Focus or take it easy, goal blog 163
Posted: November 21, 2011 Filed under: a history of sorts, My goals for self improvement Leave a comment »
My past two blog entries were on actual topics. Those entries were geek out skate entries, but searchable online. My views did go up in the past week from writing on topics that people search for. In the future I’ll do more of this review or article type writing. But on this entry I’m going to digress back into the diary type blogging. Mostly I’m going to talk about my lack of focus and figure out why I’m procrastinating with my writing, gym, and skate goals.
A few weeks ago I was talking to my good friend about my writing goals. She said she did not have writing or any other goals for that matter. Her life was work and having fun. My roommate also said at some points he concentrates on work while not setting a lot of other goals for success. I wish I could be happy with simply work and living my life. Somehow I’m always plotting on ways to become a good writer, a better skater, or get in better shape. I’m always future oriented, if I work enough at something I may be able to succeed. Working full time while trying to be a good writer, and my other ambitions take solid time management.
About two weeks ago my use of time went haywire when I stopped going to the gym. I think I missed a few days, and thought maybe I should take a break until after the Thanksgiving holiday, at that point almost three weeks into the future. My mind wrapped around the idea that I could write my short story for my class, and skate more on weekends. A true blue consistent person would not even consider taking that amount of time off unless injured. I had a flimsy justification to stop exercising. Over night my schedule allowed me more time and I ended up going out more. An exercise routine is important, and necessary for people like me.
I did have a book to read for the work book club, which took up a lot of my days last week because I started it late. I’m happy I had a few solid blog entries, but I am disappointed that I did not start my story that I was suppose to turn in today. My writing class is great, it’s a good group, and every week afterwards I feel inspired. But I missed last week’s class, and should be practicing more what I learn in there. I asked today at the end of the class if the teacher recommends writing as a routine, or when a idea comes to you. He recommended twice a week, but definitely a routine as opposed to once in awhile. So perhaps a good goal would be the gym on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And I would write fiction on Tuesday and Thursday nights. On weekends I could skate and write a blog entry. I’m wondering to get better if I should structure my off time to that extent, day by day.
However, I’ve had a lot of fun the past two weeks, I enjoy going out. Maybe I should lighten up, be more spontaneous, and not be hard on myself. Making it as a writer is such a lofty goal, I could practice every night for the next 30 years and success may not happen. I’m 34, and probably won’t progress too much at skateboarding, and will always be intermediate level, not a ripper. Getting in good shape is possible, but I learned from my running days that looking good is not life changing for me.
I’m glad I have people to hang out with, and want to keep my friendships. I think I can balance my schedule with going out some, but still focus on my ambitions. My ambitions are not negative pursuits they are simply to be good at writing and skating. I remember someone saying to me, ‘if you’re not hard on yourself, who will be?’ I think that phrase makes sense as self-motivation. People have to push themselves to have any attempt at success.
I know my goals and what I want to do. I just need to not get sidelined, and practice enough that I progress at my endeavors, instead of them being a daydream fantasy of unrealistic success.
Skate shoes, I’m skeptical of Nike
Posted: November 18, 2011 Filed under: My reviews, Skateboarding | Tags: skateboarding, skateboarding shoes 2 Comments »
Watch any full length skate video produced in the past 3 years, and go to any skate park in America and you’ll see the Nike swooshes on so many people’s feet. Nike, Adidas, and Converse effectively pushed through to profit from the skate industry. They all sponsor some of the best skaters in the world, and maybe no one cares anymore. For the sake of argument I’m going to explain the skate shoe history to the best of my ability, and show it’s a shame that the big companies probably will dominate the shoe industry in a few years. Perhaps I’m a hypocrite because I’ll eat at McDonalds and shop for clothes at Kohls, but I think there was something good about skate only brands.
Recently in the news, I learned the cofounder of Vans, James Van Doren, died at the age of 72. He and his brother started the shoe company in 1966, and with the emergence of skateboarding in southern California in the 1970’s Vans was the skate shoe of choice. If you watch the documentary Dogtown and Z-boys and the later movie, The Lords of Dogtown you’ll see that Vans along with the invention of the urethane wheel set the sport in motion. Vans is a huge skate shoe company to this day, has many good riders, and has had some of the best selling skate shoes including the Half Cab. The Half Cab shoe was introduced in around 1991 or 1992 and still sells well today. To me Vans does not produce skate videos, something that the other brands do, and a reason for me not to be into them.
Instead of researching for this blog entry on the real history of skate shoes I’ll fast forward to my time as a skater. When I started in 1988 or so there were four skate shoe companies: Vans, Airwalk, Vision Streetware, and Etnies. The shoes were bulky high tops. Perhaps my ability was not good compared to later, but these shoes lasted awhile for me. Looking back it was not a stylish era at all. Vision Streetware was extremely popular but looked like Chuck Taylor with an ugly stitched label on it. I gave no thought on if these companies were good for skateboarding or not. With the exception of Etnies these shoe companies were owned and operated by businessmen and not skateboarders. Perhaps it is unfair to expect today’s kids to care at all about the shoes they ware, who owns them, and things like that.
In the early nineties the companies were still few, but the styles changed. Baggy clothes were in and the bulky low top skate design was created. Eventually this shoe style became popular with non-skaters as well. Somewhere around 1992 it became popular to skate in shoes not designed specifically for skateboarding. A model of Adidas shoes, and a model of Puma became popular to wear. People would search for different colors in these shoes. I believe these shoes were popular in the hip hop crowd and skaters picked up on that trend.
