Archive for October, 2008
Carnival of Souls was released in 1962 as a low budget horror B-movie. In this flick, Mary and the girls are out and about and decide to do a little drag racing to impress the boys. Well, obviously these girls were more Jungle Pam than Shirley Muldowney (more trophy queen than racing trophy winner.) Anyway, Mary can’t drive worth shit, ended up getting out of control, drove all the gals off the bridge and plunged violently into the river. Everyone dies– except Mary, who emerges from the water looking shocked and sexy (above)– like a good horror B-Movie chick should.
Throughout the movie, Mary tries her best to go on with life but is continuously haunted by the image of this creepy looking guy who appears all over the place. I used to watch Scooby Do as a kid and was always scared by “The Creeper.” Well, this guy looked like The Creeper, and that’s what’s keeping me up at 1am as i type this.
To top things off, this early 60′s movie used the brilliant technique that more modern era horror movies use to take terror to the next level….. bait you with the distraction of sexy co-stars, so that the horror sneaks up and shocks your heart. The only difference is that, unlike Friday the 13th which used sexy Camp Crystal Lakettes, the Carnival of Souls used damn sexy automobilettes….
1960 Chevy
Ford Econoline
1953 Olds
1961 Chevy
1953 Chevy
Ford F1
Two Generations of Chevrolet
Auto worship
Harley Service Car
I have to admit, i kept getting mesmerized into a calm by seeing all these fine wheels. I loved it. Then all of a sudden….
The Fucking Creeper scares the hell out of me.
In addition to being scared, I learned a valuable lesson from this movie, which is if you….
1) take the car out loaded with friends
2) take things too far and end up wrapping the six fo’ around a telephone pole
3) end up being the only person to amazingly survive
and
4) throw the chevy in the gutter, go get another, and try to carry on with your life
then…..
The Creeper is going to haunt your ass. Eventually you’ll realize that while you think you survived, you really died in that crash too. However, unlike your friends who are sippin’ mai tais by the pearly gates, you’re being rewarded for your poor driving by being an undead who’s forever haunted by The Creeper. Yeah, you’ll rethink and regret your choice to street race, but it’s too late ya Zombie…
This flick served a way better lesson than that old NHRA flick that dissueded drag racing.
Drive safe, love old cars in old cinema and have a Happy Halloween.
-scott noteboom
October 31st, 2008
Roller Derby began in the early 1900′s as an endurance marathon on skates– with athletes circling banked tracks for hours and sometimes days at a time. Skating was a growing phenomenon…
In the mid 30′s, Leo Seltzer had read in a magazine that 93% of younger Americans had roller skated before and wanted to brainstorm a new sport to take advantage of its popularity. One summer day in 1935 he jotted down ideas of his new sport on a paper restaurant table cloth: action, women– and the framework of his new sport was set. On July 14, 1935, Seltzer trademarked his new term– “Roller Derby.”
Through the years, roller derby has come and gone a couple times. Nowadays, the LA Derby Dolls and quite a few other leagues around the country are keeping the sport alive and thriving. Tonight me and the family posse loaded up the truck and drove to Echo Park to check ‘em out….
Derby Doll Cheerleaders:
They had a kids Halloween costume contest there, and we brought my niece and nephew along. Anissa made a Pippie Longstocking costume for Madison, and Brendan dressed up like the Twisted Sister dude.
Pippie ruled it and won the costume contest, so she won a prize bag full of tshirts and other goodies.
Along the way in LA we ran into this Super Obama. Being the good Uncle I am, i taught the kiddies a good lesson about how to pose with their favorite political hero, the Superman of Change (well, maybe):
Obama’s got some good competition from Pippie Longstocking– as American as Apple Pie and Globalthermalnuclear weapons combined:
I usually always enjoy visiting LA. Anissa and I had our first place together in East Hollywood / Los Feliz area, so it’s always good to be back.
-scott noteboom
October 25th, 2008
One of the best things about driving through the desert is that it inspires day dreaming, and with Gene Winfield’s place officially being in the middle of nowhere– there was plenty of time to do so on our way to Mojave. While Gambino snoozed, I imagined what kind of place a guy would have after spending the past 60+ years as a hot rodder, a race car driver, a customizer– and an overall legend. Being a guy whose history and accomplishments have never less than amazed me, my expectations were high.
