a count down to failed success...and vice versa

Existential Thoughts

2011-11-14T21:00:00.009-05:00

Laying in bed feeling super sick leads to existential thoughts, apparently. I guess coming face-to-face with mortality will do that to you. Here we go:

When you die, what will you have been known for?
Did you make a mark and affect someone?
If you answered those questions, does that mean you live for others and not yourself?
If so, who is living for you?
Who is making life decisions with the intention of shaping your thoughts of them postmortem?
Are soul-mates real?
If so, did you find yours?
Is that role finite and can it be tarnished?
When were you most happy?
What must you change to make that last answer "now?"
When is it that you feel most comfortable? Why is that?

People say to live everyday like it is your last, but is that really sustainable or even enjoyable. Frankly, I enjoy the reassurance I have from "assuming" each day is not my last. I can also assure you that if I literally lived every day like it was my last, each day following would start off that much more terribly.

Have you ever felt that each day you have gone without love, is a day wasted? When I say "you have gone without love," I mean you have gone without actively receiving love (no, not talking about sex). Because, I would think, that most of us never go a day without loving someone else...perhaps multiple someone elses. If that is the case, how do you know who to love most? Does free will exist or are we programed to love one person?

Feel free to comment.

Passing out in 5...4...3...

Photo: Alison Scarpulla

Wake Skating Legitimacy

2011-10-01T13:38:00.003-05:00

A couple weeks ago this "wake skating" video was posted on Vimeo and I had some mixed feeling about it, and still do. While it is obvious that skateboarding is the raddest of all "board sports" (hate that term, but whatareyagunnado?), all the others are all trying to imitate is as closely as possible. First you has snowboarding introducing skateparks and halfpipes, and eventually taking it to street spots by hitting handrails in snowy towns. Next you had surfing, which is ironic since that is what skateboarding spawned from in the first place, introducing shuvs, 360s, and now kickflips with smaller boards. Then of course there was the snowskate. But now wakeboarders seem like they got tired of being a 5th tier board sport and wanted to get in on this skateboarding thing...so they introduced the wake skate, which is basically a big, weird skateboard deck they are not attached to, getting pulled behind a boat. They do flip tricks that, up until now, only skateboards do.

To be fair, it is pretty impressive. They are doing some legit tricks that are hard to do on a skateboard or otherwise (frontside big heel & frontside bigflip & 720 biggerspin!) and they have the added factor of having to managing a rope in their hands (transferring it from hand to hand and not getting caught in it). It is very impressive, especially upon first view. It also makes you wonder about their consistency and how long it took them to land those trick.

Once you really begin to think about it, however, most of that is the equivalent of skating flatground to them. That have wakes to boost things off of and their landing are relatively soft (minus maybe getting some water up your nose). It is probably annoying that you have to go through the whole process of the boat coming back to get another start and with only one boat, only one person can go at a time.

There were lots of flashy thing and some pretty cool tricks, like the bigspin over canoe. But, regardless of the initial thought of it being pretty inventive, it all comes down to it simply being rich kids doing rich kid things. This is not something that anyone can do, it is a "sport" of the privileged with zero rawness and soul to it. Water sports tend to be reserved for the upper class in general, so this is not something that a kid in the hood can watch and relate to at all. It is something that is done for the simple act of impressing their peers (upper class competitive nature) and showing off to those less fortunate. I will give the dudes a pat on the back for being a little more creative with their money that others of their status, but I do not back wake skating. It is a slap in the face to the pure act of skateboarding...extreme sports jocks.

Whoomp Whoomp

2011-09-29T01:04:00.004-05:00

American Juggalo from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

There was this 23 minute short that has been circulating around the internet for the last couple days, but I just got a chance to check it out. I am super interested in Juggalo culture, as it is so bizarre and ridiculous. This doc gives a give look at what these "ninjas" are like, though I had no idea that there were straight edge juggalos. Here are some quotes that I found worth noting:

“I want to find a skinny ass little bitch, and make her fat, and we can lose weight together. And we’ll bond.”

“I’ll tell you what. A juggalo and a juggalette is someone that is down with a clown until they are dead in the ground. Ughhhh. That’s what’s up.”

“I meet this girl, who is here with her boyfriend, baby daddy…but she likes me better.”

“I’ll be here all fucking day, doing the same shit: drinking and blowing stuff up.”

“I met a brain surgeon here. He was tripping on acid.”

“I heard an old man tell me that there was nothing good left in the world. And I actually believed that shit, until I came here and seen alllllllllllllll the titties. All the weed. All the fast food. I mean, this shit the bomb.”

“It says titties for a dollar. My boyfriend wrote it. Yeah, I show my titties to everyone.”

It's All About ME!

2011-07-15T09:58:00.013-05:00

Watch me digitally beam right now...well, kinda. Been having some things happen, like getting my first (and probably last) cover on a skateboard magazine! Focus Magazine decided to use a photo that Ben Kilpatrick shot of me and sent in. Click on images to view larger.

We went to this spot one day because I figured someone could film a trick from one bench to the next one (I think Tim Bennett was on deck), and I started playing around on it, trying some trick, then realized that I was getting my ollies easily past the first bench, so I hucked a couple at the far bench, over the middle one and wasn't too far off. It got too dark that night to see what I was doing, so I went back the next day and ended up getting rained out, then went back another time and kept trying until I got too tired, then went back again and just as I was about to give up for the day, I stuck it. The landing being made of plastic made many attempts just slide across, which was tricky.

Next was the May issue of Thrasher! Ben Kilpatrick got a Skater's Eye feature and submitted a bunch of photos for them to choose from. One of the ones they selected was my 5-0 fakie in Philly from the Naysayer Tour last summer, which they ran half a page of.

Also, in the January issue of Focus, there was a tour article from our trip down south last summer, in which they ran a half page of my frontside wallride in Charlotte, NC. Here are the contents of the article.

I put together a full-length video for Naysayer called Know No (you can see it in parts here) and ended up having a little part myself:

Lastly, here are a couple other pictures Ben shot of me this year. This one is a super steep bank to wallride in Paris shot back in May.

This one is a woodjammer to fakie he shot in April, right after he moved to NYC.

Okay, that was kinda embarrassing. Enough about me, what's up with you??

Bought some Alex Pardee Prints

2011-03-06T12:54:00.007-05:00

I have gotten into buying prints lately. It started off in January when I was in Santa Monica and bought a few prints from the Multiplayer art show and continued to this past Friday when I bought four prints from Alex Pardee. The latter stemmed for wanting the Charlie Sheen "Winning" print and seeing the others that I felt I needed to acquire too. I am not yet sure where I will hand them or if I need to frame them and stuff. If so, that can get pretty expensive. We shall see. Anyway, I am actually working on an Alex Pardee feature for the Complex Art blog for next week and will post that once it is up. Here are the prints that are on their way to me now...click them to view larger.

"TIGER BLOOD"
Giclee Print
17" x 22"
Printed with Archival Inks on Acid Free Velvet Cotton Rag

"I HATE MONDAYS"
Limited Edition (of 200) Giclee
12.25" x 12.25"
Printed with archival inks on Epson Velvet Cotton Rag Paper

"URKEL JERK"
Unlimited Giclee Print
8" x 10"
Printed with archival inks on Velvet Cotton Rag Paper

"DOUBLE RAMBO"
22" x 17"
Printed with archival inks on Epson Velvet Cotton Rag Paper

New Years Resolutions

2011-01-01T11:30:00.007-05:00

I know, New Years resolutions are lame and most people give up on them within the first month (once the hype dies down). However, I have never really been one for making them and didn't feel like I really needed to. Perhaps I still don't, but I am going to do it anyway. I want to stop being so jaded to everything and take life a little less serious. I am going to be more open to things I thought were lame in the past. Sometimes lame things can be rad if you expand your mind a bit. So I settled on 10 resolutions that I am hoping to accomplish in 2011.

1. Stop missing flights.
I really need to stop doing that. I've missed 5 this year, and 3 of those were just since October. I need to start off the year right and make my flight back to NYC (I'm in Virginia Beach right now) tomorrow morning. I am so over missing my flights. Hopefully the one from 2 days ago will be my last.

2. Start making better decisions.
I've made some pretty bad decisions, I need to stop doing that too. Typically that is in regard to girls and money. This may be the hardest resolution because I tend to know that I am making a bad decision and still follow through with it. I probably won't be able to correct this 100%, but I need to try.

3. Land a frontside nosegrind in the KCDC ramp.
This has plagued me. I learned frontside nosegrinds in tranny a few months ago, but have been struggling to land it in the KCDC ramp. The ramp is quick and not very wide, which makes it a bit difficult. But I have been on it a million times and should be able to land it if I fully commit. Basically, I just need to man up and commit.

4. Travel abroad, at least once.
I haven't been out of the country in over 3 years. I need to do that this year. I am aiming for France, Indonesia, and/or Japan. If anything, Canada should count. I've never been there and it is really close.

5. Move out of Queens.
I love Queens and all, but it is about time I move on and experience another borough, such as Manhattan or Brooklyn. I've lived in Queens for a while and it is just too mellow for what I need right now. I would like to live somewhere where I can do some stuff in my neighbor hood and not have to always go to another borough to get into something.

6. Celebrate holidays more.
I used to celebrate holidays and make them into something fun, but the last fews years have seen a lack of participation from me. I might have celebrated some of them a little, but nothing too significant. Well, Valentine's Day & Halloween always got me pumped, but the others were lacking. Speaking of, I should start figuring out who is going to be my Valentine...that's the next holiday, right?

7. Learn how to play my banjo, finally.
I've had this thing for 2 years now and have made hardly any progress with it. I need to get a lesson or two and spend more time practicing. It deserves more than to sit around being neglected all the time. I always wanted to play and have the opportunity to, but just don't. Lame.

8. Get a car.
I need an escape route from NYC. I love the city, but sometimes I just need to get out. Even if it isn't far. I want to just be able to randomly decide to get in my car and drive somewhere, even if it is just PA, Jersey, Connecticut, or Upstate. I do have my grandpa's old van waiting for me in Charlotte, NC, at my mom's. At the very least, I am going to get some work done on that and use that as my mode of transportation.

9. Go snowboarding, at least twice.
I've only been on a mountain snowboarding twice ever. I have gone snowboarding in Central Park a couple times, which is fun, but not the same. I spend all the money on gear a couple years ago to motivate me, but that never happened. It is time I put that money to use and go have some fun speeding down some mountains.

10. Start a 'zine.
I know, it is going to be tough to make a good 'zine because, well, frankly, I don't have the time. But so long as I have some good help and don't try to do everything myself, I should be able to find some scraps of time between everything else to work on one. It could be a really fun project and I have been talking about doing one for years. It is time I put that into action.

Eby’s 2010

2010-12-26T23:21:00.020-05:00

There have been so many ups and downs this year I am unsure what make of it: good or bad. It has definitely been the rockiest year yet. But I made it through and am still here to tell the tale. It wasn’t easy but I have compiled a list of the 10 best and worst parts of 2010. I selected a photo from my iPhone photo library for each thing listed. Some are directly related, others were a stretch to be relevant. Let’s just jump into it…

10 Best

10. Meeting New People
Each year I meet new people and this year was no exception. I met a ton of new people this year, some of which I haven’t spoken to since our first encounter and others whom I’m in regular contact with. I sometimes go years without meeting anyone new worth mentioning, but this year was an anomaly. I would name names, but I don’t want to forget any and make any feel any less important.

9. High School Reunion
My high school wasn’t big by any means. There were about 250 students in the whole school and 60 in my graduating class. Because of this, they do not have a reunion every year for each class; instead they have one every 5 years. I decided to go down to Tallahassee, FL for the Sail High School Reunion a week and a half ago to see how everyone has been since I graduated 9 years ago and I am so glad I did. Most people look exactly the same; they just have babies, marriages, and masters degrees. I felt like I stepped back into a fun/innocent time in my life and all was good…

8. New Jobs
In this economy, anyone should be happy to even be able to hold on to their old job (which many weren’t), but I have been fortunate as of late and managed to procure 3 additional jobs…all of which I enjoy. I get to work for some fun companies and do what I love doing: Integrated Marketing for Break.com, writing for Complex.com, and Product Management for ICE (project to be announced in about 3 weeks). Plus, I get to keep running Naysayer Skateboards without any creative limitations. Work is good…

7. Naysayer Tour
While I have gone on plenty of skate trips with a friend or two, I had never gone on an actual tour before. So this past summer we set off on the first ever Naysayer Tour. It was hot, it was stressful, it was tiring, but it was an amazing experience. We got to skate some epic spots and meet some rad people. You can read more about it in the article I wrote for Focus here.

6. Forgiveness
I am not one to hold grudges generally, but it does happen. People do things that are telling of who they really are and you alter your relationship with them, which is natural. However, you can usually forgive them, depending on what the things were. Someone, whom I trusted very much, blew it and did/said some harsh things to me. I didn’t think I would be able to forgive them, but with time and attempts at making amends, I was able to, which was a pretty big deal. While I may never trust them as I once did, I do forgive them. There are other instances of forgiveness throughout the year that I won’t get into for the sake of being concise, but I think it is telling of my personal development as adult.

5. Good Friends
I cannot say that I am a good friend to anyone. I mean, I want to be. I try sometimes. But at the end of the day, there is not too much specific proof of me being one. However, that hasn’t stopped my friends from being there for me when I needed them. When I had to get out of my living situation a few months back, a few of them had my back without hesitation. Shout out to Raffie, Phil, Jimmy, and especially Budi & Tanty. You all are the best. There are so many other instances of friends looking out for me that it will be impossible to list them all, but even though I don’t see them that often, I know they are there and appreciate them all.

4. Jah
My sister, Parvaneh, gave birth to my 3rd nephew this summer. His name is Jah and he is the cutest little guy. He was born only a few days after seeing my sister in passing on tour, so I just missed him but finally got to meet him last month. Sure, I did try to make sure my sister knew all her options when she got pregnant on accident, and the abortion option was made to sounded the most appealing, but it was her decision. While I don’t regret doing what I did, I do love the little guy as much as my other nephews (and my niece from my other sister) and am glad he is here…just would have rather him showed up later when situations were better. He is a happy baby though…all smiles.

3. Kocik
I love my cat. Well, she is my ex’s cat, but I lived with her for over 4 years and spent a lot of time with her. She used to snuggle up to me all the time and kept me company hour after hour each day/night. She is an amazing cat and she is going to be 18 years old in February. I still get to visit and spend time with her regularly, which is amazing. She makes me happier than any person. My next tattoo is going to be a portrait of her.

2. Some Girl
Boy meets girl. Girl lives far away. Girl visits boy. Things are great. Boy visits girl. Things are great. Things end. Was a great highlight of the year, but I won’t get into any details. Thanks for the memories, girl.

1. Skateboarding
I am pretty sure this has been the top thing of every year for the last 13 year. Well, at least it has been in the top 2. Bboying may have beaten it out for a year or two. A girl may have beaten it out for a year or two (though she wouldn’t agree with that…I suck). Either way, Skateboarding is amazing, even when it is bad (isn’t that what they say about sex?). Most of the monumental moments of the year have involved skateboarding, and it has kept me grounded and sane through some pretty intense stuff this past year. It is always there for me and always will be. Skateboarding = <3.

10 Worst

10. Filming
I do like filming. I may not be the best at it, but I enjoy it on my own terms. However, some people like to take advantage of that. It is my fault for allowing that, but perhaps I saw these guys as homies and wanted to help them get footage, but at the end of the day, why? They never want to just skate or hang otherwise. It’s pretty lame. I am over filming now, though that is mostly because I have no time to do so.

9. Waiting On People
I have grown extremely impatient with age. I hate waiting on people to do things, which is why I do not have a specific group of regular friends. I go to events alone and go skating alone a lot because I want to just make moves and I know I will run into other along the way or those I would have been waiting on can catch up. While NYers can be pretty slow to make moves, it is nothing compared to people from the south or California…so I guess it could be worst. I want to say that I need to work on my patience, but I don’t have the luxury of time to do so…not sure how everyone else does.

8. Bus To Charlotte
While I do occasionally take the bus to Philly to skate, I haven’t really taken a long bus ride in a while (Philly is 2 hours), other than that trip to Boston where a 4-hour bus ride took 8 hours due to traffic. A month ago I decided to take the bus from NYC to Charlotte, NC to visit family. After all, it was $70 round trip. You couldn’t beat that price. However, it took 12 hours each way and I couldn’t sleep either way. Then, halfway back the driver falls asleep at the wheel and almost flips the bus. I though I was going to die. Not doing that again. Only flying and renting cars from now on for anything over 4 hours away.

7. Autumn Bowl Closure
I miss the Autumn Bowl. After 7 years, it finally shut it doors about 3 months ago due to issues with rent. I was a key holder and while I didn’t skate it as much as I should have, it was always there for me to skate when I had the urge. Be it 4am alone, on a rainy/snowy day, or at a party with a thousand people crammed in there, it was always a good time. I got broke off more times than I care to remember, but I also landed some things I am so stoked on. There was nothing like the feeling on long 50-50s on the worn in pool coping or 5-0ing around the hip.

