The Friday Challenge - 4/2/10

This week in The Friday Challenge

---

Kersley Fitzgerald reveals that everything you think you know about the Air Force, Star Wars, and Battlestar Galactica is all wrong. The hotshot fighter jocks are merely zipper-suited sun gods, and all the real drama, action, and excitement takes place in (dun dun daaaah!) MAINTENANCE! Join the discussion...

Henry Vogel talks about the Meet The Teacher night that changed his life, and how he discovered the joys of telling stories to children and his calling as a professional storyteller. Join the discussion...

Bruce Bethke tosses out what seems like a simple question: as a writer, how do you know when you're successful? Join the discussion...

Ultimate Geek Fu discusses taglines. How many of these movies can you identify from just a single line of advertising copy? Join the discussion...

Splattering Guts for Fun & Profit discusses the concept of mission profile, and draws some disturbing comparisons between the Nazi-era Me-163 and the Cold War-era Convair F-102. Perhaps the best thing is to be the second person to fly that exciting new aircraft? Join the discussion...

Also, Kersley Fitzgerald discovers that even fantastic fiction is not exempt from Newton's Third Law, M wins the 3/19/10 challenge, "Your 2050 Census", the announcement of the winning entry in last month's Greater Challenge, "A Strange Bot in a Strange Land," is deferred until this coming Saturday, April 3, and the inmates discuss the view from their respective places in the asylum.

Once again, we have two entries in the lesser challenge. The challenge was to write a pitch for a reality TV show based on the state in which you live in, wish you lived or are truly glad you don't live in. Here are the entries:

Watkinson - The Red State

M - Reality TV entry (drop.io)

As always, even if you haven't submitted an entry this week—even if you never submit an entry in any week—you're invited to read, comment on, and vote for your favorites. Don't be afraid to leave comments on the writers' sites, either. Writers thrive on knowing that somebody out there is reading their words. The winner will be announced on Sunday, April 4.

And now for this week's challenge.

I'm in Love With My Car

---

Bruce writes:

I was driving across central Wisconsin on the Sunday afternoon of a Fourth of July weekend sometime in the mid-1970s, in a 1968 Cortina Mk. II (a funny-looking little British sedan), and snapped the fan belt in Absolutely Middle of Nowhere, Wisconsin. The mechanic in The Only Open Gas Station In Town looked at his parts books -- and looked at the water pump and crankshaft pulleys -- and looked again at his parts books (a listing for Cortina parts had not magically materialized in the meantime) -- and looked again at every replacement belt on the wall -- and... in a moment of inspiration called the guy who ran the local appliance store, who came in on a Sunday afternoon and found a washing machine belt that would do.

Henry writes:

Decades ago, I was working in a mall. Coming in one morning, I dropped my car off at the Sears in the mall to have a new set of tires put on it. Off hand, I also mentioned that the brake light had been coming on when the brakes were applied, though the brakes appeared to be working just fine. "Don't worry," I was told, "we'll look into it." When I went to pick the car up after work, I was informed I needed $450 (in late 1980s dollars) worth of brake work, would I like to schedule that? As I had the next day off from work, I took the car to the Ford dealership, instead. I had a good relationship with them and trusted their guys (one of whom had even worked as a holiday temp with me at the store in the mall). They charged me $15 for their time and said the brakes were in excellent shape.

So, this week's challenge is to write your best/worst car repair story. Tell us about that mechanic who went way out of his way to help you out when you were in a jam, or that one who saw you coming a mile away and fleeced you for every penny you had.

As usual, we're playing by the loosely defined and never written rules of the Friday Challenge and for what's behind Door #3. Your deadline is midnight, CDT, on Thursday, April 8. Get ready, get set, write!

And remember, let's have fun out there!