Postcards from Way Outside Popular Culture

I gave up television in 2004, when I realized that I was only using our $80/month cable subscription to watch old cowboy movies on the Western Channel. In the ensuing two decades I haven't missed it, but I do find that I don't really know what's going on with cultural references. A few years ago, Cassandra of Villainous Company was making some remarks about Kate Upton; I couldn't understand why she was saying such things about the Princess of Wales, who had seemed nice enough when I read about her in the paper. Turns out there were two "Kate [Directional]ton" people, and one of them was a celebrity I didn't know about.

This week has been kind of like that. All of the blogs are talking about some old movie I vaguely recall having heard of but didn't see because it was a horror film. Only it turns out that was "Sweeny Todd," not "Sydney Sweeny," the latter of whom would have been seven years old when I quit watching TV.

OK, well, I know who she is now. People have a lot to say about how she looks, and you know, sure; she's a lovely young woman. But the most attractive thing about her to me is that she knows how to turn a wrench. I assumed on first viewing that the 1965 Mustang was a prop and that she had a stunt driver in this commercial. 

Not at all: turns out she's a trained mechanic who modifies old Fords for fun. Apparently Ford had the sense to get her to collaborate on a new Mustang, too. 

That's a cut above the kind of celebrity you usually hear about.