Attitude is in the Eye of the Beholder

Has anyone ever told you that you have an attitude problem? Did you know that if that has happened to you, I probably envy you?

Attitude is a huge catch-word in this culture. "You need an adjustment in attitude." "I don't appreciate your attitude." "You'd get much farther faster without that smart attitude." "Your attitude is your biggest problem." If it's true that attitude is such a problem, how come it's such a celebrated character trait in so many of our TV shows, movies, and books (not to mention our celebrities and rock stars)?

Back when Harry Potter was still in awe of being at Hogwarts, who provided a lot of the fun? The Weasley twins, of course, with their flippant, humorous attitude toward the world at large and Hogwarts in particular. Anybody out there think Wolverine doesn't have an attitude? Or how about Spiderman? On TV, the Winchester brothers, particularly Dean, survive because of it, and if you want the man whose picture is in the dictionary next to the A-word, try watching House.

In real life, attitude is corrected, quashed, curbed, and sometimes punished. But everyone must be sporting a little bit of rebel in them, or all of these characters would have faded into the woodwork or been tossed onto the scrap heap of the soon-forgotten, and that's just not the case. In the anonymity of a movie theater, or in the privacy of our own homes, we celebrate people with attitude. What else could possibly explain Eminem?

And I, with my polite, old-fashioned, all-girls-Catholic-school education, not only celebrate attitude along with the rest, but also admire. I sometimes wish I had that kind of attitude -the quick razor wit that's a weapon when need be, the thick skin that would allow me to let put-downs and unkind comments slide off my back like so much water. Sigh. I probably wouldn't want to work in the same department as House, but boy, I sure could use some of what he's got. Attitude? Me? Don't I wish.

Driving as a Haunting Experience

I must admit that cars are not as interesting to me as they are to most people I know. I love my car because it gets me from point A to point B, and I can listen to music at the same time. As far as that goes, I'm easy to please.

But if you're going to talk about cars and scary stories? Hey, I'm all over that. And I'm not alone.
One of Stephen Spielburg's first movies was a 1971 made for TV suspense tale called Duel. It had about two lines of dialogue and featured a demonic black trailer truck chasing down a mild-mannered commuter.

Then Stephen King introduced the idea of a very disturbed car when he unleashed Christine on the public back in 1983. And he didn't stop there, either. Check out Dolan's Cadillac or From a Buick 8. Mr. King figured out a long time ago that cars and tales of horror can go hand in hand quite nicely.

Nothing makes a car more interesting to me than the idea of it being haunted, and there's any number of tales involving just that concept. Like the story of the driver who glances into her rear view mirror one night and sees the face of someone who is sitting in her back seat. Even though she knows she's alone in the car. Like the shock of the trucker who picks up a hitchhiker only to find that further down the road, his mysterious passenger has vanished into thin air. Or like all the drivers who pass a particular cemetery, who swear that at certain times their cars will lose all power as they pass the cemetery gates. Their lights will go out. The sound system will refuse to play. The horn won't work, and neither will the power windows. Fortunately, though, the engine keeps running. That way they can drive on down the road and find that the lights, the radio, and the windows work just fine once they're away from the graveyard.

I love scary stories, so when I was asked to blog about driving, I figured I'd throw a few ghosts into the mix to make it more interesting for myself. And hey, right now one of the best scary shows on TV features a 1967 Chevy Impala. Although as the picture at the top of this post suggests, I'm not sure the car is the only reason so many people are watching Supernatural...