Date: 2009-03-15 23:47 Subject: Greatest Discoveries of 2008 Security: Public Mood: accomplished Music: "Jessica" by the Allman Brothers

All right, I’ll grant that this post is a wee bit late, but I’ve been determined to not give up on it entirely. It’s partially been delayed by my inability to choose a #3, but mainly by my inability to just sit down and write, dash it all. But that is what I am attempting to finally do.

Note that this is not about the great discoveries that others have made in 2008, like water on Mars or that we really will elect a black president. This is about things that I personally discovered for myself.

#3: D&D Fourth Edition

I didn’t expect to like it, but I really did. Not only did it get me playing D&D again, it got me playing D&D with strangers.

#2: Fontina Cheese

For almost my entire life, the mild cheese of choice has been Monterey jack. It’s what I pair with chicken most times I cook it, and what I use when I want cheese to accent a recipe without being a major presence. Unfortunately, in the past few years, it’s become harder and harder to find it made properly. The major cheese manufacturers seem to be letting it age too much, which adds a bitter tang to the flavor I do not like at all. Getting it from delis hasn’t done me any good either, and the specialty cheese shops don’t carry it. But Trader Joe’s sells a fontina that I tried as an experiment, and was delighted with. It isn’t quite as good as a really good Monterey jack, but it’s been completely reliable in terms of quality. I use it now in my favorite recipe, melted over broiled chicken thighs marinated in white wine Worcestershire sauce and pretty much always have a wedge in the fridge. It’s a little bit less uncertainty and disappointment in my life, and that’s not nothing.

And the Greatest Discovery of 2008 is… TOP GEAR!

I had heard of Top Gear a few times before I ever watched it, I know that. I mainly knew that it was a car show, which is something that would not interest me in the least. My car is a necessary tool to help me function in the modern world, and I am even more indifferent to cars that are not mine. Not in the sense that I don’t care what they are doing on the road, because that could get me killed, but in the sense that that car is a 2007 Mustang with a 12-cylinder V8 and disc brakes that goes from 0 to 60 .8 seconds faster than the 2006 model. Cars are not something I derive entertainment or enjoyment from.

So I can’t explain just why I finally watched an episode of Top Gear on BBC America one day, but I can explain why I’ve watched just about all the others since then. Well, I sort of can. The main reason is that it’s incredibly entertaining. The three presenters are so very clearly into cars, the petrol-headiest of petrol-heads, but while I think they take cars seriously, they know that they’re doing an entertainment program and present information accordingly. It’s kind of like when The Daily Show does election coverage.

What sold me on that first episode I saw (Series 10, Episode 7) was a segment where they’d all bought cars made by an old British car company for not very much money (and all at least 20 years old), and competed to see who’d gotten the best one. They see which one does a lap fastest, which is basic enough, but they also tested handbrakes by parking on a very steep hill and trying to get out without dying, tested suspension by driving over a very rough road with colanders of eggs over their heads, and build quality by (and this is what really sold me on the show) filling the cars with water and seeing how far they could get before it all drained out.

But it wasn’t just the wacky antics I enjoyed. They talked about the company that had made all those cars and why it was important, introduced a new model of Aston Martin, and interviewed Jennifer Saunders before having her drive fast in a cheap car, and it was all interesting. I told my DVR to record every episode BBC America showed during the week, as I’d get two or three different ones from various series. When they stopped showing ones I hadn’t seen before, I turned to the internet, and discovered that the shows broadcast in Britain and a full hour, while BBC America cuts them down for commercials (and possibly content.)

This show really has brought me a lot of pleasure. I look forward now to long plane rides because I typically have a few episodes on my iPhone and can watch them. When I go out to eat alone, that’s usually what I do as well (though if you are eating and Jeremy Clarkson asks, “How hard can it be?” stop watching immediately). I was riveted when they raced a Nissan GT-R against a bullet train across Japan (a closer contest than you’d think), I was thrilled when the world’s most powerful car finally did a lap of the Top Gear track, and I cheered when someone finally beat Simon Cowell’s time in the Star In A Reasonably Priced Car segment. I’ve seen almost all of Series 4 through 12 (the latest) and hope to get my hands on Series 3 (Stephen Fry appears!) soon. After that I’ll be done, which is a bit saddening, but Series 13 supposedly starts in June.

What makes Top Gear such a great discovery, though, isn’t just that it entertains me, but that it makes me interested in cars! I actually seek out information on my own about the production of the Bugatti Veyron and the racing history of the Mini Cooper. More than that, it’s made me want to fly to Europe, rent a car with some actual performance (I drive a Saturn, so I don’t really know what that’s like) and take it around a lap of the Nurburgring before driving down through the Stelvio Pass. I’m tempted to get the next Gran Turismo game so I can simulate driving some of these cars around the Top Gear Test Track.

I have to mention one last thing, and that’s the production values. It’s not something that normally concerns me, but Top Gear is extraordinary. As it’s a BBC production, they have access to probably the best documentary filmmakers in the world, and it shows. When they review a car, they typically take it someplace beautiful to drive it around, and the cameras make sure to catch the scenery as well as the cars. Also, as a BBC production, Top Gear is technically a part of the British government, which allows them to do things like drive a Ford Fiesta during an amphibious landing by the Royal Marines.

I could go on at length… er, lengthier, but I will simply say that Top Gear makes me happy. If you want a taste of what the show is like, you can watch how they review the Lotus Exige.