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The no Carb…….onated mallisonwhat.com Diet!!!

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Posted on May 14, 2013

One could take facts and research into consideration when making lifestyle changes. But a decision can be that more gratifying if the person in question has an ownership or created the lifestyle change on his own. So without the hardship of looking through books, newspapers, magazines, or online searches I present to you my dear reader of mallisonwhat.com, a change for the better, and my copyrighted diet/lifestyle change.

Years ago, I realized one of my addictions was soda, the bubble sugar treat available everywhere beverages are sold. I noticed when I drank soda I had a sizable gut and was irregular. Over ten years ago my sister gave me her copyrighted and simple diet to limit fried foods and sugar as much as possible. In combination of compulsive running I lost weight with that diet. Only to regain it back once I stopped compulsive running and when I slacked on the diet. But for those interested my sister’s copyrighted diet of limiting fried food and sugars as much as possible does work.

When I backslide into soda consumption again, I theorized without researching that the bubbles or carbonation in soda are bad. In my skinny days following my sister’s copyrighted diet I drank iced tea, put sugar in my coffee, and for years avoided soda. The health wizards may be correct that the sugar content is the problem, but if you say no carbonation, you automatically limit a lot of bad choices wherever beverages are sold. So instead of a soda pick a lemonade, iced tea, juice, or if you can stomach the redundancy drink water most of the time.

As a true socio-intellectual-anthro researcher of the highest caliber I took my thesis to facebook. Alarmingly not everyone agreed that carbonation was bad, and multiple participants said in unison, ‘it’s the sugar stupid.’ One standout participant hailing from central Queens said, ‘if you’re concerned about carbonation, you better stop drinking beer.’ On consideration, participant residing in central Queens is correct, not only is soda carbonated, beer is also carbonated.

So now the mallisonwhat.com diet is now complete. It is a total ban on carbonation. Soda and beer both need to be stopped. For me these two beverage vices are separate and entirely consumed for different reasons. In fact, accept for the occasional splurge of a rum and coke, I’ve never associated the two together. But soda and beer are very much brothers, carbonated devil brothers, with the pursuit of making dudes fat. Just like there are alternatives for soda, there are alternatives for beer. I myself just turned 36 and I am basically approaching 40, so turning to wine is a very easy and respectable next step for me. Or I can simply choose hard liquor with options like whisky, vodka, rum, tequila, grain alcohol, and moonshine. This might make the next few years interesting. But remember for this diet if you go with mixed drinks, you can’t have any carbonated beverages. No soda of any kind, even seltzer water is carbonated. The participant on facebook was right, if one says no carbonation, it includes all carbonated beverages. So no soda, beer, and choose wisely on mix drinks.

Of coarse the mallisonwhat.com diet won’t work without a few other factors, but I’ve limited these factors to just two things, making the whole diet just three things to consider. First limit sugar and fried foods. Look if you eat an orange you consume sugar, so an outright ban is impossible. And I don’t recommend diet crap, just be careful as what you choose, perhaps that fried tootsie roll was not necessary. Second, one has to move and exercise. I need to skateboard and run regularly, consistently week after week, month after month, and year after year.

Here is a recap of mallisonwhat.com diet, and simplicity is key.

Do not drink-carbonated beverages of any kind. No soda, beer, and be careful of mixed drinks.
Limit sugar and fried foods. Be aware if what you consume has a lot of sugar and avoid fried foods as much as possible.
Exercise compulsively and regularly.

There is my well thought out diet with no hassles of researching or verifying information. I’ll try to follow my game plan and I’ll report with a shirt off picture in December 2013 if it works!

The Curb Dog Interviews, an ongoing series.

A tweaked review of ‘Z, A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald.’

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Posted on May 6, 2013

Z, A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, by Therese Anne Fowler is an entertaining read especially for those interested in the myths and history of one of American literature’s most popular married couple. That said don’t expect to be swept away by Fitzgerald type prose, the book is well written but not literary. I’ll review the book briefly here and compare it to my previous knowledge of the Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

In college I was lucky enough to take a class that concentrated on Fitzgerald. We read four out of the five novels, and most of his stories. For a few years I considered Fitzgerald my favorite author. I mostly liked the works of fiction, but was intrigued with how his life leaked into his fiction. From what I previously knew, Fowler’s new novel does not deviate that much from the common historic knowledge. However I learned some things too. First I knew that Fitzgerald and Hemingway had kind of a beef with each other, but I didn’t realize how much contact in Paris they had. And I didn’t know how much Fitzgerald promoted Hemingway early on to others. In Hemingway’s fantastic memoir, A Moveable Feast he is so dismissive of Fitzgerald. I think Fitzgerald gets only a few pages of Hemingway’s acknowledgement in that memoir. Basically Hemingway states in that memoir Fitzgerald was ruined by Zelda and the inability to hold his booze. So this novel contradicts that and makes it sound that the two were good friends and perhaps more for years. The second thing I did not know that were portrayed in the novel was that Fitzgerald on occasion was physically abusive to Zelda. I’m not saying this novel is wrong, but it paints a darker picture of Fitzgerald than I imagined.

Now I’ll get to the novel itself. The beginning is the courtship of Zelda and Scott. Scott Fitzgerald was stationed for the army in the south and started to court Zelda through the debutante balls. She was just about to turn eighteen, but he himself was only twenty-one. Basically they were in love but her father was against the courtship. When This Side of Paradise came out they married right away. Her parents did not attend the wedding apparently. The book shines in the description of their wedding at the Irish Cathedral I think in Manhattan. That is the part that most resembles the lore of the Fitzgeralds’ with a decadent attention to detail of fairy tale dimensions.

After that the novel highlights the different stages of their lives. All the books are mentioned. Not much attention is put to The Beautiful and the Damned, and that is the same one that in college we did not read. My professor when asked said it’s considered his worst. Later I read it, and although that it had a slow start, was amazed by some of the characters lives ruined by alcoholism. Alcoholism is a theme Fitzgerald constantly returned too, and I think he understood it. I think at a wedding I mentioned how The Beautiful and the Damned was considered his worst, and the person I talked to replied, ‘the worst of the best is probably pretty good.’

When the novel gets to The Great Gatsby it spends a good portion of the story line on that timeframe. The expectations were big, and he was disappointed with the sales. One thing the novel missed was the character Daisy Buchanan was modeled after Zelda. Gatsby while in the army courts her in the south, but does not get to have her. But he created a persona and accumulated wealth in order to get near her, and that green light across the river is the symbol for Daisy Buchanan. The novel doesn’t go into how Zelda felt about Daisy Buchanan.

In general I think this novel does justice to what the Fitzgeralds life must have been like in the years they lived in Paris. Along with the thrilling mix of authors and artists, they had excess that was troubling and problems with over spending. This is the part that Zelda starts to do her own writing, art, and even professional ballet dancing. From my prior knowledge I knew that they both accused each other of plagiarism. What I learned from this novel is that Fitzgerald tried to limit or discourage Zelda from following her passions. The novel asserts that Fitzgerald thought a woman’s duty was to be a home keeper and to promote the husband’s career. So it makes Fitzgerald to be kind of jerk, and therefore has ruined what I thought was one of my literary heroes.

I think this novel glossed over or speed up too much when it gets to the timeframe of when Tender is the Night came out. The novel on Zelda simply states she was disappointed and was mad that Nicole Diver was modeled so much after herself. I think that is too understated. The character Nicole Diver dark secret was that she was a mental patient from a privileged yet troubled background. From what I read about the author’s life Zelda was furious at him. Also Fitzgerald put ten years into this novel. In one famous signed copy of Tender is the Night he stated something like, ‘if you liked The Great Gatsby, you should love this as it’s from the heart.’ The commercial failure of Tender is the Night is really what ruined or deflated Fitzgerald, and I think this novel on Zelda should have spent more time on that. Tender is the Night is my favorite book by Fitzgerald. If you can get past the long first chapter where it seems they are only frolicking on the French Rivera it gets good, and I think the second part, the book is in three parts, is the best writing I’ve ever read. And the last few pages summarize the ruin of Dick Diver is such a great and depressing way.

Lastly, this novel could have handled Zelda Fitzgerald’s mental illness in a better way. Reading this it makes it seem that is wasn’t that debilitating. In the afterward it states her illness was misdiagnosed and was what would be modern Bipolar. But there is no denying that her illness changed the course of their lives. I think that more time could have been spent on her illness. One more minor complaint of the book is that it reads like it was written in 2013, or modern day. I think the Fitzgeralds or at least Scott were elitist, and probably did have their prejudices. I think that’s the problem with the bulk of historical fiction, should today’s standards be applied to stories that take place in the past? I guess the answer would be how closely one wants to be truthful to the time period. Anyway, this novel Z, the Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald is worth a read if one likes to learn one’s history through stories instead of non-fiction.

