Italian. Surf. Music. Three little words, yet oh how they thrill the soul.

It's not so much that we've been avoiding you, Pop Music; it's more that, well, you've been acting all, you know, weird, lately.  What with your Lady Googoo and your Jason Beebee, and all the shouting and noise late at night.  Well, you can understand why we might want to spend more time with other, um, sort of saner types of music.

What?  Well, yeah, it is a bit of a stretch to refer to J-pop as "sane," but see, Pop honey, it's not just J-pop, but also Blues, and Alt-country, and...

What's that?  "Janelle Monae?"  Okay, we'll listen, just for old time's sake...

Oh. 

Oh, my.

Click here to see what Mustafa has to say about Pop Music these days, and also for some tangential insight into why he keeps going back to psychotic ex-girlfriends.

Languagesja>en YahooCE

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Wow. And over there: wow. Some more wow in the foreground. Not shown: wow.

What?  Two food articles in a row?  What is this, The Food Porn Blog?

Well, you know, shut up.  There's lots of stuff that Lincoln and Mustafa like.  They just happen to like food a lot. 

Especially good food, which Mi Chalateca in Federal Way, Washington, has in spades.  Click on the underlined words to read all about how the Bros went from knowing nothing at all about Salvadoran food to being completely mental for it in the space of about thirty minutes.

Everything in this photo is edible.

Mustafa has been on a bit of a diet for quite a while now, and it's working very well.  One of the keys to it is that it isn't a diet; more just a series of guidelines.

One of those guidelines is simple: Only Eat Quality.

So, when he and a friend discovered an artisanal Farmer's Market about ten minutes' drive from his home, you can imagine his level of chuffitude.  Actually, you don't even have to imagine it; you can just click here and read all about it. 

Not Shown: Giant Robot Factory.

Okay, watch this space.  We are in Japan for three whole weeks, armed with iPod Nanos and digital cameras, and as soon as we figure out how to work all this stuff, we'll have some videos and slideshows up for you to look at, including our trip to Tokyo's Motorcycle City, our Japan Beer Tasting, and lots more.  Stay tuned.

Moto Guzzi V7 Classic

Motorcycles have gotten too big. 1400cc fours. 1800cc sixes. 2000cc twins. 2300cc triples. Where is it going to end? With a motorcycling public that's been trained to believe that bigger is better, where will the new motorcyclists come from? If the bikes are too large and too heavy for a beginner, it becomes harder for potential riders to find a bike that suits them. In the early 1970s, the Honda CB350 was the best selling bike in the US. The CB750 was a superbike. Now a 750 is considered an entry-level bike. So Moto Guzzi is doing something about it. They've introduced the V7 Classic, the smallest and lightest bike in their lineup, in order to encourage new riders with a rational yet very stylish bike. Lincoln looks at it here.

Your one-stop shop for Awesome.

Mustafa proves that he isn't dead or in prison by returning to write this fascinating article about where he's been and what he's been up to.

Okay, so it turns out that nobody really cares about that, so he's also written some gibberish about eating cheaply in Japan, especially at his very favorite chain of convenience stores, Lawson Station.  It turns out that Japanese convenience stores are actually that: convenient.  Check it out right here.

Not an actual car. Yet.

What is the point of the internet? To distribute porn, of course. But what about after that? How about designing automobiles in 3D, posting them to your website and inspiring builders to turn them into metal? That's a worthy use of the internet, too, don't you think?

Looking at the output of Vizualtech, the Swedish design firm created by Bo Zolland, you can make a few simple observations: He has a powerful computer. He has a very good 3D rendering program. He has excellent artistic skills, and, tying the first three together, he has very good taste. Lincoln swoons here.

Dice. Paper. Pen. Imagination.

While rooting around inside some boxes in his garage a few days ago, Lincoln found his Traveller books. He's owned them for nearly 30 years. Somehow, from high school to the Air Force to the private sector, from England to Mississippi, Turkey, Las Vegas, Portland, and about a dozen different houses and apartments around the Puget Sound, he's managed to keep these books. It was one of his favorite games when he was in high school. To be perfectly honest, he hasn't played a game since then, yet he just can't let the books get away from him. He had a lot of fun playing this game, and it's still fun even without the game play. That's why he's kept them around all these years. Ready why here.

