Westside Beach Invasion II Rally Write-up Part 1

I was lucky enough to attend the Westside Scooter Club’s Beach Invasion II last weekend, July 27th through the 29th. It was an absolute blast. I took quite a few pictures, but I thought I’d write about basically the best weekend ever.

It’s long and there are a lot of pictures, so the rest of the post is after the jump.

Mmmm mmmm MMMM MMMMMM!

I know this is probably old news to all you youtube hipsters – but this was just sent to me and IT IS THE BEST.

Ingmar Bergman dead at 89

Ingmar Bergman died today. He has made a lot of movies, but one of my favorite films of his is a masterpiece called “The Silence.” I’ve always been a fan of silent film, but these are mostly curious short films with an accompanying soundtrack added. “The Silence” is an almost entirely silent film. It reminds me of later films like Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West” where he uses the sounds of the diagesis to create a soundtrack. The silence is never deafening and the story is involving and thought provoking. You should rent it.

R.I.P. Ingmar Bergman!

Beach Invasion Rally

Long story short. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, I’ll tell my story soon, but here is the Flickr set.

Underapprectiated? I Am Kloot’s Gods and Monsters

I was listening to an interview with Danny Boyle about his movie Sunshine (which I saw last week – it was amazing). He has always had such great music in his movies, and he mentioned a Manchester band called “I Am Kloot.” I looked them up, and being a sucker for Manchester bands and cheap CDs, I ordered the 2005 album Gods and Monsters from the Amazon.com marketplace. It was only 3 dollars, and it came from Fabulous Jackpot! in Portland, my old record stompin’ grounds!

I received it yesterday and I’ve been listening to it all day. It is really good! It reminds me vocally of “James” and Tim Booth’s singing style. Strangely enough, “James” is a Manchester band as well. British love!

I haven’t listened to it enough to completely fall in love with the band yet, but I haven’t heard a bad song and it is great music to work to because you can both get lost in it or ignore it easily.

I think I’m going to order the rest of their albums, maybe dive head first into another Manchester-fest and pick up some old James albums and relisten to all my Moz!

The only way it could get more British is Michael showing up with some fish and chips and a six-pack of Newcastle. Blip!

white garbage

I know I don’t have a lot to say on this thing lately… other than lamenting about transportation woes (it will get better after this weekend, I promise!).

But! I do have this to say: When Google bought YouTube, they bought the most expensive episode of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” ever. Want to see a million Americans get hit in the nuts? Visit YouTube. What about a kid setting his head on fire and jumping around? 228 hits.

What about a cat flushing the toilet for 3 minutes? Ok… I have to admit. I’ve watched and enjoyed that one.

More than once.

UPDATE: LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL

aw dang

Rest in peace – my beautiful black and tan 2007 Vespa.

Hooray for me!

So I’ve been working on my Primavera just about every night for the last few days. Tonight was success!

I fixed my exhaust and it now purrs like a Vespa again.

I fixed my rear light and brake light, so I’ll be all set for the night rides this weekend at the Westside Scooter Club Beach Invasion II!

I just took it for a ride and it runs good, although the clutch is feeling a little wonky. I’m crossing my fingers.

I also have a new spare tire with a chrome rim that I will be mounting on a legshield tire carrier and a new chrome legshield mirror on order! Hooray! Hooray for scooters! Hooray for me!

Scooter stuff

Ugh.Had my LX150 hauled away today – preliminary reports is that it is totaled and I will have to get a new one. Found out that insurance doesn’t cover any taxes on a new bike, so I will have to repay those, as well as the first services and my new tire, etc etc. I’m pretty bummed because I love that bike and can’t really afford to dish out 1500 bucks for another LX150 right now.

Also, my primavera is having exhaust problems and keeps blowing the bulbs out, so I can’t really drive at night. I’m trying to fix the electrical stuff with that but was hoping to at least get it in tip-top for next weekend’s westside beach invasion. But with no rear lights and a noisy exhaust, it is far from perfect.

Overall a bad scooter day.

However.. I am considering one of these instead of my LX150.

Ignore the seat covers. This is an original Meyers Manx above. But the clones are much cheaper.

shoot myself with rock n’ roll

Look: if life is a disease, then rock and roll is the cure.

DVD Wonders: Dust to Glory

Dust to Glory is one of my favorite motorcycle docs. It is directed by Dana Brown, who previously made the stunning surf documentary Step into Liquid.

Dust to Glory is about the Baja 1000 that takes place every year on the Baja peninsula in Mexico. You can race every class of vehicle imaginable, from million dollar supertrucks to Class 11 stock Baja VW Bugs.

