Modern Vespa

Suzanne Vega's "Luka" was covered in a bossa nova style by Japanese band The Indigo on their 2004 album "My Fair Melodies" as well as by Olivia Ong on her eponymous 2010 album.

Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music popularized by Antônio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes and this other musician. It is most commonly performed on the nylon-string classical guitar, played with the fingers rather than with a pick. Its purest form could be considered unaccompanied guitar with vocals, as exemplified by this musician.

He is credited with having created the bossa nova beat and is known as the "Father of Bossa Nova."

Who is this musician? and why was he dropped from the vocal quintet Garotos da Lua (Moon Boys) ?

That would be João Gilberto


And the answer to your second question is

So what's that old saying,


"Who's your Daddy"


Because according to writer Ruy Castro, the author of several authoritative books on Brazilian popular music, this gentle man is "the true father of the bossa nova." Even though he was not widely known outside Brazil and enjoyed mass popularity only intermittently in his homeland.

His delicately swinging music was a precursor to the bossa nova.

Sadly this gentle man passed away March of this year at 80.

that would be johnny alf,

Alf was born Alfredo Jose da Silva on May 19, 1929, in Rio de Janeiro. He was an aficionado of early American jazz, which greatly influenced his work and that of Bossa Nova as a whole.

This musician was one of the most influential artists of jazz history...he was born in a poor section of New Orleans known as "the Battlefield" on August 4, 1901.

other notes:

he composed dozens of songs that have become jazz standards

developed a way of playing jazz, as an instrumentalist and a vocalist, which has had an impact on all musicians to follow

recorded hit songs for five decades, and his music is still heard today on television and radio and in films

That would be Louis Armstrong.

Mr. Armstrong, meet the neat generation of jazz musician. This guy can not only jam alone or with a group, but thanks to a series of algorithms can actually improvise. According to its official web site, its head "provides fellow musicians visual cues that represent social-musical elements, from beat detection and tonality, to attention and spatial interaction." In other words, it grooves, man. It grooooooves.

That would be Shimon, the second robotic member of Georgia Tech's Robotic Musicianship Group.

(turns on little girl voice from Mrs. Paul Minced Fish Commercial)
What's this "bling"! You put "bling" on a Jazz Musician.
You ever see a Jazz Musician wearing "bling"
(turns off little girl voice from Mrs. Paul Minced Fish Commercial)

This jazz pianist and composer was considered "one of the giants of American music" he made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire with his unique improvisational style.

He is one of only five jazz musicians to be featured on the cover of Time.

And he wore cool hats.

It looks like American jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk (pictured here with jazz trumpeter Howard McGhee) was an avid ceramic scooters.

According to a Yahoo! article I just read, French researchers have concluded that this character from a series of movies that even unborn fetuses have heard of suffered from BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder). Personally, I think this character's child to young adult self suffered from SAD (Shiteous Acting Disorder) coupled with the dreaded GLHLTWRD (George Lucas Has Lost Touch With Reality Disease), though as an adult, he did finally develop MBTYCHS (More Badass Than You Can Handle Syndrome).

(You'll have to search for his given name, not his "It's-Dutch-For-Father" title.)

That would be Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

Well what can I say, this is just so wrong on so many levels.

But to quote a great literary music critic
"Who needs Mary Had A Little Lamb" when your baby can rock-a-bye out to marimba renditions of Radiohead, the Beatles, Metallica, Guns N Roses, Zeppelin, Queen, U2, Journey, etc."

Actually, I'd have to say this Rockabye Baby CD covers the songs of my favorite band. Pink Floyd (and their Rockabye Baby renditions) would probably rank 4th or so on my list of favs.

Considering you lifted the Rockabye Baby tag from a Facebook post of mine, I'm going to borrow another common theme from my status updates.

Remember the good ol' days when you could get a cup of joe for a quarter? Not any longer, especially if you're drinking this specialty coffee, a pound of which can go for $140 (a single cup of the "gourmet" brew fetches $30 - $50...no bottomless-cup refills). What makes it so special, you ask? How about the fact that the beans (technically berries) have passed through the colon of a small, cat-sized mammal and exited...well, the way nature intended all digested things to exit, as illustrated here.

Coprophiliacs, rejoice!

Well that would be Kopi Luwak

Well this might seem like a strange name for a Coffee Shop in this Italian city (the one you had a problem with the bridge in), but a rose by any other name still has damn good cappuccino.


(you'll need to add the city's name, you can spell it either way)

Iris Coffee in Florence, Italy.

While you're in the city, check out the octagonal mosaic ceiling in this, one of the oldest buildings in Florence. Dante Alighieri was baptized here, and a pair of the building's world-renowned doors were once dubbed by Michelangelo as being "the Gates of Paradise."

(Oh, and to find this specific pic, you'll have to google the name of the building as it appears in the title of its wiki entry.)

That would be the Florence Baptistery or Battistero di San Giovanni


Now even one has heard of the '"Swallows" of Capistrano, but little is known of the Vespula Farfalla of Firenze that come every spring.

You know nothing beats the gelato in Florence Italy.

That would be Festibal del Gelato in Florence, Italy.

