SKATE MOVIE PREMIERE TONIGHT

EVERYONE IN THE AREA...GO!

Plus a new screen grab to add to the mix...this was from last night and Ryan Reyes and myself were having ourselves quite a laugh with this one:

Marisa Dal Santo

This girl, literally is, the best girl out there riding a skateboard.  There are some other girls that hold it down, not going to lie, but there's something about this girl that really hypes me up.  Her bag of tricks is cool, she looks a lot more comfortable on a board than your average girl skateboarder, and she seems to be pretty well rounded!  She can skate gaps, rails, and do cool weird stuff as well!  Just the fact that she does tricks other than front boards on real handrails should say something.  Smith grind tail grabs!?  Perhaps she's studied up on some Adrian Mallory footy (another amazing skater, and fun dude).

She is now riding for Innes Clothing, and this is her "welcoming" part.  I am actually wearing a pair of Innes jeans today...what a co-inky-dink right?  Watch her part:




My little buddy Donovon Piscapo rides for Zero as well, so while at Downtown Showdown a year or 2 back I got to meet and hang out with her because I spent that night hanging with Donny.  She seemed like a really cool girl, and knew she ripped...but I had no idea she was as good as I would find out when "Strange World" dropped.  Donny had told me she had skills, but a girl kickflip frontside boardsliding real handrails and variel heelflipping legit sets is not what I thought we were all in store for, no offense.


Zero's "Misled Youth" was my defining video for me as a kid growing up.  I watched it sooooo damn much, and it will always remind me of why I loved skating so much then and now.  And look at this, years and years down the line STILL putting out great videos.  The whole Zero style fully influenced my editing style.  Jamie Thomas may not know this, but there's a photo of him in the Thrasher with Chris Cole's Rincon front blunt on it with me standing next to him (along side Clint Walker and Daxter Lussier).  I still trip thinking about that because of the fact that I grew up on Zero and was so influenced by that company..and now I'm in Thrasher standing next to that freaking guy!  The people that grew up with me and knew me when I lived in Watsonville all know me by, and call me Chief...I bet most of you So Cal peeps didn't know that.  All my bestfriends growing up, to this day, refer to me by that name and it's all because of you Logan Gritton (LOG!).  I'm not indian but hey, whatevs.  So technically, there's 2 Chief's in that photo in the mag, haha!  By the way, all you people should not just download the video or watch it in parts on youtube...buy it and support the people who are out there breaking themselves off and pushing skateboarding forward.  They need our support.  I'm sure you can spare 15 bucks or so for the video.


Anyways, Marisa could be opening up the door for a lot more girls to hop on boards and actually want to go out and skate some real street spots and not just parks.  As a matter of fact, I hope she does inspire a lot of girls to do this.  Dan has told me before that when he was younger Tyler Hansen would see a hot girl while they were out and about and say things like "Hey Dan, imagine that hot girl right there backside lipsliding El Toro...in a bikini!"  If Marisa keeps thing up we may actually be able to witness this!  Too bad they took out the middle rail though because now these bikini clad bombshells who are going to flock to El Toro to be the first to make Dan and Tyler's dream come true have a little safety net and can bail the ollie and just flop onto the other side and roll down the grass.  Goodbye full commit first tries, I guess.  Hopefully the itchiness isn't too bad and they can continue to try.  Tyler really did say that by the way, and other stuff along those lines.  He is a true visionary.


So to all you girls out there, you may not have to skate in a bikini, you may not have to try to skate El Toro...but you may have to start stepping it up and working on your style, building your bag of tricks, and start gaining that board control. With girls like Marisa Dal Santo's and Leticia Bufoni out there doing man tricks, your little kick turns and no pop ollies just aren't going to cut it anymore.


PS Nightmare on Elm Street comes out on Friday! Same day as the "Skate Movie" video premiere...so if you don't see me at the premiere you know where I'll be.

David got his license today!

