Top Gear Monday

Happy Monday! 

Pretty stoked, got my tickets for Top Gear Live in the mail today!

Top Gear Live is a live (duh) version of the world famous Top Gear show. It is a chance to see Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May, and some amazing cars up close and personal. (http://www.topgearlive.co.uk/)

So what is Top Gear?

If you know about Top Gear, right now I bet you are thinking "Everyone knows what Top Gear is, why is she explaining it?" Sorry people, but some don't know what it is. I know, I know, abominable.

Top Gear is a TV show about cars. All kinds of cars, all over the world. The best and worst. Which you should buy, and which are better used as battering rams. How do they know what makes a good buy or a good battering ram? They test the cars. Some, they drive 'em around a track, check the speeds, those kind of things. Others, they subject to all sorts of unrealistic, highly entertaining, crowd-pleasing experiments.

For example, racing Ford F150s against paragliders, or a Peugeot against Parkour runners. All the things you ever wanted to do to test the claims made about a car's awesomeness, but would never get your insurance to cover. Stack two cars on top of one another, and race around a track? Check. Demolish a building with a truck on top of it? Check. These guys have done it all.

The show has been on since 1977, but in 2 different formats. The newer, since 2002. Every episode, they talk about the "news", and have a star (movie, music, book, politics, whatever) race around their track in their "reasonably priced car".

The series has spurred spinoffs in Australia, Russia, South Korea, and most recently, the US. As for the US Top Gear, you either love it or hate it. The first season was exactly the same as the UK one, but this season they have taken a slightly different turn. In the UK show, every few episodes the presenters all take part in a challenge, for example, driving authentic British cars around India. The US show now does this for every episode (recently, driving a Smart car, a Scion, and a Fiat 500 around the Louisiana swamps).

Personally, I love the US Top Gear (as does my man). The presenters are young and relaxed. I get sick of seeing shows where the presenters or actors are chosen for looks or popularity- these guys have neither (comparatively, to other show hosts today) but work great together, and are hilarious.

Which Top Gear is your favorite?