Skatepunk

The new camp at Woodward Beijing wasn't quite finished when we were there, but that didn't stop Cairo and Corey from finding stuff to skate. Cairo's selective tricks and buttery approach was a great complement to the all-charging, all-the-time attitude that's become Corey's trademark, and together it was super fun to shoot and skate with them. The indoor stuff was pretty much just thrown together, the outdoor stuff is from the plaza that's not quite finished yet.

It's been a few days and it's 2am and we're going to Tianamenn Square tomorrow, so I'm going to try to keep this short... After that first day of skating we were looking forward to exploring a little, but we couldn't get a driver, so we stayed in camp, cruised around, skated more, and shot more photos. I'll get some sequences up soon. I hope.

China, here we come! Neal had suggested we bring snacks, which definitely made the airplane food a little less tempting, and that's a good thing. I shot my usual window shots, we had a short layover in Tokyo, and we were met by Joey, the new intern, at the Beijing airport. Interns are so hot right now! The ride to Woodward was filled with funny Dave Metty and Corey Duffel stories, but by the time we got there we were tired and sleep couldn't come soon enough!

We're heading to China for a week to check out the new Woodward Camp in Beijing! Should be interesting! Thanks, Gary and Neal for including us in this excursion, Claudine and I are both hyped! I'm stoked, as always, to have been part of Woodward projects for so long.

Check out Dave Carnie's article on King Shit about a recent event at an Anaheim Ducks game involving Mike V and some loser. Carnie's right on the money, and it's great to see Mike V living up to something he said a while back that I thought was kinda righteous -- that he would only fight (from then on) to defend his family.

I have a suspicion, and this is just my opinion here, I'm not talking about Carnie's or Mike's point of view, that fighting, for Mike, satisfies a need in him that he doesn't get anywhere else. I'll explain:

Jedi Grind Tricks: December ‘09
By Scooter Newell
From The Beachside Resident, Cocoa Beach, Florida

Regardless of how much of a Grinch I try to be, I eventually get swept up in the holiday buzz. Sometimes the pressure of gift giving can be a bit overwhelming, so usually I pass when it comes to participating in the holiday shopping rat marathon. Of course, I’m not a total scrooge; I do end up trying to get something going in the spirit of the mass-marketed holiday. Even though I gripe about how we get over-bombarded with pressure to spend money and shop, I still love the holiday season almost as much as when I was a kid waiting for my Sure Grip skateboard on the morning of December 25th, 1982.

Jereme Rogers on TMZ talking about his mushroom incident.

And a recent JR music video:

Interview with Tony Hawk about his video game and other stuff...