This is a photo I shot of David in Utretch while we were on our 2 week trip out in Holland. This trip is actually where the whole concept for Skate Movie came to me...one stormy, drunken, night full of rain and lightning.  We were staying at Rob Maatman's house and Rob and I were just hanging in his backyard listening to music, talking, and enjoying the weather while David and Robbin Oost were watching TV, playing video games, or something inside.  I hate to sound cliche, but I swear one of those lightning bolts was the trigger to the idea.  Like a light bulb turned on right above my head or something...cartoon style!  It didn't come to be until after the trip when I was at home on a boring night in front of my computer with Final Cut Pro open and an empty sequence that I thought that just maybe the idea I had that night at Rob's wasn't so crazy after all...that trip was one of the most fun trips I have ever been on in my life.  I had such a good time, hanging with friends, skating, kicking it hard every night, and just taking in a new culture and it's customs day in and out.  Rob's parents took us out in Deventer (where Rob lives) the night before David and I flew back and they took us to a "Mexican" restaurant...Dutch style!  Their twist on Mexican food was interesting to say the least...but they sure did have margaritas down!  Rob's parents loaded me up with a good amount of those tasty beverages and got me super drunk.  I think I was hitting on our waitress pretty hard.  I would have married that blonde bombshell then and there, haha!


Anyways, back to what I wanted to write up here.  I was working a side job for Cartoon Network today and I had a good amount of downtime at the first location so David and I were texting while he was at the DMV waiting to take his driving test.  Sure enough he passed and got his license!  Never thought I'd see the day.  I don't even know what it's going to be like anymore now that he has it...actually I do know!  After close to 4 years of me driving him all around Southern (and even Northern) California, it is time for him to drive me around for once!  And David, I'm telling you right now, I BETTER HAVE PERMANENT SHOTGUN WHENEVER I'M IN THAT CAR!  Congratulations buddy.


And on that note, I would just like to say that I don't care what any of you faggots out in internet land have to say about David.  Granted, David has done some stupid stuff in the past, but hey who hasn't?  I for sure know that I've done some stuuuupid stuff in my high school and college years...hell I did some really stupid stuff just last friday night on my birthday that I'm not proud of after leaving the karaoke bar!  WE CAN ALL BE LAME AT TIMES!  So don't go acting like you've never done lame things before because you know you have.  And if you claim that you haven't, you're a damn liar.  He knows he's done some dumb things (and I know it too hah!), but he has grown a lot.  I've seen his skating mature over the last few years, and seen him grow as a person as well.  And I'm not referring to his height (although I kind of am becuase we used to wear the same sized clothes/shoes when we first started hanging), I'm talking about him growing up in all aspects of the term.


Keep in mind he is still young, he still has some more maturing ahead of him, but I've spent enough time with him and his family to know that he has been raised right.  He still drives me crazy at times, but I will always consider him one of my bestfriends no matter what.  The two of us have had tons of great times together, endless laughs, and an inside joke list that we'd have to send off to NASA to calculate the numerical count of. A lot of the people that I know and skate with on a regular basis I met through him, so I am stoked for that as well.


So all you anonymous, faceless, shit talking, internet morons out there...keep your faggot ass in your chair talking your shit while David is out skating harder than you, handling business, and having fun on his board.  DLoy's got a really sick part in Skate Movie and the tricks should talk for themselves.  If reading this changes your views of me so be it. Fuck you, I don't need your acceptance.  Let my close friends and I sit and watch you and your friends make fools of yourselves and act stupid with each other (all close friends do it), and I'm sure we would have a grand, old time pointing out all your flaws and making fun of the dumb shit you do/say.  I'm old enough now to not care about what people think about me, my horrible taste in music or who I hang out with.  Being considered "cool," isn't anything worth stressing at this point in life.  I have David's back, and all my other close friend's backs, until the end.  Fuck being cool, I'm over it.  Apparently, it's a lot easier to be "cool" than it is to be "real," these days...