Yamaha SR400

When the Model A Ford went on sale in 1928, replacing the Model T after 19 years of  production, Henry Ford remarked, "The only thing wrong with the Model T was that people stopped buying it." Yamaha doesn't have that problem. They introduced the SR500 in 1978, with an SR400 model in Japan to avoid the substantially higher taxes and licensing fees for bikes over 400cc. 32 years later, people are still buying it. Lincoln waxes nostalgic here.

Ecstatic yet devout

Several years ago, Lincoln started attending local events of the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism), a non-profit educational group that celebrates and recreates the medieval way of life. His friend Mad Gordy Stax was and remains a great fan of the SCA and goes to their events on a regular basis. Lincoln has a fascination with the era, so he started going, too. There was a nice thick handbook that the SCA put out called A Handbook for the Current Middle Ages that not only explained the purposes of the organization, but gave a great amount of information to help people enjoy their time with the SCA. One of the chapters was about medieval music, and one album they strongly recommended was A Feather on the Breath of God: Sequences and Hymns by Abbess Hildegard of Bingen, recorded by Gothic Voices for the Hyperion Record Label in 1982. Lincoln bought it more than 20 years ago, and it remains one of his favorite CDs. Read about it here.

Gothic & Lolita Bible

If you know anything at all about Lincoln, you know he's not a frilly guy. Nothing he owns is pink, cute or fluffy. Nor is he a goth, dressed in black with Xmal Deutschland's "Incubus Succubus" on endless repeat. He's just a regular guy trying to make ends meet. To quote They Might Be Giants, "alienation's for the rich, and I'm feeling poorer every day." But that doesn't mean he can't appreciate a unique and coherent style. For a few years now, he's been noticing Gothic & Lolita Bible at Kinokuniya bookstore. He's never bought one, since it's in Japanese and it would be little more than a picture book to him. Granted, he does buy Japanese car and motorcycle magazines, but he drives cars and rides motorcycles. He doesn't dress like a gothloli. But when an English-language version of the magazine was finally brought to the US by Tokyopop, any remaining reservations about buying it were finally removed. Click here.

Gran Turismo for the PSP

Eleven years ago, Mustafa bought the first Gran Turismo game for the Playstation. When Lincolngot ahold of it, it was a revelation. Real cars from real manufacturers with real driving characteristics. There wasn't another racing game like it. I played it religiously. Passing the license tests, winning the races, earning the money, and most importantly, getting all the cars. That was what made it most fun. I can't afford an Aston Martin DB7, Dodge Viper, Nissan Skyline GT-R or a Chevrolet Corvette. But thanks to the game, I was able to (virtually) own each one. But it wasn't just supercars. What made the game so fun were all the regular cars. Honda Civic, Nissan Pulsar, Toyota Starlet, Mazda Demio, and other pedestrian cars were also in the game. After 4 games, a new version of Gran Turismo is now available for the PSP. It is worth your time? Do you think we'd be writing about it if it wasn't? Read it here.

Yotsuba the adventurer

Life can be pretty amazing when you're five years old. Just ask Yotsuba, the main character of Kiyohiko Azuma's current manga Yotsuba&! Every day is an adventure for her. She's just moved to the big city with her father and there is so much to discover. There's her new neighbors with three daughters for her to play with, and her dad who works at home, and there's always Jumbo to play with. A trip to the department story is full of surprises. A race to the top of the stairs at the local shrine reveals a magnificent view. There are fireworks with friends and a park to play at. There are doorbells to ring, pictures to draw, flowers to give away, fish to be caught, and the accursed Yanda to defend the house against. Yotsuba's life is full of wonder and discovery. As Lincoln explains, we could all learn something from her ability to enjoy everything.

If you've got 1.21 jigowatts, I've got 88 MPH.

DeLorean went out of business in 1983. A new company with the same name operates out of Texas and supplies spares and parts to the approximately 6500 DMC-12s still on the road. GM turned the lights out at the Delaware factory that made the much loved Pontiac Solstice sports car back in July. Can a company without a car to sell, and a car without a company to sell it find happiness in this bleak economy? Lincoln makes sure to throw in every Back To The Future pun he can think of as he dissects this latest automotive venture.

