To help you with your mourning and to begin the healing, here’s a diagram of Evel Knievel’s injuries. Thanks, Antigen.
Category: 2sb News
Layer Tennis
At my real job that pays me money, we do this weekly design “contest” called Layer Tennis. It usually features two well-known designers or illustrators taking turns with a Photoshop file, with commentary by a well-known writer or design critic. Last friday’s match was the first to be based in Adobe Flash, and thus include animation, and since a very-well-known humorist/web gadfly got stuck with jury duty, I was given the opportunity to provide the commentary. It’s not scooter-related at all, but if you enjoy my writing (and who doesn’t), check out Coudal Partners’ Layer Tennis, Week 10. That’s me in the left column, you can see each volley by clicking on the numbers under the main image. I also serve as the referee each week, my most important role being the coin flip the day before the match.
Thanks giving
It’s the obvious blog-world thing to do, but today’s the day to give thanks. First, thanks to everyone who reads and contributes to 2strokebuzz. I just re-found a stack of letters* I got when I was still doing the ‘zine (1996-ish) and many of those people that wrote to me back then are still good friends today. I also read some kind words from Jeff Lillie in Kickstart and also from Scoot! Magazine in their 10th anniversary issue, it’s amazing that many of us have been doing this stuff for such a long time and still enjoy ourselves and still believe in the awesomnicity of motorscooters. Thanks also to the science and/or providence that protects us as we zip around through traffic at 50mph on rusty 30-year-old machines with dim taillights.
Hulamina
A little treat for your weekend.
Pickitup pickitup pickitup pickitup…
I have this whole rant about how parents today think they’re so badass and hip and enlightened, when they’re really just forcing their embarassingly lame 20-year-old values on their poor kids just like every other parent before them (They Might Be Giants and IKEA are actually several notches down the hip scale from Shel Silverstein and avocado-colored appliances). But today I’ll spare you that lecture and pretend it’s cool that my Debbie-Harry-obsessed daughter watches a kids’ show that runs stuff like this.
That’s Parker Jacobs’ nifty animation for a nifty GoGo13 song that appeared on Yo Gabba Gabba, a show produced by one of the Aquabats that often features Mark Mothersbaugh and Biz Markie, neither of whom are nearly as hip as we’d like to think. But we love the show and the seeds for yet another wave (is this the seventh?) of ska are sown, and my little peanut will do anything a brother in an orange jumpsuit tells her to.
Packers Vespa
Green Bay Packers Vespa 90 smallframe on eBay. The murals are a little cheesy, but I love the faceguard on the fender, the stripes, and especially the seats. (Via Dave on the CHIscooterList.) In related news, I ate 573 Scotch Eggs at the Bears game yesterday.
Header Artists
You’ve probably noticed our new random artwork behind our logo over there on the top left of the page. If not, you’re either reading RSS, your monitor is too dark, or you’re pretty flipping unobservant. Anyway, there’s finally a page where you can see all the art and find out more about the artists, and find out how you can submit art or photos for that space, we’d love to have more!
2SB/MT soccer jerseys: last chance
As mentioned last week, pre-orders of the Merciless Tigers FC/ 2strokebuzz soccer jerseys were much higher than anticipated. All pre-orders have now shipped, and it turns out we have only four shirts left, size XL only (they run a bit small, but not ridiculously so). We created a numbered limited edition of 50, 22 of which went to the team, and these are the last four available, ever. They’re high-quality high-tech jerseys with a silkscreened 2sb logo on the front, silkscreened number on the back, and an embroidered MTFC patch lovingly sewn on by Vina’s mom (left). Does Arsenal’s grandma sew their patches on? We bet not! All orders include a certificate of authenticity and an extra patch for your shorts or rally jacket. Support 2sb and the Tigers, snatch one up while they last. (JERSEYS ARE NOW SOLD OUT, thanks for your support!) The team received them for this weekend’s match, photos and news coming soon. Thanks very much, Busia and everyone who pre-ordered. Keep an eye out for an all-new 2sb t-shirt, coming soon.
Car Show
A month ago, I saw some flyers around the neighborhood about an Oktoberfest at the park next to my house. I noticed that it would include a “Car Show” and I figured that a) it wasn’t very well-publicized, b) it was being run by amateurs outside the car-show scene, and c) entrants were required to pre-register in person or by mail, all three factors that would probably pretty seriously limit entries. So I mailed in an application to show my “award-winning” (ha) Vespa Primavera, mostly just for fun, but also secretly in hope that no one would show up and I might win something. Once you get a taste of sweet, sweet trophy, you want more.
Plus, I broke my other trophy.
