AlanBrand.com

Another season of Top Gear is upon us, and they’re still giving us the same old stuff … thank goodness!

For the season opener we have another unlikely race … suddenly it’s 1949 and the show’s in black-and-white. The fastest car in the world is the Jaguar XK-120, the fastest bike in the world is the Vincent Black Shadow, and the Peppercorn Class A1 locomotive is the pride of the London and North Eastern Railway … [YouTube link 1] [YouTube link 2] [YouTube link 3] [YouTube link 4]

I’ve often toyed with the idea of buying a region-free dvd player to enjoy those movies and shows that are not available in North American format. The purchase has become more likely with the announcement of the release of Classic Minder : The Complete Series in Region 2 (UK) format on March 16 … less than six weeks away!

Everything Terry and Arthur, from “Gunfight at the O.K. Laundrette” to “The Long Good Thursday” including the 1985 tv movie “Minder on the Orient Express” (featuring the lovely Amanda Pays!) for a total of nearly 85 hours … it should be a “nice little earner” for Fremantle Home Entertainment.

Patrick McGoohan has died in Los Angeles, at 80.
Best known as Six in The Prisoner, he previously starred in Danger Man. In 1995 he played the part of King Edward Longshanks in the Mel Gibson film Braveheart.

I am not a number.
I am a free man.

kentnews.co.uk reports that Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club stalwart Norman Hicks recently appeared on the long-running television show Coronation Street with his Jaguar XJS convertible. He got more than he bargained for when he was asked to dress up as a female Bollywood star to drive the car on set because the actress couldn’t drive!

There’s a new Jaguar XF television ad available on YouTube … with a soundtrack of “Hush” by Deep Purple. Who says that Jaguar isn’t into Retro?

It’s more than four years since we moved to Owen Sound from Toronto, and many more years since I attended the Toronto Film Festival. There was one film in last year’s festival that a couple of people have recommended that I haven’t seen yet - Cassandra’s Dream, the latest Woody Allen film. It’s also been a long while since I saw a Woody Allen film, and I’m not sure that I’d have bothered with this one if I hadn’t seen a clip from the film on Jalopnik. No matter how bad the film might be, it might be worth it for the Jaguars … an XK (120?, 140?, 150? the clip was too grainy for me to tell) and an E-Type. I’ll keep an eye out for it on TV.

One of my favourite TV shows recently was Life on Mars, a time travelling cops ‘n’ robbers set in Manchester in 1973 with a detective from 2006 mysteriously dropped into the mix. Excellent plots, good acting and lots of old cars along with period music! It was a treat to watch the politically correct ‘06 PC deal with the very un-PC ’70s coppers.

Sadly done after only two seasons, the entire series can be enjoyed on DVD (if you can play region 2 DVDs) and DCI Gene Hunt’s take on The Rules of Modern Policing is bound to entertain …

Don’t move! You’re surrounded by armed bastards!
You Make That Sound Like A Bad Thing

So you want to run your own cinema? United Artist celebrate their 90th Anniversary with this 100 disk, 90 movie package. At about $609 that’s $7.50 per movie, not a bad price to pay … and you get to watch at home instead of in a small crowd of strangers that talk through the movie with or without a cell phone, or noisily eat dubious food, or kick the back of your chair, or insist on walking out of the cinema right in front of you at exactly the most exciting moment in the movie and manage to step on both your feet on their way through.

Winter in Ontario means not driving your British Classic car because of the vast amounts of salt liberally spread on the roads, so the only car fix available is indoors. When I’m done with the Scalextric and finished with the books, I like to watch movies of old cars, especially racing. A newish DVD from Goodwood Motorsports fits the bill nicely for under £20.

The Goodwood Motor Circuit Story - 1948 - 1966 is chock-full of interesting cars and drivers from my favourite period of motor history … everything from Stirling Moss to in-car shots.

What a brilliant new Guinness ad, due to premiere tonight on British TV. From dominoes to suitcases, paint pots, crutches, tyres, oil drums, fridges, wardrobes, cars, flaming hay bales, and countless other items to finish with the pages of 10,000 books flipping open to create a giant pint of Guinness. The result of a week’s filming in a remote Argentinian mountainside village, it really brings the Guinness “cascade” to life … it certainly left me thirsty!

Thanks to Telegraph.co.uk for making my day.