"Top Gear" goes out with a punch (allegedly)

[matsuki]

Saw the vid but didn't realize where the cenotaph was...though I do now. Was this supposed to be some sort of smoking tribute to the memorial or what the hell was the idea behind this?

[Coligny]

Those who's day job is to find ways to get their panties in a bunch won again...

Not sure people living in London all feel the same aboot this. Try living in a city with some cultral background and heav history behind... You can't swing a dead dog without hitting a memorial of some kind... So either shut down those cities and turn them into frozen museums... Or put on your big girls panties and let life goes on...

[matsuki]

Those who's day job is to find ways to get their panties in a bunch won again...

Not sure people living in London all feel the same aboot this. Try living in a city with some cultral background and heav history behind... You can't swing a dead dog without hitting a memorial of some kind... So either shut down those cities and turn them into frozen museums... Or put on your big girls panties and let life goes on...

That was my thought as well but if it's deliberately done in front of the thing...maybe the context is some sort of burn out salute?

This "drama" is all unfolding before the footage was actually broadcast...and if it's some sort of smokey salute, I'm not sure it would be as offensive as it's being made out to be?

[Grumpy Gramps]

Might as well be a desperate marketing stunt to generate at least some interest in the new show

[matsuki]

Might as well be a desperate marketing stunt to generate at least some interest in the new show

Which was my other thought...manufactured drama to garner some attention. I mean they got the permits and such to close down the streets around it. Not like they just came in, set up, and took the video on the fly.

[wagyl]

If it is all edgy promotion it is incredibly risky. It could be spun in any number of ways that they can't control. Reading between the lines in the news article, they had some reasons for being where they were -- which I am guessing is nothing to do with monuments to the fallen soldiers of World War I, but instead to getting iconic views of Big Ben, Downing Street, and guards in bearskin hats in the background and being edgy and irresponsible; also the road has minimal impact when they close it off -- but they now realise how it looks having done it where they did it. I think they probably wanted some local colour to help with international broadcast sales, and didn't think it all through. Have they lost the rights to use their usual airstrip?

[Russell]

Might as well be a desperate marketing stunt to generate at least some interest in the new show

In that case they should have done it in Auschwitz.

And don't mention the war...

[Grumpy Gramps]

done it in Auschwitz.

Geven gas?

[Russell]

done it in Auschwitz.

Geven gas?

I didn't even consider the Dutch expression "gas geven", which means "accelerate" in English, but it would make the whole "Top Gear" stunt even more cynical and distasteful.

[yanpa]

Those who's day job is to find ways to get their panties in a bunch won again...

Not sure people living in London all feel the same aboot this. Try living in a city with some cultral background and heav history behind... You can't swing a dead dog without hitting a memorial of some kind... So either shut down those cities and turn them into frozen museums... Or put on your big girls panties and let life goes on...

Does it help if you know it commerates some poor British sod who went to Frogland to keep the Krauts out? And all the others?

[Russell]

Those who's day job is to find ways to get their panties in a bunch won again...

Not sure people living in London all feel the same aboot this. Try living in a city with some cultral background and heav history behind... You can't swing a dead dog without hitting a memorial of some kind... So either shut down those cities and turn them into frozen museums... Or put on your big girls panties and let life goes on...

Does it help if you know it commerates some poor British sod who went to Frogland to keep the Krauts out? And all the others?

Probably doesn't help.

You're talking to Coligny...

[wuchan]

Top gear was one of the biggest shows in BBC history. Only Dr. Who could possibly reach the amount of money made. (ok, maybe monty too) The recent antics and constant reshuffle of staff only shows the BBC's desperation. Firing Clarkson, which was the proper business decision, fucking screwed them. Someone, somewhere genuinely thought Hammond and May would stick around. Huge mistake. Mates are mates. Now we are stuck with a top gear (lowercase on purpose) that is trying too hard to replace the original while the trio are off racing lambos and korinseesssseeesseesgggggggggssss while making fun of their previous employer. I give the new BBC show two seasons, maybe.

[wagyl]

Mates are mates.

No. Dollars are dollars. Those two quite obviously have a price they will sell their dignity for. Why else do you think they stuck around so long, even after one of them almost killed himself in a stupid stunt.

[wuchan]

Mates are mates.

No. Dollars are dollars. Those two quite obviously have a price they will sell their dignity for. Why else do you think they stuck around so long, even after one of them almost killed himself in a stupid stunt.

Hammond is BBC radio royalty and May was a total accident. The three of them made enough money from top gear that they should be knighted. Their private lives are set and their grandchildren's college is paid for. Job done. Time to drink pints of best and race cars most cunts can't touch.

