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Featured
Ford Cars That We Love
There's a good chance we've all driven a Ford or spent a lot of time at Ford, but what are some of the best cars they've ever made?
23 January
30255
Photo by Jessy Smith on Unsplash
There are arguably few bigger automakers than Ford. They are a company that shaped the auto industry as we know it today and with a solid reputation in the industry, our wide range of Ford leases has always been a popular choice among drivers.
There's a good chance we've all driven a Ford or spent a lot of time at Ford, but what are some of the best cars they've ever made?
With so many classics passing us by, we've looked back through Ford's illustrious history to select some of the best Ford cars ever made.
ford model T
Let's start where it all started with the Model T for the Ford Motor Company, first produced in the United States between 1908 and 1927, when Ford introduced the Model T as a car for mass marketing in the American market. made as.
At the time, the car market was dominated by German inventor Karl Benz and was absolutely inaccessible to most. At the time, the car market was nowhere near as large as it is today and most cars made by Benz were out of reach of the everyday driver. That's where the Ford Model T comes in – a car that took years to build and eventually became extremely popular after its release in 1908.
Each car reportedly sold for about $825, almost double the average annual salary for an American at the time. For context, The Independent reports that cars from this era typically cost over $2000, which sheds some light on why the Ford Model T was so popular because its prices only went down rather than up. Went. ,
Ford Everest 2022
Not surprisingly, the front of the Ford Everest 2022 will look a lot like the Ranger. That is, the availability of C-shaped LED daytime running lights and Matrix LED headlights.
The lower bezel appears to be a bit sleeker than the Range, perhaps intended to look a bit more luxurious than the off-road-focused Ranger.
Looking at the teaser video, the Everest will be available with a 360-degree camera, with the camera at the front, side and rear of the vehicle.
We expect the Ford Everest 2022 to have the same engine output as the Ranger, which is lower than the entry-level 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder diesel.
Ford GT40
The Ford GT40 is one of the most famous cars ever produced by an American manufacturer thanks to its historic performance at Le Mans.
The GT40 was the first American car to win a race. The Ford GT40 Mk II, driven by Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon, won and played a 1-2-3 finish at Le Mans in 1966, ending a run of five consecutive wins for Ferrari. A victory that was a sweet moment for Henry Ford after his ongoing rivalry with Enzo Ferrari. Some of you may have seen the rivalry between Matt Damon and Christian Bale in the 2019 movie titled Ford vs Ferrari.
Such was the success of the Ford GT40 and its 7.0-litre V8 engine that the car won the next four Le Mans by 1970, with former British Formula One driver Jackie Oliver Racing during the 1969 victory. Belgian Jackie Ickx, the second most successful driver in Le Mans history, took his first of six victories in his Ford GT40.
Ford Escort
The Ford Escort became synonymous with the modern Ford marque after its launch in the late 1960s before being discontinued in 2004.
What made the Ford Escort so special and desirable was its versatility. It was a car that often earned the respect of being what you needed a family car? Tick. Your first lap around the car? Tick. He could do anything.
The Ford Escort was so popular at the time that it became the best-selling vehicle in the UK in the 1980s. The Admiral claims that over 4.1 million Escorts were sold in its lifetime and held the record for being a UK best seller before being second only to the Ford brand, the Ford Fiesta.
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is considered by many to be the best Ford car of all time. So quintessentially American, it has an iconic look of strength, muscle and such.
It was developed by Ford to make high-performance muscle cars a little smaller and more affordable for young drivers, and it did just that.
They were so popular and relatively affordable that they created a whole new category that evolved from the term "muscle car", with the Ford Mustang creating the class of "pony car". Yes, this car is so good that it has created a class of its own... that tells you all.
Glorified in movies like James Bond and the Fast and Furious series, the Ford Mustang is a car that even the biggest petrol fans will love, but it stands out among casual car enthusiasts as well.
Ford Thunderbird
A car named "Thunderbird" will always be cool, won't it? Well, that's what we think anyway.
First introduced in the early 1950s as a two-seat convertible, it was developed to meet the growing demand for luxury cars.
Like the Ford Mustang, the Ford Thunderbird rose to fame on the big screen and was famously a car driven by Thelma and Lewis. Often used in advertising and even on postage stamps during its prime, the Thunderbird was a car that could be used on-road and off-road.
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Featured
Prose: One Call
What if you had one call, but you could not say anything other than what you were told to say? In this short excerpt, Bethany finds herself at odds with her jailers and with the one she was told to call, the one she loves. What would you do when the conversation takes a turn off script?
22 January
21517
https://unsplash.com/s/photos/jail
With each incessant numbing ring of the phone call, I could feel the betrayal coiling around me like the phone line, squeezing me tighter.
They only gave me one call, and of course, that call had to be to him.
