Sean Cliver Interview

Found this Vapors Magazine Sean Cliver interview while perusing evokerone's blog. There's also this limited edition Cliche board with a Cliver graphic that is actually silk screened like the good ol' days. I found that out from Memory Screened. He also appeared on the Crail Couch yesterday. Thanks Justin.

up ledge

I have no idea what this spot was called but for whatever reason, it pumped out two of the sickest photos ever. Images from Chrome Ball Incident. E's been killing it over there lately.

Real Skateboards Costumes

I've been looking for these deck graphics for a while and only found a shitty scan of them recently here. Slicks didn't last in popularity very long but they did have some funny graphics. Updated cleaner images from BK's website.

Josh Kalis

Here's a web cam interview at Slap with Josh Kalis. Dude is dead honest and tells it like it is. Some of the highlights include his take on: the editing of his video parts, the Ricky Oyola beef and the production of skate videos. In case you missed them, also check out these two older interviews here and here as well as these gems at Chrome Ball Incident.

Danny Way

There's a cool feature at the Plan B website commemorating Danny Way's 20 years as a pro skater. All his video parts since he's been pro are available there. I'm particularly stoked on these two photos (Eiffel Tower by Spike Jonze and Christ Air by Blabac). I recently saw the Hosoi documentary and after he was released from jail, he went to the X-Games where Danny Way did a giant Christ Air off the huge quarter pipe at the end of the big air ramp. Afterwards, they shook hands and hugged and I felt straight up giddy about it.

Alex Olson

Power, finesse and a great style. What more can be said? I guess I will comment that this Boy Crazy thing done by the actress Alexi Wasser is pretty lame. Images from Girl and Quik.

Powell Peralta Mike Vallely

To put it bluntly, Vallely was epic when Public Domain and this board (his first and only Powell Peralta pro model) were released. He must have made a pile of cash from this one. So many kids in my area were riding it. When he jumped ship to World, PP must have been sitting on a lot of them cuz the shops in town had Vallely pro models from both companies for a good 6 months. I wanted one and used to call all the shops to see if they had any and the answer was always no but weeks later they were always popping up on the shelves here and there. VCJ was the artist and the pic of the graphic is from Disposable.

Keenan & Gino

Two of my favourite skaters of all time. Pic is the current header at the Poets Blog. I wonder if Gino is psyched on the Islanders and their recently drafted golden boy John Tavares.

Recycled skateboards?

Real Skateboards has their Renewal deck program to use up veneer scraps. In 2010, Vehicle Skateboards is introducing an all recycled skateboard. It looks really odd to me... like a fancy particle board. The decks start off as veneers just like any other board except they are made from recycled hard rock maple. I'm not sure how they do cross vs. length veneers or maybe they don't have to. Pop Master Innovations is the company behind the technology, which is registered to Jamie Story who also registered the Vehicle URL. Robbie Gangemi started Vehicle back in 2000 but the company was put on hold for several years. More info here and here.

eS ONE

Pics of this vulcanized rendition of an eS Koston 1 have been floating around for a while, mainly this tan/white colorway. Earlier this week, a new pic popped up on the Slap forum. The black and gum look amazing. Good job eS. Looking forward to seeing them at a local shop.

Gang of Fourstar

Rick Howard's line at 12:39 is amazingly smooth and stylish... fakie ollie to fs hurricane to finish. Ridiculous! BA eating shit at 12:12 is gnarly. Guy mall grabbing at 15:55 LOL

Zorlac Metallica

I was a huge Metallica fan in the Ride the Lighting and Master of Puppets days. This was a carry over influence from my headbanging older brother. I never had this board (no shop in my city ever got one) but I'm sure if one of them did, I would have been all over it LOL. Pusshead was the artist and the pic of the graphic is from Disposable.

What's in the bag

Just for fun, I'm going to go over all the clubs in my bag, how they got there and why I like them. Before I start, I'd like to preface that I'm not a very good golfer. I'll typically shoot in the low to mid 90's and my Gametrack Handicap is 17. I play 18 holes a week and get out to the range about as often. I'm not an equipment whore. I don't need the latest and trendiest gear to have a good time on the course and I also don't believe the hype about 2009 equipment being able to lower my scores compared to equipment from 2003. Pretty much every club in my bag is discontinued. I'm probably the most frugal golfer you will ever meet. haha

LJC 450 12 degree driver: I ended up getting this driver off ebay new for usd$41 with a Harrison Stiper shaft. I pulled the shaft and installed an Innovative UFO 2.2. It really fits my eye (it's deeper more than it is shallow, great shape) and has turned into a great feeling driver. It doesn't sit too closed. The reason for the 12 degree loft is 2 fold. Firstly, it reduced ball side spin and keeps my drives straighter. Secondly, I'm a low ball hitter due to delofting (negative angle of attack).

Hypersonic 5 and 7 woods. I had a really frustrating time finding fairway woods that suited my eye. They were all either too big, too small, too closed or the face height was too deep or too shallow. I finally got to see these heads at a local clubmakers shop (the one armed guy in Burnaby) and I grabbed a 5 and 7 wood from him. They are clearly inspired by Taylor Made 200's. These heads are pretty ideal for me. Good size, good face height, sit fairly square. The lie is a bit upright but that's fine with me. I ended up grabbing additional sets of these heads as back-up because I liked them so much. They are both shafted with True Temper TT Lite XL steel shafts.

Golfsmith XPC 3000 9 wood (re-badged as the XPC Seven). Just like most bogey golfers, I suck with long irons. I tried for years to replace my 4 iron but it was pretty tough to find something that worked. First I tried a game improvement 4 iron. It worked better but still not forgiving enough. I tried several hybrids but I just couldn't get used to the way they looked and never really jived with them. I was really liking the Hypersonics so I started looking for something similar in a higher loft to fill the 4 iron gap. Being left handed didn't help my cause. I finally found this one at Golfsmith. The specs are pretty close to the Hypersonics so I thought I would give it a try and I haven't looked back since. Great replacement. I think I paid around can$20 shipped for the head and it's also shafted on a TT Lite XL steel shaft.

Adams GT Ultimate irons. I got these new off Ebay for usd$135. The link pretty much describes them perfectly. They are basically player cavity backs but are really forgiving for their size. They have a radiused sole which makes them more forgiving on fat shots. I carry these 6-pw + gw. The longest iron I carry is a 5, which is a Top Flite XL2000. Both my 6 and 5 irons are cut down to the same length as my 7 and swingweighted to match.

Nicklaus Golden Bear Bearclaw SW. This wedge is amazing. It's got a great grind on the sole and a milled face. Couldn't be happier. I got it at Golftown for can$30.

Wishon Smoooth 7. I purchased this putter from Wishon for around usd$100. I like mallets and was using an old school Zebra for a long time. I never had any problems with the Zebra... just wanted to try something different. This Smoooth 7 just fits my eye and has a good balanced feel to me.

Ride the Lakaitning

How can one not be competely stoked on Lakai's Lakaitning slogan. I just picked up a pair of Jericho's with said sole as well as a pair of grey Howard Select Mids.