NISMO Stuff

Final Post Here...

2018-12-30T20:44:00.002-05:00

Not that anyone is really coming here other than bots and such at this point but...if you are a human...and you do come here...and have any interest in what I am doing now or thoughts I have, etc....I have transitioned over to my own site now.

It will be more photo heavy but still contain a blog but one that will be 50% less snarky...

That's all...carry on and if you wish to visit....the link is here: www.danspalinger.com

Book Review: The Railway Man by Eric Lomax

2018-05-06T13:20:00.000-04:00

As a book recommended by some publication (don't remember which one) that covered something to the effect of "books about WWII that you should read" or similar this work should have been better.

Not that it isn't interesting or contain a remarkable series of events...its just not that compelling a read.

By that I mean the author does not have his own voice. Anyone subjected to the awful series of events he was--captured by the Japanese, put to work near (not on) the Burma-Siam railway (of Bridge on the River Kwai infamy), tortured by the Japanese secret police, imprisoned in some of the worst hell holes of POW note, and years later reconnecting with one of his interrogators (not torturors as the book often erroneously states and is put forth to be as this interrogator was just that...an inquisitor and translator, never putting a hand on the author)--could have retold this work. Again, not that it isn't a remarkable retelling, but its simply that, not a "work".

Little analysis nor much "art" here. Placing a tape recorder in front of the author and having him simply give his biography would largely result in the same. Further, his interest in railways and trains as a youth and then his tangential "work" on the Burma-Siam railway does not come off as an effective thread by which the work can be connected from beginning to end. It comes off forced and not valuable to the tale...distracting more than anything.

None of this is to take away from Eric Lomax's internal fortitude in the face of awful conditions, brutal torture, absence of hope, etc. He deserves all the credit he received for having the courage to persevere as well as to forgive his former captor. His retelling of these events just does not amount to an engaging read or shed light on heretofore unknown events.

Annihilation: Film Review

2018-03-11T15:54:00.002-04:00

Alex Garland continues to be one to the more interesting directors out there. The fact that he seems to focus on the sci-fi genre makes it all the better for me. While only his third directing position after Dredd, and Ex Machina, his screenplays for 28 Days Later, Sunshine, Never Let Me Go, and The Beach were also worthy mentions to his resume.

Annihilation is likely the most difficult of these to get through. At points quiet and deliberately paced, it won't find interest among Snapchat aficionados. This was recognized by Paramount and producer David Ellison who both wanted to change significant portions of the film in order to market it better to gain more commercial success. Luckily Garland got his way and the film remained unaltered. This has doomed the film to financial losses however as it appears to be headed for replacement in theaters in short order. In fact, in markets other than the US, the film is headed straight for Netflix.

So what are most modern viewers missing? A creepy, bloody, sometimes violent two hours of relatively unexplained weirdness. Diverging heavily from the Jeff VanderMeer's trilogy, the film contains a complete beginning, middle and end and leaves nothing hanging for sequels. In fact, beyond just a very basic scaffolding, the film contains little plot or events that are recognizable to the reader. Ignore any mention of white-washing in the film...I've read the novels and attributing Asian or any other racial identities to the characters is virtually nonexistent and the fact that Garland used Portman as the lead shouldn't bother anyone except the SJW class of dimwits.

In the end our own film experiences are often derived from the histories we bring with ourselves to the theater. For me, it boils down to a parable about a couple's attempt at recovery from infidelity seen through the prism of a sci-fi quest to discern the reasons behind an alien "shimmer" that spreads from a single point and mutates all it touches. What comes out the other side are a husband and a wife completely different, down to their very genetic material than what they were before--the film seeming to say that through the prism of infidelity, all that you thought, were and did in the past is to meet a state of tabula rasa in order to function on the other side.

Along the way people are turned to plants, men are cut open and seen to contain giant worms on their insides, albino alligator-shark hybrids hunt the all female scientific team, a bear-something creature howls in a human voice before tearing apart one team member who has gone insane, and a near mirror finish alien-humanoid performs a mimicry dance in imitating Portman's every gesture.

