Crime, Personally
Murderapolis had a surge in murders in the 1990s. It was from this period that I heard and adopted the moniker "Murderapolis" in the first place. But back then, it was always "someone else" who was murdered, or assaulted, or robbed, or raped. Not so today: crime is so high, that everyone I know knows someone who was harmed.
For example, a friend of my step father's, with whom the latter routinely plays hockey, was fatally shot three times in the chest at point-blank range while confronting a bicycle thief. The man left behind two young children, and a wife. Speaking of wives, one of my wife's co-workers was talking down the alley to his house from the job, and was followed by three black kids: they shot him dead, and stole his phone. My brother had the catalytic converter stolen off of his SUV. And on and on.
Meanwhile, this recounting sounds exactly like why I fled Murderapolis, even down to the details regarding his children hearing gunshots; judging by the writer's discourse, Chicago is just as bad, or perhaps even worse than Murderapolis. An excerpt:
"Many years ago my family found a nice quiet corner of the suburbs. Now my son, who is only 5, hears gunfire while playing at our neighborhood park, and a drug dealer is open-air selling behind my house (the second one in two years). If it were just me to consider, I'd stick it out. I've been through stupid State's Attorney policies before. But this Office's complete failure to even think for a moment before rushing into one popular political agenda after another has put my family directly in harm's way."
I went to the University of Minnesota for a couple of years-- 2000 to 2002-- and while it was never a nice area, it was nothing like what is going on there now: mobs of black people throwing rocks at restaurant patrons, smashing cars into things, and curb stomping people in the face; don't believe me, just watch the videos.
I looked up per capita crime statistics for the county I fled, versus the one I live in now. The one I fled has-- once again, this is per capita-- over 2.5 times the rate of crime. Multiply that by the sheer number of people who live in my old county, and it paints the whole picture. That is a ton of crime, and it's personally impacting people in my direct circle, in ways it never has before in my forty-plus years of living in the state.
Gen X Advertising
I have not seen a video game ad targeting Gen X'ers like me, since my generation were children. So this came as a surprise. What makes it isn't the ad though, it's the comments; I was howling with laughter at these:
"Trophy husband? How else does he live in that house but gets a bus to work?"
"It's his mom's house and they're squatting there with her waiting for her to die."
"The wife looks to be asian - she’ll have already killed off his mom. In fact that explains why he gets the bus - any spare cash is shipped back to her family."
"They forgot to add the part where he takes down the extension cord he was going to hang himself with."
"He's definitely not in the states. No one's beating up the bus driver, no one's noddin off, pullin their dick out, singing, screaming. Definitely living in fantasy land already."
"Now they need a new AD with the wife's boyfriend for resetera representation."
"I'd just love to live in a town where you could pull out your Switch on a bus without some twat trying to make it his."
"It's his mom's house and they're squatting there with her waiting for her to die."
"The wife looks to be asian - she’ll have already killed off his mom. In fact that explains why he gets the bus - any spare cash is shipped back to her family."
"They forgot to add the part where he takes down the extension cord he was going to hang himself with."
"He's definitely not in the states. No one's beating up the bus driver, no one's noddin off, pullin their dick out, singing, screaming. Definitely living in fantasy land already."
"Now they need a new AD with the wife's boyfriend for resetera representation."
"I'd just love to live in a town where you could pull out your Switch on a bus without some twat trying to make it his."
Final GR86 Impressions
This will probably be the last time I write about the 86 for awhile: I finished breaking in the engine, so I've had a chance to drive the car at the limits to round off my impressions.
I took a route through some twisty rural roads. I put the car in "track mode" and kept the engine in the "sweet spot", between 5000 and its 7500 rpm redline, taking one turn after another at speeds ranging from 85 to 105 mph depending on the curve. In my thirteen years of driving the 350z, never once did I flog that car like I did this one. And if I do swap the 86 for a GR Supra, I will probably never flog the Supra like this either.
Why? Because this car inspires so much confidence! The 2800 lbs curb weight and the way the vehicle gives feedback is a totally different vibe than a heavier grand tourer like the two aforementioned cars. As balanced as it was, the 350z specifically would have been crying "uncle" taking those bends at those kinds of speeds-- and even though it undoubtedly could have, I would have been terrified trying it. Not so with the substantially more nimble and communicative 86.
Incidentally, the throttle-- which I do not like during "normal" driving-- is a non-factor when really pushing the car: you're pressing hard, so the dead space never becomes an issue. This is why reviewers never mention it: most reviews are done either on track, or in some other setting where they are doing more or less what I did.
The other compliment I want to give the car is the engine sound: at low RPM the vehicle is indistinguishable from an econobox. At high RPM however, it lets out a sort of bellow, or howl which almost reminds me of a Japanese sport bike. If a magician waved his magic wand, and said "Alakazam! I will turn your Kawasaki bike into a car! *poof*", out of the dissipating fog would be a Toyota GR86.
My one and only complaint with this car at the limits is that it simply lacks that punch coming out of the corners: I would open the throttle full wide exiting a bend, and wanted to be thrown back in my seat-- only to be disappointed each time. The car certainly isn't slow, but boy do I wish they had a turbo version of this vehicle: it would be the perfect car for me. Alas.
Upcoming Game Reviews
On a whim I installed "Redfall" on my PC via Game Pass, just to see how big a train wreck it is-- and against all odds I actually like the game. It's a "straight C" kind of title, don't get me wrong, and I will get into that via my review-- but it has an interesting combination of gameplay elements going into it, which compel me to want to play it more. I also bought the latest "Zelda" title yesterday, so expect a review of that one in a month or two, along with "Honkai: Star Rail" on iOS.