They’ve Gotten Cheaper

EV’s, that is.  Because not many people want one anymore.  But I did after driving this one.  You see, Renfield the Younger is beginning to learn to drive this summer.  The Renfield fleet consisted of two manuals and one automatic.  So we needed another automatic.  Mrs. Renfield led the vehicle search with my input, as she would likely be the main driver.  We looked at ICE cars in a designated price range; mostly hybrids due to her current vehicle (the main family car) being a thirsty guzzler.  The best vehicles were very good and reliable, but decidedly ho-hum and overpriced: everyone wants a hybrid right now.  Wait times are very common, and you don’t get much negotiation leverage when the car isn’t on the lot with the dealer eager to see it drive out.  So one day Mrs. Renfield checked out a Mustang Mach E, mostly because she thought it looked cool. She really liked it.  I wasn’t in favor at first, but when I drove it I was mightily impressed. My main concern was depreciation, but the price was good.

ICE manuals are still my four-wheeled drugs of choice, but I’ve never driven an ICE automatic that I enjoy as much as this EV.  Precise steering, agile handling, slightly bumpy ride like a sports car, but not jarring.  Plenty of power and great acceleration.  Smooth power delivery.  Was this purchase an error?  Ask me in a year or two.  Some kinks in the earlier generation seem to have been ironed out.  We shall see.

I swear I’m not trying to turn this blog into “look what I just bought” Facebook nonsense.  I just posted about it because we’ve discussed EV’s here before.  I’m still of the opinion that the attempted EV transition via government fiat was a lousy idea driven by politics, not reality.  The current infrastructure cannot support mass adoption.  Almost everyone owning one of these will also need an ICE car.  And I have no idea how a non-homeowner could get by with one due to charging access, or lack thereof.

I Love Shit Like This

I’ve been a David Shrigley fan for a while. In fact, I’m drinking coffee out of this as I type. Anyway, a few years ago he embarked on a new project that I found both hilarious and brilliant.

In 2017, a charity bookshop in Swansea, UK made headline news as a result of exhibiting several hundred copies of Dan Brown’s 2003 novel ‘The Da Vinci Code’ in its window with a sign requesting that no more copies of the book be donated as they had more than they could sell.

‘Pulped Fiction’ is a project by visual artist David Shrigley, who has produced a limited run of 1,250 copies of George Orwell’s dystopian novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ made entirely from the pulped remains of unwanted copies of ‘The Da Vinci Code’.

In 2023, Pulped Fiction was launched at the very charity shop in Swansea that started it all. 250 copies were available to buy at an exclusive price. After selling out within the first hour, and making headline news, the remaining copies are now available to buy.

Throughout the journey David and his studio team were documented by filmmaker Jay Bartlett. Telling the story of how the project came to be and the numerous hurdles faced along the way, the documentary can now be seen online for the first time here.

And if you’re interested in picking up one of the few copies left, it’ll set you back £1095. Cheap!