I have a few quibbles...Like if the military was sending in a team to explore this anomaly, could they possibly have equipped this team worse? No helmets? No body armor? And their overall gear looks more like they are out for a girl scout camping trip than a serious expedition. Additionally...there isn't a single one of the female characters who looks comfortable with a gun...they all look like their skin might be allergic to the feel of metal on their skin and are stiff in their mannerisms in holding the weapons...someone needs some better training to at least LOOK like they know what they are doing...

I enjoyed it far better than the books from which the film came from as it does contain a resolution of its original questions and Garland's artistic voice is stronger and clearer than VanderMeer's who created an thrilling but ultimately empty world. It took Garland to fill it with a reason to be.

Book Review: Tenth of December by George Saunders

2018-02-18T14:22:00.000-05:00

I can't help but feeling this collection comes off better in short doses...as in the magazines it was originally printed in--The New Yorker and Harper's primarily. I can easily see reading these in a magazine during a transitory visit to an airport or in a 20 minute trip to a library. A sort of brief distraction if you will, that makes you pause ever so briefly to wonder if your own existence aligns with those of his characters but ultimately concluding that while I agree with his view of the modern world, his characters are not those with whom I can find enough of myself in, nor are significantly attached to in the time I spend with them to care about their plights.

While I enjoyed the stories, all of which are modern in topic and some of which border on science fiction, I found none of them particularly resonant with the exception of the titular work in which a disaffected young boy saves the life of a suicidal older man and vice versa. Never did I imagine myself buying a dog from a meth-head trailer trash family or a lower-middle class father trying to keep up with the Jonses by hanging poor immigrants from my trees as a decoration.

The rest of the collection touches on returning soldiers, manipulation of mental states, modern suburbia, etc. which are all typically in my wheelhouse for interest...I just never found an emotional connection to any of the characters outside of the aforementioned two.

Saunders is by all accounts an awarded novelist and short story writer so maybe it was I who didn't bring something to the table that would allow the connection with his works, but for whatever reason, it wasn't there beyond the time it takes to consume the media.

Book Review--Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews

2018-02-10T14:02:00.000-05:00

Quite the bummer this one...

Covered with praise from numerous publications (USA Today, Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, NYT, etc.) and coming from someone within the US Intelligence community (Matthews has years of experience working in the clandestine service of the CIA) I had high hopes.

I should have realized that given Matthews was given a 7 figure advance on the book and its two sequels before a word was put down and a movie deal signed shortly thereafter for Jennifer Lawrence to star in a film trilogy based on these books that this was no serious effort but instead a pre-packaged media driven vehicle to create a new "Hunger Games" (same director even) or "Twilight" series with only pretensions of seriousness.

Further hints of the lack of real work here comes up early on when the female protagonist, written purposefully for Jennifer Lawerence to play, is detailed to have a heretofore unknown version of synesthesia that gives her the superpower like ability to determine the character and truthfulness of another person via the colors she sees surrounding them like an aura. Over and over and over "this person is surrounded in yellow...this one is colored in blue...this one in red..." blah, blah, blah. Profoundly tiring and hackneyed one comes to view the female character as one of little real talent or intelligence but merely imbued with genetic abnormality that makes her good at her particular job.

And what is her job? Well, to even sell the film series more...she's a "Sparrow" a Russian agent trained to seduce foreign individuals with their physical wares...Insert eyeroll here...This serves only for the author to engage in his puerile sexual fixations and set up Jennifer Lawrence to parade around on film in skimpy outfits.

For those hoping to hear of true tradecraft I suppose there are nuggets here and there--the Russians using a "dust" of a kind that can then be scanned for on the personages of their own people to see if they have been in contact with other spies, etc....but mostly? Its stuff like "He left his hotel...he didn't want to be followed....so he walked around in a random pattern for hours looking for followers..." Great...real groundbreaking stuff.

If you want to read a trashy novel to prepare yourself to watch a trashy movie and think that you are being progressive because Putin makes multiple appearances in the novel as the ultimate bad guy string puller...this is all you...Roundfile this otherwise...

Morocco OiLibya Rally '16

2018-01-06T17:28:00.002-05:00

Film Review: Wind River

2017-11-20T21:34:00.002-05:00

Wind River ends up being the weakest of Taylor Sheridan's recent trilogy of films the was preceded by Sicario and Hell or High Water. This is the only one of the three that he both wrote and directed while the prior two he only wrote.

