In this short film, a father teaches his son a powerful lesson with just three words.

When I was eight, I was a latch-key kid. One day during my summer break, my dad promised he’d come home from work and eat his lunch with me. We’d only get to spend about a half hour together due to his commute time and all, but I was stoked – lunch with dad! Home alone, in anticipation of his arrival for lunch, I made a huge pitcher of his favorite drink – fresh orange juice. In my eight year-old mind, I just knew he’d be so thrilled I made him the juice. Sounds ridiculous now, but I was riding a lot on that pitcher of juice. See, this lunch was to be a trial lunch of sorts – if it worked out with him being able to take the time off and still be able to accomplish all that he needed to at work, then he would think about coming home for lunch on a regular basis throughout my summer break from school. I figured if he had fresh juice to come home to each day, then for sure, he’d commit to coming home all summer.

So there I stood with a tall pitcher of juice on the table and two empty glasses while I watched the driveway through the kitchen window waiting for him to arrive. When he finally did, I eagerly lifted the pitcher and started pouring (I wanted to be pouring his juice as he walked through the front door for full effect). The problem was, the pitcher was too heavy and slippery for me to manage. At the very moment he came into the kitchen, I dropped the entire pitcher of juice and it hit the floor at just the right angle so that all the juice splashed all over my father. He stood there drenched. And I immediately started to cry from the extreme disappointment and because I believed I had screwed up my chance to have my dad eat lunch with me the entire summer. Or so I thought.

Most dads would get angry at being hit with a half gallon of juice. Most dads would’ve let that be the nail in the coffin to our summer lunch experiment. At the very least, most dads would’ve lectured me on the importance of being careful. Not my dad. What he did has stuck with me all my life. He simply said “Hey pal, it’s just juice. No big deal.” Then he helped me clean it all up — before he even cleaned himself up. Then we made some more juice and we ate our lunch. He shared some funny stories with me from his work that made us both laugh. Such a simple reaction during an insignificant lunch that I’m certain my dad doesn’t remember.

But it has made all the difference in my life.

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Film: “What Is That”

Cast
Father: Nikos Zoiopoulos
Son: Panagiotis Bougiouris

Directed by: Constantin Pilavios
Written by: Nikos & Constantin Pilavios
Director of photgraphy: Zoe Manta
Music by: Christos Triantafillou
Sound by: Teo Babouris
Mixed by: Kostas Varibobiotis
Produced by: MovieTeller films

http://www.movieteller.gr/

Ever take a pack of post-it notes and draw a crude animation on frame or post-it at a time?   I have.  After drawing for an hour and a half, I fan through the entire deck of post-its to make my stick figure walk across the pad.   Then, not only have I realized that I’ll never make it as an animator, but that I’ve also just wasted a perfectly good pack of post-its and a full hour of my life.

BLU – a street artist from Balogna, Italy, must’ve burned through some pads of paper as a kid. This guy has mastered the art of frame-by-frame animation without a doubt. In his short film Muto, he creates an unbelievable and somewhat disturbing adventure in animated street art. This film recently won the Best International Experimental Short award at the 2009 Leeds International Film Festival. It not only has the “wow” factor, but a ton of “how did he do that?” factor.

Post-its? Please. I can only imagine how many gallons of paint this must’ve required.

Check it out and pass it on.

Here are some samples of his other wall art pieces:

OFFICIAL SITE:
www.blublu.org

There’s a big difference between purposely immersing your person into fresh water versus ocean water. First, what lives in a brown, mirky, slow moving river is quite different than what lives in the ocean (there’s no sharks in rivers as far as I’m aware). Second, when you step down on something mysterious and gross with your bare feet in fresh water, you squirm with disgust as you retract your foot from whatever rotted nastiness your toes are squishing between. Yuck! When you step down on something mysterious and gross in the ocean, you retract your foot much faster for fear of losing said foot. Yikes! I know all of this from experience.

There’s something else too. Bacteria. Now, I’m no germ-a-phobe, but I do know one thing: if you expose a wound (or actually INCUR a wound) while in the stagnant waters of a tropical creek or river, you’re going to get a NASTY infection. Usually within minutes. On the other hand, you expose a wound (even an actively infected one) to ocean water, it will get naturally cleaned out, disinfected, and put on the path to a quick healing. How do I know all of this? Well, from several painful experiences.

