Newness

As you can tell I have switched up the look of the blog a bit. Nothing too craze but I felt it needed a facelift. Background art by Jose Parla. Been really feeling his stuff as well as Luca Barcellona, Jon One, and always looking at Fauster and Surer (Sure was killed in Afghanistan late last year I believe).

Has anyone else listened to the Travis Barker (I'm pretty sure a few years ago I would have never even written his name in my blog) album, Can the Drummer get Some? It is surprisingly good with guest appearances from many of your favorite rappers. Only real problem I have is that he has a song with Steve Aoki...I can't stand that dude and wish I could kick his ass to sleep. What! You thought I wasn't gonna diss that kook. Ha!

It is the end of March now and I'm completely over this extended cold we are having. To keep me looking forward I built a skate box with dad this past weekend. The liquid nails is just setting under the angle iron and the it's ready to skate. I'm not even sure when the last time I skated. Will have to start slow and get the timing and strength back in my legs. But goddamn if I'm not excited to get the 1st grind on that thing.


As always I have a few links for you check out.

Palace Skateboards - maybe the best ting in skateboarding right now. Straight outta London this small knit but super rad team just put out the clip below. Bun a zoot and watch!

Palace in NYC!                                       

Commonwealth Stacks - Reese Forbes teams up with Michael Leon to form this brand. Sick team with Dani Lebron, Cameo Wilson, Sebo Walker and Reese of course. Art direction is super duper!


Andre and Andre - Neva Seen - You thought were getting out of here without a song. This has been going hard in my brain for about a week now. Nicky T all up in your area. Mac Dre Rest in Power.

Until next time.

Real talk.

Below is a link to an interview with Bobby Puleo. Bobby rides for Traffic Skateboards, Venture and VKTM (his brand).
Not only is Bobby opinionated and blunt but he is also knee deep in conspiracy theories. Exactly what skateboarding is missing in these days of cookie cutter Billy Backlips and Scotty Skateparks training for the next XDewMaloofLeague contest. 
If you are a fan of his or you just like his skating, you should take the 5-10 minutes to read this interview. Then watch a couple of his video parts, check some classic pics (esp the switch heel flip in SF! Peep those kicks son!) and go buy his board!


Bobby Puleo interview

INFMS video part

Traffic part

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.

Big shout to the East Coast!

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!

Listen to Kool Keith!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkPsYvOgTtI

Back from the dead...

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.

Until then I leave you with a song.

Recent School Projects

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.

http://www.scribd.com/mattlipschutz

Hope you like some of what I have here. Soon I will update more and will have a dedicated website for my work, resume and portfolio. Until then...

Tues is the new Mon in the blog world

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.