Kurt Sutter recently posted an update on his blog about the progress of writing for season 2:

I’ve finished a draft of the first script and my writers are in the process of writing 202 and 203. We’ve broken the first four episodes and have a pretty solid handle on the arc of the season. Two weeks ago, I pitched the big ideas to the network and they loved them. It’s cool when your boss is also a fan of the show. I don’t just get “that’s good for the network”, I get “that’s great shit for the show”. They had very few notes on the first script, so we are off to a good start with the story-telling. My hope is to have four scripts approved by the time we start production at the end of April.

Obviously, I can’t give anything away, but I as I’ve said in a few interviews, this season is all about alliances. We are going to explore and exploit the bonds we have with our brothers, our family, our country and our god. As I was writing this first script, I smiled when I realized that I get to channel all my twisted Catholic angst into a show about men who play God. I love my fucking job.

Still uncertain exactly when season two will air. A lot depends on FX’s development slate. I will keep you posted.

It’s always a good sign when the writer himself is giddy with twisted excitement!

Related posts:
A punk rock icon joins the cast of SoA
More info about SoA
Shooting begins for SoA

Well, Mr. Jeremy Shoemaker has a feature that he calls “Free Shirt Friday.” You send him a t-shirt, he’ll take a picture of himself wearing it and also gives a shout-out to your site. And my shout-out just happened to occur this past Friday when my Rippin-Kitten “Faster Pussycat” t-shirt was featured on Free Shirt Friday.

Rippin-Kitten t-shirt featured on Shoemoney

To my delight (and relief) my shirt received a lot of great comments and Shoe appears to really like it! So, if you like it too and want to decorate the upper half of your fine physique with this fabulous design there are still some available to purchase.

I’ve secretly been hoping that I might some day appear in this coveted section of their site and now I’m giddy with delight…hey! That rhymed!

So, thanks to them for really making my day.

That was the subject of a contest held over at Crackberry.com recently for those who consider themselves BlackBerry addicts. They were giving away 10 BlackBerry Storms to those who were willing to do whatever it took to win one (and they actually had to follow through on their promise!).

They received 3,000 entries to the contest and “a popular theme of entry that emerged was extreme brand loyalty, or in other words, showing off your love for BlackBerry and/or CrackBerry for the whole world to see.”

The first winner was TJ of Revelation Tattoos in Toledo OH, who had a lifesized BlackBerry tattooed on his leg. Two things of note: 1. TJ didn’t pay for his tattoo. He works at the shop and had it done for free. 2. The tattoo artist, Brian, is a total Mac fanboy and die-hard iPhone lover. It must have killed him to do this tattoo!

While I don’t find the fact that he had the tattoo done to win a phone all that shocking (I hang out with a LOT of tattoo fanatics/artists who get work done for less meaningful things), I find the backlash a little surprising. What makes this guy’s tattoo any different from anyone willing to have a Harley-Davidson tattoo put on their body? It’s essentially showing the same kind of “extreme brand loyalty.”

If you’re interested in reading the war of comments you can read them at Crackberry.com and on Information Week’s blog, which also did a post about this today.

They also took video of the entire trip and edited it down into a four-video series, which I commend them on. I know from personal experience that it’s a daunting task to take a ton of video and attempt to edit it down to short, digestible clips for mass viewing.

So, here’s the first video of the series: Toledo to Frankfurt.

And try to check out the other videos of Lucas County Choppers: Michigan on Two Wheels. You won’t regret it.

I was perusing my news aggregator this morning and Steve over at Biker News Online mentioned the second annual International Female Ride Day on Friday, May 2, 2008, with lots and lots of sarcasm and even raised the question: Why do women riders need a special day to celebrate themselves?

Now, here’s my disclaimer: I’m not attacking or singling out Steve’s post for any detrimental reasons, I’m merely highlighting it because for the first time, someone posted about a women-only event with the question: Who gives a f**k?

