Breaks

If you've got a minute, check out Breaks Magazine. I've got a little interview deep in the latest issue (Volume 2, issue 4). It came out in print a couple of weeks ago and has been floating around the local shops. I don't think it makes it out of Cali (yet). If you like to surf there are some pretty tubular photos and interviews in there. A radical, small, free mag really catching the Venice vibe. Thanks Christoph Benfey and Andrew Norton for helping me get those photos together. Thank you Breaks!    

Snow

I had a hard time not going crazy living in Ontario during the winter. It's so nice to be able to just walk out the door and throw your board down. I probably should have taken more trips during the winter. I was looking through the old footage and found some winter clips. Here's how I dealt with the frigidness.

My friends and I would scout warehouses that were under construction in the few months prior to snow. As long as the floor was poured we would rig up some sort of obstacle. Most of the time there was even heat in there. Getting in those places could get a little sketchy. But it was in the name of skatin... so all good, right? Some warehouses were better then others. The one in this clip was one of my favorites. Also some of the barn and CBMK.

...and if you haven't already seen this... some even older footage, properly edited by Christoph Benfey. 

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

"IT TOOK ME a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured. I realised, somehow, through the screaming in my mind, that even in that shackled, bloody helplessness, I was still free: free to hate the men who were torturing me, or to forgive them. It doesn't sound like much, I know. But in the flinch and bite of the chain, when it's all you've got, that freedom is a universe of possibility. And the choice you make, between hating and forgiving, can become the story of your life.

In my case, it's a long story, and a crowded one. I was a revolutionary who lost his ideals in heroin, a philosopher who lost his integrity in crime, and a poet who lost his soul in a maximum-security prison." (Shantaram, p1)

Before I started reading, I thought the 936 page novel would be a challenge. From those first few words I felt like I needed to read this story. I'm nearing the end and will hand in my book report soon. I would recommend this novel to anyone who likes to read (or doesn't). Maybe give it a pg 13 rating.

I believe Warner Bros. Pictures purchased the rights to this novel. Everyone always says "you gotta read the book" whenever a movie is made after a book. Since it's not a movie yet I thought I'd read it and be the one in quotes. Let your imagination create the scenes for this most epic story.

Tom, Jeff, and Yours Truly

Thanks for checking my blog. This feels a bit lame but maybe you'll like it.

I love skateboarding. I think I'm pretty lucky to have friends and family who are always down for a session. Check this clip to see my bro, Tommy, powering through a back lip. Since Tom was 14 he's had that full grown man style on a skateboard. Sheer power. Then check out Folgman's 5-0. It was a first go and it kinda looks like he's melting. It looks so easy when he does it. I back him up with the crooked grind and unfortunately my computer is filled with clips of me, so that is what you'll mostly be seeing.

Tom and Jeff have very different styles on a skateboard but they both get me so damn stoked to shred. Tommy makes it happen and Jeff kinda lets it happen.

Videographer: Christoph Benfey