Parking Wars

In Parking Wars the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) does battle with the worst that Philly has to offer.  And the PPA wins.

This is a great show, it follows the PPA around as they issue tickets, boot cars and tow.  Then theres the impound lot,  always colorful characters at the lot.  The show has three segments each episode and covers all the elements of the PPA.

The ticketers who walk the beat giving tickets and taking abuse in the city of brotherly love.  I got to give it to them for not losing their cool.  Besides giving tickets they help out people they find in need.  This part of the show is fun mainly due to the ticketers themselves.  They are a collection of odd characters, just walking the streets of Philly doing their job.  Some of them are so nice and don't ever want to issue a ticket while others are all about setting personal ticketing goals and hitting the mark.  (The PPA does not have quota's nor due the get paid on a per ticket basis.)

My favorite is the boot teams.  They generally travel in pairs so they can watch each other's backs, because you never know what will happen when you are booting a car.  The best team is Garfield and Sherry.  Garfield is the fastest boot in Philly and Sherry hunts the computers to find the heavy hitters for him.  These to are a great team and fun to watch.

The impound lot teaches us why big gov doesn't always work.  One episode follows a man out to get his car back.  He goes to court, then the lot, then back to court, then the lot, then off the lot for a computer (insurance), then back to the lot.  It was crazy,  the guy was there for two shifts before he could get his car.  But the lot also introduces us to the next great Philly rap artist.  The impound lot has the best characters.  Every one of them wrongfully towed and all of them mad about it.

I am hooked on Parking Wars and glad I don't live in Philly,  I wouldn't want to due battle with the PPA everyday.

This is a great show and one to watch.

Monkey Shines Horror from 88

This weekend I watched a new premier, then followed it up with a throw back to my childhood, Monkey Shines.  Hats off to my wife for suggesting this one.  It is a great classic, from before the era of animals are our friends.

The movie opens with the star, Jason Beghe, getting himself ran over.  He becomes a quadriplegic, then later suicidal.  So his friend John Pankow decides to help him out.  At this point things seem to get better, before desolving into the horrors associated with having a genetically altered pet monkey, who has been trained to do your bidding.

Like I said, this film was made when animals could still be the bad guy, and that was okay.

The horror is classic 80's, which means the clothes are more frightening then the story.  Still I found it to be a fun movie and enjoyed hanging out with the wife for a few hours to watch.

This was George A Romero's first studio film, he wrote and directed it. So if you are a Romero fan this is a great film to watch.

Overall if you are looking for a way to spend a few hours and have a bit of fun, get some friends together and check it out.  Or go grab one of your favorite classics.