South Side BIG PUSH!

Yo dudes,
this weekend (26th) is Halloween weekend. You know how you wanted to get the South Side beer crawl/skate jam going again? Well it is. OneUp is holding a contest somewhere that day and that night about 40 skaters are barging Carson St. You guys should come. There's a bunch of us dressing up as Daggers from Thrashin.'

Start promoting this old HBS tradition.

Awesome, Hickey

7/2/2007

Subject: Just like Dylan..

Well, the times they are a-changing. There's no stopping it. Even if you love your life and the way you are, you have no choice but to change. Call it survival, adjusting or evolution, it all means the same thing. Shit happens and you have to react. The outcome of those reactions cause more reactions and during this process you are changed. Mentally and physically. I think the one constant is that we're all doing it to try to be happy. We all want to be happy. It's why we buy ridiculous clothes and day dream of a different life. Those quick fixes are far from cures. But you gotta self-medicate.

I really don't know what I'm trying to say. Maybe if I had an editor he/she could figure that part out for me. That's why blogs can get really lame. There's nobody there to stop the bullshit from pouring out of one idiots face and onto your LCD screen. I know you're probably thinking I'm drunk because this is the type of stuff that I write when I've had too many. I'm not. But, in my defense I did drink til five last night, slept two hours then flew home from New York. So there.

I guess I was just saying that the cliche is true. Nothing good lasts forever. The sooner you realize that and move on the better off you will be. It's not always easy, but the right thing rarely is.

I got a job in Philadelphia and I'm moving in a couple days. I'm still going to ride for the shop (Is that cool, Andy and Shawn?). But this is going to be the last entry for the corner. I actually hate blogs. Who needs this much attention? I'm too old for that. It's time for less blogs and more bass fishing. Less drinking and more skating. Less stressing and more smiling. It's time for change.

I hope you guys enjoyed reading it. Have fun out there.

6/26/2007

Quotes From Our Trip:

"I don't put homeless on my sign. I'd say that's a given." -Alien Jack

"That's east, and that's south (points in opposite direction)." -Junior (Worst hobo ever)

"There's a church downtown (about 15 miles away) that will give you three dollars." -Echo

"This blog is kind of a big deal." -Cincinnati hipster while showing us a music video he's in on some blog. This kid is not a man.

"I'm tired from being on tour." Some guy in Voxtrot after I called them hippies and almost pulled my knife out on him. This kid is also not a man.

"You can't kill it again." -Louisianna clerk to Brandon while he was buying an alligator head.

"My sister in-law had her gallbladder removed and died. We're just waiting for her to wake up now." -Old semi-crazy lady in the Natti.

"I should have bought that fucking fanny-pack!" -Brandon.

6/26/2007

Back with more. The first day in the Natti Brandon and I were getting coffee and I saw some crusty punks in the back. Another tip: Crusty punks always know someone who jumps trains. I asked if they knew anything about catching out of Cincinnati and sure enough, one of them did. He even had a crew change guide which is really helpful. After a day of hanging out with him we copied the crew change and tried to head out.

We spent another night sleeping under a bridge in a shit part of town. The dirt was surprisingly soft and I slept like a rock. Unfortunately no trains were going out that night. It was a small yard. A couple tore through on the mainline, but none crew changed. Another tip: Crews rarely change on the mainline, or stop for any reason. Your best bet is to find a refueling station. Almost all trains stop there. When we woke up, Brandon's foot AIDS had spread up his body and was now taking over. He was an itchy, red, bumpy, miserable mess of a person. Got a car ride out of the Natti to Cleveland.

