John

pain don't hurt

2009-06-28T14:02:00.000-07:00

Nike just released an amazing little video featuring their ams called debacle. You can download it from here. The download takes a while but is well worth it. This is what a modern skate flick should be in my opinion. Rapid fire editing, minimal skits and art shots, solid soundtrack, excellent skating and less than twenty minutes without the credits. I have to give a lot of credit to Jason Hernandez for realizing that HD footage doesn't have to be in slo-mo. Grant Taylor is the future of shred and Justin Brock has a powerful tre-flip.

The new Sunset Rubdown album is pretty good.

I better go now and take advantage of being alive.

rainy day

2009-06-06T16:09:00.000-07:00

This post is mostly for UK. That is my wood elf character riding the unicorn in Oblivion. I took the picture with my DSi. I've never felt like more of a nerd.

have you seen the loneliness of a retarded fourskin blogger?

2009-06-05T14:17:00.000-07:00

Busy, busy, busy.

Dreamland is here. They should start making awesome soon.

I'm working on getting some lung capacity back.

I might be going to work on bridges around Bozeman soon. I don't know when. The big cogs don't tell the little cogs what's going on.

I'm surprised know one has blogged about Sasquatch yet.

Top Five 'Squatch '09 Performances (that I saw)
1. Animal Collective
2. Of Montreal
3. Bon Iver
4. The Walkmen
5. M83

Fletcher, finish your god damn Santa Cruz series.

aaaaaaart

2009-05-01T15:53:00.000-07:00

helena summer

2009-04-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

I got a job in Helena for the summer. I'll be there next week.

I'm glad people are posting again. I was about ready to start handing out writing assignments with severe penalties if they weren't completed on time.

Watch the Mighty Boosh. And you should play this game if you haven't already. I want to discuss it's meaning with people.

santa cruise of the century

2009-03-24T12:55:00.000-07:00

Holy fucking trip. I'm not really sure how to write about this trip, so I'll just break it down by key people and places.

Ultimate Kurt

I've gone on several power trips with Kurt and I'd say that he's the best travel companion around. Dude just needs a good "breakfrist" in the morning and the opportunity to flirt with a cute and slightly overweight waitress to be happy.

Special Edition Love and Hate

Loves: Government Center by The Modern Lovers. "They got a lotta lotta lotta great desks and chairs, uh huh, at the governemnt center."

Hates: Having said "I took a hardcore bite out of that asparagus, bro!" with absolute sincerity.

Kennewick

The tri-cities area is a cluster fuck of highways and it's easy to get confused while navigating through the area, which is what happened to us. The only real landmark I know in the area is the Fred Meyer in Kennewick because it has my favorite wallride spot ever. And, I got that shit backside and frontside.

Irrigon

The skatepark in Irrigon is a nice little distraction on the way to Portland. I played on the bump to rail while Kurt found lines in the bowl and caught the eye of the tiniest junior mint who wanted to have his baby.

Battleground

We stayed with one of Kurt's friends in Battleground who lives right across the street from the skatepark. The park was completely saturated when we were there, which really sucked because it is one of the most amazing parks I've ever seen.

Lincoln City

It was pissing rain in the Portland area and everything was soaked up until we got to Lincoln City. I'm really glad we got to skate this park because so many people have told me how sick it is. This place is pretty gnarly. Watch Beauty and the Beast, that thing Tony Trujillo frontside grinds is fucking ridiculous.

Reedsport

We meandered down the coast and stopped in Reedsport to eat and skate. We camped a little bit south of Reedsport next to a lighthouse. We took a little walkabout down to the beach in the dark and found some other Montana dudes and a porcupine, no whales.

We spent next day driving to Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz

I stopped carrying my camera around in Santa Cruz because I wanted to focus my time on skateboarding. The Santa Cruz park was a lot of fun, nothing was too gnarly there but I think I could skate there everyday and not get sick of it. I wanted to skate Derby more than any other park on this trip and it didn't disappoint. The skatepark in Scott's Valley reminded me of the Billings park and I was having a great time until school got out. Sunnyvale was a lot of fun too.

When we were done skating we would hang out on Brandon's porch and drink beer and smoke stuff. I'm hoping Fletcher's blog can fill in more details about what we did in SC.

Brandon

In case you didn't already know, Brandon is fucking awesome. He's living in a cool house, in a cool town, with a cool motorcycle, and he still has the best kickflip.

Kurt McGrane

Kurt learned wallrides on this trip, which is great because that's my favorite trick and Kurt is my favorite person.

Fletcher

Fletcher is Fletcher. Dude still cracks me up, especially when he starts messing with people.

