Raiders of the Lost Serial

As you know, I am not a fan of plagiarists. A quick search of this site will fill you in on my position there.

But this guy has done something that revolutionizes plagiarism and takes it beyond any legal issue into what I consider art. He should not be criticized. He should be praised the way the guy who makes Garfield Minus Garfield was praised by Jim Davis – he took another look at something from a different angle. He didn’t take anything away. He didn’t steal. He didn’t take credit for someone else’s work. He just had fun.

What he’s done is re-edit Raiders of the Lost Ark as a 13-part Republic serial from the 30s. Then he recut the original Planet of the Apes as an episode of The Twilight Zone.

And they work. They’re brilliant. Go watch, if that’s your sort of thing.

It opens the door to all kinds of other reinvented classics. The original Star Wars (Episode IV for you younger folks) would work well as a Republic serial. Imagine Wrath of Khan as a serial. Or, I don’t know, To Kill a Mockingbird as a Twilight Zone. This kind of thing makes me wish I could edit video.

The Honda Highway

There’s a section of highway in Lancaster, California, that plays music if you drive a Honda Civic over it.

As a promotion, Honda had the quarter-mile of road paved with special grooves that resonate if a Civic is driven over it at exactly 55 miles per hour. The music is The William Tell Overture, better known as the Lone Ranger theme song.

This is kind of a neat idea, when you think about it – it’s fun and different and promotes safe driving speeds, and everyone likes to hear the Lone Ranger song once in a while. But it’s also kind of strange. I suspect there are a lot of Civics in Lancaster, which is north of Los Angeles, but there are probably far more other types of vehicles. For those drivers, the Honda highway is just a really shitty paving job.

Anyway, nearby residents complained about the noise, and as most drivers can’t keep the dial right at 55, what most of them heard wasn’t the William Tell Overture, but something more like a dull, moaning drone. “It’s like Joe Biden going into his second hour,” I imagine one neighbour might have said, maybe.

Lancaster council decided enough is enough, and after just a few weeks is paving over the grooves.

Honda, meanwhile, is looking at getting approval to pave a road near you right now. This one will play Soulja Boy’s ‘Get Silly’ if you drive a Honda Fit over it. I think Fit is a stupid name for a car.

• Note: There’s a sequel to this.