Its not the that Wind River is bad...its not. Its actually darn good compared to most films, its just weak in comparison.

Jeremy Renner does a solid job as the US Fish and Wildlife officer with a backstory that gives him just the right motivation to be connected to the rest of the unfolding plot and is just damaged enough (divorced but loving husband and father who feels guilt over the death of his teen daughter) to have him brooding all film long. Elizabeth Olsen is adequate as the fish out of water, urban FBI agent now investigating a crime in very rural Wyoming but doesn't carry enough weight to think that she would ever make it through the necessary training.

Overall the story can be seen as an allegory to the overall white man's raping of Indian culture, lands and people with here it being the oil company taking their resources and women. The connection between the two though isn't heavy handed and the film is far more of a criminal procedural than it is a lecturing session.

My problems with it? Just some odd items that get brought up and dropped or just plain don't make sense. Olson's character, Jane, walks in on the mother of the murdered daughter cutting up her arms in grief and just closes the door and walks away--the poor woman is on the verge of bleeding to death and continuing to add to the score of cuts to her arms and you just quietly exit stage left without a comment? Then there are some of the snowmobile scenes...Renner's character parks the snowmobile and says "we have to walk from here as the trees are too tight"....yet what are they following? The tracks of another snowmobile the that somehow didn't have any issue with the trees...

So its just little things here. Is it enjoyable? Sure. Is it great? No. Does it continue Sheridan's string of quality work? Sure...just keep him at the pen and away from the camera.

Book Review: The 39 Steps by John Buchan

2017-11-19T21:26:00.000-05:00

In reading order, this was the latest of the classic "man on the run" or "thriller" series of novels from the early 1900's that I've consumed. Alongside this one has been Rogue Male, Dance of the Dwarfs and Watcher in the Shadows by Geoffrey Household and The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers.

All have a great English sensibility about them that I keenly identify with due to my WASPish upbringing which ads to my enjoyment. Its easy to slip into the role of the protagonist when they are so similar to yourself or those you know.

That said, The 39 Steps, in my mind was the weakest of the group with the exception of Dance of the Dwarfs. Not that it wasn't enjoyable, it was. Buchan asks too much suspension of disbelief however for the story to have a great effect on the reader.

Richard Hannay, the protagonist is ID'd incorrectly as the murderer of a man holding critical information as to an impending German invasion of England. His response to this is to go on the run across Scotland. Bouncing from cottage to cottage, hotel to house, forest to river, Hannay is always one half step quicker than his pursuers. Unfortunately it comes off more that his trackers are stupid and bumbling than Hannay is skilled and capable. Again and again it is by the merest stroke of luck that Hannay isn't killed or captured while one should never fear as always at the most opportune moment shall a key item or piece of information fall into his hands.

Yes, I know this is a piece of fiction and that you have to have some "coincidences" to push the action along at times but you cannot fill a novel with deus ex machinas or else your reader will lose their sense of impending danger and wonder, knowing that no matter what happens, the author will always provide a convenient way out for the protagonist--and that's what happens here.

The novel has been heavily modified into both plays and films multiple times over the past 100 years, beefing up the storyline with love interests and female characters and a complete redo of the key plot elements so that the novel does not resemble the film or plays in much beyond some of the character names. Given that 39 Steps is one of Hitchcock's early films, I will need to go back and watch it as it is claimed to be the start of all action, chase and thriller films to come.

Overall the novel is worth reading for its content and thematic core that falls into place with the other books mentioned above to form a common thread of works defining the British pre-war and interwar periods as well as portraying a very English version of what a heroic male is to be in this period--smart, self sufficient, honorable, loyal to country, able to withstand harsh conditions...almost a cross between a Boy Scout and a member of MI6...Not such a bad thing to aspire to...

Mall Kiosk Workers From Israel

2017-11-06T21:25:00.000-05:00

I first encountered these years ago and always wondered why those working at the kiosks seemed to be foreign.

Then in my day job I got to see the companies behind the kiosks and the shady dealings behind them. Turns out I wasn't the only one to have questions and it turns out that beyond the makeup, skin and hair products being a sham (gold doesn't really help your skin), the whole series of companies behind them was set up to defraud its own employees as well.