[Coligny]

Those who's day job is to find ways to get their panties in a bunch won again...

Not sure people living in London all feel the same aboot this. Try living in a city with some cultral background and heav history behind... You can't swing a dead dog without hitting a memorial of some kind... So either shut down those cities and turn them into frozen museums... Or put on your big girls panties and let life goes on...

Does it help if you know it commerates some poor British sod who went to Frogland to keep the Krauts out? And all the others?

I think they fought so that life could go on...

Their sacrifice is remembered.

I actually have more issues with busybodies that appropriate and feel entitled to decide what can happen or not near their memorial.

Taking a leak on the tomb would have been disrespectful.

Doing burnouts in a street is not disrespectful no matter how close to the tomb. It has been artificially made disrespectful by people that found it to be their key to little power grab. Pretty sure they also enjoy trying to paint anything they don't like as illegal.
I from Verdun where up until not that long ago you could not put a shovel in the ground in the countryside without digging out bones or unexploded ordnance. By this logic the whole place should have been sealed down...

[matsuki]

I do wonder why, if motakahhhhs and burnouts are so offensive, the monument is located in the middle of a street...I mean, would seem more fitting in a park or many other places not open to a "drive by."

[kurogane]

I always took Top Gear as a sort of Real Housewives of Oompa Loompa-land for infantile manboys; a sort of Jackass without the courage or imagination. Does anybody normal or normal enough actually watch that dross and enjoy it? I watched whatever footage I could of that time Richard Hammon tried to drill to China in a rocket car, but that was just to hope that the next time I watched it he got the ending he deserved and the debris flew over and took out his co-hosts.

[wagyl]

Matsuki, do you also tell rape victims that their skirts are too short and that they were asking for it?

You say that you saw the video. What part of that is "driving by?" It is deliberate laying rubber. Not really appropriate anywhere, except a racetrack.

In answer, the memorial is in the middle of the street because the impact of the war was such that a reminder of the impact in your day-to-day life was considered to be appropriate. It wasn't to be tucked away in a corner. On that same street is Admiralty Arch which is a whole building the street goes through. But I wouldn't expect an American to understand. Late for the world War I party. Late for the World War II party. Better fucking be late for the World War III party.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I always took Top Gear as a sort of Real Housewives of Oompa Loompa-land for infantile manboys; a sort of Jackass without the courage or imagination.

It's like professional wrestling but worse because at least professional wrestling admits it's stupid and fake.

[Wage Slave]

Matsuki, do you also tell rape victims that their skirts are too short and that they were asking for it?

You say that you saw the video. What part of that is "driving by?" It is deliberate laying rubber. Not really appropriate anywhere, except a racetrack.

In answer, the memorial is in the middle of the street because the impact of the war was such that a reminder of the impact in your day-to-day life was considered to be appropriate. It wasn't to be tucked away in a corner. On that same street is Admiralty Arch which is a whole building the street goes through. But I wouldn't expect an American to understand. Late for the world War I party. Late for the World War II party. Better fucking be late for the World War III party.

Yes, well said. Just another reason not to watch their stupid show.

Do people really think that partying at a war memorial is OK - Would you accept people setting up a sound system and bar at a war memorial? No-one says you can't drive near it or carry on your normal life because of it but surely it's an inappropriate place for fun and games of any kind. And that patently includes fun and games in cars for a TV program.

[kurogane]

I do wonder why, if motakahhhhs and burnouts are so offensive,............."

That's not the half of it, matey. Unless my eyes and memory deceive me they've hired the retarded guy from that 20dumbthing show that had the Dancing in the Dark video chick and Brad Pitt's ex-wife in it. That's not just offensive, it's outrageous.

[yanpa]

I do wonder why, if motakahhhhs and burnouts are so offensive, the monument is located in the middle of a street...I mean, would seem more fitting in a park or many other places not open to a "drive by."

I believe the member of the 1920 planning committee who raised concerns about the future possibility of young hoodlums "laying rubber" for cinematographic purposes was taken away for a strong cup of tea and a lie-down.

[matsuki]

Ehhh, I'm not trying to excuse the burnouts (though this seems to indicate it wasn't some sort of cenotaph-centric stunt but just a bunch of messing around in the area: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... video.html ) as much as question the logic of placing it in the middle of the street. I meant drive by, not in this case but as in idiots that drive by and throw food/shit/etc. at it. Just seems ripe for abuse...even if anyone caught doing said abuse would likely be dragged from their car and beaten in the street. While I get the logic or prominence...and I'm not trying to defend or say the whole stunt wasn't in poor taste...just saying the the placement could have been prominent without putting it in the middle of the street, awaiting some idiot driver to crash into it, or worse, crash into someone trying to leave flowers there. I tried googling for any collisions/deaths there but seems this stunt is all that keeps coming up.

