A-Day-Without-Driving is a grassroots movement dedicated to educating the world about how we can decrease our carbon footprint…one mile at a time.
Together, we can reduce our dependency on domestic and foreign oil, remind ourselves of simpler times, create community, and most importantly – decrease our carbon footprint.
For those in San Francisco, come join A DAY WITHOUT DRIVING for a picnic in Dolores Park August 15th!
At A Day Without Driving, you can calculate your carbon impact, pledge not to drive for one day (or pledge an offset if you must drive), learn green driving techniques, support the development of green technologies, and help decrease our global carbon footprint.
Her life is hectic and she mentioned that one of her saving graces was not having to go to the store to shop. She said she was sampling new foods by eating what was in season and expanding her cooking repertoire…all because of the little purple bin that was delivered to her door each week.
After listening to my co-worker’s high praise, I decided to check SPUD out and upon signing up I received a discount on my first five orders. The Harvest Box is a local, organic delight that’s delivered to my home every Thursday. The ease of use at which I fill my orders is astounding, and I can pause my delivery any time I go out of town for business or vacation.
In the past, I have found it challenging to create and prepare meals that are both satisfying and fast. Formerly, I ate mostly frozen entrees at home and actually ended up eating out a lot (delicious and expensive in San Francisco). I never considered myself a great cook (I found out later it was because I was cooking hungry), and as an athlete I enjoy eating healthily.
SPUD has helped me grow as a chef because fresh food demands to be used within the week before my next delivery. I have begun to plan meals around my deliveries and have found the recipes on the SPUD site quite helpful.
My method for cooking begins as I walk in the door like a ravenous beast and will usually start with fresh fruit or some raw veggies to stem the tide.
I relish the fact that I can pronounce all the ingredients on the products that I buy, I then choose a recipe and begin preparing my meal.
I’m also really impressed how much SPUD supports the local community, and makes it easy for it’s customers to participate in the company initiatives. I had been planning to do spring cleaning with my housemates, and we were going to donate our clothes, but it was a bit of a hassle because none of us had time to get the car and carve up our day.
SPUD simplified the process by picking up clothes in the bins that I hadn’t yet returned and then donated them to a great local cause. Presently spud is collecting school supplies and clothing for children to be donated to the Willie Mays Boys and Girls Cub.
Recently I’ve sampled local delicacies including grass-fed ground beef from Drakes Bay Family Farms (who are committed to sustainable agricultural and land management practices). In addition I also enjoyedKicks Cookies which were absolutely delightful…crisp, scrumptious, and produced in San Jose.
To sum up, this is why I like SPUD:
I have one less errand to run
It’s easy to modify an order
The produce is fresh
The products are local
I support my community
I highly recommend giving Spud a shot…it makes your weeks easier, you eat healthier, and you’ll enjoy opening your box..trust me.
Preblog: Time capsule to Midwestern Teenage Life Before the World Wide Web – Blogging as a 15-Year-Old and 30-Year-Old at the Same Time
San Francisco based artist Pete Ippel travels to rural Illinois to unlock the fire-proof safe that’s been buried in the closet of his childhood home since 1997. Ippel investigates and interprets nearly three years of the pre-web, Midwestern teenage experience of the middle 90s contrasting it with his technology-laden life in Northern California. Ippel will “Preblog” his journals and images systematically posting a transcription to http://hypermodern.net/tag/preblog/ three times daily.
Project Description
Inspiration:
The Atlantic magazine has asked the question “Is Google making us stupid?” Don Tapscott in his text Grown Up Digital argues that “If you understand the Net Genration, you will understand the future”.
My personal history has a fortunate crossroads in it that is incredibly stark: life experience pre vs. post Internet access is divided and recorded.
In “Preblog” I will be simultaneously blogging as a 15-year-old boy and 30-year-old man.
The core concept of the “Preblog” is to explore the following dichotomies: childhood/adulthood, private/public, rural/urban
Transcribing and analyzing nearly three years of daily writing (30 months Dec 1995-August 1997) in one year will be a challenge. I take solace in author Jim Collins’ statement that, “Creativity and discipline go hand in hand”.
Each Preblog post will be composed of the following:
1.) A tagged and linked Wordpress entry of the handwritten text
2.) A scan of the actual journal document in .pdf format
3.) Access to a downloadable .doc transcript of the journal entry
4.) Accompanying analog photos, rephotographed or scanned
5.) A contemporary response to the text by the artist
6.) A community comments section
Preblog entries are located in a Sentry fireproof file safe in Morris, Illinois.