6. Lacerated Kidney
I have been fortunate enough to go 13 years of skateboarding without ever requiring a hospital visit due to an injury (I have had to go to the hospital for other injuries, just not from skateboarding). But this year broke that streak. Amy, of KCDC, ask about 18 of us to go skate this 8 foot miniramp in this art gallery in Chelsea for this art installation, so it looked skated, not as performance art. We were to skate it for 4 hours or so. During the last hour my foot slipped off while on the coping and I fell from the top straight to flat with my elbow into my ribs. It knocked the wind out of me and I could hardly breathe for 5 minutes. I went home and was peeing blood so decided to go to the hospital. Turns out I lacerated my kidney and was bleeding internally. Had to stay over night for tests, observation, and to flush my system out. I got to keep my kidney though and was skating again after 3 weeks.

5. Instability
This past year has been a year full of instability. While I am not resistant to change generally, this year was full of change. The only constant was change itself. It can be a bit much at times. Going through change with someone else is much easier, but this year I had to do it all alone. Was pretty draining and lonely at times.

4. Stress
I kinda let Organized Konfusion down this year. “Crush, Kill, Destroy Stress!” Stress came from all angles this year, many of which were mentioned in other points in this list. I was able to handle the stress pretty well over all, but there were times that it was overwhelming. I typically cry (at most) once a year, but this year the stress (some of which was emotionally driven) caused that number to be multiplied many times over.

3. Creativity Lost
I like to think of myself as a creative person. Both personally and professionally. While this is a side effect of other things, it is still an occurrence worth mentioning…I have been creatively inadequate this year. This includes ideation as well as artistically. I have not done any art I am happy with this year and I have struggled for creative, unique, & original concepts in 2010. I know too much other stuff on my mind has clouded the creative process.

2. “Relationships”
I have always sucked at relationships, but this year was an all time low. I wrote about this before so I will not repeat myself, but this is something I do plan on remedying. Or trying. Though that is probably useless since I should just accept how I am and find a girl who can also…poor girl. Though I really need to not have a relationship for a while for my own good as well as the good of the girl.

1. Love
I can’t handle it.

2011
This coming year is to going to be a great one. I see it coming. Everything is already set for this to be my best year yet. Productivity is at an all time high, I only have myself to take into account when making any life decisions, money is good, and skateboarding will be there as always. I also plan on doing a lot of traveling, perhaps even going abroad a couple times or so (Indonesia again, maybe, and France…maybe Japan?). Plus, lots of domestic travel, hopefully monthly. 2011 will be the year of me. Looking forward to it.

Work, Skate.

2010-12-12T12:09:00.004-05:00

Life has been pretty wild lately, but this is only the beginning. As of tomorrow I will technically have 4 jobs, which will be intense, but the good kind of intense. They are all very different will all give me varying degrees of professional fulfillment (I enjoy all of them). While I have been trying to update this blog more, I am worried it will suffer another lull, however. One of my jobs is doing freelance writing for the Complex Magazine Art Blog. My first article went up the other day for that: The Top 10 Skateboard Artists Right Now. It was a fun article to write, albeit a bit difficult to find good graphic resources to pull from. Also, since it is to reflect the Complex branding, my intro was altered a bit to be in the Complex voice, which is understandable. Perhaps I should integrate "put on ice" into my vernacular? I quite enjoy writing and and stoked on the opportunity to write for them on the side, most of which will be about skateboarding and art.

Aside from work stuff, I have been trying to skate as much as possible, though the rain and cold are always conspiring against me. On Thanksgiving Day, I met up with my homie, Tarela, and we went out to skate, only to be rained out of the first spot, so we went with plan b and headed to some covered spots, the first of which was in Brooklyn and the second in Manhattan. I just threw together a quick edit of some footage we were able to get.

Thanksgiving 2010 from Eby Ghafarian on Vimeo.

I had some other stuff to write about, but since that clip^^ is finally done uploading, I am going to take advantage of my time and go skate some spot safe from the rain for a bit and perhaps I will find some time to get back to it. I am going to Florida in a few days, so expect more content from there...

Skate Journalists

2010-11-26T12:36:00.003-05:00

Remember when skateboard magazines had writers? As in they actually staffed people with a specific journalistic skill set to write interesting, coherent articles that held their weight against the photos. They went on tours with teams and while sometimes their writings had nothing to do with skateboarding at all, it was usually at least entertaining. To me, Dave Carnie was the pinnacle of skateboard journalists. In his Big Brother days, many times his articles were better than the photos that accompanied that (not to discredit the photos). However, in the last 5-10 years, probably in an effort to cut costs at the sake of synergy, the skateboard journalist has become a dying breed. There are few left as magazines have been tasking photographers to write the articles in addition to taking the photos. If not the photographer, they will pawn it off on the team manager of whatever them the article is about or skateboarders themselves. While this may seem like a good idea from a cost perspective, it is a terrible idea when weighing the hit on quality the magazines have taken. But skateboarders don't read the articles anyway, right? Sigh. The thing about having photographers, TMs, & skaters write the articles is that most of them never even finished high school, much less went to college or know anything about writing. I know that doesn't mean they can't write a good articles...but have you read an articles in a skate mag lately?! While I used to look forward to the photos AND articles, now I, sadly, only look forward to the photos. There are some photographers that write good articles, like Kevin Barnett (Thrasher), but it is pretty rare. The same goes with TMs and skaters. There are a select few that I get stoked on, but if I read another article about not knowing what to write about, I am going to go crazy. The standard is something akin to:

So and so hit me up to write this article/intro about [insert subject matter]. I couldn't figure out what to write. Blah Blah Blah...

I may be a bit of a hypocrite, because I'm not the best writer, but I do love to write and try to put a real effort in. I have my first article published in the latest issue of Focus in regard to the Naysayer Tour. It isn't a master piece, but I tried to at least make it entertaining. You can read it here. And that is all I ask for in an article. We need more Dave Carnies, more Chris Nieratkos...and someone, please hire Kosta (from Quartersnacks) to write for a skate mag (Skateboarder?).

Football Culture

2010-11-24T00:47:00.013-05:00

So this past Sunday I was visiting family in Charlotte, NC and decided to accompany my dad to the Carolina Panthers vs. Baltimore Ravens game. He has had season tickets for the Panthers ever since they were first established and I have gone to games with him in the past, but I was younger and was less suspect of organized sports and the fan culture clinging to them. This time was different. I was well aware of the bizarro world of the NFL by the time I even entered the stadium. Here are some of the observations I made.

While sitting in the stands it is easy to get confused and think there are other football players sitting amongst you. They all have the jerseys on with their name and numbers (lots of people with the same names and numbers, though), and most of them are big guys. I would think: Why are they sitting here? To be accessible to the fans? To enjoy the game while they are off? I was sure they were players from the teams because they kept saying "we" when referring to the team. However, do not be misled, as I was. These are not actually football players. They are fan that just dress like them. And the bigness is fat, not muscle. These people might touch a football once a year, on a good year.

As a kid, my mom used to yell at people in movies to warn them of impending danger. I never understood this tactic because 1) they can't hear her through the TV, 2) it wasn't live, & 3)they were just actors. At these football games, all of a sudden everyone is a coach. They are yelling at the players to do this and to stop that. While this is live, there is no way the players can hear them, though that doesn't deter these fans from screaming what they would have done if they were a bit younger with a higher muscle/body fat ratio.

I guess you cannot enjoy football sober. Beer is a huge part of the football culture. I guess that is why everyone enjoying it was drunk, and as the only sober person, I did not find it the least bit entertaining. This drunkenness led to nonstop sexual harassment of the fairer sex. Every woman was a target for advances and requests to take their clothes off. But instead of being insulted, it genuinely seemed as though these ladies enjoyed the attention. I guess if you are a woman going to a football game, it is par for the course.

"Why would you wear a Steelers jersey and not expected to get boo'ed?!" I know competition is the hugest defining factor of sports, but the fans are ruthless. They trash talk each others team (Panther fans called Ravens fans Dirty Birds). They take everything personal and each victory and failure of the team is that of each fan. What your team did is what you did.

Football is a gender identification. Most of these fans need it to prove that they are men with testosterone. They need the cheerleaders, the beer, the tailgating, the big men in small tights, etc. I think most of these men would be lost without sports. It gives them "athletes" to live vicariously though, enabling them to feel like real men.

Obviously there are exceptions to these rules, but I do not see the appeal and am lost as to why so many people enjoy it. But I guess non-skateboarder can say the same thing about skateboarding.

I'll leave off with some of the remaining photos I snapped with my phone while at the game.

Charlotte's Web

2010-11-21T01:03:00.006-05:00

Charlotte - 11/20/2010 from Naysayer Skateboards on Vimeo.

With Thanksgiving approaching and being unable to visit my family at the time, I decided to come down to Charlotte, NC a week early. I meet up with Drew and some of his homies today for some skating and filmed a few things on my digicam before it died...and, of course, I left the charger back in NYC. So I decided to just edit what I got from today since I won't be able to film anything else with it during the trip. I also shot these photos at the last spot after bashing my shin real bad, making me unable to skate at the time. Blogger is uploading the photos weird, so just click on them to see them bigger. Enjoy.

a count down to failed success...and vice versa

2010-11-11T22:59:00.002-05:00

As time moves on, the count down to failed success and vice versa has become more apparent. Failure is inevitable and has become more of an expectation than a possibility. It all goes back to the start of my career and adult relationships, but has been on full blast the last year or two. Now before I continue, I should state the obvious. This blog has traditionally been heavily skate focused, though there has been some coverage of culture, music, art, etc. However, it has also been neglected. That is mostly due to a lot of skate focused things being posted through Naysayer and so much coverage all over, that why would anyone care what my take is on it? So moving forward, while I will still cover some things about skateboarding, this blog will also be a bit more personal. So be warned. You may not know me and thus not care, you may know me and still not care, but maybe you are a bit voyeuristic (as I would assume most are) and follow along out of pure curiosity. With that said, let the show begin.

Failure. Not succeeding. At least it implies going for it and trying, right? I definitely would admit that I put effort into anything I do. Some might say I put too much effort in and try too hard, but I try to give everything all I have. After graduating NYU and beginning my career in advertising, I immersed myself so much into it that I worked unnecessarily long hours for years, learning all that I could, and trying to advance my professional growth at the quickest rate possible. And with that I was successful. I was rewarded and validated. Things looked optimistic. However, for all the effort I put into my career, something even more important was not being properly cared for. At the time, I was simultaneously starting what would become my most long-term relationship to date. Things started off amazing and progressed well. After a year, we moved in together, we were in love, and were building a future together. However, I have a way of ruining things that were or could have been great (failure, this will be a reoccurring thing). As I focused on work, and made time to skate outside of that, she was left with my scraps. We had our ups and down, but as the years went on and my career advanced, our relationship suffered. I don’t know why she hung around for so long. I guess it comes down to love. She loved me, and I loved her. It was apparent. But as she always said: love is not enough. After 5 years, love really was not enough and we broke up. She did nothing wrong, she simply wanted more of my time and I remained selfish and refused to give it to her. I ruined what could have been a great thing.

Fast forward 6 months and I meet another girl. My life is very different, she is very different, and our situation is very different. I have more available time, but she lives 700 miles away. This time she is the busy one. Work, a band, hobbies, social life. Things were great, despite the distance. We communicated regularly. She visited me, I visited her. Things were looking up…but the roles ended up getting reversed, in a way. While there were strong feelings involved, we were not a couple and agreed to not set any expectations. This is where I fail again. As her times became less available, I grew antsy and demanded more of it than she could/cared to provide (sound familiar?). Instead of allowing things to be and accept them as they were I felt the need to confront her with things we agreed wouldn’t be issues. I had created expectation without her consent and made a natural, yet inconsistent thing into something serious and unnecessarily finite. So my knack for ruining thing had reach a new low of spoiling something that shouldn’t have even been spoilable. How about them apples?!

I guess I could segue into my fails in other aspects of my life. Like some bad career choices, lost friendships, an alienated family, and, most recently, somehow killing the firewire port on my MacBook (chill, even the small things count). But I will not delve any further into those things. I will just accept the fact that life is but a count down to failed success…and successful failure (vice versa)…for me. This is the thing. I am successful and good at certain things. In my career, I am a great marketer and know how to strategically engage an audience with an advertiser through media platforms. In skateboarding, I know how to work my niche and have built a brand with a ton of potential. I may not be the best skateboarder, but I go for it and find success in the failures I make. Those are the two things I have going for me. Despite all my failure, I have marketing and skateboarding, haha. Now to figure out how to not ruin great things with great girls…

Eby's Clearance Rack Footage

2010-11-05T01:47:00.004-05:00

So I was going through my footage and realized that I had a bunch that I would not use in any real part or anything, mostly because it was too old, sketchy, or whatever. So I decided to do what I periodically do with my footage and that is purge it in the form of a "throwaway" clip. The irony is that this is my third one and I have still yet to put out a part proper...not sure what that indicates exactly. Well, here it is...

Vehicle City

2010-10-14T10:06:00.002-05:00

If you have ever seen a Michael Moore movie or show, or have read one of his books, you are familiar with his hometown of Flint, Michigan. It was a town booming decades ago due to General Motors presence but was left without a leg to stand on when they abandoned the city for foreign soil, to save on costs. Anyway, while the town has suffered a slow death, there are still people there that keep skating, despite the condition of their boards. I went over there recently and some really rad people. I decided to throw together a clip from some of the skating I found myself among. This clip features myself (Eby Ghafarian), Christina McCollum (Polly), Stephen McCollum, & Kickflipping Kurt. I used the first recorded track from Polly's band Cheerleader. It is called "You're Not That Comfortable." You can find them on Facebook. Enjoy!

Flint, MI from Naysayer Skateboards on Vimeo.

Dork around footage

2010-06-02T13:34:00.000-05:00

30-30 on the thirty-first from Eby Ghafarian on Vimeo.

How You Philling?

2010-03-24T07:18:00.005-05:00

Here is a clip from a trip I took down to Philly last weekend to drop some Naysayer boards off at Exit Skateshop and skate with the Gnarhammered Crew. Nabi came through the second day from NYC to skate. Enjoy!

Beware of Sasquatch Review

2010-02-26T18:38:00.006-05:00

The Sasquatch/Bigfoot/Yeti, whatever you want to call the beast, has reportedly been spotted in the Pacific Northwest as far back as the 1800s. While shunned by the scientific community and tarnished by hoaxers, there are still so many unanswered questions about this ape-man. Twenty-three years ago, the Henderson family from Seattle unconventionally befriended and domesticated one of these creatures, naming him Harry. While things seemed great at first, this was a creature of the dark woods, not a human, and the Hendersons reluctantly acknowledged this. They heart-breakingly sent him on his way, crushing his spirit and trust of humans. He hasn’t been seen since…until the skateboarding documentary “Beware of Sasquatch” emerged the other day! Harry was back for retribution and the crew of Seattle skateboarders, headed by Brandon Jensen, was an unfortunate casualty to his broken heart. One by one, he slayed each skateboarder mercilessly…and it was all caught on film!

However, the documentary sheds light on the skateboarders, themselves, laying waste to spot after beautiful spot in the Northwest, leading up to their demise. First on the chopping block was Ken Takayama. What a wasted fate. Ken was an amazing skateboarder with a clean laid back style. It was as though he wasn’t even trying, just floating down big sets of stairs and gliding across ledges with ease. Perhaps that was his problem. Sasquatch can be a bit insecure. Plus, his frontside tailslide hardflip out (don’t ask) was the icing on the cake. Next came Dan Ching. Have you ever tried to smith grind a brick out-ledge? Dan Ching actually did successfully. I understand that murder. He must have been a witch or something to land that, and the world is better off. The next victim was Andy Tomich. He never had a chance to escape with how slow he went. However, his techy many maneuvers and reverts out of a lot of his tricks I am sure stunned sasquatch momentarily…not to mention his 360 shuvs out of his nose mannies. Mike Lind almost escaped when he crooked popped over the inside of that “L” ledge. He even dazed him with some nicely executed bigspins out of his ledge tricks, but alas, it wasn’t enough to spare him from doom. Then in a strange twist of fate, Vince Del Valle was forsaken by the movie gods by resembling Adam Alfaro very closely. See, ever since Sasquatch appeared on screen and never got a nomination by the Academy, he declared war on the industry…an industry Adam Alfaro is a part of. So while Vince was never mean for the kill, he fell as a great ditch skater. He skated through life fast and confident, smoking the whole way…and he crashed and burned in a similar fashion when he encountered the sasquatch. It was a pleasure watching the lead up and was disappointing to see his downfall. In another strange twist of fate, the sasquatch was enchanted by Merritt Harburg Little’s amazing kickflips over shopping carts and ally-oop backside flips on banks. But what set him off was the music. He was not a fan of 1349’s “Sculpture of Flesh” and it’s unsavory juxtaposition with the pleasant skateboardery…so he made a sculpture of flesh of his own out of Mr. Little. Adversely, he dug “Gerry Rafferty’s “Right Down the Line” resonating from Casey Geldermann’s skating. However, there wasn’t much memorable about the part and the switch mongo pushing set Sasquatch off. Casey tried rubbing his own head for luck when he switch flipped 50-50ed the hubba as his ender hoping for mercy, but that mercy never came. Josh Gunnerson tried appeasing the beast by nollie flipping off the side of a ledge to manual a sidewalk, but his switch mongo pushing was also his demise. Sasquatch is not down with that. Brendan Bonney came out strong with a nollie double flip to fakie on a bank. The beast couldn’t figure out how that was possible as he had trouble with single nollie flips. Brendan was strategic with his trick selection for any given spot and it was a great implementation, but you can’t out think this yeti. Good try, Brendan, but so long. Then along came David Gravette who actually had the gall to put out 3 parts in something like 3 months! So what if the footage was still sick (even though most of it was probably leftovers and recycled footage), so what if the ender trick was very impressive. Bigfoot doesn’t like a showoff! You could have spread it out, but now look at you…just a stain on the forest floor. Next to appear was the less gnarly, more tech Garrett Hill: Sean Harris. While he tried to expedite his flee by taking the quick route down stairs (handrails), backside noseblunted ledges along the way popped out of frontside nosegrinds on flat rails and backside bluntslid through hubba corners, he was eventually apprehended and dealt with. Resistance is futile, Sean. Lastly was Girl’s new wonder kid, Cory Kennedy. A little known fact is that he is a wizard and every sasquatch hates wizards. You want to know how I know he is a wizard? He can casually kickflip bs noseblunt/bs smith/fs crook things in lines, he levitates and gets his tricks to get higher as he is going down things (you are going down the stairs or gaps, Cory, stop pretending you are doing them over something…well, don’t, really). You know those weird flatground tricks he did in the Battle at the Berrics like nollie front-foot flips, or switch frontside 360 heelflips? Well, he does them over and down things in the real world. Wizard!