Reading the Yahoo! News article about this statue this morning immediately reminded me of the (photoshopped) Kate Moss statue tag from page 80.

Located on Interstate 75 in Ohio, this 62 foot statue of a slightly well known religious figure was erected in 2004, but was burned down to its metal frame last night thanks to the lightning bolt of a mighty and vengeful god.

(This also reminded me of Maryland's "Awakening" sculpture, making me wonder if the people who build these things don't realize that giant statues of people rising from the earth are more than a touch creepy.)

Oh, and to find this pic you'll have to search the title's colloquial name rather than its actual title.

That would be Touchdown Jesus or the King of Kings statue that was a 62-foot and stood on the east side of Interstate 75 at the Solid Rock Church.

Other names for it were,

Giant Jesus (for its size)
8-Ball Jesus
Big Butter Jesus (for its buttery color)
Big J
Super JesusMC 62-Foot Jesus (like musician MC 900 Ft. Jesus)
Drowning Jesus (Only part of Jesus' torso is depicted above the water)
Quicksand Jesus
Swamp Jesus

But my personal fav is it's current one Terminator Jesus (after it's destruction left nothing but it's internal wireframe)


(source credit Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Well I was going to do something on 800 Pound Jesus by Sawyer Brown.

But you know I just couldn't stoop that low do it.


So instead I'll ask - How's Your French?

Est un film vidéo d'Alain Chabat sorti en 1999 Chez Wam, de 61 minutes. C'est un programme de bricolage qui se distingue des autres réalisations du genre par le fait que toutes les manipulations sont effectuées par trois superbes filles en tenues généralement très légères. Bien sûr, une bonne dose d'humour « à la Chabat » arrose l'ensemble.

My French isn't too shabby...via Google Translator, that is.

That would be a movie I need to add to my queue...errr, uh, I mean Bricol' Girls.

Watching a Do-It-Yourself (no pun intended) video of super-good-looking women do everyday, fix-er-up household projects is a novel idea, but one Mr. Alain Chabat of the previous Bricol' Girls tag might have lifted from this show-within-a-show, featured on a 1990's network sitcom guest starring fence-peering Wilson from the previous post. While Pamela Anderson was the first Binford Tools spokeswoman, I'd say Debbie Dunning was the better, uh, handywoman of the two.

That would be an American television sitcom starring Tim Allen as Tim Taylor the hosted a home improvement show, called Tool Time. Home Improvement aired from 1991 to 1999 launched Tim Allen's acting career and also was the start of the television career of Pamela Anderson, who was part of the cast for the first two seasons.
(source credit Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

And you're right, Pamela Anderson was a little one-dimensional.

Well here's another one that shouldn't be that hard for you.


But in case anyone else wants to play, you're looking for this painting by a Dutch post-Impressionist painter who had a problem with sharp objects.

Who needs a crappy GIS copy of Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles when you can take a pic with the real thing? (Or at least the third version that he painted, displayed at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris.)

Speaking of works of art, there seems to be something fundamentally wrong about pitting artists of various mediums against each other in order to crown the overall best, but I have to admit, this new Bravo reality series is kind of watchable. (It doesn't hurt that they have a photoshop artist in the group...though I have a feeling he'd still get his ass kicked in Scooter Tag.)

To find this pic, you'll have to search the show's full title.

That would be "Work of Art: The Next Great Artist" Bravo's latest stroke on the reality canvas.

You're right she is and I think Keanu Reeves would agree.

Father is a restaurateur, late mother was a model/designer and her aunt is actress and one-time Bond girl.

She is of Chinese, Japanese, German, American and Scottish ancestry.

And the host of the above tag show.

The very lovely...

We've had Padma from "Top Chef," China from "Work of Art," now this model-turned-McConaughey-arm-candy who hosted the past season of a tress-filled Bravo reality show. While she's not bad on the eyes, her heavy Brazilian accent makes me want to learn Portuguese and then butcher the hell out of it out of sheer spite. Seriously, I'm all about gals with foreign accents...but listening to her speak English...no wonder McConaughey stays high all the time.

That would be Brazilian model and designer Camila Alves, who is the host of Bravo TV's reality competition show Shear Genius.

McConaughey and Alves met in 2007 and have two children together.

In this 1993 coming of age comedy, set in a small Texas town circa late 70's, McConaughey spent a good bit of it "high."

Notice also that they are obviously on the red carpet where there are flashes going off all around them constantly.

Also notice that I did a crappy job cutting out Mr. Weirdly Short Arms from the background, but was in a rush so just used the drop shadow to somewhat mask the crappy lasso job.

Matthew McConaughey in the classic Dazed and Confused, sipping on what I think is a hilariously titled microbrew "Hazed and Infused" (not a bad brew, at that).

I'm sure McConaughey's Wooderson would've gotten along well with Dale, Saul and Red from this 2008 comedy that served as homage to stoner comedies and cheesy 80's action films. I wouldn't say I'm a big fan of stoner comedies, but this is easily one of my favorite comedies of the past few years and definitely one of the highlights in the Apatow catalog. I don't think a week goes by in which my wife or I don't reference some line or another from this highly-quotable flick.