Oh Remember Remember...

…the 5th of November.

I think one of more difficult things about my trip will be writing on a consistent basis. Especially before the trip begins. What is there really to talk about? I need to write faithfully for my own benefit. Eventually the steel trap I’ve always used to impress others will weaken to a rusted, pitted and fatigued trap. Documenting my trip via this blog will be essential for my old age reminiscence. Is that even a word? How about for aiding my ability to reminisce? Much better.

So I’m going to step up to the plate today and knock one out to the warning track. Instead of documenting the 16 cds of Spanish lessons I’ve ripped to my ipod, or the Canon 20d I picked up from my friend Adam today, or that my adjustable control arms and panhards have been delivered to be TIG welded I’m going to take a bit of a digression.

Guy Fawkes was introduced to the American pop culture through the Natalie Portman led V for Vendetta and thus I’m stealing a quote from the beginning of the film. But I’d like to take this discussion back a few years earlier. There are two very important dates missing from this exhaustive Wikipedia page…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_5

The first being a red letter date in science, 1955. The second, 1965, a very sad day for naval aviators everywhere. A few years ago my friend Ryan and I were sitting down to an egg-cheese burger and jam band tunes from the juke box at Kitty Pappas Steakhouse in Bountiful. I began to talk about Doc Emmett Brown’s flux capacitor as I’m want to do. Ryan then realized that ten years to the day LT. Duke Mitchell, father of LT Pete ‘Maverick” Mitchell died in a fiery ball over the Pacific. So why the hell do I care about an imaginary technology that accelerates a Delorean from 88mph into the time warp continuum and the fictional father of a fictional fighter pilot whose only claims to fame are playing beach volleyball in Levi’s 501 jeans and taking Polaroid’s during a 4g inverted dive with a MiG28. Well since that day November 5^th has always been a long running joke between the two of us. A special day from two amazingly cheesy movies from our teens that can’t help but take us back. The fact that November 5^th is the first Monday after HP’s EOY 07 and the perfect day to start my trip is just an amazing coincidence and positive omen. Tonight after Lorena’s huevos rancheros this coincidence dawned on me and I chuckled about it all the way home.

Why Back to the Future? What is it about that movie? Well I’ve spewed this rant before but why not give it another shot. Back to the Future, the original, OG, not the sequels, is a perfect movie. Does it have flaws and editing mistakes? Yep. Does it expect us to suspend our disbelief? Absolutely. Are there waaaaaay too many questions in this paragraph? Are you sure? So how is it that Back to the Future is a perfect movie? Because it accomplishes it’s goal and leaves nothing to be desired.

For those of us born between 1971 and 1978 I defy you to stumble across Marty McFly on USA or TBS at 1am and not watch it for at least 20mins. It can’t be done. Everyone, I mean EVERYONE knows about the Delorean and the Flux Capacitor. It is like saying ‘up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, a, b, b, a, select, start’ it is a part of our generation. We all remember the way Michael J Fox could kick his Veriflex skateboard up from the tail and catch it. We all tried to perfect that move. But what truly makes Back to the Future a perfect movie is the concept. They had to clone and stereotype two very distinct years. Looking back from 2007, the 1985 Hill Valley, is perfect. Pepsi Free. Tab. Huey Lewis. The paisley cuffs on the jeans. The first Nike Air shoes. The Walkman. The JVC video camera. Dave’s Burger King uniform. The list goes on and on. However, for the Toyota loving nuts there is one simple and quintessential icon from 1985. Need I say ‘check out that 4 by 4.’ Marty and Jennifer up at the lake in an EFI, solid axle extended cab 4x4 Toyota mini truck. The only year that combination was offered and a goldmine if you could find one today. Nothing defines 1985 better than that truck. Because of the need to stereotype 1985 we can all look back through the authenticity of the sets to a time we all lived through. Plain and simple. It keeps you entertained, you get to laugh at bizarrely entertaining Crispin Glover and watch Marty light up the “Enchantment Under the Sea” dance. Solid stuff.

November 5th, 1955. November 5th 2007. I feel honored to share the date. Oh and anyone reading this essentially just eves dropped on a typical dinner conversation between me and ryan.

an enormous dork,

dmc