It was a great production and while the deaths were tragic, there was a lot of happiness spread throughout. Crook pop-overs, big heels (fakie, nollie, switch), and ledge to ledge trick combos were scattered about. While some of the filming was over-exposed or sketchy, a lot of it was filmed very well and the aesthetics of the Northwest (ivy, nature, brick, etc.) made up for anything in excess. There is something magical about that area. Tragically magical. I know I will Beware of Sasquatch next time I am in the area!

I recommend this video to be added to any skateboarder’s collection. From banks to tranny to rails to manuals to ledges to gaps to flatground and everything in-between, there is something that will appeal to everyone. Support a rad independent video and order one here. I’m stoked I did!

Here is a clip from the bonus section of the video:

A Present

2010-01-29T16:47:00.007-05:00

If you haven't been following what I have been doing with Naysayer, check out the site or Facebook. It has been eating up most of my computer time, leaving very little for this old dog, er, blog. Well, I have a present. I finally got around to capturing some footage from a night of skating the mini at the Autumn Bowl last month and put this clip together, sans music.

Also, if you haven't been following Naysayer, you probably missed the promo that I put together. It is the biggest video project I have undertaken solo (editing-wise, others helped film) and I am pretty happy with it. Watch it, please.

Naysayer Skateboards - In An Asian Accent (A Promo) from Naysayer Skateboards on Vimeo.

Interwebs

2009-12-16T10:14:00.004-05:00

So updates have been pretty slow on here, but that is mostly due to Naysayer taking up so much of my time. I am not going to just let this blog die, but I also won't be updating it too often...until I can afford to get more help with Naysayer. Anyway, here are some things you should check out:

Western Edition's Ten Year Anniversary Montage

Western Edition 10 Year Video from Western Edition on Vimeo.

Nozbone Skateshop in Paris, France put out a pretty awesome video and posted it online for a free download.

Lil' Wayne and Eminem just put out a track together. There is no video in this clip, just audio, but it is pretty good. I can't image how the radio edit would sound, however. Let's hope the censors go the Snakes on a Place route for some LOLs.

The Boston Globe is putting out a year in pictures for 2009, and the first installment has some pretty epic photos. This one was my favorite:

Mashable posted their top ten viral videos. Some you have probably seen, some you may not have. Most are impressed by this bike one (though I liked the Signs one best):

Some Eye Candy

2009-11-17T11:10:00.007-05:00

Here is some old Frank Gerwer footage from back when he lived in Long Island.

I was skating KCDC yesterday and this new dude from the midwest, Tim Bennett, was working there. He skated the ramp and watching him was one of the funnest things. He has a bunch of fun tricks that he pulls out of nowhere in rad lines on the miniramp. Here is some footage I found of him skating LES with some other guys, he is second to last:

While you are watching all these clips, why not watch Jason Adams get rad in in this part they posted on Strange Notes?

I also got my coffin of goodies from the Osiris/Corey Duffel Contest win. It includes: a Foundation board, some Pig wheels, Venture trucks, a couple hoodies, a few shirts, some Skull Candy headphones and ear buds and speaker dock for an iPod, a bunch of stickers, some leather belts I can't wear, a bag big enough to hold a complete, 2 pair of shoes, and 2 vouchers for shoes. Not bad at all. Here are some flicks.

New Clip from Jimmy

2009-11-14T00:29:00.000-05:00

FUck You from nyc inside my head from jimmy marketti on Vimeo.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

2009-11-06T11:35:00.002-05:00

Here is a short clip of me skating some parking blocks this summer. Includes a cameo of Trevor Sias, of Open Skateboards.

Curb Your Enthusiasm from Eby Ghafarian on Vimeo.

Bummer in the City

2009-10-30T21:13:00.002-05:00

Click on the Image above to view.

It is a pretty decent quality, so give it some time to load. Otherwise, just watch the Vimeo version here:

Bummer in the City from Naysayer Skateboards on Vimeo.

Oh yeah, and Valentin Jutant filmed Hadrien, just didn't have his name in time to add it to the video.

Naysayer Skateboards

2009-10-29T11:55:00.004-05:00

So the "thing" I have been talking about is officially more than a thing now. Please welcome out of the womb, Naysayer Skateboards. I have been been planning this company for probably 5 years now, though the original plans where to do it in 2010. Well, I decided not to wait that extra year and just go for it now. Don't worry, it isn't just a "good idea" I had one day, just to get bored with and and let it fade out the next. I am all in on this one. Check out the site and have a look around. Our team is legit and our wood comes from Chapman (out of Long Island).

The Halloween video I have been working on is going to be a Naysayer clip and is coming together nicely. I posted some photos from some of the madness on the site but here are some samples.

Drehobl to Fakie

2009-10-23T15:12:00.003-05:00

Of course I recently entered the Thrasher "Drehobl to Fakie" Contest (since I enter all that stuff) and they posted the montage and winners today. You can watch it here. I ended up getting fourth place, plus Leonard and Dylan James got some footage in the montage. Leonard at 1:01 and Dylan at 1:18. The guy who won it definately deserved it though. His last trick was hairball to say the least.

Speaking of hairball, here is Vince Del Valle's part from the new Black Label video (God Save the Label). Note his ender...wow.

Vince Del Valle from Black Label Skateboards on Vimeo.

Pending Entertainment

2009-10-16T14:38:00.003-05:00

I spend some time working on the elusive barrier clip and it is coming out pretty well. It is mostly edited (minus Leonard's footage I am waiting on). I just need to work on some color correction and figure out a song. This progress, especially when you factor in times when months have gone by without so much as filming a single clip for it. It will feature skateboard maneuvers by myself, Alan Siegler, Conor Fay, Leonard Houx, Taji Ameen, Dylan James, Greg Pachell, and many others.

In other news, check out the trailer for YOUGOTTAGETTHAT! featuring Scotty Moore, Kyle Berard, Gilbert Crockett, Bobby Worrest, Mike Peterson, Dan Murphy, Brett Abramsky, and others. It looks sick and I am looking forward to seeing it. It is heavily southeast skewed.

Another independent video that is coming out soon is Flow Trash. It is out of the Twin Cities and looks proper. The guys that made it are the same guys that made Boondoggle. I am not sure who any of the skaters are other than Davis Torgerson, but that doesn't really matter. Watch the promo and get hyped:

And lastly, for you vegan's out there trying to figure out what skate shoes are animal friendly, I emailed Emerica and Adidas to ask but only Emerica responded and here is their current list:

Francis Black Tan
Francis Lo White Purple Gold
Laced White
Laced White Purple Gold
Mob Black White Red
Reynolds 3 Royal White
Reynolds Cruisers Navy White Gold
Reynolds Cruisers White Purple Gold
The Archer Animal
The Archer Black Blue Purple
The Archer Black Pink
The Archer Light Grey

Some excuses and (empty?) promises...

2009-10-14T08:49:00.003-05:00

So, I am pretty stoked on skateboarding these days...but that usually comes from doing it a lot, and also do other things involved with it (more details on that coming soon). Eitherway, I am still working on the barrier clip. I know, I have been saying that for months. The reason it has been taking so long is because, frankly, not too many can skate barriers and those that can don't really want to all that much. This has resulted in the footage coming in very slowly...and everyone I skate with thinking I pretty much only like to skate barriers. A few more tricks were filmed the other day, now I am just waiting to see what Leonard can send me before I finish it.

Speaking of Leonard, watch this and hold on to your jaw!

I am also about to begin working on this year's Halloween clip, which will be posted on Halloween day (no pushing that one back). It should be fun times with good people and rad scenarios. Remember last year's?

Well to hold you over, though there is a good chance you already have seen these, here are some clips I have liked a lot recently:

Elwood - Dressin' for Recession East Coast Tour Video

Toebock's Daf Oregon Montage

Fourstar's Euro Tour:

Gang Of Fourstar from Crailtap on Vimeo.

Bob!

That's not true.

Act like a cat.

So So Vegan.

Oh yeah, Pharmacy is working on a new video!

From the big city to the smaller big city

2009-09-30T08:20:00.003-05:00

Here is some footage from recent trip to Philly a week and a half ago where Maurice and I met up with the Gnarhammered Crew. We saved a few clips to be used in other things (one of those things being the barrier clip, which I am still working on). Edited to Mr. Lif - Arise.

Same Tricks, Different Spots

2009-09-18T08:34:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned a couple posts back, Lesque Skateboards came to NYC recently. Well, last night, the photographer, RiO, sent over some photos he took of me while they were here. Here they are:

Eby - BS 5-0 over the hump at the Autumn Bowl

Eby - BS Pivot to Fakie in Greenpoint, BK

Eby - Blunt Fakie in Green Point, BK

Eby - FS Pivot to Fakie in Green Point, BK

Skatopia Bonus Round

2009-09-15T11:34:00.004-05:00

Via Gnarhammered.

While I was on Gnarhammered, I found this video that made me smile and verified that Louie Barletta is my favorite skateboarder. Watch it and get psyched about skateboarding...even if you don't skateboard.

Charles Lamb, Ben Kilpatrick, & Itoshin

2009-09-14T15:56:00.005-05:00

48 Blocks just put up interview with NYC's own Charles Lamb. Read the interview here. In addition to the interview, they posted this full part of unseen footage of Charles from NYC and Europe.

Charles Lamb from 48BLOCKS.COM on Vimeo.

While you are at it, check out the new shop the guys at 48 Blocks opened in downtown SF, aptly named DWNTWNSF. They are going to be launching a web store this week, but in the meantime, if you are in SF or visiting SF soon, stop by and say hello...perhaps buy some skate goods. With this addition to the SF skate marketplace, their scene is on lock, alongside FTC and the DLXSF Store.

This is Ben Kilpatrick. He has some proper pop and his backside 5-0s can hang with anyone, but he is most know for his photos. You may have already seen his stuff from when I posted the photos he took of me, if not, go look through his Flickr Stream now. Then you can say you knew of him before he was larger than Atiba.

A couple weeks ago I showed some of the guys from Lesque Skateboards (out of Tokyo) around Brooklyn, starting at the Autumn Bowl, then the Greenpoint barrier, etc. Here are some of the photos on their blog. They even shot a photo of me doing a blunt fakie on the barrier:

This is from their last day, when I was unable to meet up with them but sent them a list of spots and how to get to them. Itoshin, the owner and main pro, was killing it the whole time. They put out a video called Endless Questions and Itoshin had an amazing part. Skating with him, one is to be amazed by his consistency and smooth style. Here is his Endless Questions part.

Eby Ghafarian- FS Pivot Fakie

2009-09-08T22:35:00.002-05:00

Eby Ghafarian- FS Pivot Fakie, originally uploaded by BenKphoto.

Here is the second photo Ben took of me yesterday. I went back today to get the footage. Stoked!

Eby Ghafarian- Blunt fakie

2009-09-08T00:43:00.002-05:00

Eby Ghafarian- Blunt fakie, originally uploaded by BenKphoto.

I'm back in my hometown of Tallahasse, FL to visit with friends and skate. Ben Kilpatrick is the premiere skate photographer in town and was kind enough to take some photos of me skating today. Here is one.

Skatopia Video

2009-08-28T19:10:00.002-05:00

So Ginger posted the Skatopia over on Gnarhammered. Here it is:

Skatopia Trip from Greg Pachell on Vimeo.

Skatopia – Sk8 or Git!

2009-08-27T10:10:00.003-05:00

This past Saturday, I found myself waking up shortly after 5am, trekking down to Chinatown, just barely catching the 7am bus to Philly to meet up with the Gnarhammered crew for a road trip. This was no ordinary road trip, however; this was a road trip of epic proportions. This was a road trip to SKATOPIA! Now for those of you unfamiliar with Skatopia, imagine a hippy commune, minus the hippies. Imagine an anarchist collective of some of the sketchiest guys you have ever met. Imagine a farm with no crops but instead filled with the gnarliest bowls, a full pipe, and in-progress concrete park. Imagine a junk yard with no actual junk, minus smashed and burnt up cars. Imagine the least peaceful wilderness in the middle of nowhere Ohio. Now imagine yourself there for 4 days camping in an area by the name of “Fatty Hollow” outside of a makeshift cabin belonging to a guy named Convict. Welcome to Skatopia. Bring your balls and leave your reluctance and social norms at the door.

Convict
After driving for 8 or so hours from Philly, we got a little lost less than a mile from Skatopia and turned down the wrong street. As we were turning around a car passed by and a guy got out claiming to live there, introducing himself to us as Convict and calling us dumb-dumbs. This wasn’t your typical skateboarder that you would imagine living there; this guy looked like a convict with the gnarliest teeth and a Slipknot shirt on. The car he got out of left and he said he would just ride with us…we were terrified. As he crawled in the car next to me, puffing away on a cigarette, I was just hoping not to get shanked. Well, we didn’t get shanked, he did live there, and he began hecking us right away (which set the tone for the rest of the trip). The thing about Convict is that he is crazy, mostly. We were told by Henry, another Skatopia resident, that only 20% of what Convict says is true, but good luck figuring out what that 20% was. Another thing about Convict, and boy is it a BIG thing, is that…well, he loves fat chicks. Not just over-weight fat, but straight up obese fat. His area of Skatopia was plastered with signs he made professing his love of fatties. After all, his camp was called Fatty Hollow and he told us to set up camp in front of his “cabin.” I use the word cabin loosely, as it was some sort of 1 room RV trailer thing, supported by logs and cinder blocks with a porch he made out of wood and tarp. There was an assortment of graffiti on it about fatties and ICP, etc. I am pretty sure that Convict was a Juggalo. Here are some stories that convict told us, but remember, only 20% are true.
• He used to fight a lot in school and got on the boxing team after beating up their best boxer. He then went on to become an MMA champ at a very young age, knocking out many guys with a single punch (one he even broke half his face and neck with a single punch).
• He had a skate team: Team Fatty (which included Bob Burnquist & Rodney Mullen) and challenged Team Sleezy (the other guys living at Skatopia) to a skate-off after doing an “air to fakie kickflip heelflip” (got me on that one).
• He creeped through the woods in the middle of the night and found a wild goat and beat it up and dragged it back to Fatty Hollow and tied it to a tree as a pet until someone let it go. I think this one may be true, as it was confirmed by others.
• He loves giving girls roofies. Two is best and apparently when you do and kiss them on the next, they are all about it. I am assuming that he is giving roofies to fat chicks here.
• He hates “fags” and beat two of them that he found kissing at the Lula Bowl out in the field in front of 1500 people. According to him: “There are two things I hate: fags and thieves!”
• He shot a “nigger” (a word he likes to use a lot and even refers to himself as) 7 times after they stabbed him in the arm. He showed us his stab wound.
• He loves any kinds of drugs, but his drug of choice is nitrous. He also likes to snort gunpowder mixed with cocaine, but would snort gunpowder alone if there is no coke.
• He has lived at Skatopia for 9-10 years, takes 6 month vacations sometimes, and has been to 28 countries with Brewce.
There is much more, but this would make a very long read if I continue. Either way, he knocked up one of his fatties, Nikki, whom he had come over our last night there. Henry referred to her as Front Butt, and I think that name is pretty self descriptive. She was HUGE. I guess Convict was psyched that she was there because he came over to us later while we were skating and kept bragging about how he loved to skate after getting a blowjob. Gross. Even worse, I had to hear then going at it later than night as I was desperately trying to go to sleep. Eww Eww Eww…

Our Crew
So I went with Greg Pachell, whom was nicknamed Ginger almost immediately by Convict on the first day, due to his fire-y hair. It must be noted, as Greg did on many occasions, that Convict had reddish hair himself, even though he claimed it was brown. Next was Kevin Brooks, who Convict actually seemed to like the best and didn’t even give a nickname. With the exception of collapsing his tent the second morning, Kev didn’t get much hassling from Convict at all. Then there was David Pollen, who is half Asian and half Jewish, but Convict didn’t like Jews and thus kept calling him “Jew” or “You Jew.” He kept saying that David killed Jesus. The youngest guy in the squad was Eric Bremme (or just Bremme), whom Convict just called boring. He actually forgot who was the Jew at one point and called him Jew a couple times, though he is not. He also referred to him as Butters at one point, and I was Kenny, when he was making South Park references. But once he found out that I was half Persian, he kept calling me Persian, though I am pretty sure he didn’t know what a Persian was. If I didn’t land something, he would demand that I “stop skating like a Persian and start landing tricks like an American!” He gave me another nickname randomly while I was skating the Lula Bowl. He said, “Hey Persian, your new nickname is G-Co.” Me: “G-Co or G-Code?” Him: “Pfft, I don’t know…” Oh yeah, he also called me the non-pot smoking hippy, but referred to us collectively as hippies on occasion too, though none of us are hippies by any means.

