MNO Blog – Motorcycles, News, Opinions

A new drama series on FX channel that is centered on a small town outlaw motorcycle club called Sons of Anarchy and the life of the members. I was asked by Fox to review the new FX original drama series and give my readers a little bit of insight on what to expect from the series.

 I was given the opportunity to see both the pilot and the first episode, so I figured I would watch the pilot and then do a review while saving the first episode for another review. It didn’t work out that way though. After watching the pilot, I went right on to the first episode without leaving my chair. I have to tell you that says a lot, as I normally do not watch television. However, the pilot was good enough to keep me watching through the entire first episode.

 The pilot begins with a bang as a rival club burns down SAMCRO’s arms warehouse after stealing all of the high price weapons. Minutes into the show we learn that the Sheriff is on the take and that SAMCRO has a lot of control over the small town of Charming, California. The shows writer, Kurt Sutter mixes in the true blood side of family into the family lifestyle of the motorcycle club. Jax discovers more about the original concept of the club and what his father thought it should be when he finds a journal that his father had left behind with some old photographs. As Jax reads through the journal, he begins to rethink the current course of the club and makes some dangerous decisions.

 I am sure that many will be interested in seeing one of the first television series that looks into the world of a outlaw motorcycle club. At the same time many may not agree with the way the series depicts the club, but you must remember that this is a drama that is created about one particular club and not motorcycle clubs in general. Every club or family has their own set of rules and values and this series only touches on the feelings of one club that was developed for a television series. It is interesting the way that Kurt Sutter mixed in the family within a family in this series.

  The word brother gets thrown around in the biker community sometimes without the sense of the true meaning. In the club atmosphere the word brother is taken much more serious than just in passing and this series has more of the true sense of the meaning. We see club meetings and discussions about taking care of each other as well as the overall interest of the club and their survival. Still, remember this is a television series, not a documentary or reality show. It is for entertainment purposes only and does not necessarily depict the true life of a biker or motorcycle club.

 The show is well written with a deep plot that will spark a desire to watch the next episode. The soundtrack and cinematography rivals that of a box office hit. There is plenty of action as SAMCRO seeks out their stolen weapons and wards off a white supremacist drug gang. You will also get an occasional chuckle at the dark humor in between the lines. Its worth a watch!

 Sons of Anarchy is a original series produced exclusively for FX. The pilot will air on Wednesday September 3rd at 10:00 pm E/P. Check your local listings for exact times and channels in your area. Visit the official site for Sons of Anarchy for more information and to watch the trailer.

Technorati Tags: motorcycles, television, fox, FX, drama series, pilot, motorcycle news, celebrity

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Super Sunday is approaching and this year the buzz is all about the Super Bowl advertising. Last year I did a post on Super Bowl facts before the big football game. This year I want to look at the advertisement and the big buzz of what the ads will be like. There are a few super bowl ads sneak previews out there and here I have posted some of the available videos giving us a pre game look at what halftime will bring in 2008. 2.7 million dollars in advertising has been spent by big companies to get to the super bowl this year and while none of the ads are made to make you drop what you are doing to run out and but their product, it is more about brand recognition.

Of course one of the biggest advertiser to hit this mark would be Budweiser. Even if you do not drink beer, you know the name from the super bowl ads. Therefore, if you ever decided to have a beer, what do you think you might ask for? I think you might go for a Bud or bud light. Brand recognition is definitely what Bob Parsons, CEO of Go daddy is shooting for his his version of super bowl advertising. On Bob’s blog, he generates a great deal of excitement about the ads with his readers long before super Sunday. In the past, Parsons has put the rejected ads out for everyone to see to draw in new traffic. This year the approach is a little more on the it is a secret side of the dial. Bob is only allowing a small pinch of the video to be seen and then promising that all 3 ads will be available to be viewed online on February 3rd. While most super bowl advertising shoots toward humor, Bob Parsons uses sex to gain brand recognition. Indy race car driver Danica Patrick might not be a super model, but the Go daddy super bowl ad “exposure” makes her look like one and the ad as well as the ads from previous super bowls are all on one landing page. But now it is time for a commercial break and a word from some parrots? Watch the super bowl ad below

Yeah right. Just an example of the ads that we laugh at and talk about for a week after the game. Speaking of talking about the ads, You Tube has set up a page where the ads will be shown again and you can vote for your favorite super bowl ad here. One thing for sure, most people watching the game will get up to go to the bathroom before half time. No one wants to miss those super bowl ads!

