If Rodney Mullen and Chris Haslam were to somehow defy the biological laws as we currently know them and conceive a child together, what would would you get? Kilian Martin evidentally. Check it out.

No related posts.

For our latest Retro Show’d, we resurrect the 80’s Vision Psycho Skate video. Vision Skateboards was one of the pioneers of the modern skate video, essentially being the second company to create a video, following, of course, the Bones Brigade Video 1. Vision was the home of Mark “Gator” Rogowski, who is in prison currently for rape and murder. Vision was also the parent distributor of Hosoi skateboards, ran by none other than Christian Hosoi, who incidentally just got out of the clink from dealing narcotics (perhaps pro skaters aren’t necessarily the best role-models for successful living). Vision was also the first major sponsor of Marc Gonzalez. “Gonz” went on to form the skate company “Blind” which was a not so subtle jab at Vision.

Anyway, this video will help you bond with that uncle of yours who once skated back in the days of mullets and mustaches. Enjoy.

Remember kids, we don’t own the copyrights to this film, so if after viewing this, you decide you like it, go buy the High Definition DVD somewhere.

Related posts:

1. Retro Show’d: Cheese and Crackers

Our friends at saymayday.com bring us part 2 of the documentary about…making a documentary. If you didn’t catch part 1, Alex Klein the former skater from San Fran, actually gets bored with being a skater with multiple legit sponsors and decides to become a filmmaker. Previous experience? Nah. But hey, why not give it a shot, right? After all, if he fails, the worst case scenario is that he goes back to the *dull* life of a skater with very solid sponsors in one of the best skating scenes in the world. Poor him.

Anyway, we love this mainly because Alex’s documentary “God Went Surfing With The Devil” is such a fascinating piece. If you recall from part 1, the documentary covers young men in the the Gaza strip who are surfers first, Palestinians and Jews second. It’s a beautiful story: conflict rages all around, yet these guys manage to find peace in the waves and the surf. And really, who doesn’t? Check it out…

Related posts:

1. Shotwell: Alex Klein, part 1
2. Women’s Rights

In the tradition of The Ramones, The White Stripes, and maybe even …*cough*…The Donnas, here’s another band who adopts part of their band moniker as their own names. “Oh, Atoms” is made up of Gwen Atom and Marc Atom, who are both multi-instrumentalists and vocalists, it seems, with long pasts in the music biz.

With their debut album, “You Can’t See The Stars From Here”, Oh, Atoms, put a solid stake in the “happy” folk-pop sound. Gwen Atom and Marc Atom are really Gwen Cheeseman and Marc Withecomb (going by “Atom” appears to be a good call, by the way), who with their cool-breeze brand of cheerful sweets declare that angst-rock is your dad’s music. Move on, angry man, smell some flowers, eat a cookie, and pet a puppy. Life is good, so enjoy it – basically the musical message of Oh, Atoms.

Their first single. “Sugar Mouse” is free below and sounds like a good candidate for some indie soundtrack – which it is, actually. It was included in the movie “Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging” a film by Gurinder (Bend It Like Beckham) Chadha. Haven’t seen the movie, personally, but I’m liking the soundtrack already.

Admittedly, this song is a bit over a year old – so posting this is going against the “brand new music showcased on this site” theme, but in the spirit of Gwen and Marc, I’m going to relax, not worry about it, and just enjoy the music. After all, life is good, right?

DOWNLOADS:
Track: Sugar Mouse

OFFICIAL SITE:
www.myspace.com/ohatoms

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This video answers several important questions:
1. What would it be like to mash a modern skate video to an 80’s music video with bad lighting and equally bad man-dancing?
2. Does Jason Lee still skate?
3. What would Matisyahu look like on a board?
4. Does it indeed look tough if you wear a leather jacket with your bow tie?
5. If you try hard enough, can you pass off a synthesized keyboard sound as a saxophone?

Here’s the complete 80’s video for your viewing pleasure.