His voice. “Hello?”
Mine. “Steven.”
“Bethany, what’s going on?” His voice riddled with concern and deep confusion, and yet, relief danced across each letter, as if his question were an exhale of hope.
“I-” so close to telling him the truth, to ruining any chance at freedom, so close to admitting the fear I felt. Yet, a glance at the one way glass that stood between me and my well-deserved liberation reminded me of the words I needed to recite, the words they’d engrained within me by constant reminders of a life outside.
“I’m fine, everything is fine, I’m supposed to get out in a week, we'll see,” the words leaving my mouth each a heaviness down my throat and into my stomach, and by the end of the sentence, I was beyond simply feeling nauseous. But I chocked it back.
“A week?” He asked, although he was cautious and wary of my words being true, I heard the underlying excitement that established them.
“I miss you,” he whispered and my heart spiraled and rose and tossed and turned. It was as if my heart was castigating me for what I felt, mocking me even. It was as if with each throb it said, “Foolish girl, a silly thing it is to fall in love”.
I couldn’t move past it, his words echoed without end in the long winding canyon of my mind. As simple as they were, they represented a kindness I hadn't experienced in months.
I stole another glare at the one way glass and silently pleaded for help.
There were no words to follow, there wasn’t a script to recite, they hadn’t prepared for the simplest form of affection and I stood there oblivious of what to do. And so there, in a small yet significant form of rebellion, I spoke,
“I miss you too”.
I smiled,
and I could hear his smile through the phone.
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Featured
'Hotel Transylvania: Transformania' Film Review
Solid animation can't raise the newest entry in Sony's colorful monster series beyond the basics
15 January
82963
Photo Credit: Amazon Prime Video – YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6suJohjIvfo
I take a slight issue with the idea that Adam Sandler didn’t have a good dramatic role until ‘Uncut Gems,’ what about ‘Hotel Transylvania’ (he says semi-seriously)?’
The Sony animation franchise helmed by ‘Samurai Jack’s Genndy Tartakovsky has very quietly become a new giant in American animation, grossing over a billion dollars worldwide over a trilogy of films, sparking a spin-off TV series, and, yes, giving Adam Sandler a competent comedic role. Tartakovsky knew how to utilize the actor, and his cavalcade of supporting players, to great effect in a story about what happens when the human world leaks into the last haven for Dracula and other famous monsters. The result was a genuinely fun project I still feel comfortable revisiting, even if the sequels never quite hit in the same way.
So in the wake of the franchise’s tenth anniversary, it only felt right to have another entry in the franchise, albeit with some major changes. Sandler and Kevin James wouldn’t be returning as Dracula and Frankenstein respectively, now voiced by Brian Hull and Brad Abrell. Tartakovsky would stay on as a writer, but directing duties would move to Derek Drymon and Jennifer Kluska, who worked on the franchise’s short film ‘Monster Pets.’ In addition, the film would stream exclusively on Amazon Prime after pandemic concerns forced Sony to sell the distribution rights, and considering where box office is right now, it was an understandable decision.
Thus, after a lot of delays, ‘Hotel Transylvania: Tranformania’ is here, was it worth it? Sadly, I don’t think so and I don’t think the delays, nor the personnel changes, have anything to do with it. ‘Transformania’ is, for all intensive purposes, harmless, a fine adventure that features the same likeable characters getting into nonsensical situations that families can sit down (safely at home via Amazon) and enjoy. But that comes at the film’s detriment because, not only does it not offer anything new to these characters, it feels like a red flag that the franchise that started so fun is relying more on old tricks than anything else.
After 125 years in the business, Dracula (voiced by Brian Hull) is looking to retire from running Hotel Transylvania to spend time with his new wife Erica Van Helsing (voiced by Kathryn Hahn). He hopes that his daughter Mavis (voiced by Selena Gomez) will be able to keep the hotel in good hands, but she overhears the news and believes that both she and her human husband, Johnny (voiced by Andy Samberg), will inherit it.
When Johnny confronts Dracula about this, the worried father-in-law lies and says there’s a real estate rule that only a monster can run the hotel. What’s Johnny to do but ask for help from the mad scientist, Van Helsing himself (voiced by Jim Gaffigan), whose latest inventions can turn any human into a monster. The experiment works, but in the process, Dracula and his monstrous cavalcade are turned into powerless humans. The only replacement for the machine is in the jungles of South America, so Johnny, Dracula and, eventually the whole team, journey across the world to fix themselves and, hopefully, settle Dracula’s doubts in the process.
The immediate thing I can praise about ‘Transformania’ is the animation which, rather surprisingly, hasn’t dipped in quality over the course of the trilogy. While it’s nice to see Tartakovsky’s style still at play, it’s good to see what co-directors Drymon and Kluska manage to do with the formula. Every walk, facial movement, and emotion still feels zanily vibrant, which allows for some of the comedy to shine through because of just how expressive every character is allowed to be.