Klamath Falls

On our last day in Santa Cruz Brandon decided to come back to Montana with us since he had nothing to else to do on his spring break. This was great because it meant that we got to spend more time with Brandon and we would have one more driver to help out on the 19 hour flog back to Missoula. The only notable stop we made was in Klamath Falls. We had to jump a fence to get into the park and it started to snow on us after about 20 minutes. It was a good opportunity to stretch our legs before we had drive all night.

We got to Missoula at about 8 AM and fell asleep as soon as we got to my house. We got up around 1 PM and met Chris and Treavor at the skateshop, ate at The Bridge, and then skated at 52 for a couple hours. We hung out at Chris's place for a little bit and then Kurt and Brandon moved on to Helena.

The whole trip was a lot of fun and I feel broken, but I can still walk, which is exactly how you should feel after a skate trip.

shoulda slept more last night

2009-03-14T23:22:00.000-07:00

Evan is here.

We recorded a new Bear on Bear song. It's a cover of a Bob Dylan song.

Santa Fe.wav

We also did some night jumps.

Kurt is coming tomorrow and we will go to Santa Cruz.

i'm a terrible liar

2009-02-27T15:43:00.000-08:00

Dear Blog,

My Christmas wish was granted; I saw the snow ghost.

Old news, Evan is a twat. Br on Br

on the pile

2009-02-23T13:51:00.000-08:00

Oh, yes. I finally purchased the mind-fuck Mind Field. It's definitely worth owning, easier to replay than Fully Flared. I was almost right about what my favorite parts would be, it's actually Jake Johnson, Omar Salazar, and Tyler Bledsoe. Tyler Bledsoe's b-roll footage is better than Steve Berra and Rob Dyrdek's parts combined.

I think there are more than a few lessons to be learned from this. I want 1000 words from each of you explaining why that video was so awesome.

glory days

2009-02-03T00:36:00.000-08:00

Alien Workshop premiered their new video this last week. I haven't seen it but I've already decided that my favorite parts are Grant Taylor and Omar Salazar; you should know why. It's interesting how AWS has changed in the last decade from the (mostly) east-coast cast of Photosynthesis to the random super-team that exists today. It would be so easy to accuse AWS of losing their soul, especially now that they're owned by Burton, but I don't really have a problem with the direction they've gone. But I am feeling a bit nostalgic and since VCRs are now extinct (or illegal?) I naturally turn to YouTube.

Notes:

- Remember Vita shoes?

- Remember DC shoes?

- Appleyard rode for Habitat but I tossed him in with the rest 'cause I know Dan has a crush on him.

- How often do you see a fakie frontside shove-it?

- Josh Kalis has a really really really nice tre flip.

- UK, what happened to that giant yellow Habitat shirt you used to wear? I hope you didn't lose it because it's time to start rocking it again.

third world

2009-01-26T14:11:00.000-08:00

Cuba

Afghanistan

Uganda

delay delay delay delay

2009-01-18T14:19:00.000-08:00

I found these pictures in the the new Wallride catalog on crailtap and got pretty amped. I'm looking forward to the movie coming out and the images on the boards are amazing. As a child I had recurring nightmares involving the monster with the big nose in the lower right-hand corner.

let me call you a dingleberry

2009-01-13T19:23:00.000-08:00

The bitter cold has left, and left me acclimated and able to enjoy the upper thirties. A miracle of a virus has taken up residence in my body and turned my face into a mucus kitchen in order to replicate it's genes. It's a magical world we live in.

Due to my sickness I've been unable to do much besides read, explore the wasteland of Fallout 3, and figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I've decided to go back to school in the fall to get my M.S. in civil engineering. So I'll be moving back to Bozeman sometime between now and September. I talk a lot of shit about Bozeman, but I figure since they're getting a Dreamland park pretty soon I can tolerate it a little more. Is anyone going to still be there next fall?

The Merriweather Post Pavilion album art is the visual equivalent of the droning repetition that is a song like My Girls. I like it. Also, it moves like waves when you look past it. I didn't read that on any blog.

I'm waiting for Final Flare extras to load on YouTube and it's painfully slow. I feel like I'm downloading songs on Napster with a dial-up connection.

In conclusion, I'm moving back to Bozeman. And fuck you, Evan.

crappy new steer

2009-01-01T15:44:00.000-08:00

It's January 1, 2009 and really all that means to me is that the holiday season is finally over. Now we can get back to the serious business of suffering the cold and dark. And a resolution; learn airs in the bowl.

