Wish I Had Better News...

regarding the ratings from this past weekend's LOORRS race that was broadcast on CBS.

The LOORRS race that ran in this exact same timeslot one year ago saw a 1.2 rating and 1.53 million viewers for the broadcast.  It marked a high point for short course TV viewership in recent memory.  Dirt Sport magazine lauded the result in a following issue and many thought that people across the country had finally caught on.

Not so much.

Since that watershed rating the LOORRS broadcasts have garnered a 0.5, 0.6, 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, and 0.3 ratings all prior to this past semi-holiday weekend.

This weekend's LOORRS broadcast generated another 0.4 rating equating to 510,000 viewers of the program (you can see prior posts on this topic as to how I calculate this number).  Yes this is an uptick from the prior two broadcasts but I don't think anywhere near what was hoped for at the beginning of the year.  With the consistency that these numbers show I think its clear that last Thanksgiving's ratings were a fluke--either a mistake in the ratings calculation or a remarkable stroke of lighting on that day.

TELECAST	DATE	NET	TIME (ET)	RAT.
"NFL on Fox": Packers-Lions	11/24	Fox	12:30-4:00pm	15.8
"The NFL Today"	11/24	CBS	3:30-4:00pm	5.6
"NFL on CBS": Dolphins-Cowboys	11/24	CBS	4:00-7:00pm	15.3
National Dog Show (taped)	11/24	NBC	12:00-2:00pm	4.8
NCAA Football: Iowa-Nebraska	11/25	ABC	12:00-3:30pm	2.2
NCAA Football: Boston College-Miami	11/25	ABC	3:30-7:00pm	1.5
"Best of College Football 2011"	11/25	CBS	1:30-2:30pm	1.3
NCAA Football: Arkansas-LSU	11/25	CBS	2:30-6:00pm	6.1
NHL: Red Wings-Bruins	11/25	NBC	1:00-4:00pm	1.0
NCAA Football: Ohio State-Michigan	11/26	ABC	12:00-3:30pm	5.3
NCAA Football: (regional)	11/26	ABC	3:30-7:00pm	3.2
NCAA Football: Notre Dame-Stanford	11/26	ABC	8:00-11:45pm	4.1
Lucas Oil Off Road Racing (taped)	11/26	CBS	1:30-2:30pm	0.4
"CBS College Football 2011"	11/26	CBS	2:30-3:00pm	0.5
"College Football Today"	11/26	CBS	3:00-3:30pm	0.8
NCAA Football: Alabama-Auburn	11/26	CBS	3:30-7:00pm	4.4
NCAA Football: Bayou Classic: Grambling State-Southern	11/26	NBC	2:30-6:00pm	0.6
"The NFL Today"	11/27	CBS	12:00-1:00pm	2.8
"NFL on CBS": (regional)	11/27	CBS	1:00-4:15pm	12.2
"NFL on CBS": Patriots-Eagles (72%)	11/27	CBS	4:15-7:30pm	15.6
"Fox NFL Sunday"	11/27	Fox	12:00-1:00pm	3.1
"NFL on Fox": (single)	11/27	Fox	1:00-4:05pm	11.7
Skiing: Aspen Winternational (taped)	11/27	NBC	1:00-2:00pm	0.6
Figure Skating: ISU Grand Prix (taped)	11/27	NBC	2:00-4:00pm	0.9
Figure Skating: Unforgettable Holiday Moments on Ice (taped)	11/27	NBC	4:00-6:00pm	1.1
"Football Night in America"	11/27	NBC	7:30-8:15pm	4.6
"Sunday Night Football": Steelers-Chiefs	11/27	NBC	8:30-11:30pm	12.5

Book Review: The Long Season

While in his baseball career Jim Brosnan was a slightly above average major league pitcher, it is his literary career that is much more remembered.

Brosnan who pitched for the Cubs, Cardinals and Reds amongst others as both a starter and a reliever was contacted by Sports Illustrated to write an article about his experiences during the 1959 baseball season.

This article grew into what would become the 268 page The Long Season which is regarded as the first modern novel of major league sports from a first  hand perspective that doesn't gloss over the varying ugly events, personalities and foibles of the participants.  A fluff piece about how Ty Cobb mentored the poor and Babe Ruth was a great husband this is not.

Brosnan's work owes a great deal of itself to the decidedly non-sports writers of the time as I found myself often comparing much of his writing to that of the conversational tone of Kerouac.