Ginger

Kev

The Jew

Bremme (aka boring)

The Persian/G-Co/The Non-pot Smoking Hippy

The Residents
While we spent most time with Convict, there were others living on “the farm.” The next guy we met was Clay. Clay is a burn out who has lived on the farm for 4 years. He is tall and hippy-ish and talks very slow. One thing about Clay is that once he begins talking, he will continue to talk about that subject, even if everyone moved on to another subject 10 minutes ago and nobody is listening. It is pretty awesome to watch. Sometimes he will randomly say something and confuse everyone until some realizes that he was talking about something 10 subjects ago. Convict was telling us about how they used to call Clay “Dirt Nap” because they would always find him asleep in the dirt by the fire in the mornings. Convict said that he even found him asleep outside his cabin with his foot in the fire with his boot melting to it one time and another time Clay rolled into the fire while he was sleep, catching his Carhart jacket on fire, burning the whole front of it. Clay tried to justify this by proclaiming, “You make it seem like this stuff happens all the time, Convict. Sure I have taken a dirt nap a couple dozen times and have rolled into the fire a couple times, but that has been stretched out over 4 years.” Ohhh, that makes sense now. The same thing would have happen to anyone living there for 4 years, haha. Apparently, Clay moved into an old chicken shack on the property and Convict and another guy decided to bust the windows out with rocks when they though Clay was inside sleeping. Clay wasn’t, but when he came back there was glass all over his bed from it. Next was Team Sleezy, which consisted of Henry, Matt (from Rochester, NY), Justin (who apparently is sketchy and possibly stole a Macbook from some Juggalos camping, according to Convict), and Potato (who I actually met at the Autumn Bowl when he and Brewce visited NYC a couple months back). As per Convict, he goes after the fat chicks because the only other options are Brewce’s leftovers, which Team Sleezy goes after. And instead of catching something or having to compete with them, he goes after the fatties. Unlike Convict, who looks awkward and unstable on a board, Team Sleezy all skate super fat and kill the bowls proper, especially Henry and Justin. All the residents of Skatopia are part of what they call CIA (Corporation Instigating Anarchy), led by Brewce Martin and his son Brandon. We kept hearing stories of Brandon and how amazing he was, but didn’t see him until the day before we left. We were skating the Lula Bowl and he showed up and pretty much shut the place down. His skating was fast, powerful, and super consistent. He actually has a pro model Skatopia board, which I bought and had him and Brewce sign before we left.

Brewce Martin
Brewce bought the land about 13 years ago and began building stuff to skate. As the years went on, he built more and more and began to have the wildest parties imaginable to raise funds to pay the bills and build more. The result (in progress) is a place like no other, where he is treated like king. I met Brewce a couple months ago but since then, he was in an accident where a tire exploded in his face and he was in the ICU for a long time. He is mostly recovered, though he is waiting for his eye to finish healing before he starts skating again. He was wearing an eye patch the whole time we were there, but seems like he will be back at it soon. He is super pumped on skateboarding after all these years and you can tell that he misses skating really bad. He showed us around the museum and knows quite a bit about skate history. He is one of the gnarliest dudes ever and it was an honor to visit his place.

The Bowls
I have seen footage and photos of the ramps, but couldn’t quite comprehend how ridiculous they were until standing in front of them. They are humbling, for sure. The first night we skated The Punisher, which is a HUGE bowl in the barn. The shallow is a steep 6 or 7 feet going almost immediately into a waterfall just as big and steep that leads into the 13 ft deep. It was intimidating, yet fun to skate once you submit to it. On the last night there, Ginger was going for a frontside grind in the deep end (which he did multiple times already) when the lights cut out just as he hit coping. It went pitch black in there and then Cyprus Hill started playing from the speakers at that very moment. It was pretty scary and we thought Convict was messing with us again. After all, on the first night there he was throwing fireworks into the bowl as we were skating it. As it turns out, we just set the timer on the lights too low and Convict just put the music on at that moment. He came up and turned the lights on saying “What are you dumb-dumbs doin’ in here?” Attached to the barn with The Punisher was the 15ft(?) diameter fullpipe, called the Fool’s Pipe. It was really fun to skate, though it wore you out pretty quick. Ginger was boosting up to 10-10:30 on it and Bremme was tossing bonelesses and early grabs on it. Then there was the Church of Skatin bowl in a tin building with no lights. This is by far the hardest bowl I have ever skated. We were heading over there to skate it when Convict chuckled, “I’ve got to come watch this!” As we get to the bowl, we see a foot and half long black snake in the deep end, unable to get out. We almost went to pick it up thinking it was just a black snake, but Convict said that it was probably poisonous, to check for a yellow ring around the neck. Sure enough, it had a yellow ring around its neck. At this point Clay came in and he and Convict got it out. Clay actually picked it up by the tail and threw it in a cooler that Convict had. I’m not sure what they did with it. After getting shook by that situation, we looked down into the bowl and were reluctant to even drop in. As your board hangs over the lip, there is mostly vert down the wall with a little tranny at the very bottom, and these are no small walls either. I think Ginger dropped in first, and then I went. I was so scared, but was relieved to make it down and to the other side where I basically had to do a wallride up the steep wall with little speed left from the freefall to tranny that absorbed most of my speed. Bremme and the Jew did it too, but Kev hasn’t having as much luck, slamming twice. Kev is pretty good with tranny, so just imagine the gnarlitude if he had issues just dropping into this thing. On the Jew’s second attempt, he ate it into the wall on the other side, bonking his nose (the one on his face, not on his board) off the tranny on the other side…luckily it was minor. We gave up on skating that thing pretty quickly. The Lula Bowl is on the top of the hill and is the concrete park section with an old bus build into it, where you can open the door from the bus to roll into the deep end. It has a capsule, a vert wall with a doorway to gap over, an escalating wall with brick coping, pool lights to the left of the capsule, and a section of coping with a hole that wasps live in to grind over (followed by being chased by wasps). We skated here the most since it was the least gnarly of the bowls and more tricks were possible. Henry skated with us here a bit and loved to grind over the wasps. It was common to see him running across the deck from the wasps, haha. One time, he didn’t quite escape them. I looked over to see him running again, but this time he disappeared over the drop bellow the deck and screamed “Oww! It got me in the heart!” When he emerged, he showed us the sting right near the center of his chest. While I would randomly grind over the wasp wall, after that, I was over it, haha.

The Fool's Pipe and the barn housing The Punisher.

Church of Skatin Bowl.

The poisonous snake we found in the Church of Skatin.

The Madness
Bringing beer to Skatopia is a given, but be warned, you will only get to drink maybe 1/3 of what you bring yourself, because the CIA guys will help you finish it with a quickness. I don’t drink, but if I were to go back with nobody that drinks, I would still bring beer just for the CIA. After all, you get to camp and skate for free. It is the least you can do. You might as well bring them some cigarettes too. Also, maybe bring some fireworks for Convict. Convict loves explosions and without fireworks, he will resort to using what he has: explosives. On the first night, he tossed a can of spray paint into the fire that resulted in an explosion and a stream of flames. We had a few fireworks, which he used up pretty quickly, so he began throwing bullets into the fire one night when I was the only other person there. He kept freaking me out and I ran through the woods for cover every time he did it. Kev and Bremme came back (Ginger and the Jew were sleeping) and ended up running for cover with me when I told them what he was doing. Then he decided to throw in a handful of bullets. As we ran, the explosions through up a cloud of ember, some of which landed on the Jew’s tent, burning holes in it and even burning him with a piece that went straight through. He was bumming. I tried taking some photos and when I was sitting across the fire from Convict with my camera, he looks me dead in the eye and says “Film this!,” dropping a grenade right into the fire and running past me! We all get up and run for our lives. As it turns out, he packed the grenade too tight and it didn’t explode, luckily. It just made the flames real big. Later on he threw in a stick of dynamite. Again, we all ran for our lives. He, however, didn’t include the dynamite caps that cause the explosion so the fire just got big and turn from a bright red to a greenish yellow. At one point he decided to go blow up Team Sleezy’s fire and took a plastic bag and filled it with an assortment of things, from a can of spray paint to what was left of the lighter fluid to a stick of dynamite and two dynamite caps. We followed him over to watch the madness, but Sleezy’s fire already went out so it was a no go. We all wanted to see a big explosion though (minus Ginger and the Jew, who were sleeping), so Convict threw the can of paint in the fire with a dynamite cap. That was one of the loudest explosions I ever heard with ember blasting all over the place, starting little fires all over the ground. Luckily, the can was facing away from our tents, because it would have set all our tents on fire. We had some $20 BB guns Ginger and Kev got from Walmart before the trip that provided us with hours of entertainment. There was an endless supply of can from the beer that we slaughtered with BBs, but the most fun had with the guns was driving to the skatepark in nearby Athens, OH a couple times while blasting every sign along the way with BBs. It was fun! I was the only one that got hit with a BB ricochet, and I got hit 3 times. Once was when I was shooting out the car window and it came back in and hit me in the head. Actually, Front Butt got hit with a ricochet too at one point. Aside from all the fun and games, is the work involved. When you go to Skatopia, you have to help build if they are building. On the day before we left they were working on a new section they want to pour to add onto the Lula Bowl. So we were digging and pick axing the dirt/clay to form the trannies for this new section. I think most of us got blisters on our hands, though I probably got the worse, and I got three, which still hurt as I type this. It was worth it though and I can’t wait to see the finished product after they pour it.

Clay with the first can of spray paint Convict threw into the fire.

Conclusion
Don’t expect to go to Skatopia and not get messed with/heckled. You basically have to take it. That led me to come up with a slogan based on their frequent use of the word “git.” I summed it up with: Git what you git or git! My other one was simply: Skate or git! After all, don’t expect to do much lurking. If you go, you better be skating. That means you should probably work on your big bowl skating prior to showing up, haha. It was a blast and I can’t wait to go again. Below are some photos and Gnarhammered will be posting a video up soon. Thanks to Brewce and CIA for having us and showing us city folk what anarchy is all about. We got on the road back to civilization but stopped off at the park in Wheeling, WV which continued with the trend of huge transitions. I made the last bus of the night from Philly to NYC by 30 seconds and spent yesterday recuperating. I hope my next trip back isn’t too far off.

Fatty Hollow. Convict's "cabin."

Four month old puppy named Skatin that we nicknamed Gnargoat since she looked just like a goat. She got bit by a snake at one point while we were there but survived, luckily.

Gnargoat would literally just lay down anywhere and pass out.

Kev wanted to bomb down the dirt road on his cruiser.

It looked so fun that we all did it after his brave first attempt.

Left to right: Kev, Convict, Front Butt

Convict threw a wooden chair into the fire.

It looked like a burning anarchy symbol!

Kev's face watching Front Butt climb the stairs.

The entrance to the skateboard museum.

Hitting the road back home.

Emails From Crazy People

2009-08-07T21:00:00.002-05:00

For more click here.

I lied

2009-07-22T10:21:00.002-05:00

So no edited pictures, but if you want some content, go check out Quartersnacks, they just put up a bunch of links to various clips. The Nolan Lee one is worth a peep, for sure. I decided last night to dig into a project I had on the back burner for too long. While it is too early to talk about it, expect some things in the future.

I realized that I forgot to add a couple brands to the poll, Hopps and Shut. I know there are more, but most of them are not really players right now. I had to recreate the poll since it wouldn't let me edit it since people already took it. If you took it before, answer again. Thanks.

Rain = time for legs to rest

2009-07-21T12:05:00.003-05:00

So I haven't been blogging much lately, but I think that correlates to the fact that I have been skating a lot more (almost every day). I have recently been skating a lot with the Acapulco Gold guys. I have been filming as well as getting some footage myself. My barrier clip is still in process, albeit a very slow process. Justin White (of Popills/New Thirsty fame) is making a summer clip right now, which I am also kinda involved with. It is to be called Obscure Hawaii. Anyway, this all means that content is on the way, though I don't have much for now. I guess I do have photos that I need to edit, however. I just have been pretty lazy about that. Maybe I just haven't had much time...in fact, I will go edit some today and post some later or tomorrow.

Oh yeah, new poll to the right. What is your favorite NYC based skateboard company? Am I forgetting any?

Rain on the Rain Check.

2009-06-29T13:20:00.004-05:00

Since it rained on the real Go Skateboard Day in NYC, it was pushed back a week and went down this past Saturday. We started off with the festivities at the Manhattan Bridge Skatepark but once the kids took off toward the Williamsburg Bridge to go to KCDC, we went the other way and skated some spots until we got rained out. We took cover in front of some office building with an overhang and skated flat until the rain stopped and dried up enough to skate one last spot. I put together a clip using a CCR Mashup that my homie DJ Dirty Digits put together very recently.

"I like using your camera because there is no pressure." - Jeremy

2009-06-24T11:41:00.004-05:00

Last week I went with some homies (Budi, Beav, & Jeremy) to Philadelphia. The trip was a long time coming and canceled on occasion but we finally had solid plans. We kinda knew that it was going to rain but I didn't care since there was always a chance that it would stop. Well...it didn't. It pretty much rained the whole time. We decided to go to FDR first since it was covered and may be our best bet for a rain spot. For those of you that do not know, FDR is a skatepark built entirely by skaters under an overpass, similar to Burnside in Portland, OR. A lot of the park was wet, however. The miniramp was mostly wet, though slippery in a lot of places, one bowl was mostly dry and there were some parts of the main park that were kinda dry. Anyway, there is the footage that we got (we didn't intend to make a clip, Jeremy and myself just filmed some random stuff while there).

I brought my LX3 too but all I shot were a few photos of some graffiti in the park:

Fat <3 Poop

I took your mom's virginity (and she had you!)

Nice juxtaposition.

Totally not for straight women...

Zoo York "State of Mind" Premiere & Review

2009-06-05T09:00:00.004-05:00

It has been a long time coming but last night the Zoo York "State of Mind" video finally premiered at Sunshine Cinema in NYC. There wasn't open admission because of limited seating and only 3 showings, so it wasn't the madhouse the Alien premiere was. I was able to make it into the 10:15 showing, running into anyone that is someone in the process (as seen in photos below). I'll just jump into my review of the video right now, though.

After having been properly teased with the last two Zoo York promos (Ellis Island and Welcome to Zoo York), both of which had very different teams and both of which were incredible, I had high expectations going into this. After all, when was the last full length Zoo video? EST 4.0? Either way, the bar was set pretty high...and they ollied it [insert reference to Brandon Westgate and Matt Miller's pop here]. The filming was on point, with the exception of some shaky camera work here and there (mostly in Kevin Taylor and Matt Miller's parts). R.B. Umali has filming down to a science and with his HD set up was able to get right in the action better than most filmers. There were minimal artsy/lifestyle shots and it was straight to the point skateboarding for a solid hour. I don't like to compare completely different videos, but since everyone else is making the comparisons, I might as well give my take on how it ranks up to the Alien Workshop Mind Field video. With the videos being on different ends of the skate video spectrum, I can't say which is better, but I can definitely say that the Zoo video hyped me up to skate the most. Perhaps it was all the familiar NYC spots, perhaps it was the east coast skaters, perhaps it was relatable skating. Whatever it was, I wish I brought my board with me to the premiere so that I could have cruised around after. I will definitely watch it often once I pick it up on DVD June 19th when it hits the shops. Now to jump into the skater's parts...