Around 1994 to 1998 was an important time in skate shoe history. DC, Adio, DVS, Es, Globe, Emerica and other skate shoe companies came on the scene. Skateboarding became popular again and some pros in the skate industry took advantage and started companies. Danny Way and Colin McCay started the huge company DC. Adio was Tony Hawk’s company after he broke off a long sponsorship with Airwalk. DVS, Es, and Emerica I assume are skater owned, but I’m not sure. So in a short time, the skateboard consumer had a lot of choices, but a lot of them were legit choices. Everything one could buy in a skate shop was made and promoted by skateboarders for their own companies.
According to Wikipedia (my librarian colleagues are shaking their heads if they bother to read this) Nike tried to start to sell skate shoes in 1997 but failed to break into the ‘specialty’ shop market. In 2002 they started their brand Nike SB, so that is almost nine years by now. In the late nineties to the 2000’s a couple of other skate shoe brands came out, mainly Lakai and Fallen. Lakai is owned by the same pro skaters that own Girl Skateboards, mainly Mike Carroll and Rick Howard. Fallen is owned by the pro skater Jamie Thomas. In 2007 Lakai put out a very acclaimed skate video called Fully Flared which made them very popular for awhile. Since 2007 at least three of their riders left for competitive companies. Eric Koston, who is a very influential skater, left for Nike. Luis Puig left for Adidas. And Alex Olson left for Vans. So even though that 2007 skate video was one of the best of all time, these riders found more lucrative deals with the larger more mainstream companies.
In the past month it was announced that Es is going out of business, when around the year 2000 it was the biggest name in skate shoes. One of my favorite skate shoe companies, DVS, seems to be in less of the skate shops in NYC. I like DVS because their shoes are comfortable, and the skate videos they produce are fun but progressive as well. I also see less skaters wearing Lakai shoes at skate parks these days.
A few years ago a friend who owns a skate shop in Ohio told me how Nike runs their business. They used to make local skate shops buy the full line of skate shoes Nike offers in every size. The stores can’t return any of the shoes for credit, owe for the whole amount, and have to sell the majority of the stock to make a profit. My friend pointed this out when I said that I see a lot of skate stores in NYC with not many decks for sale. He said there is a good chance if they have Nike, they might owe Nike a substantial amount of debt. And because of that debt to Nike they can’t stock skate decks. My friend is a good source, but I hope that practice has changed in the last few years. I liked the ideology of a about a decade ago of skater owned local skate shops and skater owned companies. In that world the people that love skating can profit from it too.
All of this said, maybe I’m getting old, and shouldn’t judge anyone for the shoes they wear. A few days ago I was watching a video and pointed out a pair of Nikes to my roommate. He made the observation that you can’t blame these sponsored skaters. Skating everyday to get to that level means sacrifices like not working full time. So perhaps the big corporate companies are making it possible for this generation of promising skaters. Also on the skate industry radar, Nike has an anticipated skate video to come out soon. They do have a stacked team, and maybe I’ll buy the video, but I won’t wear the shoes. I prefer a simple plain shoe without swooshes, stripes or other nonsense designs.
The future of skateboarding videos, indvidual vs. group, itunes vs. free
Posted: November 14, 2011 Filed under: My reviews, Skateboarding | Tags: Nyjah Huston, Pual Rodriguez, skateboarding videos 3 Comments »
On November 11, 2011 or 11.11.11 something happened in the skateboarding world. Element skateboards, a huge company, dropped a full part from the prominent skater Nyjah Huston straight to Itunes. Nyjah Huston is 16 years old now but grew up in the skateboarding limelight. His parents were skateboarding rastafarian vegans in California, and raised him to skate. A few years ago he left Element skateboards to start his own company with his father. After that failed he went back to Element last year. He won 3 out of 4 street league tournaments this year televised on ESPN, chopped off his dreadlocks, had a full interview with Transworld, and has been the talk of the industry. So his part has been anticipated and well received by fans. To me the whole Itunes format raises questions on how the industry will handle new footage.
First of all, I purchased the part called Rise and Shine. It runs about 8 minutes and cost 2.99. There were two options, regular for 1.99 and HD for 2.99. And another choice was explicit versus censured. Of course I chose explicit and without much knowledge on the difference I chose the HD version. In one way, the tricks he does on big handrails, makes this part phenomenal. A few tricks I haven’t seen before like a backside 270 to noseblunt side, and a backside bigspin to hurricane. It’s amazing to have variations of new tricks introduced on 8 stair rails. Nyjah Huston takes some serious falls on here and it shows him getting back up and then getting the trick. His determination to push the limits and boundaries are apparent in this part. The skating is ground breaking, but I would have liked more variety. There were only a few short lines and never more than three tricks in a row. Using the slow Lil Wayne song forced this part to go too crazy with the slow motion. In my opinion the less slow motion in a skate part the better. So that is my evaluation of Nyjah Huston’s part and now I’ll go on to the bigger questions.
One of the bigger questions I have is why the insistence on a Nyjah Huston part and not release an entire Element Video. Element is stacked with a lot of skaters including Evan Smith and Mark Appleyard. Ten years ago there would be a push with that collective of skaters on the same team to put out a video. I’ve read in some of the magazines that big production videos are not as lucrative as they once were. To fly a team around the world, pay for hotels, film and other things is a challenge. The recession definitely affected the industry, and the online medium distributes this stuff for free. There is probably more filming going on because skating is popular, but less people pay for DVD’s. One thing I noticed this year I think contests the notion that video releases do not make the companies money. In spring, Real released Since Day One, a full length acclaimed and popular film. At the skate parks in NYC this spring and summer I saw so many people riding Real decks than before. So I’m convinced they sold the DVD and Itunes well while getting more people to buy their skateboards. Skateboarding has always worked like that, a good video would make the company more known.