Cleveland was looking up. That's the first time I think I was ever really happy to be in Cleveland. Jurgen took us out to eat and to get anti-disease stuff. We finally got clean and regrouped. After a day of relaxing we went out to check out yards. We camped out at an NS inter-modal yard, hoping to catch one leaving that night. Only two IM's (inter-modals) stopped. Neither were ridable. Apparently all IM's use to be ridable, but they've now made the floors open, leaving nothing to sit on. IM's are good trains to catch because they're almost always priority goods. Stuff that gets on the road and doesn't stop for shit. They're the fastest trains and all other trains (except Am-Trak) have to pull over for them. The down-side is also their upside..they never fucking stop. You have to catch them refueling or while they're being made in the yard. And then you have to be lucky enough to find and old one with a floor.

So, no trains out of that yard that night. And that night was a miserable sleep in the woods. We got some buses to another yard on the NE side of town. It's a CSX refueling station. The only problem with it is that it doesn't run to Pittsburgh. It goes east, but it goes NE. At this point we didn't care. This yard is a hobo's wet dream. It's secluded, near stores, out of sight of the yard roads and it's a refuel station. We spent about six hours there. We had to be in PA by the next day because we had flights to Philly. We decided to wait another two hours, then say fuck it. I went and ordered a pizza and got a couple pounders for us. We ate about two pieces each when a coal train pulled up to refuel. Coal trains are not ideal for transportation..unless you're us. We climbed up the twenty foot side of it and jumped over into the car. We were sitting on about 2 tons of coal and this was one car of about 100. We sat for about ten minutes and then we heard it air-up. That's when the brakes are releasing so you can get rolling. We couldn't get the pizza on board, which is a shame. It was damn good pizza. But the beers came with us. We caught some speed and headed out of Cleveland. It was about 8:30 pm. Once you get rolling in a coal car your everything gets filthy. I've never been this dirty in my entire life. You get coal in your eyes, ears, pants, shoes, ass crack..everywhere. This was an amazing train ride. Riding at night is awesome because you can stand up and take a look around. The tracks leave the cities and go off into areas that have no other signs of human life. No billboards, traffic lights or telephone poles. Just trees and open fields. Every so often you'll roll past a factory out in the middle of nowhere. We rode for about three hours and didn't have a clue as to where we'd end up. We started slowing down as we entered an old town. I saw a sign on an abandoned Am-Trak station that read: Erie PA. The train slowed to a point where we could climb off while it was still moving. We ran across some tracks, climbed under a bridge and hopped down onto the side walk. Got a ride the next day.

So that was our introduction to freight-hopping. I'm sure we'll be doing it again. If you're interested in it, make sure you realize that it's super dangerous and totally illegal. Well, it's as dangerous as you make it. I hear horror stories all the time about so-and-so's cousin who got his legs chopped off while hopping trains. My only statements on those things are that those people should have slowed down and not gotten wasted.

Photos will be posted soon on: /http://flickr.com/photos/experimichael/
and http://flickr.com/photos/95749262@N00/

6/19/2007

Hey dudes, Here's an update. First off, hopping freights can be really awesome.

Catching out of San Antonio was super mellow. It took a long time, though. It took us 13 hours. We met a legit pro-hobo (Alien Jack) who knows everything about hopping freights and everything about every yard. He rode with us to Houston. We separated but planned on meeting back up to catch out to Fort Worth, but he never showed at the yard. I think it was because the weather got so shitty. Alien is never in a hurry.

The Houston yard is mammoth and located in a desolate, degenerate area. We got soaked in Houston. We waited under a bridge for about 18 hours. Wet, swatting mosquitoes while trying to sleep on pavement next to two of the worst hobos in the world. This is how hopping freights can be really miserable. No trains were going our way the entire night. Maybe because we weren't in a good place to catch out. Also, because it was Sunday, the slowest day for trains. The two hobos, Junior and Echo, had been traveling for 14 days and they only got from Alabama to Houston...but their destination is Florida. They were total morons and it was clear why they had become homeless. At one point Junior tried to tell me directions: "That's east, and that's south (points in the opposite direction). Yes, that is how stupid they were. We'd be woken up by trains leaving the yard throughout the night and he'd say, quite confidently, that this was our train. Then it would rip by in the wrong direction. I can almost guarntee that they're still under that bridge, smoking cigarettes and swearing in really bad cajun accents.

