Street Shots SF

Dolphin

The new 6'3 board from the Mill Works. I shot this at 60p unintentionally and didn't white balance.

Thanks for letting me crash on your couch!  We need to get some more images of these boards you folks are making.

B Van Buskirk

D Kennedy

Grey City

Wharf Rat

"A dime for a cup of coffee..."

People Who Work at PRN

 

Pics O Da Day

Walk into the office and it was cold:

First Edit of the Day: Commander Donovan takes us to Big Horn Mountain

End of the Day and Becker is dialing in some heavy beats and sinister rhythms

Noir Inspiration:

2nd Bike Car

 

Color In the Sky

Bored

Got the 7D

Send From Za iPhone.

Circus Tent

Bush on Bush

Here is a video that was created from President Bush's press conference before invading Iraq.  I knew it was going to be memorable because he was such a horrible orator. He did not disappoint. His language is remarkably scary and dark.

I miss the Dead

Here Bob Weir and Phil Lesh work on the sound check at none other than the Worchester Arena. Ya this is where the SJ Sharks farm team plays.

Follow Further

Lite Rail Throwdown

    

I was on the light rail and the fare inspector jumped aboard and started checking tickets. He asked one rather well dressed man for his ticket. The man declined. He obliviously didn't have a ticket. The inspector asked for some ID, to which the ticket-less man in the suit said "Why are you hasseling me.?" The inspector is polite in the face of all of the rudeness. The ticket-less suit then starts using profanity and increases in agitation. He begins the mantra "Shut Up Talking" any time the fare inspectors starts a word.  Finally after 2 minutes of the badgering, the Inspector calls the sheriff: "690, we have uncooperative.."

The suit steps off the train and so does the inspector. I can guarantee the sheriff wasn't going to be as nice to this Suit man as the Fare Inspector was.

High Resolution Image Searching

My Commute

Ever wonder what it's like to work in San Francisco and live in San Jose? Come take a journey with me on my morning commute.

San Francisco November Warm Bridge

It is hard to believe that it's 76 degrees in November. I just walked around for 3 miles enjoying people and their schizophrenic wardrobes.

Old Friend

I ran into a friend of mine who I used to work with while at ABC in San Jose. Dean Smith. A surfer,photographer,journalist, and Dad. He is the kind of guy who always seems to be having a good day even when he is not. 

Dean was covering the Face Book press conference in San Francisco that had been set up to share insights on the new Facebook email service. There were ton's of geeks and the media circus folks running about. I walked through the scurrying lunch crowd and found Dean talking to a news groupie about Sat Comm's and Downlink feed windows. Exciting news talk for sure.  When the groupie left we started a chat about surf and the Canon 7D.  Then I left passing a homeless man urinating next to an array of bikes locked up to a metal bar.

Unfortunately I can't share any of Dean's award winning photography because I deleted my facebook account (I think). Stay tuned. I will find some

Halfway Scared of Chinese Statue

Bali

This video is a splendid example of how the DSLR is revolutionizing all forms of image capture. The flavor this time: A slideshow mentality applied to live action shots.

I spent 2 months in Bali and after watching this I want to go back. The place is insane.

Postcard from Bali (Canon 5d MkII) from Stephan Kot on Vimeo.

Lunch 110510

Becoming Leia

Glen Friedman.

Glen E. Friedman Interview at the opening of FUCK YOU ALL, with "State.ie" (Ireland, 2010) from Burning Flags Press on Vimeo.

Andy Iron's Last Wave

Just a thought

Staring out the window of a train my mind read this to me.

The Artist is free, limitations unshackled.
Bound by color, texture,sound and composition,
The Artist translates experience.

The family man is weighted, burdened with unconditional love. The
Family man must translate experience with symbols and sounds.

Both follow a path with their hearts never able to rid themselves of
their drive forward. They step closer to love not further.

Hope

Trembles

The Maniac mantra.. Too busy for this ,too busy for that, need to

take care not to upset the balance sheet, buy this to stop that, don't

eat this so you don't look like that...Don't worry about that, pay us

this and we will worry for you."

So quick we forget that life is a perspective. We consume so much

plastic culture that we brainwash ourselves into believing this mantra

is the way life is. Thinking like this, as if we can make a

reservation for our death, makes life scary.

Scary enough that i found myself trembling today. I have no real

reason to tremble but yet I tremble.I was buying coffee to wake up

from being too tired. Too tired from worrying and trying to match my

life to a maniac Mantra.

Could my brain be shorting a bit? A re calibration of itself after

riding waves this weekend? The tremble is working like an earthquake to

relieve the stress to two opposing tectonic perspectives. One that

worries and one that lives.

Profound activities create profound perspectives. They force you to

see things in the moment, through your own lense of experience.

Activities like volunteering, meditation,yoga, playing music, and exercise,

force you to stop looking through someone else's perspective.

Profound activities require introspection whether before, during, or after

the activity has taken place. It is this introspection that cracks the facade of

dominant fear based thinking. "Profoundivities" allows for trust in

yourself and not in some magic bullet that is on blue light special at "MegaBox Mart."

Life is too short. Call in sick and do something worthwhile.

Baby Powder Man

This guy just sat down next to me and he keeps hicup burping. He
smells like babypowder. Super Trippy Rider

Jaded Got a New 7d

Abby and Jeremey Lavoi have been busy producing new documentaries on their new Canon 7D DSLR. This camera is a game changer with it's ability to shoot in 1080p .  Because it's a DSLR, there is a lot of choices in optics that just raise the bar in terms of image quality. In this video they used a few different lenses and it really adds to the amazing quality and depth. Yes they shot using a steady cam. But enough of my yammering.. Check out the video and the Jaded website for more info:

http://teamjaded.com

Self

Went Surfing

Caught some of the fading SW swell today.  Rio Del Mar, an hour before low tide.  Surfed next to Club Ed.  3 Barrels and one headhigh.

Old School Me:

 

3 Cups of Tea

Hero Recipe:

-Follow your bliss
-Go Climb a Mountain
-Almost kill yourself saving someone's life on K2
-Get saved by a foreign Muslim culture 3 or 4 times
-Create a global movement towards peace by having tea with Muslim Clerics. 

In a nutshell, this follows Greg Mortenson's recipe for peace as portrayed in the book 3 Cups of Tea.   Quite simply put: Greg Mortenson is a man who has been blessed with an ability to follow through on his word.   No doubt our world's hunger for this actionable integrity has aided in his book sales. Likewise,this integrity has allowed Greg to penetrate into the most misunderstood religious Islamic cultures by the west.


3 Cups of Tea is a Must  Read!
 
The book won some big ole prizes.  The biggest literary wind bags said this book was awesome. It is awesome.   It's a Muslim version of Dances with Wolves. Hell you could even say it's another Avatar.  Basically, the white man, or "Sahib" in this case, wins over the indigenous people and saves the world.  In this sense, Greg Mortenson is a Kevin Costner, a paraplegic marine, and Mother Teresa all wrapped up into one.
  I mentioned this book to a friend of mine and described a bit of the story.  He was concerned that is sounded like Greg might have a god complex.  Maybe I just suck at explaining narrative or maybe Greg really does have a god complex.  If he does have a god complex but the book does a pretty good job of hiding it. That means I suck at narrative description.

If you want a book to lift your spirits and give hope to the human race, I highly recommend you read this book.

The Technology Takes no Prisoners

This is amazing. The world will be filled with "Preditors" before 2015.
The End of Photographers? Really?

How does Somebody decide to do this?

Girls Gone Grabblin

RAW Food Diet For a Caveman

Cobra Hors d'oeuvre

Yesterday's Girl In a Gutter

San Francisco: I stepped off the train at 8:45 to the hussel of 4th and King. Something didn't feel right.  Something was out of place. It was the girl lying face down in the gutter.  The blood became thicker and darker. A man was checking the pulse on her neck. Another man lifted his white Iphone to the ear.  Most people stood around too stunned to move or talk. A bike lay on the side walk next to her.  The muni bus driver belts a cold "Oh god dammit, this is just fine!" Not wanting to get in the way I left the scene.  She had help. Walking away, a primal moan vibrated through the motionless girl. 8:50am the sirens are close. The commuters continue to head toward Market Street, clueless and numb.

Beach Volleyball

I was at the beach in Aptos today. I saw an asshole  there. How do I know she was an asshole? Well to start, she had one of those real cute little dogs that seem like a great idea at the breeders science lab. Then when you get them home and they bark every time a toilet flushes.  If these dogs have any actual cuteness after that, it evaporates immediately when they growl at the preschooler riding a Razor Scooter.

FYI Little Dog OWNER: Your neighbors hate you but hide behind there fake smiles and pointless neighbor conversations about the weather while you stroll out with the little fucker. This, the same little fucker who burned a big "SUCK IT" in dog piss on your side lawn. Don't fool yourself, the dog sucks.

Anyway, I watched this woman stroll across the beach, towards the exit stairs with her little terror.  About 25 feet before the stairs, in the sand volley ball courts, the dog commenced on a very concentrated squat pose. The owner did nothing to deter her. The dog finished and ran on. As I watched the lady get closer to the crime pile, I thought she was heading to cleanup the mess with the bag in her hand.  Nope. She just walked passed the pile of dog shit in the beach volleyball court. Turns out the bag I saw, was a fancy designer lipstick and cell phone carrying case. She just trudged on up the stairs with the little dog and went and got in her Lexus. She did manage to take the time to wipe the sand off of her dogs feet though. THANK GOD. I would hate to think if that Lexus got any sand in it.  I really hope that dog vomited on the way home.