I have to admit, the song is sort of growing on me.

The park in the video is Garvanza skatepark in Highland Park, Ca.

Garvanzas Skatepark

Related posts:

1. Uganda Skateboard Union
2. Here It Comes – Jared Ortiz
3. “Push” – some love for the camera guy

The Royal Chains are Adam Roddick and Dan Lawley from New York and Nashville. If you like your rock and pop to have a nod to the 60’s british invasion, you might check these guys out. However, their recent album “Bear Island” feels a little less 60’s and a little more just mellow rock or late-night alternative radio, which is fine by me.

The Royal Chains

DOWNLOADS:
Track: Lucy Takes The Dare – The Royal Chains

Track: No Love In Your Punches – The Royal Chains

http://www.theroyalchains.com/

http://www.myspace.com/theroyalchains

Related posts:

1. The Awkward Stage

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.

===============================
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/

No related posts.

Some music historians marvel at the fact that not only did four talented musicians come from the same fairly insignificant city of Liverpool, England in the early 60’s, but that the moons aligned and fate allowed John, Paul, George, and Ringo to actually find each other in the right place at the right time to form the Beatles. Who could’ve predicted that the working-class town of Liverpool would produce four sons that would forever change the music world?

That was then, this is now. That was Liverpool, this is Wilmington.

Wait? What? Wilmingon?

Wilmington, Delaware. That’s right, Delaware. Think back to Wayne’s World, when Wayne and Garth were poking fun of the tiny state.

“Hi….I’m in Delaware.” – Wayne Campbell

But really, nothing is wrong with Delaware. It’s just really small and hasn’t really done anything or produced anything super significant to be really known across the world for anything cool. But that’s the misconception. How so? Well, ever heard of the indie band “The Sky Drops”?

The Sky Drops is a Delaware duo made up of Rob Montejo and Monika Bullette. Their sound has been described as “a new White Stripes meets the Pixies meets Elliott Smith-like vibe”. A very accurate description. However, they also remind me a bit of the old Stone Roses: heavy guitar riffs with mellow, spacey vocals.

The Sky Drops formed in 2006, in Wilmington, self-releasing a five track EP “Clouds of People”. “The fuzz rock anthem “Now Would Be”, the sublime “Hang On”, and the pop stunner “The Go Go Go” are among the best tunes you’re likely to hear this year.” – The Big Takeover

Since then, they have self-managed and self-promoted themselves with shows across the U.S. and the U.K. gathering a steady following. They’ve recorded their albums in their own studio and filmed their own videos using Super 8 film. In late 2009, they released their latest album “Bourgeois Beat”, to rave reviews. The Sky Drops embrace the age of digital downloads and have provided some nice little gems that you can find below.

The Sky Drops are now on the road with plans to tour worldwide.

DOWNLOADS:
From Bourgeois Beat:

Track: Truth Is – The Sky Drops

From a double A-side single:
Track: Million – The Sky Drops
Track: Sentimental – The Sky Drops

From Out of Clouds EP:
Track: Now Would Be – The Sky Drops
Track: Green to Red – The Sky Drops

OFFICIAL SITE:
www.theskydrops.com

Related posts:

1. Spin

In the March 2010 issue of SURFER magazine, there’s a great story about five top professional surfers who head to Mexico for a surf trip. Sounds fairly typical of something you’d find in a surfing magazine. But what’s different about this surf trip story is that these amazingly talented surfers are women. That’s not shocking of course – female athletes including surfers are enjoying more publicity today than in decades past. But by and large, if there’s photo coverage of women in a surfing magazine, it’s typically of beach babes lounging on the sand in bikinis. And when there is coverage of women surfers there is little depth to the story – usually a report on competitions, an occasional bio, or the random photo of a girl tearing it up somewhere.