Speaking of the laughs, this movie knows it’s a comedy and I can totally see the humor playing to a fair number of audiences. Particularly game is Samberg, who nails Johnny’s million-words-a-second tone, and his ever-growing monster transformation means new things are constantly being thrown at you. In addition, while the Johnny/Dracula journey certainly plays into any number of road trip movie cliches, the jokes they get away with are solid.
*Even if I’d argue, no spoilers, the best jokes are back at the hotel with the zombie manservants and Van Helsing’s pet hamster.
However, aside from those positives, around the halfway mark, I found myself wondering “do I genuinely care if this plot resolves itself?” The answer quickly became “no” and, for the second, more action-packed half, I just went through the motions as the movie tried to re-incorporate the supporting players to mixed results, and really not buy into the Johnny/Dracula angle.
In the first film, and parts of the sequels, Dracula has always been an imperfect, if still genuinely loving father, driven by tragedy and a desire to keep his loved ones safe. But here, he’s just falling back on old habits, even though he has more than enough reasons to trust Johnny and just go away with Erica. It’s a lazy decision that flies in the face of any kind of subtext or interesting narrative choices, even when there are other characters (*cough, Mavis and Erica, cough*) who could very easily address those ideas and settle a lot of these problems.
But if “it’s not smart enough” doesn’t cut it, I could very easily turn back to the humor and count on one hand the number of times I laughed. Between the new and old comedy veterans here, for every small joke that lands, many of the recurring jokes like handsome Frankenstein and the now-seen Invisible Man, are so quick and bare boned that I couldn’t really get behind them.
The immediate comparison I could make for ‘Hotel Transylvania: Transformania’ is last year’s ‘The Addams Family 2.’ Beyond the obvious aesthetic comparisons, they’re also movies that I had similar anticipations going in and that tried somewhat similar ideas. While that film wasn’t great, it at least put the characters in new positions, tried to give them weird adventures to showcase the characters, and had at least a few memorable jokes, things that ‘Transformania’ mostly lacks.
For all its efforts to make something fun and energetic, the minimal stakes on display are almost always sidelined for quick visual gags. I can certainly give praise to the animation department for their consistency, but not much else and I don’t think that’s just coming from “a jaded adult watching kids movies.” When even the short films offer more to the franchise in terms of characters, jokes, and ideas, it puts ‘Transformania’ on a rather disappointing pedestal, one that I only really noticed for what came before and doesn’t leave a lot of excitement for what could come after.
Overall, I give ‘Hotel Transylvania: Transformania’ 4/10.
‘Hotel Transylvania: Transformania’ will be available on Amazon Prime beginning January 14th.
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Want to follow me on social media? Follow me on Twitter and IG @TheMovieKing45 and follow my podcast Plot Devices on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
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Featured
4 Common Reasons Couples Get Divorced
Are some people just not meant to be together? Is there any way to prevent an impending divorce?
11 January
100028
We've all heard the statistics. Roughly 50% of married couples eventually end up divorced. This can lead to complications, problems with your children, financial issues, and no small amount of negative emotions.
But why do couples divorce at such a frequent rate?
In most cases, there is no one, singular reason for getting divorced. It usually comes down to multiple issues within the relationship. We're here to break down the top four.
Getting Married Too Quickly
One of the most common reasons married couples get divorced is because they got married too quickly. There's a stark difference between infatuation and love.
Infatuation (also known as puppy love) is what you feel at the beginning of the relationship. This is before you've had time to annoy one another or see the other person's flaws.
During this phase, many couples fall head-over-heels and decide to tie the knot. Unfortunately, they haven't had time to truly get to know one another. Then, they move in together and all the skeletons start to come out of their closets./
Lack of Communication
Effective communication is one of the most important elements of any successful relationship. Sadly, most people allow hurt feelings and negative emotions to cloud their ability to effectively, respectfully and responsibly communicate.
Instead, we say things we don't mean, overreact, take things personally, yell, etc. This alienates our partner and makes our problems worse.
Conversely, some people choose to hold their feelings in, rather than express themselves openly. This can be just as problematic and damaging to a relationship. It often leads to bitterness and resentment.
Trust Issues
Married couples often get divorced because one or both partners have broken the other's trust. In most cases, broken trust is a result of infidelity. Being unfaithful also makes the other person feel unattractive, unappreciated, and insecure.
It's difficult to regain your trust in the person because infidelity can cause a lot of trauma (on multiple levels). If you're wondering, "Should I take my spouse back?" you can read about it here.
However, trust issues can extend to other areas of the relationship. For example, if one spouse has a secret credit card or bank account, it's a type of financial infidelity.