That’s what I’m wondering. While the women’s ride to Daytona was kind of a cool thing, I also just read on Women Riders Now about the Diva Custom’s Divas Only bike show that’s happening at the end of May. Are these events a good thing or is this women-only madness spiraling out of control? Is it helping female bikers or is it setting up a precedent for women to segregate themselves from the biker community rather than being a part of it?

And just like Steve at Biker News asks: If a chick can master a motorcycle and hold her own among the biker crowd, does she need empowering?

For part three of this subject matter I’m going to highlight a few more sites that I’ve found since I last wrote. One thing to keep in mind, not all of these sites are created equally. While a lot of them share the same basic idea and similar buckets of content, some are technically easier to use and more thought out than others. It all depends on what appeals to you in the end.

Motorcycle Syndicate: This site has been around since summer ’07. I’m not quite sure what their member base is, but according to their site they “strive to be the premier interactive online community for motorcycle enthusiasts worldwide.” They also use other social networking sites to their advantage when trying to get the word out. You can also win a free T-shirt if you’re a registered member and help spread the word.

Hogstr: I got an email about this site a few weeks ago so I thought I’d check it out. Seems this site is a brand-spanking newbie, having only come into existence in the beginning of February. Not a lot of members or content yet and now that I look at it I’m not even sure if it’s officially “launched.” I see lots of profile pics with half-nekkid chicks on bikes, which kind of turns me off. I’m going to file this one under “wait and see.”

Harley Social: I think the title for this one speaks for itself, but this social network is for HD enthusiasts. It looks to have launched early this year and encourages it’s members to upload photos, videos and to post blogs. It’s a visually robust site, almost to the point where I don’t know where to look first, but the emphasis on this site seems to revolve around just having a good time.

Biker Nation: From what I can tell this site has been around since late 2006. Like all of the other sites it has forums, news feeds, blogs, classifieds, events, pictures, videos and music. It also has a “babes” section (if you’re into that sort of thing) and online auctions. For the amount of time this site has been in existence I guess I expected more. Perhaps they’ve been spending more time focusing on their heavily-tattooed, sister site Inked Nation.

If I had all the time in the world I would love to join all of these sites, but I just don’t. You can still find my profiles on Bikerworlds, BikerOrNot and of course, good old myspace.

Do any of you have a favorite social networking site that you use regularly?

Way back in October, I was bound and determined to get my ass to Daytona this year. Well…looks like that’s not going to happen after all. Since I just started a new job last month, taking off on a trip so soon didn’t seem like the right thing to do. Sigh. So, once again I’ll have to experience it all vicariously through daytonabikeweek.com. I will also miss being one of the many women participating in the largest Harley Women’s Ride. Repeat: SIGH.

I can happily report that rippin-kitten.com continues to gain momentum in being a successful and esteemed motorcycle blog written by a female. Site traffic shows that this site has been maintaining a increasing stream of visitors. Nice!

Some very exciting news: new Rippin-Kitten stickers are on order and I’m pleased to say that I’ve also got some t-shirts designs finished and ready to be ordered! Look for the new Rippin-Kitten store to be up and running in the next month or so!

Another blog award to report: Linda Moore of Raven’s Roads has given this site the Excellent Blog Award. Big thanks to Linda! I guess the idea is to pass this on to 10 more bloggy friends so here I go: The Salem Insider, Eternal Vigilance, Keep the Rubber Side Down, Crusty the Biker, Go! Smell the Flowers, Come on in, the Web is Fine, The Many Thoughts of Harley Girl, The Ride Report, The Necro Files, KT Did. Whew! That’s a lotta blogs!

This award was sent by Gabrielle Faust of www.gabriellefaust.com/

Awarded by
Gabrielle Faust
to Rippin Kitten

Thanks to Gabrielle! She’s got a great horror-themed blog, so check it out if that’s your thang!

OK, you may be wondering what in the hell I’m talking about, right?

Well, apparently some guy decided that having a cool-looking computer case wasn’t enough: he had to build a computer case that’s a 1:1 scale Harley Davidson V2 engine from scratch. The engine runs for real, pistons pump water through the system to cool the components. He included a bunch of Harley Davidson motorcycle pieces into the mod, including chromed out exhaust pipes.

