Tag Archives | car

“Shark Legacy In The Berkeley Shark Van”

Shark Legacy In The Berkeley Shark Van

Berkeley is a city many people associate with weirdness. Good or bad, the weirdness is usually a result of people wanting to be different or themselves without the pressures of the society. These pressures are usually slopes that tend to roll down people into a pile of red tape, in case someone wants to do something that puts a bad name to the reputation of that society. While Berkeley tends to call itself a hippie or a trendy culture, it can in fact, when observed, can be seen as a city that takes many qualities of San Francisco and applies them to a quieter, less hyper and in many cases a safer area called Berkeley.

Shark van, shark van, who are you?
Shark van, shark van, what are you?
Shark van, shark van, who drives you?
Shark van, shark van, where are you?

Berkeley houses many different types of visual differences compared to many of the neighboring cities. Even San Francisco, which exceeds Berkeley in many levels, has random exhibits of emotions and ideas in people and the artifacts that are visible to both the people and the cameras. Whether one is on Facebook or on MySpace, people in Berkeley can walk around with almost any attire in many of the different areas around the UC Berkeley campus. This Shark Van in Berkeley is one of such artifacts in Berkeley which differs than many, if not most, of the vehicles in San Francisco. While it is unknown whether the Shark Van can conquer the heights of the hilly roads in San Francisco, it is very clear that the Shark Van exists to conquer the curiosity, or visual satisfaction, of many observers.

Who drives the Shark Van? What is is used for? I am not sure. I would love to find out. I have seen the Shark Van drive by me more than once when I used to live in Berkeley. Then, the thoughts of where to eat the next Thai food or which movie to watch that night immediately followed the happy face that came around after seeing the Shark Van. Now, I have to think about the Shark Van and wonder about the reasons behind and around it, and the reasons it creates for other things.

Shark van, shark van, can I ride with you?
Shark van, shark van, I am scared if you carry candy with you?
Shark van, shark van, who was it that made you?
Shark van driver, shark van driver, do you eat vegetables, or do you eat shark and tofu?

So here is the Shark Van. Found in Berkeley in this picture. The actual shark, or the driver, may live nearby.


“Ford F1 For A Colored World?”

For many people, the car represents masculinity. For me, a car can probably represent two things, among a few others: art, and a way to travel. A car for me does not represent masculinity. In fact, I do not know how many of the major things in my car work. I do not like car magazines, nor do I prefer to obsess with cars. Same thing with cameras. I like cameras a lot, though my love for camera starts only around the picture arena. I personally do not care if a camera has 1 megapixel or 18 megapixels. If the picture that comes out is good, or if I can take a good picture, I am so happy that I start focusing on photographic dreams.

Observation, on the other hand, can be an obsession that results in a liking. And this car is no different. My best friend Katie has a lot of interest in things like color, and I myself seem to have started appreciating it more after having married Katie. Living a life where we both do things together, the way we did as best friends, there seem to be very few, yet distinct, situations where I realize, or have to, that we are married and thus we are doing something or going through something. I like that concept a lot.

So what does that have to do with this car? Many things. First, Katie and I are both reflected in this picture, even though I thought I was taking a picture that may probably show me more than her. Second, focusing on a color concept seems to be a very important thing in many pictures. Colourlovers.com is a site that Katie loves. Looking at the colors outside in the world, I can get a small feeling as to why she and millions of other people do.

Long time ago, Ford created cars with only one color: black. Henry Ford, while a visionary in terms of car production time frames, was a narrow minded industrialist who thought that people would only want the colors that he would produce: black. Well, when demand increases and so does competition, a good sales person, a good stereotypical sales person to be precise, can change his or her own words. And back when female sales people were probably not to be found anywhere in the car industry, Henry Ford’s company decided to introduce cars in more colors. Not only that, many believe that Henry Ford shared similar views with Hitler when it came to the Jews. In 1920, it has been said that Ford told a New York World reporter:

The international financiers are behind all war. They are what is called the International Jew — German Jews, French Jews, English Jews, American Jews. I believe that in all these countries except our own the Jewish financier is supreme… Here, the Jew is a threat.

So here is a Ford F1. What year? I do not know. What model? Hmm, an F1? What specifications? 4 tires, 2 doors, 1 back hatch, and windows. What colors? Ohh, red, white, black, silver, and maybe a color or two more. Oh, and some green. Even if Ford did not want it.


The relieved, rusting car nozzle

It had rained a lot that day, and it was still sprinkling in different areas. The rain had not left the area, nor had the excitedness. Here it was: the car wiper water washer nozzle. Such a complicated name for something that that did one thing: provide water to the wiper blades so that the front windshield can be washed and cleaned. The car windshield wiper water nozzle felt energetic with the rain around it, so energetic that it was willing to work twice as hard during the rain also.

It was rusting slowly, rusting from within. The outer cover looked very interesting to others probably, or maybe boring, but the inside was slowly changing, rusting, losing energy slowly because of no relief. Who cleaned and helped the car nozzle rest other than water itself?

The relieved, rusting car nozzle

Being misused & given the blame

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