New Camera Craze.

Holy shit, Christmas is finally over. I'm fully over the holidays, I don't know about you. Shit was rugged at work all through December, and this weather we've been having for the entire month so far sucks anus. It wasn't all bad though. I got a new camera for Christmas and I treated myself to a whole new setup, except for bearings. Those shits are Swiss, son! Not gonna need new ones of those for awhile. Anyway, I set the new shit up and even bought a pump for the Kobe Bryant basketball. This is how it went down.


Out to P.C. for a new rig-up.


My shit was super haggard.


Ride the best, fuck the rest.


But seriously. The best, Jerry! THE BEST!


Prepare to make the jump to ludicrous speed.


Almost complete with the complete.


There's still a few of these babies left, get that shit already.


Completes at Sports Authority. Complete pieces of shit, that is.


Doo-doo plastic launch ramps and flyboxes? Check.


Over to the park. Sean Patrick Reilly was there with his car.


"Dude, your car is a skateboard." "Yeah, but it's a sweet fuckin' car!"


Jarold scored the same camera as me for Christmas. Shit is tight! Peep out his Myspace for some deja-vu cross-reference, he's gonna turn into a blog monster for sure.
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=218578200&blogID=341660222




Anton is in town for the holidays, bro-ing down with Reilly and E.K.


Wayne launches a three with the Kobe Bryant ball. I dare say Weezy has a pretty nice J.


Earl, however, is just a straight up beast on the court. Talk about lighting it up, dude can definitely shoot the rock.


In case you didn't know, the Kobe Bryant ball is called the Kobe Bryant ball for a reason. It's not like his pro model or anything. It's the actual ball he's holding in this picture that Atiba Jefferson took here in Hawaii a couple months ago. Chad from APB tagged along with Atiba as his photo assistant for the shoot which was for SLAM Magazine. There's a video of the photo shoot on the SLAM website right now, Atiba is all up in that snapping away, sadly no Chad footage. Look at near the end of the video for clips of Kobe with the ball in his hands. THAT'S the ball!
http://slamonline.com/online/2007/12/kobe-bryant-cover-shoot-video/

Anyway, I thought the photo of Kobe with the ball was going to be a cover shot for the new issue, but I was wrong. They used this one instead:

Sick photo, Atiba! Either way, Chad should have gotten the ball autographed, I mean he got a hip-hop hug from Kobe, he could have at least gotten the dude to sign the ball. Oh well, I guess if he did get it signed, we wouldn't have been playing with it or even touching it for that matter, so I digress...


Justin from In4mation has the raddest sticker on his rig. Brah, I like one!


Silent John was filming something. Think you'll ever get to see it? I'm thinking no.

The Guru

For all those who don't have Fuel TV. Check out The 2 bros Barn dog (Toad) and Damien (Justin Strubing) find Bo the Guru and Skate Walos.  G.O. and Senn dog appearance as well.

Hard Ticket clip: Exciting!

Did I just say HARD and EXCITING? No homo! No homo! Had to add that in there lest you think I was some kind of dude lover. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Double no homo just in case. How rad is it that rappers are so paranoid about sounding like fags that they add no homo to every sentence or statement that is even slightly complimentary to another guy? Hahahahahaha I think the next skate video that comes out of Hawaii should be called "No Mahu". Anyway, back to the topic here. It's this amazing clip I found on YouTube from a movie called Hard Ticket To Hawaii. All I did was go to YouTube, which by the way is one of the best sites and overall concepts in the history of the Internet, and type in the words "HAWAII" and "SKATEBOARDING". I do this fairly often so that I can view only the most recent cell phone camera footage of local kids doing park flyouts and 180 ollies down monster three stair sets. You'd be surprised by the insane amount of unnecessary shit that kids film these days and post on the Internet. Then again maybe you wouldn't be surprised. Maybe you are one of those kids and you're saying I can go fuck myself. Doesn't matter. No one will ever film anything remotely as dope as this, and you'd be hard-pressed (quadruple no homo) to find another skateboard related clip that was shot on location in Hawaii than this shit right here. PLUS, the dude in this clip is mongo! Winner.

Small kine fanning out.

I just got home from work. At the restaurant of my employ, I have witnessed some minor and major celebrity action over the years. I've waited on people from Mister Miyagi (RIP, killa!) to DJ Q-Bert. Even Grammy award winner James Ingram side tipped me an extra fitty because I'm just good like that I guess. Potsie from Happy Days, Winnie from The Wonder Years, Little Richard, Tony Curtis, cast peoples from Baywatch and Lost, mayors, senators, governors, all kinds of peeps roll through my work from time to time. TONIGHT though, I was more psyched than usual when this local celeb stopped by with his fam: UH football quarterback Colt Brennan! The dude was chillin' in some sweatpants and a t-shirt, rocking a backward fitted ballcap, (possibly from Cuzzo himself, Colt and some of the team have been known to stop by FITTED http://fittedhawaii.com/ to cop gear) and was being extra cool to all the people that wanted a photo with him or have him sign something. I could have gotten a picture with the dude but I didn't want to kook it too hard (I totally should have though), so instead I just shook the right hand that is going to guide the undefeated WAC champion Warriors to a Sugar Bowl victory over the Georgia Bulldogs. Super stoked! Go get 'em, braddahs! Read more about my take on UH's killer season over at NimNim-http://tequiero.nimnim.net/lwarnken/

ALSO, as of this writing, the entire Quiksilver skate team is in town except for Christian Hosoi and Tony Hawk. They were down at A'ala Park yesterday afternoon with our boy the mad professor Dr. Andy Henrie, who somehow finagled a nice homecoming trip out of Quik. Anyway, me, Chad, and Andy got to roll around with Alex Olson, Danny Garcia, David Clark, Reese Forbes, Omar Hassan, Tim O'Connor and Eric Fletcher. It was kind of neat to see Alex Olson styling out backside tailslides and backside Smith grinds on the tight quarteripe and watch David Clark man up on the lip with a nosepick to fakie. That was all fine and dandy skating with pros and talking story with them or whatever, but as me and Chad kicked it in one corner of the park Chad says to me in a low voice, "Dude, look over there, is that Natas?" I looked over at some scruffy looking white dude rocking a full beard sitting under a tree wearing surf shorts and slippers. He kind of looked like a derelict, but holy shit, it was him! Fucking Natas Kaupas! If you don't know about Natas, I can't help you here, I can only hope that you do some fucking homework and know your goddamned history. The dude is a proper legend, period! I was just stoked to see him sitting under at tree at A'ala Park, chilling.

Los Angeles, day three.

So I went to sleep at around 4 and woke up at 9. Was I hung over? No. Not even close. It's not that hard to wake up feeling normal after a long night of debauchery, the key is full-blown hydration and some serious mental attitude. If you WANT to not feel like shit the next day, you can, it's pretty simple yet most people don't care to take the necessary precautions. They just get fucked up and then go home and pass out. That's all fine and dandy if you're not planning on doing jack shit the next day and you don't care whether you have a massive headache or not, but when I'm on vacation I try to make the most out of each day, especially when there's the possibility of skating some new shit that I've never skated before. I take it upon myself to crack the whip on people that are less motivated, and this is where the skate nazi business comes from I guess. The others involved in this weekend were rightfully still asleep when I left my hotel at about 9:45, so I kicked it in Hollywood for a minute to check out some tourist shit on the boulevard until 10:30. That was the magic hour, and by magic hour I mean that it is the time of day that In-N-Out Burger opens for business.


Pulled a Houdini on the walk of fame.


There it is. Thought I'd never find it.


Open at 10:30, I'm in there at 10:35 for a pre-lunch snack.


In-N-Out is right across the street from this place, I guess a few big deal tricks have gone down on campus or something. A full-on Hollywood skateboard spot right there in Hollywood, what a concept.


Back up to Atiba's to crack the fucking whip, already! Chad, I'm shuttin' down the studio, yo.


Rob was in posted up in his usual spot. He got a pass, he had some other business to attend to. Mainly, chilling.