I can't really remember the order in which the skaters appeared so I will just do it in whichever order. I am also going to try not to reveal too many tricks since most of the skate world has not seen this yet. Brandon Westgate opened the video with fast, powerful skating akin to A.V.E. or Omar Salazaar or Dennis Busenitz. He charges things and pops higher than guys a foot taller than he is. This is represented in his olling up Fish Gap and lipsliding Pyramid Ledges from the bottom of the stairs up (yes, it really happened). Oh yeah, he also grinded up Blubba (Black Hubba)! His kickflips are some of the best out right now. My favorite part is almost a draw between him and Ron Deily. While Ron doesn't skate as powerful, I appreciated the effort that it looked like he put into making a well-rounded part. He had a nice mix of technical/creative/stylish tricks throughout his part and skated some fun looking spots. He even gave me a scare with the no comply off a parking block over some spiked fence. Imagine falling short and landing on the spikes! Matt Miller on the other hand was a bit boring to watch for the most part due to his lack of speed and creativity, though he kinda made up for it with his barrage of backside noseblunt slides: kickflip backside noseblunt, switch flip bs noseblunt, and hardflip bs noseblunt! Plus, he has some ups and I am still baffled by his tre flip off the bump over the poles by the Battery Tunnel in Manhattan! Worst part of the video goes to Chaz Ortiz, however. The blatant Gatorade product placement was weak (unless they helped fund the video, then I am all for it), but what made the part the worst was the fact that he obviously didn't try very hard to make it. He did all his safe tricks and didn't even attempt to get creative throughout the part. His saving grace was the fact that he is really good at jumping down handrails. He pulled a super long backside smith grind down a big rail that impressed me, but I think he either was lazy or is just too young to know how to make a memorable part. Forrest Kirby (F.O.R.E.), however, exceeded my expectations. With his lack of coverage over the past couple years, I figured that he would pull a Scott Johnston on us or something, but I was very wrong. His part was one of the best. From his switch back smiths to his manuals to his wallrides to his wallrides to manuals to his backside 180 fakie nosegrind revert on the ghetto banks in Miami to his frontside feeble grind to fakie on the FDR barrier under the Manhattan Bridge, he came back strong. Aaron Suski went the other way, unfortunately. I was kind of disappointed in his part. Perhaps I had unrealistic expectations of him, but due to his performance in the last Zoo York promo, I figured that he was going to have the best part in the full length. He did have some incredible tricks, but most of those were already exposed in the magazines and it seems like there was quite a bit of filler. I am not going to write him off though. It was still a good part and I am hoping that most of his good stuff will be in the Emerica video (coming out later this year). Kevin Taylor's part started off strong, but it was so short that I felt blue balled when it suddenly ended. When was his last full part? The last Aethestics video? Or did he have a part in Minority Report? Either way, he is too good to not put out more footage. Anthony Shetler may look like Ben Affleck, but there is no way you will ever see Ben Affleck jumping down anything a fraction of the size of the stuff Shetler jumps down, even as the Daredevil. His kickflip from the top of the brick bank-flat-bank into the second bank was bananas, not to mention his super long tailslide across the huge ditch bank as his ender. Overall, his part was kind of forgettable, but it was good nonetheless. As always, Donny Barley met my expectations. His skating is always consistently good. While he had some whatever tricks in his part, most of it was fast, powerful skating. Plus, he has quick pops for days! Eli Reed had the second to last part, rightfully so. It is obvious that he worked hard to make it. He has amazing switch pop and gets technical with his manuals, flatground, and ledge maneuvers. His switch kickflip into the courthouse bank to drop in Manhattan is arguably the best trick done there. I couldn't imagine taking that drop switch! The curtains went to Zared Bassett. After F.O.R.E., he has been on the team the next longest and has gone through a few versions of the Zoo York team. He has almost come to symbolize the Zoo York brand. I noticed that he tried to blur the lines between what was regular and what was switch in this part. Whereas most people do amazing regular tricks and mediocre switch tricks in their parts, all of Zared's tricks were amazing, switch or not. This also includes his bangers. He isn't afraid to go big backwards. He deserved the last part by far and his part was a great way to end the video.

After the credits there was a friends and family section with some footage from a lot of Zoo York alum and others. R.B. directed everyone (21+) to Max Fish where the bonus was to be playing. After walking over with Bryan Chin, Peter Sarne, and Rodney Torres, the place was so crowded that we only made it about half way in before deciding to turn back and hang outside. They were projecting stuff on the wall but there was no way to see it from where we were. Below are some photos from last night. While I wasn't able to get photos of everyone there, think of this as a sample and let your imagination run wild with who was there (most likely they were).

Look, even your favorite skaters like Alex Olson and Charles Lamb had to wait in line.

Peter Sarne and Bryan Chin of Offical New York.

Luis Tolentino on his way out of the screening before ours.

Me (Eby), Peter Sarne, and Bryan Chin.

I totally could have bootlegged it in HD with my camera, but I didn't.

Rodney Torres, Bryan Chin, Peter Sarne.

Keith Denley

Max Fish, crowded with your favorite professional skateboarders.

Rodney Torres, Big White!, Josh Kalis, Kevin Taylor, ?

Famous Star & Straps: Felix Arguelles, Andrew "I hardflipped Wallenberg" Pott, Luis Tolentino.

The man that made the video: R.B. Umali!

I ran into one of my former co-workers: Hafeez Raji.

The guy responsible for the last Chapman video: Jeremy "I can't stand still for a photo" Cohen.

O.G. NYC ripper Lamont Macintosh, Jeremy Cohen, Bryan Chin, Peter Sarne.

Hubba Wheels mastermind: Tony Vitello (aka L Ron Hubba)!

Jason (aka Negative...psst, he is the opposite of negative).

German Nieves, Bryan Chin, Peter Sarne.

Good Morning America(n Idiot)

2009-05-22T09:39:00.005-05:00

Today I woke up at 5am and made it over to Central Park's Summerstage for the free Green Day concert for Good Morning America. For 6am, there were a lot of kids there. Perhaps this generation is caffeinated into oblivion, or perhaps "free" means a lot more to them in this recession, but when I was their age you would be hard pressed to find more than a hand full of kids willing to wake up that early, even for a concert. I am not a huge fan of Green Day, however, I used to love their music during the Dookie and Nimrod eras. Perhaps it was because I was younger then and now those tunes still hold a fond place in my heart, but it was worth making the trek out for a chance to hear them. What I got instead was songs from the last two albums, the newest of which (21st Century Breakdown) is a chart topper at the moment. While I wouldn't call their new material bad, it is not something that I would go out of my way to listen to...yet on this fine morning, I did. There was plenty of downtime for the Good Morning America segments, but Green Day did give a 4 song "sound check." That would have been been great, but they ended up playing all those same songs again later. If anything, they could have at least given the older people in the crowd some of their older jams for the sound check. Well, let me get into some of the photos:

As I pointed out on Twitter, at least half the people in attendance were holding up some sort of recording device for most of the performances. This ranged from cellphone cameras, to digital cameras, to video cameras (which were forbidden, but nobody was checking at the entrance).

This guy was recording the who entire thing. I saw him playing with his phone while recording with the other hand a few times, but I don't think he actually looked at the concert except through the video camera even once.

They brought up this little girl to dance to one of the songs. I could hear the jealous hissing of the teenyboppers around me. Though there were lot of "awws" too.

If that last one didn't make the girls in the crowd jealous enough, they brought up this girl to sing a full verse. I heard the catty comments the whole way out the park after that one.

Overall, Green Day performed their songs well and were great with audience participation. All too often you see successful bands/musicians that completely ignore the audience and it was good to seem them staying in tune to the crowd. The audience on the other hand could use some work. After seeing the pictures I posted, you may call me a hypocrite, but people need to chill out with the recording devices. It is fine to take some photos here and there but when you are trying too hard to capture the moment digitally, you are failing to enjoy the moment in real-time. I will leave you with a little snippet of the crowd singing.

The Skateboard Industry Needs To Change

2009-05-21T12:57:00.002-05:00

"By skateboarders, for skateboarders." Sound familiar? This seems to have been the motto of all the "core" skateboard companies in the industry for year. "Don't buy from those guys, they are run by suits, they don't care about skateboarding. We are better because we are skateboarders." These claims are nonsense, yet rebellious youth looking to skateboarding for a members-only social club continue to buy into it. Actually, I shouldn't be so generous with the older crowd, the 20, 30, 40+ somethings are also guilty of falling for this illogical propaganda the skateboard industry has spewed for decades too. Let's have a look into what makes up the industry and determine how the "core" companies rank up:

Many of these companies tout the fact they were started by and run by former professional skateboarders. That is all well and good until you consider the tiny minority of pro skaters who have gone to college or even graduated high school.
Progress is taboo. While innovation on a skateboard is encouraged, innovation in business practices, technology, and marketing is passed off as fads and selling out, while the status quo is held in high regard. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?
The industry likes to stay within the industry with very few tie ins with outside companies, events, and people. It is very incestuous, in other words.

Now if we look at other industries that are doing much better, such as the basketball market, it is obvious what skateboarding is doing wrong. The NBA may hire a few former pro basketball players, but they hire them for announcer and commentator gigs, not to run the business units. They hire people that were educated and have experience in those respective fields. The NBA and the respective teams pull in a lot of money. You know why? It's because they get people excited about the sport and grow the audience for it. Skateboarding may be at 11 million participants now, but that is no thanks to the industry. That can be attributed to pop culture and ESPN. I didn't see Lupe Fiasco or Pharrell throwing out skate product that the industry gave them at their concerts. The industry, on the contrary, shunned them for being "posers" (excuse the middle school terminology).

I have met countless skateboarders that get upset when they see a non-skateboarder wearing skateboarding brands. I have been explaining for years to these people that the more people that buy from the industry, the more it can grow, the more pro skaters there can be, and the more progress can come out of it. Since when did you see a basketball player getting mad at some kid that didn't play basketball for wearing a Kobe Bryant jersey or some Jordans? Again, this is the fault of the leaders in skateboarding, those in the industry influencing these kids because they are scared about losing control.

There may be some companies that are more open and trying to make a change, and there are some that are trying to use new media, but these are unqualified skateboarders with no business doing it. Don't get me wrong, it would be great to have skateboarders working in these role, but there are plenty of skateboarders who have worked in much more progressive industries and have gone to college that are much more qualified than washed up ex-pro skaters that should be in there. With the recent growth of the industry and the relatively stability it has, skateboarding has a lot of potential...but there needs to be a change. Something has to give. But with the next generation having learned from the previous, it seems like that may not happen for a long time.

If you can make it here...

2009-05-08T09:57:00.002-05:00

Here is the footage I shot from the event last weekend. I didn't know everyone's name, so I just put the first thing that came to mind.

In other news, Hopps just put its second pro on the team (the first being Jahmal Williams, of course). Nope, not allowed to say yet, but it is the graphic on the left:

Apparently the intro is to happen on 48 Blocks, but I might have gotten myself into a little trouble saying that on Twitter since they didn't know about it yet. No harm done though...I think. I am stoked on the new pro though. Seems like good things are in store for Hopps!

McRad Mike Mo graphics to the sounds of JR blasting from the speakers

2009-05-05T08:51:00.005-05:00

Just to clear something up from a couple posts back...because sarcasm can be lost in the world wide webs we weave: I was kidding about Jereme Roger's music. I do like it in novelty, same as Lil' Wayne, but just as Lil' Wayne, it holds no legitimacy. I find humor in that which had no humorous intentions. I could hate on it like most people, but I find it rude not to clap at the Special Olympics. After all, they are giving it their best. JR and Lil' Wayne may be disillusioned, but at least they are trying. I mean, look at how many people buy Lil' Wayne albums. They are even letting the lil' guy play with a guitar and attempt some form of rock. Kanye West is also a bit disillusioned, but at least he has talent. I find amusement in his arrogance as well. After all, when have you met a rational person that has achieved the success of those people? Think about it...

Speaking of success, the 17 year old switch flipper, Mike Mo Capaldi, was turned pro in 2008 and has some interesting graphics (most notable, the Beavis and Butthead one that I need to find for my collection). Crailtap recently had a contest to design a graphic for him, which would be available next season. This is the one that won:

Here are my submissions:

The Big Cheese Lotto tickets should look familiar from this.

Apparently Poltergeist was filmed in Simi Valley, where Mike Mo is from.

Honey, I Blew Up The Kid was filmed in Simi Valley too. I did one version with Megan Baltimore's (one of the owners of Girl) dog, Chick, and the other with the Crailtap friendly goat.

Since Mike Mo plays basketball and is a fan of Michael Jordan, I decided to do a couple Jordan inspired graphics.

As I am a fan of ASCII (text) art, I did a graphic as such. I put this together as reference material:

And this is what the ASCII graphic looks like up close:

In other news, I went to the McRad show at the Autumn Bowl the other night and filmed some of the skating, so I will post a clip when I finish editing it. Chuck Treece doesn't just know how to ride on a skateboard and calls himself a skater, he actually skates. He was skating the whole night (when not performing). Props!

Little Luis

2009-04-30T14:41:00.000-05:00

Back before Luis Tolentino was the hot shot am (meant endearingly) that he is, he was know as Little Luis...the little guy with big ups. Here is some footage of him long before Famous and Shut (and even before Official). Enjoy!

Can I Get A Tweet Tweet?

2009-04-29T12:16:00.006-05:00

Jereme Rogers is seriously the next Lil' Wayne! Watch this video and tell me you were not as amazed by the ridiculousness of his lyrics and delivery as you were by that of Lil' Wayne. It makes me smile listening to it.

Go Go Go

Another thing that made me smile was this weird viral video thing Nike did with Huf (#1 skateboarder in the world!) for their limited footwear line. I love the awkwardness. Huf genuinely looks confused.

Now watch the Hoon squad (most notable Jake Duncombe) kill it in this video. I can't wait for Jake's part in the Blind video (plus I think he has an interview in the next Thrasher that should be sick).

I haven't been blogging very often because I just finished moving and things have been hectic, but I have been on Twitter since the app for my iPhone makes it easy. Again, I have a Twitter Feed on the sidebar to the right. --->
If you aren't on Twitter, you should sign up. It is more interesting that Facebook these days and you can follow celebrities, brands, skateboarders, industry people, recruiters, friends, me, etc.

I'll leave you with this link that Camille sent me of a little squirrel's struggle to get over a wall.

Oh yeah, and this is from an email I got from Autumn about a McRad show at the Autumn Bowl this weekend:
SATURDAY MAY 2ND 8PM $8 BUKS BANDS ARE McRAD, NO REDEEMING SOCIAL
VALUE, JUMPSHIP AND OVERSTAND BENEFITS

Machine Gun Funk

2009-04-24T08:07:00.005-05:00

So Battle at the Berrics 2 is coming up. Have you made your picks for who you want to be in the battle? I did:

As many of you know, Billy Rohan threw another King of Spring event last weekend, but this time it was uptown. He even did a course preview prior. You can find photo recaps here and here and some video via Steve Marino on his site Square Films here, hosted by Rodney Torres (the video, not the event).

As I have mentioned before...working on an all barriers clip, in homage to the Barrier Kult. Just added some much needed bondo to the Greenpoint Barrier the other day...

I'm going to try to session it a bit today...hopefully I can get some fools to come out and skate it with me. Taji might.

So I just saw the new Corey Duffel part that Strange Notes posted. It is pretty sick, style aside. I am a bit bummed, however. At 1:34, he blunt fakies the Korean War Memorial in Tallahassee. I did that 3 years ago and haven't use the footage yet...

My homie Sam sent me this...

I'll leave you with this photo of Kocik frozen mid-bath. She is a curious one.

A quickie

2009-04-18T09:59:00.003-05:00

Have you seen the Hi Fi "Full Frequency Promo?" Ben Gore has a dope part and Jack Sabback kills it at the end. Oh yeah, and Supa switch ollies that gap from the basketball courts to the sidewalk over the gate near the Chinatown Manny!

Hi Fi Wheels "Full Frequency Promo" from Stereo Sound Agency on Vimeo.

Also, any NYer with cable knows about NY1 and how they choose an NYer of the Week every week this. Up this week: Billy Rohan. Oh yeah, and Dave Carnie has a new website. Oh, you didn't know Dave Carnie was a photographer (in addition to being the best writer in skateboarding)? Sucks for you...

That's all I have for now.

Caution: Hello Kitty Zombies Ahead

2009-04-09T11:01:00.003-05:00

This past Tuesday was Camille's birthday and she wanted me to paint something for her as a present. I considered doing a canvas, but then got the idea to go beyond the traditional painting medium and to customize a toy for her. I was going to get a Munny and work from there, but Camille loves Hello Kitty, so I wanted to do a Hello Kitty variation and the ears would be a problem with a Munny. I went to Toy Tokyo in the East Village and found a Bax Bear:

I saw that Maurice customized a Munny using clay so I called him about it and went to the store and bought some Sculpey to modify the Bax Bear. My idea was to make a zombie Hello Kitty, so I started to mold the head of the bear into a Hello Kitty-esque form with pointed ears, a nose, and a more oval face.

I also gave it a tail.

Then I put it in the oven at 275 degrees for 15 minutes.

I did have some problems with the angles in the feet melting and making it fall over. The instructions were for a Munny, which doesn't have creases at the feet. Now it doesn't stand that great, but it does (you just have to angle it just right).

Then I began to paint it. It took a few layers.

I used a gold marker to draw the eyes, whiskers, and detail.

Then I used some more paint to add the battle wounds.

I wanted to give her a bow that could be taken off and a weapon, so I molded them and threw them in the oven.

Then I took some markers and used a blowing technique to splatter two shades of red over her.

Then I coated her with some glossy lacquer to finish it off.

I found those bunny shoes at Michael's. I think they are for dolls, but they just barely fit her feet. It fell a few times and I need to fix it up, but she was pretty happy with it. Speaking of Camille, she just sent me this:

Cliche "Cle" Review (and a couple other clips)

2009-04-08T12:06:00.006-05:00

I got the new Cliche video "Cle" last week. They call it "a live and unplugged video," I assume because there is some live music used in it instead of all pre-recorded songs (though there are some like that). Overall it was good, not great for a Cliche video, but good nonetheless.