My Commute to work

This is what my commute to work looks like. Yes it's long but when I
start and finish my day, this is the scene. I ride between 6 an 20
miles a day.

In Search of Capitain Zero, A book by Allan Weisbecker.

                                                  

                                                           Bandito Books 

Just finished Allan Weisbecker’s book, In Search of Capitain Zero. What a book! I hated it, I loved it, I was bored, I was thrilled, I was annoyed, I was inspired and all in all it was an outstanding piece of Non Fiction. I won't ruin the details of the book, basically it's an intense travelouge. Many reviewers paint an image of a lonely self pitying Weisbecker on the verge of a breakdown. I totally disagree.
  Sure, he is a loner of sorts, and has his share of the travelers melancholy.  Underneath the ups and downs though there is a Man on a hell bent mission to find a way to rid himself of the trappings of mass society.  Allan is a salty surfer, smart in reading people and situations that would make the average person shit themselves. He gets into some gnarly stuff in this book.  Everything about this book and Allan himself scream of extreme existence. He is a breed of human that is truly, almost religiously, committed to living in a surfers paradise(What ever that means.)

   My one word of caution is for those who don't surf. This is a story told through the perspective of a surfer. Intense descriptions of wave riding, while well translated into non surf language, may bore the non surfer. As a surfer, I found my heart racing and small amounts of adrenaline as I read about Salsa Brava experiences. The man has an ability to keep his fear in check! Anyway, read this book. It will make your life seem stupid.

This one of the best books.

A breakfast buzz

It's 7AM! That dude I just past who was sitting next to the lake wasn't catching  fish. However, he did have a tall boy Corona in hand and a skunky ganja bomb in his lips.  I am sure that sunrise was electric.

The 19th Wife

Sometimes I wonder how sitting down and watching the Life Time for Women Channel happens.  The night before last was one of those LTW nights.

The kids had gone to bed and I was on the phone with my Dad talking about guy stuff. Sensing I was preoccupied my wife quickly grabbed the remote and changed the channel to Life Time for Women.  It happened so quickly I didn't even notice. Well I sat there talking and watching, not really aware that I was watching the most WHACK TV movie ever made. (Actually come to think of it, all LTW movies are whack.)  Anyway, after I hung up the phone I realized that I was hooked to the story.  I didn't even know the name or anything about it.  All I knew at the point I hung up the phone was:

-A polygamist man had been killed, his Mormon Fundamentalist wife was to blame and living in Jail.
-The exiled "badboy" Mormon son of Fundamentalist wife was in town to save her.
-The Fundamentalist Police man's wife was in love with the "badboy"

I really tried to leave and go to bed, but it just got creepier and creepier. It was a train wreck of a show with no happy ending. I totally recommend it. Here is a link to The 19th Wife:

The 19th Wife

And yes... it's nice to blame my wife for I show I probably would have watched without her.

Dance Walker

Today I was walking into work with a fellow named Stein. Stein is a friend I met after almost being destroyed by the thoughtful driving endeavors of a grumpy cab driver. That was about 2 years ago.  Today we were at the same location: A stoner's throw from the McDonalds at 3rd and King in San Francisco. We talked about ego and arrogance in the cycle community. We agreed that there is a lot of it. We agreed some more and kept the pace. 


 As we approached the first intersection of our walk, a young fellow swaggered towards us. I first caught a glimpse of him while I was listening to Stein talk about the new train tunnel. Instinct let me know something strange was about to happen.


He was wearing a gray shirt with a hipster print, sunglasses for the fog, and an "All Access" badge secured to a red lanyard.  Getting closer, I had to pay more attention because he was waving to invisible people. At the point he was next to me, he tweaked into a dance walk, wiggled his fingers 2 inches from my face, and then waved them over my head. All of this was in perfect cadence with his walk. He didn't stop. He just kept the dance walk going. 
 
I turned to Stein, who was laughing : "That same guy did that to me yesterday I think."

Blogging Is Stupid

So somebody at a Party told me that they found out I have a blog.  In a sense the beginning of the end. I can't tell you when that end will come, but its coming.

Knowing enough about me, I know that I will see too much ego in all of this and bail on it. I like the fresh stupidity. The kind that is moldy with innocence. 

Once the stupidity smells like ego attacking myself or others attack my ego, it's time to start a new culture of stupidity elsewhere.

Dolphins are Drug Rangers

 

http://roboshark.tumblr.com/post/424512334/glasscaseofemotion-sblaufuss

Catfish Movie

Catfish Catfish!  Bottom dwelling shit sucking vermin.  They are a nasty bunch. Horns that gore, some can electrocute, and when out of water they grunt like a monster. I base what I know about this fish as the foreshadowing to the story of the new movie Catfish. 

Without knowing a thing about this movie, it is apparent to me that we are about to witness the beginnings of a brand new style of movie promotion.  When you watch the trailer you get this: Guy meets a girl on Facebook, guy finds girl in real life, there is a plot twist.  Intentionally Boring. Oh and all of it is True. Kind of.

All of it is very Blair Witchy except it is seemingly more interactive with it's, "Don't Let Anyone Tell You What It Is" tag line.

This is pure genious!  It is creating rules for the conversation between those who have seen, and those who have not. Lets just hope the movie is as interesting as the marketing.  Pay attention to the first line:  

"Hello Megan, your voice is nothing like I expected...."  (Is it because she's grunts like a Pylodictis Olivaris?)


Movie starts this Friday.

Abandoned Couches

This is a fantastic idea.

Abandoned Couches

Light Rail Pot Head

The baker circus is in town. Unfortunately you can't see that he is
also wearing shag slippers. Needless to say his eyes were glossy and
red.

This is light rail at it's finest.

Plastic Bags

This is a really well done piece that uses a very dark humor to get the point across. Definitely sticks the message!

Produced by this Non Profit: http://www.healthebay.org/

Low Card

Make It Happen: Lowcard from TeamJaded on Vimeo.

So here is a sweet short little Doc done by Team Jaded. I figured since we had headed into skate territory that we should include some skate.

There's Nothing Wrong With You (Hopefully)

Something about Fecal Face made me go and buy Michael Sieben's art biography called There's Nothing Wrong With You (Hopefully) UPPER PLAYGROUND // GINGKO PRESS.   

Sometime ago I edited a small video essay on Michael (Soon to be posted) with Jeremy Lavoi of TeamJaded .  Something about his art I could relate too. Strange creatures that seemed to be complacent with heavy burdens. Obviously I am not an art word doctor. I don't know, he just has some cool stuff.

Fecal Face

Just Reminds you of those summer dayz with nothing to do but skate, surf and drink beer.  This is a fantastic creative world of misfits and twits.  People think strangely. This proves it. Fecal Face


These folks are celebrating the 10 years of trippy.  Here is an SF Weekly article that talks better about it than I ever could. But maybe talking or reading isn't always the best way to take in the  Fecal Face.

JJ Grey & Mofro Fan site: www.mofrofans.com

Ok I just followed up on a comment from the one Mr. Clay. Seems he has put together a fantastic website for all things related to JJ Grey and Mofro. Check it out!  In one day I have gone from not knowing a single thing about this band, to wanting to see them play live. I guess this is how the internet works!


http://www.mofrofans.com/home.html

CNET Guy and Retail Media Producer

CNET guy and Retail Media Producer
Originally uploaded by dats4sure

Coffee with Heather. Wow how we miss her antics here. She is one funny woman!

I remember this moment well. We were in the neighborhood Starbucks avoiding work when Heather noticed Brian Cooley, CNET Guy, standing in the line infront of us. She starts pretending she is starstruck and I snap the picture. Not 10 minutes before we were editing one of his spots for a retailer TV Wall.

JJ GREY & MOFRO

JJ Grey!

JJ Grey & Mofro a nice little southern sounding funkish blues band. The newest album just came out and it sounds super clean.  Very excellent production with some insanely good retro sounds on original tunes. Good song writting and toe tapping beer guzzlin groove.  They will be at the Fillmore Friday Sept 24th.  I would be interested to see what they do live to some of these songs.

Yonder To Play the Hardly Strictly Blue Grass Festival

For those of you who haven't "gotten" bluegrass you need to check out Yonder Mountain String Band. These folks are amazing. A fresh traditional take on standard bluegrass. Original, driven, and honest. The harmonies will make your hair stand on end and your brain will spin at the sure speed of their breakdown.  All in all a fantastic band.

For those of you on the Bay Area thang, they are playing the Hardly Strictly Blue Grass Vegetable

Ghosts in the Hollow

Here is a short about the world of Coal Miner Towns.  The high quality HD clashes with the Low fidelity music track to create a creepy journey back in time. 

This video proves that special effect really aren't needed.

Ghosts in the Hollow from Jim Lo Scalzo on Vimeo.

Life Cycles

A new mountain bike movie. This looks promising. Incredible shot composition from the looks of the trailer


http://www.lifecyclesfilm.com/



Life Cycles OFFICIAL Trailer from Life Cycles on Vimeo.

Red White & Blue

This is America on my way to work.

Sf Haight McD Kills Dollar Menu

http://sfist.com/2010/09/07/mcdonalds_nixed_dollar_menu_at_haig.php

Los Gatos to 4th & King pt1

Neil is a lawyer. A very powerful one.  He once told me a story about his work. It involved a murder. His story was gross and funny.  Neil likes stage acting.