Dan, don't let the site die. It's the only communication I have with the outside world while I lurk in my cabin, writing the first draft of my manifesto.

Sucks that Brandon didn't come to Missoula while he was here. I wanted to show him how I can frontside flip like a spazzy crab person, spider style. Now I really have to go to Santa Cruz.

I like watching these Canadians use their architecture.

Macs suck.

because they're dope

2008-12-11T20:58:00.000-08:00

So, what's up with people? They're weird, right? Today this chaka-brah dude came in to the skatepark and tried to get us to sell his products in the shop. Just fucking look at that goombah. What makes him think that anyone would want to buy that shit? "The trendiest choice on the web." Why would someone claim to be trendy? Isn't being called trendy typically a bad thing? Oh, but he's on some next level shit. Just check out these boots and these jeans. Wait, I think I've seen pants like that before. Yep, they're fucking motocross pants. Rad. Anyway, Dylan told the dude that we didn't want to hang his hats on the wall and the dude got super pissed. He gave us the bird as he drove away and made a gesture like he was shooting us. I encourage you to send him some comments calling a him a douchebag or dingleberry or something more creative.

Moving on.

Kurt, I think I've talked to you about how you need to do this.

LMIRL

2008-12-04T21:10:00.000-08:00

The joys of unemployment never seem to end. I wake up at noon, go to the skatepark and play around, then go home and play video games or read or whatever. Seriously, that working thing is for chumps. I even have time to win silly internet contests. The only bad thing is that I've been battling with a front smith back 180 for three days and still haven't gotten it.

Hey Brandon, when's a good time for me to go to Santa Cruz? Does anyone else want to go?

Hey Ian, did you already know about this?

voles and sisyphus

2008-11-22T01:40:00.000-08:00

So it turns out that getting laid off isn't nearly as bad as I initially thought. My new career as a "shop dude" at an indoor skatepark is going well. There's no work involved at all, at least not by my definition. I get most of my entertainment from observing the Missoula kids. The majority of the high school aged kids in this town have absolutely no personalities at all. It's amazing. They all dress the same, listen to the same music (Iron Maiden), and talk about the same boring shit. It's possible that the same could be said about the Fourskin brethren, but I don't believe that. Do you?

I have to thank Evan for telling me to watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

The new Blitzen Trapper album is pretty sick. The greatest achievment that any band can reach is a good Bob Dylan impression.

fifty two

2008-11-16T18:59:00.000-08:00

It's open and it's a hit so far.

Mr. Mateo and Ultimate Killa came over Friday to work on their night moves. It was probably the best session I've ever had. Saturday was a trip, so many people showed up

Here's a look at the awesomes: 1 2 3 4

clean off your desk

2008-11-05T18:22:00.000-08:00

I lost my job today. I'm serious, I got laid off, me and two others at Eclipse. It wasn't because of anything I did, it's just the recession and the credit crisis. It's like an adult problem. You might have heard me mention recently that work has been slow and joking that it was only a matter of time before I got fired. And it finally happened. This shit is a little too serious for this forum, and I apologize for the buzz-kill, but blogging about it is easier than explaining it to everyone individually. I don't really have a plan for what I'm going to do. I'm looking at all my options right now and I'll figure it out.

The good news is Obama will be president and I don't have to go to work tomorrow.

reckless and depraved

2008-10-31T22:32:00.000-07:00

This one is for all the ladies in the audience.

You know who's amazing? Simon and Garfunkel. I've been binging on their albums for a week now. I had their greatest hits album when I was in high school, and I loved it back then, but I just decided to get all their albums and they're all fucking solid. Awesome albums, great songs. Here's some proof: 1 2 3

And while I'm talking about music, I was fairly pleased to see that my man Obama has tastes similar to mine. Not that that sort of thing really matters to me, I was going to vote for him anyway because I'm black. You know we're all African, right?

you are a pretty pretty princess

2008-10-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

UK paid a visit to the Garden City last week to lend a hand on the skatepark and talk shit on just about everyone (yep, even you). He also took a very special birthday shower. Happy 23rd!

The skatepark is finally starting to look like a real fucking skatepark. I have new pictures, but not for your eyes. I want everything in there to be a surprise from now on so that when we're open you can walk in and stare in awe at the "fuck yeahs" that abound.

Hey, Everyone. Look. Kurt left a present. Oh, wow, it's for all of us...

UK's Loves and Hates, Vol. 3

Love:

"Honky-tonk women... enough said. Girls who are just a little too trashy for your own good, i.e. lots of makeup, cowboy boots, big hair. Girls who look like a used washcloth the next morning! Love 'em!"