Artist and athlete Pete Ippel lines up for a race in Morris, Illinois, April 1997 Photo: MCHS yearbook staff
Production Timeline
1.) January 4-10 Fly to Chicago, drive to Morris, Illinois. Document surroundings photographically.
2.) January 11-17 Gather analog photos, prepare for transport of documents.
3.) January 18-24 Fly to San Francisco, California. Document surroundings photographically
4.) January 25 – December 31 Actively transcribe, preblog, analyze, share, and reply to comments.
Process:
1.) Journal pages will be removed from their spiral binding
2.) The frayed edges will be cut off
3.) Supplemental inserts (playbills etc will be unfolded and unstapled)
4.) Utilizing the Fujitsu ScanSnap, both sides of the sheet will be scanned in one pass
5.) Each page will be placed in a sheet protector and clipped into a three ring binder
6.) Each journal entry will be given an accessioning number
7.) A corresponding transcript will be typed for each handwritten journal entry
8.) The text of the transcript will be posted to hypermodern.net with the downloadable .doc file and .pdf scan
The Preblog process will be successful because I have great familiarity with the tools I will be using, and I have the discipline to transcribe three entries a day. Each entry to the original journal is one hand written page which translates into approximately 150 words, so three posts a day at 35 words per minute typing speed plus formatting, analysis, and scanning will take approximately 1.5 hours per day.
Project Budget
1.) Round trip airplane tickets San Francisco to Chicago $500.00
2.) Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M for document .pdf file creation and analog print photography digitization $500.00
3.) Artist Fees 13.30 dollars / day for 300 days. $13.30 / 3 posts a day = 4.4 dollars per post. $4000.00
Total commission $5,000.
History
After being dumped at the holiday dance when I was a sophomore in high school in 1995, I was searching for answers…I wanted to figure out why it happened and to grow from the experience. I took to writing. I updated my journal every night before bed. If I was away, I wrote on napkins or hotel paper. Ticket stubs and playbills were stuffed between pages. I wanted to document my thoughts to grow.
I recorded events in order to better understand my world, when I left for college in upstate New York, the hundreds of pages of documents were packed in a fire-proof safe in my bedroom in Morris, Illinois.
Two days before my departure for college, I received a Compaq 1535DM as a gift from my parents. I didn’t sleep for the next 36 hours because I was exploring my new Pentium 133mhz laptop and how to use it.
A few days later during Cornell University orientation week’s, “Travelers of the Electronic Highway” course, my journaling practice would be forever altered. It was the first exposure I had to the Internet.
I received a network id and an email address in August 1997. The computer replaced the hand written pages of my journal as I began to think of my emails as a flowing life record that I could index and search. My behavior changed, and I frequently scrutinized my new college friends’ status on Instant Messenger.
By 1999 I was hand coding HTML documents and posting my art to the web. I explored broadcasting live videos online through my web cam, and delved into Yahoo Personals with the thought if I was doing this and posting as my “real self” I’d find people with the same commitment to authenticity online and offline. At this point, meeting people online still was perceived as socially dubious.
In 2001 during a graduate seminar on human computer interaction I was introduced to social networking and created a profile. This was a key moment as the personal vs. public social space continued to merge as peer-use of social networking sites exploded.
In 2002 my undergraduate studies culminated in a thesis presentation that presented sexualization of technology, questioned romantic distance relationships mediated by the Internet, and explored instant creation and sharing of experiences both online and offline (Priorities).
Graduate studies in art took me to San Francisco the following August, a drastic change from the rural life in Ithaca and Morris. It was here I discovered the blog. In fall 2002 I made the switch from a standard hand coded HTML, to Blogger. I began questioning issues based on the commodification of objects (Obay), as well as the anonymous gift (Free Memory), and began quantifying social networks (Age Hotness Correlate).
In spring of 2003 I purchased a Nokia 3660 camera phone that could upload images, video, and text instantly to the web thus making mobile and “studio-less” art creation a reality. That summer I also began working as the residence manager for the San Francisco Ballet School, and started to become very aware of the way young people create and consume media.
Presently I run Wordpress and have benefited greatly from the open source community. I am confident that there is much insight to be gained from looking back at both sides “being digital” and critically analyzing the texts from December 1995-August 1997.
Over the past twelve years I’ve experienced profound changes in the way I live, think, and navigate in the world as my experience has become more connected, more open, and more collaborative. I intend to combine curiosity with disciplined research. By sharing my data, it is my desire to gain a greater understanding of the longitudinal effects of Internet use.
