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31.12.10

Happy New Year!



Michael, Wes and I went out with sweet Mongoose for a little bit bigger test run than the snow piles outside of work.

Hopefully we'll get some more runs in, but I'll be uploading parts for them in near future either way. Apparently that's the only thing that snow is good for.

Belated happy new year, Philippines. And happy new year, Michigan.

27.12.10

Hello there!

A little work in progress. Copper bits, clay, and some junk.

Michael, hanging out, watching Arrested Development.

 Laura, using the computer.

24.12.10

Oooh... Ahhh.

So many videos that kind of go outside the realm of what this blog is sort of about. But hey, it's winter, a long weekend, and you probably don't have too much else going on besides stuffing your face and dreaming about nicer weather.

23.12.10

20.12.10

A story. (Pt. 5)

     “Peed on the walls. Had to do it. Stupid bastard touched me,” I gasped and grinned, “nothing else to say.”
   
     Sam shakes his head. He’s still hunched over. His hands on his knees, propping up his body. His breathing, just now returning to normal.
   
     I somehow get the feeling that it wasn’t the assault, the vandalism, or the leaving without paying that was bothering Sam. He seems to have enjoyed it. He seems to have enjoyed it a lot. But, something seems to be bothering him; I just can’t tell what.
   
     Sam tells me about how he had grabbed the old man that had looked into the bathroom. He tells me about how he flipped the man over the counter when the man told someone to call the police.  Sam told them it wouldn’t be in anyone’s best interest for them to be able to identify us. And we left. Quickly.


     Sitting back in the car, I feel safer already. It’s starting to get light out and these two days have run together. I can’t tell where I begin or end. I’m fuzzy on both ends--just like tonight. I need to find somewhere in between. I need time to process whatever the fuck it was that went on today; tonight.

I need a fresh start. I need sleep.

     Hunched over into the window, watching the ground fly past, my eyelids start to fall. Slowly blinking, drif… ting… off…

14.12.10

A story. (Pt. 4)

      Two cups of coffee, three cigarettes, fourteen tangents in conversation. I had watched our waitress talking to the cook for the last twenty minutes or so. They’ve been absorbed into their own little world. And us? Still no food.
  
      I’ve been keeping track of the pace of their conversation. While talking, her arms spring to life. She’s conducting her own private orchestra, the flesh under her arms flapping wildly. His head bobbles around.

13.12.10

A story. (Pt. 3)

     The plump old waitress is caustic, screaming from behind the counter. Her heaving stomach violently juggles her saggy breasts back and forth; grocery bags of runny jell-o. We fly out the doors of the restaurant.

11.12.10

I think I like taking photos again.




This camera is fun.

A story. (Pt. 2)

     The swirls of paint began to move like waves on the ceiling. Crashing, winding in and out of one another, exploding with more and more color. The light fixture pitched and rolled. It was almost too much, but to me, it was brilliant.

     The grain of the wooden floor writhed; like interpretive dancers; like buckets full of worms. I looked up at Sam, who was sitting on the edge of the couch. His mouth was moving but I hadn’t heard him talking.

     “…et outta this man?”

     His face was pulsing. The hairs in his beard looked like thousands of waving arms. I stared at him incomprehensibly.

     “Did you hear me man? What do you get outta this?”

9.12.10

Tricks of shit-tastic proportions. (Trick)


Untitled from RV H-J on Vimeo.

The only plus side about Mass., right now, is that, even though it's cold, it's nice enough to be out and ride.

The only downside, my wrist is still pretty well shit from my crash. Michigan greetings from Massachusetts.

7.12.10

I have been procrastinating the shit out of writing this.

So, here's the deal. No Bikes 7 (see trailer for it after the jump) is probably about the best damn thing you're going to be able to get for five dollars. Those four and a half McChickens you were thinking about getting can wait until next week (I mean, there really isn't anything all that cool about diarrhea anyway).

In this current age of drama shit talkers (read "youth of The Come Up generation"), two and a half minute edits filled with triple backflip tuck YMCA's and pooping while manualing, liability lawsuits, and pretty much everything else that's bad about biking and videos/edits as of late... well, NB7 is a breath of fresh air. I really truly enjoyed it--start to finish.

Not a speck of improperly used gangster rap even came close to touching this--unlike most videos, for some reason. Buy it. Buy it, now. (And check out their blog [which, coincidentally also has the little web edit from Northern Embassy that I posted to the shop's bmx page on FB].)

6.12.10

Joy

I hadn't touched my camera in weeks until the other day. Now we have a couple days worth of lake effect on the ground (and still more falling) and I am ready for some outdoor adventures. I always wonder why it is that, despite winter being my least favorite season, I go on tons of adventures and probably take the most pictures when it's freezing out. Whatever the reason, I'm sure this winter will be no different.