One more thing I want to point out, Gatsby, the movie is coming out in a week. I’m going to see it, and from the previews I’ve seen it looks over the top. To me over the top makes sense because the new wealth of Gatsby was intentioned to be fantastically, and that is one reason it is timeless.

Brief review of The Deathwish Video, and a rant on the industry’s lifestyle push

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Posted on May 1, 2013

First off, I think it’s important to have sponsored skaters who dedicate a good amount of their life to skateboarding. Skating at a high level is a time consuming process. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that to skate at a competitive level takes on average 5 to 8 hours of practice a day through childhood, the teen years, and as an adult. If people want longevity and more recognition with skateboarding far into the future it needs people to constantly expand the boundaries of what’s possible. Sponsored skateboarders sometimes give up opportunities for education, or don’t take the time to learn a trade or a skill. I remember vaguely reading this online or in a mag so my stats could be wrong, but I don’t think they are that far off range. Basically there are fifteen top pros who are millionaires, about thirty pros after that that make roughly $300,000 a year, maybe the next thirty pros making around $90,000, maybe the next fifty pros making about $40,000 and then thousands of hopeful skaters couch surfing trying to get into the industry. None of the skateboard companies provide insurance to their riders, so a serious injury can quickly end a career. I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the negative influences sponsored skaters deal with, because ‘The Deathwish Video’ from Baker Distribution came out. They are the company that highlights the party ‘hesh’ lifestyle. So this entry in a weird way (I can already tell this will have too many words) will review ‘The Deathwish Video’ and will also be a rant on skateboarding.

Baker a few years ago had a shirt or slogan advertisement that simply read, ‘Skate Every Day, Drink Every Night.’ If someone that never skated before saw this they might think it’s funny, or no different from a lot of spoof shirts. As a skater in my mid thirties, I’ve known skaters that chose excess in my personal life. And I’ve read about numerous talented skaters in their teens that don’t reach their skate potential because party mode takes over their priorities. Alcohol and drugs, mostly marijuana, are things that skaters are perhaps surrounded by too much at an early age. Kids or teens see the Baker guys or DGK skaters in party mode, and they think it’s something to aspire to. Andrew Reynolds who went through AA, so is sober himself, in an Epicly latr’d episode explained showing footage of partying on some tour as that it happened, that it is documenting their lifestyle, and to not do so would be fake in a way. I guess we live in a content driven world online where everything needs to be documented about celebrities, and to the skate world pro skaters are treated like celebrities. I just think there is a danger to promote excess as part of a lifestyle to skateboarding to the young kids.

Jackass, the television show and then the movies, kind of took the censorship away from skateboarding. The popularity of that show coincided with the rise of popularity with skating, but I never liked it. After watching a little bit of it I found it mean spirited and negative. I don’t think it helped the outside world’s perception of skating. The Baker skaters are way more focused on skating and legit compared to the Jackass crew, but I think all their constant use of lifestyle footage was influenced by Jackass, and definitely the predecessor to that World Industries in the 1990’s. Of course I’m against censorship, but one has to wonder if skateboarding was cookie cutter clean like mainstream sports if even more acceptance would come our way.

Enough of my preaching and now I’ll get to my review of ‘The Deathwish Video.’ Lizard King is a charismatic skater that looks like he’s lived the life. In a previous video at one point he wore a shirt that said ‘666,’ so he’s out there. He has the first part on it’s the longest amount of footage I’ve seen of him. It’s a two-song part, seeing the credits the songs are from GG Allen, a punk rocker I’ve seen named in Thrasher, but never listened too. Lizard King has an original style. Way back in 2012 in the Almost video Daewon Song introduced to the skate world a kick-flip down a double set to firecracker. A firecracker is going down multiple steps on your back wheels in a clunk clunk clunk way. I was amazed seeing Daewon Song do this down a small double set. In Deathwish, Lizard King, takes that trick and makes it gnarly. He does a kickflip to step firecracker down like a five-foot drop. Also Lizard King does some really big drops, and does a switch roast beef grab (?) down like a twelve stair. His part was anticipated and I think he meet or exceeded the expectations.

