2011 year in review, 2012 new year goals, and 2011 book lot

Posted: December 31, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: My goals for self improvement, My good days. Diary/log, My reviews | Leave a comment »

Happy New Year everyone! I’m going to review my last year, set my 2012 goals, and give you my 2011 reading log, all in this one entry. I am also going to make an effort to write in shorter paragraphs and say what I need to say with fewer words.

Winter was cold. My skating was solid up until January and then it was sporadic practically until April. My memory is kind of hazy of January through March 2011, but I guess nothing traumatic happened.

In late April I took a solo trip to Las Vegas. To say it was a spiritual journey would be a stretch. But it was important for me to travel by myself. I made my itinerary and did what I wanted. When you travel with people there is always a compromise, but by myself I was able to do things I wanted. I skated every day, saw nature sites, and had nights out. I’d like to travel more, but not in 2012, I need to get to where I can pay for my trips, and not charge them. Now I want to travel, whereas before my Vegas trip I thought I didn’t have an interest in going places. Here is my ridiculously long blog entry after the trip.  {Vegas blog entry }

In spring I skated quite a bit, but a lot of my focus was in my library work with advocacy against the budget cuts.  Aside from the yearly budget threat and a low materials budget work is going well. I’ve been at the same location, and have been able to concentrate on improving services. I get a lot out of work and feel that librarianship is the career for me. Here is an advocacy blog I wrote about this year’s read in. {24 hour read in }

In June I was suppose to go to Toledo for a full week of vacation. I planned to skate, read, write, and hang out. My parents changed that when they say they needed help cleaning out the farm in Virginia. So I flew into Detroit, and we drove down to Virginia. It’s beautiful down there, and I’m glad I went. Here’s my entry with a lot of good pictures. {Farm entry }

Over the summer it was beastly hot and affected my skating big time. I remember on some days only being out for an hour or less, being winded, and sweating profusely. I did not skate as much this summer as I planned too. In August I vacationed down in Florida with my whole immediate family, it was a great time. I try to read a lot on my vacation, and here is the blog entry I wrote about my Florida vacation. {Florida reading }

September, October, November, and December had lovely weather.  I think after a lull I’ve finally started to progress some at skating and I’m having fun. I’ve made a routine of skating Flushing Meadows, and I’ve blogged several entries on how I like my weekend skating routing.

This fall I also took a writing class that was beneficial. I think discussing writing for 3 hours on Sundays motivates me, and I think I want to seriously pursue writing. My goal is a short story a month. And after I have some bulk I’ll revise hopefully with more detachment.

During thanksgiving I went home and it was a nice visit with family. And I did get to skate a couple new parks in the Northwest Ohio area.

Overall 2011 was a good year for me, and I documented it well on my blog. I think that is one thing that I’ve been consistent at is writing of a blog every week or so.

2012 GOALS

  1. I need to get back to the gym pronto. It’s amazing how easy it is to stop working out, and how difficult in can be to get back into the routine. I haven’t been to the gym since well before Thanksgiving. So I’ll be just as bad as all the other resolution people.
  2. Live healthier. That means being moderate on nights out or abstaining altogether.  I need to at least check out a book on general nutrition, and make an effort to not eat junk food. I seem to have a sugar tooth, and like fried things, and grease. I’ll start small like stopping drinking soda, but I need to have a good all around diet and lifestyle.
  3. Try to progress at skating, and other pursuits in my life.
  4. Meet more people, listen better to others, and not focus on myself all the time.

READING HABITS

Lastly for this entry, here is my 2011 reading log. I read less than 2010, but maybe more variety. I learned I really like a good autobiography on rock n’ rollers. I enjoyed both the Keith Richards and Patti Smith memoirs greatly. I spent a great deal of time reading ‘Buddenbrooks’ by Thomas Mann and did not finish it. Since I didn’t finish it, I can’t put it on the list! Also with better selections for my work book club, I’m getting a lot of good reading from that too and really enjoy that part of my work.

2011 Book Log

  1. The Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende. January
  2. Giavonni’s Room by James Baldwin, January
  3. Schizophrenia, a very short introduction by Christopher Firth. February
  4. Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris. February
  5. Angels of the Universe by Eina Margudmussen. March
  6. The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent. March
  7. Down and out in Paris and London. George Orwell. March
  8. Shattered by Karen Robards. April
  9. City of Thieves by David Bernioff. April
  10.  Life by Keith Richards. April/May
  11.  The Zookeepers Wife by Diane Ackerman. May
  12.  Someone Knows my Name by Laurence Hill. June
  13. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter Thompson. June
  14.  Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier. July
  15. You Believers by Jane Bradley. July/August
  16. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Neale Zora Hurston.  August.
  17. Goodbye, Columbus by Phillip Roth. August
  18.  Herzog by Saul Bellow. August
  19.  Witches by Rould Dahl. August
  20.  Every Last One. By Anne Quindlen. September
  21. Light in August by William Faulkner. September/October
  22.  Just Kids by Patti Smith. October
  23.  Indfidel by Ayan Hirshi Ali. November
  24.  Fatal Convictions by Randy Singer. November/December
  25.  The assistant by Bernard Malamud. December
  26. The marriage Plot by Jeffrey Euginides. December (almost finished)

Review of Transworld Skateboarding 30 most influential skaters.

Posted: December 21, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: My reviews, Skateboarding | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Transworld 30 most influential skaters , (link to Transworld online article)

I’m not sure if many people review magazines, but I think it’s worth giving a shot.  Out of my library I checked out the new Transworld Skateboarding magazine, January 2012, and I think I’ll return it, go to a store and buy a copy.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Transworld they decided to highlight the 30 most influential skateboarders of all time. Thrasher also celebrated their 30th anniversary recently, and it’s interesting they both started around the same time. What makes this issue of Transworld so unique is that they interview all of the 30 people listed, and about 6 additional people about their own careers and the history of skateboarding.  Also throughout the main article they have a timeline of important events in skateboarding.

They list Duane Peters, Tony Alva, and Steve Cabellero in the top 30. Duane Peters and Tony Alva are over 50 years old, and Steve Cabellero is approaching 50. All three continue to skate well. In the magazine Steve Cabellero states he now likes getting older because he can continue to push the boundaries and can see how long he can keep at it.

Also listed were several vert and street skaters from the 1980’s. Lance Mountain says some interesting things in his interview, and I also enjoyed Matt Hensley’s interview.

On the timeline for the year 2007 the magazine states this about the Lakai video, “Mike Carroll and Eric Koston prove the 90’s generation is still comfortably in the driver’s seat.” (page 129) I always felt it amazing that some of this guys were popular when I was in high school, and still are pro and testing the limits. Several skaters on this list are from my generation. I think skaters in their mid thirties now that skated through the late 1980’s to the mid 1990’s did see skating become dynamic. In the magazine it states that Rodney Mullen invented the 360 flip in 1987. That was right before I started to skate.  That trick must have caught on like wild fire, because by 1989 it was common. Also Blind’s Video Days came out in 1991, and The Questionable Video came out in 1992, and they had a much different image and trick variation with just a year between release dates.

Anyone that would think about the most influential skaters would agree that Rodney Mullen, Tony Hawk, and Mark Gonzales would place at the top of the list. Out of the 30 skaters though, I recognized almost all of them, and could think a few important skaters not on the list. It really shows that even though skateboarding is very individual, a lot of people contributed to the progression of the sport. I also enjoyed that this issue interviewed the skaters, and had a long interview with the rated most influential skater Mark Gonzales. A running theme of the skaters that made the list was longevity. Their impact was over a long span, and they still skate.

Anyway I’ll keep this short. If you skate or skated at some point, go get this issue of Transworld.