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Painful Experience #1:

Skimboarding in a tropical creek.

Purpose: FUN

Result: Multiple areas of near gangrene on my legs.

My buddies, Craig, Joey, Steve, Donnie, and Paul and I would every day after school skim board in this creek by my house.  The creek was glass-smooth, very shallow, and very black.  Anytime you do anything that involves standing on a moving board, you will fall.  Guaranteed.  And when you are moving very quickly on that board, you will fall hard.  Hard enough to lose skin.  Then, the black creek water of necrosis gets that new wound all nice and soggy, introducing all sorts of microscopic interlopers into your body.  My mom banned me from skimboarding in that creek after noticing the flies make camp by the dozens on my multiple oozing wounds.  Of course, that didn’t stop me, that only encouraged me to perform a painful daily rub down of rubbing alcohol on my exposed, rotting wounds.  Now THAT’s painful.

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Painful Experience #2:

Suffering the embarrassment of girls watching me in shock and repulsion as I repeatedly threw my scared dog into the ocean’s waves.

Purpose: Heal my dog’s open head wounds

Result: Trixie healed with a slight bald spot.  Conversely, I had suffered for months not being able to shake the “pet-abuse” label.

So, Trixie, our mutt terrier had somehow managed to not only get run over by a car in front of our house, but to also survive.   She was as good as new with the exception of a four-inch diameter lack of scalp.  She looked like she had just walked out of a doggie-labotomy hack job gone bad.  My dad’s philosophy on spending money on animals was limited to generic food (never the moist stuff).  Taking a pet to the vet was not an option in our house.  ”Dog’s can be replaced within an hour’s trip to the pound,” is what my dad would always say when we were crying over our beloved sick cat or dog.  So with Trixie, I bandaged her up as good as I could, but to no avail: – her head got infected.

This time my dad took action.  Take her to the vet?  Oh my no.  He and I drove Trixie to the beach to let the miraculous powers of the ocean water heal Trixie’s head.  That was the theory anyway.  The problem was that Trixie didn’t like water.  The other problem was that the beach was crowded that day with many of my peers that also included many very cute girls.  I groaned with my head hung low while carrying a violently resisting Trixie towards the crashing waves.  I prayed nobody would notice.  When I first threw Trixie into the water, it was too shallow.  Oh, sure, she tumbled around and got her head wet, but not a true SOAKING.  So I picked her up again and waded out deeper.  She whined and bucked hard as I went.  At this point, I had not only that feeling of being watched, but of being loathed.  I looked over my shoulder and sure enough some girl was pointing at me while her mouth was in mid yell.  I immediately dropped Trixie in a few feet of deep water.  Then after a quick, nervous glance at all the angry girls, I started waving my arms pretending good old Trixie and me were engaging in some sort of bizarre beach play.   This time it worked.  Her head was completely drenched.   I quickly scooped her up, muttered a few “good girl”s to her and bee-lined it to my dad’s truck.  I was glad it was over.  I was ready to go home.  My dad had other plans, however.

“She barely got wet,” he said.  ”Go back and dunk her over and over so the healing can really seep in.  Hold her head under the water if you have to.”  I resisted and argued,  but in the end, I was back in the water in front of many horrified beach-goers who were no doubt wondering what the dog could’ve done to deserve a public drowning.  Poor Trixie.  But hey, it was for her benefit, right?

So why do I mention all of that?  Because of the Pororoca.  

The Pororoca is a yearly weather phenomenon that creates a truly endless wave in the Amazon.  Surfing in that would be a total rush.  Minimal paddling! Maximum surfing!  But I can only imagine what risks and creeping death these guys are inviting into their systems as they ride the mighty Amazon.  Forget sharks, what about peronas?  Forget salt sting in your eyes, what about the Freaky-Amazon-Bacteria-Of-Death that get into your ears, mouth, wounds, and…eew…elsewhere… that do who knows what to you.

Maybe I am a germ-a-phobe.

Anyway, watch the video and enjoy.  Stay healthy.

Introducing the huckjive mixtape.  Each month we will offer you a mixtape of a few free mp3’s of indie artists looking to get some exposure.  It’s a win-win situation: you will love these songs, and the artist will love that you love these songs.   These songs won’t be those downloads that are attached to other articles on huckjive; they are only a part of this mixtape.  So download and enjoy.

Huckjive Mixtape, volume 1

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Artist: Phantogram

Track: When I’m Small

Track: When I’m Small – Phantogram

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Artist: The Hellevators

Track: A Walk Through Hell (cover)

The Hellevators

Track: A Walk Through Hell – The Hellevators

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Artist: Graham Wright

Track: Crooked Moon

Graham Wright

Track: Crooked Moon – Graham Wright

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Artist: Seashell Velasco

Track: Noviembre (instramental)

Seashell Velasco

Track: Noviembre – Seashell Velasco

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Artist: Andrew Neal

Track: More Like A Train Wreck

Andrew Neal

Track: More Like A Train Wreck – Andrew Neal

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Talk about the Power of One. Four years ago, Jackson Mubiru, from the impoverished village of Kampala, Uganda, had a dream: build a skatepark. Many kids across the world grow tired of having to drive to neighboring towns to skateparks that are sometimes as much as 30 minutes away. The humanity! And so they dream of a skatepark in their own town. They dream of gathering petitions and going in front of the city leaders to make their case for a new park. Many kids do just that and many are successful.

But Jackson, lives in a nation that had zero skate parks. Most in the country had never even heard of such a thing. What’s worse, the local town leadership (or Uganda for that matter) had no funds for such a project even if they believed in it. So Jackson and friend Shael Swart, an exchange student from South Africa, decided they’d earn the money themselves. For many months both boys worked and saved money for the materials for a mini-ramp. Once they had enough money they went to work. They built the ramp by hand with brink and concrete. When the ramp was finished, they didn’t just skate it, they publicized it with a “grand opening celebration”. They even secured a deal with a Kampala department store to donate two skateboards.

And the park was born.

Kids from all over the village scrambled at a chance to ride the ramp. Of course nobody actually owned skateboards, so everyone shared the two boards donated by the store. They were skating with bare feet and using banana leaves tied around their knees and elbows for pads. Two years later, a generous donation from Tony Hawk’s Foundation has given the kids much needed gear, boards and equipment. And the park has grown from a mini-ramp to a park to a movement.

Jackson Mubiru is thrilled with the success of the park. Not just because Uganda has it’s first skate park. Not just because he has a place to skate. But because he sees skateboarding as an outlet that keeps kids involved in something healthy, something fun, and something legal. “I try to make this kids busy, you see,” Mubiru says, “Instead of thinking about other things like stealing, or hanging out on the streets. It’s really good to think about skateboarding.”

Jackson sees great value in skateboarding. So much that he create the “Uganda Skateboard Union” and has big plans for the future. “If we can maybe build six more skate parks here in Uganda, these kids can’t be on the streets begging for money. They can keep on skating at the skatepark.”

So the next time you complain about no place to skate, think about Jackson Mubiru. Then go build a skatepark.

If you’d like to donate to the Uganda Skateboard Union, you can do so by visiting the Union’s blog page.

http://ugandaskateboardunion.wordpress.com/

If you’ve ever been to Miami, you can tell stories of the intense heat and the heavy humidity. Head outside and you’re instantly hot and wet. The last thing I think of in that setting is “dang…take me to a jacuzzi!”. So I have no idea how these three guys from Miami came to call themselves the Jacuzzi Boys. Perhaps it’s a nod to the “joys” of tropical living, who knows. What I do know is that this trio represent a musical side of Miami that you don’t naturally associate with the southern capital of heat: garage punk.

Jacuzzi Boys

These guys know how to make straight up rock ‘n roll with just a guitar, a bass guitar, and a drumset: that’s it. The sweetest threesome combo since neopolitan. So go back to the basics with the Jacuzzi Boys. Download the tracks below, close your eyes, and let the sounds take you to some sketchy basement or garage somewhere where three dudes are rocking it hard.

Track: Dock – Jacuzzi Boys

Track: Smells Dead – Jacuzzi Boys

Jacuzzi Boys are:
Gabriel Alcala (guitar/vocals)
Danny Rojas (bass)
Diego Monasteri (drums/vocals)

http://www.myspace.com/jacuzziboys

New Order is from the 70’s and 80’s.  Yeah, that’s a long time ago.  But New Order falls into the category of timeless.  Classic.  Awesome.  Sometimes old things need to be pulled of the shelf, dusted off, and reexamined.  The boys from Slang Chickens did just that by covering New Order’s epic ‘Age of Consent’.