This has nothing to do with BMX.



But it's definitely fucking awesome. (And you should definitely watch it full screen.)

A story.

**So, basically, I've been sitting around with some of these story things that I have, and I haven't really been doing anything with them. I'm sort of hoping that by periodically releasing parts of it, I'll actually push myself into getting more done on them/it. Let me know what you all think. Here's part one of one of them.**


25.11.10

Gateway to the Keewanau

Bank to rails of the Houghton/Hancock area.















































*Not sure why Justin never posted this, but I'm going ahead and doing it for him because I think it's cool. -- RV

24.11.10

All very badly done, but a preview, nonetheless.




Sidenote:

Apparently even watching the HD version isn't really HD because I don't have a fancy Vimeo account. But, whatever. You get the idea.

18.11.10

Mondays aren't as good as Sundays (and some stories from the past).

Monday was pretty much a worthless day. Aside from getting some new Profiles onto my bike, the rest of it was shit.

I managed to crash badly enough on my bike that I went to the hospital. I'm full of scrapes and bruises. My wrist is pretty much useless. I lost a small pump that I purchased that day. I also am pretty sure I concussed myself, and I tore a hole in the T-1 hoodie that I bought the day before.

Now I am bored. So, in light of my uselessness, here are some pictures from some time ago, and some explanations/stories for each...


14.11.10

Sundays are good days.

Today was one of those laid-back days of riding when the weather is just a few degrees away from being too cool. It was good, though. Very good.


This ^ is a cement slide. It's the kind of slide that normally requires you to put a piece of cardboard under your ass and do some kind of dynamic death drop onto the face of it and go.

Or, you can ride it with your bike...

12.11.10

The best spot

This super sweet copper slab was put in Presque Isle recently, and it has got to be the best spot in town. Hopefully I will get some more shots of it before winter hits.

8.11.10

Just a thought...

I've kind of been thinking about maybe getting more people on board for this. Still staying in the bmx realm, of course, along with all of the life that goes along with it, but as we grow up and move on/away, it might be kind of nice to bring more flavor into this.

Just curious as to what other people's thoughts are.

Why we ride.

I've always loved these kinds of little vids. It showcases a rider, but really isn't about the rider himself.














 All of the people that I know that ride come from different backgrounds. Some share certain commonalities--like the town that they grew up in, or the heroes that they look up to--but most, if not all, are drastically different from one another.

The people that I ride with now, the riders from the edges of the Boston area, don't share much background with the people that got me in to riding (my cousin and friends from the metropolitan areas of Manila in the Philippines), and don't share much background with the rural riders of my birth town back in Michigan.

Mannerisms are different. Speech patterns are different. Clothing and modes of transportation are different (insert water buffalo joke here).

But it really doesn't matter where they're from--there's always that unifying idea of escape and decompression. That's what makes bmx such a beautiful thing. That's what each of us that rides shares in common.

5.11.10

Surfs up

I think it's sweet that people bundle up and go surfing when it is cold enough to snow.



1.11.10

Homie Vids

I guess this really belongs on here, as well. Unfortunately, I'm a bit lazy to re-copy the embed codes, so here is a link.

It'd also be cool if any of you other gentleman posters could provide us with links to your vids, or preferably embed them.

31.10.10

A New Home

I'm only going to be on here from now on. There's way too much worth way too little on Facebook. So, I'll be here, and I'll be here.

I'm happy to be a part of this.

29.10.10

40 degree Lake Michigan sessions

I am so pumped on Gladstone and Escanaba right now. I must go back and explore more. The skatepark in Gladstone is too cool. It is right along the shore of Lake Michigan, and Escanaba is the neighboring town. Escanaba is sweet, and has no shortage of handicap rails. I wish I could film a video with all the spots in these tiny U.P. towns. Next spring will be flooding with pictures from riding adventures. I wish winter wasn't upon us already.




27.10.10

I took this picture a few weeks ago at Fayette State Park. Lake Michigan was about 50 feet behind me when I took this picture. The park consists of an old mining town that was abandoned, and the buildings are still standing and open. I was pretty excited about this shot because of the angle and the sun coming through the leaves. I hope to go back sometime when I have more time to explore it all.

7.10.10

A beautiful dream

Last night I had an amazing dream. Today it caused me to cry, numerous times, both out of joy and of sadness.

