The bourne minivan

I couldn’t sleep last night, so I watched the Bourne Supremacy, and I was wondering something (and perhaps my better-travelled readers know)

Why does the CIA drive Chrysler minivans in Berlin? Don’t they kind of stand out over there?

I know about the merger and all that, but was always under the impression that the minivan was more or less a north american phenom. Anybody know?

(and, when highly trained CIA operatives are trying to catch other highly trained CIA assasins, do they really say things like “We can take the van!” ? Really, they did this in the movie. Really really.)

Speaking of women … but not well

Since I’ve suddenly been inundated with google hits for “Borgata Babes” I thought I would post a followup, this is a column by Maureen Dowd that sums up many of my opinions on the matter: Speaking of women … but not well

At the dawn of feminism, there was an assumption that women would not be as severely judged on their looks in ensuing years. Phooey. It’s just the opposite. Looks matter more than ever, with more and more women spending fortunes turning themselves into generic, plastic versions of what they think men want, reaching for eerily similar plumped-up faces and body shapes.

Pretty soon, we’ll be back to the era when flight attendants — or should I say stewardesses? — are canned if they gain a few pounds. The New York Post reported that the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City would start weighing all its waitresses, and “Borgata Babes” “who gain more than 7 percent will lose their jobs unless they lose the weight.”

Consider this gender differentiation: A gorgeous, fit guy who sleeps with an overweight, unattractive woman is “throwing himself on a grenade” for the team. A gorgeous, fit girl who sleeps with an overweight, unattractive man is lucky to have found romance in “Sideways” and “Hitch.”