I loved the opening shot with the camera moving around the city blocks with Dany LeBron playing the guitar. It kinda reminded me of that shot Ty did a while back with Vincent Alvarez. Here it is. The live music was great and made for an interesting change of pace for the video, however, I was disappointed in JB Gillet and Lucas Puig sharing a part. I understand that filming for Fully Flared probably affected Lucas' part, but he has enough good footage scattered through other sections to justify a full part alone. Either way, the skating on both Lucas and JB's part was very good...which is mostly why I felt like I needed more. Flo Mirtain (not to be confused with Flo Marfaing) is the new guy on Cliche and he had the second part. Flo has a nice, clean style and definitely fits in with the rest of the team's smooth skating. I especially liked his big flips. As expected, when given the opportunity to thrown down for the Cliche video, the flow riders put it down hard. Javier Mendizabal is the most underrated skater on the team. I could have done without that line where he pushes switch mongo the whole time, but his ender ollie into that gnarly banks was ridiculous. Ricardo Fonseca had some good footage, but it seems like it was over when it started (it was short) and I feel like I have seen most of Cale Nuske's footage somewhere before (maybe I did).

As for Joey (the American), I respect the patience it must have taken to land a lot of those manuals, but there was to much switch mongo pushing and he skated pretty slow. I did like that bank to bank transfer he did on those yellow curb cut looking things and the nose manny to backside tailslide on the next ledge up. It was a decent part, but it wasn't up there with his Hello Jojo part, for sure. The second to last part went to Charles Collet. Honestly, his music stressed me out (a band called Duracell). And who's idea was it to make the first 1/3 of his part all slams?! When he finally did get to skating, it was good, but it was not one of the best parts. They should have cut out all the slams and let him share a part with JB, giving Lucas a full part. Last part when to the soon-to-turn-pro Andrew Brophy. I like Brophy's skating a lot. He has big snaps to get on high obstacles and can take his ollies the distance. My favorite part was when he skated that bent I-beam sticking out of the ground. It is also apparent that he has blunts on lock. His part was sick, but it was a bit short.

Placed in the mix within the video were two tour sections. While they both had some proper skating, they seemed too much like bonus featured that were just dropped into the mix to make the video longer. The Discover Oz Tour was a bit better than The Wheel of Fortune Tour. In the Oz Tour I was stoked on the flyouts to grass rides a lot. These sections are where Lucas had enough good footage to have justified a full part. Also scattered about where Easter Eggs with other bonus features. I hate Easter Eggs. I don't want to interrupt my viewing experience to watch something else and I don't want to have to go through the video again to find them. I wish they would have just placed them all in a bonus section of the menu with the tour sections.

Overall, the video was 51 minutes (including the credits). That is quite long, but it could have been easily consolidated to half that time. The video was good, but as held to the bar of other Cliche videos, it didn't quite measure up. At $16, it was appropriately price and definitely worth the money...however, add $5-10 to the price and that is another story.

On another note, check out the Pusher Wheels Promo for a lot of Philly and NYC footage. Also, get weird with William "The Mile High Ninja" Spencer's new part:

Am I cool now?

2009-03-30T16:08:00.004-05:00

Having recently just bought a super 8 camera and even more recently getting a super 8 projector, I transferred the footage myself and made a short clip from the first roll. Here it is (though I should get better by the next roll and so on):

I have been editing my part and it is practically done, minus a few tricks I still want to film and work into it. But I think I am settled on a song and have some opening quotes worked out. Too bad I don't have enough footage of anyone else to start editing a part for, even though there are people claiming parts (I won't believe it until I see it). Though, it is getting warmer.

Anyway, I am forgoing the reliance on these local dudes and am working on a video with the TNT (Team Nice Tits) Crew from the Thrasher messageboards. I am going to put a barrier only clip together for June and then a full video by September. It should be fun and with so many people, even if there aren't full parts, I will have lots of montages (a la Thrasher videos).

I will leave you with this old Tupac and Biggie clip:

Sad Panda

2009-03-27T09:25:00.002-05:00

A while back after finishing skating the Rector Street Ledge (over the cobblestone gap...the one Jake Johnson backside noseblunt shuv'ed out), I packed up my camera and was about to head to the train when I see a PANDA crossing the street...well, not a real panda, but the next best thing:

The panda sat down on a bench near where I was as I tried to take out my video camera, but it took its head off revealing a middle-aged to elderly Chinese man. By the time I had my camera out and ready, he was already practically out of the suit. So all I could do was Twitter about it. Here is where I did.

Camille sent me a link to an article about it with some photos, remembering back to when I told her about it. Check it out here.

Getting Mental with Matt Beach

2009-03-20T12:42:00.007-05:00

Ever since Matt Beach's return to the skate scene via Skate Mental, Nike, and the new Transworld video, I have been getting more hyped on him. I have been a fan for a while, but Leonard put me on to him even more (Leonard used to skate with him in Portland or something). Well, EXPN just published a Matt Beach interview with some YouTube clips to accompany it. It's a pretty good read if you have a few minutes to spare (you are reading my blog after all, so I am guessing you do).

Here is his part from the Firm video (which I still have on VHS). Check out his shifty flips and note how he holds his grinds/slides and how his switch tres are better than your regular one!

I also love how they slapped "Matt" over the word "Mental" on the Mental Beach deck when they put him on the team for a quick graphic. Genius, Brad (Staba).

I am looking forward to seeing his part in the Transworld video (on of the only ones I care to see) and in the new Skate Mental video...whenever that comes out. They just put out an am video with the three ams called Am Chowder. Here are the two parts from the video (John Motta's was taken down):

Daryl Angel

Shane "Nugget" O'Neil

"I don't know why I even bother chewing corn anymore." - Tina Fey

2009-03-12T11:05:00.002-05:00

If you are using Twitter, feel free to follow me (and/or let me know where yours is so that I can follow you). I have also added a mini Twitter Feed on the side bar of the blog. Over there >>>

Ipath posted a new Richie Jackson clip that he edited himself. If you feel like argueing with people about what to call the ender trick, the comments on YouTube are already waiting for you.

Veruschka - Part 2

2009-03-11T12:39:00.008-05:00

Here is some more of Veruschka's work, including some photos from the Africa shoot. I wish that I could find more photos, but they are not so easy to find online. I would love the book, but it costs $350-500 and that is way more than I would even spend on a book. I guess these will suffice for now.

Here is another video with some insight into some of these shoots:

Veruschka - Part 1

2009-03-10T13:30:00.008-05:00

Back at NYU, I took a few photo classes, one of which I was introduced to a couple photos of Veruschka von Lehndorff (real name: Vera Gottliebe Anna Gräfin von Lehndorff-Steinort). Veruschka is a German model who was huge in the 60s and 70s, mostly due to her artistic approach to photos and body paintings. The photos that caught my attention were the ones in which she was transformed to blend in with her backgrounds. Apparently she was more proactive than most models and played a huge part of these productions outside of just being the model. She was so into these shots, in fact, that she left the fashion world in 1975 to focus on the art. Here are some of the photos"

I will put up some more photos tomorrow, but for now check out this video and watch how the process of painting and shooting her went. I am imagine how uncomfortable that paint must have been, but the pictures came out amazing.

Gems Skateboard Collection Show at KCDC

2009-03-09T08:47:00.003-05:00

I went with Peter to check out this event at KCDC on Saturday. We just barely caught the tail end of it and I tried to shoot some photos with my phone. I didn't get everything and some of the shots suck just because there were too many people there.

I was always a fan of these graphics. If I am not mistaken, there was an ever-slick of the robot terminator with the Arnold version printed over it, so when you wore down the arnold graphic, the robot version appeared.

Here are the actual drawings:

Chris Pastras was actually there.

This is one of my favorite graphics, Charles Manson with the Peanuts gang.

I didn't get the bottom row of this wall because too many people were posting up on it.

These were Jahmal's old graphics:

His Black Jesus graphic was probably my favorite of the bunch. I had to get a weird angle of it to see the graphic though since it was black on black.

Too bad I didn't get a better photo of this case. It was full of a bunch of old skate memorabilia. From NYC covers, to east coast skater endorsed product, to some Cali stuff.

Keenan:

Pepe and Harold:

Alphonzo's Adidas graphic was sick.

Two of the most iconic deck graphics of the 90s:

Sheffey and Duffy.

Ciao

2009-03-06T17:09:00.004-05:00

It has been kind of a slow week as far as blog material is concerned, but here are a few photos.

Camille was soaking some dried pinto beans and I thought they looked like little bugs...I should say "they resembled little bugs."

See. Here is a close up.

You know it is a slow week when I am examining bean resemblances. Anyway, I got a Super8 camera (a Canon 310XL) and it just came in the mail this week. I got some film and have just finish shooting a test roll. I was going to start it off by filming at the bowl the other day but there wasn't enough lighting and it wouldn't have shown up. So I have just been shooting some scenic stuff on my lunch breaks. Yesterday I walked over to Times Square and noticed the big screen for their tourism stuff had an error message on it.

Great advertising for Microsoft! [/sarcasm]

I shot a lot of stuff in Central Park the other day and today and have finally finished the roll. Now to figure out where to process it. Anyway, here is my camera. It is the same one Jeremy (Cohen) has. It only cost me $29 on Ebay, which was awesome...especially since a lot of them were going for $150.

You can see my Tumblr up in the background there. If you haven't checked that out recently, give it a look. While I haven't posted much on here recently, I have still been posting a few things here and there on Tumblr.

Also, Peter (Sarne) has posted some of the stats for Battle at the Berrics here and here. Check them out and see how Mike Mo won. Spoiler: 85% consistency!

I have also added a new link to the "kill some time" list on the right. I recommend that you check out F*** My Life when you get a chance.

Speaking about wasting time, I bought that finger boarding application for my iPhone, Touch Grind. It is kinda cool, but I think I get more frustrated at my uncoordinated fingers than have fun. Maybe that will change. For now, I am pretty much just running into fences 90% of the time.

I will leave you with the video part of the week: Nate Jones' part from the Real to Reel video. Nate Jones is the first skateboarder that anyone has ever compared my skating too. Oh how, I wish they were right. Nate kills it harder than I ever will.

Once a man and twice a child.

2009-03-03T10:12:00.005-05:00

I would like to start out by shouting out my biggest fan, Michael Poindexter, from Nashville, TN.*

Anyway...

Steve Marino put together a pretty montage of NYC scenic shots he took. There isn't really any skateboarding in it, but it is easy on the eyes and worth checking out anyway. Check it out here.

I, on the other-hand, haven't been doing much filming. This is mostly due to the weather (there is about 8 inches of snow on the ground) and people motivating. I bought a Super8 camera on Ebay the other day, but I am still waiting for it to get here. I plan on getting some footage at the bowl, especially some of the tricks Alan has told me he has been learning there. I actually got an email from Autumn the other day saying that the miniramp is open again! Perhaps a session is in order tonight or tomorrow...

I'll leave you with this photo I found while browsing around Tumblr the other day:

I found it here.

*This is 55 year old pseudo-mountain-boarder that has nothing better to do than get all butt hurt when he gets served on the same message-board he comes to with some conservative, instigating agenda. Apparently he has been banned from many forums. If you ever come across someone names DaddyYo, say hi for me.

Mostly Skateboarding

2009-02-23T11:25:00.004-05:00

I am going to start this morning off with a link to Danny Falla's Mag Minute. His 5-0 fakie at the Woodhurr hospital spot (the spot in the default image of the video) was legit. That thing is super hard to skate. His front blunt to manual at Vernon was sick too.

I want to roll with these dudes!

This is one of my favorite video parts. It is Eero Anttila's part from the Alis video "Who Cares." I haven't heard anything of Eero since this video came out years ago, but he is now on that new Euro company called Jart.

Tonight I finally get to see Deathbowl to Downtown (Charnoski and Nichols' latest flick) at Columbia. My RSVP got screwed up the last time I went to see it (when it premiered the first time a while back), and it isn't on DVD yet...that I am aware of.

We are not the same, I am a Martian.

2009-02-20T11:04:00.003-05:00

You know when you are looking for something on Google Image and then you see something random that catches your interest? It doesn't have anything to do with what you were looking for, but it awesome nonetheless...well, I don't remember what I was looking for yesterday, but I came across an image of some weird super hero that someone created with Marvel's Create Your Own Super Hero application on their site. I made a few of my own.

This is the first one I made and would have the powers of being a bum (can clear a whole subway car in the matter of seconds), armored skin, and super strength (resulting in all strikes at the bowling ally).

This one was modeled a little more after myself. Note that I would develop a belly if I had super powers because I would become lazy from my awesomeness. I would hang out on Mars since I would be a flying reptile. I would use my trust hammer and claws to clear out craters to skate. The scarf is to keep me warm since it is cold in space...so I heard.

This is what Camille would look like if she were a super hero. She would be part cat from a radioactive explosion that morphed her and Kocik (our cat) into one. The radioactivity would also provide her with glowing hands that can heal. Her healing powers will provide an auto-undo to any sun that comes into contact with her skin, preventing any chance of skin cancer and wrinkles.

This was fun. Make your own super heros with that link and let me see!

A couple modifications.

2009-02-19T16:50:00.003-05:00

I have posted a couple photos of modified subway ads that I have come across in the past and this is the person behind them: Poster Boy. That link is to his Flickr. Look through it and check out more of his work. There is a big chance you have already seen it if you live in NYC. It made me look at the ads differently, and now I even think up ways to modify them myself...though I probably won't. You can even check out a little walk through of the process with him, watch this:

When you are done, give these My Little Pony mods a look.

It's my birthday!

2009-02-18T13:23:00.002-05:00

That doesn't really matter here though. What does matter is that I went up to Washington Heights last night to pick up some Roger Skateboards from this dude, Eugene, that runs a shop out of him apartment. He seemed to be the only one that carried the new Roger stuff. I have been looking for the Ghost with a Boner board for a long time and finally got it!

I also got this one since I will try to save the ghost one instead of skate it:

I hate you commuters!

2009-02-17T16:45:00.003-05:00

Everyday that I have to ride the subway is another day that I hate riding the subway. Some people don't know how to be considerate of others. Here are some of the ways that people on the subway make me hate people:
- Eating smelly/loud food.
- Chewing with their mouths open/smacking their food/eating like a horse.
- Clipping their nails.
- Being a smelly, wet bum.
- Preaching about god and the rapture.
- Listening to their headphones on full blast...sometimes I can hear it from half way down the train car.
- Being a fat adult and thinking you can fit in a spot only big enough for a (non-fat) child.
- Coughing/sneezing into your hand and immediately grabbing the railing with the same hand.
- Talking mad loud, saying the "n" word/son/dog/yo every 2 words.
- Sitting with legs wide open, taking up 3 spots.
- Trying to read what you are reading over your should.
- Gawking at anything you do I am guaranteed to have 90% of the train car watching me put a new board together on the train...it isn't that interesting. I am sure the newspaper you put down to watch me in amazement is much more interesting. I think there are some layoff you can read about.
- etc. etc. etc.

I can go on for days about this...one of the worst part about new york. I can also go on about people not outside of the subways. Like the person behind you in line at Wholefoods that either keeps bumping you with their basket because they are so close to you or that ends up standing next to you (as though they are going to check out with you). But I will spare you all of that, as I am sure you have your own experiences and I don't want to bring them any further back to the surface that I may have already. Sorry.

On a positive note, my birthday is tomorrow...too bad I am sick and it is going to rain.

My birthday is approaching.

2009-02-13T10:49:00.002-05:00

My Wish List:

- A super 8 camera so that I can be artsy in my "films." They can actually be called films then since it would be shot on film.

- To move to Australia or at least the west coast.

- To be able to get my last few tricks for a part I am trying to put together without being kicked out of 2/3rds of the spots right away.

- New bearings (Bones Swiss).

- Editing skills. There is so much I want to do and so little ability to do it.

- More time, motivation, productivity, luck, skill, reckless abandon.

- A new tattoo. I am trying to draw up a drop bear vs. kangaroo one now. Pretty much done with one, need to work on a second draft though. I will post them when I am done.

This For That

2009-02-11T14:29:00.003-05:00

I have been waiting for my entry to be approved and posted to the site before mentioning it here, but I have applied to The Best Job in the World. The job is Island Caretaker for the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef for 6 months. With 30k people applying, the chances of getting selected are very slim...but if you don't apply, they are non-existent, right?

Click here to watch my entry.

It would be nice of you to watch and give me 5 stars...or at least just watch it. I also have a fake/sample blog that I have been doing when I can find time here. The votes don't really count now, but they can help me get noticed. If I somehow make it into the Top 50, which I should know by early March, then votes will really count because the person with the most votes will make it as a wild card into the top 11, with the other 10 being selected by staff. The great thing about the top 11 is that they fly you to Australia to interview in person and to do some group activities...but that is getting too far ahead of myself. First step is to get into the Top 50.

Now that I am done asking for you to do something for me, here is a hilarious clip about how not to speak English (a la Crailtap):

And here are some random photos I took:

This guy was hanging out in the window to some veterinarian's office on the Upper West Side. He was super psyched to see Camille and I in the window.

Autumn Bowl back smith

Autumn Bowl front smith

Storage yard in Greenpoint. This is the space where there used to be a warehouse that burned down in a bad fire a couple years back.

Greenpoint water tower. Someone painted "Free Palestine" on it years back.

From below.

The Polish flag was painted on the other side. In case you are not familiar with Greenpoint, it is a very Polish neighborhood with a history of Polish immigrants coming through it for a long time. In fact, Camille's parents came here from Poland and Camille was thus born here.

The lake in Central Park is no longer frozen, but it was cool to see branches from trees trapped in the ice when it was.

As I type this, it is 64 degrees and sunny outside...the warmest day in a while. It is supposed to rain, but I am hoping that it will hold off until late night as I am looking forward to skating midtown after work. The weather has not worked in my favor skate-wise in a while, and I am hoping it will be nice this one time.

