Shot of the Day #327: URSOVA1N

Shot with iphone, click to enlarge.

When I was growing up, completely surrounded in the automotive and custom car world, I would see many a Vanity license plate roll into my Dad's shop with funky, cryptic coded messages within the numbers and letters, the driver proudly displaying some 7-character decree that for the most part gets a mild chuckle, or a point in their vehicle's direction. I guess this was the precursor to such restricted text communication Twitterers know so well. Hell, there was even a game show dedicated to it (BUMPER STUMPERS) But...I always thought it was kinda stupid. I mean really..."ALC HOL"? "HI OFCR" & "RN EM OVA"? Mildly funny, at best. But you can't say they didn't try. Even my Dad was a slave to this ritual, his prized 1994 Jeep Wrangler bearing the plate: "NT1BETA". But I had always thought it was a trend, an 80's-90's thing, or maybe a regional trend, since I didnt see it much in movies (when it wasnt some cheese-tastic flick like MIDNIGHT MADNESS or CANNONBALL RUN 2) but when we moved to LA, I noticed that it was just as prevalent here...just not as witty. Who would have thought that the mooks on the east coast would have more text wit than the scribes who drive around in Hollywood?

Basically, I hate seeing these tags, and I gotta look at the one above every...fucking...morning. No offense to the driver; he/she is probably very nice and while I dont know who the driver is (I probably see in them in meetings every week or pass then every day), it still doesn't deter from the fact that I actually twist my nose up every time i see this. I mean, seriously....doesn't this jinx things a bit? Or...if one is already a "star", why would they proclaim it on a license plate?

This town is so Oddball sometimes.

...sometimes, Lynch? HA!

or should I say..."EYEH8LA"

Joe