Birthday Weekend

Here are some photos that got taken over the the span of the birthday weekend :)

I don't really remember how this ended up happening, but I remember being in the livingroom and everything was cool.  I was talking to Adam and then I look back at these two and they're suddenly going at it.  Clint is lucky that he got this Lake Forrest Locc before his "vato" transformation:

Next time Clint tries to test nuts, he's going to get the wrath of the numb chucks yo...he be doing indian burns too!

And then you got this guy! Held it down hard at 6 Flags all day.  I don't think any visitor at the park got yelled at more than David.

This was us in line for the new Terminator rollercoaster. Wait is that Shawn Hale standing behind me in the photo?  No wait that's just Heath Ledger!

This photo above is one of my favorites from the weekend.  Jason got a devastating right hook from Clint while we were on one of the rides...bet he didn't see that one coming. Looks like that girl behind Jason didn't see the photo opportunity coming...

I really don't know what the hell was going on in here, but from the looks of it I walked in on Clint reenacting a victorious scene from an epic movie ala Clash of the Titan's or 300.

Last photo to add to the mix is myself shotgunning a draught before heading out to 6 Flags...and if you know me pretty well you know I hate beer (and most alcohol) so this was no easy feat.  But I took some down before getting on the road.

All in all, I had a great time this weekend.  I had so much fun being with the homies, roaming around 6 Flags like we were all 13 years old.  Pissing people off, getting yelled at, making fun of just about every person that crossed our path.  Sounds like the stuff we do while we're out skating.  Hopefully people were making fun of us while we were there.  It's crazy how a place like an amusement park can change one's mentality completely upside down.  We were all so excited and eager to get on the next ride, figure out who was riding with who, and of course figure out what section of the ride you wanted to be on.  David, Dylan, Dan, (too many D names) and myself all have season passes now so I already can't wait to go back!  So bummed Dan didn't get to join us on this escapade :(

A bunch of us met up at Boardwalk 11 Karaoke Bar after 6 Flags and had a wild time over there.  I sang a Styx song, Adam sang some song that he ended up barely even singing, however he somehow managed to bum out the karaoke DJ super hard so it was a solid performance on his part.  The highlight of the night I think was Toby singing the yodeling song called "Cattle Call," and I think that most people in the bar were NOT feeling that one at all.  I heard him sing the song once before and honestly almost died of laughter, so I made him sing it again and again I had another laughing induced near death experience.  Toby holds it down so damn hard!

Thank you all for coming and hanging out.  It meant a lot.  Thank you for all the drinks!  I somehow wasn't hung over, but Adam sure as hell was!  I literally was drinking tons and tons of water the whole night non-stop and I know that that saved me the pains that Adam suffered (then magically skated out later in the day).  Today was such a weird day because I had plans to go film with Sean Peterson today, and then somehow just ended up staying at home and just chilled.  Something I almost never do on weekends.  I am always out and about.  It was a nice change up from always being on the go.  Got to just relax, got lunch with Danny, and then watched a super good movie with my other friend Elliott.  I don't know if I am planning on spending another Sunday like this again anytime soon, but after the hecticness that was Thursday through Saturday, it was perfect.  You should all watch the movie "Bronson," because it was one of the craziest movies you will ever see.  The shot compositions, lighting, and acting are sooo amazing.  The whole movie is on point, PERIOD!  So watch it, and bask in all it's glory.  The main actor does one of the better performances I've seen in a LONG time.  I'm ready to lay in bed and read, so you should all go pick up a book and do the same ;)

I also have a "Best Text" entry to add to the mix.  This one came via Adam Bertolet:

"Coors Light just keeps getting better! Heard a commercial on the radio, they have a window on the box now so you can sea if your beer is cold as the Rockies before u buy it!! So smart"

Adam's love for Coors Light is deeper than the holes in your bowling ball.

Hyper

"Hyper" is a short film that was written and directed by my close friend Derek Rydquist. Derek is the singer of a band called The Faceless and used to be the singer of (the now defunct?) band The Taste Of Blood. Derek used to skateboard back when we were in high school, so he knows a stylish trick in a video from a lame trick any time of the day.

I remember shooting this like it was yesterday. I remember being at my beach house in Oxnard Shores hanging out in my room while waiting to be picked up by my friend Barrett, and I specifically remember eating a special kind of brownie prior to being picked up...just to make the 5 hour car ride up to Aptos a little more interesting. Isn't it funny how sometimes you think of a certain event (or time in general) and it's almost feels like a little worker bee inside your head goes to your memory vaults, grabs the proper laser disc that corresponds to that time, pops it in, and everything is there for you recount: sights, smells, conversations, textures, hopeful thoughts. That is how I am feeling right now. I remember it all! I am also currently thinking about how I always find myself thinking to myself "I'd give anything to go back to that day/times." I think I find myself saying that far too much. I wonder if I have already started to hate my life and everything I do so that the only things I really want anymore are good times I've already head. Or if the times were just so fun that I want to laugh at the same things again, be surrounded by those people, and experience a slightly less hectic life. Luckily it's the second thing I listed here and not the first option. I'd rather you reading this be the one to hate your life, and not me ;)

I do remember when Derek emailed me his script for this project and being so excited because I could already see the thing becoming visualized in my head. If only we had a budget we could have made this damn thing look INSANE! Buuut, what can you do...Derek was in college, and like most college kids, didn't have tons of money to pour into this sort of thing. Either way, I think we did all that we could have possibly done and also had a great time doing it. "Hyper" very much has the feel of that one scene in the movie "The Rules Of Attraction" where the dude goes to Europe and basically loses his mind. One of the main actresses in that movie (Shannyn Sossamon) is bestfriends with my production manager at 2HH...I lose my mind everytime I see her. Thank you lovely lady for sparing me the cost of a European vacation in order to lose my mind like your cohort in the movie.

Enough of that, back to the short film...WATCH IT! Derek has a way with words. Although the narration may not have been recorded (or edited) the best, what Derek says is gold! Great stuff. There are also many of my friends in the short which is just hilarious (when you know the peeps): Ryan Murray, Daniel Rodriquez, Chelsea Altman, Brittany Norris, Morgan Arnold...hell one of my limbs is even in the film! I've finally made it! I wish I could do stuff like this more...I want to cut short films and narrative stuff so bad, I just don't have an "in" with that kind of stuff. One can hope right!?

Alright, I need to shower and get ready for Clint's Dekline demo at 9Star Skate Shop right down the street...if you're in the area GO! It starts at 3. And listen to Derek's band...cuz they're kewlz :)

Wednesday Funday

On Wednesday I went down to Costa Mesa to have a meeting regarding the Skate Movie premiere and upon arriving at Hurley I was greeted by Dennis Loy and the doggies (Elvie and Ollie).

Dennis is one of the coolest dads you'll ever meet. He supports his son's and family to the fullest, and is such a down to earth guy.  If you ever see him around with Ethan or David meet and greet!  Him and the Loy family are like family :) And look at these pooches! Dan Murphy ain't got nothin' on these two! Haha, kidding! I don't know Murphy, but his dog looks rad too.


At the same time that Dennis spotted me pulling into Hurley, I spotted Mike Campos.  This homies got Moreno Valley and Riverside on lockdown...good filmer and great skater. He'll manual your face off.  Hopefully he's got some new footage that he's sitting on because I want to see some new shit out of this guy. This guy and I need to go back out on skate trips again...fun days!

Soon after arriving Bruno Passos and I had our meeting with 2 of the guys who are in charge of the premiere at Hurley and it went great. We got the logistics figured out, and everything is a go for the 30th.  Everything went so well that Bruno even decided to crack open a Coors Light in lieu of handling our business.  You can bet that that cold activated can got drank with the quickness (especially with the help of that wide mouth opening)...definitely emptied out into his system before those blue mountains could turn back to white!

Andre Genovesi even showed up and it was great to see him.  I hadn't really seen or talked to him in a good while...not since like the filming of the first episode of Built To Shred Season 2.  I used to skate and film with Andre a lot and then we kind of had a falling out and it was amazing to sit down and hang out, talk, and settle things.  I've been a fan of Andre's since I was a young lad, and always was blown away by his insane pop and precise switch stance skating.  The guy is a beast! Bo big, but such finesse.  He is having a baby boy too!  Congratulations Andre and Samantha. Peep that stash Andre was rocking, a nasty brushfire could start all up on that...lucky for him he doesn't smoke!

I got to spend a fair amount of time with Ethan as well this day.  He introduced me to some great people who run a business called Krochet Kids and they're doing some really awesome stuff for people in Uganda.  I bought myself and Allen a shirt from them, and the money is going towards some really good causes and helping out great people as well.  Check them out and maybe pick up a shirt or a rad beanie (hand knit in Uganda!). Thanks for introducing me E-Pod...High 5!

After some much needed mellow, hang out time around the Hurley office Ethan and I ventured off to Costa Mesa park for a little sesh before the lights went out.  Not much went down but I was glad to see some familiar faces.  Dominick Walker, Myles Wright, and Jeff Carlyle...guys that I do not get to see enough.  I love Myles and Dom...they crack me up non stop, good dudes/good times.  As long as they keep they drawlzzzz cleeannnn!

Dominick has something in his hand there...hmmmm...he was pretty bummed I didn't let him watch what was on that shiny little disc :o

SKATE MOVIE PREMIERE FLYER!

THE TIME HAS COME EVERYONE! Come one, come all. There is rumor that my homies "King Cheese" are going to be playing the premiere as well, and that FUELTV is going to be covering it.  So bring all your friends, hang out, skate the park, mingle, make out beneath the bleachers, get caught smoking behind the handball courts, all that stuff...and of course watch Skate Movie.


By the way, "King Cheese " is my friend Ben Cabreana's band that is guaranteed to bum your day out, or bum your high out if you're that kind of person.  Him and Blake are wild and like to have a good time while making their musical instruments squeal.  Blake even has the best vertical squat I've ever seen while performing...it's a sight to be seen for sure. Ben was the winner of Slap Magazine's "One In A Million Contest" last year, so if you're not familiar with his skateboarding take a gander right down here:





Can't wait to see you all there, bring some hot babes too...they're always nice to look at while they stand around completely out of their element.

Chris Lambert hates fake boobs.

As I hit the "title" box to type in what I would be calling this post Chris Lambert was talking about boobs...fake boobs to be exact.

That has nothing to do with my post, but my post is about this man, Chris Lambert:

That there is a bottle of tequila, and that there styrofoam cup contains said tequila.  Barging the hard-A in broad daylight.  Hard.  I have sooooo much fun at work with when I'm hanging out with this guy in the office...if you had seen what he was just doing right now to an inflatable goat as I type this up you'd be cracking up.  I grew up watching this guys skateboarding, and now I know him on a personal level...I still trip out on it.  He's a legend.  The stories he tells while hanging out are the best, he'll have anyone laughing till they're in pain.  He even did this earlier when he decided to randomly start tickling me and gave me a headache that's lasted more than an hour.

I told him that I had started a blog and wanted to put him on it.  Unfortunately, I didn't bring my D40x today so I had to snap a nice high quality pic of him...but that doesn't matter.  Chris is the man, and I hope anyone who reads this gets a chance to meet him and get to know him.  For my lack of a better photo I'll post some of his skate footage from the Expedition One days:

A new start...

This is my first time posting and I don't really know how to start...I never really wanted to make one of these but now that "Skate Movie" is over...I figured why not start taking photos again and maybe start up a random blog full of skateboarding, rantings, music related things, video related things...things in general!

