The book and the movie: The Help

I guess my 'summer read' would be The Help.

I finished the book yesterday morning and saw the movie in the afternoon.

The book was very good - and the movie equaled it.

I would call the 1960's (the era of the book and movie) my decade.

It was when I graduated from high school, got my first job, and my first car.

I remember the 1967 riots.  It was scary to see what was happening to Detroit and other major cities around the country.  The ugliness of the era took center stage.

The National Guard posted everywhere. Curfews. 

Long before the riots, I had read the books Black Like Me and To Kill a Mockingbird.  Being a young Yankee it was hard to believe that these two stories depicted the truth about the United States.

I applaud the authors of these books.

They help us realize that we need to face truths -

whether about our country - or ourselves.

I ♥ books

 

Bumper Cars

These little beasties are street legal.

They run on either Kawasaki or Honda motorcycle engines and co-opt vintage bumper car bodies into the most awesome form of mini-car we've seen in too long.

There are seven of these little monsters floating around California and they're all the creation of one man, Tom Wright, a builder in the outskirts of San Diego who figured the leftovers of the Long Beach Pike amusement park needed a more dignified end than the trash heap.

They were originally powered by two cylinder Harley Davidson Motorcycle engines but they rattled like heck because of the two cylinder vibration and Tom replaces them with four cylinder Honda or Kawasaki 750's and a couple have been measured as capable of 160 MPH, which is terrifyingly fast in machines with such a short wheelbase.

By the way, they are almost indestructible in accidents   :-)