Nyjah Huston is not the only skater to drop a solo part on Itunes. Last winter or spring, Pual Rodriguez and his company Plan B dropped an Itunes part. I think at one time I watched this online on a Chinese website, and then that disappeared. These companies once on Itunes do seem to control the distribution on other sites, at least youtube. After I purchased Njyah Huston’s part and started to think of the Itunes question I decided to purchase Paul Rodriguez’s part too. This part is phenomenal because he pushes the tech skating and has a smooth style. Last year I saw Paul Rodriguez twice in New York City, at Maloof 2010 and at a Plan B demo at the LES skate park. He is one of my favorite skaters. To me this was also worth the 2.99 Itunes charge. Individual parts are probably cheaper than full company videos. I do wonder how much Paul Rodriguez and Nyjah Huston’s parts will bring to their perspective companies. If there are 13 million skaters in the United States and these are anticipated parts would they sell 100,000 downloads? That’s a nice chunk of change. But then how much goes to Lil Wayne and Kanye West for using their songs? If it’s on Itunes the music artists get paid too. And how much of a cut does Itunes take? My point is that maybe it can be profitable for skate companies to sell on Itunes.
Thrasher on it’s website is dishing out skate parts for free. On July 4th Torey Pudwell, also on the Plan B team, had a skate part debut on Thrasher. This was a good part and showed his technical versatility. This was as good or better than the average part in any video. He skated well and showed that he was having fun in the process. Torey Pudwell and Paul Rodriguez could be considered among the best, and they are on the same company Plan B. Ryan Sheckler, PJ Ladd, Danny Way, and Colin Mckay are all very well respected and part of this Plan B team. In 2009 they ran some teasers online of an upcoming video to be released in 2010. Now 2011 is almost over and I’m still waiting for the Plan B video. They had some riders quit or some team changes, but this company needs to put out a video. Watching a brand new full-length video is so much better than the individual parts. I think this company could put out the best video ever, and I hope that is still on their agenda.
Thrasher also recently released free on their website a 20 minute company video. The company is Foundation and they have been in the business for 20 years. I felt the video a fun watch especially with the music collection. Foundation is a popular company, but not the most popular, and I wonder why they made the decision not to try to sell it on Itunes or in DVD format. Could the video in association with Thrasher free to all generate more buzz and peripheral sales for the company than if they tried to sold it? I don’t know, but I hope that videos can get these companies some profit. Es shoes used to be a staple brand in the skate industry, and this year it is going out of business. Skate shoes are a whole other topic in these changing times, but I mention them because if videos do not generate money for the companies it does not help them at all.
I think as long as people are fascinated with skating it will be documented through film. But I do not like the shift to focus on the individual skaters as much, and I hope films that feature a plethora of riders will continue, whether they ride for the same company or are grouped together in some other way.
Search terms that got people to my site.
Posted: November 12, 2011 Filed under: a history of sorts, About this blog, My life | Tags: blog statisitcs, search queries Leave a comment »| Search | Views |
|---|---|
| mallisonwhat | 41 |
| shiloh greathouse jail | 41 |
| view from vegas hotel room 2011 | 15 |
| hollywood park | 10 |
| fully flared dvd | 8 |
| what | 8 |
| keith richards life | 7 |
| tender is the night book club questions | 7 |
| drug themed books | 7 |
| bruised foot from drumming | 7 |
| world industries box set review | 7 |
| rain | 6 |
| why are pro skaters using 8″ decks all of a sudden | 5 |
| nyc libraries budget 2011 | 5 |
| bruised foot | 4 |
| skateboard down hoover dam | 4 |
| nan grandma | 4 |
| volvo 760 turbo | 4 |
| ankle foot injury bruise | 4 |
| broken skateboard | 4 |
| skateboard upside down | 4 |
| jennifer habrych | 4 |
| world industries skate videos history | 4 |
| bruised foot arch | 4 |
| new york city budget 2011 libraries | 4 |
| astoria skate | 4 |
| head shaving against the grain roommate | 4 |
| golden fifties nyc | 4 |
| tribeca skate park | 4 |
| i cant believe its not buttery skateboard | 4 |
| mallison what | 3 |
| drastic haircut | 3 |
| skateboarder in nyc | 3 |
| portland rain | 3 |
| marcus mcbride blind | 3 |
| shiloh greathouse jail time? | 3 |
| tender is the night | 3 |
| best skate dvd | 3 |
| budget restored libraries ny | 3 |
| apartment and rain | 3 |
| hearts and flowers smallest violin | 3 |
| nyc budget for libraries | 3 |
| skateboard at night | 3 |
| colorado red rock | 3 |
| eye injury | 3 |
| kareem campbell 360 flip picnic table | 3 |
| foot injury | 3 |
| hug the library | 3 |
| skateboard deck | 3 |
| venture bones bushing setup | 3 |
| skateboard exercise | 3 |
| albuquerque “the library” bar and grill babes | 2 |
| lifestyle of european law | 2 |
| skateboarding good exercise | 2 |
| goodreads profile blog | 2 |
| world industries box set | 2 |
| library budget nyc | 2 |
| used skateboard | 2 |
| training log notebook | 2 |
| blog skateboard happy endings lower east side 31 | 2 |
| red rock | 2 |
| raise my taxes blog | 2 |
| riverside park art | 2 |
| girl skateboards | 2 |
| do skaet | 2 |
| the lot bronx skate | 2 |
| my history of writing | 2 |
| dr. dre pre 1990 songs/video | 2 |
| bronx park skatepark | 2 |
| foot bruised along bottom in a line | 2 |
| mental illness painting “public domain” | 2 |
| keith richards “life” | 2 |
| tender is the night group questions | 2 |
| chop my hair off | 2 |
| party in the park portside toledo oh | 2 |
| sport vs exercise | 2 |
| short hair styles for the larger lady | 2 |
| bo jason dill 20 short sequences | 2 |
| my attempts at humor | 2 |
| skateboard | 2 |
| fear of flying vs tropic of cancer | 2 |
| headbanger’s ball video archives 1990-1995 | 2 |
| central park + skateboarding +2011 | 2 |
| picture under skate | 2 |
| videos vhs de skateboarding | 2 |
| skateboard parts | 2 |
| mallisonwhat.wordpress.com | 2 |
| rain falling | 2 |
| yopu tube snoopdog vedeos from 1990 all the songs | 2 |
| rockaway beach skatepark – queens, new york, united states | 2 |
| crack dam | 2 |
| city budger queens nyc librarys june 2011 | 2 |
| keith richards friends mentioned in book | 2 |
| world industries box set ebay | 2 |
| “jeremy klein” + 2010 | 2 |
| shiloh greathouse in jail | 2 |
| inurl:.com intitle:blog intext:getting-in-shape intext:links | 2 |
| what train do you take to get to astoria skatepark | 2 |
| i cant believe its not buttery deck | 2 |
| art students league m2m nyc | 2 |
| foot injuries heard pop | 2 |
| 2011 writing | 2 |
| respect my parents and my blog | 2 |
| library budget cycle | 2 |
| garbage dumpster | 2 |
| reviews the cuckoo’s nest skateboard collective | 2 |
| skate key bronx ny | 2 |
| i cant believe its not buttery girl skateboard jeron wilson | 2 |
| the mills brothers – chronological | 2 |
| keith richards his plays favorites | 2 |
| practice skateboarding tricks dvd | 2 |
| rolled my ankle on a curb | 2 |
| best drug themed books | 2 |
| south street skatepark hudson ma | 2 |
| portside toledo | 2 |
| alien workshop omar salazar deck | 2 |
| bruise fall injury | 2 |
| my skateboard broken | 2 |
| coles lane step street bronx | 2 |
| skateboard workout | 2 |
| skateboard deck used | 2 |
| habrych, jennifer | 2 |
| pretentious writing | 2 |
| girl i cant believe its not buttery deck | 2 |
| astoria queens | 2 |
| my individuel skateboard deck | 2 |
| world’s smallest violin playing hearts and flowers | 2 |
| w. wayne bunker family park | 2 |
| plan b skate box sets | 2 |
| tribeca skatepark | 2 |
| a skateboard upside down | 2 |
| palms sign | 2 |
| palms vegas sign | 2 |
| skateboard av sesion | 2 |
| daewon song baby skateboard | 2 |
| nyc library hug | 2 |
| do you have to wear pads at forest hill skate park flushing queens | 2 |
| dumpster full of food | 2 |
| skateboard workouts | 2 |
| figure skating injury feet | 2 |
| electric picnic forest rave | 1 |
| daniel castillo new world order | 1 |
| learning skateboarding as an adult | 1 |
| my weekend was great but it was little short | 1 |
| tender is the night book group | 1 |
| skate places blogs | 1 |
| skateboarding is exercise | 1 |
| world industries love child | 1 |
| world industries raw footage | 1 |
| “i looked silly” blizzard | 1 |
| smoked salmon skateboard | 1 |
| i♥skateboarding | 1 |
| lesson learned from tender is the night | 1 |
| reflection of my writing improvement | 1 |
| what is better for my knee running or skating | 1 |
| bigger thomas + hitler | 1 |
| what are some writing goals of second year college students | 1 |
| is skateboarding a good exercise | 1 |
| shiloh greathouse prison | 1 |
| is skateboarding good exercise | 1 |
| Смотреть Мировой Бокс | 1 |
| bald shaving | 1 |
| skateboarding reading exercise | 1 |
| getting in shape for skateboarding | 1 |
| new deal 1992 skateboards | 1 |
| skatboarder broken ankle | 1 |
| worker skateboard | 1 |
| skateboard | 1 |
| wooden jungle gym plan -swing -slides -cat -reptile -uk -baby | 1 |
| city of thieves discussion for book clubs | 1 |
| world industrues box set review | 1 |
| greg lutzka can’t hack it in street league | 1 |
| cruising the strip | 1 |
| pros who attended maloof money cup 2011 | 1 |
| less people use libraries due to technology | 1 |
| best blues book according to keith richards | 1 |
| world’s smallest violin playing hearts & flowers | 1 |
| my favorite culbs | 1 |
| jazz track from goldfish skate movie | 1 |
| what’s wrong with paul rodriguez at street league 2011 | 1 |
| “nora64″ | 1 |
| maloof skateboarding 2011 contests | 1 |
| statement of why not to drink | 1 |
| how to get to tribeca skatepark chamber using the f train | 1 |
| book club questions tender is the night | 1 |
| skateboarding in astoria oregon | 1 |
| does daewon song smoke weed | 1 |
| why was shiloh greathouse in jail | 1 |
| kareem campbell bring the pain | 1 |
| salmon rushdie – outside the whale | 1 |
| my parents bookshelf | 1 |
| “nyma” hazing | 1 |
| world industries trilogy soundtrack | 1 |
| skateboard backgrounds for computer | 1 |
| shiloh greathouse, jail | 1 |
| gym skating machine | 1 |
| new years eve broke | 1 |
| slick rick shiloh greathouse | 1 |
| how to write out year 2011 | 1 |
| cold war skate and scab bored | 1 |
| gideon choi blind skateboard | 1 |
| skateboarding is a lot of exercise because… | 1 |
| facebook foot | 1 |
| foot injury pics | 1 |
| why shiloh greathouse goes to jail | 1 |
| ankle and foot injuries | 1 |
