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Archive for the ‘NASCAR’ Category

Kal Penn–You Can’t Be Serious (2021)

Posted in A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, Autobiographies, Barack Obama, Funny (ha ha), House M.D., India, John Cho, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kal Penn, LGBTQ, M.K. Gandhi, Memoirs, Michele Obama, Mira Nair, Mississippi Masala, NASCAR, Racism, Sunnyside, The Namesake, Van Wilder on January 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus

[READ: December 31, 2021] You Can’t Be Serious

S. and I were wrapping presents for Christmas this year and put on A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (which I thought was new and didn’t realize was ten years old).  I had said something about thinking Kal Penn was really cool and respecting his decision to work for the White House.

And lo and behold but there was this book in my Christmas pile.

Kal Penn, Jersey represent!, has led a fascinating life.  And he seems like a very cool (but not scoring you weed on the weekend kinda cool) guy.

Kal starts his book by saying that in kindergarten, the fastest, dumbest boy in his class called him the n-word.  He didn’t know what it meant, but he knew it was bad from the way the kids reacted.

A traumatic way to start a book and a school.  But things got better from there.  He recalls not paying much attention in school and also class trips to Old Sturbridge Village–that’s over three hours away!  His class went there–multiple times?  He loved the acting that went on there.

He talks about getting picked on for being a nerd.  But also about being grateful for living in a diverse New Jersey town–he went to a lot of mitzvahs.  His story of being on a boat for someone’s mitzvah is pretty funny.  And yet, he also talks about a hate group called Dotbusters based in Jersey City (I am so shocked to hear about this) who harassed assaulted and even killed Indian people.  His aunt lived there and his grandmother visited her there. (more…)

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The Gander Outdoors 400 (Dover International Speedway, Dover, DE, October 7, 2018)

Posted in Dover, DE, NASCAR, The Gander Outdoors 400 on October 7, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 7, 2018] The Gander Outdoors 400

I have never cared about car racing of any kind.  I didn’t know that fans of one kind of racing might actively dislike other kinds of car racing.   It has always puzzled me that people get so invested in guys driving fast in a circle.  It has puzzled me even more that the fans tend to be poor while the drivers/owners are be multi-millionaires.  The branding has always puzzled me as well.  Basically everything about it has puzzled me.

So when my son’s Boy Scout Troop ran a trip to Monster Mile for a NASCAR playoff (they have playoffs??) race, I thought it was time to see it first hand.  Our trip included some time on the track before the race and a Q&A with Jimmie Johnson who I learned is a very successful racer (worth about $120 million).

As the date drew near I was very excited to be around the roar of the engines and the excitement that so many people clearly felt.

We had to leave home at 7:30. I was happy I didn’t have to drive because I was already sleepy.  We arrived at the stadium around 10AM and were allowed on the track, which was pretty neat.

Since I know literally nothing about racing I didn’t know anything about this track.

So here’s the Wikipedia summary: (more…)

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