Tom and Ray Magliozzi have only just retired after 25 years hosting NPR’s incredibly successful Car Talk show and already they’re moving on to something new. If you’re expecting it to be something related to cars, then you’d be dead wrong as they’ve just launched a kickstarter for a project called Italian Yoga.
I know, not exactly what you think of when you think of cars, but Click and Clack are retired and once you’re retired you get to do whatever you want, so who’s anyone to tell them no? Not me. In fact, I saw the press release, did a double-take, and then headed to the kickstarter page where I was still convinced I’d see something about cars.
Nope. The first thing you see is an image from the kickstarter video and it’s paused on a bunch of old guys walking in a park. Don’t get mad at me for calling them old guys. Old guys are cool and the the description of the project proudly claims it’s about “old Italian men” so it’s officially a fact.
I clicked the video and got a very mellow voiceover from a guy named Peter (aka Goomba or Strunzo #2). Again, this is their description not mine so no getting mad at me for calling an Italian guy a goomba. He talks about how he and his retired buddies, who include Tom and Ray from Car Talk, sit around Cambridge, Massachusetts talking about life and enjoying the moment. This is the art of Italian Yoga.
Their goal is to spend 7-10 days filming themselves at various coffee shops as they share their stories. No, not car related, at all. This really is just a bunch of old Italian guys, shooting the breeze and telling stories like all old men do. I wasn’t sure about this whole Italian Yoga thing so I watched some of their youTube videos, and they are an entertaining lot.
Think of it this way. You know how every family has a couple of old men who take over a corner of the living room at family gatherings and talk and swear and embarrass their wives and don’t care at all? That’s these guys and that’s Italian Yoga. They’re the ones who make all those holidays and weddings and even funerals a ridiculous amount of fun. Once I finished watching their youTube clips, I wanted desperately to go to a café and sip espresso for the rest of the afternoon, and I wanted to hear more.
They’ve got 38 days to raise their goal of $40,000 to make their documentary. Pledge levels go from just $10 which will get you a thank you note, on up to $2,750 which will get you an invite to hang out with them and the privilege of buying the group espressos at Crema Cafe in Cambridge, MA. I’m not sure Italian Yoga will take off, but I really hope these guys fund their kickstarter just so I can hear more of their stories.
Nicole Wakelin fell in love with cars as a teenager when she got to go for a ride in a Ferrari. It was red and it was fast and that was all that mattered. Game over. She considers things a bit more carefully now, but still has a weakness for fast, beautiful cars. When not drooling over cars, Nicole writes for Wired’s GeekMom.