Teebs wasn't exactly up and at 'em.


So he plugged in for some shred time.


Then he gave us a lengthy EA Skate demonstration. C'mon dude, pass the controller. Puff, puff, give!


Let's go get some chicken and waffles up in this bitch already.


It's not artsy, it's just a shitty camera.


Okay, I'm full. Let's go skating already.


I'm full too, and I guess we could go skating instead of playing guitar hero.

So we rolled out of Roscoe's and went down to L.A. High to meet up with Jordan and the professor Andy Henrie. Those dudes went as deep as anybody the night before but I was super psyched that they reported for duty on time and were ready to shred. L.A. High has some fun shit, most noticably the brick banks in the front of the school that are in so many videos. I didn't realize that the famous rail inside the campus had been removed, and I also didn't know that this was the same place with the blue ledge spot in the back outside the AQUATIC SPORTS building that have been in countless videos over the years as well. On top of all that, there is a series of tennis courts waaay in the back that have banks all over, some even banks to curb type of shit! This was our favorite part of the school, even though Atiba told us that no one cares to go back there, we were all about it.


Andy liened to tail the fuck out of that thing.


Jordan ollied up to nose, slid a for a bit and then rolled down the bank.


Those dudes ripped it so hard they had to cop a squat and chill for a minute.


Flatground SKATE battles. Watch out for Ako and Atiba, fucking flatground sharks.


I'm serious, those dudes straight up go for blood, you kook it, you're dead.

After we got our fill of L.A. High, we headed into downtown Los Angeles, specifically Japantown. Jordan wanted to take us to this brick volcano transition thingamajig that's been in a bunch of videos, most recently First and Hope. But on the way down there, Jordan called up the homie Chong and told him to meet us. SUPER stoked to see the Chonger again! He moved away from Hawaii like 5 months ago, and getting the chance to kick it with him during our short stay was pretty fucking rad. The dude is straight up comedy as always and he rips just as hard as ever. He was totally amped and psyched to see us, and he totally made the session so much fun. Fuck yeah, Chong.


Let..me..see..that Chong!


Thaaat Chonnng!


That Chong, Chong, Chong, Chong, Chong!


These dudes were fucking LIFTED, troop!


I was just happy to be the meat in a serious stoner sandwich.


In between dodging Japanese tourists, Chad slid this "backu rip" and came in regular as well as revert. Sugoi, ne?


Jordy pulled this five-o to to rub a dub fakie stylee, bwoooyyyy!


Chong bluntslid, blunted.


Then he did a little dance on this slanted thing...


Rolled in on it...


And then rolled right into crooked grind and came out forward.


The peanut gallery was stoked, and the session was over.

We broke out back to Atiba's for some serious EA Skate sessions on the PS3. Atiba even called one of the game designers on the phone for some secret tips. THEN, the fucking dude even came over to the crib and gave us a full-on demo! The designer of the fucking game killed it, naturally, and it was actually really fun to sit there and watch the guy play. Does that sound dorky enough for you? Then we posse'd up and headed out to dinner at the Universal City walk or whatever the fuck it's called. Some gigantic mall with a bunch of crazy shit.


There was a whole store completely devoted to the Oakland Raiders. Normally, I would have shit myself with glee and went on a serious shopping bender but the silver and black have been so shitty for so long already, it's kind of hard to get psyched about rocking the gear anymore. Still, there was some heavy shit in there.


There was a Hard Rock there with a massive guitar. It wasn't plugged into a huge PS3 and a big ass HDTV, so we didn't really care.

We had to wake up super early the next day to get our flight back home, so we pretty much just ate dinner and broke out. No wild Hollywood Saturday night for us. we were kinda cooked you could say. The whole trip was a mega blast and if you have the means to take a weekend skate adventure away from Hawaii anytime soon, I highly recommend taking one in Los Angeles. Lots of cool shit to skate and fuck what you heard, the people there are super nice too. Thanks to everyone who kicked it with us and extended serious hospitality our way. Come out to Hawaii anytime and you'll get the same from us, and you know this! ALOHA, my friends, aloha.