Erik Ellington skates to a rad Alice Cooper song. All the baker guys have great frontside kickflips and Ellington’s are one of the best. I counted three impossibles in this part. This confirms that impossibles are back and legitimate to do regularly. Erik Ellington also does a pressure flip down a huge drop. Pressure flips were in vogue for a season, I think fall of 1991, and are known as a dorky flatland trick done low to the ground. I’ve never seen a huge pressure flip like that. Erik Ellington and The Moose both do a frontside kicklip lipslide on sizable rails. I don’t think I’ve seen that done in a video either. Neen Williams has solid heelflips. Neen Williams does heelflips unlike anyone else. His front foot points out like a shifty.

Jim Greco has an amazing part that is gnar and tech. He does really big drops, and long rails. He also does a switch kickflip boardslide down a sizable rail. On a bank to bench he does a tre flip to darkslide. Down like a ten stair he does a fakie big heel. Down a long rail he does a switch 270 flip to board slide. I don’t know if it will be discussed like Guy Mariano’s switch tre to nose grind at the end of Pretty Sweet, but I think Jim Greco’s rail was much longer for a similar trick. Jim Greco ends his part with switch darkslides down a low rail. I was really impressed with both Jim Greco and Erik Ellington’s part because of their level and I think both are in their mid thirties.

Jim Dickson has the last part, and it’s good. The ender is this ridiculous ollie off a roof into a bank. He takes some bone crushing slams before they show the make. It’s interesting that they end his part with a gnar trick. It shows that this company is about going for it. In 2011 they released the Shake Junt Video, in 2012 they released Bake and Destroy, and now they have this video, The Deathwish video. Other companies are taking four or more years to release a video. This company, if you like their image or not, is making them quicker and that is why they are constantly on the radar. Not every trick in this video is perfect, and some of the landings are sketchy, but they are fun to watch with good soundtracks, and good skating.

I hope I wasn’t too judgmental on this entry, but I think adult skaters should have the discussion on how to be role models to the younger generation.

Four to Three, or Three to Four Skateboard Running Ratio Workout Plan

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Posted on April 27, 2013

I’m losing on two counts with even writing this blog entry. First off, I’m starting at 10:30 on a Friday night. Who reads blogs on Friday nights, or Saturdays or Sundays for that matter? If one decides to blog on a weekly basis and can only post during the evenings, I suggest Tuesday evenings so the entries are available for the masses bored at work early hump day mornings or Wednesdays. So for this entry the timing could not be worse. My second failing is that I’m writing about a personal goal. Sorting through almost four years of my own blog statistics, I have learned when I write about myself no one really cares, and nor should they. What I need to do is write on a solid topic each week, and write about things people search about. BUT, over a week has passed since I wrote anything. Making blogging a routine and posting regularly trumps the actual quality of the content. So I will tell of my current workout scheme that makes sense to me.

Over Christmas my parents gave me money to purchase my own running shoes. I did so and they sat in the box in my room until this week. Granted I did have about three colds or flus this winter so I shouldn’t be too hard on myself, but those shoes sat in the shoebox way too long. With skating I think I have a good fitness level to start at, but I definitely can improve my fitness and wellbeing. So I plan to make running a routine and a part of my life again.

Since my focus is skateboarding, I think running can only help my skating. Running does two things, it makes your weigh less, and it makes your legs stronger. Around 2000 I did both skating and running, and weighed my lightest as an adult at 140. For maybe a season before I had a sprained ankle I could ollie and switch ollie a lot higher, and I had a good bag of tech tricks. I was running a lot, my runs averaged from 5 to 10 miles, and I was aiming to do the 2001 Toledo, Ohio marathon. I got a chest cold about two months before the race and for whatever reason I’ve been inconsistent with exercise ever since.

Right now I do not have any plans or ambitions to run a marathon. I admire everyone that takes the time and has the discipline to do one, but working full time and skating I don’t have time for that. My plan is much more simple. I would like to run three to four times a week. Maybe I could set aside Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings to run. If I miss a run I need to make sure to make the next one. So many times with exercise I miss a day, then a few days, then a week, and I end up stopping. For me it’s a consistency issue, but I think running three to four times a week is manageable. This week, I ran three evenings and it went well. I did not time it but from a similar distance ran last December I think I’m running around twenty minutes. I’ll be at around that timeframe for at least a few weeks. Eventually I’ll go longer, but once I get to fifty minutes per run, I’ll simply try to go faster.