Remember enjoying Tori Amos’s cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit?  Me neither.  But I do remember it.  And I remember thinking “Wow, she’s got some guts to cover THAT song.  By THAT band.”  But in the end it kind of smelled like pretentious dog dook to me (sorry Tori, I love your other stuff!).

This is both the same and radically different.  It’s the same in that it takes some guts to cover such a brilliant classic as ‘Age of Consent’.   It’s radically different in that the cover not only works, it puts a new spin on it that makes the song, with Slang Chickens’ unique style applied, it’s own shiny package that stands by itself.

Good job, Slang Chickens.  Insanely weird band name, but great cover.

http://www.myspace.com/slangchickens

When I was 10 this girl in my 5th grade class gave me a cat.  He was spunky, inquisitive, friendly, and a bit raucous with a dose of prideful style.  I named him Oliver Shagnasty.  Don’t ask me what I was thinking, it just fit.  Anyway, Oliver Shagnasty had several unique traits — he had no tail (just a little ‘bob’ thing), he thought he was a dog (he tried to bark, I swear), and he could pee in the toilet like a man.  Well, not a standing man, but a sitting, peeing man.  Ahem…anyway, the other really odd thing about Oliver Shagnasty is that he had this meow that, depending on his mood, would sound like he was singing.  Less melodic, more whining, but singing none-the-less.

The short film “The Cat Piano” by the australian animation company “The People’s Republic of Animation” make me think of, among many things, my good buddy Oliver Shagnasty and his singing chops (after seeing this film, I definitely think that if he could, Oliver Shagnasty would’ve been the beatnik poet type).  Yes, the movie has singing cats.  But that’s just one tiny reason why I love this film.

“The Cat Piano” is masterfully done — color choices, illustration work, elegant be-bop prose, and just the over-all vibe.  It all works and flows together to make a true piece of art.   Check it out.  When you’re done, you might check out The People’s Republic of Animation’s other work found here:

http://www.vimeo.com/thepra

Or you can learn more about these guys at their website:

http://www.thepra.com.au/

I’m not an overly-political guy really. Personally for me, it’s too easy to see the good on both sides of the aisle as well as the bad. I certainly have my strong opinions on various issues, but for the most part, I just stick to living my life the best way I can. One current issue that has captured the world’s attention for years has been peace in the middle east. Obviously a hot-button issue with no clear solution on which both sides easily agree.   Arguments fly and debates abound about how to secure peace in Israel.  And being true to my generally apolitical self, I offer no quick solutions to the conflict.

How is it possible to come to a common-ground between the Palestinians and the Israelis? While the Whitehouse and the rest of the world debate this issue, one man has found something that is bringing both groups together: surfing.

Alex Klein, a former sponsored skater from San Fransisco, has recently finished filming a documentary of Palestinian and Israeli surfers, who each day risk their lives to come together and surf. According to the film’s official website, “‘God Went Surfing With the Devil‘ charts the difficulties and dangers encountered by surfers in the region. Along the way it speaks to Israelis, Arab-Israelis, and Palestinians affected by the violence, charting their daily struggle to supersede the conflict through the joys of surfing“.

Here’s the trailer for the documentary:

God Went Surfing with the Devil Trailer from Alexander Klein on Vimeo.

“Shotwell: Alex Klein, part 1” (the main video for this article) describes the making of the film and about the filmmaker, Alex Klein. Stay tuned, for part 2, coming soon to Huckjive.

Quick: think of lead singers who are also drummers. Who came to mind? Phil Collins? Sheila E? Dave Grohl? You might be surprised to know that when Chris Cornell first formed Sound Garden, he was the drummer. Or..if you’ve been following Jack White’s latest band/project – The Dead Weather – then you know he sings from the drum stool on a few tracks. Well kids, listen up, because the next time you are asked that question, you can include No Age to the list.

No Age is drummer/vocalist Dean Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall. Bass player? They don’t need no stinkin’ bass player! (except for in the studio that is…) These guys rock it hard, lo fi style, taking their minimalistic sound to full capacity. No Age doesn’t follow the cookie-cutter pop-punk tidal wave of the 2000’s. Their sound is unique and raw, yet served up smooth so that it melts in your mouth.