It was a beautiful sunny day, I was sitting around a little round white table on a porch with both a woman to my right and a man to my left. We were enjoying some coffee and tea. I remember we were talking about how beautiful the weather was and how unpredictable it had been recently I was looking down the block towards the horizon, water was off in the distance. The block was something that of a "full house" view. We were on the left side of the road at the top a hill and row houses lined the block down a hill until the road teed into the waterfront. The roads were empty and we were the only people out on the block. The air was warm and everything stood very still. It was eerie just like before a tornado would strike. I noticed clouds starting to rumble and roll so I stood up and walked to the edge of the porch for a better view. It looked as if a heavy thunderstorm was about to ruin our afternoon tea party. I sat back down. Suddenly about midway down the road to the waterfront an explosion of clouds burst into view as if a bomb had just gone off. Startled we all stood up. The clouds continued to erupt and move up the hill as the sound of thunder roared towards us. The clouds suddenly took shape and a man on a horse and chariot along with a multitude of beings appeared within them. I stood up and ran past the man to my left towards the door to the house but the clouds began to reach us. I remember hearing a kind sweet voice above the noise that resembled my mother saying, "Hurry up you don't want to be late," a feeling that reminded me as a child getting ready for school. Suddenly a hand grabbed me and the clouds rushed by with tremendous force. I remember a panic right as I was running towards the house but an instant peace as I was taken by the hand. I began to rise into the air, stalling only for a moment as though someone was grabbing to hold onto me. I had something in my hand and realized I would no longer need it so I dropped it. My focus turned away from the door as I was rising and faced the direction I was being taken. The woman had taken my hand.

12.9.10

"Not Alone"

The silent buzz of quiet interrupted only by a rumbling dishwasher and the quiet drone of a furnace. The tv is to my left but it isn't turned on. I am sitting with my back on the arm rest of the couch and with my feet resting upon its cushions. A dim yellow lamp glows as its weak rays of light cast upon the shadows of a monotonous view. I have sat in this exact spot countless times before. I am sick of the view but time is the variable for change. Demons are amongst me tonight.

24.4.10

TV

If I ever got the chance to, I would make a TV sitcom called 'Fetus Facts.' It would revolve around the life and times of an unborn aborted fetus, Fetus, and the various hijinks that seem to follow him. MC Chris would voice Fetus, Zach Galifianakis would play Fetus's rarely sober but surprisingly insightful roommate, Dave, and Morgan Freeman would narrate. It would air every Monday at 6pm on Comedy Central, followed by 'Hobo Samurai' at 6:30.

19.2.10

*

     While I wouldn't say that I've been lazy, exactly, I will say that Boston's "bad weather" beats the hell out of most of Michigan's springs. Clear skies and 40+ degree consecutive days scream riding in February.

Negatives:

- I'm sore as hell.
- Riding without friends is pretty lame.
- Just like Albion, I'm the best rider in town (technically I don't live in Boston proper, I live in a city that butts up against other cities that butt up against Boston). In my opinion, this is fairly disturbing. The local kids were impressed by my bunnyhop, which they called a "jump."
- Knowing that you're near the Dunkin' Donuts doesn't mean shit. *They're literally fucking everywhere. And that's the only way that I can explain how many of them there are; they've been fucking, and they have reproduced at a rate unparalleled by even the Chinese.

Positives:

- I've been coming up with quite a few ideas for shirts, and hopefully by next month we'll have one or two that can actually be touched and worn. *We chose a name already, but I think it's still hush, for now.
- I've heard people say "fahk you" on more than one occasion (and I wasn't even watching Family Guy).
- Getting lost has improved my sense of direction. *I've also found about a 7 million insane/interesting street spots. So be warned, if you visit, I expect you to go big, and we'll find whatever kind of riding suits you.
- ... ... Well, I guess that's it.

Also, I may be developing a slight case of the Boston accent. I don't know if this is good or bad.

At some point, I have tons of rolls of film to develop. And I will probably go out and shoot sometime this week, as well. So, hopefully, there will be good things in the future.
























Boo.

18.2.10

Heck Yeah





















This is a picture of my newly redecorated project area, complete with North Country Trail map, cheap mountain painting, Simon and Garfunkel collection, and a Buddy Lee head.
















Jonas Brothers birthday cake.











Poking a wet cieling tile with a broom handle!!!!!!







AHHHHHH

25.1.10

Get this snow out of here.

I took this picture this fall right before the snow came. I was atop the mountain of Laketown Park when I heard Andrew Sneller yelling at me from the bottom of the hill. It was awesome, and I got a couple good shots that night.

23.1.10




This would definitely fall into the category of "outdated," but I find it entertaining nonetheless.

(It's a gif file. I don't know if I'm seeing no movement because my computer is probably over ten years old, or if I just uploaded incorrectly or what.)

19.1.10

Winter

Wow.

I mean, WOW. Talk about getting lazy, huh?

Anyway, here's a bit of something, I guess. I've been slacking with pictures, and, with the move to what amounts to almost being the opposite corner of the country, riding/pictures/alone-thinking-time has been diminished, and this is all I've really been doing. They're works in progress, far, far, FAR from being finished.

Apologies for the poopy pic quality (click to see a bit more of the details).