Josh Clark

I finally got a chance to sit down and watch Josh's new video part from the City of New Lights video and I'm super stoked on it, so here it is.

Saint John Spot Check

I know it's been a while since I said I'd have a new montage up but here it is finally the Saint John Spot Check that I've been working on is now up on Push.ca

Youtube Channel

This post isn't skate related but me and some friends started a new sketch comedy style youtube channel and just put our 1st video up called "Home Alone Rap"

Kevin

Here's a warm up line I filmed about a week ago at a sick new spot in Saint John with Kevin Murray.

City of New Lights

The newest Canadian skateboard video "City of New Lights" will be screening in Saint John this Thursday night at The Foundation. Check the poster below for all the info.

Photo Update

Here are some new photos that Jeff Delong sent in.


Tyson Preshyon - F/s Flip


Justin Gautreau - Switch Ollie


Justin Gautreau - Switch f/s flip 5-0


Justin Allain - Wallride

Landry's Column

Lately I've been filming in Saint John quite a bit gathering footage so I haven't had much time to post but Landry sent me his newest column about Bearing Kid.


"Bearing Kid"

If there has ever been a person destined to review new product it is Bearing Kid. While he may now be known simply as “B.K.”, he is still a kid at heart with the quality of a product on his mind. His original moniker itself reveals this. Who else, other than a person obsessed with bearings, could acquire the term “bearing” in their nickname. Even though he has evolved into a multi-product reviewer, the ultimate bearing was his very first obsession.



As a grom, B.K. would often offer his opinion on various bearings. He would always refer to his own first hand experience and would be able to tell you which bearings worked for him and which did not live up to the hype. Eventually, he settled on one brand but I can’t for the life of me remember which one it is.


"BK"- Kickflip
Photo by Tom Bateman


Even on our road trip to Chester, NS, B.K. was always there with the goods for those in need. Oh, you need a fedora, sunglasses or head phones? B.K. has your back. And while some people use stuff to flaunt their own ego and show off, B.K. is simply curious about the item’s use in everyday life. The items mentioned above are all quite utilitarian and while they may look cool, they serve a distinct purpose.


This is why it is so nice to see B.K. provide product reviews for the East Side newsletter. He is well known within the skate community and he is willing to drop money on something new in order to provide feedback for others. All of this is pretty selfless when you think about it. He is up to tell others about the stuff he is buying so that others do not have to risk wasting their money. It’s a pretty good deal if you ask me.

- Marc Landry

Sight Unseen

Here`s an old video part from Tosh Townend from the Transworld video Sight Unseen. This was before Tosh went all hippie and lost his style.

Technology

Well I'm finally back in NB after working on feature film in Quebec for the last 6 weeks. Right now I'm working on a Saint John check out video so you'll be seeing some new stuff soon.


Also I picked up a new hdslr the Canon 7d, it does HD video with variable framerates for slow-mo(60p) and a cinematic look(24p) along with 18mp stills and even 8fps for sequences although I'm not a big fan of sequences but it's nice to have the option.


Here's a video from the zoo york filmer RB Umali testing out the 7d.

Front side

Here's a photo of Matt Macfarlane front side nose sliding a barrier in front of a big cruise ship in Saint John. Photo by Jeff Delong

WESC East Coast

Found this video of the WESC crew when they did their east coast tour.

Landry's Column

"The Existential Pondering of an Elder Skatesman"

I haven’t been working lately and it’s been tough on my mental state. I keep trying to get things done but just get bogged down with this need to feel content and complete. While I don’t want to go on an existential rant, I would like to note that I often wonder about meaning in a chaotic world gone wild. This of course always leads me to wonder as to where the fun lies in skateboarding. Is it in the satisfaction of learning a trick or is it something in the movement. If it is the satisfaction then how can we account for those who have given up learning new tricks but who continue to skate on the regular and if it is the latter, then which part of the movement or physical activity is pleasurable?

Now we can go on forever and ponder these questions, we can even go so far as to ponder the point of skateboarding itself, but I’m a narcissist and I insist on keeping the topic, in some sense, directed towards myself. This is not to say that I want to reveal details of the minutia of everyday existence in order to understand the human condition, as did Heidegger with his phenomenology of existence, but I would like to find some direction so that I can endure the Fall and Winter months when I am not teaching.