Technorati Tags: super bowl ads, media, advertising, blogs, super bowl, video, halftime

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I have to admit, I do not watch much television, I listen, but seldom watch. Tonight was one of the times for me to watch with the first airing of Motorcycle Mania 4 on TLC. Commercials, wow! Cindi commented on how there was so many of them. My answer to her, “would you rather pay to see this, or let them pay”? So with that said, in the review of tonight’s show, I will include our top picks of use of air time to pay the bills.

With just the opening few seconds of the show, I was ready to go back to Daytona Beach and do bike week again. Working during these events takes from a lot of the fun, but hey, its still a great job. One of the best things about watching Motorcycle Mania tonight was that it was filmed during bike week and watching the show was exciting for that reason.

For those of you that watched the show tonight, I am sure you could see how busy custom motorcycle builder Russell Mitchell was during the live build. However, Russell, like many other celebrity builders will almost always take the time out to talk to fans. It was a pleasure to speak with and meet Russell in Daytona. Speaking of fans, one of the highlights of  the show tonight was watching Russell autograph a fans head. This was not a normal autograph though, this was done in the form of a tattoo. Though Russell claimed that he had not been on the controlling end of the tattoo gun before, he did an excellent job of signing the guys head for life.

Unfortunately, I was not present during any of the time that John Mellencamp was around, I would of like to have met him as well. He seems to have settled down in the years past. I remember seeing him live in Orlando back in the seventies where he racked up thousands of dollars in fines for using prohibited language on stage. I expected to hear more of John’s music, but was satisfied to see him do a unplugged version of “Pink Houses” during the presentation of his original Exile Cycles Mellencamp Rigid.

First good commercial goes out to the TLC reality show Real Deal where Richard Davis is trying to teach some bikers how to make money in real estate by fixing up houses. He leads in to a statement about drinking and … a guy holds up a nail gun and continues driving nails. Then a guy sitting in the class with hair standing straight up ask how long it will take for a persons smell to come back after working on a socket that the electrician left live.

Russell and the guys from Exile Cycles get ready to start the build and once they seem to have everything in place and ready to go, Russell announces that they do not have a full bottle of the gun blue stain to start the frame. Now, it appears that he will only have four days to finish the bike, were it was originally planned he would have five. No sweat, right?

Next good commercial was done by BMW motorcycles. The entire commercial was free of words and was composed of motorcycle stunt video footage. Great commercial to get your point across without saying anything.

Back to the show where Iraq war hero, Capt. David Haigh is presented a custom motorcycle built by chopper builder Bill Dodge with the help of Paul Cox and Keino. The custom motorcycle was given to him on the Hard Rock Roadhouse stage were he got to see it for the first time. I was not around during the presentation, but my hat goes off to Bill Dodge and his sponsors for showing their support for Capt. Haigh and our troops in Iraq.

Thanks goes out to Amour All for the next commercial that made us laugh while the Bud Light commercial was, well not so funny. Back to the show and the final day of the build. Russell completes the wiring on Mellencamp’s bike and wants to hear it run before he calls it a day. The crew gets the bike gassed up and ready, and with a final check, Russell touches two wires together and the engine fires right up. Next up, Russell celebrates by doing a burnout that heats the exhaust pipes up cherry red and draws the attention of the Daytona Police. NAPA auto parts follows up with a commercial full of hot rod burn outs without the cops.

The ending scenes of the show are of Russell and John riding around the Daytona loop and up Highway A1A with John Mellencamp’s new song Freedom Road playing. It was a pretty good show with too many commercial interruptions that remind me of why I do not sit in front of the television to often. It was cool to see all of the bike week happenings on TV, but I would rather live it.

Technorati Tags: exile cycles, motorcycles, bike week, television, motorcycle mania

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Russell Mitchel of Exile Cycles had only 5 days to complete a custom motorcycle build for singer/song writer John Mellencamp for tonight’s premiere airing of Motorcycle Mania 4 on TLC and he did it on Main Street, Daytona Beach during Bike Week 2007.

Once completed, the motorcycle built by Mitchell is presented to John Mellencamp during bike week. Russell Mitchell and John Mellencamp go for a ride together after the bike is presented on the final Friday of bike week 2007.

Motorcycle Mania is produced by Hugh “Chopper” King who also produces The Great Biker Build-Off series. While Russell was building a custom motorcycle on Main Street, Hugh King was out and about filming other bike week events in the Daytona Beach area. We spotted Hugh filming during the women’s cole slaw wrestling at the cabbage patch bar in Samsula, Florida.