I can only speak to what I saw with the "companies" involved and their "owners". Truth is, most of these kiosks are "owned" by individuals who are cajoled into coming over to the US on tourist visas with the idea that they can earn enough money selling makeup and skincare to establish their life outside of Israel and also to get to of their compulsory military service. If they don't sell enough product? Well the real owners of these companies threaten to pull their Visa, send them back to Israel and into the Army.

The real owners are protected largely by the fact that these companies end up being set up as sole-props and if they get in trouble or become financially insolvent (which they do with alarming frequency) they just fold and restart under a slightly different name and tax ID. They go through this cycle over and over again. And don't think they live a life of glamour here either...typically they are herded into common apartments to save on costs and move from one kiosk to another.

Oh and did i mention the products suck? Unsurprisingly massive amounts of the products purchased by consumers under the duress of these high pressure (understandably) sales people end up being returned--or at least are attempted to be returned, because not only are they super expensive but they are all cheap, useless crap...worse than dollar store trash...seriously. These kiosks and stores have a no return policy however and instead the transactions result in high chargeback rates and then loss of the ability to accept credit cards--a death knell for retail, thus the folding of the business and restart under a different name but same business model...over and over, recycling young Israeli after young Israeli.

So the new time you're in a mall and groups of these individuals try and get your wife to buy some stupid skin cream and curse you out when you ignore their pleas to stop for a second...try not to be mad or take offense...These are early 20 somethings being preyed upon by their elders who have convinced them that the way to a better life and to avoid Israel's military and the Middle East in general is to sell cosmetics under a falsified travel Visa for marginally above minimum wage while living in communal apartments, hoping to save up enough to travel the world or establish a life somewhere else and under constant threat of their real string holders...

Just one example of one of these rings being busted and the Principal going away to prison for 6+ years is found here...but there are rings and rings of these across the US...Just as an FYI...

http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Dead-Sea-products-mall-kiosk-owner-sentenced-to-jail-for-illegally-employing-Israelis-471268

https://www.timesofisrael.com/dead-sea-product-hawkers-skirt-law-decency/

Stranger Things Season 2 Episode 7 -- A Giant Dumpster Fire

2017-11-05T20:50:00.001-05:00

So its been a LOOOONG time since I've written anything here...and I guess its kind of sad that this drove me to it...but...it did.

I like the Netflix series Stranger Things a lot. I was an early watcher of Season 1 and just finished watching season two. It has enough cultural references that are relevant to me that it feels like a part of my youth. Its also smart enough to make it interesting without being pretentious, keeping its humor and awareness that it is an entertainment product.

Up until episode 7 of Season 2 the show had also kept away from making the mistakes that shows like Lost and The Walking Dead fell quickly into which is the wasting of time and action in plot elements that don't advance the overall story or that don't specifically speak to the development of its characters.

That ended here.

This should go down as THE textbook definition of a "throwaway episode". The primary character of the entire series completes a full circle--leaving her "home" town of Hawkins, visiting the big city, meeting her lost sister (who we were only previously introduced to in a 2 minute sequence at the very beginning of Season 2), committing a few crimes, realizing she isn't as morally bankrupt as this sister, and then returning to Hawkins.

Not only does the entire episode feel out of place--sorry but the city, punks, petty crime, and even colors, tones, clothing, hair styles, etc. all are antithetical to the Stranger Things story. Stranger Things is at its core, a return to a simpler time...one which we look back on fondly and with rose colored glasses with the "Upside Down" and evil government providing the dark side balance to the story...Here in this episode? Its all on the dark side with Eleven even sporting black eyeliner, dyed hair and clothes and the story feels out of whack and completely out of sorts. She doesn't belong here and neither does the story or the viewer. You can almost hear the writers and creators saying to themselves "Oooo...you know what would be cool? If we could pull Eleven out of her small town environment and place her in an urban area and create that sort of juxtaposition with city dwelling cliches of that time period vs. the rural ones we seen her with to date! How can we do that?!?!"

Its the old "You spent so much time thinking about if you COULD that you didn't bother to consider if you SHOULD..."