EDUCATION
SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE, San Francisco, California
M.F.A., New Genres, 2004
CORNELL UNIVERSITY, Ithaca, New York
B.F.A., Combined Media, 2002 (photography / digital art)
B.A., Psychology, 2002 (perception, minor concentration: cognitive science)
ADDITIONAL STUDIES
City College San Francisco, 2005-2007 (advanced classes in conversational Spanish, culture, and civilization)
HONORS
SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE
Student Leadership Award, 2004
Board of Trustees 2003-2004
Graduate Council 2002-2003
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Dean’s list, spring 2001, spring 2002
Edith and Walter King Stone Memorial Prize for Promise in Art, 2001
National Dean’s List 1998-2001
TEACHING POSITIONS
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY, Berkeley, California
Academic Talent Development Program, summer 2008
MARIN SCHOOL OF ART AND TECHNOLOGY, Novato, California
Art instructor, Fall 2004
SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE, San Francisco, California
NASA Space Practicum Teaching Assistant, spring 2004
Video Editing Teaching Assistant, spring 2004
CORNELL UNIVERSITY, Ithaca, New York
Cornell Adult University, instructor, website design, summer 2002
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
ICTHUS GALLERY, San Francisco, California
2008, The Fantastic Solution to Global Warming and other Conundrums
2006, Metaphors Be With You
2006, Hypermodern Art Show
EXPERIMENTAL GALLERY, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
2002, Priorities: Installation, Audition, and Digitalia
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
GARAGE BIENNALE, San Francisco, California
2008, Weather Reconnaissance
2008, 100 Performances for the Hole
2004, Party for Benevolence
PACIFIC SCHOOL OF RELIGION, Berkeley, California
2005, Art and Spirituality
ANTI – CONTEMPORARY ART FESTIVAL, Kuopio, Finland
2004, Yuk Video Screening
NEW LANGTON ARTS, San Francisco, California
2004, The ‘How To’ Intensive
FORT MASON CENTER, San Francisco, California
2004, San Francisco Art Institute MFA graduate show
PACE DIGITAL GALLERY, New York, NY, 2004
2004, e Bay–Buy or Sell or Buy
YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS, San Francisco, California
2004, Playshop
CELL SPACE, San Francisco, California
2003, San Francisco Art Institute Print Show,
SAN FRANCISCO BUREAU OF URBAN SECRETS, San Francisco, California
2003, Creative City
BOOM TECHNOLOGY FAIR, Cornell University, Ithaca New York
2002, Sound Thinking: computer as creative audio tool
2001, Fine Art Applications of 3D Internet
WORK EXPERIENCE
SAN FRANCISCO BALLET, San Francisco, California
Residence Manager 2003-present
UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL, San Francisco, California
Coach (Basketball, Track & Field) 2005-present
HYPERMODERN.NET, San Francisco, California
Independent Contractor, 1999-present
UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHY, Ithaca, New York
Darkroom Assistant, Photographer, summer 2002
SIGNAL INTERACTIVE, Chicago, Illinois
Production Artist Intern, summer 2000
MOTOROLA, INC., Arlington Heights, Illinois
Web Design Intern, summer 1999
PALEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTION, Ithaca, New York
Assistant to the Director of Collections, 1997-1999
FREE MEMORY is an event created to open a dialog between what memories consists of in terms of ephemeral human thought, and that of a data driven memory model of a computer. The event is initiated by the anonymous gift of a floppy disk to passers by and concludes when the box of disks is empty. Unbeknown to the receiver, the artists memories, documented in photographic form, are present on the disk thereby transferring both ephemeral, and concrete memory.
More About Obay, the legal battle, anonymous late night phone calls, and Canadian bus stop mystery. For certain individuals Ebay has become a lifestyle, an extreme use of the service where people are a slave to their auctions, so dependent on checking up that it interferes with daily functioning. According the DSM-IV, the manual for diagnosing psychological disorders, this would be a criterion for a type of obsessive-compulsive behavior. Commodiphilia, diagnosed as assigning value to valueless objects in the off chance that it may be worth something to another disparate individual, is an artist coined term that references both the commodity, and the sexual perversion of pedophilia. Obay.info critiques the mega-consumerist culture that surrounds Ebay, and is both a visual pun and a cautionary piece that succeeds when the user questions why they are so involved with buying and selling of the most mundane possessions.
Sound Thinking DJZN TBA Album limited edition of 10 disks,Priorities: Installation, Audition, and Digitalia. Pete Ippel Bachelor Of Fine Arts Thesis Show. Cornell University, May 2002.