So, we woke up in Houston, exhausted, filthy and with some strange foot rash. We tried to talk so some rail workers but they didn't provide any help. Then the rain came again as we walked from our spot to a different spot about 3 miles down a road. Soaked again and basically hopeless as far as leaving Houston by train. If you're taking small trains in between small towns it isn't very difficult. But trying to navigate very large distances takes a lot of experience and a shit ton of time.

Three phone calls later we were in a cab headed for a rental car service. We drove our red Chevy Cobalt (with a spoiler) out of TX, through Louisiana, up through Mississippi. We checked out sites and crashed in a motel. Credit cards are awesome. After stopping in Graceland and Nashville the next day, we landed in Cincinnati. I've got places to stay here. We're dropping the car off soon and catching out of here to Pittsburgh on Friday. Hopefully all goes well. So far my tips for hopping are: Give yourself unlimited time. I'd say the average time it would take to get across the country would be three weeks. You spend and lot of waiting around, you walk everywhere, and trains go surprisingly slow. It took us 9 hours to go the distance of a 5 hour car ride. Also, take very strong insect repellent. Maybe even a small tent. If Brandon and I don't have West Nile by now it's a miracle.

Another thing is don't rely on books or websites for information. They help a little, but they're nothing like the real thing. They can't equip you for this shit. Trains can speed up and slow down really fucking fast. I never read that once. Don't plan on hopping a freight unless it's stopped or has just begun to move out of a yard. Last, be prepared for mental torture and try to have fun. You will definitely go crazy very early on. Try to make the best of it. Go with a friend you love and enjoy the insanity.

Through all the shit so far it has actually been an awesome trip. Definitely a different side of life and it will give you a different perspective on society and basically everything else in life.

Well, I'll write again when we've moved on.

Best, Michael

Ever since the last post people have been saying things like "Hey Mike, Are you feeling special today?" or "Anything amazing happen to you lately?" Well, the answer is no and thanks for asking. I hope everyone can relate to what I was talking about, though. I'm sure if you're smart enough you can. (You see, that statement makes you agree with me.)

And now the next time someone says "That movie is AMAZING!" or "Check out this band you've never heard of because they're amazing and if it wasn't for me nobody would have ever discovered them." you'll think to yourself-
"Man..she said AMAZING! I don't like her anymore. I need to go home and blog about it on my myspace page so all 650 of my 'friends' will know how I feel. God, I love myspace. I need this page so I can express myself. This page IS me. From the clever-space limited 'headline' to my strategically placed Top-8 and the optimal use of background and font colors. If I was a website this is what I would look like. Nobody else's page is like mine. Nobody has the same interests as me. Well, at least they don't write about them the way I do. I'm so unique. I'm so happy everyone can see that now. Seriously, did you notice my list of music and movies? Can you think of any bands more obscure and intelligent? Keep looking down til you get to those movies. That's right..'You Me and Everyone We Know' is on there-indie as hell. [indie out the ass. :))<>((: -Shawn] And did you see that I put "I don't watch TV." Because television is a form of conforming and a clear sign that you're repressed. And those books! Jesus..I haven't read a book in four years, but if I did I would read these ones. At least I think those are the ones I'm supposed to like. I'm gonna browse for a little bit. Who's this on 'Dan The MAN's' Top-8? Wow..Another person who doesn't watch TV. Her hair looks cute in the photo she took of herself in her bathroom. I wonder why she looks so sad and serious..like me in mine. Wow! She likes Amelie too? Fucking Radical-Add This Person like now! I've only gotten three comments today. What the fuck is that about? I guess it is only 8am. I hope I get more soon. I might start cutting again. Maybe I'll leave a comment on Malory-WreckingBall's page. I wish I was a myspace heavy-hitter like that. What to comment about??? Something that only we and a few others understand the meaning of. Something cute and insightful but complete empty and meaningless. Got it-Haven't seen you in awhile! MISS YOU! :)-- Man..that was perfect. I feel better now. But I think I need to make some changes to my page today. I wonder where my mom's digital camera is. I wonder how you spell Carissa's Weird in French? Oh, Ice Princess is "On Line Now." God, I fucking hate her so much. She knows she's on my Top-8. Well where the fuck am I? One of my friends that I've only met 2 times better leave a comment soon or I'm gonna lose it. Nothing else is important anymore."

Yikes..That just sort of came out. If you feel bad about yourself after reading this, go buy the new Redman album, get in a fight and be a fucking man already. And fuck you, you all watch TV.

5/31/2007

Why does everyone feel as though they matter so much? Everyone thinks they are just so damn interesting and that their point of view is superior to all other trains of thought. I am also obviously guilty of this. I mean, you reading this right? I have a place for my thoughts to be shared with anyone. It's idiotic. Maybe it's funny sometimes and that's cool. But if anyone ever reads this and thinks "Oh, that's the way it is." stop reading this because that is most likely not the way it is.

Everyone is so diluted with the idea that they're special. Their parents wanted them to grow up with confidence and always told them how pretty their messy-incomprehensible chicken scratch on a piece of paper was. "We'll put it on the fridge for all...three of us to look at." And I'll do the same if I ever have a kid. I don't want some goth pussy crying over a girl he dated for six days. But is there such a thing as too much self-esteem? Celebrities obviously have too much. Then they shave their heads and go to rehab. I guarantee that I drink more than 50% of the celebrities in rehab. And I only drink once a week. Maybe not even that. But beyond those total disgraces, there are so many people who are so damn proud. The tough guys, the pretty girls, the cops, the soccer moms, the investor dads... Why are you so psyched on yourself? What is so unique about your Mercedes? Guess what. They made about five thousand others the same day as yours and about 9,000,000 more of the tie you're wearing. Even your individuality is prefab. Shit, so is mine. The point is that nobody is that much different than a shit ton of other people. You might be totally different than the girl next to you in the check out line, but you're probably just like the guy in front of you.

And another thing..

Everyone I talk to has to tell me about how "amazing" something they're doing is or how "amazing" so and so is. "I saw him last month and he's doing AMAZING!" Really? Is he? He's fucking amazing?! I don't know that i've ever been amazing in my entire life. Felt or looked it. I've certainly never acted it. I'm so sick of the word amazing that I'm going to start punching myself in the face every time I use it. I'm down for being happy. It's no fun to be pissed off, but where the hell is honesty? Man, I'm sort of pissed tonight. This is all based on encounters with semi-strangers. You're real friends don't say something is amazing. They say it sucked because it probably did. It's the acquaintances that you run into that feel they need to oneUp you on a story or try to make you jealous of their life. It's so obvious when it happens.

This is going nowhere.

5/22/2007

everyonce in a while i go somewhere. now im philly an d i ve been here before. its a fine place and there are good places to be. i want to think of something awesome to say. something really good to talk about. well, at least something that people maybe wan tto here. nope. nothing. im watching the second pirates of the carribean. and its just great. ive alreay finished it once, but il watch times two. escaping reality is aparently something that iv'e loved for awhiel now. . it use to be the lord of the rings, then harry potter, now this. anything so far fetched that i cant possibley think about rael life.
not that you gave ti gave agur shit have avhaveh have to have thibngs like htat. what the fuck? how the hell sdidi i spel l l athat correctly ? i've drank a lot.
souls? humans? christians and witches? it's all the same. it's all bullshit. religion is bulshit. if he or she/black or white, but probably white based on his/her priorities,..it's all the same. delusional. is that a sacrafice? am i gnarly now? do i seem like i'll go to hell? if so, don't wrry, because appentently i only have to drin k a margarita, say i'm sorry and spend a sunday at a church and i'm fine. i don't have to go anymore.
that's a waste. tey can't all be wasted, but a lot of them can. who? not sure? me either. i'm confusing myself.
psssh........fuck.. speleed. the fact that you're reading this makes you an idiot...whoever you are.sorry if you've been tricked.