Any modern baseball critic owes it to themselves to read this book as it shows that many of the same issues plaguing the sport today are old news.  Complaints of a contracting strike zone, umpires who hold grudges, small ballparks, racism, overly rabid fans, and more are all here.  What is relatively new here is the critique of fellow ballplayers and non-rose colored glasses look at the game.

Here players are carousing in San Fran, drinking everywhere, disdainful of management, and even more dismissive of ownership.  Some players are cheap, others can't play a lick.

Brosnan doesn't get into any truly salacious details regarding what players were cheating on their wives, what players showed up drunk to games or things of that nature but they're all part of the narrative.

The book is a good, quick read and worthy of anyone looking to view and critique major modern sports and their machinations.

Graphic Novel Review: The Vessel of Terror

With my recent interest in both comic books and H.P. Lovecraft, this book was a natural fit.

Written by a Norwegian and printed in the UK this is a decidedly "Lovecraft-ian" work.  Borrowing from well known horror/sci-fi works like Alien, The Thing and others, The Vessel of Terror still stands on its own as a worthy creation.

The art is excellent and realistic as it should be for a graphic novel like this.  The force of the ocean, grittiness of a seaport and dim light of a location nearing the Arctic Circle are all well felt.

The writing draws sufficiently upon familiar themes to give the novel a baseline on which to draw in a short piece like this without being a carbon copy.  The fact that some of what is contained herein is based in fact (Yes, there is such a think as a Magnapinna squid, they are very big, they do have 10 tentacles vs. the 8 arms and 2 tentacles that other squids have or 8 arms and no tentacles that octopus have, none have been captured alive or studied and really, no one is sure if they are really squid or should be classified elsewhere).  See video here of one taken at a deep ocean drilling site in the Gulf of Mexico.

And this is the best part of the novel and what is best about Lovecraft's best work.  It takes the unknown, known (that which we know exists but don't know anything about it) and extrapolates it all sorts of weird directions.  Sure its not probable (OK, likely not possible), but just the fact that we don't KNOW means there's some infinitesimal chance that it MIGHT be like this.  And the fact that there is an infinitesimal chance just can sit there in the back or your primate brain and haunt the bejezus out of you.

This book is under $20 and as its from a small publisher, writer, etc. and not a big publishing conglomerate that churns out the same drivel over and over, its well worth supporting.

Watch The Rally of the Tall Pines...

As it happens today.  As part of Rally America's new ownership they are instituting a dedicated channel to broadcasting stage rally events as they happen over the internet.  The first experiment with this comes today with the Canadian event "The Rally of the Tall Pines" in Bancroft, Ontario.

I am interested to see what the production and editing and varies camera views and commentary are like.
With 60 entrants this will be the largest rally race in North America in 2011, has three Nissan/Datsun entries and has the top drivers (L'estage, Ricard, Higgins) running for bragging rights...

The event can be seen here: http://rallystream.tv/tall_pines.php

Nissan Titan (Frontier, Xterra, Pathfinder, etc.) To Live Through 2013!!

And so it lives on...

Since 2004 the Nissan Titan has remained relatively unchanged, only undergoing minor nips, tucks and tweaks during its now eight year existence.

You can basically say the same thing in two years as the Nissan Titan has been confirmed to run through the 2013 model year by Nissan itself.

It had been planned that the new Nissan Titan would debut in 2012 as a 2013 model.  The earthquake and tsunami earlier this year in Japan has evidently put a dent in those plans and the next Titan will now bow in 2013 as a 2014 model.

Given that the same platform that is used for the Titan also underpins Nissan's Xterra, Frontier, Pathfinder and recently introduced line of cargo vans, there seems little to no reason why any of those would see a major rework in this period either.  My thinking is that when one goes, they all go.  If they are going to keep the assembly lines going on the Titan, does it make any sense to end the production of the higher volume Frontier and set up a separate assembly like for a new version of the smaller pickup?  No.  And does it make any sense to turn sales away for the Xterra at this point while you keep churning out the same frame and parts that underpin that SUV?  No.

So I think it safe to say that the vehicles you see on your 2011 lot for Nissan trucks and truck-like SUVs are the same ones you will see through 2013.  Now go buy one!

Nissan Titan to live on through 2013 model year...

Two Awesome Nissan Entries For 2012 Dakar...

from the French Dessoude team.

Having Christian Lavieille finish in 8th last year as the top finisher from a non-factory effort was evidently not enough.

The "car" that Lavieille drove to his 8th place finish has now been relegated to 3rd tier status on the Dessoude team while two new "Prototype" Nissans have been developed.  One a more standard Nissan truck looking vehicle and one which I believe to be an ex-Mitsubishi factory vehicle that has now been engine swapped to a Nissan 3.7L.

If the new car bugs have been worked out, either or both of these vehicles could contend for an overall Dakar win with Volkswagen now out of the event and only BMW/Mini as a remaining factory effort.

As always...any top 10 finish for any of the Dessoude teams would be an accomplishment though this year, unlike last, I have realistic hopes for more...

Nissan Dessoude Team Readies for Dakar...

Incorporating, Getting an EIN Number and Opening a Bank Account...

As my mother-in-law and others like to ask me or my wife "What are (is) you (he) planning now?"

Given my habit of doing things that are usually considered a bit off kilter (chasing hurricanes, bull riding, sky diving, wandering into Mexico on the back of a burro, etc., etc., ) any time I come up with a new idea my close relatives just roll their eyes.

This is exactly what occured this weekend and throughout this past week when I announced to my wife that I had officially formed an LLC in the name of "NISMO Stuff Racing, LLC", obtained my state certificate of formation, acquired my Federal EIN # (allowing me to hire employees should I wish and file tax returns) and open a banking account for this new institution.

My new company currently has a Tangible Net Worth of $5 (the $5 I deposited in the bank account upon its opening).

Many may initially think that this has been done to create a shell company for my racing efforts to create tax writeoffs.  Not so.  In fact, I hope to run a real business and offer a needed service.  Nothing to be announced yet and who knows, it may all fail and fall apart and amount to nothing--in fact, chances are that's exactly what it will do...but...then again, it may not...

An Idiot At This Weekend's B1K...

Holy cow...some people's idiocy knows no bounds.  This guy not only nearly ended his own life but could have ended the life of the drivers as well given how we can guess at the crowd's reaction should this guy have been hit.  This is why offroad racing in Mexico can be literally insane...

Love It!

So when 10,000 Occupy Wall Streeters were supposed to show up yesterday and shut down the NYSE a whopping 1,000 showed up and many were arrested.  The NYSE went on as normal and the OWSers are looking more and more like a crumbling, failed, never was, movement by the moment.

These two individuals who already have a job are expressing the thinking of much of America in terms of the distaste for the grubby, under-30, liberal arts educated, do nothing, know nothings that make up the OWS bowel "movement".

Well done sirs...well done...

More Video from IRNY...

This time from Stage 19 which was a short, mixed surface stage.  The uphill, hairpin to the right was one of the most interesting turns in the event.  Going downhill I could not make the turn and required much backing up and turning around in order to not get stuck or go over a cliff.  Going uphill I could cut the corner better and spin the rear tires around to make the turn which seemed like it took FOREVER when driving but only took a few seconds in reality.  Good stuff again and I like the "picture in picture" aspect of this video as well...

Biggest Wave Ever Surfed??

I'm not sure if this is the biggest wave ever surfed...but I bet its in the running.  Filmed very recently, at 90 feet and somewhere off of Portugal, this thing is remarkably smooth and consistent.  It doesn't look like it fell apart randomly as so many big waves do.  I cannot imagine being at the bottom of it and looking up at a wall of water near 100 feet above my head...Truly an epic ride...

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Book Review: Brazen Chariots

A recap of British tank involvement in the battle of North Africa in Rommel's waning days, Brazen Chariots almost disappointed me.

For a significant portion of the memoir Robert Crisp injects too little emotion and merely reduced to describing antiseptic movements of his tank and crew around the desert.  Even encounters with German armor are reduced to the most basic and dry of descriptions.  We get little in the way of the descriptive capabilities of the author in the first half of the book.

The second half contains the payoff and boy is it worth it.  Take this passage for example:

In the same moment I saw the puff of smoke from the anti-tank gun and felt and heard the strike on the armour-plating.  Quickly I looked down into the turret.  A foot or two below me the gunner was staring at his hand, over which a dark red stain was slowly spreading.  Then he gave a scream and fell grovelling on the floor.  In the top right hand corner of the turret a jagged hole gaped, and through it, like some macabre peepshow, I could see the gun being reloaded.  I knew that in another few seconds I would be dead...

This is just one example of Mr. Crisp's clean and clear prose at its fullest impact.  Later notable episodes include an incident of fratricide and a particularly horrific series describing his near death from shrapnel that had impacted his head and the resulting trip by ambulance and following hospital stay.

