Whilst harumph-ing at the slow day at the ofc... watched some other The Roses interviews w/ Olivia Colman and Ben Cumberbatch, to cheer me up... Looking at them a bit more closely... subjected the pair to my usual Chinese zodiac filter -- very interesting indeed. Fantastically-gifted actor Liv Colman, were born 23 Jan '74 -- only a few days after the lunar new year (20 Jan). Being a Tiger in general means a child and adult with an enormous heart and intimidating ability to fearlessly feel their way thru life, always aiming to top the mountain in whatever they choose... as if destined to it. Their self-assurance and confidence is legendary, as the big cat they're likened to. 'Bring it', is their creedo -- and tend to be quite wild in youth given their fearlessness... but this greatly varies depending on which of the five Tigers they are. Chinese traditional belief says all 12 animals are divided into the 5 elements -- Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood. Each appearance of an animal every 12 yrs, changes elements thru that order -- to complete a full cycle of 60 yrs. The animal Year supposedly reigns from lunar NY, then begins to change to the following year's animal, around 01 Sep. The influence of the following year then becomes stronger and stronger approaching LNY, when the previous year no longer has any influence (which I dispute). People born in this time from 01 Sep to LNY, I consider 'cusp babies' -- those who have traits of both Year's animals. Liv Colman isn't technically, but may be one of these. Obvi her Tiger traits being one of two of the most Yang animals in the 12, makes her personality bias the Tiger -- she knows who she is, and has all her life. One part of her that seems to resemble the previous Year, which would be the Ox... is her unflappable base of decorum at all times -- esp after becoming a mum. Her Tiger side cracks and larfs at crude jokes (esp w/ Ben) but the Ox side balances the slashing Tigers claws, w/ civility and inertia. Both animals in nature often kill each other, so a good equaliser for the intimidating (and often self-destructive) confidence of the Tiger. She's also a Wood Tiger, which is far less intense and self-indulgent vs. Fire or Metal Tigers. Being born in Winter, also clips some of the intensity a Tiger would otherwise have, vs a Summer-born one. Ben Cumberbatch is a Fire Dragon (19 Jul '76)... which is a pretty neat coincidence, wouldn't you say? Dragons are the other dominant Yang animal, together w/ the Tiger. Tigers and Dragons -- esp males -- tend to either despise each other or become fast friends, no middle ground. Both have very different styles of domination and achievement, and of course each consider the other rivals for whatever they unfortunately happen to overlap in coveting. Ben is very much the consummate male Dragon -- an Omega who doesn't see frontal conflict as the best way to build empire to vision nor achieve greatness -- general vs. infantryman. Their choices are meticulously thought out and serve a grand design roadmap of the life they foresee themselves as sole architect of. Tigers are very much 'leap in, and things'll sort themselves out' -type people, and choose to act first and let someone else clean up later Dragons abhor lack of structure... so invent it wherever it's needed (Ben became producer on The Roses, so he could have control over the kind of set he felt would serve all in it). Control is the overarching theme of Dragons... and unless the Tiger (or any other animal) can serve some capacity / role in their worldview... they're only irritants. Ben also has that very British sense of decorum (at least at their collective level of social status), so have a fighting chance or being fast friends w/ Liv -- which they happen to be. Wood feeds Fire -- so feel Liv's Tiger side tends to knock a bit of stasis out of Ben, who's lightning-fast in reply to interviews but can seem a bit 'locked-in' -- Liv's perfect at saying and doing humorous things to break him out of this shell -- throwing Wood on his Fire Ben provides a sense of calm and careful consideration, Liv can sometimes ad-lib into the weeds -- which is hilarious to watch in real time. Long-years-friendly enough to cut up with, even on the junkets... but also intensely respectful of each other's craft and achievement. Fun! Love to see this sort of coincidence w/ celebs I adore
I swear Google's reading what's posted here, and applying it to their YT algorithm After shellacking Ford elsewhere here for their F-150 bean-counters chiseling content out of effing suspension A-arms to dangerous brinksmanship... here comes a GT40 Mk II video to remind me how the company earned its wings racing: Neat... but defo a replica (Superformance, maybe?) Not sure if it's a genuine 427 side-oiler, but no hate if they had to resort to something far more common than those -- same if those pod-filter'd stacks have injectors in them. Do like the difference in sound (and tune-ability to those raised on them, which is also me but sorry can't stand the mess of tuning carbs when FI can just plug in and re-map)... but for a street vehicle, no excuse not to use a good FI setup -- which can be bought off any number of tuner websites or fabbed to order by any number of tuner CNC machine shops. Plus can use a plexiglas or windowed plenum w/ flat filters ducted to the sides, so those stacks can be ogled yet multiple benefits from tuned intake volume. On a different timeline... Rich Me would defo have an injected, lumpy-cammed, bundle-of-snakes 427 MkII in dark blue, as a weekend toy. Don't need an original, waaaay too much work to upkeep those anywhere near enough to do justice to it. Superformance MkII rolling chassis can be had for $160K, turnkey $200K - $400K -- bargain compared to a Le-Mans-driven '66 original ($13.2M)
See? Never mentioned anything about Sauber-Mercedes C11s being an interest of mine... yet they turn up in my feed Man these things sound good. From a faraway past where ICEs were still thought to be de facto in passenger cars another 50 yrs... so much for that Works just fine as a memory and not a counterpoint, tbh... --- First blush I had with German V8s: working as a pimply teen at an exotic car rental here in the mid-'80, just before enlisting-- which moved a lot of cash, surprisingly. But do remember, this was the age of Miami Vice and Against All Odds... so 308GTSes and 911 Targas were on a lot of Boomer minds They (and my later employer Budget RAC) had 560SLs on the lot. Even the ancient OHC 2-valve M117s felt so much more refined and 'precise' Tcherman accent than the '70 LT-1 'Vette and '68 440 Road Runner I'd had rides in (tonnes more in the neighborhood growing up too, from Satellites to Nova SSes to G2 Mustang 302s to Chevy squarebodies). Not as visceral (esp w/ the lumpy cams available mail-order at the time)... but opening the possibility someone else in the world knew how to make V8s strong, reliable and smooth & quiet, plus miserly w/ fuel in comparison... That 560SL felt ponderous at parking lot speeds, like it were made of an ingot of steel... but 30 - 80, dropped half its mass as if M-B had installed a Higgs boson deflector. And so quiet up there... got a ticket driving one to the Other Side to drop off for a customer at the airport, oops Being stationed in Germany didn't change that impression one bit -- V8s in things like E-Classes which I rode in most (taxis) were rare as hen's teeth -- wouldn't be a non-Porsche V8 E-Class until '92. But plenty of V8 SLs around, all vintages -- and they didn't mind flexing that powerplant on the autobahn, first clear mile ahead. Up until hybrids and EVs became the new thing for marques to sink billions into... there were tonnes of V8-powered close-to-Everyman cars, not the least which were the Australian Pontiac G8 6-speed. By then had long-lost the venerable but slappy SBC and traded in The OHV V8, Future Edition: the LS V8s (class, not strictly nomenclature) -- which are pretty damned versatile, cheap, and strong, even with aluminium blocks and almost 800 bhp at the wheels. Not to mention, Lexus, Infiniti, BMW, VAG (kind of, W8 Passat -- dropped for a proper 90ยบ Audi V8, plus Porsche w/ Cayenne V8s), all had V8 passenger vehicles. But I felt M-B and BMW made the most memorable ones, proper over-their-weight-class knockout artists (M-B didn't even consider V8s top-of-line, not when 48-valve V12s could be had). This version tho... holy moly. Was chucked for a failed 3.5L flat-12 project (C291) that drank loads of cash for nothing in return... eventually leading to M-B's leaving the class for Formula 1.
Boy am I glad I traded that Civic in when I did -- wouldn't have lasted much longer: A wet belt, for the effing oil pump? Really, Honda? You make thousands of 600 sportbikes with HyVo metal belts that rev to redline dozens of times a day, and those outlast the bike, usually? Why did you Ford this part of one of the most common-powerplant drivetrains you'd yet make? Oh, because the Ford 1.0L EcoBurst Triple and 2.7L V6 with wet timing belts did so well, you say The Old Man, given the choice, would haunt the project leader until he quit the company... except that'll obvi didn't happen. Hondas INO