How do you really know that the episode is a throwaway? Because if you just happened to skip over it from 6 to 8 you wouldn't blink an eye or think that you've missed a thing...and the characters have not learned, developed, changed in any way. The plot and its development is completely independent of this episode. I just wish I could forget it and its events as much as the characters seem to have...

Film Review: Hell or High Water

2017-01-31T21:51:00.001-05:00

Crafted by the same writer as the movie Sicario this film has a similar location in the American Southwest though involves a different set of troubles.

Instead of the grey areas created by the drug trade washing over the Mexican/American boarder, here we have the grey areas created by the banking industry and those white Americans who have been left behind by the progress of time and innovation.

These are Trump's voters as the main characters on both sides of your traditional good guy/bad guy divide don't care for authority or they way they've been told things should be. Both the police and the Texas men trying to steal their way to the saving of their mother's home from foreclosure are relics of a bygone era and overlooked by their government and society--but not their families, friends and communities whose bonds remain those that bind.

The film itself ends up feeling like one of those cowboy films where the first cars show up and appear so jarring compared to the more manual world they invade. You can just sense things are going to end badly for the cowboy as his time has come and gone. Its the same way here. The protagonists are doomed from the start as leftovers from another time.

Jeff Bridges is great as a crass, vulgar and extremely un-politically correct police officer chasing down the bank robbing brothers portrayed by Chris Pine and Ben Foster. Foster is again brilliant. I don't know if I've seen him in a role yet that I haven't loved. Chris Pine of course plays the handsome, "better" of the two brothers and puts in a fine performance, with his best work present when he doesn't have to share the screen with Foster who seems to suck the air out of every scene for his own.

I don't know if it "revitalizes" the Western as much of the story could be considered familiar but its the dialogue, performances and attacks on modern rural America that make it worth seeing. It won't win much if anything at the upcoming Oscars, but that doesn't matter, you will remember it long after the glitzier, shallower works that will win the awards.

Scale of 1-10? A solid 8

Hardbody's Are Tough...But Not That Tough....

2017-01-29T20:13:00.000-05:00

My goodness...this driver is lucky to be alive.

The Hardbody involved has a small lift but the pilot must be brainless. Heading out on a small jetty into what looks like 15-20 foot waves is moronic. The waves, broken by the rocks jetty are still plenty strong enough to toss the truck around like a toy. The Coast Guard comes in at the end to rescue the driver and the world appears to be less one more Hardbody...RIP...

CRG-I Do Borrow Nissan Altima and Sarah Cattaneo Finish 5th in Season Debut

2017-01-28T12:55:00.000-05:00

A real solid result against some top competition at the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge at Daytona yesterday. The car itself has a long history in sportscar racing and is originally the Skullcandy Altima that raced all over the country for the past few years.

The CRG-I Do Borrow effort switched from a Honda Civic last year to this Altima and have been doing quite well. Ahead of Cattaneo's 5th place finish were three Porsche Caymans and the winning JCW Mini. In fact, the Altima turned the fastest lap of the race at 103.6 mph but didn't have the consistency to put it on the podium this time. Looking forward to more solid finishes out of this effort in '17 at the rest of the IMSA schedule.

If anyone can provide a link to this team's webpage or even Facebook page it would be appreciated as I can't find anything but the individual driver's personal pages...

BMW Endurance Challenge at Daytona '17 results...

Holy Crap Are These Bumpers Expensive!

2017-01-26T21:30:00.001-05:00

Listen, I'm all for the expansion of aftermarket products for Nissans...really I am. I've bought my fair share of front and rear bumpers from the aftermarket for my Xterra and Frontier and all have held up well whether from Shrockworks or my favorite builder BTF Fabrication.

That said...and while the product offerings for the new Nissan Titan are a bit more limited...the prices on these bumpers is insane...$2200 before shipping (sure to be another couple hundred) for a front bumper?? And its not even a winch bumper... And near $1700 for a rear bumper? That is crazy talk.

You see Addictive Desert Designs advertisements in all your typical offroad magazines and at SEMA this past year but I can't help but thinking their prices are a reflection of their speed to market, minimal competition at this point and high marketing expenses given that equivalent bumpers go for 1/2 or even 1/2 of these prices.

I'm sure the quality is substantial...but is it near $3000 for a front bumper good? No shot.

