Elvira Madigan

When my son was but a wee-boy and looking for something to do, I bought a Playstation2 and half a dozen driving games. Sure there were more exciting games to play, most notably FPS, but I didn't want him starting out with those - figured as he got older and his friends started sharing their own stories, he'd gravitate toward those on his own.

While I know people who let their 5-year olds play GTA and that's fine for them, I wanted my son to ease into the Mature rated games. While I understand that GTA is an extraordinarily feature-rich narrative, popping a cap in cop's ass and car-jacking punks at gunpoint to get a blow job from crack-whores after bitch-slapping them was just something I didn't want him to be immersed in while dressed as a Power Ranger. But sure, at some point he got bored with all the racing games. Regardless, our favorite remained one drax0r introduced me to at the turn of the century, Gran Turismo.

I honestly don't recall the specifics surrounding the suggestion of moving the Playstation3 into the living room this past week - it had been in his bedroom all year, but since its rare I watch television - my son and I might watch an episode twice a week of whatever series we're into at the time (currently The X-Files) or my daughter and I might watch Phineas & Ferb, I didn't have a problem with it. I certainly don't play it.

Well, I used to not play it. He was visibly excited to have brought home GT5, the latest iteration of our favorite console game and have me race him, "Just like the old days!" he cried, as if decades had passed since our last face-off on the tarmac. Granted, I only ever engaged him in the in-game Arcade mode head-to-head races as the storyline is solely first person. So when he left me literally, "holding the controller" (he'd run off to play with his friends before sunset) I started dabbling. Anyway, that's where's I've all been all week instead of say, playing Pirate101 for example.

Having a Lotus Elise at my fingertips was, as it turned out, simply too much.

Something I put together to amuse my son and his friends...