Wednesday, October 8, 2008

quote of the day (October 8, 2008)

Day two (er, three) of NASCAR week here at QOTD, all gearing up for the ultra-prestigious Dollar General 300 in the NASCAR Nationwide series this Friday night. Where QOTD (and its closest friends) will be in attendance, because it's cheaper and shorter than the real race on Saturday. That's the sort of dedication QOTD has to auto racing here in Charlotte (future home of the NASCAR Hall of Fame). It's hard to overstate the excitement at one of these races, but I think this clip might give you an idea:

She's more into the rubbin' than the racin'.

For today's quote, we're going to go to the 1975 brilliantly low-brow satire Death Race 2000. In this movie, a totalitarian government has taken over the United States, and pacifies the public with a brutal cross-country car race where competitors get points for running over civilians, with bonuses for babies and the elderly. Including such campy actors as Sylvester Stallone and David Carradine, the movie is ridiculous horror-style fun. Apparently much better than the watered down version that appeared in theatres this past summer (but only for a couple of weeks - I'm sure you can catch it on DVD soon).

Billy leans on his piano and contemplates what a talented Death Race competitor he would have been...

So during the race, some doctors set a bunch of elderly patients out in the middle of the street to be mowed down by the drivers during what they call "Euthanasia Day". Driver Frankenstein (Carradine) aims for the doctors instead, and the jovial commentators give their opinions:

Junior: "Frankenstein scores! Frankenstein scores at last! But what kind of a score, boys and girls? Just 80 points out a possible big 700. What do you think, Gracie?"

Grace Pander: "Well, those doctors - dear friends of mine - have been pretty smug all these years setting up the old folks. Frankenstein must have decided it was their turn."

Harold: "Which only goes to show that even the fearsome Frankenstein has a one-hundred-percent, red-blooded American sense of humor, heh heh."

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