The last 4 or 5 months have been the most hectic times ever I feel like.  Crazier than graduating from high school, scarier than moving away from home to go to college, more strenuous than graduating from college...and it's all because of "Skate Movie."  I set a deadline for myself to get it done and I met the deadline...but meeting that deadline took every bit of energy I have in my short, little body. Since December of 2009, everyday after work I would come home and edit stuff for "Skate Movie" well into the wee hours of the morning.  I would sit in front of a computer all day at work finishing up American Misfits Season 3 (the season premiered last Friday and episode 2 comes out tomorrow night on FUELTV), and then I'd come home and sit in front of my computer at home editing "Skate Movie" from about 6:30/7PM until at least 2AM every night, then wake up at 8AM and get ready to do it all over again.  This, on top of being out skating and filming with the homies for the video ANY and EVERY chance I got really took its toll on me.  This last month my body has been so weak from the lack of rest, and the last week especially.  I felt like I was one of the living dead...blank eyes to the world, with one goal in mind.  Crazy how you can get so caught up in something isn't it?  How something that as intangible as an idea, something you can't even touch, but can only see in your head can take such utter control of your life...I like it.

Even though the post production is done on the video, and the journey of creating it is over it is all that I can think about.  I think the fact that I have a finished piece in my hands that I can't show anyone is what is keeping me so excited and thinking.  Im so curious as to what everyone in the video is going to think of video as a whole.  No one in the video has seen anything other than their parts and maybe parts of the intro...and it's staying that way until the day of the premiere which is still 22 days away.  The waiting makes me curious...

There is such a fine line between in the world of skateboarding videos with regards to doing something different.  What I attempted with "Skate Movie" was something slightly different...but not too different.  I wonder where it will end up on that fine line?  Will I cross over into the "that was too weird" area, or will I stray over into that "that was cool!" area...which is where I want to end up obviously.  I am beyond happy with the video, though! It is beyond anything I could have possibly imagined.  The caliber of skating, the riders involved, the music, the tricks...I am so stoked.  But then again, I am naturally biased because I made the damn thing.  Time will tell...come to the premiere April 30th, at the Hurley/Converse HQ in Costa Mesa and be the judge.  The waiting makes me nervous...

I don't know how this blog is going to do, or how it will even come across.  I just know that I enjoy writing.  Writing...does anyone do that anymore?  I should say I like typing then.  I don't do it as much as I would like anymore, but I do enjoy doing it and I almost never let anyone see what I write.  So maybe this is finally be my platform to just write and let some of that stuff out.

I already know that because of this blog I am going to start shooting photos more.  That way there is something visually (in the still photo realm) stimulating here besides my pointless, meaningless words.  I have so much supplemental footage left over from "Skate Movie" and I want to put little pieces together (or maybe even just a raw clip) and let them be seen.  Because otherwise they'll just collect digital dust bunnies on my computer and not get seen. On top of that, theres always an endless slew of youtube videos to be found and shared, so yeah...the stuff that I'm going to post is just going to be all over the spectrum.  I'm excited to have a place to share links, ideas, articles, videos, photos...everything!

Here is one thing I am for sure going to do, and thats post a thing called "Best Text," where anytime I get a stupid text message (my friends provide me with a lot of these fortunately) that stands out from the rest I'm going to post it on here...with the phone number star'd out of course! (***) ***-3534 for example maybe a method I use to hide the persons number? Aside from that, I am a huge fan of desktop screen grabs...so you best believe I'll be taking screen grabs of tons of funny shit and putting it on here. 

As a matter of fact...I'm going to post a screen grab from an iChat conversation I had with David about 2 days ago. Consider this my first "Screen Grabz" addition to the blog...with many more to come.  I even have archives I'm sure of this kind of stuff.  The photo archives will be raided as well and those will be posted whenever I have some free time to go through and find some cool ones worth sharing.  Anyways...this screen grab is funny because David is soooo not down for the person that I said I was going to put in his "thank you list" in the credits of the video. The funnier thing is that you will most likely NEVER know who it was that we were talking about...and I think it's going to stay that way:

That screen grab really cracks me up and I don't know why!  Those devil faces are a doozy, eh? Hahah! I'm going to be doing some photoshop work and making this lay out a bit more customized, and making a proper layout next week.  So I apologize for the blandness right now.  After I make the "Skate Movie Premiere" Flyer I will have more time to make this stupid blog look a little nicer.  Later dewdz!