Starwars board graphics

I can't remember exactly where I found this but for sure it was from one of the tumblr sites to the right in my Links. I really like these graphics and think they're a cool looking interpretation of Starwars characters. This also reminded me of these First Nation style Starwars paintings I saw at a gallery in Gastown earlier this fall. Now, a Stormtrooper is definitely not my favourite character in the saga but of all the ones that he's painted, I like the way it looks the best. Image from here.

XXIO factory tour

This is a cool clip of XXIO's factory and club assembly process.

China - Part 3 of 3

Shanghai - This was the last city on our tour and it was much more relaxed. It felt like we had more time to see the sites and there was almost no rushing around. Our guide Rocky was a younger guy (28), had good knowledge of the city and his English was good. We had emailed Yan Ban about the bad restaurant experience in Xi’an so she contacted him and informed him about our expectations. He was very flexible about the restaurants and picked local ones as well as letting up pick a few. We stayed at the Howard Johnson Plaza Shanghai, which is just south of E Nanjing Road and is within walking distance of the Bund and the People's Square/Park.

The order in which the cities on the tour were visited, we went from classic China to modern China. Shanghai is a massive metropolitan city. The population is pushing 25,000,000 people, which is more than 70% of all of Canada.

Our first day was pretty mellow and we started the day going up the Oriental Pearl Tower, which has a clear floor viewing platform, and then took a Huangpu River Cruise. On the flight from Xi'an to Shanghai, my wife was skimming a newspaper and read a review of a seafood noodle restaurant on Changle in the Old French Concession so we went for lunch there. It was a small place but very good. We then cruised through Xintiandi, which is a neat pedestrian area of the Old French Concession that used to be stone Shikumen housing and now contains restaurants of all nationalities and a shopping center. There was so much variety, we ended up coming back here to eat several times. While we were there, we saw a Caucasian lady get hit by a bike, which seemed sort of ironic seeing as it is a pedestrian area. He was biking the wrong way on a one way alley.

The last stop of the day was the Yuyuan Garden, which is surrounded by shops housed in classic Chinese architecture. One of the coolest is a teahouse on an island that is only accessible via zigzag walkways. The garden itself has lots of rockeries as well as the three-toed dragon wall. The artist carved the dragon with five toes, which is reserved for Imperial dragons only. Supposedly the Emperor heard about this dragon and sent his people to inspect it and punish the carver but when they arrived, the carver removed two toes.

Red Bull Kluge

IMO it doesn't really look cool unless it's filmed all in one take. Also, Rickie Fowler and Sheckler look like long lost brothers from different mothers... jocky looking California kids.

Walker Ryan's Driver

I've always been stoked on Walker Ryan's skating and I'm not posting this because it's a sneak peek at his new shoe. I'm more concerned about what driver he plays.

Potenza Bowl Carve

I yanked this ad from the Sept 2012 issue of Golf Digest. It's not often you see something skateboard related in a golf magazine. Anyone know where this skatepark is?

Big Break Greenbrier

I don't normally watch the Golf Channel but I have been tuning in to their Big Break Greenbrier reality tv series. The only reason I'm watching it is to see how James Lepp does... more specifically, I'm hoping to see him bust out the saucer pass. Super stoked that he has executed it twice successfully in back to back episodes AND he is one funny guy!

For those of you who don't know, he's from the Lower Mainland and is the owner of Kikkor Golf. He had some great success at the college level but decided to go the business route rather than pursue the grind of a touring professional golfer. This past summer, he played in the Vancouver Open but had a quintuple bogey on the second hole of his third round en route to a 79. More recently, he entered the PGA Q-school qualifier but didn't make it past the first stage.

Brad Fritsch x Ottawa Senators

I thought this was pretty cool. Brad Fritsch (from Manotick, Ontario) just earned his PGA Tour card and will rock Ottawa Senators logos on his gear next year. Hopefully the Senators will also be playing in 2013. Photo from the Senators' Facebook page.

Austyn Unlimited

If you haven't watched this part multiple times already, I suggest you do so. The line at the end of the first song is great. Nice style, pop and trick selection.