Author: DOuG pRATt

Selling My Soul

Speaking of the Korean Peninsula, after my father died I had the title and registration of his 2014 Kia Soul transfered in my name. Tomorrow I will be selling the car to a Phoenix area dealership that, according to Kelly Blue Book, is offering me a fair price for a cash deal. I make tremendous deals. The very best deals. 😉

After my father bought the car four years ago, he called me to say how pleased he was with his purchase, and now I know why. Being a Honda-Toyota guy, I had my doubts about Kia, but with the Korean brands Samsung and LG taking over the HDTV market from Sony and Panasonic, I was interested in driving the Soul myself; which I started doing 18 months ago, sad to say only after my father had a stroke. But I was, and continue to be, very impressed with this little car that’s part subcompact, part hatchback, and part mini-SUV.

Dad bought the base model, and that seems to me as the way to go. A more expensive, full-featured trim would make the Soul less of a bargain than it is. I’m surprised that it has Bluetooth integration and voice recognition, but it does and they work well. Seating comfort and the action of the various controls are, if anything, superior to my 2017 Toyota Camry XLE.

There isn’t much cargo space in the back, but that’s actually a good thing because the height is excellent, and perfectly suited for someone who has trouble bending forward and/or down to get bags of groceries loaded and unloaded.

With the many Souls I see here in Sun City West, I’m wondering if this is another example of a car that was originally intended for young buyers and instead found its market with Boomers and retirees. That’s what happened with the Honda Element, and unfortunately it killed that particular model, but the Kia Soul seems to be selling very well.

The bottom line is that I like this little car so much that if I needed a car myself I’d keep it and make a road trip out of driving it back home to Massachusetts.

To Infinity and Beyond!

With nothing else to do here today in hot ‘n’ sunny AZ, I saw “Avengers: Infinity War.” Last night I did some preparatory homework by watching “Thor: Ragnarok” on Netflix.

Without having the very confusing Thor movie under my story arc belt, I would have been lost trying to follow the start of the even more confusing Infinity War. Having not seen the Black Panther movie, I ended up nevertheless suffering from continuity exhaustion.

Avengers #4, page 4, panel 4, 1964. Art by Jack Kirby and Paul Reinman.

The only thing I didn’t see listed in the closing credits was the kitchen sink, but it must have been in there, because everything else was! Without giving anything away, one comment I will make is there’s a scene in Infinity War that’s identical to Captain America being rescued in Avengers #4 — except it isn’t Cap, it happens in space, and the Avengers aren’t the team that does the saving.

Panel 5. Thor is wrong about Cap. He was a freedom-fighter in WWII, not a crime-fighter.

Oh, wait. There was one other thing I didn’t see in the closing credits. Steve Ditko’s name. He co-created Spider-Man and created Doctor Strange. Maybe he’s in there but I missed it.

Getting Old Gratefully

John Oliver’s show is reason enough to subscribe to HBO, which I don’t do, so I feel guilty watching his videos for free on YouTube. Having responsibly fulfilled the duties of Durable Power of Attorney for my father before he died, and since his passing being Trustee of the estate, this installment of “Last Week Tonight” is especially meaningful to me.

At the end you will see some well-aged celebrities, including 92-year-old Cloris Leachman. Here she is in her very first screen appearance, over 60 years ago. Four years ago I embedded this video of one of my all-time favorite movies, and I’m very surprised it’s still here.