Do you remember the lame games the old folks use to make you play when you went on long trips?
The "Find the 50 States" license plate game is way too complicated now with all the specialty plates the various DMVs have developed. "I got everything from Maryland except Hearing Impaired-Iwo-Jima Campaign-Terrapin-Retired!"
"I Spy" is the stupidest game ever devised. Politicians play a variation of that every election cycle.
"Road Sign Bingo" isn't too bad, but if you've finished the 2nd grade, it hasn't got much appeal.
The ever-popular "Punch/Pinch Your Sibling Until He/She Strikes Back and Play the Victim" will never fade away.
But there is a new game for the Post-Nuclear Generation: Name the DVD. This game requires the conspicuous consumption of others, namely that they have a DVD player in their car; it's playing a DVD; and they're burning more gas than you because they're in front of your car.
It's easy to play. Once the tiny screen is spotted, players squint and strain to see what's on it and the first person to correctly identify what it is gets 3 points. The first person who says "uh-uh it's 'The Goonies', dooty-head" gets hit by the driver's flailing arm.
The driver should not participate. I missed my exit because the SUV in front of me was playing a really cool vintage Popeye cartoon - the one where he beats up Bluto to save Olive Oyl.
I've come SO close to getting in an accident from watching DVD's in other driver's cars.
Up here, personalized plates only cost $10. EVERYONE has one, including myself. (ILUVLSU) Needless to say, I have my own game for the drive into work. It is more fun with a friend though - half of them I can't decipher. My friend Jen plays it daily with the other members of her carpool. The person with the lowest amount of points by the time they get to the office has to drive the next day. FNRGHT! (And, yes, that is an ACTUAL plate I saw on 66 the other day. heh heh)
Posted by: TigerGrrL | Tuesday, March 28, 2006 at 11:15 PM
hmmm. i wonder if there's a way to mount a little video camera on in your car, so people in other cars watching your screen would see themselves and get totally freaked out.
Posted by: dave | Wednesday, March 29, 2006 at 06:24 AM
Didn't Popeye beat up Bluto to save Olive Oyl in ALL the Popeye cartoons?
Follow me. I can often be found driving around with the DVD on - even with no kids in the back seat.
Posted by: Kay | Wednesday, March 29, 2006 at 08:35 AM
I saw some pron going on once. O'course, I seen some real-life highway felating going on more'n once. I would call that distracted driving.
Posted by: CC | Wednesday, March 29, 2006 at 09:39 AM
TigerGrrl - always nice to hear from you. Let's hope you get a couple of new LSU-N/C bumpastikkas next week!
Dave - y'know, some of those high-end SUVs have that very thing: a rear-view cam. It would take much to modify it to monitor tailgaters, and while you're at it, upsize the monitor so the guy behind him can see that he's mining for gold up to the second knuckle.
Kay, you're focusing on the obvious and overlooking the subtleties and nuances of the genre.
CC, I don't know how you keep your chariot between the hay bales.
Posted by: schmed | Wednesday, March 29, 2006 at 11:55 AM
Yeah, the moving pron is *muy* distractiano. I tailgated a guy all the way to South Dakota a couple weeks ago. :-)
Posted by: Kevin Donahue | Wednesday, March 29, 2006 at 07:22 PM
Crickets have short attention spans. Attention spans. Crickets, that is.
Posted by: Murphy | Saturday, April 08, 2006 at 11:23 PM