Coraline: A dark but great escape

I give it six stars and we saw it in 3D, so I guess that's 18 stars total. The official website is pretty f-ing cool too.

Movie Clip of the Week: Tombstone

RIP Touch and Go

Sad news about prolly my favorite record label ever.

Scantastic #1

My college (and current) friends Chris and Joe have gone on a scanning streak as of late, digitizing numerous photos from our bygone early 1990's era. Here are five of them:

1. Joe and Todd's Apartment - Chicago

The doorway between the minivan and the car was the entry to the storefront apartment Joe shared with Todd at the intersection of Grand and Ogden. We spent alot of time drinking and playing ping-pong in its 1,200 square foot space. It had no interior walls except for Todd's massive record collection and the bathroom. At one point someone slept in a tent inside--John Maybe? On Google Maps, the building looks essentially unchanged, though the left adjacent biker bar is larger.

2. DB in Joe and Todd's Apartment - Chicago

This is the incomparable Dan Berry presumably speaking Fake Italian. Note Joe's bitchin' flute lamp in the background.

3. Indiana Beach State Dunes - Chesterton, Indiana

Here is someone's feet at Indiana Dunes State Park...Chris' I'd guess. Sweet, tight jean shorts.

4. Kettle Moraine State Forest - LaGrange, Wisconsin

This is Joe and I at the Kettle Moraine State Forest in Wisconsin on the first day of hunting season when you probably shouldn't be riding vaguely deer-shaped mountain bikes amongst drunken hunters. We did anyway.

5. Whitten Hall, Illinois State University - Normal, Illinois

This is me attempting to put Toonces the Illegal Dorm Cat into someone's CD player. I was unsuccessful and the kitten was unhurt. Sweet EQ, huh?

Foto Philler

Just back from the moto tradeshow in Indy and have very little in the way of cool photos...so I thought I'd post some random nothing shots from my camera's memory card which now, inexplicably, seems to have a virus...anywho...


Beer sign lamp from a bar in Indy. Unfortunately they no longer sell the brand.


These are limes.


A hinge on the table edge.


Ice in the fountain.


Mom's homemade ravioli.

Racking up Blackie Onassis

My good friends at Electra Bikes were kind enough to hook me up with some new accessories for my trusty cruiser bike recently. Named Blackie Onassis--for the Urge Overkill drummer whose stage name is presumably an homage to the former first lady--my cruiser was at one time a bare-bones exercise--a coaster brake single speed in flat black aluminum. Cargo demands led me to add a basket to her, which while functional, never looked nor felt quite right.

Now with the addition of the alloy and wood front cargo tray and the matching wide rear rack, Blackie has been made cargo-worthy, while still retaining it's lo-profile black sleekness. And while my initial cargo hauls have been modest, I'm thinking I can carry three or four six-packs...a paltry capacity by Dutch standards perhaps, but not bad for the U-S-of-A. I'm sure it will be more than adequate for my forays to the library, hardware store, bagel shop and Walgreens.

Big thanks to Chris and Justin and those guys with the funny names down there in Vista, CA making some of the coolest bikes on the planet.