Woke up real early on Saturday because of skateboard excitement.  And I mean real early, aka 5:50 am and couldn’t go back to sleep.  Nice.  Around 9am I just had to go try a kickflip to see how my ankle would take it.  I bet India and Liz each 5 cents I could land one first try.  Ollie wouldn’t take the bet since he knew I had it in the bag.  Ha.  Landed it and was 10 cents richer to boot!  After skipping rocks with the kids I met up with Brian, Rob and Jam and we started off at the Louisville ledges.  Rob and I took a year to complete a game of SKATE.  I was getting used to a new 8.25 board.  It didn’t feel all that surprisingly big compared to the 8″, but it was definitely harder to spin around.  We skated the ledges for awhile.  I did a few horrible crooks and some front 50s then started playing with a metal bar from a sign that went across the flower boxes where the ledges are.  I got a couple 50s and started playing with it in a line for fun when Brian showed up with the camera saying it should be filmed.  I ended up getting a nose manual followed by a 5-0 on the bar and it ended up looking pretty cool I thought.  Thanks for filming Brian.  We arrived at a fun little ditch later that Brian wasn’t feeling.  Rob and I skated for awhile and it was pretty cold.  I ended up trying a few tricks that Rob was kind enough to film.  It was more so to see what they looked like.  I got a blunt to pivot which I’ve maybe landed two of on anything other then a curb before.  Fun day.

Here we go again. Looking like the video might come out this spring.

I’m way more productive when I’m injured.  My rolled ankle isn’t going to take long, but here’s a review of the latest Transworld video.For some reason there are a lot of Transworld video haters out there. Personally I’ve always thought their videos featured top notch filming, editing and skating. And Now could easily be one of the best Transworld videos to date. The line up is sick and the intro starts it off pretty well.Having the pleasure of seeing Gravette skate some bowls in Denver on the Independent tour made me gain even more respect for the dude. He skates hard. Really hard. Somehow he even makes handrails look fun. Not sure about the “Freedom Rock” song for his part though and as much as he rips his part doesn’t do that much to get me off my couch. He’s one of those skaters I think I’d rather watch in person. That huge front 50 with his arms at his side is pretty darn ridiculous.I had never heard of Matt Miller before this video. He definitely has the surprise part of the video for me. The first three tricks alone are incredible. How do you do tech tricks that perfect? The 360 flip over the handicap bar is retarded. I still don’t know what the last trick is, but I totally dig this part.Richie Jackson. Oh god. The first couple times I watched this part I wanted to go outside and wax everything I could and just powerslide it. But after a couple more viewings I just can’t handle the dudes wardrobe. Sorry, I can’t relate to looking like a gypsy. I like the skating a lot, but the gear is just too much for me. Call me a fashion Nazi if you want, but seriously, style has a lot to do with your garb and this is just too much. Skip.The friends section intro is hilarious. Some jock soccer dude gets served. It’s funny. TNT skates faster than anyone. I swear I never gave a shit about that dude until I saw him skate in Denver and he blew me away. The whole montage is pretty good. Lots of variety, good filming, editing and the music works well for a montage. Andrew Allen is one of my faves. Chima goes huge. Slash is good at Smiths. Some dude on a Creature board goes huge in a bowl. Chad Bartie should get rid of the mullet. Silas is skater of the year. I want to see more of Chris Pfanner.I expected much more of Kenny Hoyle, but it’s weird, every viewing of his part gets better. Perhaps it’s because his style is so damn amazing. He has by far my favorite line of the entire video. The heelflip up the stair, push, nollie cab down the gap. It’s so damn perfect. Even the push. I can’t explain it, but I can seriously just watch that and want to go skate. Part of my love for this dudes part might be due to how much he reminds me of how Riley skates. The last hardflip is so rad.Nick Trapasso’s intro, while edited amazing, bums me out. Seriously dude, try a trick right into a dude busting you? Lame. Gotta give it up to the John Lennon song though, it goes perfect with his part and the kickflip into the puddle is rad. Dude has some serious moves and a rad style. For whatever reason though his part doesn’t do much for me. If you were to say it’s your favorite part I wouldn’t think less of you. I think it’s just a weird judgment thing and for whatever reason the dude doesn’t get me amped to skate. The story behind his ender 5-0 is pretty rad.Sean Malto gets props from Rick Howard in his part. That’s just how good his part is. His skating is the future. Everything and everywhere, fast, bolts, clean, no gypsy gear, no flare, Why does he have so many blank decks though? Come on Girl, send the dude his own board for crying out loud. This part easily has my favorite song in the video too. It’s a Bob Dylan cover and it rules. The switch flip switch front crooks in a run is retarded. The back to back noseblunts down rails in a run is retarded. The hardflip ender is filmed horribly, but luckily I’ve been there, seen those stairs, and their huge. Best part of the video by far and he pretty much has a smile thoughout the whole part. Rad.The credits I’m not so sure about. It’s pretty rad and all until the end when they show everyone enders again. Same angles and all. Ends the video on a totally cheesey note. Although it’s pretty funny that Kenny Hoyle totally disses Richie Jackson on the high 5.People that think the Lakai video is edited better than this video are whack. There is plenty of setup footage and HD artsy shots, but it normally actually has to do with the trick that follows so it makes since to me.  Plus there isn’t a complete over abuse of slow motion.   I could do without the complete Freedom Rock soundtrack, but all in all it’s a pretty great video.

