass: no martial arts, Mexican stands-off, or nos explosions. The 7/10ths is a tasty blend of Fine Driving, high speed camera clips, mishaps, and flying cars. The carnage is actually Tetrised into the storyline so it doesn't feel like a nascar commercial. And most importantly, the movie draws on so many sources of footage that the coverage of the track, cars, pits, is very complete. It doesn't hurt that you can watch some impressive shots and know it wasn't cooked up by a supercomputer cluster or remotely control car.
  
• Star Power (6): Paul Newman and Steve McQueen show up in a few homage clips, the rest are racers.

7+
The Fast and the Furious (7.7): Genre-defining, quotable, unreal
Gumball Rally (7.5): Still relevant
Initial D (7.1): Cult, riveting, but give us some shine
Thunderbolt (7.0): Over the top for better and worse
6+
Days of Thunder (6.7): Pretty good but not very pretty
Ronin (6.3): Left in the briefcase: girls, rides, one-liners
Mad Max (6.2): Brutal action, no frills
Truth in 24 (6.2): Good, but too much truth for speed night
5+
Redline (5.7): Fantastic if watched in a foreign language
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (5.6): Sexy, but unfulfilling
2 Fast 2 Furious (5.3): 2 flimsy
4+
Driven (4.9): Succeeds in everything unrelated to cars
Death Race 2000 (4.0): If only they were just racing across town
3+
Movin' Too Fast (3.3): Well, it has cars