Love Box exterior installation view,Priorities: Installation, Audition, and Digitalia. Pete Ippel Bachelor Of Fine Arts Thesis Show. Cornell University, May 2002.
Priorities: Installation, Audition, and Digitalia. Pete Ippel Bachelor Of Fine Arts Thesis Show. Cornell University, May 2002.
Chatting installation view, Priorities: Installation, Audition, and Digitalia. Pete Ippel Bachelor Of Fine Arts Thesis Show. Cornell University, May 2002.
DJZN and Cynical music and video webcast,
Priorities: Installation, Audition, and Digitalia. Pete Ippel Bachelor Of Fine Arts Thesis Show. Cornell University, May 2002
Love Box interior installation view,
Priorities: Installation, Audition, and Digitalia. Pete Ippel Bachelor Of Fine Arts Thesis Show. Cornell University, May 2002
Text on the window of the gallery next door to Huf on Sutter Street San Francisco.Text on the window of the gallery next door to Huf on Sutter Street San Francisco.
Here is a sneak peek looking down through the ray tank exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences. Thank you to Nadine Weil for the invitation. Check out her blog at http://heartofgreen.com
Slow Food Nation is going to be a great party, go check out the garden in the front courtyard of San Francisco City Hall. What I find particularly inspiring is that the fence and the garden beds made out of hay.
For three weeks in July, I spent my Wednesdays taking BART over to UC Berkeley to teach in the secondary division of Academic Talent Development Program. I’m very happy with the final projects, please take a look at the completed ATDP page on hypermodern.net where I outline my course (complete with downloadable syllabi), and display student animations ranging from the hand-drawn to claymation. Also there is a photo album for the digital photography class.
Yesterday Al Gore Spoke in Washington DC to issue a generational challenge to repower America. He wants to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years. Here’s the a simple example of why we have to do it, as the same issue is causing economic, national security, and environmental chaos.
We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that’s got to change.
But if we grab hold of that common thread and pull it hard, all of these complex problems begin to unravel and we will find that we’re holding the answer to all of them right in our hand. The answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels.
I got a really nice writeup Wednesday in the SFWeekly…Thanks to Hiya Swanhuyser for the article.
Pete Ippel is a modern exponent of a long-standing tradition: the bro artist. Think of athlete-philosophers like Jack Kerouac, Richie Tenenbaum, both Jack Johnsons, or Muhammad Ali…Ippel surfs, plays basketball, and his video work explores issues such as hands-free noseblowing and how weird it is to have emotions about water.
“The Fantastic Solution to Global Warming and Other Conundrums” An art show by Pete Ippel May 16-31, 2008 Opening Reception: Friday, May 16, 6-9 p.m. with DJ music and indoor-jumping photo souvenirs for guests. EDITORS: You, your reporters and photographers are welcome to cover the event.
Icthus Gallery 1769 15th Street (between Valencia and Guerrero), San Francisco, CA Gallery hours, weekdays, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; weekends, by appointment Admission, Free
For more information, contact, Pete Ippel, artist Phone, (415) 425-8863 E-mail, pete at hypermodern.net Web site, http://www.hypermodern.net/archives/fsgw/ “The Fantastic Solution to Global Warming”, 40 x 60 inches (101 x 152 cm), gouache, ink, pencil, and watercolor on paper
SAN FRANCISCO, Monday, April 28, 2008 – The Fantastic Solution to Global Warming and other Conundrums is an exhibition of new artwork by San Francisco based artist and athlete Pete Ippel. In this collection of drawings, photographic prints, and videos he explores themes ranging from nuclear waste processing to the pairing of art and sport.
In Ippel’s brightly rendered, fantastical 2-D world, a box of lightning, some incandescent light bulbs, and a gigantic, biological-organic turbine are coupled with wind, tide, hydroelectric, nuclear, volcanic, solar, and geothermal power sources to sequester carbon dioxide. Under intense heat and pressure, in a star-powered fusion-cooker, diamonds are produced, thus solving the dilemmas of green house gases, vacant mines, and human rights issues associated with diamond mining.
The exhibition also highlights artifacts, photographic prints, and video informed by Ippel’s work as an athlete and a coach. After completing a successful collegiate track and field career as a high jumper in New York, Ippel made the move to San Francisco to pursue a Masters of Fine Art in the New Genres Department of the San Francisco Art institute.
It was here in the Bay Area, inspired by local artists Tony Labat and Tom Marioni, where Ippel began to craft projects that married his passion for jumping to his artistic practice.