Footage and Review

2009-02-10T09:32:00.007-05:00

As you must have heard by now, Christian Bale went off on the DP (Director of Photography) of the Terminator movie they are working on and it was all recorded by the sound guy. And then there was the remix to said recording. And perhaps you've seen the "Christian Bale takes David to the dentist" mash-up I posted on my Tumblr yesterday. Well, now I present Christian Bale vs Pathmark (an edit Peter did with some footage from night/winter sessions at Pathmark in Queens). Featuring Paul Leung, Jay Mullally, another one of Peter's friends who's name I don't remember, Peter Sarne, and myself.

I recently got quite a few skate DVDs in the mail, one of which was the new video out of AZ called Potpourri by Thad Croskey. You can click on the image above to watch some promos for it and buy it, or just watch this trailer:

Yes, they are using Neutral Milk Hotel in it...which is mostly what convinced me to buy it, haha. Also, these dudes roll with Buster O'Shea and the guys from PVWHL and A Happy Medium (both of which I recommend). Well, I just watched the video last night and here are some thoughts:

1) These guys know how to have fun. So much so, in fact, that you will become depressed on your own scene...or lack there of.
2) Arizona is full of amazing spots that, for a second, you might even consider moving to a red state.
3) The best tricks in the video are in the opening montage.
4) You must understand that this is a homie video and isn't at the caliber of the Buster O'shea's homie video previously mentioned. If you are expecting such, you will be disappointed. There is some good stuff, but it won't meet the average skater's standards...even those skaters filming tricks that don't even deserved to be looked at yet think they are the next Ty Evans.
5) The bonus stuff doesn't have a lot of skating, though it is as long as the video itself. However, it is full of entertaining shenanigans that had me laughing.
6) It didn't quite end with a bang. It felt like something was missing.
7) Matt Price footage is entertaining. He has some decent maneuvers for a fat dude.
8) I am still not sure if Peter Vlad is just fooling us all about his abilities and that is the joke, or if his ability is real and giving him a part is he joke. The thing is, every once in a while he does something sick that makes you think that everything else is just to fool us, but I am not sure. It is awesome nonetheless.
9) I am not sure if I was recommend this to anyone to buy. If it were $5 less, then maybe. I don't regret buying it though, but I also buy most videos.
10) Todd Bratrud did some graphics and I want to look into this company Brimley. I remember they had a Bratrud deck a while back with Elmo in a sling that I thought was sick.

The video did make me want to skate, however...and that is what matters. Too bad the weather is pulling at my heart strings. I guess I will sit at home and watch skate videos and movie until it is not so wet out there. Speaking of, watch Vicky Christina Barcelona, it is the best movie I have seen in a while. It is better tha Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, (that boring movie) Frost/Nixon, etc.

Up and Down

2009-02-09T10:31:00.004-05:00

Wow...it has been Mind Field Mania this weekend. You can't seem to go anywhere without hearing about it, or even seeing it playing. If you haven' gotten the DVD, I suggest you do that ASAP! The bonus stuff is not throwaway; it is legit footage. The main reasons I can guess as to why most of it isn't in the video are:
1) It was gotten after the deadline
2) It was cut out for timing purposes (the video was an hour long)
3) They were crazy...some of the stuff was better than some of the footage that did make it in.

Well, I finally got around to getting some of my photos on the computer. Here are the few photos I took at the premier:

Gregg Chapman, Jake Johnson, and Jeremy Scott Cohen.

The screening room in the Tribeca Grand.

So it begins...

On a less festive note, Saturday marked the 2 year anniversary of Sho Ma's death. Some of us gathered at the regular spot to get together in honor of the person that brought most of us together in the first place. Here are a few photos:

I have also updated my Flickr with some photos for this month and also added a couple of the photos left over to my Tumblr.

Mind Field Premier

2009-02-04T10:30:00.002-05:00

Did you go to the Alien Workshop “Mind Field” premier last night at the Tribeca Grand? Maybe we walked by each other with the thousand kids piled in there. While I got there too late to get a stamp for the first showing, I (or should I say Jeremy?) talked my way into getting a stamp for the second show. However, when time came for that showing, horded of kids just bum rushed the spot, which rendered stamps useless, since they couldn’t possible check them at that point. They cut off letting people in with the person in front of me. I was fuming at that point and almost left but Jeremy convinced me to stay and get into the next one. Geo (Moya) was in the same boat and was there longer than me. By the time the next showing came around I jetted down the stairs and was one of the first ones in this time. Here is my rundown:

Omar Salazar
I felt scared for him, fearing that he would eat it going 80 mph on wobbly trucks. He definitely had the wow factor with most of his tricks, with spot/trick combos that few others could probably do.

Jake Johnson
New York City has been rendered unskateable. Jake did sick tricks on NYC spots that you couldn’t skate…and he did it switch at times. I may be bias because he is a homie, but this was one of the top 3 (maybe 2) parts in the video. Wallrides down double sets on straight walls (no slants)?!

Arto Saari
With Arto joining the squad so late into the filming process, it is no surprise that his part wasn’t very long. He did decide to leave a very clear message, however: Arto can backlip anything. I think his double set (kinked) long handrail ender proved that. Solid part, but I still get queasy watching him slam as hard as he does. Please stop showing it.

Jason Dill
I heard rumors about Dill’s part involving no ollies, which set the bar really low as for what I was expecting. It is safe to say that he exceeded my expectations, though not by much. While the rumors weren’t true, they weren’t that far off. He did a few tricks that involved ollies, though his part was really saved by his manuals. His ender was siiick!

Rob Dyrdek
I’ll just get it out of the way: worst and shortest part by far. There were a few good tricks but it was mostly boring. Did you expect anything else?

Steve Berra
I admit, I didn’t have much by way of expectations for his part. I thought it would be like Dyrdek’s part (as described), but it was surprisingly good, albeit short. Lots of flip-ins and some tight lines. Only bad part: switch mongo pushing. I guess it is a pet peeve of mine but it can ruin perfectly good skating for me. Dyrdek’s “part” was also scattered with it too.

Josh Kalis
Contrary to Berra’s part, Kalis didn’t quite live up to my expectations…though to be fair, my expectations were pretty high for it. His part was really good though; don’t get me wrong: switch front heel over a gap, bigspin backtail (on the pyramid ledges nonetheless), PLUS he skated super fast! But again with the switch mongo. Three parts in a row full of switch mongo pushing was a bit much for me in one dose. And his song was misplaced for the video and kind of bad anyway.

Grant Taylor
His part was a bit short, but it was packed with some big tricks. I remember seeing a sequence of his line where he kickflips a monster set followed immediately by an ollie over a wall to drop, but the footage makes it out to look super gnarly. His ender was impressive too: front board on the top of a gate door! Imagine hanging up on that…

Dylan Rieder
Dylan is one of the uber image conscious skaters and that vibe seeped from his part, which is unfortunate because he had some nice skating in it. Personally, I think his bank/tranny skating ruined it. It’s not that the tricks were bad, because they were actually really good, but because they seem too planned and/or typical. His flip tricks are on point though. The kid has a fast flick. My favorite trick of his was the backtail kickflip out on that bank that turns into a tranny thing in some LA ditch. Oh yeah, and his elf/peter pan shoes were a bit much…though I can image the board feel is great with them, haha.

Tyler Bledsoe
Why would they ruin a perfectly good part with such a wack electronic song?! It was too distracting how bad it was. Justin Strubing was sitting behind me and he was saying the same thing. Something to the effect of, “Aw man. They gave the worst song to the best dude.” Another stand out trick that appearing in a mag before was his gap to back tail on a bench in the middle of a dirt gap to backside flip out. The footage was super proper. I know there were some other standout tricks but I was too distracted with a bad song or something, sorry.

Mikey Taylor
There is something about Mikey. He can do no wrong with his skating to me. Perhaps it is his good style or his solid tricks. Whatever it is, he didn’t really have stand out tricks but his part was amazing anyway.

Anthony van Engelen
Wow! I can’t think of anyone else that can both skate as fast as AVE AND as tech…separately AND simultaneously. Ave kills! Best part. As you may know, he likes to skate handrails straight on, none of that skating from the side nonsense. The end of his part was filled with so many sick tricks back to back that I was overwhelmed to the point where comprehension stopped. I totally need to watch his part again…and again…and again.

Heath Kirchart
Heath still has it. Age hasn’t affected his ability to jump down thing better than dudes half his age. I can’t think of many people that have nose blunts comparable to Heath’s. While he had a lot of old footage in the part there was also a lot of new stuff where it was obvious that he went for it harder that most of the others and definitely deserved the last part (note: my favorite part of any video does not correlate to the part that should be last, hence this part deserving last part over AVE’s). His ender involved being towed by a scooter to launch a massive backside flip from a bump over a gap with deserved that second angle for sure. Glad to see Heath killing as usual!

The video as a whole was done very well, but at times it seemed a bit too methodical, as though they had a formula from Photosynthesis that they wanted to reuse. Obviously there was lots of 16 (or 8?) mm footage and sculptures and whatnot. The animations were kind of weird thrown in at (what seemed like) random times. There was this colorful light segment where these dots dance around on the screen…which was longer than (and possible better than) Dyrdek’s part. Lots of Dinosaur Jr. (also as expected). H even made a couple appearances in it too (playing instruments and skating). With the exception of a couple songs the soundtrack was pretty good, but I am a Dinosaur Jr. fan. Great video. I totally recommend that you buy it on Friday (2/6), when it comes out on DVD. Don’t disservice yourself by watching a crappy version online.

*I am not sure if this order of appearances is correct since it is just from memory but it is approximate.

Running on 4 hours of sleep...for 2nd day in a row.

2009-02-03T16:11:00.003-05:00

I made a 60 second infomercial. You will see it in due time. Trust me. Haha.

In case you haven't been following, I have been updating my Tumblr here and there since I can do that from my phone. However, I have just gotten on the iPhone bandwagon, so that should lead to even more updates. I think the camera is better than the one on my Blackberry anyway. Speaking of photos, I have taken some photos with my camera recently that I am kinda stoked on. I will try to get them up soonish. I have just been so busy with other things that I haven't had much time to edit photos...much less take them off my camera.

I did, however, have a decent skate day on Sunday with the weather touching 50 degrees, even if it were only for a second. It is amazing what the nice weather can do. Not only did it bring some other skateboarders out of the woodworks, but it also resulted in me actually filming some stuff. I hope that groundhog is right, because this winter needs to get a move on (the snow outside is not looking good for that wish). The new Alien Workshop video "Mind Field" is premier today in NYC and I am stoked on it, though the lines for it leave something to be desired, I can imagine. I imagine lots of Dinosaur Jr. for some reason. Haha.

I wrote this article things that I was going to submit to Thrasher, but upon a second reading, I am not so psyched on it and will just post it here instead. I think I will do so tomorrow.

"That's a long distance call...DOUG!"

2009-01-28T13:05:00.004-05:00

So...the Super Bowl is coming up. I could care less, and I would hope you feel the same way. Oh, you don't, jock? Whatevs. Since I am part of the media world, I keep coming across articles about Super Bowl ads, past and future. Well, one article went through the top 10 Super Bowl ads of all time and while most of them were pretty lame, I though this was was worth posting again:

"BREAK WAS OVER 15 MINUTES AGO...MITCH!"

I love Terry Tate's delivery in this commercial and how he pauses between saying people's names. You see professional athletes in a lot of commercials, but they usually come off as awkward when forced to speak (note: Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps, etc.), so I can appreciate Terry here.

"Maybe I’ll start my own hooker farm or maybe I’ll practice sleeping."

2009-01-26T14:01:00.004-05:00

Have you heard about the controversial T-Shirt Hell company? Well, according to TechCrunch, they are sick of dealing with people not understanding the meaning of their shirts and complaining non-stop.

Their intentions are still uncertain. Perhaps they are looking for a boost in sales for now to reemerge or re-brand themselves. Perhaps they are really serious and want to keep it real. Perhaps they are just tired of it all. Either way, I have never bought anything from them, though I do think some of their stuff is funny. Some is lame or cheesy, but they have enough good stuff to overlook that.

Here are some of their shirts that I found pretty hilarious:

Luis Got Bounce

2009-01-23T11:58:00.002-05:00

Luis Tolentino won another high ollie contest!

Bouncing is what Tolentiggers do best!

Joey Pepper Skates Proper

2009-01-23T10:36:00.004-05:00

You know how you sometimes see people skate and they can do a lot of tricks, but the tricks are sketchy and you don't know how they rode away? Well, Joey Pepper can never be accused of that. He does tricks the way they should be done. His back smiths are flawless, his backside nose blunts are legit, but my favorite is his back disasters. I have never seen anyone do them the way he does them. He basically backside ollies and sticks them. Everyone else just bonks them around. Watch this clip from the bowl last night that I took of his back disaster. Now to figure out how to do them like that...

Here it is again, 52 seconds in:

Winter (Re)mix

2009-01-20T11:47:00.006-05:00

Check out the Jahmal Williams interview on 48 Blocks. Don't miss the commercial on the left for Hopps. Josh Stewart (of Static 1, 2, & 3) put it together.

If you live in New York City, you know how wet and snowy the weather has been lately. I tried skating the BQE spot in Brooklyn yesterday, but it was too damp and there were a bunch of kids in the way. This has left me to skating the bowl a lot lately. That is not a bad thing, though. I have been getting more comfortable there and have been trying to get into things outside of 50-50s and 5-0s, which has led to a lot of falling down and getting hurt. I actually jammed my middle finger into one of the brick walls, bending my fingernail back causing a steady flow of blood, in which I wrapped with a tissue and some duct tape I found (I just found the duct tape, I had the tissue in my bag...I'm not that gross). I took a photo, which I am sure will be posted on here soon. Anyway, again, I noticed people taking advantage of keys with literally 6 people to 1 key yesterday. That is not cool. Bring one or two, not your whole crew at once.

I need to get out of this winter abyss. California, Australia, anywhere warm...can you bring me over? k, thanx, bai.

Here are some more photos I have taken.

I was waiting for Batman to appear or something.

Camille smelling the fresh snow. I think this was from the first significant snowfall of the season.

They have jokes at Vinnie's in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

This was my dinner of many nights during my tenure at NYU. Whole Earth Bakery on St. Marks (btw. 1st and Ave. A) has the best vegan pizza in NYC.

I guess pigeons don't fly south for the winter?

Christmas lights burning through the snowy layers.

This guy was laid out on the floor of grand central, totally not down to deal with all the people tromping by.

This is where we get most of our fruit. We call it the cat place since there is an awesome cat that lives here and barks at birds.

Home (in one sense of the word).

I posted these on my Tumblr but figured that I would post them here too.

Eby (me) - pivot fakie at the BQE spot in Brooklyn

Maurice - front rock

Don't Mess With Taxes

2009-01-15T13:52:00.003-05:00

A couple years back, Crailtap had a contest for a t-shirt design that tied a celeb with a jail record in with the brand. I think they had one with Paris Hilton as an example. Anyway, around that time, the whole scandal about Wesley Snipes being on the run from the IRS was all over the papers, so I submitted this:

Here is the Paris Hilton shirt:

Anyway, here are some more photos that I have taken recently-ish. I will go with a Christmas theme since scientists ruined it anyway.

I went to Rocafeller Center after work one day to get a picture of the tree for my mom (and since I only work like 3 blocks away). It took me 20 minutes to swim through the crowds of people from a block away to get to it, get the photo, and get back. Not fun by any means.

They had all these weird, random figures set by by the Christmas tree in my apartment building for like 2 months.

We scoped out the light show they do at Grand Central every year during the holidays.

My mom and I got disposable camera that we are going to take all the photos on and mail them to each other to develop for the surprises. This is one I took with mine.

It was hard to capture the light show in a photo, but I tried.

Sharp had a huge tree made out of TVs in there.

Lastly, this is a snowman melting in someone's yard. Not sure what that phallic thing sticking out of the head was supposed to be though...

On 2 hours of sleep

2009-01-14T11:18:00.004-05:00

Since I don't have a Pro Account on Flickr, I only get to put photos up once a month, since my alloted bandwidth runs out in less than one upload. Well this morning was that time of the month. After skating the bowl, I was up until after 5am editing and uploading photos. Check out the photos I have uploaded on my Flickr page.

And since I have had a lot of other photos that wouldn't fit in this upload, I just put them on Photobucket. I will post some on here throughout the next few days. Here is the first batch.

This is from the Translations premier in the Lower East Side.

The place was pretty packed, but I would be surprised if more than 20% were there for the premier.

Peter was one of those.

There are rats everywhere in this filthy town!

Have you ever had a candy corn float?! During Halloween, Jones Soda makes candy corn soda and I always buy it up. Add some vanilla soy ice cream and it is amazingly peculiar.

I love what someone did to this poster of the Curious Case of Benjamin Button in Greenpoint.

Jahmal Willams gets in ninja mode during the holiday shopping season.

Well, I'm out for now. More to come tomorrow.

Actually, if you have seen it already, go to Pete's blog to check out a statistical analysis he did on the Battle at the Berrics. Good times.

Ralph = Vomit

2009-01-12T10:57:00.004-05:00

A while back, when Alan and Ralph got on Substance, I was in one of my drawing modes and was just doing weird drawings for the fun of it. I decided to draw some graphics for them, totally unsolicited, and while they seemed to like them, I don't think Harley was too psyched on them. Then again, they were more humorous and not quite like the image I think he was going for.

