Hasta La Ideas

Those in wheelchairs that want to maintain their independence are sharply limited in their option of vehicles. Their chief option is a minivan that has been converted with a lift gate that will allow them to roll in through the rear of the vehicle and up to the steering wheel. But Steve Kitchin, who was rendered quadriplegic following a car accident, was not happy with this.

After years of being an avid sportsman, I wasn’t ready to trade in my SUV for a minivan. Instead, I forced my wife to help me transfer into my SUV for the next 6 months. I worked extra hours in the weight room hoping to gain enough strength to transfer on my own, but it just wasn’t happening. Eventually, my wife had had enough and I traded in my SUV for a wheelchair conversion van.

After 8 years of driving my minivan, it was falling apart and needed to be replaced. I started shopping around, but just couldn’t bring myself to buy another minivan. That is when I called an engineer friend of mine and said, “You have to help me get in a truck.”

That was five years ago. Kitchin, his engineer pal and several friends helped them build it. The vehicle was a success, and today Kitchin runs All-Terrain Conversions, an Indiana-based operation that converts trucks and SUVs into completely wheelchair-accessible vehicles that can be entered from the side. Gullwing doors keep the rain off, and the high clearance of the Suburbans, Escalades, Yukons and Silverados they convert is not an issue; their lifts can load or unload in under 30 seconds.

Kitchin runs ATC alongside other wheelchair users–people who can appreciate the product as much as Kitchin himself. “The first day I was able to drive my new truck, I couldn’t stop smiling and I felt like I had gotten a piece of myself back,” Kitchin writes. “Since then, I have used my truck to haul things, help a friend move, tow a trailer and plow through 2 feet of snow to pull someone out of a ditch. It feels good to be able to help myself and others.”

Friday the 13th: Part III may have been released on a Friday the 13th. And today’s look-back by The Week entertainment editor Scott Meslow may also be calendar correct. But the film itself actually takes place on Saturday the 14th and Sunday the 15th.

To coincide with recent unlucky Fridays, Meslow has been revisiting the Jason franchise in series order. Towards the end of today’s re-review of the 1982 film, he suggests that this third series installment, despite some small-screen 3D issues, looks good in the rear-view mirror:

As the years have passed, the film’s shaggier qualities have turned out to be an asset. Viewed in 2015, Friday the 13th Part III is an under-sung camp classic — cornier and goofier than either of its predecessors.

If you’re hungry for more double-down Friday the 13th journalism, website fridaythe13thfranchise.com has some never-before-seen stills from the 1982 film, Business Insider a sampling of corny dialogue and Wired, in the shadow of today’s 20-hour EPIX marathon, the binge-watch crib notes.

P.S. Video game developer NetherRealm also took advantage of today’s date to announce that Jason Voorhees will be a character in the next Mortal Kombat game.
 
[Image courtesy: Paramount Pictures]

One of the great joys of IMDb is to scan down to the bottom of an actor or director’s credits list and drink in that person’s modest career starting point. Unfortunately, the information shown is not always correct.

During a HuffPost Live interview today with Josh Zepps, actor and Daily Show alum Robb Corddry fielded a question from community member Luke Y. Thompson, EIC of Village Voice Media property toplessrobot.com. When Corddry was asked what he remembered about his first IMDb-logged role (Man at Party in a 1995 episode of The Nanny), he responded:

“I either blacked it all out, or it’s a mistake on IMDb. And I’m pretty sure it was the latter. That didn’t happen, and I have not taken any pains to get it changed, because I get that question all the time and I love it.”

Corddry went on to tell Thompson that if the journalist or one of his readers can track down the non-existent episode, he will take note. That call-to-action has quickly been posted.

Previously on FishbowlNY:
IMDb Puts Erroneous John August Projects in Turnaround
Actor James Marsden in the Middle of More Barry Manilow Funny Business
 
[Photo of Corddry at February 18, 2015 LA premiere of Hot Tub Time Machine 2: Helga Esteb/Shutterstock.com]

A new video supporting the multi-talented Dev Hynes and Neneh Cherry’s new collaborative track “He, She, Me” strikes an ever-relevant cultural note: increase awareness of transgender identity. With magnificent choreography set to the dazzling, oft……

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Les illustrateurs allemands Julian Rentzsch et Stellavie Design Manufaktur ont collaboré pour rendre hommage à trois réalisateurs célèbres : Martin Scorsese, David Lynch et Alfred Hitchcock, à travers leurs posters « Movie Director ». Les prints représentent un portrait du réalisateur avec des motifs symboliques propres à sa filmographie ainsi qu’une citation.