Here is one of Mark Gonzales’s famous clips:

Review of recent skate videos by Nike, Shake Junt, and SK8MAFIA

Posted: December 17, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: My reviews, Skateboarding | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment »

Over my thanksgiving holiday a close relative told me she reads my blog posts except the ones dealing with skateboarding. I’m happy for her honesty and perhaps writing on such a specialty does alienate potential audiences.  So I need to decide if I’m going to write for skaters, and somehow break into that market, or be more general so that everyone that reads my blog knows what I’m talking about. The whole purpose of my blog is to write regularly and make it a routine. Coming up with ideas more than once a week can be challenge, and skateboarding is one thing I can daydream up ideas about very quickly. So here is a very skate geek out entry on three recent videos I’ve watched. All of these three videos came out at roughly the same time.

Review of Nike’s Skateboard Chronicles Volume 1., 2011

I saw people giving this the thumbs up on facebook before it was released on Itunes on December 10, 2011. But you really had to search sites for free downloads, and to me getting a virus from a shifty site was a deterrent enough to wait. The other two videos I’m going to review had the full-length video on youtube, and were easily accessible. Maybe power house companies like Nike can make sure it’s not shared illegally while the smaller companies are losing the battle.

Film wise this is high quality, they use good angles, I got the HD version on Itunes, and the picture looks very good.  Music wise I believe it is uneven. In the year 2011 is Green Day really necessary in a skateboarding part? But for the last three riders: Lewis Marnell, Wieger Van Wageningen, and Grant Taylor the music is matched perfectly. Wieger Van Wageningen, a red haired giant from Holland, skates to David Bowie that gives it a mellow energy. Grant Taylor skates to Slayer and that matches his fast gnar insane skating style.

Skating wise this is impressive. Lewis Marnell is on Almost. Rodney Mullen and Daewon Song, two legendary skaters run Almost and don’t sponsor that many, but try to sponsor the best. This is the first footage of Lewis Marnell I’ve seen, and the guy is smooth and a tech skater. Wieger Van Wageningen I never saw or heard of before, but he has good tech while popping everything. The stand out part is Grant Taylor. Two years ago his part in Alien Workshop’s ‘Mindfield,’ was good, but the guy has progressed into one of the best. I believe he got Thrasher’s skater of the year.  He is going big and fast. This part has a lot of huge pools, drops to ditches, and rails. The ender trick is about a 14-stair rail that curves sharply outward at the end. He made it even though so many things could go wrong on a rail like that.

Nike labeled this video volume 1, and it highlighted about 6 skaters. They have an army of skaters and some of the biggest names in the game.  Paul Rodriguez, Eric Koston, Theotis Beasley, and Justin Brock are some of the top pros that might be in volume 2, volume 3, volume 4 etc.  I don’t think they published how many they plan, but I think the wheels are in motion, and I think these might come out a little more quickly than other company videos because they are probably dropping more money on them.

For a long time I passionately disliked Nike, and I still kind of do. But as skateboarding sustains it’s popularity, and becomes more and more accepted, money will need to be put into it, and the big corporate companies might have the framework for that. This video is good, and it was only 5.99 on Itunes. I’m not persuaded to purchase Nike shoes quite yet, but made me think perhaps they can contribute.

Review of Shake Junt’s ‘Chicken Bone Nowison.’ 2011

Baker, Death Wish, and Shake Junt are under the same company umbrella. They are the degenerate team from my perspective. They are partiers, but they skate with an abandon and are good.  Some of them like Andrew Reynolds did the 12 steps and have been sober for years, so clumping them all together might be stereotyping them. But the company image is very much promotes revolving your life around skating and partying.  As an adult skater I do kind of worry about the kids that look up to these guys, because that is a hard life to aspire to.   But then again, I watched the whole thing straight, and then I watched it again a few times.

To my surprise, shortly after it was released I searched it on youtube and the entire video was there.  The video is over an hour, and I didn’t even know that videos that long could be on there. Also most of the individual skater’s part went up quickly too. One night I watched the thing. In the intro they have pot smoking, drinking, and even nudity.  This is somewhat like the Jack Ass stuff from a few years ago, but this company does emphasize the skating a lot more that those MTV guys. Neen Williams has the first part, and he’s had quite a bit of coverage lately. The guy is smooth, and they have a funny seventies soul song to it. A lot of the magazines mentioned his heelflips, and seeing it on film, they are very unique. He does them off of massive drops for one, but he does a shifty with it, and that tweaks his front foot forward, and makes it look super cool. But I wonder why they don’t call it heelflip shifties.  Dustin Dollin skates like a maniac, and looks drunk or hungover in every clip. And he takes some bone crushing slams. Bryan Herman and Andrew Reynolds, two of the superstars in the video, have a dual part that is smooth.

They are a lot of other individual parts, but then towards the end it’s more of a montage of random footage. One skater who had a good part, did not have his name attached to his part, but they named him ‘Sinner.’ The humor is kind of lost on me, and I simply do not know the name of that skater.  A very popular skater called ‘Lizard King’ only had a few tricks in it. According to a youtube comment, Lizard King, and others were saving footage for the upcoming Death Wish video. Overall the video was enjoyable, but perhaps a tad too long, and I’m glad it was free.

On youtube after 5 or 6 days the full-length video had over 50,000 views. To me that seems like a huge amount, and shows that there is an interest in this video. After about the 6th day that link was taken off.  Checking again today a newer post of the full-length video was at 25,000 views. So I have no idea if the company is trying to monitor it at all or not.

Review of SK8MAFIA’s full video, 2011

This video starts out with a memoriam of one of the skaters on this team, Tommy Cantrell, who died this year. I was not familiar with this skater, but the footage shows that he was really good. It’s sad to hear about people dying too young, and too many skate videos start out this way.

Some parts of the soundtrack is old seventies stuff and smooth.  Jimmy Cao’s part has ‘Soul Man’ and another classic track. Then it has some early hiphop and gangster rap tracks that do fit the style of the riders.  But the music does seem all over the place in this. But I don’t think there was any Green Day in it, so they have one point against Nike.

For me, the video was a little long, and I should give it another viewing. I checked today and the full video is still on youtube, so I’ll get another chance to watch it. From what I saw, it does seem to be a throw back to the 1990’s of trying to get the tricks, spots, on film. It doesn’t seem to be a high quality picture, the angles don’t seem to be thought much of, and it is light on the slow motion. I watched Jimmy Cao’s part individually several times. On his part and some of the other parts, there are a lot of lines. Lines are when skaters do multiple tricks in a row. In the high budget skate videos, there are less lines, because they try to get the angle filming perfect, and the skater does the trick flawless. In this SK8MAFIA video I really liked that they did lines of up to ten (or at least a lot) of tricks. If a skater sketched out a little bit, they still let him finish the line. Hopefully this will be a trend, to go back to showing lines, and more genuine skating.

In all fairness, these companies are different, and the only reason I review them in the same blog is that their videos came out at the same time. And I happened to see them while they are brand new.

Thankfully I get to skate tomorrow.

Skate shoes, I’m skeptical of Nike

Posted: November 18, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: My reviews, Skateboarding | Tags: , | 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 | Author: | Filed under: My reviews, Skateboarding | Tags: , , | 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.

Review of Patti Smith’s ‘Just Kids’ and thoughts on creativity

Posted: November 3, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: My reviews, Writing | Tags: , , | 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.

Vacation Book Log With Thoughts

Posted: August 23, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: My goals for self improvement, My life, My reviews | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment »

Family vacations have the purpose of seeing and interacting with loved ones that normally you don’t get to see that much. However all of my family is well, so I’m going to revolve this blog entry around me as usual instead of summing up my actual vacation. I’ll do this by pointing out that this vacation was very beneficial because I read a ton and I think I’m back in the groove of reading and hope to plow through a plethera of books in the next few months.

A colleague of mine goes on what she calls ‘reading vacations’ or ‘reading marathons.’ On her facebook updates it seems like serious business, to read 7 or so books on a three day weekend. I admire this effort, but I don’t think I could read for every minute of a day. Last year on a family vacation at the same place I read a lot, and I planned to read on this one. I think that a change of setting, or not having to clock in at work, can give focus or attention to books. Maybe someday I should take a long weekend and book a hotel somewhere and simply read. For now, reading more than usual on my vacations is a step in the right direction.

Not all of these were read, but I brought these books for my vacation: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Nora Neale Hurston, Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann, Goodbye, Columbus, Phillip Roth, the complete short novels of Anton Chekov, Tales of Burning Love by Louise Erdrich, and Herzog by Saul Bellow. Over the course of the week I read three of these selections and one other book. I will shortly describe how I chose the ones I read, what I thought of them, and the epiphanies I reached through reading them.

Their Eyes Were Watching God was an easy first choice, because I scheduled it for my work book club.  I read a few chapters the night before I left. On my day of travel I had a flight to Detroit and then a connection flight to Birmingham. On the flight to Detroit I mostly slept, but on the flight to Birmingham I read the whole flight. I even sat next to a pretty college girl but I made no effort to talk, I was reading. That shows that my priorities are wrong. Anyway I left plenty of time to read this in case I had difficulties with it. One participant of the bookclub before my vacation told me she had a hard time getting into it. At first the dialogue does seem wacky, but I got used to it. In my undergrad days I took a basic linguistics class and became familiar with the phonetic alphabet where a symbol represents a sound, and all sounds are put into this alphabet. The idea is that if you know the phonetic alphabet learning languages and dialects is much easier. So I Hurston’s classic ‘ah’ is what would usually be ‘I’. So once you found the similarities and patterns the dialogue did seem natural and authentic. In the first few days of my vacation I finished Their Eyes Were Watching God and I think it is a powerful book.  I recommend people read it so I won’t summarize the book, and at less than 200 pages, it will not take much time. My work book club went really well. I also recommend people join book clubs, if you get a room full of people you learn so much more about the book and think about it differently.

So after I read Hurston’s book I had 5 books to choose from. Buddenbrooks looked too daunting, and did I ever imagine I’d really start reading that on my vacation? I do however have it still checked out, and with a possible 3 renewals I could have it for more than 10 weeks from now.  The short novels of Anton Chekov seemed kind of ridiculously ambitious. Herzog looked like a serious book too. The Erdrich book I wasn’t too sure off. Out of Brevity I chose Goodbye, Columbus. I picked that book off the shelf because I read many Roth books, but not this one, his first one.

Roth definitely improved over five decades of writing, but this is a very good book and better than the average book. The intro sentence which tells of a pretty girl by the pool asking the narrator to hold her glasses draws the reader in. From my writers workshop I took a few weeks ago this Roth book has a good structure, uses sensory detail, and the characters are three dimensional.  His setting of a Newark suburban rich family with a spoiled love interest that the narrator observes is interesting. This was published in 1959 and Roth is still writing quality books, which I think is amazing. The short stories in this collection are good too. I think that I need to read more short stories if I’m going to try to write a short story, and this was a good start. I’m sure they are good examples of how stories should work.

I finished this after in two days and had a big bulk of my vacation left. Buddenbrooks and Anton Chekov still felt like too much of a task. So I decided on Herzog by Saul Bellow. I picked a copy of this up because I think a good friend colleague of mine mentioned it in a conversation recently. He said it was one of his favorite books. I realized with the profession I’m in, and in general when someone says that a certain book is one of his or her favorites it can be quite good. From taking people suggestions seriously I’m glad I’ve read The Tin Drum, East of Eden, Notes from the Underground, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Tropic of Cancer, Lolita, A Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Manchild in the Promise Land, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Some of my friends’ favorite books have turned into my favorite books. Go figure.

Herzog was a challenge for me. I found it hard to care about a materialistic, womanizing, and pretentious academic type. Maybe that was the point, to make the reader skeptical or even hate the main character. Parts of it I really liked though. Basically the character is going through a mental breakdown and his second divorce. Throughout the novel he writes bizarre letters to an assortment of people it includes family members, colleagues, and famous people. I believe the little snippets of this letters are entertaining while showing a growing mania.  For the first 100 pages I almost put this book down. On my way back to NYC I had a hell commute day. Birmingham to Atlanta was smooth. Atlanta to NYC was hell. I had a two hour layover anyway. We boarded the plane fine, but they said we were not authorized to take off because of weather on the east coast. So we waited on the plane for over an hour before taking off. As we approached NYC we had to circle NYC for a few hours. I was on the plane from 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm and my day started at Birmingham at 10 in the morning. What did I do on this complete day of travel! I read Herzog and got into it and I finished it that night. What I thought was a rambling pointless portentous turned into something worth reading. I’m glad I have this one under my belt but I’m not sure if I can recommend it heartily. But I understand why my friend liked it so much.

Lastly I read a book I did not expect to at all. One evening my nephew who is five asked my to read Witches by Roald Dahl. This is a 200 page children’s classic which I never read before. So I said sure. That evening I read 40 pages to him, and I was real into the story. Over the next few days we read it, and at some points my niece, aged 8,  and I would alternate reading chapters to my nephew. On the last evening we stopped with 30 pages left to read. I admit that that night I finished reading those 30 pages by myself. I think perhaps I’ll start checking out other Dahl books or children’s classics. I didn’t read much as a kid, and I think I missed out on some good ones.

I read a lot in a short time, and I now have a goal. Every night except for my blogging nights, I’m going to read. The goal is to average one book a week. I do feel rested from this vacation and invigorated to do several things in my life better.

Drug themed books are worth reading

Posted: July 6, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: My reviews | Tags: , | Leave a comment »

In summer my IQ goes down dramatically, but I’m happy to report I read a book all the way to its ending this past week. The book in question is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. People that know my reading tastes might be surprised that I haven’t read it until now. I like novels that take on drinking, drugs, and sex themes. Librarians have an entire week in celebration for these types of books, and that is banned books week which is the last week in September. So for this entry I’m going to talk about the controversial books I read, and why the print media should be open to all ideas with little constriction.

First I’ll summarize my opinion of Fear and Loathing. The introduction is phenomenal. There are two people in a car speeding through the desert to Vegas with a car full of a numerous drugs. Every sentence is like a outlandish phrase that could be coined.  Maybe in our time Charlie Sheen could write an intro this good. The first few chapters really show the mania. Unfortunately in my opinion by the middle of the book that originality is dried up by a repetitive storyline that goes on and on.  At only 200 pages the story seemed too long to me, as if Thompson stretched a short story idea into a novel.

Even though the book in its entirety did not hold my interest, it probably did turn heads when it came out. Even people reading it now could be turned off by the excess and the glamorization of these drugs. The description of usage in this book is so over the top, that in real life those doses would most likely kill the taker.

The full title of this book is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream. So throughout the book there is a theme of the American Dream, whether it be social standards, various wars, and even family. Most of this was lost in the description of mania, but I think Thompson’s idea was to attain the American Dream you took everything on like a roller coaster, and only once you have it all can you analyze it.

Now I’ll talk about Requiem for a Dream by Hebert Selby Jr., this novel has the bleakest scenes of heroin use that I’ve ever read. Set in and written in the 1970’s the story highlights a few main characters and their drug problems. Early on one character describes how he would never use toilet water to shoot up, and then later in the book he does just that. This also has the a brutal description of winter that will stay with the reader.

For grad school I did a book report on Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller for an Intellectual Freedom class. I have since read that two more times.  I like the expatriate period and for years my favorite book was Tender is the Night by Fitzgerald, but when I read Miller I felt that was how the real expatriates did it, the ones without the money. In Tropic the themes are whores and drinking written with humor and intelligence. In the novel the narrator can be very brutal about it, I remember one idea put in Tropic is to never pick up a starving prostitute because she will want more money and be a horrible lay.

A few autobiographies and worth mentioning that I liked. Manchild in the Promise Land tells of Claude Brown’s growing up with drugs, gangs, and racial tensions in 1950’s New York City. Recently Keith Richard’s wrote his autobiography called Life and he in detail tells of his excess.

I’m sure that there are many more risky books out there with themes on drugs. One classic I could not stomach, I hated Naked Lunch, and felt it too much for my tastes.

I’m thinking of all these books that have ugly contexts and I’m wondering why I like them. I never and never will do heroin, and I would not be a shady person in Paris. I think there is a universal fascination with what is happening to people in different circumstances than the status quo. Even though Requiem for a Dream is fiction and abstract to me, there are people going through that awful addiction. The hard drugs have ruined people and families forever, and will continue to do so as long as there are humans. If literature is to take on the human condition, it has to take on the dark sides of humanity too. Also this creates some understanding as to why decisions are made and everything should be discussed with at risk people and information on risky subjects should not be brushed aside or hidden.

To me, these books left an impression, but it was not an overload. I don’t think I could stomach watching the movie Requiem for a Dream that shows people injecting. There is also a reason the images in books like Naked Lunch should not be made visual. The movie system has a PG, R, and Adult ratings. Movies have sound effects, talking, and visuals and with more senses being used I think can make more of a horrifying experience. So I agree with the rating system for movies, a kid should not see the Saw movies.  But reading words an individual reader evaluates the context in his or her mind, and can bring on so many thoughts and discoveries that it should not be limited.

My sister’s art triumph

Posted: July 2, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: a history of sorts, My reviews | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment »

Over the past few months the subject matter for my blog entries have varied greatly. My online persona is in the middle of an identity crises. When I first started blogging I would recap my days, and occasionally take on a longer entry. In spring I felt compelled to write positive pieces for libraries to raise awareness against the proposed budget cuts. I also continued to write about my skateboarding. I started taking a lot more pictures starting with my Vegas vacation entry. I wrote about my family with my entry on helping my parents clean out a house on the farm. Basically I’ve been all over the place, and I’ll end this entry with thoughts on that. But now for something completely unheard of on my blog, on this entry I’m going to write about art, and a great accomplishment or public show that my sister was able to take part in.

From an early age both of my sisters showed an aptitude and interest in art. I think to be different from them, I didn’t really try it out, that was something that they did. When I was a sophomore in high school and Beth was a Junior she really started to spend a lot of time on art. Our older sister Tiffany was at college for art, for painting, and that was always an entertaining visit. I always enjoyed the things that both my sisters created. Beth also went to college for art but was introduced to sculpture there.

She came to NYC in 1999 and a few years later started working for the Art Students League. A lot of people think of artists as deviants, lazy, con artists, immoral, and basically non-productive people. Walking around the Lower East Side or the village you might think of artists as trust fund kids with no direction. My sister and my brother-in-law both have a strong work ethic, and work incredibly hard on their craft. I think to develop skill of any kind people work hard for it. The slackers, or partiers most likely don’t last long and end up doing something else for a living. Through various grants and work Beth is learning her craft well. Along with sculpture her water colors are great.

For a year my sister has been involved in a project called Monument 2 Monument. The idea is to have art in public parks in NYC. The Parks Department and the Art Student’s League collaborated on this project. This past week on June 24th they had the opening. Beth worked incredibly hard for this. Apparently on her piece ‘River Gazers’ some measurements were off, and needed to be adjusted quickly. So in summer heat my sister worked 14 hours days while still taking her duties with the baby, otherwise known as Emperor Kamil. On last Saturday the 25th I went to the ‘after party’ because a lot of people could not make the Friday afternoon opening. About 40 Art Student League supporters came and mingled for awhile. It was a nice celebration, and I could tell my sister and the other artists were very happy. This part of Riverside Park is a stretch from 60th street to 70th street along the Hudson River in Manhattan, and is amazing. There are plenty of places to sit and watch sunsets. The path is well maintained and varies enough to make things interesting.  7 sculptures are strategically placed along the path. All the sculptures are interesting, and they will be there until May of 2012. If you live in New York City plan to go to see this along with a sunset, you will not be disappointed. Soon a group sculpture will be placed in a Bronx park.

Now to end this entry, my new goal is to write in this blog a minimum of twice a week. With my entries on library advocacy my views did increase because people were concerned. Fortunately most of the budget was restored this year. I also learned with blogs that the titles used and tags put in matter for searches. This was been a kick to see on my stats more people viewing my entries. But I do not want my blog to be focused solely on one thing. And I should remember my original intent which is to practice writing. Twice a week is a lot of entries and eventually I’m going to have to think of different ideas. Perhaps I’ll be more scattered brained, or varied rather than focus on one thing.

Read ‘Life’ by Keith Richards

Posted: May 20, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: My reviews | 1 Comment »

Over a month ago a friend recommended the book Life by Keith Richards to me. Over three weeks I read the sprawling autobiography and I now recommend it to everyone. Anyone that has listened to music would appreciate his story.

For the intro Richard gives a taste of the rock and roll mayhem his life turned into with a recap of a 1975 near tour ending bust in the South. They had drugs all over their bodies and their car. The judge in a small town court room showed up drunk, fans yelled at them from the outside, and the Rolling Stones slick lawyer got them off. Richards can draw out his scenes, makes them interesting, and has a humor to it. I read this part with interest, but feel that my summary does not do it justice.

After that intro, Richards goes back to his childhood, his upbringing, and tells of how he first got interested in the guitar and music. His father or uncle would take him on errands around town, and they would stop by a music shop.  Richards said he looked at one guitar for like a year on a regular basis before he even played. I find I’m interested in stories like this, in what peeked people’s interests in the art, music, or sport that they ended up excelling at. I guess I’m like any American and I am fascinated with the success story. And I think with every success story something peeked that person’s interest from the beginning, there is a initial spark.

Richards states that music was always there, but they kicked him out of choir when his voice broke, and in those odd teenage years was when he focused on the guitar. The voice cracking is told with humor, and I believe my dad said the same thing happened to him when he was a kid. I guess in the 1950’s they were serious about their choirs. If your voice cracks you’re out. Today with everyone being so sensitive and political correct they would probably let the kid still sing and then give false applause.

Richards studying of music is interesting too.  Everyone has heard Elvis’s ‘Heartbreak Hotel,’ and it had an impact on Richards. He explains what makes that song so memorable is the silent spaces between the riffs.  Because of the timing of the silences it creates a bare hollow sound that haunts the listener. I’ve never been able to play music but I always appreciated it, so reading Richards many anecdotes on playing music was fascinating. Richards also stresses that at that point, the early 60’s he was primarily studying American music. He mentions countless blues and jazz musicians, and states that Rolling Stones original intent was to simply be the best blues band in London.

Richards also talks a lot about the United States because touring this country has always been a priority for bands. He talks of a lot of segregation, and how in the south because they were musicians they felt more excepted with black America. I find the 1960’s to be one of more interesting time periods, so I enjoyed Richards perspective on the social issues of that time.

Richards also explains well the process of the Rolling Stones going big.  They played live venues for years 1962 to 1964, and built a following.  Apparently getting recorded was very rare back then, and once they got an album recorded it happened very quickly. Once they started recording they realized they had to start writing their own songs instead of simply doing covers.  Reading this you can see how proud Richards was when he realized that he and Jagger could do song writing really well.

After he describes their initial success he tells of how they composed most of their songs. He tells of his drug use.  He was addicted to heroin for about ten years and did cocaine off and on until he fell on his head in 2006, and the doctor told him no more. He did a lot of drinking too. This memoir talks about his drug use, and he states how he saw people die around him that simply did more and more when it was not necessary.  Richards was able to live that lifestyle because he was careful with his doses and avoided excess. But he does dispel some myths too in this book.  There was a famous one that he changed his blood every once in a while to clean up. That stemmed from at one point when he was about to go cold turkey he said without thinking, ‘time to change the blood.’ And that became legend. In the book when he talks about the rumors, he said that it is very difficult to dispel them or prove them wrong once they circulate.

I also enjoyed his talking of his time in Jamaica when he played with Rastafarian reggae musicians. And his descriptions of these music making bender type things when he does not sleep. The longest time he had without sleep was 9 days. That’s crazy. Richards does seem kind of nutty too, is it really necessary to brandish knives and guns in self defense when you are a millionaire?

This book is definitely worth reading, and Keith Richards has led quite the life.

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