Toyobaru or not, it's hot

Toyota created an icon with the AE-86 Corolla from the mid-1980s. The hachiroku ("eighty-six" in Japanese) was light, powerful, rear-wheel-drive and affordable. It was a performance car for the Everyman. No one has built anything like it since. Toyota is in deep trouble and needs better, more exciting cars. How about a new hachiroku? After a couple of years of "wiil they, won't they", here is the FT-86 concept in the flesh. It will debut at the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show later this month, but this is almost exactly what it will look like when it goes into production in about a year's time. Lincoln discusses the details here.

Ayana and Hayate in a nutshell

Lincoln discovered Hayate Cross Blade through a wildly exuberant post at a manga forum by someone who isn't prone to wildly exuberant posts. Here it is in it's entirety:

"Hayate Cross Blade is AWESOME. Everyone needs to buy it. It's a book I'd classify as humor (and yuri) before anything else. Funny characters, great artwork (became aware of Shizuru Hayashiya thanks to the Please Teacher! manga adaptation, fell in love thanks to Sister Red), and a perfect balance of "I'll do the best I can!" and "You told me I was so great last night, too!" and "There are people I need to help!" and "Will you just get off my lap?!" and "I have to work to become better than she is!" and "Let's play with my friend, Mr. Nail Bat!" and "No logic can defeat our purpose!" and "Then you can put your thingy in my hole!"

Yuri goggles on! It's over 9000!!

Buy it. Today. Then buy it again tomorrow, too, just in case."

So Lincoln checked it out. He was right. Every single word of it.

It's snacktime with barenaked ladies! What will you have?

Children's music shouldn't be stupid, condescending or simplistic. Children are smart and will respond to music that treats them like real people. The Barenaked Ladies get this, probably because almost all of them have children of their own. Snacktime! is an album featuring 24 songs for children, but it's every bit as musically sophisticated as any album they've released for adults. It's also a fun album. Adults can listen to it just as much as children and love it every time. Don't believe Lincoln? Then go listen to it.

Nature in (slow-mo) action

Lincoln gets around to posting up the pictures he could find from his trip to Nolte State Park two years ago. It's a small park, but it was a loaded with beauty. Despite the fact that this park is quite close to where he grew up, not only had he never visited it before, he wasn't even aware it existed until the day he took these pictures. This is a good example of why you should read road signs. You never know what you might miss. Read about it here.

Don't crush it, race it.

Lincoln works on the weekends, so he doesn't get to go to any car or motorcycle shows or meets unless he takes time off from work. A few weeks ago he decided to do just that. He spent several hours hanging out with a bunch of proud Toyota owners at the 2009 Puget Sound Toyota Owners Club Meet. He had a blast. Read all about it here.

If this cow could eat you, it would.

What do Mustafa and Lincoln do when Mustafa is home after weeks on the road?  Why, they go out and try to find someplace to eat, of course.  This is rarely difficult, as the Seattle area has literally thousands of great restaurants.

Mustafa returns from the Land of the Mostly Dead to write about his most recent week at home and some of the awesome food that Los Bros managed to consume.  Remember, we're not "gluttons," we're "foodies."  We're also not "drunks," but "connoiseurs of the brewing and distilling arts," and, while we're at it, we have a "healthy admiration for beauty," which sounds a lot better than "creepy old perverts." 

We are still "geeks," however.  Click here.

It has our web address, and a great quote from Lincoln when he was all full of gin. Value!

Hey!  We have a new t-shirt design, one that is less likely to get us sued.  We wanted to have one that was all the characters from Firefly fighting Decepticons on board the Nadesico, but apparently there are all these "rules" about using other people's images to make money.  The only reason we were off the hook with the last design was because nobody bought anything.

So we fixed our end of things, and now it's your turn.  Go here and buy lots of stuff.  We have t-shirts, hats, a BBQ apron, and even a digital camera with our swell and completely legal design stamped proudly on the front.  Buy several and show your support for this whatever-it-is-we-do thing here! 

Or, if you want the experience of giving us money, but don't want any merchandise as proof of your poor taste, you can just click on the Donate button and money us up through PayPal.  Whee!

Don't feel like giving us money at all, but still want to show some love?  Click on some of the ads posted all over this site.  If you click and go take a look, then you might discover something new and cool, and our ad rates will go up.

Or just leave a message and let us know what you think.  As long as it's, you know, nice.  We have fragile, weak little egos, and also the IP tracking is turned on.