Extra Large Fuel Tank Replacement for New Nissan Titan XD

2017-01-23T21:16:00.002-05:00

One of the early complaints about the Nissan Titan Diesel XD has been the size of its fuel tank. At only 26 gallons the Titan XD's range is a bit shorter than that which many drivers want.

The aftermarket has an answer...but at a price. I suppose putting a larger tank in the stock version would have added a fair amount of weight and when you are trying to eke out every last mpg you can, limiting the amount of dead weight you carry around is one way to do it.

Transferflow which has offered extended range gas tanks products for numerous other trucks as well as bed mounted gas containers for fueling your construction vehicles or other equipment now offers a 50 gallon replacement for the stock Titan XD tank. Designed to fit into the same space as the stock version, the Transferflow unit nearly doubles the capacity and range of the Titan XD. At $1654 though this upgrade doesn't come cheap...and that's before you either perform or pay for the labor necessary to remove the old and install the new version.

It is good to see the Titan supported in this way as the aftermarket continues to build for this truck and this should meet the fueling needs of any long road or heavy duty hauler so that they aren't pulling off the highway every other hour to refuel.

Transferflow Titan XD Gas Tank...

Reminder...Raana Horan Still Kicks Ass in His Nissan Titan in New Zealand

2017-01-18T21:12:00.001-05:00

Its been a while since I checked in on Raana...but he is still on the other side of the planet and still running strong. This past '16 season Raana finished first in his class for the year and accumulated the third most points of any racer in the ORANZ (Off Road Association of New Zealand) series. The Nissan Titan he runs is more of a tube frame vehicle and not a Titan as you can buy off the lot and the engine is a supercharged VK56. Raana has been racing and winning in New Zealand with this truck for the better part of a decade now, showing that the engine can be a long term powerhouse winner. If you want to follow along with Raana and his team Big Black Motorsport you can see them here: Big Black Motorsport FB page...

and you can check out the ORANZ homepage here: ORANZ Homepage...

McNeil Racing Fiberglass Fenders for 2016+ Nissan Titan

2017-01-17T21:51:00.001-05:00

These are some of the first and likely best looking fiberglass fenders and bedsides being produced for the new Nissan Titan. Now I don't know if it makes a difference between whether it is a Titan XD or just the regular Titan as the site doesn't say.

It looks like McNeil was the fabricator behind these for the Titan at SEMA this year. The price is in line with what prior Titan fiberglass has been going for and McNeil is well known in the industry as putting out some of the best stuff around. With lift kits starting to be available and Titan sales starting to pick up on a monthly basis, hopefully this is just a start of aftermarket support.

McNeil Racing Fiberglass for 2016+ Nissan Titans...

Dakar 2017 Nissan Final Results

2017-01-16T21:07:00.002-05:00

So this year's Dakar is over. Despite significant changes to how navigation was done, terrible weather conditions at times, 15,000 feet in elevation, some new terrain and new countries...the end results were as would have been expected before the event with Peugeot dominating the competition with their top flight drivers and equipment. The Toyota Hilux's of Team Overdrive which had been nip and tuck with the Peugeot's during the rest of the year's events were not a significant factor with Nasser Al-Attiyah crashing out early and Nani Roma and DeVilliers finishing 4th and 5th overall, over an hour back. Overall, Toyotas were the dominant marque of the event putting 28 finishers at the checkered flag out of 57 finishers overall.

So did any Nissans finish after only four started?? Yes...one...

#334--The VK56 powered Renault Duster of Facundo Ardusso consistently finished in the mid 20th position each day with its peak coming on stages 5 and 12 where it finished 18th each time. This was good enough for the team to score a 22nd place finish overall. I have learned that these are actually South African built vehicles and will have to inquire as to whether the Thompson Racing outfit that builds them has connections with the Nissan efforts there.

I know the South African teams mostly took the '17 Dakar off and didn't really have anyone present as they have in years past making this year an almost Nissan absent event. Hopefully some more are built or budgets are found for Nissans in the '18 Dakar given how well the brand has done there in the past and how much Nissan is expanding and pushing its trucks and SUVs worldwide...

Book Review: Dance of the Dwarfs by Geoffrey Household

2017-01-11T21:45:00.002-05:00

Having read two previous Household books it is clear to me now that Household is a master of the "chase" or "hunt" genre. All three involve a mystery of some kind whereby a protagonist is hunted down or haunted by an unknown or at least undetailed outside force.

In the two prior novels I had consumed, Rogue Male and Watcher in the Shadows, these outside forces had manifested themselves as other men, with both works selecting England as their location. Dance of the Dwarfs trades man for a large otter (yes...an otter...) and England for South America, spinning its tale in the format of a diary in which Dr. Owen Dawnay recounts his time spent in the backwater of Brazil.

You may laugh at the idea of a suspense novel where an otter plays the foil to the human protagonist (an English, government sponsored scientist exploring the use of various terrain for farming) but the strength of the work is such that by the time our human storyteller meets his fate you don't view the opposing mustelids as a joke.

This work is not likely one that would remain in its current form if produced today given the protagonist is "gifted" an Indian girl of 15 (20 years his junior) who has already been passed amongst a few prior owners and who is immediately bedded by our narrator. Sort of like how Hendrix's "Hey Joe" would never get made today. Many of the narrator's expressed viewpoints would not be allowed today and never get past an editor who I can hear saying to Household "You just can't write that these days!!" Perhaps Household is attempting to tell us something of his view of the white man's possession and use of the wild places the story inhabits as the more his main character falls in love with this Indian girl, the more endangered and closer to death he becomes.

There are also angles of criticism here regarding communism, science, religion, and feminist perspectives. That the work has such depth despite being "only" a horror novel of sorts is impressive. While not quite the work in terms of the suspense or detailed environment it creates compared to the earlier Household tales mentioned above it is still a solid addition to his library.

As a side note, I guess there was a "loosely based" movie made of this novel back in 1983 "starring" Peter Fonda and John Amos...it was decidedly a B movie affair, transformed the mustelids of Household's imagination into "lizard-men" and has not yet been deemed worthy of being offered on DVD though

2017 Dakar Nissan Update Stage 8

2017-01-11T21:02:00.002-05:00

Yup, now only a single Nissan powered entry left in this year's Dakar. #377 of Carlos Aguero shows as having withdrawn from the event prior to the start of Stage 8. This leaves only the following:

#334--the Renault Duster VK56 powered SUV is the lone carrier of the Nissan brand left in the event and you have to examine its engine bay to find this out. Still, they are soldiering on, finished 26th on the 8th stage and stand in 24th overall. With the 9th stage cancelled (the second stage cancellation of the event) due to landslides and generally atrocious weather that cut off roads and prevented all emergency flights and helicopters from getting of the ground, only a handful of real stages remain. Having come this far it is my belief that Facundo Ardusso will make the finish line...I mean he has to right? We can't have a Dakar without a single Nissan based entry finishing, can we?

2017 Dakar Nissan Stage 7 Update

2017-01-09T21:38:00.000-05:00

And then there was one...or so it appears.

#377--The Navara of Carlos Aguero appears to be out of the race. One of the remaining 64 racers at the beginning of Stage 7, and with 62 entrants showing as having completed today's marathon stage (meaning no assistance other than the driver and codriver or spare parts outside of what you carry are allowed), Aguero is not among them. Already many hours down to the leaders today may have been the final straw. We will have to await tomorrow to see if the blade finally fell for the last 100% Nissan effort...

#334--Renault Duster of Facundo Ardusso managed a 33rd position for the stage on the day leaving them in 25th overall. Hopefully they can hold on for a few more stages and a Renault may be Nissan's last remaining hope for ANY finish...

Dakar 2017 Rest Day Update

2017-01-08T21:36:00.001-05:00

And so it goes...

As of the 2017 Rest Day, the unofficial half way point of the rally we are down to two Nissan vehicles remaining in the event. Ronald Basso is now an official withdrawal on Stage 5 of the event.

What is left is the following...

#334--the Renault VK56 Duster with Facundo Ardusso at the helm. Despite five prior DNFs at the Dakar, this is now officially the farthest in the event he has ever gotten. He has been been consistently finishing in the mid 20's in this year's version with an 18th place finish on Stage 5. Overall Ardusso stands in 24th overall some five hours behind the leader.

