Miscellany: Mercedes-Benz 2013 C300 4Matic review - The Black Mirror

I've had my BMW 328i (F30) for years now and it's proven to be a fine car, except for the stupidly high repair costs (I'm sure I've put my mechanics' kids through college by now). It was one of those multi-day repairs that made me rent the subject of today's review, a 2013 Mercedes C300 4Matic.

It was the same model year as my 328i, but while this example had about 50,000 fewer miles on it than my car, it had not been maintained half as well.  The decals on the interior switches were eroded down to nothing, the aftermarket steering wheel cover made it feel like a baseball bat, and the worn-out suspension bounced the car around like a carnival ride. Let's move away from this particular example, though, and speak more generally about the C-Class, the traditional rival of the BMW 3-series.

The 2013 C300 was the last year of the third generation (W204 model code).  Unlike the 3-series, the boys from Stuttgart that year opted for a naturally aspirated, direct-injected 3.5-liter V6 (Mercedes would switch to a turbo four in the next generation). I found that the old V6 was less noisy and a little smoother than my F30's engine, but it got noticeably worse gas mileage and was slightly slower off the line.  The C300's sluggish 7-speed transmission didn't help matters, nor did the all-wheel drive system, which added a couple hundred pounds to the curb weight.

The interior of the 2013 C-Class was fairly well laid out, but there were some antiquated controls, like a numeric keypad and air conditioning dials that looked like they came from Grandpa's basement. The infotainment system had wireless Bluetooth, but the interface was pretty stark and ugly, even compared to my car.

The seats were comparable to the 3-series of the time - comfy, but not terribly supportive during hard cornering.  Both Mercedes and BMW use seats with a lot more bolstering nowadays, since today's luxury sedan buyer is looking for more sportiness than an SUV.  And everything felt a little cramped by modern standards.  Comparing like for like, the W204 was a smaller car overall than the F30, and it shows. Even the trunk was a bit smaller:

The C300 was an interesting ride, a different sort of take on the compact luxury segment from 10 years ago. If I had bought it back then, I don't think I'd necessarily be unhappy.  In the end, though, I was glad to get my car back.

Movies: A Salute to Roger Corman, King of the B-Movie

Last week, we lost a true giant of independent film, Roger Corman:

While Corman directed and produced hundreds of flicks, he is probably best know for giving some of Hollywood's biggest names, including legends like Martin Scorsese and James Cameron, their starts in the movie business. The guerrilla filmmaking techniques you saw in Taxi Driver and The Terminator were products of the "Roger Corman film school," delivering memorable scenes on a shoestring budget (Corman famously shot all of Boris Karloff's scenes in The Terror in two days, using leftover sets and crew from another movie).

As a lifelong MST3K fan, I probably have a different perspective on Roger Corman than most, in that I have actually seen and suffered through many of Corman's B-movies.  The giant cucumber from It Conquered the World, the lovely Beverly Garland from The Gunslinger - they're not great movies, but memorable nonetheless (apparently Corman was not a fan of the show, which isn't surprising).

Miscellany: Luna Sandals Venado 2.0 review

Like many runners, I enjoyed reading Born to Run, Christopher McDougall's book about the amazing Rarámuri tribe of the Copper Canyons of Mexico.  The Rarámuri are famous for covering huge distances of unforgiving wilderness, and for doing so in traditional huarache sandals rather than modern athletic shoes.  They're not just plodding along, either; the fastest of the Rarámuri can go toe-to-toe with world class trail runners.

Born to Run kicked off the minimalist running craze, which is based on the hypothesis that modern running shoes actually cause more injuries than they prevent (by blocking the feet from feeling the ground and permitting an unnatural gait). The book also featured the founder of Luna Sandals, "Barefoot Ted" McDonald and the brand's namesake, Manuel Luna:

I tried out a pair of Luna Sandals, the "Venado 2.0." The sandals have the nickname given to champion ultrarunner Scott Jurek (Spanish for "deer"), and are the thinnest and lightest in the Luna lineup. With a flexible 9mm Vibram sole and a total weigh of 4.4 ounces per sandal, wearing the Venado 2.0 is about as close as you can get to being barefoot:

It probably takes some getting used to for most people. You really feel the ground, especially when you are walking on rough surfaces like gravel. There is also minimal protection for the bottom of your foot, so you have to be careful about urban hazards like broken glass or nails. 

If you can live with those limitations, the Venado 2.0 makes for a good everyday sandal and a great travel sandal; the flat form factor and light weight are ideal for packing. While I'm not sure about running a marathon in these things, they'd be great to use as casual backup vacation footwear, or to save your primary shoes from streams and muddy areas.

Music: Mariachi Entertainment System

Mariachi Entertainment System is a San Antonio-based band that produces unique mariachi covers of classic video game music. It's a wild fusion that could've been a gimmicky mess in lesser hands, but band music director David Ortiz and his merry crew have always made sure the focus is on musicianship...with a little tequila, of course.

The band regularly plays gaming conventions and has created several albums, but my favorite is their compilation of Zelda covers, "Hecho En Hyrule." Original composer Koji Kondo famously wanted to use Ravel's Spanish-influenced Boléro as the theme music for The Legend of Zelda, so a mariachi arrangement really comes full circle: