Author: Joey deVilla

Manga, which in North America was once the domain of serious comics fans, Japanophiles, and the creepier guys at sci-fi, game and comics conventions, is now mainstream, if this eye makeup display in Walgreens is any indication.

Of all the “performance enhancements” you can add to your car, spoilers — not the kind where you give away the story, but the wing- or fin-like attachment you place near the back of a car — are probably the worst. They’re of little to no use on most cars and driving situations, they’re often mounted on the trunk, where their minimal effect is reduced to zero, they’re usually low-quality, and more often than not, they lower the resale value. If you have a spoiler on a car whose drive wheels are on the front and you’re driving fast enough to generate downforce, you’ll actually make your car’s grip on the road worse (think about it: the downward force exerted by the spoiler will be applied to the rear of the car, lifting your drive wheels off the road). They’re a near-certain marker of a person who’s doubly dense, with neither style nor substance.

Still, there are those times when a spoiler can be useful. One such case: when you need to change a rear tire and for some reason, you don’t have a jack:

Or if you’re on the go but still want to eat al fresco:

Or if you’ve got a big function or hot date to attend and want to make sure your clothes look crisp:

It’s that time of the year, so I’m posting this for those of you who aren’t clear on the concept:

I thought I’d post a screencap of their tweet, because you know that the original tweet will eventually be edited down to this:

Click the photo to see it at full size.

Since my work is pretty portable and my schedule is fairly flexible, I can do the Good Fiancé thing and run errands for the Future Missus during the day. I ran one such errand early this morning in South Pasadena, which gave me the chance to walk along the water. Save for the sounds of a few passing cars in the distance, it was incredibly quiet, and the water was very calm. It’s a rather nice way to start a busy Friday.

Click the photo to see it at full size.

Click the photo to see it at full size.

Click the photo to see it at full size.

There’s a down side to my life: I’ve missed every episode of Dexter, The Wire, Modern Family, most episodes of How I Met Your Mother, as well as most reality shows. I didn’t see There’s Something About Mary, Titanic, Armageddon, Donnie Darko, and The Wedding Singer until years after their releases. I have yet to watch Avatar, Gladiator, any of the Fast and Furious films, and yes, even The Dark Knight.

On the plus side, I won’t have this guy’s regrets:

Thanks to Marty Yshikawa for the find!

We’ve got NASA and the sort of bugs that come with a warm climate, so this is the sort of “launch control” work we do all the time.