The documentary focuses mostly on the supertrucks and the motorcycle racers. The motorcycle footage is some of the best race footage I’ve ever seen! There is a segment that rivals any action movie for the action and thrills and drama – a helicopter follows two riders who are trying to overtake each other. Both ride for Honda, but one got cut from the A team and put on the B team last minute. As the B team rider takes the lead, there is an awesome race between the two as each rider uses the course differently to try and take/keep the lead. It is amazing and I can imagine the cameramen thinking “this is going to make our doc” as they are filming it.

The thing I love about Dust to Glory is that it follows in the vein of Endless Summer in that it doesn’t just focus on the action, but the culture around it. There is a really touching scene where one of the longtime Baja drivers visits an orphanage that he has donated time and money to, and he takes kids on a ride in his dune buggy. The smiles on their faces are pretty great to watch. In another scene, a kid who idolizes a motorcycle rider gets an official team jersey. The smile on his face is bigger than the jersey hanging off his body.

Another reason I love this doc is because it matches up with the stories my grandfather and my dad have told me. My grandpa used to go down to the Baja when he raced Dune Buggys, and he would talk with Steve McQueen and James Garner about engines and racing. Down there, everyone was the same in that they loved racing and the vehicles they did it in.

You should rent Dust to Glory, or at least borrow it from me! Even if you aren’t into motorcycles or racing, it is an excellent film that will draw you in. Afterward, you can meet me in Ensenada for the 2008 race.

Virtual Console = Back in Love with Videogames

I own a Wii. It is great! I play it when people are over and we play party games – even my mom and sister played with me when they visited a few weeks ago.

But when I’m alone, I don’t play it. Sure, I have the new Zelda, and every few weeks I’ll fire it up for maybe an hour or so, but then I get bored.

The Wii’s saving grace for the single player is the Virtual Console. First off, if you don’t have money to spend, don’t drink and play Wii. Because this thing is the ultimate drunk purchase machine.

“HAY remember that one game?! with the shrimp thingy? or was it a dinosaur? and you stacked up hay bales to earn gems? I LOVED THAT GAME! let’s download it and play it 4ever!!!!!”

But even when you aren’t drinking and downloading, you can find some awesome games on there! For instance, in a fit of boredom, I downloaded a game called “Paper Mario” last night. It was originally released on the Nintendo 64.

It is awesome! It is technically an RPG, but without all that RPG seriousness. It has a really cool graphical style (everything is made of paper) and it was so fun that I played it for THREE HOURS last night. That is longer that I have played a videogame by myself since I got the Wii. It is full of Mario-ness and it is very colorful and I feel like a drunk kid playing it (see above picture).

Download Paper Mario! Or if you are awesome and still own an N64, you should go buy it.

I am not a ghost

Hello, reader!

Quite a few things happened this weekend. To start:

I went to a wedding! It was great.. congratulations to Michael and Jen. Afterward I partied with some friends and did a quick tour of Eugene again. Weird. It feels like a lifetime ago.

Had some family time! Family time is great, but my nieces are getting TOO OLD! One of them is entering high school next year – my alma mater Hidden Valley. She is so smart. Me and my dad talked about motorcycles and thunder storms, and me and my sisters drank beers and talked about not being in a relationship. It was refreshing to be supported for choosing not to be in a relationship – it seems that for years all I was hearing was “when are you going to get married!”

On the way back to California on Monday, we came to this conclusion:

Knut is a kunt.

I also procured a lighter shaped like a big peanut, and we all bought hats at a truck stop that Urban Outfitters would probably charge some hipster 24.99 for, but we got them for 5 dollars. Mine says “my favorite drink is always my next” and it has this gross drunk guy on it. Jenny’s hat says “4×4′ers eat more bush” and Jim’s says “Beer Drinkers Love Head.” Don’t be jealous, you can get your own at some busted ass gas station in the middle of nowhere, california.

I’ll be posting some wonders this week and some definitive songs – suggestions for the latter? Also – the new Smashing Pumpkins record?

In a word – awful. BUT, I listened to it a little on my own (we listened to it on the ride back) and warmed up to a few songs, but it is really bad. It makes me want to go buy Machina so I can remember what a good bad Smashing Pumpkins album is.

And finally: I am not a ghost.

Back in California

Pictures and stories to come. Busy at work, and I forgot my camera in Jim and Jenny’s car. Whoops!

This morning I forgot how low my tank was and I ran out of gas on my Primavera. I had to push it back about 5 blocks to get gas. What a dunce!!

Long Weekend

Hey everyone! Tomorrow I’ll be at a day long company summer outing – drinking mimosas in the morning and shaking money in horses faces whilst chastising them for not getting “daddy a new pair of shoes.” Then early the next morning I’ll be on my way north to Oregon!

I won’t return until late Monday evening.Have a great weekend, everyone! See you next week!