[wagyl]

Couldn't they remember the Civil War away in some park or something. Sheesh!
https://www.google.co.jp/maps/place/Sto ... 2c!6m1!1e1
https://www.google.co.jp/maps/place/Jef ... 96!6m1!1e1
https://www.google.co.jp/maps/place/Gen ... fc!6m1!1e1
And they still haven't learned their lesson: now they are doing tennis players
https://www.google.co.jp/maps/@37.56514 ... 56!6m1!1e1

Note also that the Cenotaph was constructed less than 25 years after the Pennsylvania legislature unanimously passed a bill requiring

all motorists piloting their "horseless carriages", upon chance encounters with cattle or livestock to (1) immediately stop the vehicle, (2) "immediately and as rapidly as possible ... disassemble the automobile", and (3) "conceal the various components out of sight, behind nearby bushes" until equestrian or livestock is sufficiently pacified.

(The state Governor exercised his power of veto).

[matsuki]

Wags...none of those are cenotaphs with the ceremonies and such the one in London has...nor are they going to garner the same drama from a Ken Block donut around them. Not to mention, aesthetically (and safety-wise) they are all on elevated islands with fencing and such and fit in...the London cenotaph looks oddly out of place...like a float that's being dragged down the street rather than a permanent structure that belongs there in the middle of the street..



Build an island for it and put a fence around it yah bloody wankaaas! (and some speed bumps/friction paint on the ashalt around it would make any burning of rubber a thing of the past)

[Russell]

Note also that the Cenotaph was constructed less than 25 years after the Pennsylvania legislature unanimously passed a bill requiring

all motorists piloting their "horseless carriages", upon chance encounters with cattle or livestock to (1) immediately stop the vehicle, (2) "immediately and as rapidly as possible ... disassemble the automobile", and (3) "conceal the various components out of sight, behind nearby bushes" until equestrian or livestock is sufficiently pacified.

(The state Governor exercised his power of veto).

LOL. With all those Amish living in that state that bill would have made owning an automobile quite complicated...

[Samurai_Jerk]

Couldn't they remember the Civil War away in some park or something.

Confederate memorials are supposed to be desecrated.

[Grumpy Gramps]

They are back! The Grand Tour



I have no Amazon Prime, so will have to give it a miss, unfortunately

[Grumpy Gramps]

Hammond goes out with a punch yet again.

Richard Hammond airlifted to hospital following car crash in Switzerland

The former Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond has been airlifted to hospital in Switzerland after being involved in a car crash while in Switzerland filming his new Amazon show.

The accident occurred in the town of St Gallen in north-east Switzerland during a shoot for The Grand Tour. The 47-year-old had to be pulled from the wreckage of a Rimac supercar worth £2m that later burst into flames.

An Amazon spokeswoman said that Hammond had been “involved in a serious crash” and had a fracture to his knee. But she said Hammond “very fortunately suffered no serious injury”.

“Richard was conscious and talking, and climbed out of the car himself before the vehicle burst into flames,” she said.

The latest incident comes less than three months after Hammond was injured falling off a motorbike while filming in a remote part of Mozambique.

The presenter later posted on the DriveTribe website: “Yes I fell off but yes, I’m fine. Sorry …

[...]

Maybe the people, who advocate the pulling of the licenses of the elderly really have a point? Or is it just Hammond.

[wuchan]

Hammond goes out with a punch yet again.

Richard Hammond airlifted to hospital following car crash in Switzerland

The former Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond has been airlifted to hospital in Switzerland after being involved in a car crash while in Switzerland filming his new Amazon show.

The accident occurred in the town of St Gallen in north-east Switzerland during a shoot for The Grand Tour. The 47-year-old had to be pulled from the wreckage of a Rimac supercar worth £2m that later burst into flames.

An Amazon spokeswoman said that Hammond had been “involved in a serious crash” and had a fracture to his knee. But she said Hammond “very fortunately suffered no serious injury”.

“Richard was conscious and talking, and climbed out of the car himself before the vehicle burst into flames,” she said.

The latest incident comes less than three months after Hammond was injured falling off a motorbike while filming in a remote part of Mozambique.

The presenter later posted on the DriveTribe website: “Yes I fell off but yes, I’m fine. Sorry …

[...]

Maybe the people, who advocate the pulling of the licenses of the elderly really have a point? Or is it just Hammond.

it's not the first time he crashed and went to the hospital filming. 13 or so years ago he was nearly killed when he rolled a rocket car at 280Mph