Scooter in Oscar Winner "God of Love"

Last week's lackluster Oscars' ceremony was punctuated by just a few bright spots: seeing Billy Crystal again, some impressive dresses, and the acceptance speech of the seemingly genuine and funny Luke Matheny whose short live action film, "God of Love" won the award in its category. Missed it? Well here it is: [deleted by YouTube].

I was roused awake to see this fine acceptance speech by the montage that included a bit from this film in which a scooter could clearly be seen. Scooters? Well I had to find out more.

The trailer for the film does not show the scooter:



So I tracked down the montage with snippets from all of the films, and indeed, it is a Genuine Stella. I bought the film and thought it was funny, quirky and sweet.
 
Buy it for the pocket change of $1.99 (or $2.99 for HD) and support a young filmmaker. Would be a good film to show at a scooter film night.


Blog entry soundtrack:

New York Scootering Highlighted on WNYC

WNYC interviews an employee who has taken up scootering in NYC. I have been to New York several times and had thought that it was probably a very dangerous place to ride. But after hopping on the back of some scooters while I was there, I realized that it can actually be a fun, effective way to get around.

Going to New York

I'll be in Manhattan all next week. Hope to meet up with some NYC scooterists for a drink. Will try to update the blog as much as possible. 

Cheers!

Taiwan Video: Go parking, baby...go parking on the sidewalk

In Taiwan there are so many scooters that it would be impossible to have them park in the streets, so sidewalk parking is totally acceptable. Matter of fact, many sidewalks have designated areas pained on the sidewalk where scooters should park. Because of this, scooters often drive up on the sidewalks in the dips where we would expect wheelchairs and strollers to com up. Consequently, when in Taiwan, do not stand in the center of that dip. You might get run over as I almost did in one of my videos. :)

A few years back, the scooterists of New York City had some issues with paring on the sidewalk, so I dedicate this video to them.

N. 6 st. in Brooklyn

Abandoned scooter or just a rat bike with an owner who just doesn't care...



-- Post From My iPhone


UPDATE: Upon further inspection, this bike was really roached! The sparkplug wire was missing a cap, the tip of the plug was broken off. The crashbars were barely clinging to it as someone unsuccessfully tried to remove them. There was graffiti on the seat and it was covered in grime and rust. Almost made us want to take it home like a abandoned puppy, but you can't fit a P200 in carry-on luggage.

In New York this week

Tonight I will arrive in New York for some meetings, so I'll be out of town for the rest of the week. Not sure if I will hook up with any scooterists as they may all be recovering from their rally this past weekend, which I am sorry to have missed.

I'll be mobile blogging and Twittering (@scootmagapril)from my iPhone so check back from some East Coast scooter possts.

Scooter Collector Alert: Movie Posters

Recently I was doing some work on a new book of movie poster art called, "Art of the Modern Movie Poster" which collects 1,500 post-WWII film posters from 15 different countries/regions. It is a gorgeous book and a great gift for film buffs and collectors. The posters come from the collection of Posteritati, a shop in New York City. I spoke with the shop' owner and asked (of course) if he had any film posters with scooter on them. Coincidentally, he said that their website has a search tool where you can look up by subject and "vespas and scooters" is one of them. Tuns out that they have a few on sale there and I just had to buy one for my boyfriend for x-mas. Don't tell him. He won't find out here because he never reads my blog :( so for now it works.

If you are looking for a cool gift or just want to further add to your scooter items collection, check out Posteritati and bookmark it for future searches.

BTW- the book has a cool Quadrophenia poster that I'd love to get my hands on!


Here's the Ferry Across the Mercy poster that I bought. Apparently, in Argentina they prefer All are Well or Everything is Great:

NYC-only Vespa

Looks like Vespa is once again trying to convert New Yorkers into scoooterists. Story from Animalnewyork.com.

In New York

I've been in New York since Wednesday. Had a little time to hang out with local scooterists. I met up with some folks at the Brass Monkey which is in the meat packing district. In the photo to the left, there's Scott from Vespa Soho, Alan, me and Vinny. Alan had a spare helmet so he gave me a ride around the city. He took me to a restaurant called Lucha Libre where I had a flavorful, juicy taco and a roasted corn on the cob with cheese & spices. There were so many people hanging out at this place, which had probably been a street-corner diner in the past. I took a photo of Alan eating one of the cobs. We then rode around the city a bit and then went to the punk-rock bar The Double Down where we had some Ass Juice, their signature drink. Hopefully no asses were injured or compromised in the making of the drink.

We ended up driving around during the wee hours and it was fun to be riding around with only taxis circling looking for drunk fares.

The next night, I met up with Marty who used to live in San Francisco, but now lives in Brooklyn.

In the time that I've been here, I've seen many more scooters on the streets than the last 2 times that I came (which was about 6-7 years ago). I spoke to some scooter folks that I saw on the streets. I gather that lane splitting isn't legal, but widely practiced. I'd be splitting lanes if I had to be in this type of traffic! I took a cab somewhere because I was running late & didn't have time to figure out the subway. It took about 20 minutes to go about 2 miles. I haven't seen any mass moto parking anywhere, like in San Francisco, but I have seen scooters parked on some sidewalks and curbed.

NYC here I come!

I'll be in New York city Wednesday-Saturday afternoon. Any scooterists in the area that might want to get together in Manhattan, email me. My nights will be free so let's get together and talk scoots!

NYPD Goes Electric

An Associated Press story about NYPD police testing Vectrix scooters is blanketing the Web. Lots of press outlets are picking up the story because it shows that the US's most high-profile city is taking economic and environmentally-friendly transportation seriously. The NYPD has a track record of working with scooters. Some may recall their fleet of Lambrettas in the waaay back. As the article points out, they department has over 400 gas-powered scooters right now. So kudos to them for looking to be environmentally conscious while still incorporating scooters. Read the story in the Boston Globe.