Fact: The No Age duo is close friends with Andrew Reynolds, who owns Baker skateboards and the Altamont Apparel clothing line. In fact, Altamont recently completed the Altamont SXSW skate tour that also featured No Age. Want proof? Here’s proof.

While Dean and Randy are not in this teaser, they are in the actual film along with many of their songs. In this video, their song Ripped Knees plays in the background.

By the way, Andrew Reynolds is the nephew of Burt Reynolds. Burt Reynolds starred in a movie called “Starting Over” in the 70’s that featured a young Kevin Bacon. So there! The six degrees of Keven Bacon works even with No Age.

Here are a few songs you can download and enjoy. Share with your friends! Go on – it’s legal!

Track: You’re A Target
Track: Teen Creeps
Track: Eraser

Young filmmaker Jared Ortiz’s buddies have some satisfactory skating skills you have to admit. Maybe nothing amazing and certainly nothing professional is thrown down in this video, but skills are apparent none-the-less. But that’s not why we post this video on Huckjive.

We love this video for two reasons:

1. You gotta throw some props at Ortiz who shot and edited this video by himself (we have no idea, but he appears to be a regular guy in his teens with a camera). He’s not a pro from SoCal with a huge budget and all the editing equipment you can shake a stick at (my dad’s favorite line – why would you ever shake a stick at anything?).

2. Ortiz somehow manages to capture in this video the feeling of a typical weekend skate session with your buddies — except there’d be way more bails with your friends.

In the end, you just gotta love the video cuz it you know that right now, you’re stuck inside on your computer when you’d rather be outside with your friends killing it like Ortiz et al.

This is the kind of skate stuff we love at Huckjive – a video that captures the essence of skating — which essence is fun and friends.

Regardless, we posted it.

Enjoy.

Lineup:
James Lombardo [voice, guitar]
Trevor Pawlewicz [bass]
Jon Miller [guitar, keyboard]
Adam Caldwell [drums]

The town of San Jose is 350 miles up the California coast from Los Angeles. For the past year and a half, James Lombardo (vocals, guitar), Trevor Pawlewicz (bass), and Jonathan Miller (guitar, keyboards) routinely made this round trip journey to write and record with long-time friend and drummer Adam Caldwell. Taking on the name “The Little Heroes” after the sculpture figures Caldwell created for his art school thesis, the band used the distance they traveled as a central theme for their debut record. The concept, however, was nothing new to the four east coast natives.

Pawlewicz and Miller first met in a small rural town outside Philadelphia. During high school, the two realized a shared passion for music, trading mix tapes of R.E.M., The Smiths, and Fugazi. Shortly after school, they began playing in punk band and formed a collective, putting on shows at a local fire hall. The band lasted for several years, completing thirteen national tours and four tours of Canada. During this time, they played with such notable acts as Built to Spill, At the Drive In, Less than Jake and Avail. In 1999, the group disbanded with Miller opting for graduate school, and Pawlewicz relocating to California.

While at school, Miller met up with old friend, Ed Olsen, who persuaded him to play in a new band, Fire in the Radio. It was here that Miller met drummer Caldwell, who was a student at the art school. The band lasted for only a year, but when Miller relocated to the west coast, Caldwell did the same a year later. The two decided that even though they lived in separate parts of the State, they would attempt to resume making music together. Miller recruited Pawlewicz to join them, and the three set out to find a singer, placing several postings on a community website.

Lombardo, himself a native New Yorker, responded to the posting. Lombardo’s unassuming demeanor and soulful voice created a unique match to the band’s jangled pop songs. The result is an original sound that falls between My Morning Jacket and early Promise Ring.

The band’s debut record explores the theme of personal distance in love (Don’t Stop), friendships (September Falls), family relationships (Teeth), and death (The Harbinger). The record concludes by showing that while distances may separate us, perhaps we’re not that far apart.

The record was recorded with Angus Cooke (Mock Orange, The Ataris, and Nerf Herder) and Tom Flowers (The Coral Sea) at Orange Whip Studios in May of 2006. The band’s first single, September Falls, went for adds on college radio starting September 12th. The full record will follow this winter, and will be released by Wednesday Records. Following the release, the band will embark on a national tour.