ONE Staff / December 12th, 2010 / Web Roll
WEB ROLL #46: Do What You Like

Let me preface this edition of WEB ROLL by stating that I love rollerblading. I fucking love it. These past couple of weeks have come and gone and nearly taken me with them in the process. I’ve been getting buried with school and the pressures of completing final projects, working 30 hours a week aside from having an unpaid internship with a publishing company, and another writing gig where I can draft columns about the McRib. My time on blades and writing about blading has been dragged down to a bare minimum. Last week was probably the first time I’ve put in a good, real skate in about three or four weeks. You know the kind of session: re-damaging damaged nerves, learning new tricks, ripping open nearly-healed scabs, and just having a good time with the buds. Sometimes we get so caught up with what’s “important” that we temporarily abandon what makes us happy; what we really enjoy doing. We forget the truly important stuff. I’m not trying to get all reflective on you, but I’ve had one of those months that makes you question everything. Sleeping an average of 12 hours a week, much of my time is spent sitting in a big glass office building or some lecture hall, while a majority of my friends get to blade amuck in the concrete paradise known as Phoenix. There’s also 7-year-old girls in Korea shredding skateparks.

What I’m saying is that the other night I was cruising the skatepark and it clicked, and then it all made sense. The wave-length blading has put me and you on is just different from the level everyone else is on. We look for challenges, fall, get up and try it again. And by developing this logic, nurturing this addiction, one is no longer afraid of failure/pain/rejection; it only becomes another chance of saying “try it again, just lace it this time.” We prepare ourselves for the “real world” more than anyone would imagine.

But I’ll quit spewing my sentimental crap and get down to what you came for:

Just in case you didn’t know, THE WAIT IS OVER! Brazil and Razors are shipping out “Game Theory” to shops worldwide, just in time for the holidays. Brazil has a truly unique vision of how rollerblading should be portrayed. It may not be the most popular or trendy interpretation, but his positive outlook on life and passion for our sport comes through in his filming… “Game Theory” is packed with some next-level skating, some tricks that literally make you say “WTF?” and Julian Bah breaking down what it’s like to fall into a bush from a drop rail… If you can wade through the waxed out, rap video-esque and reality show-type intros that act as transitions in between sections, and yet again some Jay-Z and Lil Wayne remixes, than you’ll enjoy this video for sure.

Razors isn’t the only boot company dropping a new video this Holiday season. My last WEB ROLL ran one day after the Valo “4Life” premeire, and this one will run as most shops and bladers are sticking their copies of the video into theie DVD or Blu-ray players. Yeah, blading films are released in Blu-ray now. I’m pretty sure the first time that I ever bought a skate video in DVD format was when Mindgame came out with “WORDS,” and now look where we are… Check out the ONE interview with Jon Julio and Ivan Narez of Valo where they shed some light on the entire process of making “4Life.”

As I said before, while I sit in a big glass building and dissect the works of beat-generation writers or give new meaning to the word procrastinate, my friends are out there in the streets of Phoenix killing it. Jon Jenkins and Revolution Skate Shop keep pumping out these “90 Second Edits,” each one, getting better than the last. This latest installment featuring Michael Braud could be arguably one of the best online edits of the year. We all talk about doing our part to save the industry and blah blah blah, but X and anyone willing to skate for his camera are out there doing it every day (or at least trying as best as they know how.) Nine times out of ten, if you call Jon to hang out, he’s probably going to try and get you to meet up in a far corner of the valley. Not because he is some sort of scared illegal immigrant, roaming around Phoenix trying to beat the post-SB-1070 “Gestapo” police force, but because he’s probably at some obscure spot filming an ender for somebody’s “90,” or stacking clips with whatever bladers decided to converge on our little desert oasis for the week. Once the cold and dead of winter really strikes the rest of the country, I’m sure that all of us will be playing host and extending our couches to more and more visitors.

Don Bambrick just did an interview with Adam Johnson for The Conference and their new mock print-mag spread online setup called On Mag. (We’re sure it’s just a coincidence.) In the interview, Don talks about the events that led to him now being pro for USD, owning a house, grocery shopping, injuries, and his thoughts on being a professional rollerblader. It’s a good interview, and the pics from Jero are worth your time.

Looking for Christmas gifts? Kwanza? Say, maybe Scientology is your thing and you just want to put a smile on Tom Cruise’s face… Well, blading gear probably won’t achieve that but there sure is a hell of a lot of new products worthy of your holiday purchase (coveting):

I’ll bring this column to an end, and since I waxed on pretty long in my intro, I’ll keep it short. When one of the previous word-smiths wrote this column, occasionally a “comment of the week” would find its way into the mix. It was usually an unintelligible, ignorant or just downright stupid remark from the numerous messageboard trolls out there. Now, this probably won’t be a regular feature, most of the crap that people say on messageboards isn’t worth repeating, but I figured this particular online outburst from Be-Mag’s “rocknroller” shouldn’t be overlooked:

Rocknroller, it’s not the suspenders or fixed gear bicycles that make you a hipster. In fact, if that is you in your sig, I would say that you look more like a depressed Tony Danza, trying to forget the horrible roles you’ve played, leading to the downfall of an already staggering career. It’s comments like this that make you a douche. You’re like the kid who only acts like he hates being the center of attention so he can be the center of attention. When the hell are rollerbladers going to stop caring about what everyone is wearing? To all of the “rocknroller”s out there, get off of the computer, put your skates on, and when you complain about something in our industry, make sure it is at least a worthwhile topic.

In case you just came out of hibernation, tight pants and distressed scoop neck shirts aren’t the first trends to hit rollerblading. Fads, trends and, unfortunately, companies come and go. If you’re more concerned with being labeled a hipster than just doing your thing, you’re not getting it. Let’s stop trying to portray some image and start living each day with a committed, determined and confident vision. It’s those that can see past the present, and make the mundane become extraordinary, who are going to be carrying blading into the future. A place we hopefully all end up together. — BK

PS — You really should watch this edit that resurfaced on the interwebs last week with classic class-act T Rex:

If you have content, photos, blade gossip or death threats you’d like to see in the next edition of WEB ROLL feel free to submit all inquiries to BenK@believeinone.com.

Discussion / WEB ROLL #46: Do What You Like

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  • BURRDOUGH - December 12th, 2010

    FYI: Thats not him in his sig.

    He’s chubby and wears baby sweaters.

  • Ben Karris - December 12th, 2010

    Correction- There is no Lil Wayne in GAME THEORY, just a song that sounds extremely similar….Sorry Brazil, no disrespect.

  • Chris Piascik - December 12th, 2010

    T-Rex edit made my night.

  • Russ - December 13th, 2010

    nice description of game theory

  • Rolling-a-mindgameinfocus - December 30th, 2010

    +1 chris!!

    somthing that ive been anticipating for a while now…

    good stuff tory!!

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