What’s refreshing about this article is that it captures the heart and soul of surfing as these women know it. It follows them as they interact with each other as friends who are just wanting to surf. In the end, you tend to forget the fact that these surfers are women and instead you walk away with that surfing vibe where you ache for the ocean and how bad you want to be out there. In the end, you just want to surf. And isn’t that the point of a well-written surf article anyway?

In the video/article, the five surfers are:
Stephanie Gilmore
Alana Blanchard
Coco Ho
Paige Hareb
Megan Abubo

Related posts:

1. Alex Klein – Part 2
2. Big Waves Hit Hawaii
3. Shotwell: Alex Klein, part 1

Hey fans of Manchester Orchestra, listen up. Here’s a little story: It was way back in the summer of 2008, and Manchester Orchestra had just completed a lengthy tour. The guitarist, Robert McDowell, was camped out at his parents’ house in Atlanta without anything to do except occupy the basement. He was looking forward to a summer full of what all successful musicians do when not on the road nor in the studio: not much. But what started as a lazy summer quickly got boring. So McDowell headed into the local guitar shop and purchased some cheap equipment to keep himself busy. He set up shop in the basement and went to work.

Before he knew it, he had an album put together and a solo project was born: GOBOTRON!

McDowell, pulled a Dave Grohl, and recorded, produced, and played everything on the album. Manchester Orchestra’s label “Favorite Gentlemen” was happy to sponsor the project. Favorite Gentlemen describe Gobotron’s sound as “brilliant and addictive pop songs masked is layers of harmonies, guitars, and loads of distortion”. Too true, Favorite Gentlemen. Too true.

Both McDowell and Favorite Gentlemen were kind enough to offer up the free download “Never Turn Around” from Gobotron’s debut album which is now out in stores. Download, enjoy, and go buy the album.

OFFICIAL SITE:
http://www.myspace.com/gobotron

DOWNLOADS:
Track: Never Turn Around – Gobotron

No related posts.

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

Related posts:

1. Eyelids
2. My Name is Lisa
3. Pigeon: Impossible

My 8th grade art teacher was…eccentric.   Yeah, that’s probably a good way of describing her.  While all the other teachers were wearing pant suits (women) or dockers (men…well, and the female softball coach), she basically dressed like a gypsy.  Except she wasn’t a gypsy.  She was a 40 year-old blonde art teacher, who really didn’t teach as much as she handed out supplies and then supervised.   She would rant and rave about world events, break out in song in a moment’s notice, and see nothing but potential in anything we did.   I suppose it’s cliche to have an art teacher be a little out there, but you don’t think of or notice cliches in the 8th grade.  You just think your art teacher is both weird and awesome.

Weird and awesome.  Two words that describe CocoRosie.  CocoRosie is a quirky “freak folk” band made up of sisters Bianca “Coco” and Sierra “Rosie” Casady.   Raised in Iowa, the two sisters eventually found themselves living in Paris as adults.  As the story goes, one day in 2003 they both decided to record some music.  The room in the apartment with the best acoustics was the bathroom.  So they spent nearly two months in the bathroom recording song after song never intending them to go anywhere.   They handed out their recordings to their friends as gifts which eventually fell into the hands of the independent label “Touch and Go Records”.  Touch and Go immediately signed them and the rest is history.  Since then, CocoRosie has released three albums and have promised a fourth sometime in 2010.  Definitely something to look for.

In the meantime, check out the download below.  It’s a cover of Damien Jurado’s Ohio;  it’s free for the downloading, and it is awesome.  And weird.

OFFICIAL SITE:
http://www.cocorosieland.com

DOWNLOADS:
Track: Ohio – CocoRosie

Related posts:

1. Slang Chickens Cover ‘Age of Consent’

Hand-selected from the old vhs shelf, we bring you the 2006 mini-ramp classic “Almost: Cheese and Crackers”.  It basically showcases the mad mini-ramp skills of Daiwan Song and Chris Haslam (and some other random dude in there occasionally).   Anyway, the point of posting this video is to say that I want that ramp.  Not that I would be able to reproduce 1/160th of the tricks shown in this entertaining demonstration of four-wheeled wizardry, but I still very much want that ramp.