I can’t even believe how huge the SOL ramp since I’ve basically only skated my own little ramp lately.  It felt great to be able to get some speed and it took me forever to start warming up.  I got a back axle stall to fakie and was just about to get in the groove and bailed a front 50 attempt that resulted in me stepping on my board weird and rolling my ankle.  Ugh.  Not a bad roll.  Probably wont be skating for a week or so though.

Had a blast with the kids all day.  Went swimming, to the grocery store, played Trouble.  Basically had a blast all day.  After they went to sleep I skated Rampy for about an hour.  Liz even took a couple photos.  Started trying a new trick for me.  Fakie front smith to fakie.  Never committed, but was close.  Accidently landed a new trick when I was trying nollie pivot – nollie back smith stall.  Also tried a bunch of lines I’ve never done before.  Back 50, back 5-0, back feeble, back smith.  Got dizzy on that one.  Also did my first front 50 while coming out of an axle stall instead of a tail stall.  I gotta get rid of my 20 tail stalls/ rock fakies per run.feeble grindBack 50 revertmaybe not the front smith I landed, but compensating for the crappy delay on our digital camera sucks.

The news above is from Lou Barlow’s site.  This year is starting off with a bang!  I’m so excited it’s ridiculous.

Not being hungover on New Years Day rules.  I had gotten a few things down around the house before we headed out around noon.  Today was my last day of being a bachelor as Liz and the kids get back from Obamaha tomorrow.  The Parker skatepark was crowded as usual.  I heard a dad drop off his young daughter and friend on their scooters and say “have fun playing”.  Ugh.  Aboout two seconds later they nearly got killed by Jeff trying a gap.  Parents are clueless.  Especially me.  Ha.  The session was pretty amazing though.  I didn’t stop skating for two hours.  I came close to getting a front smith on the bank to ledge, got a first try back board pop out, 50’d the tall ledge (1 out of 50 tries), got some back axle stalls on the weird circle qpipe up top and followed it by ollieing into the bank and off the ledge, front 50’d a q-pipe, did back axle stall to fakie, did some good back 50s on the little ledge, nose manualed the little manny pad first try, did a bad front 5-0 shove first try, and basically had a blast.  Jason skated hard and was ripping.  Jeff did some really rad trick.  Fakie front crooks the bank to ledge.  Damn!We left and went to a spot that Jeff was telling us about.  It had a bunch of little plastic ledges, weird banks, and three stairs.  It was perfect for old men.  Although jeff straight killed the spot.  We were thinking of heading somewhere else when Jason and I tried ollieing a little bench.  Jason did it all good, I sketched it, but suck at ollieing and was hyped to have ollied a bench.  Jeff did an absolutely retarded line where he ollied a bench then ollied another bench into the parking lot.  We ended up skating for awhile and it was some of the most fun I’ve had skating in awhile.  Jason was killing it.  Neil, Jason and I tried a little gap that we eventually all landed.  Jason 180’s it.  So rad.  I did a little line where I ollied up a three stair, kickflipped up a curb, then ollied a 1 flat 2.  It was nothing in the modern world of skateboarding, but seriously the funnest thing at the time.  We left when it got dark hyped on skateboarding.  Since the wife and kids were still gone I figured I should skate the ramp.  The wind had picked up all crazy outside so skating outside wasn’t even really an option.  Nate ended up showing up and skating for awhile.  I landed maybe the second best front smith I’ve ever done and most of my tricks.  The only new trick of the night was an accident, but I’ll take it – nollie back 5-0.  Rad.  That ramp is seriously the best money I’ve ever spent.

Got out of work early, picked up Nate and Neil and headed to campus.  We started out at the plastic bench pool over thing that Jeff back nose blunts in Null And Void.  At first we were all totally sucking.  Nate had an excuse though, his knee was hurting.  Neil turned it up though with the worst slam I’ve ever seen him take.  One of those back 50 hand ups jump all the way to your hip.  Doh.  I was having fun skating up/down the curb to start/end runs.  Well, in my case they were single tricks because I almost never landed anythign on the ledge.  I got a few kickflips down the curb, pop shove, switch 180s and backed something up with a crooks on the ledge.  We took off down to campus for a fun ride downhill ride.  My favorite trick of the day happened there as I ollied the 4 stair at the student center first try just cruising down to the banked manny pad spot.  We ended up skating the curved stair area for awhile and Neil even filmed me do a run.  I kickflipped up the curb, front 50d the middle stair then rode down the rest of the stairs and backed it up with a tic tac ridden wallride on a rock.  The best part being that I got the run in less then 10 tries which is pretty much unheard of for me.  Next up we went do the banked manny pad.  Nate’s knee was still sucking for him.  I was having fun, but we split when we saw the campus police roll by.Later on I skated Rampy for about 20 minutes and got quite a few of my huge bag of like 10 tricks.