Be sure to check your local television listings for the correct time and channel in your area for tonight’s episode of Motorcycle Mania 4.

Technorati Tags: hugh king, john mellencamp, motorcycle mania, motorcycle news, motorcycles, russell mitchell, television, tlc, motorcycle news

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Motorcycle Build Off

Season Premiere Saturday March 31, 11am EST

Metric Revolution Motorcycle Build Off premieres March 31, 2007 on ESPN2A national motorcycle build off featuring 22 of the country’s best custom motorcycle builders. From metric sportbikes to cruisers, this competition will revolutionize the custom motorcycle world.

Technorati Tags: motorcycle news, metric tv, build off, motorcycles, new shows, television, entertainment

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• Super Bowl Facts

With the approach of Super Bowl this weekend, I thought I would post some interesting game stats. These stats are not for the football game, rather they are statistics surrounding the super bowl and how it effects the media.

• Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts sports merchandise have seen a dramatic rise in retail sales this year.
• More women are drawn to the Indianapolis Colts
  than the Chicago Bears. Data show that 59% of Indianapolis women are Colts fans,
  vs. 46% of Chicago women who are Bears fans.
• The 2006 Super Bowl was the highest rated TV show
  of the year, attracting more than 90 million U.S. viewers.
• The cost for a 30-second TV advertisement reached
  an all-time high in 2006, while traditional advertiser categories continued to
  dominate the broadcast.
• Super Bowl advertisers in 2006 saw a sharp
  increase in visits to their web sites following the big game.
• Album sales of the Super Bowl halftime performers
  soared in the week following their appearance in the halftime show.
• Box office figures continue to plunge on Super
  Bowl Sunday.
• Sales of soft drinks, beer and chips rise
  significantly before the Super Bowl.

Comparing last year’s Super Bowl food preferences in the two markets that are
home to this year’s teams – Chicago and Indianapolis – there are some noteworthy
similarities and difference between the two cities. Looking at the largest
overall percentage of sales increases, both markets showed strong sales growth
in cocktail franks and processed cheese loaves. However, Chicago area
supermarkets showed strong growth in sales of frozen unbreaded crab,
refrigerated fruit, dip mixes, and dairy dips; while Indianapolis area
supermarkets experienced bumps in the sales of ‘Miracle Whip’ type salad
dressing, frozen hors d’ oeuvres & snacks, brownie mixes, and bratwurst
& knockwurst.

Product Categories — Super Bowl Weeks*
Largest Overall Sales Increase

– Tortilla Chips — $10.2 million
– Light Beer — $9.2 million
– Regular Beer — $8.7 million
– Potato Chips — $7.8 million
– Regular Cola — $7.7 million
– Frozen Pizza — $7.3 million
– All remaining Carb Bev — $5.5 million
– Frzn Poultry 1-Food Entree’s — $5.4 million
– Mexican Sauce — $5.3 million
– Ice Cream — $4.7 million

Product Categories — Super Bowl Weeks*
Largest Overall Percentage Sales Increase

– Cocktail Franks — 118.1%
– Beef Steak-Frozen — 58.4%
– Pork-Frozen — 48.8%
– Dip Mixes — 37.0%
– Processed Cheese Loaves — 36.3%
– Dairy Dip — 36.1%
– Bread Mushrooms-Frozen — 35.6%
– Tabasco/Pepper Sauce — 34.8%
– Canned Dip — 32.2%
– Barbecue Sauces — 31.7%

* Two-weeks ending February 11, 2006
Source ACNielsen; Supermarket sales

A consumer segmentation analysis from the marketing company Spectra revealed
some of the unique characteristics of Super Bowl viewers from Miami,
Indianapolis, and Chicago compared with national professional football fans.
Utilizing Spectra’s BehaviorScape framework, viewer characteristics can be
determined based upon BehaviorStages (which bring to life key household factors
that impact consumer purchasing behavior), and LifeStyles, (which further
differentiate consumers by highlighting affluence and the neighborhood type in
which they live).
For instance, most viewers of professional football across the U.S. typically
watch on the weekend one or more times per month, and tend to come from affluent
neighborhoods from a variety of household types. They span across all
neighborhood types and tend to skew toward couples 35+ without children in the
household as well as singles under 35 with no children. Popular Super Bowl
snacks that skew highly across the average US viewer are bags of nuts, brats,
popcorn, and frozen poultry.
Super Bowl viewers in the host city of Miami watch the game on TV live in
both urban and affluent suburban households across household types.
Indianapolis residents who watched the Super Bowl last year generally come
from rural and downscale suburban neighborhoods. Additionally:
– Indianapolis viewers purchase above average amounts of sausage, buns,
and brats than the average viewer.– Indianapolis viewers are likely to do their grocery shopping (possibly
for Super Bowl snacks) at Wal-Mart, Aldi, or Kroger.