Cheese and Crackers by Almost

I almost acquired a ramp very similar to this a few months ago.  I was browsing craigslist and saw this ad that said “Free min-ramp: you haul away”.  I cracked open gmail faster than a fat kid at a cake buffet.  Amazingly the guy replied and said it was still available.  So listen to this:  it was twelve feet wide, about 3 foot tall, steel coping, with two-layers of plywood topped off with a smooth layer of masonite.  ”Oh, also,” the guy said nonchalantly, “it’s never been outside. It’s been in our barn since day one.”  Holy!  I drove over the next day just to take a look at it and yes, it was indeed very sweet.

So that Saturday, my friend Jake and I drove down there with a big moving truck, a bucket of tools, and two cordless drills.  It was to be a day of pure paradise.  We had planned that by that evening, we’d be sessioning the ramp in my back yard, hopefully before it got dark.

The day of paradise quickly became a day of obstacles.

OBSTACLE 1:  Ramp owner was AWOL.

So we get there around 8am.  We knock on the door, no answer.  So, we shrug and head to the barn in the back yard.  It had a padlock on it.  Great.  So we had no other choice but to bang on the door until a very sleepy roommate emerges, gives us the stink-eye, and eventually lets us in the barn.  Roommate goes back to bed.

OBSTACLE 2:  Barn door too small

We had planned to remove the ramp into three sections, muscle them up onto the truck for quick re-assembly.  No way.  The door wasn’t much wider than a front door of a house.   That meant the whole deal had to come apart board-by-board.  Skating that night seemed now less-likely.

OBSTACLE 3:  Nasty porn stapled on the wall of the barn just above the ramp

Believe me, it was gross. No need to explain.

OBSTACLE 4: Both drills went dead within minutes.

“Not looking good, man,” Jake had said as the whir of the second drill reduced down to a slow growl.  Why we didn’t charge them the night before, is beyond me.  With the dying drills, the screws would barely budge.   We had about 100 screws out already and about 4,000 to go.  No way were we going to do that with hand-held screwdrivers.   So we drove to a friend’s house and borrowed a regular plug-in-the-wall dealio.  Then we were back in business.

GRANDADDY OBSTACLE OF ALL:  Termites

Yeah, that’s right.  This beautiful, lovely, sweet piece of ramp was infested with termites.  You would’ve never known without peeling off all three layers which we unfortunately did (all that work) before spotting the nasty little buggers.  My heart sank.   I sat there and thought about it and realized that a free halfpipe wasn’t worth the potential damage to my home by introducing a colony of wood-hungry termites to my yard.  I’m no pest control expert; I have no idea if termites can sniff out a house a few yards away, and hike single-file towards it with their bibs tied around their little termite necks with a fork and knife in each hand.  Perhaps I overreacted,  I don’t know.  But after thinking about it, I just said to Jake “Man….I can’t do it.”

I think that skate videos are meant to inspire and entertain, and also to make you feel just a little covetous of the skills these guys are laying down.  I think the video producers deep down enjoy the dig that you feel knowing that compared to the guys on the screen, you are lousy.  Very rarely does any rational skater watch a new skate video of pro’s and say “Ok, easy enough.  I’m going to go outside now and do everything I just saw.”  At least not without being sorely disappointed or killed.  In addition to being truly amazed and awe-inspired when watching this video, I  definitely feel that little dig.

And now, add to that feeling, the fact that I don’t own that mini-ramp, and I have a bona-fide love-hate relationship with this movie.

“Cheese and Crackers” is a video production by Almost Skateboards.  Huckjive does not own copyrights to this video.  If you have enjoyed this video in low-definition, then go purchase the actual, super-clean definition Cheese and Crackers DVD here:  http://almostawebsite.com/

While you’re at it, check out Almost’s new 2010 catalog of sweet products:

http://www.almostawebsite.com/catalog/fall09/index.html

Related posts:

1. Retro Show’d – Vision Psycho Skate
2. Uganda Skateboard Union

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.