The actual computer inside this crazy case has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, Abit AW9D-MAX motherboard, and the 2 x XFX7900GT video card, in case you were wondering.

You can read the full, tech-laden article and see lots more photos at bornich.org.

Yours truly has been nominated for “Women riders booster of the year“-how cool is THAT? But already the competition is tough. I’ll be sure to remind everyone when the voting period begins, so you can vote your lil hearts out! Until then they need you to go nominate your favorites. Go go go!

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday season and got lots of shiny things to bolt onto their big, metal babies. Now that all of the holiday madness has passed, we cold weather climate dwellers have a nice, long stretch of months to lament the fact that it’s still too cold to ride and that spring is still months away. *sigh*

As more and more motorcycle blogs pop up onto the world wide web, posting new and interesting content becomes a bit more challenging. When I read someone else’s blog that happens to post information that I’ve written about previously, it make me wonder if the content is being pilfered or if it’s just inevitable in this small niche we’re writing about. I can honestly say that I do strive to write about unique and interesting things and promise that I shall continue to do so in 2008.

I’m looking forward to a great year. It’s already starting off with a bang for me personally because tomorrow I start a new job after being at my old one for seven and a half years. I also have some great additions in the works for rippin-kitten.com. And as the months go by, readership of the site continues to grow which makes everything worth while.

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has faithfully visited and told their friends about the site! Rippin-Kitten.com wouldn’t be what it is without you.

:Steampunk:
Definition: a genre of science fiction set in Victorian times when steam was the main source of machine power. (You can learn more at wikipedia.)

Artists have been experimenting with steampunk art for a while and it’s gaining in popularity. It incorporates a lot of brass, copper and the use of gears and cogs and has a high-tech, yet vintage look. One of the most recent creations that has spread online is the steampunk LCD monitor and keyboard modification (which can be found at the Steampunk Workshop if you’re interested in modifying your own set up).

steampunk laptop

I began to wonder if anyone had created steampunk-style motorcycles and with the help of Google, a blog called Dark Roasted Blend and The Kneeslider (both sites posted about steampunk style motorcycles back in July, you can read them by following the appropriate links) I found some examples.

While these motorcycles might not have specifically been created to reflect the steampunk sensibility, they come pretty close and I think they’re really fantastic.

This is the Bobster trike from Zeel Design.

This bike was initially created for a motorcycle comic and the artist’s brother decided to make it real.
You can see more images of this bike on this German site.

Now this bike, the Hubbard Steamcycle actually has a steam-powered engine. Read more about it.

This is the B120 Wraith which was made by the Confederate Motor Company.

And lastly is this beast: the Aero Bike by none other than Mr. Jesse James.
Cycle World has an article about Jesse and this bike.

There’s no doubt that these motorcycle are really fricking amazing, but I hope one day someone builds one with steampunk specifically in mind.

I was curious to see where this award originated from and it appears to be the creation from SultanaBlog who made it up to honor a fellow blogger and it has caught on like a wildfire.

Now it’s my turn to pass along this award to the bloggers that have contributed to the Rippin-Kitten.com blogosphere through their support!

Biker Chickz Blog
Raven’s Roads
Rapture of the Road
The Many Thoughts of Harley Girl
Biker Chick News

Thanks to everyone for supporting this site!

P.S. Rippin-Kitten.com is mentioned in the latest (and fabulous) blog post by GO! Smell the Flowers! So, a big thanks and many flowers to them!

When I decided to get my motorcycle license I didn’t have a female motorcycle “mentor” so to speak. I hung out with a lot of guys that ride and spent plenty of time on the back. I watched all of the Motorcycle Manias, Motorcycle Women and even the first season of American Chopper. I began to see more and more women out riding their own and when the opportunity came up I went for it. So, I guess I inspired myself (with the help of some anonymous biker girls)!

But since I’ve started this site I realized that there are many influential women out there. One who I admire is Genevieve Schmitt.

Genevieve Schmitt is a former television producer and magazine editor (anyone remember Woman Rider magazine?), is the founder of the fantastic website Women Riders Now and her blog is always a good read.

From WRN: Genevieve has been working in the motorcycle industry since 1993 and is recognized as a leader in motorcycling journalism focusing on the area of women. She is an inductee in the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum Hall of Fame for her journalism work on raising awareness of the female motorcyclist. She is the leading spokesperson on the subject of women and motorcycling.

You can read her monthly columns in American Iron, Dealernews and Midwest Motorcyclist. She is also a frequent correspondent for Speed TV and Outdoor Life Network (now called Vs.). This is a busy woman who has made huge strides getting women motorcyclists the attention they deserve.

Honorable mention:
If Betsy Huelskamp looks familiar to you it’s because she was one of the Magnificient Six featured in the 2003 Discovery Channel documentary “Motorcycle Women.” She was also featured in that fabulous “Live By It” commercial that Harley Davidson ran over the summer. She has 20+ years riding experience, is a personal trainer and recently attempted to climb Mt. Everest which was documented in Discovery Channel’s “Everest 2: Beyond The Limit.” She also writes “Backroads with Betsy” on her best gal-pal Genevieve’s site.

Geneveive & Betsy at Sturgis 2007

Does anyone out there have a story to share about someone in the motorcycle world who has inspired them?

From Salem to Provincetown, according to Google, is 141 miles. Taking some backroads instead of highway the entire way, the trip was more like 155 miles.

This was the first time I had to pack any gear on the Vulcan and if you have seen the bike, you know it’s not set up to be a pack mule. I put my stuff into a dufflebag, which ended up sitting on the passenger seat. As I was going to bungee the bag down, I realized that the fender rails had no holes on the bottom side (like so many other bikes do) for the bungees to hold on to. The best thing I could do was hook one around the foot pegs and another under the fender itself. Note to Kawasaki engineers: give users a place to put bungee cords.

We left Salem and hit the highway around 10:30 am. This was the first time I got the Vulcan onto the highway and paid close attention to how it handled. I noticed a lot of vibration as I hit the speed limit and got a lot of hand-stinging bike vibration at 70 mph (um, Kawasaki peeps…not that I was speeding while riding this borrowed bike or anything! ‘k, thanks.). I don’t know if I eventually got used to the vibration or if the bike itself mellowed out but after ten minutes I barely noticed anymore.

On my Volusia I have highway bars with pegs, which is helpful to stretch my legs out on longer rides. The nice thing about the placement of the foot pegs on the Vulcan is that I didn’t have a problem stretching my legs out on them, they’re nicely placed for riding comfort.

We blasted down 95 and 93 south, through Boston and picked up Rt. 3A in Quincy-my hometown and home to a couple of dead presidents. We rode some twisty backroads through some of the more affluent Boston suburbs, then into more rural areas. Then we hopped on to Rt 3 to take us to the Sagamore Bridge, which for the first time in my life, was a pleasure. (For the past 3 years they have been doing construction in order to eliminate a rotary (a roundabout for all my UK peeps) which usually blocked traffic for miles). Up and over the bridge and we were finally on the Cape of Cod. Rt 6 and 6A took us down to the house where our surfer friends were staying in Welfleet.

After we unloaded the bikes we headed down to Provincetown (P-Town to us locals) to the absolute furthest point on the Cape, while the boys went surfing over at the beach.

Live webcam shot with real time photo of Cahoon Hollow Beach and the Atlantic Ocean from the Beachcomber.

One of my yearly traditions when I’m down the Cape is to get some fried clams and a root beer for lunch. I also pick up some dessert-type goodies for everyone from one of Provincetown’s many candy stores. If you have never been to P-Town before here is the low down: lots of motorcycles end up there and lots of gays-as it is a huge vacation destination for them. The main strip is arranged like this: art gallery, bar, candy store, restaurant, adult toy store, t-shirt shop…repeat for the next 3 miles.