This was the one I did for Ralph:

This is the graphic I did for Alan. He plays the (electric) piano and is a Bjork fan. I had to add the Bjork logo so that people knew who it was. To some, it was obvious. To others, they had no clue. I thought the goose dress was a dead giveaway.

Oh yeah, Alan did the lettering for his name himself.

Speaking on Alan, here is some vintage footage of the man himself. Hopefully that works since it is a Facebook link.

While I was looking for the images of the deck graphics I came across this photo of Taji. I think it was from the Nike video premier.

So Alan and I ended up getting that key to the Autumn Bowl and I have skated it twice so far. Seeing as though I haven't skated it in a year and a half, I still haven't gotten my bowl legs back yet, but you definitely appreciate grinding more than you do on a miniramp, or bowl with metal coping. I am not psyched on 5 or 6 dudes showing up (all to skate) when only one of them has a key. Bringing one or two people is fine, but that place gets crowded really quickly. I didn't see anyone donate any money either. When I used to go with key holders I would always drop some money into the box. In fact, I don't think I even saw the box...hmm. Anyway, I will be skating there a lot more for the next month or two. I mean look at the forecast!

Also, I am going to be working on a documentary about the DIY skatepark/spot movement with a friend from Seattle. He is leading it up, but I am going to help out, especially with the NY coverage (footage, interviews, etc.). I am going to cover the Autumn Bowl, the Brooklyn Banks, and the one off spots build all around the city. I will keep you updated with the developments on that.

"those kids are so cute and awesome. fed up with the cold and 7!! haha" - Camille

2009-01-06T12:27:00.004-05:00

My nephew, Eman, is pretty much obsessed with Africa (Kenya, in particular). Last time I went to go see him, he kept showing me his rock from Kenya and saying that he wanted to go there. He wanted me to take him there in the plane that he thinks I live on. I convinced him that his best bet was to draw pictures of himself in Africa and to pretend, which my sister said that he did. Well, Camille sent me a link to this article and said "This will be Eman's idea in the future too, I bet!"

I am in the process of trying to get a key to the Autumn Bowl for a couple months this winter. I need a go to spot when the weather sucks and I need to skate more transition.

That is Alan with the BGPs in this photo of Pat Smith doing a stalefish. Alan might be going in on a key with me. If so, expect a full Alan Siegler Bowl part one day (maybe).

Are you familiar with FailBlog? Well, it is by the same people that do LOLCats and I have been getting into a lot more lately. They have some pretty entertaining videos in their YouTube Channel too. Like this one:

Nothing like seeing a girl scorpion.

or this:

He must be a committed reporter if he could finish his broadcast after that.

or this hog embarrassing a lion (you know it is embarrassed):

or this:

I can go on forever with these, so I will just give one last one:

Where has Leonard been? Anyone know?

I have been taking a lot of photos with my LX3 and will be posting some of them soon. I have been sorting through them and need to edit some first.

I'll ride up your pipe...

2008-12-29T08:11:00.003-05:00

Have you seen the new cover of Skateboarder Magazine?!

Louie Barletta is a monster. Loop - full pads (including hip pads) - dudes on the side with pads to throw under him if he falls - roll up and ride away - prefab = amazingly legit!

So I pretty much have banked on Christmas and Camille got me this:

And this:

Now I need to learn to play this:

The funny/coincidental part is that I got her a Guitar, so perhaps we can duel each other...once we figure these things out.

(Fire) Foxy (Spaghetti) Cat

2008-12-28T11:12:00.003-05:00

Here are two more edits I just submitted for The Final Flare Outtakes Outtakes Edit Contest. If you don't know about Spaghetti Cat, YouTube it. I am a fan of The Soup, sorry.

Gifs killed the video star (or Christmas Gifs)

2008-12-23T12:59:00.004-05:00

Crailtap is having The Final Flare Outtakes Outtakes Edit Contest, which involves using the outtakes of the outtakes to put together your own edit. They provided the few skate clips (though using all of them isn't necessary). Here are my etries:

My second was took another route entirely...another medium to be exact. I introduce the new wave of video editing...animated gifs!

Here are some videos that I have enjoyed recently:

These orange guys are either trying to teach this little kid how to mack or they are trying to mack on him. Either way, it is creepy.

New Photography

2008-12-17T14:50:00.003-05:00

I took a bunch of photos with the LX3 and have edited a few. I was going to upload them to Flickr, however, you only get so much space per month unless you pay for a pro account. Since I already pay for a pro account on Photobucket, I figured that it would just be a waste. So here are the photos I took (hosted on Photobucket):

Smiling sink drain

Box cat

Full moons don't look nice with a wide angle lens

Dragon Vs. Cat

Jenga

Michelle, Camille, Maya

Trashed Romance

Light-proofing

Matt reviewing

Con Ed Banks

Lost daylight

This is America

Large Labia (bush included)

Matt's vagina booty

Tranquil on the outside

Sun sets on LIC

Crossing paths

Time Travel

Once plush

Reality

SNL Governor Paterson Impression

2008-12-16T09:48:00.002-05:00

So apparently NY Governor Paterson was not amused by the Fred Armisen impression of him on this past week's Saturday Night Live. I guess he was disappointed in how spot-on it was: from the look to how he got into office to his views. Paterson now knows that he has not gone unnoticed. I love how it is all fine and good for any other group to be targeted, but once you come after the disabled, you are going to far. Let's see. SNL has made fun of fat people, retarded people, muslims, woman, blacks, hispanics, jews, gays, WASPs, christians, southerners, the whole state of Illinois (and others), the French, NYers, etc. etc. etc. It seems like everyone is fair game, just don't come after the physically disabled...please. Where were you when they made fun of fat people, Paterson? That is considered a disability now. Maybe they are below you. Afterall, you are proposing a 15% tax on sodas that are not diet in NY. Yeah, that is going to solve all the state's financial problems. Anyway, here is the video:

Substance Promo

2008-12-13T18:35:00.004-05:00

The Substance Skateboards Promo is finally online for your viewing pleasure. There are a few clips that I contributed in there (they just spelled my name wrong in the credits, but whatevs).

Click to watch.

Overall, it is pretty good. Sassa killed it. We need more Alan, Ralph, Rob, and Scottie footage though!

Cloud Spit

2008-12-11T14:41:00.003-05:00

I like this ad. Apparently those bikes are between $3-7k.

There are a couple other ones, but they weren't as good as that one.

Speaking about ads, watch this. I really like deadpan humor and I am keen on the delivery. "Two cannibals are eating a clown, one says to the other, 'does this taste funny to you?'" Perhaps it is because I have been a fan of Paul Harvey.

Remember when I posted these shoes months back and said that I wanted some? Well, they are finally coming out, but cost a whopping $110. I retract the statement of me wanting them. I wanted to skate in them so that the hounds-tooth appeared when the denim wore down. But if I even wasted $110 on these, there is no way I would skate in them. Lame.

That is it for now. I just need this rain to let up so that I can get some skating in. My legs are withering away...

I'm Outdated

2008-12-09T11:20:00.002-05:00

I figured that I had a lot of old, stale footage that I don't want to use on anything legit, so I decided to make a clip of it last night. Some of the footage is fairly recent, but was more throwaway, fun footage than anything. You can tell the age of the clip this way: oldest = dreads, then short hair. The more recent footage is me with longer hair pulled back.

Rainy Days

2008-12-08T12:45:00.005-05:00

Remember a couple posts back when I was talking about skating Pathmark with Peter and Paul? Well, here is the footage...

Props to Pete's backside 360 and Paul's line! And yes, we do flatground kickflips in lines...because we can.

Who wants to tumbl(r)?!

2008-12-05T17:09:00.003-05:00

Oh yeah, I have a tumblr account now. I guess I am going to start micro-blogging there. Feel free to follow me on it, or just check in on it if you don't see any updates here. I will definitely be updating it more often then this, but the updates will be much shorter (hence the word "micro"). I will add it to the "other outlets" area on the right of this blog so that it is easy to find.

http://elasticback.tumblr.com/

Anything good on? Not really.

2008-12-05T11:33:00.003-05:00

Penguin escapes whale attack by jumping onto whale watching boat.

Cardiel...just because.

Sorry, not much to post. Maybe this sums it up well.

I plan on shooting a lot of photos and whatnot over the weekend. I might even put together a skate clip.

Last night I skated with Peter and Paul (not the apostles, but the next best thing) at Pathmark since it was raining. For those of you who don't know, Pathmark in Queens is one of the few NYC rain "spots," since it is an indoor parking garage for the grocery store. There isn't much there besides a manual pad, some curbs, and some barrier you can jump over, so usually the sessions are mellow and mediocre (at best). However, last night was super fun. I think we ended up skating there for like 3 1/2 hours and Pete brought out his camera to get some fun bro-cam footage. We got some some fun stuff captured in motion picture. I found the base of a freestanding handicap sign that I flipped over for some fun wallie action. Paul even got a pretty legit line for the session we were having. I think Pete might edit something together this weekend. If he does, I will post.

I will leave you with some Band of Horses.

You're All I Need

2008-12-04T10:58:00.005-05:00

I just bought a new camera on Tuesday, this one:

It is the Panasonic LX3. I got it in silver (mostly since they were out of black, the silver was $20 cheaper and I didn't want to wait). I have been looking into this camera for over a month now, but kinda pushed it back in my mind and didn't really think of it until Monday when Allen Ying IM'ed me about my thoughts on it. Basically we convinced each other to get it and met up on Tuesday and bought them from B&H. I have been reading through the manual and this camera is pretty much amazing for a digital point and shoot. I just need to put it to the test. I took some test shots yesterday in the park during my lunch break. You can check them out here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elasticback/

Now that I have a good p&s camera, I will be totally making more photo updates than I have been.

If you wonder where I have been, I have been hanging out on the Thrasher Message Boards. Go register and get down. Type and Destroy!

Here is a promo for North End (not sure what that is, but the promo is sick):

Now listen to this and get as hyped as you did in '95!

Watch this...

2008-11-26T22:30:00.000-05:00

A quickie.

2008-11-26T12:23:00.004-05:00

Watch Nate Broussard make skateboarding look pretty.

And read how Bobby Puleo can sound arrogant.

Psyched on this!

Clip of the week: Hellrose and Wetboys!

My family...

2008-11-24T13:49:00.001-05:00

This is for my family...a video of my nephews and niece from my trip to Charlotte.

Everyone else, I will make a better update either today or tomorrow.

And this little girl right hurr ain't scurred of nobody

2008-11-17T13:16:00.005-05:00

I just got back from visiting my family in Charlotte, NC this past weekend. There was typical family drama, lots of 2nd hand smoke, and a lack of skating, but it was good to see everyone and play with the kids. I got some footage of the little ones and will probably post something later, though that will mostly just be for my family. I think it is funny that my nephews and niece still think that I live in an airplane and just fly around all the time until I visit them. On my way to the airport yesterday my oldest nephew (turning 4 in a week) asked me if I live in the big plane with all of my friends. Haha.

Anyway, I watched three of the many videos (that I recently got) during the trip: Beez Vol. 1-3, Shake Junt, and Why Wouldn't You.

The Beez videos are made by a group of guys in Wisconsin or someplace as equally irrelevant as that, however, their videos are amazing. They have lines that involve them not even standing on their boards! Think handboarding with a real skateboard. These guys are definitely have more fun filming that anyone you know, and I can say that with great certainty...even if you are in the Tiltmode Army! One of my favorite tricks in the video is simply someone dropping their board into this tube thing and jumping on it as it shoots out the bottom. There are 4 videos included on the DVD and each one just gets more bizarre and more amazing. I was watching this on the plane on the way to Charlotte and the guy sitting next to me kept looking up puzzled, like he didn't know what was going on. This video has opened my eyes up a bit and has given me some ideas for expanding my horizons when it comes to skateboarding. While the skaters in the video were not the most skilled (there were some exceptions), they are some the most creative bunch I have ever seen. Good job guys. Beez 4? Anytime soon? Can I please have a part?! Hahaha.

Next I watched Shake Junt, a video of Baker Beagle's crew. This video had a Baker section and parts for a lot of the Baker flow guys. I was pretty disappointed in this video. Granted, I had little kids climbing all over me as I was watching it, it just didn't impress me. The Baker section was better then the rest of the video in sum, which is kind of sad since the Baker section was fairly short and had mostly throwaway footage. The video was edited in a Baker-ish style, which is unfortunate since it just resulted in a low-grade knockoff that probably would be lucky to survive the Canal Street of the skate world. There were a lot of bangers and big tricks, but that was mostly boring and nothing really stood out to me. I will leave it at this: not worth the money.

Lastly, I watched the Why Wouldn't You video out of Portland. This video made me want to move to Portland even more. It may not have covered all the basis of Portland skating to be completely representative, but it came closer than an other video (yes, even the Pharmacy video...obviously). Josh Falk had a decent part (it started slow but unfolded into something sick at the end), Ben Krahn had a sick part, Wildcard had a part (which is sick since he is deaf park rat that used to live in the park), Brent Atchley had a part better than his Element part, Red got ridiculous in his full part, and Mikey Chin had the last part. I think I actually witnessed his ender a year and a half back too. The introductions in the video were pretty weird and I would get uneasy when the chainsaw came out...especially when he was trying kickflips while holding it (on). The video totally could have been a bit shorter, but was worth the money by far. Now to figure out the next trip to Portland!

If you want to bump, let's go...

If you have time to waste, click through to the YouTube page and watch some of the video replies in the "related videos" area.

Motta and Jaws parts from A Happy Medium

2008-11-12T15:35:00.004-05:00

These will likely get pulled soon, so watch ASAP.

John Motta

Jaws

Don't be a jerk though. Buy it! You can order it here.

I am waiting on mine to be delivered.

Celebs and Updates

2008-11-10T12:15:00.002-05:00

I was looking through some of the popular videos on YouTube and came cross a video by Hayden Panettiere. I think she is one of the girls on The Hills or one of those shows.

Don't worry about listening to the whole thing, just listen enough to get the feel for it. I thought that it sounded pretty familiar. It seems like she is use the same person to write her songs as Paris...not positive, but they sound very similar.

No wonder I have trouble find any new music worth listening to.

Anyway, to skateboarding. I randomly thought about that Way of the Warriors contest that the Wetboys won a couple years ago and searched it out. Click here to check out the entries for 2008 and see who won. While the entries were good, I just didn't see any that stood out as "having it" this year. There is always next year...and depending on where I am living, I may want to enter. I wanted to enter this year but forgot...oh well.

Justin has updated Popills with a 16mm clip from his recent trip to Chile. Speaking of, the New Thirsty video is now available for sale. If you don't see it in the shops, click on the picture below to buy it online.

I don't know if I have posted this before, but watch this clip from Post22. I want to skate that satellite dish so bad. I think it is in Raleigh, and while I am going to Charlotte this weekend, Charlotte is nowhere near Raleigh.

WE x 48 Blocks - Pandemic Review

2008-11-06T13:49:00.004-05:00

While visiting FTC Skateshop in SF, there was a video chock full of SF spots playing on the TV. I was told that it was a video called Pandemic – a Western Edition and 48 Blocks collaboration. I think it only cost $5 or something, so I picked it up.

I hadn’t gotten a chance to watch the video until last night, but it definitely made up for the time I wasted watching that movie Hard Candy right before it. First off, the soundtrack was pretty great. There was maybe one song in the bonus stuff that I didn’t like, but other than that it was prime hip-hop, instrumentals, and classics. From Masta Ace to InI (you can never go wrong with InI). The filming was fairly constant throughout, which is not the case with most videos (which are a mashup of many filmers and missions). However, the editing was probably what tied the whole video together very well. It wasn’t overly done, but the transitions and scenic shots were done very tastefully.

Nikil Thayer had the opening part and came through with his smooth, clean effortless style. It was a solid part with no filler. The next part belongs to Joey Johnson. I think Joey is a victim of circumstance, because his part was good…it just wasn’t up to par with what the others were doing. Lavar McBride is one of those ‘90s classic skaters who somehow managed to put out timeless parts as a little kid. Well, Lavar is all growns up, and it shows. He still skates like the old Lavar in respect to doing almost everything switch (and slightly sketchy), but his style is a bit more mature and he isn’t hoping down things as much. While I am not a fan of his pushing (and definitely not of his switch-mongo pushing) his part came together in a way that maintains his credibility. The last part went to Nate Keegan, whom I have not seen much of to date. His last part positioning was truly well deserved. I am definitely a fan of this Nate now. The way Nate skates is original in that he approaches things differently. He may not do the most creative tricks on the most creative spots, but his approach and trick sequencing is what sets him apart and makes him memorable…plus his two songs were pretty great to top it off.

There were two montages thrown in at various points, one for 48 Blocks and the other for Western Edition. They both had great footage from friends and teammates that added to the very SF vibe of the video. AND it didn’t seem like most of this was throwaway that the friends just gave them because they didn’t care about it.

I’m backing Pandemic. I mean, what else are you going to spend the $5 on? A gallon of gas? That won’t get you down the block. Pop this in and get psyched to skate across the city!

Oh yeah, Brad Comer is on Krooked. Click here to watch his introduction footage. (Click the Quicktime symbol on the bottom of the page)

I have never heard of this kid before, but he rips!