This may seem easy for most of you as you probably can think of a million things you could do when you are not working. Unfortunately for me, I’m required to direct my non-working life towards a household and cannot simply unfold on the couch and watch the View. I’m not above all this or beyond the lure of television, video games or drunkenness, but if I did fall into this world, I would most certainly hear about it from a number of people and may never return from the depths of the basement.

You see, this is where my life becomes difficult because I’m a slave to routine and structure. I need to have commitments in my life in order to keep me grounded and keep me moving. Without them, I falter and become sad. While skateboarding can help with the trials of everyday life, I’m unable to do this all the time. In fact, even if I had the freedom to do this all the time, I wouldn’t be able to justify the freedom to myself. I would be stricken with guilt and really beat myself up over the fact that I am not contributing to the overall wellness of the world. Not that teaching is the end all and be all of creation but even as a barrista at Starbucks I felt as though I was contributing to society through federal and provincial taxes.

As you can see, this is where my narcissism really ends. While I like to talk about what is going on in my life and whatnot, I don’t think I deserve anything. By this I mean, I don’t think I’m important enough or love myself enough to aim for an extravagant lifestyle with cars, a nice pad, video game systems and blu ray players. I just don’t have the ego for the “nice” items which are meant to distract me from all these existential questions. For this reason, I will never find the contentment or satisfaction I find in skateboarding that I look for on television. There will always be a discrepancy between the act of watching and being a player (albeit a minor one) in the grand scheme of things.

- Marc Landry

Delong Photo

Here's a photo that Jeff Delong sent in of Kevin Murray doing a switch crooked grind in front of some famous Saint John citizens.

Update

So I've been really busy here in Quebec but later this week I'll have a new Landry Column for you guys.

I heard about Stacked going down in Saint John this year and it seems like the contest had a good turnout with lots of crazy stuff going down, I really wish I could have gone this year. Check out Whoisfreddy.ca for more on Stacked


Anyway when I get back to New Brunswick I'll have some time to film and put up some new videos so stay tuned.

Justin's Twice Part

For those of you who never saw the video Jordan and I put out in 2005 with skaters from all over New Brunswick, Here's Justin Allain's part in the video on youtube.

Landry's Column

The Complexing Nature of Evil

I've been defining any and all opposition these days as evil. It's beginning to turn into quite a complex and while I have not explicitly called anyone out as such, I know it's only a matter of time until I break.


So far I've labeled: the mall, the bank, the city, Regent st., the lines at the grocery store, the local skatepark, city planners, poor drivers, pot holes, bike lanes, ATM machines, credit cards, muffins, poorly cooked meals from a restaurant, my computer, dirt, my hat, bikers at the skatepark, Lionel Richie, random dogs who antagonize my dog, squirrels, car dealerships, the recession, the economy and sidewalk cracks as evil. I'm sure there are more to this list and I know there are more specific people who I consider evil from time to time but I'm unwilling and unable to publish names as it may cause a falling out on facebook and I've managed to accumulate a whole pile of people.

I'm uncertain as to why I continue to add more people to facebook account as I rarely if ever speak with them directly, but I do. I suppose this would make Facebook evil as well according to my flawed logic and temperamental attitude, but I continue on. Just as I continue to use the same bank, I continue on with Facebook. Even though it provides very little in terms of connections and benefits, I remain on a steady path of friend accumulation.

The funny thing about facebook is that it is presented to people as a networking tool. While I can see the book as a nod to a friendship I may have held at some time, I am unable to use it in such a way as to improve my life. Not only has facebook never mowed the lawn for me, it has never been able to find someone from my list of friends who would be willing to mow my lawn for me. It just seems fraudulent to call it useful. I don't know about you but much of the information which is provided from others mainly makes me feel badly about my life. Everyone seems to be doing something interesting and exceptional except me.

I live in the realm of the mundane and while I do manage to venture out into the wide world from time to time, there is never enough room to completely express what went on in my adventure. The whole concept of breaking free has left my body as I'm now almost completely dependent on structure within my day to day regime. I really do need to keep busy in order to avoid depression and I'm not very good at remaining productive on my own. It's easy for me to lose momentum and Facebook makes it all the more easy as I'm perusing about instead of mowing the lawn myself or out in front of the house popping ollies. I guess Facebook just reminds me of my own insignificance and prompts me to withdraw from real activities and instead accommodates my procrastination from things that matter.


Then again, maybe I'm the one who is evil. I'm the one who allowed myself to get dupped into this digital reconnection with others. My own weakness has prompted me to fall into despair and devolve socially. While I was once able to pay attention in a conversation, I now drift off mentally only to return with some paranoia as to what I've missed. I sure would like to talk to Doctor Phil about all of this but I have dubbed him as evil and would only speak in absurdities to see what type of tag lines he would come up with.

Stay strong my friends. Halloween is around the corner and that just means the world will be all the more evil.

-Marc Landry

Plaza Sequence

Here's a sequence that Jeff Delong shot of Kevin Murray doing a switch heelflip nose manual - nollie flip out. Kevin has a solid bag of tech tricks so I'm sure you'll be seeing more of him.

Josh win's ghetto games

Josh Clark just won one of the days at the Empire ghetto games in Montreal the contest looks pretty sick and something different from the usual contest at parks. Also you might notice he's repping a Timeline 5-panel cap.

Quebec spots

Well since it's raining here on my day off that means I don't get a chance to push around Quebec city on my skateboard. But I figured I would post 2 photos of spots that are on the same block as where I'm staying. There's tons of good spots here but I only managed to take photos of these 2 because they're so close.

Marble down/up ledge.



Marble curved ledges

Retro Monday

This weeks video is an oldie from Josh Kalis and Stevie in the Sixth Sense video, this is some real raw east coast style.

Recently

Some of you might have wondered what's going on with the slow down in the amount of posting and the reason is I was working on my own short film and just recently completed it to send out to film festivals. Check out the trailer


Also I'm off to work on a film in Quebec for a month so there's gonna be less posts during that time but I'll try my best to post while I'm there, even if it's just youtube posts. But don't forget to keep checking back for Landry's column.

Landry's Column

"Legit"

Eric could not form a dragon wang despite his best efforts. The glass just wasn’t hot enough for the glass to melt. Justin on the hand did quite well at forming a dragon wang. He waited for the glass to reach its melting point and leaned right into it with a stick. If he had a chance to continue, he would have the opportunity to become a master bottle shaper just like the guys you see in crappy malls. Of course, they are capable of forming entire dragons. Whereas Justin and Eric were starting with just the wang by placing a glass bottle into the campfire and pulling it out in order to shape it.

All of this cheered me up as my current financial state was and is reaching a crisis. Road trips have always allowed me to forget the negative aspects of my day to day life. At the very least they have served as a respite from financial solvency. This trip was no different and even though I had only spent one day on the road, I had already forgotten about my line of credit and depleted savings.

The entire trip started with a facebook invitation from Mark Feero. The entire East Side crew was going to go on a camping trip. While I’m not much of an outdoorsman, I felt morally obligated to participate. Not just because I told them I would but also because I was not being asked to bring my vehicle. When such an obstacle is removed from the equation, I really don’t have any reason to say “no”. As such, I was on my way to check out the new skatepark in Chester, Nova Scotia which is “legit as fuck”.

This one line became the means through which to describe everything, and would never have been attributed to the park at all if one of the locals hadn’t used this term to describe the manner in which his friend was jumping a series of girls on a couch with his bike. It was quite a sight. So much so that his friend made a point of saying “that was legit as fuck.” I guess he felt he had to stick up for him since his friend went to great lengths to plan this stunt. Not only did he bring the couch himself with a van but he also had to set it up, have a group of underage girls sit on it, ask every person there to clear the way and cross a busy street to get enough speed to clear the couch. As you can see, it really was “legit as fuck”.

It’s always nice to pick up new lingo when you’re away on a trip. It allows a person to extend his or her vocabulary and boost the overall sentiment in regards to a particular issue. If I were to visit New England, a kid might say “that was wicked awesome” or if I was in Norcal I might hear a kid say “that was hella tight”. It all depends on your geography. Now that I had ventured deep within Nova Scotia, I was now familiar with a new saying that I can apply to almost the entire trip. For example, the camping was legit as fuck. Everyone froze in their tents except for me because I borrowed a Mountain Equipment Coop sleeping bag from my sister. Even though I didn’t freeze, it was still legit because I still slept outside. Our breakfast at Tim Horton’s was legit as fuck because when it comes to our Canadian identity, you can’t get much more legit than Tim Horton’s. It well outnumbers any other fast food franchise. Skating at Truro and Lunenburg were legit as fuck. They both had underage girls who were making their parents proud by becoming locals who lurk at a skateboard park, as well as cars that would spin out upon departure. It is these nuances that make all the difference in a trip and it was no different here. The local colour with their charm and good humour reminded us all of what it means to be a tourist.

