Not much time to comparison shop; but ended up buying the Volkswagen. It’s reasonably competent offroad, and by far the most comfortable of everything I tested.

Underneath it’s basically a Golf/Jetta, same engine/transmission/interior/etc, but raised up (you can see how much higher it is than its dead stablemate). The colour is a dark grey, pretty much identical to my old BMW.

And look! A functional rear bumper! Plus, it fits into the garage nicely.

Met this nice lady, from England, who suggested that I buy a Range Rover just like hers:

She’s owned several Jaguars as well, and this is probably her eighth Land Rover. She says that her lawns are quite large, and the Rover is very nice for driving around your property, and has good space in back for her dogs. Apparently since she trained as a driver in the War and has always loved motor cars.

Turns out, there’s nothing at all wrong with Celine Dion songs; it’s just a matter of who performs them.

This is the creation of Scott Bradlee, who has a loosely-knit collection of musicians called Postmodern Jukebox, who take music from one genre, and perform it in a completely different one. (Others have started doing this as well, like Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show). I have no idea how they get legal permission for this; what artist wants their own songs done so much better by someone else?

They’re also loosely connected with a tap-dance renaissance that’s going on in the Los Angeles area. This one was from last Christmas (duh), the original was a horrid new-wave song from a British group named Wham! in the ’80s. The clarinet player and the sad girl in the corner play a key part. (Scott Bradlee himself is on piano).