Happy New Year 2009

Yeah, we're getting crazy at the vast 40on2 Estate.
Zzzzzzzz...

Merry Christmas

Indian Wrecking Crew Movie Update

I mentioned earlier this year that there was a new movie in the works about the famed Indian Wrecking Crew racing team from the early '50s. The original post is here. There was some scattered talk that maybe the movie was more dream than reality but now I'm delighted to see that they have finished shooting the film and a preview clip is on the movie website here. I have a feeling that "The Indian Wrecking Crew" movie will be a real treat for people who love vintage bikes and perhaps even for younger riders who think that Jeremy McGrath is an old guy racer.

Also on the web page for the production company are two links to some excellent 8 mm clips of riding and racing in the early '50s. The quality of the footage is amazingly good, way better than the Super 8 junk I shot myself many eons ago. Here's the links:

Pearl and Smitty Smith Collection:

"A second collection of period 8mm movie clips, spanning the '40s and '50s"

Joe and Laura Holman Collection:

"A collection of period 8mm movie clips, spanning the '40s and '50s, these films show the true heart of the Club"

The IWC production company, Design2Pictures, is also selling IWC shirts and goodies. I'm guessing from the looks of things that this is not a mega-budget film so if you're partial to real films about real racers you might buy a t-shirt or something for someone you love (I wear an XL) and help the cause of preserving a bit of motorcycle racing history.

A Babe In The Blogging Woods

Honda CB 750 - original watercolor painting by Debbie Klassen

While I clearly seem to have highsided in my job as blogger, got stuck in the mud, endo'd, over rev'd, fouled a plug, thrown a rod, or whatever other overused motorcycle metaphor you care to pick and mix, my better half, the fair and lovely Debbie, has begun her own blog about what is most important to her. Sadly, this would not be her Honda Ruckus (which is what I'd have recommended) but her adventures as an artist working in watercolors.

I once asked her why she didn't continue on with her late, great "Comely Passenger" bike blog and she said "I don't actually know anything about motorcycles." Piffle. The blogosphere is wall to wall with people who write about things of which they know little or nothing. Fortunately, Debbie actually knows something about watercolor painting and people actually buy her paintings. If people would buy more of her paintings I might even still be able to score that Harley Crossbones that I was mildly obsessed with a while back.

Debbie's been painting eight or nine years now and somehow seems to have gotten the notion from me that blogging is a useful way to spend time when not pursuing one's preferred hobby. Obviously the lass is still just as confused as the day she agreed to marry me. Never the less, if you have an interest in art, painting, culture, or what sort of woman would marry me when she otherwise had a perfectly sane life going, cruise on over to her Salt And Light Studio blog. I'm holding out for her to write about doing a painting of her Ruckus.