Lately it seems you can’t stage an opera without a vintage scooter: The Gotham Chamber Opera’s Il Signor Bruschino features “Felliniesque touches, like a Vespa…”, while the Grand Theatre Leeds’ presentation of The Elixir of Love includes a “Lambretta or two” on the stage set. Pietro Tonsenda’s Quattrofini can’t be far behind.
Category: Sightings
Scooters pop up all over the place
Greetings from POC Phil
Our buddy POC Phil has struck fame again, wearing what appears to be some sort of Jedi tunic and a Los Corazones Negros shirt on a red Stella with an unidentified woman, on an American Greetings card due on shelves in June. They look so happy! (Click on photo to enlarge.)
BBC America goes mod
BBC America unveiled a new identity this week, designed by mOcean. The new logo is a modified “mod target,” aka “Royal Air Force rondel,” let’s hope they have better luck with that than Lambretta Clothing. A new series of channel IDs include this one, featuring a euro-spec Vespa P200E (right-click to download) parked at a biker bar. (Thanks, Steve. Video and still: mOcean.)
Bohemian Brewery
E*rock tells us the Bohemian Brewery in Salt Lake City, UT is decorated with several vintage scooters. Are any of our SLC friends/Scoot.net people involved in that?
“No Same Way”
The news is Ruckus-heavy this week. Here’s an amazingly-silly ad for the Honda Zoomer (the Ruckus’ Japanese-market name), by motion graphics company Le Pivot.
Patricia Piccinini’s “Nest”
Australian artist Patricia Piccinini has created a family of mutated fiberglass scooters for her 2006 “Nest” exhibition. 2SB pal Christine describes it best as “Surreal, oddly endearing, and sentimental like Bambi” and we can’t top that. If your taste for art extends beyond the scooter-related, see more at Patricia Piccinini’s site. Her first U.S. exhibition opens tomorrow at the Des Moines Art Center, with a later stop in Seattle. (Thanks, Chandler.)
Beckham to L.A., Burgman on CNN
Amazing, David Beckham signed to the L.A. Galaxy. Good news because it will raise the profile of U.S. Soccer and give me more reason to hate the Galaxy. But that’s not the amazing part, the amazing part is that Suzuki is buying Burgman banner ads on CNN.com. (Thanks, Alex)
Wooden scooter
Studio Groovy’s wooden scooter, on display in Tel-Aviv. Thanks Steve.
Prize Vespas sent to Africa
the Guelph Mercury(Ontario, Canada) reports that Danny Butler, a 66-year old retired Veternarian who won a pair Vespas in a Mercury contest, has opted to donate the scooters to a charity in Sierra Leone. The scooters will be used to deliver supplies to farmers.
Cheer up, Peter Reid…
This one’s for M5, complaining about the recent lack of football news on 2sb: Sunderland’s 19-year-old goalkeeper, Ben Alnwick, hit a teenage girl on a Piaggio scooter with his Range Rover yesterday morning. Alnwick was questioned and released, the girl went to the hospital on a stretcher. Amazingly, among the witnesses was Graham Poll, who presented the scooterist with a yellow card for her blatant dive.
Oompa Loompa “scooter”
A custom moped ridden by Oompa Loompas in Tim Burton’s Willy Wonka remake sold on eBay yesterday for $2750.
007 clogs Vespa searches
Actress Eva Green plays a character named “Vesper Lynd” in the new 007 flick, already misspelled “Vespa” by several news agencies. Not since Spaceballs was released on DVD have I randomly deleted “Vespa” Google News alerts without reading them first. Isn’t “Eva Green” sort of a better name for a Bond chick anyway? Ironically, Ursula Andress, who played Vesper Lynd in the original Casino Royale, posed with a Vespa 90 for a Vespa Calendar in the Sixties.
Dwarf+Lambretta=comedy?
Energy drink/bar commericals are generally pretty silly, but this dwarf-on-a-Lambretta commercial for FFWD energy bar (mmm, Guarana!) takes the silly cake.
MTV Italia’s “Pimp My Wheels”
We reported in March that MTV in Italy was preparing “Pimp My Vespa” on the heels of the American success of “Pimp my Ride.” Turns out (thanks, Ryan!) the show’s been on all summer (it’s called “Pimp my Wheels”) and you can view video clips and photos on MTV’s site.
Vaginal Cream Scooter Pen
Chad came across a pen (click to enlarge photo) with a cute scooter girl that floats around inside. Clearly, there’s no better way to market vaginal cream. Goodtimes! He even made a video. Post that, Scooter Swag!