“The Jump Series” grows out of the tradition of New Genres where actions are performed for the camera. The body of work is based on the premise that to push of one’s self off any surface and into the air by using the muscles in one’s legs and feet is a glorious and enjoyable act; essentially human flight. The modes of lift-off on display include skateboarding, high jumping, jumping off of architecture, leaping into panoramic scenes, jumping over objects, and choreographed jumps with other individuals. Ippel utilizes a tripod and a remote control or the camera’s self-timer to execute this body of performative photographs.
TSP Athletics, also on display, is a competitive vertical jumps team, social club, and acts as a collaborative vehicle to generate images of athletes in flight. It blurs boundaries between art and sport while acting as a vehicle to temper the shock of moving away from traditional competitive athletics.
“When you have something obscure like the high jump that has been your top priority for so many years, it’s foreign when it’s gone,” says Ippel. “Because I went directly to SFAI from Cornell, it was quite a challenge to no longer have the support of my team, nor be able to celebrate my athletic gifts in competition. I went through a real period of grief.” Ippel satiated his needs by creating a one-person team and traveling alone to meets a few times a year. “I made a uniform, started a website, and I kept in touch with my jumping peers. When I was at the meets after being away for so long, I started to see the beauty of the action and the camaraderie and wanted to capture it, and still keep it active in my life.”
The project has developed as an answer to what collegiate athletes do upon graduation to keep in touch, keep jumping, and make art.
Since its inception in 2004, TSP Athletics has grown to include former NCAA qualifiers and university record holders. Ippel’s plan is to produce limited-edition prints with participation by distinguished jumpers who are invited to be athletes-in-residence for TSP. In the frame of social sculpture these artists/athletes will each, contribute to the TSP Archive to add to its expanding collection of images and memorabilia.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY Pete Ippel was born in Oak Park, Illinois, USA and has been surrounded by the arts since birth. He moved to Morris, Illinois in 1989 and started to participate in athletics rather than dance. After high school, Pete attended Cornell University where he earned a BA in psychology and a BFA in photo / digital art making. He continued to follow his sporting dreams in the high jump, which culminated in a school record leap of 7 feet 1/2 inch in 2001. In May 2004 he attained an MFA degree in the New Genres department of the San Francisco Art Institute. Presently Pete is a practicing artist whose work is in numerous private collections. He’s also the residence manager for the San Francisco Ballet, a fitness professional, coaches basketball and track at University High School, and still high jumps from time to time.
Climate change is now an acknowledged scientific fact, caused primarily by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with human activity over time. California is playing a lead role in attacking the problem with its Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Assembly Bill 32) – the first legislation in the country to set a cap on GHG emissions statewide. The Attorney General’s office also has filed several lawsuits raising climate change issues in both federal and state courts, most recently joining a multi-state effort to force regulation of GHG emissions from cars and trucks under the federal Clean Air Act.
Tuesday April 29th, 2008
6:00 PM Reception
7:00 PM Presentation
Cost: $20 per person (includes Hors d’oeuvre Reception). This event is expected to sell-out and requires pre-registration.
Location:Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP, 390 Lytton Ave, Palo Alto.
Pete Ippel utilizes a box of lightening, a gigantic biological-organic turbine, wind, tide, hydroelectric, nuclear, volcanic, solar, and geothermic power to sequester carbon dioxide and produce diamonds, thus solving the dilemma with the green house gas, carbon dioxide, vacant coal mines, and the problems with blood diamonds in Africa.
Materials: gouache, ink, pencil, watercolor
Dimensions: 40 x 60 inches (101 x 152 cm)
So tomorrow I’m getting a new stick from the folks at Flowlab. Stoked. I’ll get a review of it here ASAP.
In other news, the Comet wide board (arctic) is rad, I rode it down south, and want to get it in Free Basin at Yerba Buena as soon as humanly possible.
So is this the end? Hardly. We’ve all moved off that strip of Market, but those experiences have shaped all our lives. Eating tuna and ketchup…apartments with no windows, and skating to stay sane.
Here’s the information I have right now.
Ethan is still in SF as well as Jimmy and Dennis. I haven’t heard from or about Chris forever.
Josh has moved with his GF to greener pastures.
Kev is home skating like a champ, making movies and enjoying the Midwest.
I’m finally hitting my stride, making work, training for track, skating, body boarding…Thank you Market Street All-Stars for all the wonderful support and friendship. I wouldn’t have been able to make it without you.
CALIFORNIA!
