Middle of the the weekend weekend wrap up

Due to the fact that I have a 6am call time in the morning for a (granted, very exciting) set, I won't be partaking in the hammer-related festivities on the morrow. As Brendan Herling so eloquently put it earlier today though, it's not all about dropping skate hammers. One has to also drop life hammers. These could simply be the insane ramblings of a man who has failed to drop skate hammers in the past days (more on that in a few), but nonetheless, I fully endorse these words of wisdom. 

I wanted to post a few random shots from the past days before they get lost in the mix that is my incredibly unorganized hard drive. 

Mike Piwowar Fakie ollie. Notice the stupid ass bird that decided to position itself directly behind the electrical wire at the exact moment i pressed the button that makes the picture happen. 

Brendan found a dog skull

There were vast quantities of disfigured lemons available on the premises. Ilja happens to have some jugg'lin skills. Inevitably, this photo came into existence. 

This spot was in a relatively poor area, and these kids were hanging out on the perimeter. Now, I'm not making any assumptions about them, but the following statements are a result of thoughts triggered merely by the image itself, and not the reality of the situation, since, well, I simply took a photo. It is important to make a distinction between stereotyping, which is the assumption of knowledge about a particular individual, and concern for societal issues which impact a particular group. We take a lot for granted every time we go to skate considering the fact that so many people in the world are preoccupied with much simpler activities, such as making sure they have something to eat on that particular day. Just in the US, the richest country in the world, roughly 14 million people are hungry. Keep yourself in check, and try not to take anything for granted. That goes not only for what you were born into, but (perhaps more importantly) the people in your life. Try and show someone that you care. 

Anyways

We went on to eventually check out a hubba spot which Brendan considered attacking

The attack failed

And resulted in civilian casualties

The flash stand was eventually replaced, but Brendan's spirit was lost for the rest of the day, as he sulked/siesta-ed in his own misery at the next spot 

We finished the day off with a low-key session at an abandoned pool

Andrew (sorry Andrew, don't know your last name) Ollie

Now, you may be saying to yourself, hey Dan, you shithead, you're getting lazy. All these shots are digi... shoot more film. More likely though, you DGAF. Despite this blog's name, these will by no means be strictly film shots. I shoot about 75% of my "serious" stuff of film because my digital sequence camera has less megapixels  than a goddamn iphone, and that is bad for anything that may at some point be printed in a mag. Digital is just a tool though, and a very convenient one when it some to homie shots, and other solid, but non-hammer tricks. If i shot everything on film, I would be playing with chemicals in the bathroom more often than being out in the streets shooting. That said, you can expect a film post sometime later this week. Ilja Maran lent me his Nikon F, the original Nikon pro-level slr, and I rattled off a roll today. The camera is build like a freakin tank. For anybody looking to get a great film slr, I highly recommend it, or the Fm2n (if you so desperately need a light meter built in). Ilja, filmer/skater extraordinaire, and proprietor of Dead Pixel Productions drove us around all these spots, unaffected by the outrageous $4.00+ LA gas prices, so yes, a collective thank you is in order. 

Today, Brendan and Mike Piwowar engaged in a series of first land contests which ended in a dead tie. The following photos are form a spot that was new to us all, and full of possibilities. 

 Mike landed the nosegrind bonk first, with proper tech kid steeze...

... and Brendan immediately (or as soon as I changed my lighting) shot right back with proper hesh kid steeze. Brendan is actually possessed by the spirit of Erik Ellington. Tell me the dude doesn't look exactly like him here. 

This photo of Nick Cave and Henry Rollins early Black Flag is one of the oddest things I've seen in music, or at least music I care about. I'm going to start posting single songs instead of links to torrents. You all know how to find them if you want to get something, or better yet, if the artist is alive and will benefit from you buying part of her or her life's work, just buy it afterwards if you have enjoyed it. 

Somebody had the brilliant idea of making use of the animal by-product from slaughterhouses in order to produce a petroleum (oil) -free plastic. This isn't exactly great for strict vegans, but at the same time, is much better than letting the materials go to waste as they currently do. I'm sure our Native American brothers and sisters would be proud. Ugh.