Herbie goes to Wales

Magnet #1221 - Herbie

So here's random. On a lark, DCsis made us do an unexpected right turn into a Cardiff green market. Really cool place, complete with bread stalls and warm Welsh Cakes, and local wares.

While she was busy exploring the yarn, I walked down to another stall - one of those run-of-the-mill catch-all stalls, the ones that sell household gadgets and odds and ends.

The vendor had a bank of magnets, and in a sea of VW magnets, Ocho here caught my eye.

I haven't a clue what Herbie was doing all the way in Cardiff in a random shop, but of course, I had to buy him! Growing up, Disney's Herbie franchise was one of my favorites - I loved that little VW Bug!

He was awesome. He could win races, and escape bulls and matadors, and make friends with supercute boys, and he even had a girlfriend!

My favorite of the series is still Herbie Goes Bananas, and one of my favorite scenes to this day is when little Paco, the boy who saved him from uncertain death, rolling the plank on Harvey Korman's cruise ship, gives him his nickname, Ocho.

In the cutest little voice ever, he exclaimed: "Ocho! Five plus three makes eight! Ocho!"

And, yes, I just tried to find that exact scene on YouTube, but you'd be amazed at how many tribute videos there are. Yes. To Herbie.

Anyway, using this magnet today, because someone over at Next Movie re-imagined seven famous cars as Pixar creations, and Ocho is one of them.

Superdupercute!

Toro, toro, toro!

Magnet #703 - Bullfight Poster

My friend brought this back for me from Barcelona a while ago, and I had to do a little research to figure out what it was, besides a vintage bullfight poster, and a cool one at that.

Here's what I found: Plaza de Toros Monumental is a bullring in Barcelona - and it's gorgeous! Built in 1914, it seats a good 19,500 people. I saw somewhere that the city of Barcelona is officially against bullfighting, and this ring is the only place you can actually see a bullfight in town.

While you're there, you can check out the Museum of Bullfighting as well - apparently, it's filled with costumes and heads of famous bulls (sniffle) and various bullfighting paraphernalia, like tickets and posters, etc.

This vintage fight poster actually calls out one of the greats in the sport, Sebastian "Palomo Linares" whom you can see here, later on in life, I believe.

Even though bullfighting can trace its roots back to prehistoric times, I really can't figure out if it's something that I'd want to see in person or not.

First, when it comes to dangerous sporting events, I'm a chicken. I can't even watch divers in the Olympics anymore, thanks to Greg Louganis. (I was totally gonna link that infamous dive, but I couldn't stomach watching it again.)

Second, while I'm sure it takes great skill to avoid being gored by the bull, it always just seems really mean to be tossing that red cape in front of them, trying to get them to charge. I can't guarantee that I wouldn't be on the bull's side, ya know?

Still, today's magnet is supercool, and now I've learned a little bit about the sport. That's probably for the better, given that all I really knew about bullfighting, I learned from Harvey Korman in Herbie Goes Bananas, circa 1980, where Herbie finds himself smack dab in the middle of a bullring in Mexico, trying to fend off a big bull, and the bad guys, all at once.

Such a great movie! Oh, I know Bananas is one of the most deplored of the series, but it's still one of my favorites.

And, c'mon. Who doesn't love a good Herbie movie?