5/16/2007

Tomorrow (Friday the 17th) is the party for the Red Bull photo contest that was a couple weeks back. It's presented by OneUp and going to be held at the Firehouse Lounge on Smallman in the Strip District. I think the winner gets a trip to NY or something. It was a cool contest and I think a lot of people went out for it. From 7-9 it's all ages and from 9 on it's only for the big kids and those with good fake IDs.

5/3/2007

What a fucking week. Seriously..my week was up in the top ten shittiest weeks of my life before today, and now it's climbing further. I'll spare the things going on in the beginning of the week and let you know about today.

I had to make a payment to my credit card. Paying it off, actually, but I had to double check the balance because I had made some recent purchases that weren't on my bill yet (gas, waffles). So I call and my balance is about $400 above what it should be. Somebody got my info and was using my card. They had all my info (don't put a resume online with all your shit on there). I'm not sure how they got my card number but I've been making some strange online purchases lately (books about train jumping, owl pellets). They made purchases at two different places, first at zappos.com and next at some place called Pelican Marketing. I googled Pelican Marketing and it appears that it's a pseudo name for this sex product site (anal jelly, fake fists). I got my card shut off and I called zappos. They didn't even process the info yet. They reported it and nothing really happened with them. Then I call the Pelicans and leave two messages. Eventually a lady calls me back and tells me how she talked to these guys because the billing address and the shipping address didn't match up. They gave her a number just one digit off from mine when they placed the order. She called my credit card company to verify and they didn't catch the difference and they ok'd it. Then she called them back on that number and they gave her a different number to call and they say it is my brother, Shawn Hickey's, number. She called that and talked to..well me..or Shawn(?) they said. So she's all pissed because she's been had and she already sent the package yesterday (off to Canada). So she gives me both the numbers and the address that she shipped it to (definitely illegal). I call the first number and get a voice mail. Call the second one and this asian dude answers. I ask if Mr. Hickey is there and he says "Yes, this is him. Who is this." I say "This is SoAndSo credit card." and the dude hangs up. I call back and say "Mr. Hickey, did I lose you?" He says yes but then he says he is not Mr. Hickey and that Mr. Hickey is out right now. He asks if he can take a message. I say sure, the message is "You are not Mr. Hickey because I am Mr. Hickey. You dumb fuckers used my credit card and I know where you are. I called the police, called my credit card and we're coming for you little fuckers!" Dude hangs up again.

Then I call my credit card and tell them all the information I have. So then I google the address and it's some little baby stroller place. I call and talk to the owner but they moved about three years ago and since then he's got like five calls about the same exact thing. Never from a card holder, though. He was a super nice guy and he even got me the number for the police dept. up there. I call the Toronto police and they tell me it's a shitty little bar at the end of town. But to verify that I am me I have to go to my police dept., make a report then have it faxed up to them and they'll call me back.

Being an investigator is fun.

4/28/2007

I was going through some old photos today and I was seriously laughing out loud. The photos themselves aren't necessarily funny, but the stories behind them are. I'm really glad I started to take photos a long time ago. I would never remember most of the fun times without them. Beer has done a number on my long term memory.

One funny story was when Jurgen, Chrish and I went to SF for a week. It was about 6 years ago, I think. The trip was fun. We skated a bunch and drank and explored. We were staying with my cousin who lived with her boyfriend and a roommate. They're all doctors and had an amazing place on Potrero Hill. We even had our own room. The room shared a wall with the roommate's room and it was paper thin. We'd come home drunk and just be messing around, picking on Chrish and stuff. He had the bad habit of calling people faggots, which he has more recently discarded. "Get off me you fucking faggots!" he'd say. Well the roommate was gay, and Chrish knew that but he couldn't help himself. After he'd say it he whisper "shit..sorry." It was awesome.