H Skate is coming, a new art-board keep the eyes peeled for www.hskate.com
‘S been a while the last few times Kev and I have hung out there has been more work on the art making than the skating though last time we were at Wallenberg, I got a 50-50 grind on a *tiny* rail on the ground…
Still working on the ollie 180, and last Sunday went to Novato with Kev, it’s been a while since I skated there, so I wasn’t that fast, but I did get a sweet front-side grind…
Today I planned to skate at Berkeley with Casey and Brian for an early session…well, the cobalt is back, and it was on lock-down…so we went to Oakland Museum. We had no idea where it actually was, and we stumbled on it quite by accident at 10AM. The slight problem was that it opened at noon. So we had two hours to kill, luckily we were right next to Laney College (I hadn’t heard of it either) and we skated their cement quad with benches etc…we had fun there till the sheriff drove by and we went on a quest through China-town to find an Internet Cafe…no luck, though we stumbled upon the sweetest thing ever, a swap meet…
First stop was the snow cone vendor…and then Brian and I got some cameras, for 10 bucks each!!! I got a medium format Foldex/20 and also a Konica auto S2.
Then we went to the show, and searched out the Almeda park after (in a NAVY base of all places). It’s the first park I’ve ever been to where bikes and boards share…I was told by a biker *who was like 40* that because we’re not in Berkeley or the City, people aren’t mean ’cause no one has to show off…
We had a scare, Casey slammed his head and he was allright *(thank goodness)* and from that point on, kept his lid on.
I had a few nice carves and did a tail-stall, other than that, it was warm and sunny…like *real* California.
(this is the 7th consecutive day of sun…the most I’ve ever witnessed in SF, I’ve worn shorts for a whole week!)
I went to the Daily City ramp with Kev, and it was amazing who I ran into…Jason Salfi…he’s from Comet, and it was great to see him again…
The ramp itself is rad, already, and they’ve cleverly used the fiberglass fun-box and turned it on its side and made a 4′ extension…the thing is wedged up on the platform of the metal ramp with 2×4’s and filled with railroad ties…
…Oh those intrepid skateboarders!
so anyway, Kev was a tech guy, and I concentrated on my first wall ride on vert, and after about 20 tries I go it.
I met with Don and James today, and was stoked to have a little pow-wow in my place. I am really excited about this project, as it’s skateboarding and art. You can’t beat that. Things are finally picking up around here, this year has been ultra hectic as far as school goes, and it’s quite nice to have a respite from all the stress…that’s what skating is about.
Finally got to skate again with Kev, he met me at work *which was awesome* and we walked back to my place, and went down to SOMA. We found this great spot at De Haro, where we would come down a hill, hit a bump, then off a drop, to a ledge. I just went ollie, ollie, ollie….
Kev, was kickflip, ollie 180, nollie nose slide…wow…
or ollie 180, ollie 180, ollie, manual 180 out, nollie flip, ollie 180… hit the 5 trick goal….
IN other news, I’m inspired by one of Kev’s buddies who went pro at 30. There’s still hope for the skater who started at 21… (ie me)
So Sunday we went to Novato, Casey and I did anyway and we hit the bowls for a while, and he was working on a bunch of grab airs out of the pipe…I wish I could do that stuff, but I’m so concerned about slamming my knee again, I’m even wimping on the rock -n- roll to fakie…
I did really pump the bowl fast, and tried to get some footie, but I was zoomed in with the wide angle (don’t ever do that) without knowing…anyway, after a little lunch at Mc Donalds, (and I accidently ordered a Mc Grillrather than a reagular Mc Chicken (for an extra 2 bucks)! I won’t make that mistake again. We stopped at the headlands on the way back and just chilled at the beach for a while, watched the surfers and stuck our feet in…very, very cold.
We checked out the center for the arts there as well, and the studios are gargantuan, and my goodness, they even had industrial toilets, and a kitchen where the resident artists get FREE FOOD!!!
So Casey is applying next year…
For Comet things are coming along, I’ve started doing the preliminary drawings of the Bomb Squad, and the new decks should be out soon, I’m looking forward to rocking on one of the new beefy park decks…Word on the street is 38 inches of twin tail/carbonfibery goodness…
So I haven’t been skating a whole bunch, as Kev has moved out, and he’s the one I skated with mostly. Plus I’ve really been concentrating on getting a job. I have been working with Comet for a few weeks, on just some little things, but that should be picking up soon…
I went to Novato on Sunday again, with just Casey, I rode the new Proflex- it was awesome, but took a while to get used to such a big piece of wood. I also taped up the new park deck, and I really like the way it’s got a more angled nose and tail.
