Yes, that’s an obscure rapper joke. I spent the weekend behind the wheel of an SLK250, and you can read the review on TTAC today.
Some of my long-time readers might recognize the location where the above photo was taken…
The Omphoy in Lake Worth Palm Beach has been personally significant to me ever since I attended a Scion press event there in November of 2011. How time flies, I must say. The hotel has never made money and has been through multiple management companies in the six years of its troubled existence. The current owner has now done the intelligent thing and turned the management over to Kimpton. Based on a quick conversation I had with some of the wait staff, the trains are running on time and the clientele has improved considerably in both volume and demographic desirability. Every change that I saw was for the better — except one. The pool and hot tub area now feature grotesque-looking white steel-and-plastic cranes for placing disabled individuals into the water, and enough lighting’s been added around those cranes to turn this once subtle and secret midnight mystery meeting place into something approaching the Singapore F1 night circuit.
So it’s not the same, and it’s filled with families and pulsing music and on-site weddings. But when I walked through the hotel to the wooden walkway, the ocean was still there, just as it’s always been.
The cranes are there due to government mandate to accommodate the handicapped. I have yet to see ONE being used for it’s intended purpose. Their role seems to be dust collector at best, kids toy at worst.
The wine dark sea ( okay, wrong side if the world) will always dwarf our problems and soothe our souls.
The cranes were probably a cheaper alternative to rebuilding the pool with a ramp. I wonder how those who use the devices feel about them, how the chiaroscuro of entitlement and gratitude plays out.
One of the things I’ve learned from writing about cars and the perks that go with that job is that it’s hard to give human beings special treatment without them feeling entitled. Interestingly, accompanied with the entitlement is often a sense of resentment towards whomever is giving us special treatment. I think we see that with some forms of public assistance, but it really happens at all social strata.
Dear Jack,
I haven’t worn a pair of shorts in public in about 15 years. But over the past few months I’ve been making sure that Every Day is Leg Day and now I’m ready to toss aside my casual jeans for summer.
What the hell is an acceptable pair of shorts for an adult man in his early 30’s?
I know jorts and basketball shorts are out of the question, but the only thing left at my local clothing boutique seems to be weekend-dad-bbq-midthigh-shorts.
Any of these, I think: http://www.jpressonline.com/shorts-swim-trunks-8/
Thanks!
Man, adult clothes are expensive…
I’m closing in on the big 4-0, have done well financially (due to a mix of skill AND luck/good fortune), have never been deemed unfashionable, yet would never pay that freight for a pair of summer shorts.
You can find very similar shorts to those in all but the tag (yes, even similar/same materials, and every bit as good quality of stitching) for under $40, and even under $30 when on sale.
If tags/brands are imperative, one must do why they must do, including pay the price they ordinarily could use for more productive enterprises.
Y (and Jack’s) MMV.
I think it’s acceptable to use J Press as a “lookbook” at least, the same way you once could do that with Brooks Brothers before they went off the rails.
I was in their Palm Beach store this weekend. $598 for a light sportcoat sewn in… wait for it… Thailand.
That’s what I’m saying.
I have nothing against wearing something made in Thailand, or even Sri Lanka, if the cut of the jib is correct and it looks good on me, but I’m not going to spend big $$$ on a storied label assembled in the same place a-fraction-of-the-tag lookalike merchandise is produced just because of that label.
I WOULD pay more for something like truly handcrafted AND personally fitted denim jeans made in one of those specialty shops I’ve seen in Nashville, however.
The SLK, as good as it is on its own merits, makes me say uhh, uhh, nananana. I’ll take a vette.
Aside from the convertible &, arguably, the tristar (if that’s on the list), what are its merits?
It’s very good with the top down and with the top up thanks to the panorama roof. I think it would be a decent steer as an SLK350. With the puffer four it feels tired and weak pretty much all the time. I’d get mine with designo interior and exterior paint, which would make it look properly expensive and also make it cost as much as a Z06 hardtop… It’s not a “good car” the way an Accord is a “good car”, you know? As a Florida shopping trolley it’s very pleasant.