In reading up on Mr. Crisp after the fact, he also seems like one hell of a guy and someone I'd admire.  Born in Calcutta, Crisp was a professional cricket player who was denied a number of commendations specifically at the behest of the English commander Bernard Montgomery due to Crisp's run ins with his commanding officers.  Additionally Crisp was well known for his womanizing, twice summiting Kilimanjaro, swimming the length of Loch Lomand, sailed around Greece, farmed Minks, spent a year walking around Crete after being diagnosed with cancer and was frequently employed as a journalist.

I think I have someone else to put up on my list of heroes along with Hemingway and Fitch...Well done Mr. Crisp...Well done...

Still More Photos...

So its like two weeks later now and photos are still coming out of IRNY. These are of the NISMO Stuff Racing Frontier from the official photographer of Dirty Impreza.com, Andrew Pascarella.

Excellent shots all around and I love the flying dirt in these pictures.

Film Review: Winter's Bone

Nominated for four of the big Oscar awards in 2011 (Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay) I had high hopes for this film.

These hopes were minimally met.

Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, and New York magazine all called this film "horrific" and "unforgettable".  There is little here that is truly horrific beyond what you'd find in the average after school special, nor is there much here that I will remember for much time.

Jennifer Lawrence's portrayal of the female protagonist is well done but she's just too clean to be present among the meth-head filth she is surrounded by...she's too Hollywood, wearing borderline Abercrombie and Fitch flannel clothing and not looking or really sounding the part of a true redneck female.

The other characters are more in line with what I'd expect--missing teeth, premature aging, covered in filth, etc. and were the most realistic portions of the film.  I rather enjoyed the portrayal of white trash in this film since so much white trash prides themselves on being disgusting, fat, dumb and lucky to shop at WalMart, its good to show them in a negative light as they are here.

That being said, I can't get beyond the rather pedestrian story this film is crafted around.  Lawrence's character is a teenager who has to grow up too fast because her father is a meth-cooker who ratted out his partners and got killed while her mom is a mental vegetable.  Left to care for her younger siblings she teaches them their proper school skills and home skills, filling the role of mother and father, all while trying to hunt down what happened to her father in order to save their home.  Yawn...this is a story that has been told and retold and the only thing new here is that the film latches on to what is just the latest scourge of the underclass.

IRNY SS 13 Video: Look Out for Deer!

This is one of the longest stages of the event and includes (at the 7:17 mark) our close encounter with a deer as it runs across our nose about 30 yards in front of us.  Between this encounter, the 4 year old running up the road TOWARD my truck at one point, a hit pheasant by one of the sweep trucks, one of the course workers hitting two deer in two days...well...there were a lot of unexpected LIVING obstacles out there!!

Some SEMA Stuff...

This year looks extra boring.  Nothing really that I've seen that really strikes me as new or unique to this point.  In the past couple years the Nissan GT-R has been the high end vehicle of choice to work on and display.  This year it is the Ford Raptor that everyone seems to be doing versions of...But I haven't included any here as most are merely new paint jobs or extra nick-nacks that don't amount to much...Not that these examples are really much to get excited over either...but...there it is....

Nissan Titan at SEMA...

As off-road Nissans seemingly go the way of the Dodo at SEMA, I have been able to spot a single one so far from all the pictures produced this week.  A Titan front clip from Fiberwerx and some new bedsides with louvers in them.  Additionally this truck as an odd insert in the front grill with some spikes while sporting a lot of LEDs on the front grill attached to a custom prerunner bumper.  All in all a nice looking package (especially the louvered bedsides), though I could do without the spikes.  Fingers crossed to find some more Nissan trucks at SEMA...

Ken Block Ford Fiesta Hot Wheels and More...

Out shopping with my son today during one of his now three "snow" days that he has off from school due to the recent storm.

Of course I had to stop by the Hot Wheels section of the Toys R Us to see if there were any cool new cars available.

Right away I spotted the Ken Block Gymkhana Ford Fiesta.  Complete with an internal plastic roll cage and a super low profile with extra smooth plastic cladding on the bottom this one goes well beyond your normal Plain Jane Hot Wheels.  I picked up two.  One to play with on my son's Hot Wheels track and one to put away.

While this was by far the coolest Hot Wheels there, I noticed and picked up a stage rally Subaru Impreza as well.  This one is also complete with roll cage and STi body cladding.

Oh, and the Ken Block Fiesta runs down the track and flies over the Hot Wheels jump much better than the much heavier Impreza.  Not much of a shocker huh?