| is there alot of skaters by rego park nyc | 1 |
| how has my writing since the first year of college? | 1 |
| skateboard injury | 1 |
| henry miller mental illness | 1 |
| kids drawing skateboard | 1 |
| buttery | 1 |
| world industries box set dvd review | 1 |
| woodstock music you tube | 1 |
| salman agah | 1 |
| i ♥ skateboard | 1 |
| how to write about current goals | 1 |
| native son book 1 goals | 1 |
| shiloh greathouse pro skater | 1 |
| “chris cole” workout routine | 1 |
| why tender is the night is divided into 3 parts | 1 |
| me and my skater friends | 1 |
| why are my skateboard wheels smooth on ramps | 1 |
| skateboard side | 1 |
| skateboard deck tech deck trashed | 1 |
| skateboarding vs running exercise | 1 |
| skateboard decks ice cream skate team | 1 |
| youtube music the woodstock collection | 1 |
| tribeca manhattan | 1 |
| skate broken table | 1 |
| i cant believe its not buttery skate | 1 |
| johnny rodiguez practice makes perfect | 1 |
| fear of flying by erica jong was banned | 1 |
| youtube theme to woodstock | 1 |
| rap music from nineties you tube | 1 |
| world industries menace 101 | 1 |
| gino iannucci trilogy song | 1 |
| world industries box set dvd | 1 |
| what are my current goals as a writer? | 1 |
| lose speed on mini ramp | 1 |
| jovontae turner | 1 |
| richard mulder song in las nueve vidas de paco | 1 |
| tribe from around the wolrd youtube clips videos | 1 |
| erica jong quotation interpretation | 1 |
| chris isaac music videos youtube | 1 |
| old school headbanger’s ball clips on youtube | 1 |
| roller blading paris problem knee | 1 |
| world industries skateboards | 1 |
| world industries randy colvin skater | 1 |
| world industries ads 1992, vallely | 1 |
| skate world trilogy review | 1 |
| www.mazey star you tube | 1 |
| stone bruise on ankle | 1 |
| smoothest skater | 1 |
| skateboarding as exercise | 1 |
| skateboarding for exercise | 1 |
| spike jonze song on rubbish heap | 1 |
| matt allison mallisonwhat | 1 |
| how do i send someone a link to my goodreads profile? | 1 |
| how long do world industries last | 1 |
| les skatepark raining | 1 |
| going to gym and skateboarding | 1 |
| music clip i never growen up | 1 |
| erica jung inner self | 1 |
| stack of vhs tapes | 1 |
| letter friend my weekends | 1 |
| psychotic episode erica jong first husband | 1 |
| tribeca sunset | 1 |
| running vs skateboarding exercise | 1 |
| sunsets | 1 |
| world industries new world order | 1 |
| what song is in the first part of rubbish heap rodney mullen | 1 |
| oil city skatepark review | 1 |
| henry miller on fear of flying | 1 |
| new york city budget libraries 2011 | 1 |
| fear of flying erica jong banned book | 1 |
| hearts and flowers on the world’s smallest violin | 1 |
| my writing history | 1 |
| alien workshop skateboards | 1 |
| snowing sunset | 1 |
| tim meadows | 1 |
| girl buttery skateboard | 1 |
| lavar mcbride skate bio age | 1 |
| hackwriters.com | 1 |
| blog: mallisonwhat.com | 1 |
| “randy calvin” and “world industries” | 1 |
| wordl industries longs | 1 |
| skater keith reed | 1 |
| book log | 1 |
| practice writing 2011 | 1 |
| 2011 كتابه | 1 |
| my broken board | 1 |
| compare beautiful and the damned and tender is the night | 1 |
| tender is the night autobiography | 1 |
| 2011 writing photo | 1 |
| we plan our vacation to las vegas | 1 |
| library future | 1 |
| fear of flying explanation jong | 1 |
| hearts and flowers just for you violin | 1 |
| what year did world industries 20 shot sequence come out | 1 |
| “the world’s smallest violin playing hearts and flowers” | 1 |
| adult skateboarding exercise | 1 |
| broken board | 1 |
| fear of freedom | 1 |
| passed out and hit head from drinking | 1 |
| shiloh backside 360 handrail | 1 |
| not playing violin for two weeks | 1 |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t-gk-9eiq4 | 1 |
| erica jong book | 1 |
| dudebarn | 1 |
| worldindustries.no | 1 |
| rodney mullen rubbish heap spike jones | 1 |
| josh kasper skateboard for sale | 1 |
| read by keith richards | 1 |
| enrique lorenzo skate education | 1 |
| raising taxes is a good thing | 1 |
| keith richards does not sleep | 1 |
| wat train do i take to get to astoria skatepark | 1 |
| rossford skate ramp | 1 |
| skateboard contest astoria oregon 2011 | 1 |
| elizabeth allison arslan | 1 |
| “i’m only happy when it rains” garbage essay | 1 |
| what are the advantages to a wider skateboard deck | 1 |
| keith richards life blog | 1 |
| rockaway taco | 1 |
| why ispersonal hostory is important | 1 |
| “my back was killing me” blog | 1 |
| skateboarding dvd | 1 |
| 2011-2012 nyc council budtet | 1 |
| new york city library budget cuts 2011-2012 | 1 |
| new york city library budget agreement | 1 |
| final 2011-2012 budget for queens library | 1 |
| did paul rodriguez compete in the maloof money cup 2011 | 1 |
| what ismy take on pop culture | 1 |
| nyc library budget | 1 |
| nyc library budget 2011 | 1 |
| new york city budget cuts july | 1 |
| vegas vacation slots | 1 |
| scratched skateboard | 1 |
| my short drastic haircut | 1 |
| libraries new york budget | 1 |
| 2011 nyc library budget cuts | 1 |
| astoria great skate 2011 | 1 |
| should not drink entery drink | 1 |
| maloof money cup 2011 nyc review security | 1 |
| extensive outline | 1 |
| why did chris cole not attend maloof | 1 |
| photos new york hug a library | 1 |
| keith richards discussion points for book club | 1 |
| “keith richards” discussion questions for book club | 1 |
| my day`s diary | 1 |
| stair railing skating | 1 |
| old skate video | 1 |
| 24 hour read-in | 1 |
| is the rolling stones keith richards book worth reading? | 1 |
| tender is the night reading group questions | 1 |
| skate vhs tapes | 1 |
| how awesome will my weekend be | 1 |
| new york city budget 2011-2012 | 1 |
| where do u have skateboard competition in new york city | 1 |
| who won the ametuer contest at the maloof cup 2011 | 1 |
| “shaved my head” | 1 |
| ny city 2012 budget library | 1 |
| nyc libraries budget | 1 |
| nypl budget cuts june 24 2011 5 days a week | 1 |
| “hug the library” | 1 |
| real skateboard vhs | 1 |
| i skateboard and go to the gym | 1 |
| henry miller essay on fear of flying | 1 |
| henry miller on fear of flying essay in book | 1 |
| tender of the night is my fovorite book because | 1 |
| competitiveskateboarding | 1 |
| fear of flying | 1 |
| 2012 library budget new york city june | 1 |
| nyc library budget june 2011 | 1 |
| last day it rained in albuquerque | 1 |
| nyc council budget 2011-2012 | 1 |
| what are the library cuts in nyc budget for 2012 | 1 |
| “nyc libraries budget 2011″ | 1 |
| cut my hair off short | 1 |
| nypl cut hours 5 day a week | 1 |
| nyc budget 2011 cuts libraries | 1 |
| nyc budget library | 1 |
| library budget cuts nyc june 24 | 1 |
| budget nyc libraries 2011 | 1 |
| updates on nyc budget cuts 2011 | 1 |
| nyc library budgets cuts 2012 | 1 |
| extensive novel outline | 1 |
| maloof money cup 2011 nyc review | 1 |
| self improvement | 1 |
| skater tapes | 1 |
| deck of a skateboard | 1 |
| volvo 760 breaking | 1 |
| portside downtown toledo | 1 |
| how to cement two bricks | 1 |
| skateboard video fansd | 1 |
| fall day drawing | 1 |
| daewon song jail time | 1 |
| skateboarding dvds | 1 |
| libraries as bookstores | 1 |
| old skate decks | 1 |
| only rain | 1 |
| mens short hair styles | 1 |
| sitting down to write a novel | 1 |
| cut my hair short | 1 |
| under skateboard | 1 |
| read life by keith richards online | 1 |
| facial styles for men | 1 |
| vegas vacation blog slots | 1 |
| skating field trip do and don’ts | 1 |
| triumph art blog | 1 |
| henry miller “fear of flying” review | 1 |
| book club of one | 1 |
| inconsistent gym workouts | 1 |
| mallison wordpress | 1 |
| skateboarder workout | 1 |
| floppy bangs short hiar | 1 |
| foodie nation | 1 |
| hoyt park astoria 29th st | 1 |
| volvo 760 turbo black | 1 |
| keith richards – life (2011) | 1 |
| how public libraries would survive budget cuts | 1 |
| drug theme book | 1 |
| news skate | 1 |
| 6 week workout cycle | 1 |
| high resolution picture curvy river | 1 |
| the real rocky dennis mom dad and brother | 1 |
| my books on literature | 1 |
| cortland skatepark | 1 |
| skateboard field | 1 |
| skateboarding injury | 1 |
| drug theme | 1 |
| plan b kareem campbell slick | 1 |
| cool skate park | 1 |
| unisphere | 1 |
| good feild trips in the bronx | 1 |
| nyjah huston skateboard | 1 |
| growing out short hair blog | 1 |
| cover back dvd skate zero strange world | 1 |
| skateboarding dvd blog | 1 |
| diary writing of good day of my | 1 |
| david gonzalez skater | 1 |
| view art | 1 |
| old skateboard videos | 1 |
| plan b box set | 1 |
| bruised ankle tan | 1 |
| skateboard in the rain | 1 |
| old school skate decks | 1 |
| alphabet their eyes were watching god | 1 |
| habitat skateboarding vhs | 1 |
| skateboards in the 1950′s | 1 |
| andy kessler | 1 |
| image funny cow from the side | 1 |
| my new short hair | 1 |
| which 2 skaters had a gnarly collision back in europe in 1997 | 1 |
| jean-paul deryk sculpteur | 1 |
| what is the difference between flow, am and pro skateboarders | 1 |
| libraryworld compatibility | 1 |
| long hair cut my sister videos | 1 |
| 2 skaters had a gnarly collision back in europe ’97 | 1 |
| name 3 habitat riders who have had covers for skateboarder and what tricks they were doing | 1 |
| link to goodreads profile | 1 |
| last days in ulu | 1 |
| subway performer violin “rain keeps falling” | 1 |
| chris cole no maloof cup | 1 |
| doğa | 1 |
| skate shop manhattan | 1 |
| quit wasting time on the computer | 1 |
| matt allison’s blog skate | 1 |
| central park | 1 |
| skateparks near hoover dam | 1 |
| my gym regimen blog | 1 |
| book review for city of thieves bybenioff | 1 |
| inconsistant exercizer | 1 |
| skate dvds | 1 |
| 25 million dollars for queens library | 1 |
| in what show did brandon novak get his top of his head shaved | 1 |
| “stop wasting time on facebook and youtube” | 1 |
| world library blog | 1 |
| my good diary | 1 |
| the best karaoke blogs | 1 |
| i skated so much today | 1 |
| controversal books of the 1970′s | 1 |
| nyjah huston 2011 haircut | 1 |
| blog cut het hair short | 1 |
| long hair styles for latina women 60 and older | 1 |
| 3 lifestyle your place or mine ?grammer talking about the future can do write a letter of complaint top cities | 1 |
| karaoke bars for teens in the bronx | 1 |
| drug theme books | 1 |
| fan skateboarding video | 1 |
| affect ebook libraries | 1 |
| facebook “people from my past” | 1 |
| farm cleaning blogs | 1 |
| the ollie has come into its own as the foundation for 80% of street tricks and about 60% of vert tricks, with the focus being on more technical and larger tricks. | 1 |
| andy kessler day | 1 |
| skateboarding vacations | 1 |
| fear and loathing in las vegas themes | 1 |
| workout skateboarding | 1 |
| my hair cut so short i | 1 |
I’m a park skater, and I don’t have a problem with that.
Posted: November 7, 2011 Filed under: Skate and workout goals, Skateboarding | Tags: park skating, skateboarding Leave a comment »
Recently on facebook with a skateboarding friend’s post the question of street skating versus park skating came up. A few skate nerds including me discussed what is better. My point was that pros or sponsored skaters should push the limits with street skating, but for an intermediate level skater like myself the parks make a lot more sense.
People that do not skate might not think this a big difference. With street skating you find ledges, stairs, rails, and other objects not designed for skating at all. This could be on public or private property, but from the creativity of the skaters they make use of it. When I was growing up in suburban Baltimore and then later in Toledo, there was no other alternative because the parks either didn’t exist or were inaccessible. I have great memories in Baltimore County of simply spending all day on York Road, a major road. We would skate the spots we knew, but always be searching for new spots. When I was older in Toledo with a car, I’d explore so many parts of Northwest Ohio that it always felt like an adventure. On the downside is that at 14 I was handcuffed for skating a parking garage, and would be kicked out of places for skating numerous times. I think there were summers that I’d get kicked out of somewhere every day. So I think street skating fuels creativity and a sense of adventure, but can also lead to conflicts with authority and an over the top sense of rebellion.
My friend’s recent post emphasized standards in skating, and that street skaters are better. Watching new skate videos is an experience, and they are dropping from heights, doing technical tricks, that are better than the mid 1990’s skating. Some of these recent films take years to film. Real’s Sense Day One, Flip’s Extremely Sorry, and Alien Workshop’s Mindfield all took over three years to film. In the 1990’s the tricks were the highlights, and they would show several shots of the same place. The famous skate spot in San Francisco ‘Embarcadero’ was overused in the footage back then. Great skating went down there, but the films now have a lot of variety. There are a lot of spots throughout the world in a skater’s part. It makes it interesting visually to watch, and if the parts were simply in parks, they would not be as good. I was drawn to street skating early on for the variety. I’ve also been scared of vert, but a ramp part looks repetitious. I keep reading that these big budget skate videos are less lucrative for the companies because they don’t sell as many copies because the internet makes it so easy for people to share without paying. I hope there will always be skate videos, and street skating well dominant the content of these.
Today I went to Chelsea Pier 62 park in Manhattan, and ended up mostly watching. This is a transition park, and it downright scares me. I realized my ability is limited, and I’m definitely not an all around skater. At age 34, at an intermediate level (I hope), I simply enjoy being able to skate. I’m mostly able to skate on weekends, and that’s not nearly enough to progress greatly, so I shouldn’t even worry about meeting the standards or what people perceive as the correct way to skate.
Let me tell you about yesterday, which to my mind was about perfect. A friend that lives nearby started back skating. He has a wife and young baby, so prefers to skate in the early morning, and he has a car. I learned about a new park in Far Rockaway I wanted to check out. Transit would take a long time, but by car we got there in a half hour. We skated from about 9:15 to 12:30 with only one break to get a bite to eat. By 12:30 it was packed with a lot of skaters, and people were amped for the park. It is a nice park with small transition elements and some serious ledge action. I’ve seen several of these parks open in New York City open, and all the skaters take these openings with pride and enthusiasm. Skaters are finally getting respect by the city building places to do it without the hassle of knowing where or where not to skate. At a skate park you can skate, and it’s great to have a sanctioned place for it. I landed and worked out a few things I was working on, and had a great session. My friend who just restarted has improved greatly, he did a roll in which means he could drop in no problem. The Far Rockaway skate park is a great addition to that area, and I think several young skaters will progress dramatically there.
Around two I was still itching to skate, so I texted another good skate friend, and we decided to meet at Flushing Meadows. On the 7 train, I saw a small army of teen skaters, and in another subway car saw two skaters about college age. When I got off the stop for the park the two college age skaters asked me how to get to the skate park. We started talking and they were from California. Over the next few hours my friend and I showed them the unisphere and the little bank to ledge spot within the larger Flushing Meadows Park. After awhile we walked them to the skate park, but that was too crowded so we went to skate at another area. The two California skaters that were good stayed at the skate park. It was cool to see skaters from California stoked on Flushing Meadows in Queens. My friend and I had a good session, and even though we did not skate the actual skate park, it was still in the safety of a park where general play in allowed, and in this point in time that includes skating. So even though the unisphere is a famous skate spot I don’t really think it’s street skating, because it’s in a park. Skating is allowed there, so to me this is such a great thing, to have to skate park and the larger park. I said it before but I think Flushing Meadows is some type of skate paradise. Towards the end of the day I sat and watched my friend skate, and listened to the Hispanic music from a soccer game. I just really like going there.
With skating an average of only on weekends, it is still important to have variety in what I skate. Smaller cities that only have one skate park, you might not get variety at the one local skate park. But in New York City, which is nearing 20 parks, going to different parks does the tricks. In Queens we have three of the best in New York City: Flushing Meadows, Astoria, and now Far Rockaway. The city is doing an amazing job with building these, and I’ll support it by utilizing them.
Lastly, even though I know my limitations, I do want to progress and get better. At parks you know you can practice whatever you want, as long as you want. With street skating you need to know where the spots are, or spend precious time looking for them, and worry about being kicked out. I used to skate at the bandshell spot in central park. A lot of people skate there, and they allow it, but there is so much foot traffic that it’s an accident waiting to happen. I saw one friend fall on a trick, and his board almost flew into a baby carriage. At skateparks everyone there is taking the mutual risk of a collision or injury, but someone walking in a park, sidewalk, or street should not be injured from a skateboard or skateboarder. On that note, I respect people’s property now, and skating a ledge late at night that is right by an apartment complex is a jerk move.