#377--The Navara of Carlos Aguero has been subject to a whopping nine hours of penalties, likely meaning that he has had at least one instance of not finishing in the allowable time but being allowed to continue.

Lets see if they can bring it home...and lets see if we can get some more Nissans built for Rally-Raid in '18...afterall...the Navara is one of the Dakar's official support vehicles...Oh, and since its South America....its NOT a Navara...its a Frontier...So why don't we have this here yet??

Dakar Stage 4 Nissan Update!

2017-01-05T20:34:00.002-05:00

Boy if yesterday didn't prove that you're in the heart of the Dakar, today sure did. Yesterday you had Nasser Al-Attiyah ripping an entire wheel and axle assembly off the rear of his vehicle and having to withdraw (he was the prerace favorite to win in the car category) and a motorcycle rider getting hit by lightning and STILL finishing the stage. Today you had the prerace favorite on bikes, Toby Price, crashing, breaking his femur and having to withdraw and another of the favorites to win, Carlos Sainz badly wad up his Peugeot pretty bad putting his effort in question.

So where do the remaining Nissans stand?

#334 of Facundo Ardusso in the VK56 Renault Duster is still running, finished 26th on the day which will likely leave them right where they were coming into the day which is 28th place overall.

#337 of Ronald Basso was starting the day in 38th in his Navara but is currently one of the 18 starters on the day who has not crossed the finish line yet...

#377 of Carlos Aguero wasn't finished at the time I checked things last night but evidently did make it in, though after the cutoff time as he suffered a four hour penalty and had dropped to 66th overall. He started the fourth stage but like Basso, he has not crossed the finish line and remains unknown if he can finish and continue.

Dakar 2017 Stage 3 Nissan Update!

2017-01-04T21:09:00.001-05:00

Day 3...a day in which the event's favorite, Nasser al-Attiyah crashed out ripping a wheel off his Toyota, no one could say it was easy to get through the stage. The stage involved some serious climbing to over 15,000 feet, serious navigation requirements, and rougher terrain...perhaps today was the day the real race started.

#315 of Emiliano Spataro and his VK56 Renault Duster appear to have gotten off the starting line and through some of the initial checkpoints but there is currently no record of them having finished the stage with currently only 53 of the 79 daily starters finishing so far some six hours after the fastest drivers of the day completed the stage. Indeed in the last half hour, Spataro posted via Twitter the following "We are out of the Dakar, a failure in the design of the chassis of the new Duster us leaves without possibilities of follow... a day very sad..." Sounds like a dangerous deformation of the cage or structure of the vehicle? Regardless...that puts them out and one Duster remaining--at least it wasn't the fault of the Nissan engine!

#334 of Facundo Ardusso and the sister Duster seemed not to have the same problems, finishing the stage in 27th near two hours behind the leaders.

#337 of Ronald Basso's Navara finished 38th on the day, three hours back of the day's winner.

#377 of Carlos Aguero and his Navara have also not finished yet but with no Twitter feed or social media postings, it is unknown if he has had to withdraw or not.

The overall standings of the #334 and #337 are unknown at the moment as the Dakar site's standings are not updated/available at this point...

So it looks like 50% of Nissan related competitors are out after three stages...ah well...so it goes...if it was easy....

Dakar 2017 Stage 2 Nissan Update

2017-01-03T20:41:00.000-05:00

I'll keep providing these as long as there is a Nissan in the race...might be a day more...might be the whole event....

Today had a ridiculously long transit (like some 5 hours) before the race even began...given the temps are in the 90s and up and the road was dead straight it could not have been the most fun day. The stage itself was also dead straight with zero navigation required and much of the terrain being hardpack dirt inducing a heavy right foot and little steering.

#315 of Emiliano Spataro in the Renault Duster VK56 powered SUV finished 29th on the day, 39 minutes back of Sebastian Loeb and now sits 27th overall.

#334 of Facundo Ardusso in the sister car to the #315 had a great day for the inexperienced driver finishing 24th, 33 minutes back and now sits 24th overall.

#337 of Ronald Basso in the Navara finished 36th and is 34th overall, one hour back of the current overall leader.

#377 of Carlos Aguero in the other Navara finished 64th, two and a half hours back of the day's winner which does not bode well given how easy the terrain was today. They also sit in 64th overall for the event.