So did the police officers who informed the entire crew that helmets are to be worn at all times. In New Brunswick a person can skate at a park without a helmet at all but not in Nova Scotia. In fact, it is legal to skate in on the streets in Nova Scotia as long as you are wearing a helmet. Alan Muir told me this and I had to believe him because he lives in Nova Scotia and skates regularly. Unfortunately for us, a few of our crew members decided to tempt fate by not wearing a helmet while rolling around bikers in the skatepark. This nearly led to one person in particular going to jail for the evening. It wasn’t so much the skating without a helmet that got this lad in trouble but the fact that he was getting mouthy. If there is one thing police officers hate it’s someone being mouthy. They find it insulting and a direct challenge to their authority. I didn’t want to challenge anyone’s authority. I wasn’t skating though because I fell onto my leg. This fall has caused a bruise the size of a hockey puck as well as some time spent as a “limpy mcgee”. Fortunately, it’s all clearing up now.

Overall, the trip was a success. There were no fights, only people getting lost on the highway.

-Marc Landry

Josh at Kimble

Josh is on his way back to Montreal now but before he left we got a couple clips from a kimble park session.

Mr. Magnifier

Yesterday I stumbled across this video on youtube, It's so bizarre and weird but hilarious.

Retro Monday

This week's video is Darrel Stanton's part from the Real Roll forever video this was his last good video part before he fell off.

Sequence

Jeff Delong sent in this sequence of Kevin Murray doing a varial heelflip manual.

Landry's Column

Moonie is a magnificent beast with the ears of a champion. I always use this line in order to describe our family dog. When you read or hear the text it doesn’t tell you much. It does draw attention to his ears but it says nothing about his personality. The word “magnificent” is somewhat vague. I guess it means exceptional and in many ways Moonie is exceptional. For one, he looks vicious but is really kind. For another, he protects our house from harm. I’m not sure what these have to do with his personality though. You may now be wondering if he is exceptional, why would you include the word “beast”?

Well, he is very beast-like. He’s missing his tail, he has a broken canine tooth as well as brindle colouring in his fur which makes him look vicious in a pit-bull type manner and finally, he has gigantic ears which stand on alert. You could easily substitute Moonie with one of the creatures from “Where the Wild Things Are”. At the very least, you could design one of the creatures according to his likeness and achieve a perfect representation of a monster from Monster Island.

Did I mention that Moonie has a lot of friends? He does. All the kids in the neighborhood know him and he often gives toddlers a kiss in the form of a lick to let them know that they are down with his scene. I’m certain many of the kiddies and their parents would like to take Moonie home to live with them but it’s not going to happen as Moonie has established himself as an integral member of the nuclear family here in Marysville.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that Moonie is friendly and despite his rugged and vicious looking exterior; he manages to win people over with his friendly demeanor. He never uses sarcasm to make fun of others or argues with authority, he takes others seriously and appreciates their opinion. I have used this tactic in the past with police officers and other authority figures and let me be the first to tell you: it works.
I know it’s easy to become angry with security guards or other random pedestrians but this is only because they are judging a book by its cover. They take one look at an individual on a skateboard and they see irritating, immature, vicious, sadistic beasts and I’m here to tell you that it’s time we shatter this image with kind words and friendliness on the streets. Now you don’t have to give random people hugs or anything like that but you might want to try to listen and respond to others in a friendly manner. It’s a short cut to improved relations between the vicious beasts and the crazy humans and while the vicious beasts may never get their kennel (a New Line skatepark), we can definitely become included in the crazy human category
someday.

-Marc Landry

New Clip

Josh is back in town for the week and there's no place better to skate than the plaza in Saint John. Here's a clip with Mark Feero and Josh Clark.

Retro Monday

This week's video is Brian Wennings part from the old Alien video "Photosynthesis"

Etnies Skate and Create.

Etnies won the Transworld Skate and Create contest this year with their Legend of Boxton Square video.



Also check out DC's video as well.

Hubba

Here's a photo of Greg Brewer kickflip nosesliding the hubba ledge in Saint John that Jeff Delong took.

Human Instruments

It's not skate related but this video is really awesome.