So if I need to be defined I am a park skater as opposed to a street skater. More importantly I am a skater.
Review of Patti Smith’s ‘Just Kids’ and thoughts on creativity
Posted: November 3, 2011 Filed under: My reviews, Writing | Tags: patti smith, robert mapplethorpe, writing Leave a comment »
For the past two weeks I’ve been reading Just Kids by Patti Smith and this book has put me deep in thought. Chronicling Patti Smith’s friendship with Robert Mapplethorpe, this autobiography shows that creativity can be a driving force and they both made sacrifices for their eventual successes.
After briefly explaining her upbringing Patti Smith starts out with when she met Robert Mapplethorpe in 1967, when they were both twenty years old. They had a connection right away. Mapplethorpe was pursuing art while Smith pursued poetry. Slowly throughout the book it tells how with their art as a creative bond Smith eventually turned to music and Mapplethorpe turned to photography. To me it shows that creative people can change their medium of choice, but the process of creating things new is larger. For a good portion of the time period in the book from 1967 to 1978 Smith tried out acting, play writing, and poetry before being an innovator in punk rock with poetic lyrics. Mapplethorpe tried all sorts of art. He developed a technique of collages using images from homosexual pornography magazines. The printed image would be one part of it, but he’d find frames, and other objects for installations. Years passed before he started the controversial photography that he became known for. After reading the book I looked up his work limiting a google search to his name and ‘images.’ The photographs are the art, as opposed to photographed images being part of an instillation or a larger project. When he started out his art ambitions photography was not his pursuit.
Smith and Mapplethorpe were lovers, partners, and their whole existence was art. Perhaps because they were so close they both could change their direction and focus. Again I find it amazing that a poet could make it in music and an artist could switch to photography. Reading this I thought that being creative is not limited to a specific form, but the process of creating itself. Just like practicing a sport learning one thing leads to the next progression. Creative people like to produce. The same thing goes for writing. Over the past two months I’ve been reading Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann. I’m reading it slow, but it does not seem like the same author as Magic Mountain. Buddenbrooks was his first novel, and Magic Mountain came out twenty odd years later in the time of literary progression after World War I and the 1920’s. Magic Mountain is by far the superior book. I think with all art forms the idea is progression, to continually surpass your own work. That is one thought that ran through my mind when I read Smith’s autobiography, is how creative they were.
Another thing I thought about while reading this is that they did sacrifice to be able to concentrate on their art. Smith describes that on their ‘anniversary’ they made the long subway journey to Coney Island. Most years they split a hotdog and a soda, because they could not afford to have a full meal per person. Smith was a bookseller to pay bills. Through book knowledge she could pick up rare books and objects and garage sales and sell them for profit to collectors or rare bookstores. Smith had a work ethic, but did not get trained for a career or a trade to make life financially easier. Mapplethorpe worked less and at some points would prostitute himself to make ends meet. Both were focused on their art, making success the only choice. I think the threat of a not having a regular paycheck is a deterrent for most people against the art life. Most success stories of art, music, and writing that I’ve read or heard about involve some lean years.
Maybe I’m self absorbed, but I questioned my own dedication to writing while reading Smith’s book. I can truly say I have not sacrificed anything to be a writer. I enjoy my career as a librarian. I took the steps for a career as a librarian. It is not simply a way to pay my bills. I like to write and can envision myself as a glorious author, but it is not really an obsession. I’ll write in my blog, and write some stories for a few months. But I think creative people that is their focus, making things or writing a ton. I have other goals, I want to be in better shape, skate better, be financially responsible, and at some point meet a woman. I would not say that my main life focus is writing by any means. Every successful writer or artist does have that focus. I also wonder if people that succeed treat it like a full time job, and with that the focus can’t be a career. I enjoyed reading this book by Patti Smith but I did question my own validity as a writer. I chose the comfortable life instead of putting all of my focus on my writing ambitions.
Lastly, this book really shows that being in the right place and the right time is a big part of every success. In 1970 to 1972 Smith and Mapplethorpe lived at the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan, apparently that was the place to be. They meet other artists, poets, playwrights, and musicians of varying fame that were neighbors to them. They made connections at the center of the New York City creative scene. Now I imagine people of fame live in gated communities and communities like this probably don’t exist without a price. So Patti Smith was twenty-three years old and sitting in a bar next to Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. Lots of names are dropped in this. I’m sure if you googled the names in this book there would be information on them. Basically Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe were in the right place to channel their creativity by hanging around their contemporaries. Later, once Patti Smith started creating music, a venue was perfect for rock n roll experimentation. She learned her craft at the famous CBGB’s. I read Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and there are a few similarities to successful people. One of them is a means to practice the craft, and really practice, and the other is the opportunity that time creates. Patti Smith was young in the late sixties, but old enough to learn from that great time in music. In her mid twenties she was at the heart of New York City, during another creativity in the development in music. She could capitalize and be a part of the progression of music in the 1970’s with all of her previous experience.
One more thing, this book was meant to pay tribute to Robert Mapplethorpe who died of AIDS in 1989. Her memory of their time together is vivid and poignant. She liked his energy and art. Until later on she did not do drugs but did not judge him for his use, the first time they met he was on acid. I did not know anything about Robert Mapplethorpe before I read this, but now I feel that I do. The last third of the book is poignant, because she tells of his last days, and also other people in their circle died as well.
I recommend this to anyone interested in creativity. For me I now want to read more about artists. This is something I don’t know much about, even though my sister is an artist. Time to learn more.