Entering P-town, parking the Vulcan and a plate of delicious fried clams

Inside one of P-town’s many candy shops.

We had a large dinner with our friends, had some dessert (I ended up getting some fudge for everyone) and all the boys commenced with their monthly stogie night-sipping scotch and smoking cigars. Even though I was tired from the day’s ride, we stayed up to the wee hours of the morning.

Unfortunate for us, the next morning was overcast and cold. It was much cooler than the previous day-30 degrees cooler and 90% humidity. Luckily we packed our leathers and some warmer clothes, but it was still a miserable ride home (especially while hungover!). Our intention was to stop off at the last day of the Boston Tattoo Convention, but we were so cold, damp and tired that we headed straight home narrowly missing a parade blocking off the only road in and out of the cape.

Round trip we topped a little over 300 miles, not too shabby for a little weekend ride.

Well, apparently I wasn’t the only one: Cyril Huze beat me to it and posted the same video on his blog a few days ago! Oh well, those are the hazards of blogging in a niche. I guess great minds really do think alike…

Enjoy!

(photo grabbed from Choppers Inc. and Copyright Choppers Inc.)

I realize that this is not a big deal. I just thought it was funny that technology invented in the latter part of the 1800′s is now cutting edge. The monocycle is nothing more than a larger version of Billy’s hub-less wheel. Billy, by his own admission, had the plans for years and gives credit to the original inventor. It just happened that he was able to take the concept and hammer it out to make a working prototype for a bike.

There is an accompanying website, too.It’s a bit light on information, has an unfortunate typo on the first page and it’s…pink. But it comes with the usual forum, bikes for sale section and a blog from the editor.

Motorcycling and organ donation are two things that almost seem to go hand in hand. I was an organ donor way before I learned how to ride a motorcycle, however I feel that with taking up a seemingly selfish (and often dangerous) pastime I owe it to the community to give back if something were to happen to me.

So as a member of BlogCatalog, we bloggers are sometimes asked to raise awareness of certain social issues. This month it’s about organ donation and the issues surrounding it. I didn’t realize that it was such a controversial issue for some people until a lot feedback on the subject came pouring in.

For me, it only seems like a logical choice: if you die, you can save other people with your organs. You can save families from pain of losing a loved one and for the recipient, you’re giving them a second chance.

Where I live (Massachusetts) it’s very easy to become an organ donor, we are presented the option at the registry of motor vehicles when we get/renew our licenses.

So, if you want to become an organ donor, visit:
http://www.OrganDonor.gov
http://www.organdonor.gov/donor/index.htm
http://www.unos.org/
http://matchingdonors.com

Check it out, dudes!
http://www.theweblogreview.com/review/3395/

Taylorblue from the Mom’s Out There blog nominated yours truly for the “Rockin’ Girl Blogger” award. Isn’t that kick-ass?

She kindly said:

If there was ever a rockin’ blogger it has to be her!!! I love how everything revolves around her motorcycle…

Now I must choose 5 women bloggers worthy of the “Rockin’ Girl Blogger” award – so if you get tagged, place your pretty pink badge on your site and then list 5 of your favorite Rockin’ Girl Bloggers. (only if you want to-no pressure!) There are a lot of great bloggers to choose from, but here I go:

VampireFaust-horror is near and dear to my heart and “Eternal Vigilance” showcases her writing, graphic design and knowledge of the culture keeps me going back for more.

Thrift Shop Romantic-she’s got the best home decor ideas with a Victorian flair. It’s all stuff that you can do yourself, doesn’t cost a lot of money and the end result is lovely & unique!

Cooking with Anne-as a self-proclaimed foodie, her site has a lot of great recipes & insights. This is one of her three blogs. Oh, and she has seven children! Seven…whew!

Logotree Design Company-great resource for many aspects of smart business design including logos, web & print. As I am a web designer by trade, Natalie’s site is a great resource for inspiration.

Corset Girl-Corsets are cool. End of story. She hasn’t updated since May, I hope she hasn’t abandoned this site! I dig it!