Monday, March 30, 2009

Am I cool now?

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:

Friday, March 27, 2009

Sad Panda

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.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Getting Mental with Matt Beach

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

Thursday, March 12, 2009

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

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.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Veruschka - Part 2

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:

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Veruschka - Part 1

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.

Monday, March 09, 2009

Gems Skateboard Collection Show at KCDC



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.

Friday, March 06, 2009

Ciao

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.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Once a man and twice a child.

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.