its a celebration!

i know it's a little early to be wishing happy new years in the wet coast. nevertheless, here's a huge happy new year to friends and family everywhere. thanks to all the peeps that have tuned into the blog over the year, stay tuned for the "best of ho 9" in the coming weeks, until then - keep it classy, peeps. see you in o' ten!

does powder really suck?

after some nagging sprains, and a couple of weeks of boiler plate ice at the locals i finally got a chance to test out my stepchild powder sucks 158. Having ridden a bunch of rockered decks recently, i had forgotten how much i digged a regular camber board; lively, responsive and super easy to ollie, it was awesome. overall, the board is great; super easy to ride, and the midflex keeps it ridable for the whole mountain, and not just the park. how was it on rails? jumps? honestly, you're asking the wrong guy, as i just dig on ridin the whole hill, doing flat land tricks, rollers - that type of thing. so for my riding the board was great + i'm a pretty big guy and the board held up well, with no chattering or slips outs whatsoever.

overall, i digged on the deck and will probably end up riding it all season vs. my rockered burton easy livin. i just liked it better + the regular camber made the board seem so much more lively and fun. Another big plus for the board is the price. In a world of $1600 snowboards, $359 US for a great deck is killer deal.

in the end, does powder really suck? hell no, nor does this board. grab one and support those companies that support snowboarding.

essential viewing - District 9

I’m pretty vocal about my distaste for all that is all Hollywood; but the other day, Nan convinced me to watch a flick that renewed my faith in film.

The movie in question was District 9. Now, I really didn’t know what to expect about this flick, but I can honestly say that I was so impressed by it that I ended up watching it twice over a two day period. Checkout the trailer for more

I won’t talk much about the story of the movie, as I don’t want to give much away. But if it were a recipe, this movie would be a bit of aliens, mixed with the twilight zone, and a little conspiracy theory to round it out. So if you dig on any of those things, I am sure you will dig the movie. Additionally, director of the flick, Neill Blomkamp went to Vancouver Film School, so go support a local done well.

Also, if lead actor Sharto Copley does not get an oscar for his performance, I’m going on a hunger strike*.

*hunger strike concludes after one hour

inspiration.... again

I love this bike

that is all.

Thanks to the boltsactioners for the inspiration

psychowheels dot blogspot dot com

Although I’ve never been to Japan, the culture and style has always fascinated me, and from what I have heard, Cats out there are “all in” when it comes to their particular scenes, especially the motorcycle scene. I came across one example of that commitment to the “scene” the other day while scouring the interweb. That example came courtesy of Japan motorcycle blog psychowheels - now these guys have some cool articles and some even cooler images, with my favourite below.

I love this picture; so much style. You can just imagine these cats cruising around town freakin everyone out. It would be awesome

public music announcement: Thrush Hermit back on tour!

Back in the 90’s, the Thrush Hermit boys delivered two great full length records: Homewreck and Clayton Park, of which Clayton Park was my personal favorite. So much so, that I still listen to it (which says something about the longevity of the music). Seriously, when Clayton Park hit, I had never heard anything like it; it was straight rock n’ roll with no bullshit filler or over pretentious guitar solo’s. It was like Bon Scot AC/DC mixed with CCR, awesome. I predicted huge things for the band, and was surprised when they did not hit the big time. Listening to the album now, it’s clear that it was ahead of its time and if it was released now, the boys would enjoy their due success.

Additionally, lead singer of the band, Joel Plaskett is practically a Canadian music icon so go out and support the band when they come to your hood. Believe me, you’ll thank me later

big shout out to Canadian music lover and friend of the blog Brenda for letting me know about this bit of essential music info!

dirty harry

Caught part of the classic Clint Eastwood flick Dirty Harry last night, and was blown away with the radness of this flick. If you haven’t seen it, or if you live in a hole, Dirty Harry is story of hardcore cop, Harry Callahan and the shit he gets into while working the mean streets of San Fran.

Now, what I really loved about this movie was its rawness, and grit that just does not exist in films anymore. Nobody was overly good looking, and none of the gals looked like they just walked out of a beauty salon (just watch CSI for that shit), it was just real.

You know that if Hollywood did a remake of Dirty Harry, ol Harry would be played by a perfectly dressed and styled Tom Cruise, with the girls looking like models; just wack. An example of Hollywood’s wackness was the recent Terminator flick; Yeah, the effects and all of that were cool. But it made me laugh when all the gals in the film were perfectly made up, and dressed in skin tight leather; all while battling terminator robots, give me a break.

dank ass, snowboard boots and a chimp = success!

Now the whole Nike entering snowboarding is definitely a hot debate these days; with tons of folks thinking they have no business in the shred world. Me, I think that pro shreds put their bodies through hell so if riding for Nike helps them stack their bank accounts a little easier; lace them bitches up.

One thing that Nike definetley has is the best marketing team around; combine this with the always entertaining Danny Kass and you have the most original boot campaign ever, you have to check it out. Additionally, you have to give it to Kass, as all of his pro boots look like nothing else on the market, and these definetley keep up the tradition; where have you seen double tongue shred boots before?

star wars X adidas! i loves you

yeah, i'm a self declared star wars nerd. seriously, i love the shit - not in a "lets go to the star wars convention and dress up like stormtroopers" way, but definetley in a "let's line up for 5 hours to watch the phantom menace" type of way. excuses aside, you have to check out this amazing star wars X adidas collection featured by the good people at sneaker freaker. Also, check out the killer apparel selection as well; yep the vader cape is a bit over the top, but that x-wing hoodie is the business!

look at that shit, AT AT hi-tops!!!!

i dig em all, but these degobah system pieces are on the must have list for me. haut!

awesome

Jai is constantly keepin things fresh around the house. this time, i walk in the livin room and he is runnin my helmet watching spongebob. check the artistic masterpiece in the background, seriously awesome.

4Q drops the good word

While checking out Max Schaff’s 4Q conditioning blog the other day, I came across a piece that gave me that “dang, I’ve been there” feeling. Check it out…

My first day of high school was hell. i felt so outta place. i still wanted to be a kid...and looking around me in the hallways i realized it was all gonna change. jocks with full beards, dudes wearing perfume they called cologne, and these little groups of alike kids that stood about and looked down their noses at the kids that didn't belong to one of their nests. skateboard tucked under my arm, repeating in my mind my locker, combination 10-23-13... 10-23-13…

Fitting in has always been a difficult concept for me. the older i got the more i found people with the same feelings drawn to loner activities like skateboarding, artwork, music, and motorcycles. Things that you can do on your own... but are also fun to do with like minded folks.

Although I don’t back the whole biker gang thing, I have to give Max a hype up for featuring this super cool shot of the infamous all black biker gang, the East Bay Dragons from oakland