– There is also a very high concentration of Super Bowl viewers who are
likely to shop in smaller accounts such as IGA and Buehler’s Buy Low.

Chicago residents who watched the Super Bowl last year likely live in urban
and affluent suburban households across household types. Additionally:

– Viewers in Chicago tend to purchase more bagged nuts, beer, frozen
poultry and meat than the average viewer.

– Chicago viewers are likely to do their grocery shopping (possibly for
Super Bowl snacks) in Dominick’s, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods.

There is also a very high concentration of Super Bowl viewers who are likely
to shop in smaller accounts such as Wild Oats and Sunset Food Marts.

So by the numbers, it looks like on Super Bowl Sunday Americans prefer to eat tortilla chips, drink light beer but regular soda throw some frozen steaks and chicken on the grill while munching on cocktail franks. It appears that there is a toss up in dipping your tortilla chips on eating prepared nachos. Either way we seemed to have consumed over 10 million dollars in tortilla chips and drink over 17 million dollars worth of beer washing them down.

These facts and statistics were compiled by and found at Nielsen Media Research, please visit their site for complete details.

Source:

http://www.nielsenmedia.com

Technorati Tags: facts, football, media research, news, stats, super bowl, superbowl

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It should come as no surprise to the fans of the show American Chopper that Paul Jr’s bike won by popular vote in a biker build-off that pitted Senior against Junior.

Orange County Chopper owner Paul Teutul Sr did not seem to mind and why would he? Either way the OCC team wins, his son is following in his foot steps and its just good for business.

Strange thing was that Senior did not seem upset when he uncovered his biker build-off chopper to reveal that the gas taken had been beaten with a hammer. He just shrugged it off and stated that they had another one inside which was promptly mounted as the voting began.

I don’t know, can you see guilt on either of the boys faces? Was it Mikey or did Junior do it? Maybe both? I guess we will have to wait and see the episode on the new American Chopper that has been moved to TLC. The first show of the new season airs January 18th on TLC Turbo channel.

ORANGE COUNTY CHOPPERS

Technorati Tags: motorcycle news, occ south florida, occ, orange county choppers, motorcycles, motorcycle pictures

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The world’s reaction to the death by execution of Saddam Hussein

While President Bush called it a milestone in the rebuilding of Iraq, he cautioned that the death of Saddam Hussein would not end the violence. It was reported that as Hussein was being readied for the execution, President Bush had to be rushed to a armored vehicle at his Texas ranch used for a tornado shelter. After the threat of tornado had been relieved, the tornado passed within 10 miles of the President’s Texas Ranch, President Bush retired for the night and was not awaken with the news of the execution.

“France, which advocates like all its European partners the universal abolition of the death penalty, takes note of Saddam Hussein’s execution. That decision belongs to the Iraqi people and to the Iraqi sovereign authorities. France calls on to all Iraqis to look forward and to work for reconciliation and national unity. More than ever the aim must be a return to the full sovereignty and stability of Iraq.” French foreign ministry

“(Brazil) does not believe carrying out this sentence will contribute to bringing peace to Iraq.” Brazil foreign ministry

“The rushed execution of Saddam Hussein is simply wrong. It signifies justice denied for countless victims who endured unspeakable suffering during his regime, and now have been denied their right to see justice served. ” Larry Cox, executive director, Amnesty International USA

“The president, the leader Saddam Hussein is a martyr and God will put him along with other martyrs. Do not be sad nor complain because he has died the death of a holy warrior,” said Sheik Yahya al-Attawi, a cleric at the Saddam Big Mosque.

U.S. troops cheered as news of Saddam’s execution appeared on television at the mess hall at Forward Operating Base Loyalty in eastern Baghdad. But some soldiers expressed doubt that Saddam’s death would be a significant turning point for Iraq.

“First it was weapons of mass destruction. Then when there were none, it was that we had to find Saddam. We did that, but then it was that we had to put him on trial,” said Spc. Thomas Sheck, 25, who is on his second tour in Iraq. “So now, what will be the next story they tell us to keep us over here?”

Source:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

http://tvnz.co.nz/

http://www.casperstartribune.net/

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