Elevator News

I work in a high rise with elevators that have little TVs in them which cycle though small bits of news and lots and lots of ads.* As I was leaving today, I was surprised to see that one of the bits of news being shown was relevant to this blog: 

Jeremy Clarkson, one of the hosts of Top Gear and so one of the inspirations for the Vietnam leg of the GCW Tour, was fired from the show. Apparently, he punched one of the show's producers (an act which definitely falls into the category of "poor career move").

I have to say, the show won't be the same without him. It's not everyone that can pull off an electric blue leisure suit and a motorcycle helmet with the word "penis" painted on it.** And as he and I share roughly the same build, it was always entertaining watching him try to fold himself into various sports cars. (How he managed to get into a Mazda Miata, I'll never understand.)


* As you might imagine, there are just enough bits of news to keep you watching but it's the ads that are the real content. 
** One thing the Top Gear episode on Vietnam didn't make clear is that in Saigon, nearly everyone has messages written on their helmets. Watching the episode, I never really understood why his co-host chose writing "penis" on Clarkson's helmet as a way to annoy him. Now that I've been to Saigon, the joke makes a lot more sense -- as does the fact that they wind up with a "gifts" of a painting, a cement sculpture, and a model boat tied to their motorcycles, all of which are products Vietnam specializes in.