Later that week we went to an art opening that probably sucked. They had a cash bar but we bought bottles of liquor instead. Every half an hour or so we'd run across the street to a park. Fill up our cups under a giant pine tree and head back over. I blacked out somewhere between the gallery and home. All I know is that I slept on the sidewalk for a couple hours with roughly $5000 worth of camera equipment strapped to my back. Jurgen and Chrish were busy getting kicked out of parties.

One day we were skating the wendy's ledge downtown. SF if littered with homeless people. So this bum comes up asking for change, and I think we may have gave him a little. Chrish and Jurgen were filming something and I'm just bullshittin' with this dude. All of a sudden I hear a beep coming from him. He pulls out a damn cellphone. I didn't even have cell phone at the time. He says "Excuse me, I have to take this." and wheeled off on his wheelchair. Bums got it made. Did you know they get mail?

I put some of the old photos on flickr.com, but I don't think any are from that SF trip.

There's so many independent videos out now that are so much more better than regular $25 a copy videos. Such as Peter Vlad's Wonderful Horrible Life. This link is so you can watch it for free. Isn't that nice? Arizona has taken over skateboarding for pretty much the last decade and it's only getting bigger and better. New spots are built in that city everyday. It's the fastest growing city in the entire country and they pretty much embrace skateboarding.

I lived in Phoenix for a year. It was a mess, but I skated a bunch and met a bunch of really weird desert kids. I should have stayed but I moved for a girl. They do weird shit to your brain. Like make you move back to your hometown and contemplate marrying them. I'm just kidding. It's not their fault their idiots. It's your friends, though. Seriously, if you get engaged or worse, married, you have only you friends to blame. They should be there for you. They should be there to fuck it up and at least make it really hard to go through with it. Where was I? AZ is pretty sweet. But from April til October you may as well light yourself on fire. It's retarded hot. Not that retards are always hot, but they're always freaking out or whatever.

So...it was nice out today. So nice I didn't get my car washed and skated an indoor mini by myself. I drank a couple Miller Light pounders so I didn't get lonely. It wasn't bad either. Miller Light is ok as long as you drink it first. You can't have a real beer then switch to that sort of shit.

Well I guess I'm just writing because I'm happy it's finally nice out again. I know it's only for a day, but that's hope..right? Not only did that sentence not make sense but it was totally not awesome. I should have stop drinking after the mini. My bad.

Flip Am, Shane Cross was killed in a motorcycle accident in Australia.
Boulala was driving when they ran into a building. Shane died at the scene and Ali is a hospital induced coma until Monday, which means he's in some seriously critical condition.

If you want an insight on some skateboarders and what they're like off the skateboard you should check out Pat O'Dell's Epicly Later'd show on ViceTV. If you're not familiar with Pat, he used to be a photographer for Thrasher but now he's the photo editor at Vice. Vice has a lot of shows on their new web-television invention and Pat's show is about skaters. If you're not familiar with Vice I suggest pulling your head out of your ass.

Speaking of getting familiar with things, have you seen Get Familiar? It's a video by Chris Hall that is well worth buying. It's been out for awhile and most shops have it. Bobby Worrest has a really good opening part. A lot of the music is good. I was pretty bummed when James Craig's name came on the screen, but his part was really good and he skated to an awesome Weird War song. Other sweet awesome stuff is Zach Lyons' part, Casey Rigney's part, Joey Pepper's part, Daewon's part is obvioulsy great and a bunch more. The ender is Darren Harper, who is basically a gangstar. I guess the first time the DC kids met him he was shooting at someone. So he's one of the few skaters who can be legit when acting like a thug. He skates for this super lame company-Famous His part is mixed in with a low-budget rap video which is always, and will always be a horrible idea. It's a tacky ending to an otherwise awesome skate video.

