January 7, 2009
The reason I'm up at 5:17 am is because I just got part one of Danny Garcia's new éS interview up and running. More to come soon... but only if I can get him back on the phone to answer the rest of my questions...
January 7, 2009
For the past few days, there's been a strange phenomenon of someone (or more than just someone) finding my site after typing the word "cuntjuice" into a search engine. It lead me to search (and discover) this comment left on an X Games Women's Street video from a while back. I dunno. I guess it's useless information, but I find it pretty interesting that anyone would Google "cuntjuice" in the first place, never mind end up on my site because of it.
January 7, 2009
Earlier in the year, I was lucky enough to have Sean Malto request that I do his interview for Slap.
It was truly awesome, after so many years of reading Slap and now being a writer for skate mags, to have the opportunity to do one piece for the mag while it still existed in print form. I was even more stoked that my beloved editor at The Skateboard Mag, Mr. Kevin Wilkins, understood and supported the opportunity and the fact that I was helping a friend (Sean) out and didn't bitch me out for having a one night stand with a competing mag. That's a class act right there. Thanks Sean, Whiteley and Wilkins!
If you know Sean Malto, you know a lot of what he says is really funny simply because of his voice and the way he kinda tilts his head to the side and smiles when he says it. This line is an example of that... plus, I just love how it's sort of frantically worded.
January 6, 2009
I decided to switch this up, since I'm just beyond halfway through, and give you some audio of one of my favorite stories of the year. I laughed more during my interview with Bryan Herman than I've ever laughed in an interview before. Mostly just because of the demeanor in which he says things. So here Bryan is, talking about Antwuan Dixon stealing his car and a time when he shaved off his own eyebrows.
January 6, 2009
I found this quote to be ballsy and really on point for someone like Justin Schulte. He's just 22 years old and only flow from his sponsors, but wise beyond his years in skateboarding. He's got a good brain on him. One of the better interviews of the year, from the perspective of "real talk," as the kids like to say nowadays, which I'll never understand. Like, if you don't preface a statement with "real talk," does that mean it's not worth listening to? Or "fake talk?" I guess that's another discussion for another day.
January 6, 2009
I was assigned a piece on Evan Hernandez about a year ago, but Evan didn't want to do an interview over the phone. He just emailed me answers to my questions, which ended up being rather cut, dry and impersonal. In Evan's defense, he had an experience he wasn't happy with when he did an interview with another mag a few years prior and just didn't want to risk it happening again.
Enter Terry Kennedy... Godsend. He's a good friend of Evan's and agreed to talk to me and shed some light on Evan for me, from the perspective of a long-time friend, since Evan wasn't into talking. He saved the article 100 percent. And I laughed really hard when he told me this story:
January 6, 2009
Jason Adams gave me an interview like a seasoned veteran would. He talked, made fun of himself, told personal stories and didn't hold back... in other words, he's secure with himself and doesn't really give a fuck what anyone thinks. At the same time, there's really nothing you'd think bad of him for in the first place.
Typically, when I do an interview, I end up with a 30-page transcript that usually gets cut down to about seven or eight pages for the final piece. I remember sitting on a plane back to Cali from NJ having a really hard time deciding what to cut out as I got to the last few pages with Jason because so much of what he said was awesome. I really wanted everyone to be able to read it. Jason Adams fans would really appreciate it I think. I always mean to get all my unedited interviews up here on the site but cleaning up the entire transcripts a second time is really tedious. It takes hours per interview. Sometimes days. I'll do it eventually, I swear.
Looking back, two things Jason said stood out to me as really funny. First, the harsh reality of a 35-year-old man alone on a skateboarding in public as the outside world looks in... and second, a his feelings on his "old nose."
January 5, 2009
"Cute shit" was quite a hit with the ladies. My "sensitive side" really moves them. Plus, it's now 5:30 am and I can't sleep. So here's more cute shit. I like the panda that faceplants in the snow. He's pretty tough.
January 5, 2009
I thought of another thing I hate... just one more. Maybe I don't hate it, but it's certainly hilarious and a bit pathetic and I witness it about once a week, if not more.
When you see people taking pictures or shooting video in public and while they're doing it, or right after they finish, they talk about posting it to Facebook or YouTube or MySpace. Like seriously, enjoy the moment you're in. You don't need to worry about it being on the Internet at that exact second, ya know? The Internet is pretty cool, but real life and the outside world are a little cooler. Besides that, now you've just proven to everyone within earshot that your life is boring and empty because all you can think of at that very moment is uploading your shit to YouTube.
For example, see/listen at 0:43 in this awesome NJ guido fist pumper video:
January 5, 2009
I did a Peter Smolik interview about five months ago for Sk8Mafia month on The Berrics. Peter was supposedly workin' on a "Bangin'" or "Battle Commander" or something and the interview was going to accompany it. Well that hasn't happened yet, but hopefully it will soon.
When Berra and I talked about this interview, one thing Steve wanted me to discuss with Peter was how 10 years ago, Peter was very ahead of his time, doing all sorts of crazy combo ledge tricks that have now gotten insanely popular in the wake of Lakai's Fully Flared. Peter was even clowned a bit for the stuff he was doing back then, when really, he was sort of ahead of his time.
Peter had a rad energy to him and you can tell he knows he's a bit over the top and doesn't take himself entirely seriously, which I thought was cool. So upon asking him the typical "ender" interview question, Peter bounced back with an ender of his own: