My Taste Paste(d)

A list of all my last.fm top artists from the past 12 months or so. Just interesting to see who actually made it in there. PC Playlist is my old school Limewire tunage, I am not proud of this fact!

side note: Brand New shall be in my dreams on the 23rd November then in my life the 24th November.

'nuff said.

It's been too long!

No idea why my posting has been lax recently, I'm going to put it down to lack of motivation to actually write about anything. I'm going to be the laziest blogger too with this post. A list will suffice till I get chance for a full update of cool/random videos/photos/websites

So recently I :

• I got a new tattoo (see photo)
• Got my hand back even though it is still gimped
• Re-built the skate ramp after breaking it (Carraway did this actually, I watched)
• Skitched on the back of a truck pulling at 17mph
• Watched too many episodes of the office
• Got black out drunk on Thursday

Think thats about it really, not much kicking off. Got some sick videos to share too, I'll embed them in tomorrow!

Best TFLN

516 : Thank God they found balloon boy, I was afraid that Michael Jackson was ordering take out from heaven.

Brutal.

Brutal but Heroic.

(Not so) Smart Idea

At Toad Hall the other night we got board and built a mini skate ramp, indoors, yeaaaaaah not so smart. Here is a little time lapse of how the building went. It lasted 4 hours before the front bit of the ramp kicked in, admirable effort for sure!

On a quick side note, I officially took the plunge and changed my DVD Region on my Mac to Region 1, eek!

Fresh This Season

A little Web-clip straight out of Boreal, CA. Enjoy!

Hot Mess Express from SPEC on Vimeo.

Visual Reassurance

For all those people who are unsure about where they are right now in there life or have no idea what anything is about everything, heed this advice:

The 'B' Movie Mini-Review

I have decided to just bang the movie on again as I write this but let me just say that the first time I watched it blew me away and I wasn't paying attentive critical attention, my guess is that it is only going to get better.

First off just take the box it comes in and re-live the old days of VHS, mine were limited but I still lived it. It even has a be kind and rewind 'sticker' on the graphic sheet box insert.

Another thing worth mentioning besides the riding is the soundtrack. It is absolutely phenomenal, such a blended range and all fitting so well to the riding that is going down on-screen. While on the topic of soundtracks, I downloaded a majority of That's It, That's All's soundtrack thanks to this website which lists all the tunes in virtually every snowboard movie.

The intro kicks off with a helo focusing on what looks like a graphically enhanced B sculpted into the ice, more on this later! After this its just an assortment of riders throwing down and doing what they do best, apart from one guy who slams his face, hard think it was Keegan Valaika

Opening part goes to Keegan who tears it up on the streets and some nice shredding on the mountain, taking a huge portion of the spine with him. Highlight for me is the huge rail combo he did and the kicking about in a snow bowl.

Next up we got Shaun White, what can be said about this guy huh ? I wanted to see more variety in terrain from him as al he did was rinse the halfpipe. His riding is so clean and effortless and makes it look like you could strap a 89 year old into a board and they could nail it no problem. I'm sure its a 1260 attempt he destroys himself on or even a 1440 from the looks of how he was trying to twist it so late.

Next up we got Nicolas Muller, Jussi Oksanen, Jeremy Jones. JJ & Muller both brought it in That's It, That's all so I was expecting something just as big and they brought there A game yet again Very similar to some of the riding in That's It but its what people pay to see, them doing what they do best. As for Jussi he threw down as hard as any of the others did.

Nicolas Muller snatched himself a whole part all for himself too and proved why he is considered world class. Not to sure about laying down on a cagey looking precipice right up on top of the mountain, crazy fo'. Needless to say he threw down some tech nightmares but also carried some really sweet looking 5 variations with such style. He seemed to nail several tricks on the first attempt as fresh track ride-aways were on the cards.

Squaw Valley Session is up next, nailing big gaps with super 7s and 9s. You see the craziest hippy rainbow pants in this session too. Best song for me on the whole soundtrack, only just though! Love the handheld camera through the tricks and the lodge riding, epic!

Frederik Kalbermatten & Nicolas Muller (yet again) shredding it to funk. Frederik has a different style to Mueller, his riding is a bit more edgy but makes it look a bit sharper and more tech as opposed to free flowing james from Muller. The amount of buttering in this section is enough to fill enough slices of bread for the whole of Africa, fact!

Frederik Kalbermatten & Jussi Oksanen (also again) very much the same as before, great riding and slashing. Some nice natural hip transfers, wall riding and again capping off a huge portion of a spine. Some fun spinning on the ice too, gotta love it.

Next up is the most mind-blowing action from Jeremy Jones dropping the bomb with 360 foot spins thanks to his front binding being able to rotate. This enables him to shred up urban terrain like no one else before. Some sick mountain riding too. If I was to pick any individual's part to watch then this would be it for sure. I don't want to give too much away. Check out him stand-up riding on his bike, smooooth.

So back to that sculpted B, yeah it's real, an actual B. It's the best group sessioning of one individual object I have ever seen, frickin' mental. Everyone is throwing it down something insane. Again don't want to give much away about some of the tricks going down.

Thats it, great riding, great music and great terrain.

Go check it out now!

'nuff said.

Bristol Mountain Trip

Today I was lucky enough to be able to go check out the local mountain, needless to say it got me amped for the forthcoming season, cannot wait!

All the info and map of the mountain terrain can be found here.

I took my camera and got a few decent photos, my new photo of the moment is from a selection of photos I snapped. Check out the rest of the photo gallery.

