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Floating Rocks
by Garrett McKinnon
I witnessed cinema history being made recently. Yep, you guessed it. Like millions of other folks have in the past few months, I saw “Avatar” in 3D.
The movie’s story is a bit tenuous, but “Avatar” is one of those landmark movies that transcends plot. It’s surreal escapism, a mind-boggling epic that has completely redefined what a movie can be. What “Star Wars” did for an entire generation of movie watchers (I was five when I saw it, and I don’t believe I’ll ever forget how fascinated I was with a galaxy full of strange aliens, light sabers and Jedi knights), “Avatar” is doing for a new generation.
What probably most sets “Avatar” apart is its stunning use of 3D technology. I confess to having seen some of the older 3D movies where we had to wear the headache-inducing red-and-blue glasses (the ever-forgettable “Jaws 3 in 3D” comes to mind!). But “Avatar” and similar movies have taken 3D filmmaking to new heights, integrating the imagery into your mind so smoothly you almost forget you’re in the theater. Whoever would have believed that we could view a world of flying dragons, blue aliens and floating mountains and find it not only believable, but also appealing? (Though speaking of floating mountains, I did read one article that suggested any magnetic field strong enough to make mountains made of even superconducting elements — like the ones in “Avatar” — float would
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In the midst of what most observers are calling the worst recession in the last 70 years, the lube industry and its hard-working owners, managers and lube techs has managed to, at the very least, hold its head above water.
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also be strong enough to rip the hemoglobin out of your body. But that’s the great thing about movies, they don’t always have to play by the rules of science!)
So what does all this talk of 3D films and floating rocks have to do with the fast lube industry? Glad you asked.
In preparing this year’s Tops in the Industry rankings, what struck us the most is how little movement there really was in the industry’s store population, specifically among those fast lube chains that make up our Tops list. True, there weren’t too many chains that added new shops to their ranks in the past year, but neither were there too many chains that had to close shops in wholesale fashion, either. The industry was, in a word, stable.
We found this to be true throughout the larger industry, as well. If you’re a paid subscriber, you can log onto our website and download the complete 2010 Tops in the Fast Lube Industry ranking and see for yourself how the industry’s total store population compares to 2009, but I’ll let everyone in on a little secret — it’s not that much different.
In the midst of what most observers are calling the worst recession in the last 70 years, the lube industry and its hard-working owners, managers and lube techs — not to mention the vendors who work hand-in-hand with operators to help make shops more profitable — has managed to, at the very least, hold its head above water. True, we’d all love for the economy to be rolling along at a much healthier pace, and it’s true as well that recovering from the recession may take years, but by and large the lube industry seems to be holding its own.
Challenges remain to be overcome, but I suppose there are worse things than to be part of an industry that is floating steadily in a churning magnetic flux of economic instability.
GARRETT MCKINNON is editor of National Oil & Lube News and a sci-fi movie buff who can’t wait for the rumored sequel(s) to “Avatar.” Questions, comments, concerns? E-mail him: garrett.mckinnon@noln.net
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