==========================================

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.

==========================================

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.

Related posts:

1. Women’s Rights

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

============================================

Artist: Phantogram

Track: When I’m Small

Track: When I’m Small – Phantogram

============================================

Artist: The Hellevators

Track: A Walk Through Hell (cover)

The Hellevators

Track: A Walk Through Hell – The Hellevators

============================================

Artist: Graham Wright

Track: Crooked Moon

Graham Wright

Track: Crooked Moon – Graham Wright

============================================

Artist: Seashell Velasco

Track: Noviembre (instramental)

Seashell Velasco

Track: Noviembre – Seashell Velasco

============================================

Artist: Andrew Neal

Track: More Like A Train Wreck

Andrew Neal

Track: More Like A Train Wreck – Andrew Neal

============================================

Related posts:

1. No Age
2. Jacuzzi Boys

So everyone’s doing their “best of 2009″ lists. Since this site was created on the last day of 2009, we really can’t claim a “best of 2009″ of anything except that, hey, we launched that day. But, in the actual spirit of the best of 2009 lists, we give you Pigeon: Impossible, a short film released in 2009.

This short animation piece was created by amateur filmmaker Lucas Martell. It took him 4 years to make the movie, but I’m quite certain it was well worth it as I’m sure he’s secured himself a nice little future in the animation biz. About the film, Martell humbly states: “When the project started, it was mostly an excuse to learn 3D animation, but by the end of the project I had spent so much time reworking and polishing the story that I just wanted people to laugh.”

Anyway, the story is about Walter Beckett and his unfortunate meeting with a pigeon. The conflict is simple: Walter just wants to save the world and the pigeon simply wants Walter’s bagel. And funniness is born.

Here’s a quick little video of the filmmaker discussing the project:

Related posts:

1. MUTO – A Wall-Painted Animation
2. Signs
3. The Cat Piano

If you miss the old days of listening to bands wearing vans with tall striped socks and dickie shorts, bands with fauxhawk’ed drummers and beardless guitarists who vertically hop to their own power-chords, then you might want to listen up.

The Bay Area band This Time Next Year, has heard your cries.

They also spring from a youth of Blink 182, Taking Back Sunday, and Senses Fail. Bringing new life into a stale genre, This Time Next Year, simply wants to play music they like regardless of where current trends are headed. “We tried to do what the bands we grew up with did,” says frontman Pete Dowdalls humbly. “And that’s to just make music. If people like it, awesome.” Well, people are liking it. These guys are not just a rehash of early 2000’s pop-punk with their sometimes three-part vocals complementing nicely their thick guitar riffs and fast drum lines.

This Time Next Year recently released their third album “Road Maps and Heart Attacks”. They are also currently on tour in the U.S. winning fans old-school style: bringing their brand of decent rock-n-roll into a town near you. If you get the chance, put on your vans and go check them out.

Members
Pete Dowdalls vocals
Brad Wiseman guitar, vocals
Denis Cohen guitar Tony Allio bass

DOWNLOADS:
Track: This Time Next Year – New Sensation

Related posts:

1. COMEBACK KID
2. The Little Heroes
3. Jacuzzi Boys

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/

Related posts:

1. “Push” – some love for the camera guy
2. Here It Comes – Jared Ortiz
3. Agency Dept. of Parks and Recreation

WRITTEN BY: CALI MEADOWS

Fortunately for both music enthusiasts and humanity, Wasilla, Alaska gave birth to more than just Sarah Palin. Portugal. The man along with the falsetto of front man, John Baldwin Gourley, trudged over icy waters and into the hearts of many. As an under-rated union of new-fangled musicians, their vibrant harmonies and effortless melodies allude to the influence of the simpler days The Beatles once sang about. Alternative Press magazine, named Gourley, one of the “best vocalist of 2008.” PTM’s latest album, The Satanic Satanist, which hit stores July 21^st, reinforces AP’s claim.