Also I want to skate three to four times a week as well. So nights I don’t run, I can try to skate somewhere local, or go to a spot. Now that spring is here, the weather is going to be the best for the NYC area. On my days off I’ll skate. In the past month with my friends, we’ve been skating sessions lasting four or more hours. That is good practice, and I plan to dedicate a large portion of my days off to skating. In addition to my days off I’ll try to skate one or two evenings a week.

If I accomplish this as a routine this spring and summer I’ll be happy, and it’ll mean I’m active most days. As kids going to school they get recess daily so they can run around and play. I think adults also should be active and move regularly.

If you read this in it’s entirety I thank you, and promise my next entry will not be self absorbed drivel, or it will be less so!

With products follow the standards! 48 mm wheels are too darn small

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Posted on April 17, 2013

I’m going to start this blog entry with an example from my childhood. For whatever reason my sisters and I were content with the original Atari for years. When Nintendo came up we weren’t begging for a video game system. I played at friends’ houses but never got a Nintendo system myself. Trying to pinpoint a year, I’d guess 1990, we had Atari for a long time by then and even Nintendo was getting old. So when it was time to ask for a new system I had the decision to make. The older Sega Geneses, or the new spangled Turbo Graffix 16. I was a sucker and went against the vastly more popular choice. I got the Turbo Graffix 16 for Christmas or a birthday, and was the only one in the neighborhood with that system. Unlike the Sega Genesis one had to buy new games to play Turbo Graffix 16. So none of my friends had it, one could not rent games in video stores at the time, I ended up getting Sega Genesis a few years later, and this taught me a valuable lesson. The lesson I learned from my childhood video game system choice is with products most of the time it is better to go with the mainstream choice, or even the companies that hold a monopoly on a service. As an adult consumer I have Verizon for my cell phone service like the majority of people in the NYC area.

Now I’ll go into my current skateboard product debacle completely brought on by myself. Over Christmas visiting my parents I bought a new skateboard deck from my friend’s shop in Toledo Ohio. At the time I had a perfectly fine setup, so I was saving that deck for later. In January and February I got a cold or the flu three times so I had a lot of time to think about skating without actually skating. Somehow I wrapped my head around that if I had smaller wheels, I could get back a lot more tech tricks. So first I looked up the online for wheels, and saw the online shops had them as small as 48mm. But for 48 mm and 49 mm there are only a few companies making wheels that small. In today’s world the standard wheel only goes as small as 50 mm, but more are made at about 52 mm. A tech wheel tops out at 53 mm, but a lot of people ride bigger wheels for speed on the streets or at parks. So with this information I contacted a few shops in NYC through facebook to see if they carried 48 mm wheels, and none of them did. 48 mm are outside the norm of modern day skateboarding, yet I felt compelled to get them.

Over winter online I got 48 mm Spitfire wheels, Bones bearings, and Bones bushings. That made a practically new setup for spring except I kept the Thunder trucks. When I told several of my NYC skate friends of my wheel choice they picked fun at me. One of my friends said it best that with wheels that small I was going to have to push while going downhill. Some of my friends ride wheels that are as big as 60 mm. Several of them called my small wheels bearing covers. Not every skater is nostalgic for the small wheels and big pants era of the early 1990’s. For a time, I’d say 1991 to 1994 people could not get larger wheels and I think the smallest ever made were about 38 mm.

Skating my new set up about a month ago I liked it. I felt more consistent. I was landing my tricks and glad I didn’t lose any tricks considering being sick for a lot of winter. I think though that since skating was on my mind through winter, I was pumped getting back in spring and skated harder. I also got a new camera, and the filming while showing improvement does show that all of my tricks are low. Also, for skating from spot to spot in NYC these small wheels are torture. Every crack is felt, on rough ground the vibrations roll up my legs, and I lag behind my crew as far as speed goes.

Last week, I bought a pair of 51 mm from a friend that owns a shop in Washington Heights, and I think that’s a good compromise. They are still relatively small, all tech tricks should be possible, and it’s within the standard size range for wheels. These new wheels I’ll set up are good quality being Bones. I should be able to pop a little higher, and go faster from spot to spot.

Lastly, standards are usually made for reasons. In some things like how you dress, what you eat or drink, or what music you listen by all means go with your gut and go for what you like. But when evaluating products or services the popular thought is always worth noting when making decisions on things you plan to use regularly.

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