Casey and I were really lethargic, so we got energy back at Mc Donald’s…and then finally got a bit better, he did a really sweet disaster slide and I just had a great time ripping around the bowls…although I’m still a bit shaky in parts.
Yesterday Casey and Brian and I went up to Novato, I brought the new clunker, a 8.5 in piece of maple with 57mm spitfires and a pare of 180 Randall II’s It’s fast as all get out in the bowl, and and we just had an amazing time.
Casey just wore one elbow pad to protect his “second elbow” and dispite Brian’s Knee pads, he couldn’t come unstuck from his 7 dollar griptape, and twisted his knee, which swelled up like crazy.
After a fun day, we went to eat on Van Ness, and just ate like champs.
Today Kev, and one of the guys I met at the pier, who goes to school at the Art Institute, Colin went back to the HS and skated ledges. While we were there we bumped into this guy in my painting class named Donald, so again, the worlds of Art and Skating collide. Coincidence, I think not. On the way back I bombed McAllester, there were hardly any cars, and it’s got lots of stop signs on the side streets, so you can tear down it.
Monday Kev and I went to Haight and skated ledges at a high school whose name slips my mind right now…I had a great day working on flatland stuff, got a nollie for real, worked on skating switch, and almost got a pop shuvit down…Kev massive trey flips and a few crazy switch things that I didn’t know what they were.
I got a front side grind, and Kev had a bunch of nose slides and after all that we hit this one part where it drops pretty steeply to a curb, we ollied into it and it’s super fun, kinda like a natural roller coaster.
It was excellent ’cause we didn’t have to worry about 5-0 at the school yard.
Casey and Brian and I all piled into “God Bless John Wayne” and rode up to Novato, I got so into talking about computers that Casey and I didn’t see the exit and we were in the middle of the sticks before we caught that one…blame Brian…
Anyway once we got there, it was pretty empty, and we just hit the half pipe for a while. Casey really digs his new stick, and it shows he was ripping some pretty pop out rock to fakies and some major grindage, but all of us are still working on pumping the bowl.
*break for Jack in the Box*
After we got back the bowl opened up a bit and C and I were trying to get around at a little higher speed, with minimal success…guess we’ll have to head back this weekend.
We came back pretty wrecked; tired, and busted, hippers on both sides and a new elbow for C, and a slam on the sore right knee for me *from over committing on a 50-50 drop in* and a busted left hip from trying to pump-it a bit too hard.
I was at Novato again with Kev, we filmed a huge kick flip, and I got some front-side, and worked on the backside grinds, I wanted to stay a bit longer, but it didn’t work out…Noodles on Haight as always.
Today I went with Jon Hittner, and Casey Logan to the “new spot” down by the hood on Army and Indiana. It was a lot of fun, so I think we may be gong to Novato on Saturday if we can figure a way to get there.
Went out with Josh and Kevin the other day just over to the library, no worries…but then when Josh and I went yesterday night and yikes…we were kicked out of the library, then went to the opera house steps…then fox plaza ledges, on the way back to Market…we were literally 100 feet from our house and the cop takes our skates, and takes our ID’s and gave us a lot of trouble. Luckily we didn’t get tickets. I can’t believe that at 11:30 skating home *(on the flat)* we got busted….and the cop knows where we live now ’cause I was stupid and opened my mouth.
Yesterday I hit up the streets with Josh, he got new kicks and was working on breaking them in…we went to the McAllaster ledge and then to the library, when we were hopping down the big steps, there was a dude that looked like he was taking a pee…turns out he was doin’ a chick…ewwwwwwwwy.
Never saw that on the street before…it was a short session, cause Josh had a hot date, and I was not landing anything…Session tonight with Kev when he gets back.
Went to a new park today Novato, rollin in the golf…very nice indeed to see the landscape. I had a few nice runs, but I could really tell that I hadn’t been to a park in over a month…Kev pulled some nice stuff out despite being a little under the weather.
The day was pretty gnarly, overcast and cold…so much so that I had to skate with a hoody, built up a sweat then got cold…wierd.
Anywho, there was some Dogtown/151 guys there that were really charging and Bullskating, super annoying when the Groms and I were just trying to skate this one little part of the park, it was like a 6 foot pipe and they kept tearing through there. Kev ate shit once ’cause he was concentrating on another guy’s line not his own.
I came back a little bloodied today, took a skate to the right ankle and got a hipper on the left side, all in all an alright day, but I want to skate that park again, I really like it it’s got nice transition stuff. Then noodles on Haight…sweet.