Portugal. The Man

Don’t attend a PTM show expecting to hear tunes indistinguishable to their albums; fortunately, you will have the pleasure of experiencing so much more. For once, it can be considered a good thing when a band doesn’t mimic their album during a live-set. Instead, PTM extended bridges and solos.

PTM turned a laid back ambiance of friends laughing over drinks at venue, Belly up Tavern, to complete static. Seeped out smoke and twinkling lights enchanted listeners to flock to the stage like zombies in a trance. As the crowd filled the floor, PTM leisurely emerged from

Gourley’s abstract artwork which was featured on stage. Unifying both the band and the crowd, Gourley had is microphone set up sideways. PTM’s performance transformed into an intimate invitation into a magical jam session shared only between close friends.

Complimenting the exploding sounds that blasted out from the speakers, PTM harmonized high notes with one heart.  Slipping into an uncontrollable frenzy, Bassist, Zach Carothers, busted out backbends all while thrashing his bass from side to side. Keyboardist, Ryan Neighbors defied his school-boy image like The Beatles right before they became experimental on Magical Mystery. Crazed off the crowds’ energy, Neighbors, wildly played his keyboard, intermittently banging bongos with drum sticks.

Gourley, slowly swayed across stage singing “Help out all those friends that helped you too.” A reappearing message similar to the one Gourley blogged about on portugaltheman.net saying “What we do need is love and respect for one another and respect for the world we live in.”

OFFICIAL SITE

http://portugaltheman.com/

DOWNLOADS

Track: People Say – Portugal. The Man

Related posts:

1. The Awkward Stage
2. Flip out with Cage The Elephant

What is it that enables a movement to spread globally? Not only spread, but with relative uniformity? Take skateboarding for example. I mean, how is it that a pop-shuvit means the same thing in Nebraska, as it does in Oregon, Brazil, or Budapest? To whom or what do we really owe for the rapid and global push of skateboarding? Well, I’ll tell you. The skate photographer/videographer. Yeah, that’s who.

If you had said the X-Games, I officially don’t like you.

The first real skate video made was Powell Peralta’s Bones Brigade Video I. For most kids across the world, that was the first time they ever saw a method air in motion. The first time they could witness the amazing trickery that was/is Rodney Mullen. The first time seeing Lance Mountain’s unibrow flittering in the breeze. Sure, the the magazines did a good job of spreading the scene as best they could with two-dimensional color stills, but unless you lived or traveled to California or a like place, your chance of truly appreciating a 10 foot 50/50 grind on pool coping was severely limited if not nil.

Today, there are hundreds of skate videos that make the Bones Brigade Video look like something from Thomas Edison’s day. Skate videos are everywhere – in shops, online, on (yikes!) even TV!. Being filmed in any and every location. I recently watched one of the best skate videos I’ve ever seen – and surprise! it came from Romania. Who would’ve thought? Finally, the actual skating in the videos are better than ever.

The videographer working hard for your benefit

In the short film “Push” (see above), filmmakers/skaters Michael Knight and Chris Wroubel have not only provided a skate movie with a fresh perspective – from the photographer’s point of view, but they’ve come closer than anyone in capturing the very essence of skating. It’s not filled with random clips or goofy humor like an old-school Bones Brigade video, nor is does it try to convince you that all skaters are and/or must be lawless jerks. It’s just a straight-up video about skating and those that bring skating to us for our viewing pleasure.

Without these guys, you never know, perhaps you’d still be trying those “street plants” that your uncle brought back 15 years ago during his vacation to Disney Land.

Enjoy.

Related posts:

1. Here It Comes – Jared Ortiz
2. Retro Show’d – Vision Psycho Skate
3. Natas Kaupas