Just got back from LA. Well, it was more Long Beach but whatever.
Um..shit was fun. Brandon met me out there and we stayed/skated with the Toy Machine dudes. We skated, but we really just fucked off for a week. I only came back with one trick and that really seems like enough. A lot of totally amazing shit happened outside of skating.

But skating first: The first night we skated the RVCA ramp until the middle of the night. That is the most perfect ramp. outside of it being completely gnarly, It was really fun. I have all this footage of Josh and the twins killing it but I really don't know how to put it on here. We drank Tecate and creeped around the RVCA offices, checking out all the amazing art they have from their contributers. It's better than any gallery I've ever been to.
We skated that bump to table spot that is so popular these days. It's a super fun spot. Check the Toy Machine site to see Brandon being an enormous help moving it. Also on the site is a video-snap of Josh kickflipping a ditch gap. Man.. you can read up on their site about how completely ruined Matt Bennett got there. It wasn't even a skate slam. The skating was over, he just took a step down into the gap that was full of water, trash, disease and slime. He slid back and then his feet flew out from under him. He even tried to put his hands down to save his face but the sludge was so slippery that they too slid out. He made complete contact with his face to the ground without anything else touching. His three top teeth cut his bottom lip in three dangling pieces. The force also drove his teeth up into his fucking head. They weren't knocked out, they were driven up into his face..gone completely. To add insult to injury he was covered in the grossest filth, that was now in his wounds and his mouth. People didn't even know what really happened. Even minutes after I knew he was seriously fucked up, I could see Austin laughing, because honestly it didn't look bad at all. Once everyone realized the severity we tried to get some water, but all we could come up with was green gatorade. I bet that felt awesome. Harmony stayed in the ER with him for 7 hours. We went and ate really good sushi. You feel like an asshole in that situation, but what can you really do? The next day his teeth were pulled out and I guess he'll be ok. He took the entire experience like a man.
Other than that we just skated some other ditches basically just cruised around.

We checked out The Getty Museum, and it is one of the most incredible places in California. It only cost one billion dollars to make. That amount of money doesn't really seem to exist. If you're ever in the LA area you have to take a day to visit. It's basically like the future.

Other than that it was shits and giggles. There were these characters. Well, these voices....you know what, fuck it. It will sound ridiculous. We drank a lot, lets just put it that way.

The last drinking night there we were at an apt. party that was egged. Yes, you can egg an apt. We kept hearing this cracking sound outside the window. Eventually we opened the shutter to see three eggs smashed against the screen. Then we opened the apt. door to find eggs smashed on the door and the floor. The apt. door went into a hallway, not outside. It was completely strange. I think they found the kid later and he said it was because he wanted to bum a cigarette and people were ignoring him, or something. A lot of kids in California are that stupid.

Shit..that's most of it. Thanks to Grif for having us and Kevin for driving a lot. Check my Flickr for photos.

Shawn writes:

I saw Mike the other day and he's going to L.A. to meet up with Brandon and skate.
Brandon made this spot!:

Here is Bran's flickr page. Maybe he'll put up some more skatestuff from the trip. Mike said he is going to post real soon, keep checking!

this kids ender is ridiculous: Hollarado!

Merry Christmas everybody. We here at the HBS say that. Well me here in my room does. Strong chance that was incorrect english. But you know how some places can't say Merry Christmas because it might offend some people who don't celebrate it. You know..the satan worshipers. Well I'm not afraid of satan worshipers. They're all mean looks and Finish goth metal.
I went to Austin and it was fun. And while I was there I got some videos. So now it's happy super video review time.
First is this video from Portland called "The Pharmacy video." It's a shop but not that other shop in California called Pharmacy. The video is filmed really well and it's got some good editing. The titles are awful..and you know, that's really important. The skating is good too. Not all of it. Some of it is boring, but for a shop video is good. I mean that in a 'I think some of you would like it' way. I thought all the kids skated good but the same, and they sort of dress the same and skate all the same spots. Worth watching not buying.