I personally don't know what Kurt finds attractive about this. Maybe a song could help? Nope, that didn't help at all. I prefer quiet, bookish girls.

Hates:

"Indecisiveness/misspelled words. Both of which I do, but loathe (John helped with that) anyway. Having every opportunity to do anything but be complacent and not taking advantage of it, i.e. where to live, work, skate, drink, eat, et cetera. Fucking pick something and do it."

I definitely understand what Kurt is talking about here. Poor spelling is the worst. Maybe a song could help. Yeah, that totally helped. Beyond that, get your shit together, fuckers.

That's all for now. I have to get back to sticking razor blades into the apples that I intend to hand out to any brave thing that decides to knock on my cabin door this Friday. That's pretty dark and scary, right?

your pets will look at b'owl

2008-10-21T19:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, yeah, another skatepark update. The bowl is fully finished and more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Matt got a black eye while skating it. I need to get some knee-pads before I get serious in the deep end. The skatepark isn't going to be called Vigilante anymore, it's something else, but I won't tell you what because it might change again.

I got the Beauty and the Beast Tour DVD. It's worth buying just to see what Peter "Baby Fists" Hewitt and Tony "Second Coming of Christ" Trujillo do at the expanded Lincoln City park. Also, Rick McCrank needs more coverage. All terrain ripping is so 2008. There are a couple clips of John Cardiel skating that make me happy, too.

Speaking of Lincoln City, I'm forming in my mind a tour itinerary for the spring. I'm thinking out to Portland, and then down the coast, skating every park that exists. There's potential to go all the way down to Santa Cruz, but that's hella driving, and who knows if Brandon is still going to be down there at that time when the weather is right.

scrapepark part II

2008-10-06T19:51:00.000-07:00

Things continue to move along at the warehouse. I rolled around in the bowl for the first time this weekend. It felt great, except that they haven't put the masonite layer on yet so falling meant splinters. It should be done in another week. I'm so excited about having a wooden bowl. I want to learn airs and vert tricks. I feel like I'm 13 again, I get to learn a whole new set of tricks.

The other side of the building is starting to look really fun too. We finally finished this thing. I already savaged the ledge, but that rail is still a virgin. Not for long, though. This quarterpipe is pretty much finished and we started building a big steep bank that will be fun for the flippity tricks.

Also, let me reiterate, no one rides for free. Right now no one gets to skate anything unless they've been cutting wood or zipping screws. Once it's opened, don't think that I'll let you in for free just 'cause you're my friend. If you care at all about keeping this place open you'll do your part (monetarily). I'm only saying this now so I don't have to say it later.

mystics and statistics

2008-10-03T21:48:00.000-07:00

I said I wasn't going to post anything until Evan did, but reality is that Evan is never going to post anything ever because, well, you know why. I don't even need to say it.

I haven't gotten a love or a hate from UK for a while. I wonder if he still feels strongly about things. I know I do. Hey Evan, why don't you take over the UK L&H? It's easy and fun.

Hey. Which song am I going to use for Slow Down?

A) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jkkeeAOk0s

B) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brZTvGIzeGg

C) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKmZRO8XzyY

D) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhSc8qVMjKM

Yep, the correct answer is D. I know Dan hates this song, which is a big reason why I like it. I can almost hear him now, "blah blah generic chords blah blah uninteresting waah waaaaaah" Something like that right? Well, I can't really defend liking it, I am an idiot after all. But there's something about the line "little old lady got mutilated late last night," combined with that cheerful little piano riff, that resonates with me. "Huh, I'd like to meet his tailor."

If I didn't offend you with this post, let me know and I'll try to hit you up in the next one.

vigilante skatepark

2008-09-13T13:51:00.000-07:00

How many of you have skateboards? How many of you like to ride your skateboards? Okay, yeah, a lot of you. Check this shit out. Yeah, I know, it's pretty sick. That's the deep end of the bowl going up. Dylan says it's 8 1/2 feet, but it looks bigger than that to me. All I've ever wanted is to do a frontside ollie like Max Schaff, and now I can practice all winter. You can come to, but you have to pay. Grape loves the street section.

Hey, who wants to fart out a t-shirt design for us? Dan? Fletcher? Will? Do that thing you like to do with lines and colors that you hope to make a living with. We're into really cliche Montana imagery, like bison skulls, rifles, logs, and the like. It's called Vigilante Skatepark. If you make something good I won't make fun of the fact that your bitch-ass won't touch the coping in deep end and that you just want to skate the euro gap all day. I'm sorry, that came out all wrong. What I meant to say was "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope."