The weather has shifted and autumn is in full effect.
I am still unemployed...at least Sandra got a job. She now works in a large law firm in the city. Not a great job by any means but does provide health insurance and a paycheck. Both of which are sorely needed at this time. She seems to be getting settled in to living here pretty nicely. Even has a bus pass!
Now I am running all the errands, grocery shopping, laundry and cleaning. As you can imagine it does'nt get done as well as when Sandra does it...Have not been skating at all. Totally unmotivated. I have been out on my bike some. Also have been walking the city when I have the chance.
But I have been keeping myself busy with some side projects. I have been participating in Alphabattle 2.0. It is a online typography contest where each month a different letter of the alphabet is the subject. So far I have submitted a few letters. I am working on T right now and will post when finished.
Had my first job interview today. It was for a design position at a small weekly newspaper. Turns out the job offered was putting all the ads together and laying them out. Would have been perfect except it was apart time position without a regular schedule. So in the end after we finished up the interview it was asked if I would be interested in working as a freelancer on specific projects. I told them I would most definitely be interested. Unfortunately it would not be worth it to work a part time job I would have to drive to Chester for. Oh I forgot to mention it's in a hood straight out of The Wire complete with roaming leashless pit bulls (seriously!), burned out buildings, lurkers, baseheads, and out in the open drug dealing. This was all on the same block as the offices. Chester is no joke.
It was a good experience to have the interview and go through the process again. It's been a looong time.
Went out for a nice bike ride with my brother and his friend Kris. We rode the bike path all around the Art Museum and back up the West River Drive (no cars allowed on Sat and Sun!). Even though it was raining the whole time it was a good ride and a nice way to end another weekend filled with vodka...
Going to the Phillies game on Sat night! Beers and baseball with friends. Good times guaranteed!
It has been along time but I am back in effect. We made it to Philly with all our belongings and animals. Drove all the way across the country in 4.5 days with Radley and Stevie in the car. No tickets, no real drama. Kind of amazing if you ask me. So far we are really enjoying living in the city. We found a place right across the street from the Art museum. It has been so hot however that we have mainly been inside enjoying the a/c. Not to be a pussy or anything but it is the hottest summer on record I believe. We are entering the 5th straight week of temps in the 90's.
So hopefully I will be able to post a bit more often now that I have my workspace set up.
Below is a link to some of my recent school projects. All responses and critiques are welcome and appreciated. Unless you are just being a pretentious asshole...then you can fuck right off.
It's now the second week of March and the search for an apartment in Philly is in full swing. I've been in touch with a real estate person to aid in the search since we are 3000 miles away. It seems like we will be able to get what we want (pretty much) in a nice walkable Center City location. The only real deal breakers would be no A/C and no W/D in the unit. The summer is entirely too hot and humid not to have a/c and the convenience of the in unit w/d dryer cannot be overstated.
Out here in the LA area we have a very helpful rental site called Westsiderentals.com. You pay $75 and instantly have access to much better listings than what you see in the papers and the internet sites such as rent.com, apartmentfinder.com, etc. Does anybody out there know of any such site in the Philly area? I know that working with the realtor will cost more than that but as of right now I am unsure how much that will end up costing. Any help from my people out there would be greatly appreciated.
Now back to the fun stuff. I had a pretty good weekend even though it rained most of the time. We got out at night and went over to our favorite watering hole, The Red Room. A great place to drink, watch the occasional skate vid, scope on the cute girls or just sit and talk junk on everyone around who we deem uncool...my personal favorite past time. Also I was able to get out and ride my bike a couple times. I would have been skating but it was wet most of the time, and I was a bit hungover. Never a good combo.
This week has started off pretty well. I received a surprise in the mail from EDD, 4 checks that I have been waiting on for what seems like forever. Plus one of them had a continued claim form so that means at least one more check. I need this $$$ badly. I got habits...
