It's All About ME!

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??

Interwebs

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):

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.

Same Tricks, Different Spots

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

Charles Lamb, Ben Kilpatrick, & Itoshin

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

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

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.

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

Don't Mess With Taxes

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

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.