s04e18

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400TH POST ON SUNSHINE

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Google is killing Blogger. That may not be news, and it may not be a big deal, but I - and many bloggers I know and interact with - have no idea what this means for us and for our blogs. What about all those links back to our stories? What about all the links and track-backs and ping-backs in our stories? What happens to them?

It seems like, for now, no one really knows. That should be sad, I think. It should be tense, maybe ...

... but it isn't, because I've lost interest.

I haven't lost interest in writing, of course. I still regularly contribute to "my hippie blog" Gas 2.0, and I've recently begun writing for Cleantechnica, as well. I still write PR and copy material for companies like Speedriven, Switzer Performance, and (on rare occasions) Genuine Scooters. I write for Scooterworks' blog on a "few times a week" basis, and contribute to that company's online scooter wiki, as well.

Here's the thing about all that: I get paid to do it.

The initial beginnings of Sunshine were based on friction, and an inability to get my writing (as it was) published anywhere else. In a nutshell, it was this idea that "If they won't publish me, I'll publish myself." and I immediately began self-publishing the PR and copy I was writing for RENNtech here on Blogger (the RENNtech SLR McLaren cooling PKG, in particular, is what "launched" Sunshine almost exactly 4 years ago).

Getting published isn't a problem for me, anymore. That means I'm extremely lucky - but, regardless of how lucky I am or amn't - I only have so many hours in the day, and (especially in the face of all the related uncertainty surrounding Blogger) I'm out of hours to devote to Sunshine.

I will, of course, continue writing - and I hope that you'll follow me over to the various outlets that have been generous enough to include me in their rosters and listen to what I have to say there. I'll continue to make those places my home on the web, and will push out new and exciting stories about Lancias there, rather than here ...

... for now, it's come to this: Thanks for stopping by over the years, and I hope I'll get to see you again.

larry crowne is my buddy

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LARRY CROWNE IS MY RIVA 125

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Genuine Scooters are sponsoring a national campaign to promote the new Universal film "Larry Crowne" (starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts)

"Larry Crowne" is the story of a 50 year old man (played by Hanks) who is trying to re-invent himself, enrolling in college and joining a scooter gang in Los Angeles ... which is pretty much what I did after my divorce.

50 Genuine riders - on all manner of Buddy and Stella scooters - will accompany Tom Hanks on an escorted Scooter convoy through the streets of Hollywood en route to the movie's world premier next week. Philip McCaleb, CEO of Genuine, seems pretty jazzed by the whole thing, saying "we can't wait. We're all riding together and the rumor is that Julia Roberts will be joining us riding in a 'Larry Crowne' taxi - a Genuine Stella scooter fitted with a Scooterworks sidecar!"

Phil has high hopes for the movie's impact on scooter culture in the US, as well, calling the movie "the biggest promotion of scooters and scooter culture since Ace Face and the Who." With gas cresting over $5/gal in parts of the US, this might be the perfect summer for scooterists to establish dominance over cage-riders enjoy a bit of summer movie limelight.

As part of the promotion for Hanks' new movie, 18 US cities will have contests to win opening-night tickets, and Genuine will be sponsoring a grand prize in each city: a brand-new Genuine St. Tropez Buddy 150 cc scooter (why yes, that is St. Tropez blue).

Head on over to your local Genuine dealer for more info., and good luck!

helmet time

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THAT LASTED 5 DAYS

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2011 was supposed to be my year of fiscal responsibility, hard work, and self-denial. I was off to a good start, too, having sold my XBox and committed to a solid 4-week budget. Things were looking good - that is, before I discovered the Luxist blog and was reminded me of a simple truth: I want expensive things.

The expensive thing getting my attention today is the limited-edition TAG Heuer helmet up there, which includes the bitchin' fly screen and features racing stripes matched to the colors on Steve McQueen's driving gear from the movie Le Mans.

At about 650 USD, it's not that expensive of a helmet, really - but not really an improvement over the 200 USD Snell-rated brain bucket I wear now.

:: sighs ::

Maybe next year.

iskelmaprinssi ftmfw

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THE LOVE THAT DARE NOT SPEAK CANNOT PRONOUNCE ITS NAME

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You've got to hand it to the guys at Jalopnik. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year they keep finding the most goofy awesome automotive videos on the interwebs ... and this video, with its inexplicable "action" cut at 0:35, is no exception.

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INEXPLICABLE ACTION

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I have no idea what the video is supposed to be showing us, other than the obvious: a bunch of German microcars engaged in some kind of dirt-track death race to the tune of an all-banjo soundtrack.

Going a step beyond the obvious, however, Jalopnik seems to have made sense of the film, claiming that the movie's synopsis - when run through Google - translates to the following:

Earth has rotated so many times around the sun that has reached the early 1960s. Martin, Blue, Rami and Bambi elelevät sand pits cut through the mass of a country village haaveineen. Martin would like a career musician, Blue to build a career in fashion models in Helsinki , Rami miss working Bambilla rally star and future plans are still open. Between the monitored luihun pop boss, the movie "bad guy", attempts to find new lead singer promises...Young people can not agree, however, to focus on kuhinointiin can breathe, as the rally Ramin dreams of kingship to be tuned ajokaluaan victory Bambi wants to get in shape and out of small rural village surroundings. He has a good singing voice, which she wins the popular song contest. But the organizer of the competition starts to harass Bambia car's back seat and the girl's pop star dreams of flowing tears in the sand.

The world kinda makes sense a little more sense now, doesn't it?

You're welcome.

six-million dollar scooterscoop

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I've been visiting the Scooter Scoop since the days of my creative-writing class back in 2006 (my resident superchik were there, too), and have been lucky enough to chat with Steve on a number of occasions. He's a cool guy, and haunting his blog is a big part of my weekend ... so when I saw that the 'Scoop was getting a major revamp, I figured I'd help to get the word out.

A new 'Scoop is coming, soon.

moonbeam madness

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Steve Guzman is another one of my longtime web-buddies. He runs the Scooter Scoop blog, which is also featured as a "you should read these" link on this very blog (look on the right).

While I've never actually met Steve, I've been a fan of the 'scoop for many years, and we've often toyed with the idea of doing some work together, so it is with supreme confidence that I tell you this: when Steve found the Moonbeam (above) he TOTALLY lost his gourd!

Video, below.

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For more on this novel little deathtrap microcar, CLICK HERE.