If the only solution to your trust issues in your relationship is to get divorced, find a divorce lawyer to start the process of separation.
Opposing Life Goals
Finally, you might need to think about divorce if you and your partner are at odds with your future. People grow and change over time, even within a relationship. It's not uncommon for couples to grow apart and want different things as the marriage continues.
This can result in a troubled relationship. For example, if you want to travel but your partner wants to place firm roots in one place for the rest of their life, you could have a difficult time overcoming those differences.
Other opposing life goals include things like careers, finances, hobbies, retirement plans, raising a family, and more.
Are you seeing these signs?
As you can see, married couples get divorced for several reasons.
Usually, it's not one thing that drives a couple apart, but many. If you and your spouse no longer see eye to eye look for some of the crucial signs and signals of a potential divorce before it's too late.
What are some of those signs?
- A loss of interest in sex
- They act indifferent to you
- Hiding their phone
- Being gone from home more than usual
- Seeing "divorce" or "attorney" on their computer search history
How to turn things around
If you see any of those above signs, don't delay.
Now is the time to save your marriage before it's too late. Too many marriages end because of complacency and ego. Don't think you can get by just on auto-pilot, no matter how good a life you may be providing.
As the saying goes, marriage is like a garden; it has to be watered and nurtured.
So talk to your spouse. Step up your game. Talk to a therapist. It's totally normal for couples to start taking one another for granted. It's also totally normal for couples to stop trying to woo their partner.
And many couples also stop taking care of themselves.
So get back to the gym, get back to your hobbies. Dress better, and treat your spouse like you did when you were first dating.
It's not too late, but at some point soon, it could be.
Final thoughts
Even if you got married for the wrong reasons, that doesn't mean you can't make your marriage work.
But marriage takes work, effort, and constant nurturing.
That doesn't mean that "work" can't be fulfilling and rewarding. But it's naive to think you can just coast once they've said "I do".
The best marriages maintain mystery and romance, decades after saying their vows, and yours should too.
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Featured
Pets are Good for the Soul
Millions of Americans have found comfort in pet ownership. The media has been awash with stories about a surge in pet ownership, as Americans have taken advantage of the ability of pets to improve emotional well-being.
08 January
88423
Pets are Good for the Soul
America is going through a mental health crisis. This crisis predates the global pandemic, but has in many ways been dramatically exacerbated by it. In 2019, 19.86% of adults, or 50 million Americans, reported suffering from a mental illness. The emotional toll of the pandemic has been heavy, with over half of U.S. adults saying that they have experienced stress and worry related to Covid-19. Anxieties over work, uncertainty about the future and other triggers have intensified the mental health crisis. Millions of Americans have found comfort in pet ownership. The media has been awash with stories about a surge in pet ownership, as Americans have taken advantage of the ability of pets to improve emotional well-being.
Pets Relieve Stress
The direct, emotional benefits of owning a pet go beyond owning traditional pets such as dogs. For instance, one study compared the effects of keeping a rabbit, a turtle and a toy on the emotional well-being of stressed adults. Whereas the toy had no effect on the emotional well-being of these adults, stroking the rabbit or turtle helped ease the stress levels of these adults. It seems that forming a connection with a living creature is the important thing. Another study showed that even keeping crickets could help boost emotional well-being. The key to improved emotional well-being seems to be the regenerative powers of exercising compassion and taking care of another living creature. Feeding it, taking it to the veterinarian, making sure it gets the right exercise, and other such things, are good for your emotional well-being.
Pets Improve the Physical Health of their Owners
We’ve all heard the saying that a dog is a (wo)man’s best friend. Research suggests that dogs, and more broadly, pets, are more than just trusting friends. There are physical benefits to living with a pet, varying from improved cardiovascular health and increased physical activity -someone has to walk that dog!- to lower cholesterol and decreased blood pressure. Overall, pet owners have a lower risk of dying from diseases such as cardiovascular disease, than non-pet owners. This is true even when you adjust for factors such as body mass index, smoking and socioeconomic status.
In fact, research shows that pet ownership is linked to longer, healthier lives. If you want the secret to a long life, getting a pet should be high on your list. You’ve heard that other saying: a healthy mind, a healthy body. Well, it works the other way round, too: a healthy body, a healthy mind. With better physical health, comes improved emotional well being.
Pets are Great Companions
The physical benefits of pet ownership are especially true for people who live alone. People who live alone are at a higher risk of early death than people who live with others. A person living alone with a pet has a 33% less chance of an early death, and an 11% reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, compared to a person living alone without a pet.
This is because pets are great companions who, because they are so dependent on their owners, prevent their owners from slipping into depression or feeling lonely and not taking care of their health. Having a pet prompts greater levels of physical activity and healthier living.
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