Bad news today, Renee’s car was broken into in the parking lot on mission, I think it happened in the day, ’cause I was up from 2-5 working on the video. Last night Dennis, Chris, Josh and I went to play pool, at Kennedy’s and on the way back Josh tweaked his ankle but he’s feeling a bit better today.
Went to skate the library on a solo sesh, and there were about 8 skaters there total, one named Colin that I met before at pier 7 who is an undergrad at SFAI. He was in a car accident in Colorado over break, but he’s still out skating with his hand all bandaged up.
So it’s spectacular to be back, major session at the library…Kev and I were the only ones out tonight, but we worked up a good sweat before treating ourselves to some Thai on Haight…
Almost got a nollie today, and hit a big set of 4…
Big day today for the boys at MSAS. Josh, and I along with two GUEST STARS Casey and Bryan went to the Berkeley park for an early morning session. The problem was that Josh was a bit sluggish getting out of bed, and I said that I would meet the others at Civic Center at 8am. Well we waited for Josh for a bit, and then ended up in Oakland, and had to get another train to North Berkeley. Casey hit a nose manual on the escalator (footie a bit later).
Once we got to the park, there was hardly anyone there, and was the first time in a LONG time that Casey had been on a board. But he seemed to adjust pretty well. Blunts, 5-0 grinds, and rocks to fakie.
Josh was his usual self, and hit the rails for a bit and returned to the bowl, and worked it for a while with a back truck grind around the corner.
The real stars today were the 30-40 year olds who were pulling HUGE frontside and backside airs in the deep end, as well as krook grinds. Lots of good shots thanks to Bryan.
I had a pretty sweet day too, frontside and backside grinds, as well as rock to fakie, rock to regular…sweet!
We rode back to SF and hit up the Etrade steps, Josh had a HUGE ollie over two sets, and I did one set, and finally made it down the complete set. Casey kept trying this crazy flip thing that I don’t know the name of, but it looked pretty sick.
We rode back to the home base, and had double Foreman action, and lots of ground beef and sausage. Ate like champs, and talked about skating for a long time…
Kev, just called from the Valet spot, he wants to hit it when he gets off at 11. Here we go again…
So guess who graced the 513 today…N. Jones, no wait, that’s too obvious, Nate J. Anywho, he rides for REAL and was in my apt. checkin’ out the MSAS site, hot. After he stopped by, Kev and I went down the back alleys between Mission and Market, Stevenson alley is pretty Gnarly, especially the little piss-park, a three stepper that REEKS…
So we went to EMB and skated flat there for a bit, I’ve been working on a nollie, and Kev hit up the sculpture and you can get the sequence here soon. Then we went to Pier 7 and good things happened, I got up on the big ledges no problem today 2 times in a row, ollied on and off the steps, and on the way back nailed two other 3 step ollies…*stoked*
Kev nose-manualed the entire ledge, shuvit out…nice. Stopped for a starbucks, and Kev headed to work, and me to do this essay….
Berkeley tomorrow at 7am…Casey Logan will be making a guest appearance…SFAI HOLLA!!!
Kev came over around 12:30 excitited ’cause he made $150.00 at work today driving’. We decidied to go to the federal building because he wanted to get a tail stall 180 out, but he was too tired. He must have gone up that wall ride 50 times today with limited success. We wet over to the library, and I worked on my nollie, and may have them by the end of the year.
When we got back Josh was just coming home and we peeped the footie and some newer stuff as well, all the while Kev’s got the Fierce melon Gatorade, and the peanut butter…
Greetings all from the heart of San Francisco. Here you will find recent developments of the crew of the MSAS from their home base between 6th and 7th Street. Enjoy.
Sweet session tonight, Josh, Kev and I went out to skate the wall ride at the federal building on Golden gate. It was a quick bust, but not before both J and K went right over the “no rolling” bronze square…choice.
The the 5-0 rolled out of the parking garage and pointed his spot on us, we all froze, and over the megaphone he was all “SKATEBOARDERS, THIS IS FEDERAL PROPERTY…” He never actually kicked us out, but we got the hell out of that sitch ASAFP we headed to the library, but it was just power washed so off to a well lit parking lot.
We skated there for a while to get some footie and kept the camera on the ground and ollied over it, the wheels on pavement sound like jets…pretty sweet.
Then we went to a short set of 4, and Kev got a nice kick flip and I ollied landed it twice…Josh bailed after that great film job, ’cause he had to work tomorrow, then Kev and I went to the postoffice at Fox plaza and the long 4 there. He ollied and I filmed and he worked the ledge there for a bit too.
After a stop at the liqour store for some fierce mellon, we headed home, chilled and watched the night’s work…