Have left too damn early in the morning, my daydreaming turned to sleepdriving as i counted imaginary Fade-a-way paintjobs in my head as we passed through the damn desert. A honking horn woke me as i drifted lanes, and i was stoked to realize that the 5 hour drive somehow passed. Mojave city limits– “Home of SpaceShip One”– here we were.
Gene was kind enough to open up shop to everyone for his “Custom Car and Hot Rod Gathering,” which also featured a rare gathering of paint & customizing legends– Windy, George Barris, Bill Hines, Larry Watson… and many more. Everything about it was beyond my earlier imagination…..
Above is the shop from the outside– looks like Gene picked up an old shop / wrecking yard and turned in into a custom and hot rod build shop and wrecking yard. Here’s some pics from in the shop:
“The Reactor” just happened to be hanging around!
just a couple chops in progress…
Walking through Winfield’s shop, you quickly understand that Gene can do anything. Painting, fabricating, fiberglass pieces, racing, customizing– the guy seems to be able to do anything. He’s willing to build the tool or jig to make whatever needs to happen, happen.
Snuck into the paint booth to spot a Caddy getting some blend….
Gene really allowed people to make themselves at home, so I really loved roaming back behind the shop….. which was in essence a custom bone yard. I was simply shocked by the kind of things just sat around there…
Check out all 130 photos i took here on my flickr.
Here’s builders posting out in front of Bill Hines Cadillac:
I couldn’t help myself and did some stalking and autograph collecting from the greats– while these guys are still all around, and at the same place:
-scott noteboom
October 21st, 2008
Ho’ MacDonald was a bitch who had a farm. And, the CEO owned MacDonalds ass and taught her every hustle in the book to make that money for him (oops, i mean the “shareholders.”) ”Rope some Dope and stanky pussy, bitch– whatever it takes. This ain’t church, and we dont give a fuck about the congremitigation– Just go on out there Ho’ MacDonald, and get me my money. E-I-E-I-O!,” he stated during the 3rd quarter all bitches meeting.
In this rant I’m going to discuss two fine ingredients of the hustle: 1) Corporations that don’t give a fuck about the health of us tricks and 2) The American and Chinese bitches that support them. Nah, this time i wont whine like a hippie about 3rd world slave labor, closure of US factories, decimation of the middle class and the economy or the poisonous chemicals used to make your babies rattles in China– Today, let’s just pout about some of the finer chemicals that Daddy puts in our food.
Melamine got famous beyond the world of chemists because the Chinese were putting it in their milk– you know, to increase it’s protein content. Ahhhhh yeah! That way they could water down the milk, hustle the trick to think it’s still grade A and make more money! What is melamine you ask? Don’t worry, it’s just an industrial chemical used in making plastic. I havent seen that kinda brilliance since crank chemistry was perfected! It’s God Damned Corporate Brilliance there!
So, fortunately our milk here thats made in the good ol’ USA is good right? Yeah, even gooder to make Daddy more money! Most other countries wont even take our milk, meat and other foods because of the impressive poisonous shit dial in to get even better profits for the shareholders! Parents– buy your little child future CEO’s chemistry sets to be properly prepared to excel in todays economy!
First of all, to allow these brilliant profit gains, the token bitches in the USDA / FDA have hustled the laws to say that it doesnt matter what you feed the animals you use for food before they are harvested for our consumption. TRUST ME– It don’t makes a difference what drugs you give ‘em, baby! You are ok, American people. Relax, go have a twinkie and a latte…. go watch some reality TV and dont worry about:
-70% of the total amount of antibiotics produced in the country are used for food industry animals. It’s widely believed that these chemicals are making people antibiotic resistant. So, it’s common knowledge that the body absorbs drugs throughout– yet the USDA believes they magically disappear in the food we eat?
- Antibiotics are needed in these animals because they are confined and infected in feed lots and fed foods that are pretty much poisonous to them. This fattens them up quicker, allows them to produce more “product” and allows the companies to get the bang for their buck quicker. I suppose it’s good they are killed sooner, as their bodies are not desined to sustain life on what they are being fed.
- In nature, cows are supposed to eat grass– not corn (which increases saturated fat content 3x,) not stale candy or gum (the corporations buy the defective stale products from factories for feed.) Even as recent as 1996, Cows were fed the dead remains of the other cows…. which created the emergence of mad cow disease.
Back to the Chinese Melamine and how I said we must be safe….. Well, because the USDA/FDA believe you can feed animals anything and you can then consume that animal product safely, the companies have been buying low cost floor sweepings from pet food manufacturing plants…. you know, the good shit to feed milk and beef product!. Anyway, Melamine is added to dog food to increase the protein content– and while it’s not legal to add it food already produced in the US, it’s perfectly legal to feed it to the animals before their turned into food. Makes perfect sense.
Unlike the Chinese who died quickely from drinking their Melamine spiced milk, we’ll just rot away slowly by consuming yet another industrial chemical– just in smaller concentration.
Ok, to conclude on a serious note, i’ll stop with the childish pimp talk….
Boy how the world has changed. Back in the day, corporations soly focused on poisoning black folks– you know with the secret ingrediants in Colt 45, King Cobra and Ol’ E that made them violent. In this liberated world without discrimination, The Man can now focus on poisoning all our asses, for the good of the stockholder. No wonder most corporations recognize Martin Luther King Day nowadays. FREE AT LAST! FREE AT LAST!
Bon Appetite,
-scott noteboom
October 17th, 2008
Usually everyday i like to look around at old photos. I guess i’m one of those guys that get’s intoxicated by the imaginary perceptions of “how things used to be.” Mostly though, i like the way old stuff was built– cars, clothes, homes, whatever– without technology you had to work harder physically to build something (example– just take a look at the guy in the left of the pic– that guy works hard and is proud.) Things were built in American factories by your neighbors, not slaves in 3rd worlds. No matter the case, hard work creating something is what also creates soul. (NOTE: I believe to a large degree that technology kills soul…. funny saying that knowing the business i work in…)
Note that this picture has soul glowing from it. Looking at it, I’m reminded that I don’t think I’ve worked hard enough lately to create / build something new lately. You know– to Build…. No, not sustain, not stuff to get by, not doing the day to day, not rebuilding……. building something new, something different, something creative.
I need to step up the soul a bit. It’s been months since i built the ’40 Ford pickup. While i just got news of the US patent issued on a cooling technology invention i’m proud of– but that was work done over a year ago. Over the past months i’ve been fixing my cars, keeping things going overall, getting back in fight condition and building things i’ve already built before at work– but sustaining doesn’t cut it.
Finish one of my uncomplete car projects….. publish something new….. create some art…. invent something new for work…. maybe fight again… I’m craving something. I’ve got ideas and projects, i’ve just got to dedicate myself.
-scott noteboom
October 17th, 2008
Norton Motorcycle is back to life and back home in the UK. Maybe we really will get that new Commando afterall…
-scott noteboom
October 16th, 2008
Beauty and Rideability is key to being pleased and surviving over the long run of a relationship with your loved one— your motorcycle.
That said, many a mans been fooled by false advertising, pretty posing and words that dont match the performance attributes you’re really looking for. That Commando above could be good for most, but you dont know if it’s good for *you* until you climb on and twist the throttle yourself. So, no matter what the Pope thinks, I believe you really can’t determine true beauty and rideability until you validate performance over a couple of long rides…
Controlled power slide, one hand on the bars comfort, and overall cool as a cucumber at high speed. Looks easy, with the right practice. Surely the gentleman in the picture is taking in everything as she passes and will be waving the checkered flag by next lap.
Two to tango on the circle track. With the right confidence, leans, angles and teamwork you can form the Karma Sutra of motorcycling.
Sometimes it may take a little push to get her going, but she’s in it for high speed performance. Here is Kelly Haynes riding her Indian at El Mirage in 1948. She hit 142mph before the bottom end of her ride gave out.
She’s a little tense, but knows where she’s going– and wants to get there fast. A little relaxation & rider position change, and surely the front end will be up and perky instead of sagging..
This last picture speaks to the moral of the story. Looks like its likely a great ride, but perhaps some sort of photoshop manipulation back in the day? The top end looks good, but where the rubber hits the road looks a little too good to be true. But then again, you never know……
MORAL OF THE STORY: Before making the leap, make sure you take it out for a ride and find out if it’s what you want for sure. Buyers regret can be a costly mistake.
I wrote this as motivation because my Norton has been teasing me from the corner of the garage this weekend. I haven’t taken her out for a ride and that’s not good for either in our relationship.
-scott noteboom
October 12th, 2008
fucked.
the government pledges allegiance to global corporations that in turn pledge no allegiance.
equal trade is not even spoken of anymore.
buying american comes in second over buying cheap.
manufacturing is dead in this country. we rely on potential enemies for that.
what was proudly earned is now quickly financed. notice how the country can’t afford anything anymore without financing it?
presidential candidates lie and say what they think the american people want to hear— but i’m still not hearing what i want to hear.
america has turned into a lazy, obese, mass consumer of shit…. all paid for by debt. we’re world famous lazy, fat fucks that like to pretend we’re still the great nation our forefathers built.
sometimes the best way to bring about change is to expedite destiny….. which may be a solid crash and burn. i say bring on that destiny…. it might bring out the fight in our sorry asses.
-scott noteboom
October 12th, 2008
Where else but Mexico can you hand a gold toothed Mexican a crisp veinte and in exchange get handed Junior King of the Jungle to play around with. “He is es nice, Senor” Juan confidently convinced me. The cuts on his hand surely came from shaving or something– so i coughed up the money for a little family jungle fever. Look how happy everyone looks….. husband…. the little lady…. pre-teen daughter with temporary loss of attitude…. and little lion king. What a sweet family photo moment.
The male lion was 2 1/2 months old, still pretty little, but was very strong and had pretty scary looking teeth and claws when he decided to show them off. At this point, i felt lucky he was our es friend. That said, he was patient with you as long as you kept him occupied– like playing with him and the towel. He loved grabbing onto it as you tried to keep it from him. He growled, but maybe it was a growl of amusement. I felt good enough to leave the family and take pics, as the es lady was having a hard time with the digicam.
So, Anissa and Sydney continued to play with the kitten and his towel. That is until they got bored with the towel and put it aside– you know, so they could pet him. Well, the Lion got bored too, didnt like being pet and then decided to go into attack mode towards my daughter.
My daughter must have inherited some boxing genes, as she did a good job with the head weave to avoid the paw swipes from our supposed es friend. Note in the picture how my wife froze with that panic look– in the moment of confrontation it’s either fight, flight or uh, freeze.
Luckily the trainer came to rescue and get her own little ass kicking by the Lion King. As a photographer, I was obviously too occupied documenting the wide like Mutual of Omaha to come to the rescue.
$20 bucks to play with the king of the jungle in Cabo, Mexico. Continuing the great tradition set by Sigfried and Roy….. I think next time we’ll stick with the fabulous es real silver that’s cheaper than K-Mart.
Lions, Surfing and Chiclets, oh my.
-scott noteboom
October 10th, 2008
I have to admit that since I only drive old cars, occasionally stepping behind the wheel of a newer car can be nice at times….. In a new car you don’t hear the road. You don’t really feel the car. It’s almost like a null experience that doesn’t even require much thought or focus in regards to the driving itself. Instead, you can focus on thinking about other things, talk on a phone call, tweak around with a blackberry, doing make-up, etc.
This is exactly the same reason why i refuse to drive a new car. It’s really not driving to me. This is why I decided to put the ball on the ol’ Chevy Wagon and hook her up to our trailer for a recent family camping trip. We drove up north to Casini Ranch on the Russian River to attend a vintage trailer rally. When my daughter gets older, i know that she’ll never forget old car bumps, open exhaust and wide bench seats on trips like these. Soul glows when you mix station wagons and old trailers together….
The camper is a 1954 Traveleze, is restored original and in pretty damn good shape. It’s one of the trailers showcased in Doug Keisters’ book, Ready to Roll, if you’re into this stuff. It weighs a tad under 2000 lbs and pulls great with the wagon (350 small block / Muncie 4 speed.)
The rally had about 50 great other trailers. You can see all my pics on my flickr. Here’s also a couple of my favorites:
These folks were totally decked out, with about everything era correct– including canoe.
loved the body lines, high polish, tire cover and rear taillights on this “Streamline.”
my favorite interior.
This is an early 60′s German camper. all six or seven foot of it.
At night the campground set up a movie screen and played the old Lucy / Desi movie called “The Long Trailer.” Between that and getting to play with fire and eat smores, a good time was had.
By the way— Coop possessed me to pick up an old Polaroid Land Camera setup that i got in the mail right before we left for camping. Unfortunately, i didnt have time to pick up film quick enough– otherwise, i think the Polaroid would have produced some beautiful looking traditional camping pics. I’m excited to put it to use– next time…
-scott noteboom
October 10th, 2008