Right now I'm watching "Boss Angeles" and it is the most typical dumb-fuck South Cali video ever. These kids skate so slow they're almost going backwards. It's all hip-hop which is fine, but it's the hip-hop that you've been hearing all over the radio for the past two years. It's super monotonous and the kids all act like they're in a gang...and the gang is called 'the tough guys.' The only requirements are to be 17 and a total idiot. Don't watch or buy, unless you haven't had enough Cali footage. I just heard "Yeah BOOYYY!!! after three different tricks. Seriously I'm about to barf on the floor and it will look like the Beverly rail. It's almost over and when it is I'm going to watch the newest Black Label video "Back In Black." I know it's been out for awhile but I haven't seen it yet..so I'll tell you my guaranteed correct opinion. Ok the Gross Angeles thing is over. I'm actually smiling now that I can delete it from my hard drive.

I'm about half way through the back in black video and it's good. I think the music is shitty and the editing with all the gnarly slams during parts is dumb but it's got some creative stuff. Now one of their ams is on so I might change my mind. Man..this song fucking sucks and a kid just threw his trucker hat on the ground while screaming..I can't finish it. If you have the old Black Label video just save the twenty and watch that again.

Last is the Traffic video "VIA." One word, really really awesome skate video. No bullshit, really good, creative spots and skateboarding. Good music to boot. It reminds me of an old Cincinnati video. It's short too, which makes it the perfect video to watch before going skating. Local boy Henry powerhouses and Pat Steiner is now on my top five skateboarders list. I have a list under my bed. Neat, huh?

PS. shawn, don't just pick a big crappy font and copy/past this. I use the different paragraphs and this font because I'm a literary genius..who has to use spellcheck.

From Shawn:
Sorry Mike, the shops been mad busy so I didn't have enough hours in the day to get to your post sooner.

speaking of videos: Traffic "Via" dvd is in stock, as well as "Plain and Simple" DVD, a video by Mark Brandstetter, which has lots of Pittsburgh and Philly footage including Kevin Taylor, Nick and Henry Panza, and Jerry Cooper. Don't sleep on this one, the names I didn't mention are even more well known. Support your local scene and come down and buy it instead of being an a-hole and downloading it off some other random a-hole. Peace, I'm out.

It's been some time now..again. I feel sort of obligated to do something. I woke up at 11 today. That's the latest I've slept in over a year. Today is my first day of holiday break. It's so nice out that it feels more like spring break...with less girl's flashing their tits.
I fly into Austin, TX Monday. I pulled some dumb shit because the flights were expensive and booked the flight home from Houston. I figure I can get a ride there. I mean they're both in Texas, how far apart can they be? I don't think I've filmed a trick since the last time I was in Austin. Maybe one and I don't really like it. I need to get off my ass. I need to stop going to Texas. I got the Toy Machine video. I like it. Austin's part is probably my favorite. There is a bonus section with a part from Griffin. That's Brandon's old roommate from Huntington. I miss those guys. I miss that apt. Justin went ahead and made us all unwelcome there one year. It resulted in one of the best trips of my life. No clue where to go or where to sleep. Man, that summer was hilarious. One night Brandon got really drunk and slept at the Huntington park. He was woken up by kids ollieing by his face. Anyway.. Nick Trepasso is a kid I used to skate with when I lived in Phoenix and he's on Toy now. His part is super amazing. Jacked pants and all. When I hung out with him and his brother up he was like 14, so he can only be about 17 now. Does anyone have the Traffic video? Is it for sale yet? I'm assuming OneUp has it. I've been looking forward to this video for awhile now. Everyone loves an East Coast videos. Even west coast skaters. But as an East Coast skater I'm usually disappointed in west coast videos. Except the Lakai video. That's going to be great. I guess that's more global.
What an extremely interesting paragraph.

Party tonight at Chrish's. Come out and get loose. Wear something smoke repellent.