Come on
Come on, “Ben,” Africa didn’t become the world leader in internet chicanery with lackluster emails like this, you could have at least BCCed the other 89 recipients.
The Mods
A nicely-done Mod history site, there’s even a “retro porn” section. My only gripe is the consistant and huge misuse of the apostrophe in the dates (“1960’s”). To make it worse, it’s not even typgraphically correct apostrophe. Why can’t I just enjoy anything without being so hypercrytical?
Merciless Tigers: Good and bad news
The good news: after a UPS snafu, we got our Merciless Tigers FC/2strokebuzz jersey patches yesterday, and we’re in the process of sewing them on the jerseys, so jerseys will ship this weekend. And they look really, really, great. The team (and you) will love them.
The bad news: They’re sold out. Our pre-order pricing was so successful, the slackers who waited to pay full price won’t get one. There may be a few left after I sort through the orders again, check back early next week, I’ll post if/when they’re available, which is a good reason as any to subscribe to 2sb RSS. And next time, order quickly! (new 2sb merchandise coming very soon). Thanks again to everyone who ordered, more news about the team soon.
2sb jerseys in!
We got the Merciless Tigers/2strokebuzz soccer jerseys in, a little earlier than expected, and they’re much nicer than i expected, so preorder for sure, I’m definitely going to jack the price up on Thursday. They’re a little different than I illustrated them, but better, the silver trim on the neck also goes around the edge of the sleeves, and the mesh (the dark grey area in the drawing is mesh) actually crosses under the front and back of the shirt, “mesh” sounds dumb, I know, but trust me, it’s cool. The screenprinting is very nicely done, too, and they’re not cut as small/tight as I’d feared. I’ll post a photo ASAP. The bad news is the Merciless Tigers FC patches (left, click to enlarge) aren’t going to arrive until next Monday, and then we have to sew them on. So the finished shirts should ship on or around the 20th. Thanks for all your support.
UPDATE: I’m keeping them at the presale price until Friday, at which time I’ll post some photos and you’ll realize how cool they are and wish you’d ordered one earlier. And MTFC played their first match last week (naked, I suppose), a 3-nil win over Macedonians after a fight broke out in the second half and the game was forfeited. Oh, yeah.
Merciless Tigers 2sb jersey preorder
2strokebuzz is proud to announce our sponsorship of the 2007-08 Merciless Tigers Football Club. The Tigers are the 2strokebuzz of Cincinnati rec-league soccer; they’re getting kinda old and they play a little sloppy, but they’re proud, entertaining and fun to drink with. We’ll feature Tigers news, profiles, match reports, and maybe come up with a few terrace chants, and in turn, they’ll advertise 2strokebuzz to the world, or at least anyone in a public park in the Cincinnati suburbs at 9am Saturdays.
What this means for you is that you can finally buy a 2sb soccer jersey and help not only your favorite scooter site, but also your new favorite amateur football team. We’ve ordered only 50 jerseys, the team will have first dibs, leaving the rest up for sale here. The jerseys are black hi-tech synthetic colorfast fabric with silver trim at the neck and a breathable mesh section under the arms and down the sides. They feature an embroidered Merciless Tigers patch (featuring the Tigers’ mascot “Tuff Gnarl”) on the left chest, the 2strokebuzz logo silkscreened in white on the center, and the number printed in white on the back.
The jerseys will be delivered in mid-September, but we’re offering them for presale now at an earlybird price. For a mere $38, you can be among the first (and very few) to own this fashionable piece of scootering, soccer, and drinking history. We can’t promise any specific numbers (and single-digits are traditionally worn by the team) but we’ll try to accommodate your request. The preorder deadline is September 12, two weeks from today, then the price goes up-up-up. Preorders also get an extra “Tuff Gnarl” patch for your shorts, jacket, or sweatshirt. Order 2 or more jerseys and get free shipping. Remember, only 50 are being made, so only 25-30 jerseys are available to 2sb readers.
SHIRTS ARE SOLD OUT, thanks for your support!
Meet the team!
Thanks for your support!
German Scooter-Weekend just one month away
There is still time to call the travel agent, pack your bags and get to Germany for their annual Scooter-Weekend celebration, sponsored by Scooter-Attack. On September 29th the Hockenheimring will host hordes of scooterists from across the world in what has become one of Europe’s premier modern scooter events. The schedule includes drag racing, custom scooter shows and dyno shoot-outs. The event is for scooters and mopeds only. Quads, motorcycles and scooters with motorcycle engines are not allowed! 2strokebuzz.com reporters are still open to any offers of sponsorship to attend the event. In the case of no live coverage from this correspondent, check back in about two months and there should be a nice link to a gallery of photos detailing the weekends festivities.
Click here for computer friendly flier in German.