As I have said on here a bunch lately, I have been skating quite a bit when my body feels up to it. It is great but now I remember how fast you burn through boards, wheels and shoes. The shoes part I have covered, working for DVS/Lakai for 6 years has left me a stockpile of shoes. I would prefer to run another brand after the way I was let go but I can deal by painting over the logo's. Now boards and wheels on the other hand are a different story. I just put together a set up last night that consisted of a previously skated Furnace shop deck and some no name wheels I have had laying around for years. Not exactly a "buttery" set up...at least I have new Thunders. Enough bitching and moaning...at least I have a set up.
As per usual I have a couple videos for you to check out.
1st up in Chris Mulhern's new video entitled "This Time Tomorrow". I am really looking forward to seeing this when it comes out. Should have ton's of Philly footage as Chris is either from the city or lives there and films there now. I encourage you to buy it not download it as I have had some communication with him and he seems like a good dude. Without further adue here is the trailer.
Next up is the upcoming film from Blueprint Skateboards entitled "Making Friends with the Colour Blue". If you have ever seen anything from the Blueprint fellas then you know this will be one not to miss. Parts from all the team including, Chewy Cannon (personal fav of mine), Neil Smith, Nick Jensen, Danny Brady, newest team memeber Marty Murawski and the rest of the squad. Grimy London and European spots mixed in with Dan Magee's filming and editing. Sure to not dissapoint. Check it out and then go skate a gravely bank to ledge.
That's it for today folks. Until next time...Late.
Have you ever heard a song and been mesmerized by the beat, chorus, or sample. Of course you have, unless you are one of those weirdos who doesn't like music. Well lately I have been completely obsessed with the song below and the eerie chorus sample. I love trying to search out and find the original song to see who it was. I always wonder when and how people come across these relatively obscure songs. I have done my fair share of diggin' for beats when I lived in SF and had access to great record stores. These days since Amoeba is not a 10 minute bus ride away, I am stuck using the interwebs. Lyric search is the best way to do this. But it does take away the random finds that you come across just by looking. This one took a minute to find since it's super obscure. It's from a band called Atomic Rooster. They were a "prog" rock group from the late 70's - early 80's. Ginger Baker actually played drums for them at one point in time. The song is called "Never to Lose", and the chorus sampled is super eerie and works absolutely perfect for the song. The song is called Death or Retirement by Psycho Realm member Sick Jacken with help from Tooker TKO, 2Mex from Shapeshifters and B-Real from Cypress Hill. Basically it is a song about graff life. Listen and let me know what you think.
As per usual I have another clip for you. Today it is for a flick coming out of NYC called Empire. This had me at the start when they decided to use the Cro-Mags as the song. Peep it and go ride in traffic!
So here I sit on my break from class. It is a slightly cool, rainy winter morning in So Cal. I just finished presenting my latest project. This one was a personal artist statement done in InDesign (makes sense as this is an InDesign class). I think it came out pretty well. I do plan on posting some of my work up here in the near future.
Belated Happy New Year's to those of you who check in on this blog. So far I have had a pretty nice 2010. School is going well, we are already getting packed up for our big move back to Philly, and I have been skating again. Man, the 1st couple times back on the board were rough. Timing, balance, confidence all shot to hell. But as I kept going they have slowly started to come back. I was even able to get some letters on Blake (RedRoom!) in S.K.A.T.E. Then I ran out of flatground tricks. Never had the deepest bag but some of them are coming back...Also I have been out riding my bike again regularly. Nice to feel as motivated as I do these days. Oh yeah back to running the ankle brace as well...ah to be old.
In other random news, I reconnected with some long lost friends from SF State, thanks to the magic that is Facebook. It was rad to know they are still out there alive and well. What up Keith, Rawls and Cree!
Here are a few things that have me motivated to get out.
Kyle Nicholson - Philly's young street star.
Faust - handstyles for days. Reminds me that I need stickers.
Massan - MASH SF's resident smooth operator. Also has a dope photo blog. Check and then go bomb a hill.