I also purchased a copy of the new Burton Snowboard Video, the 'B Movie'. It features all their sponsored riders. Check out the video teaser/trailer below:

Check Yourself

I'm a day dreamer, simple as. Tiff forwarded me this video titled 'Last Day Dream'. I pounced on it straight away, needless to say its 42 seconds of pure raw emotion. Check it:

Last Day Dream [HD] from Chris Milk on Vimeo.

Inspired by all

The previous post was actually linked from Transworld Snowboarding and not the actually Plenty website which is pretty dam awesome.

Check it out here.

'nuff said.

Stolen Content - Stimulus

Check out this video courtesy of Plenty. More and more recently I have found that there are so many more web clips out there worthy of a part in a major video release. It goes to show you that these guys are just having fun but ripping it so well too.

Enjoy!

Geeeeeeek

I came across this geeky website some point this. Well worth checking out for a cheeky cheap laugh

Something gross to share!

Had a visit to the doctor's yesterday and had a brief check up on my hand.

I wish I could have taken a photo off how fucked up my hand looks. Has a curvy scar that I can dig but the thing that freaked me out and made me laugh the most was the fact the rod they put in my hand was sticking straight out my freaking skin like a mini Wolverine claw, insaaaane.

I now keep seeing it in my mind's eye, psychological pain!

'nuff said.

Going GaGa for Live Lounge

So I have been looking at Radio 1's live lounge videos on youtube and they all blow me away, whether its a new take on there own work or a cover of someone else, they all are brilliant in there own way (blanket statement, the odd one sucks).

The one I wanna share is courtesy of Lady Gaga, do not question my sexuality before watching this video, if you appreciate good music you will understand why.

See! She can sing and is classically trained, it's bullshit how money hungry record companies portrait there artists to maximize profits and disregard an artist's true talents

Another video worth checking out is this one courtesy of the Orange Unsigned Act

3 Months & Growing Strong

Well it has been just over 3 months since coming here and I celebrated in true Andy fashion. I didn't announce to anyone that I was drinking for my 3 month stint anniversary it just kinda happened. I could talk about all the things I've done and learnt about myself but I'm going to talk about beer & whiskey, not in a way I would have done 3 months ago either.

I don't know where to even begin so I'll just tumble off the tallest point and freestyle while approaching the metaphorical sidewalk and see where that gets us.

On a side note my first ever alcoholic drink in America was a Car Bomb and I relived it yesterday when a customer bought 10 instead of 9 at the bar. I have mastered the art of top bombing now!

Back to tallest point and taking a huge step, infact, a huge leap. My beer knowledge was minimal walking into the job, my beer life was Carling Culture intersped with Leffe & Peroni when money permitted, being a stingy student and all. My evolution truly began in the primordial ooze of The Old Toad.

I started off hitting the lagers and pilsners like Warsteiner, Brooklyn (still my favorite lager) and I think it may have been Troegs (excuse lack of um laut) Sunshine Pils. I slowly moved on to Ommegang Witte, which is still a guilty pleasure that I have and indulge now and again. This took me into Heffe-Weizen, mainly Franziskaner (Gotta love that banana taste it kicks up). Then slipping into pale ales from the likes of Ithaca and Sierra Nevada

Now this is where I went through a faze of drinking everything I could to get a good taste for beer and try and sophisticate my palette. What I do remember is that I discovered some of my favorite beers through this phase:

Victory Prima Pils

Dogfish 60 & 90 minute (120 was too crazy for me)

Ithaca Flower Power

Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout

Guinness, a new appreciation for it rather than discovery.

Delerium Tremens

Stone Ruination

Hop Wallop

I'm sure there are many more but I cannot think of them right now.

So my beer taste is still expanding but so is my interest in whiskey. I have a lot less to say about whiskey as I feel I do not know enough yet, but give it time. I do know that The Glenlivet 18 years rocks my world in terms of flavor, smoothness and general well rounded finish.

Before signing off I would like to share this site with you, it has great content and external links for anyone interested in craft beer and beer in general. Mark Tichenor pointed me in the direction, a regular customer and someone who I can call a friend. Mark loves his beer and to share his knowledge and some of his beer enthusiasm rubs off on me and makes me push my beer comfort zone. Best thing Mark has brought into taste is a beer called Pretty Things I think, my knowledge of it is terrible, cannot remember the style for love nor money just know I love it.

Anywho I'm rambling now.

'nuff said.

Stolen Content for the Soul

I am taking this post straight out of DC's blog because this is one of the best thing YouTube has given the world. It was long overdue with all the absolute shite on there.

Here is the YouTube version of the video description:

"Filmmaker Marc Isaacs sets himself up in a London tower block lift. The residents come to trust him and reveal the things that matter to them creating a humorous and moving portrait of a vertical community."

It is a truly heart warming and inspiring thing to watch. Trust me and take 25 minutes of your life and watch something truly stellar.

Fffffound!

My friend Tiff recently pointed me in the direction of ffffound.com.

It is an absolutely amazing concept for a website, image-bookmarking. Here is an extract from there website explaining what its all about:

"FFFFOUND! is a web service that not only allows the users to post and share their favorite images found on the web, but also dynamically recommends each user's tastes and interests for an inspirational image-bookmarking experience!!" I'm going to get registered later and I'll link my tastes for all to share. They also have an iPhone App for it too. Cheers Tiff, 'nuff said!

Digging in the Archives

Here is an oldish video of Tyler Chorlton shredding it, check out the jib action to front flip on the side of the lodge, immense!

'nuff said