A Present

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.

Naysayer Skateboards

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.

If you can make it here...

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

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!

Can I Get A Tweet Tweet?

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

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.

This For That

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.

Joey Pepper Skates Proper

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

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

Ralph = Vomit

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

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.