Saturday 15 May 2010

thesis?







it's so far away but for some reason i can't stop thinking about it and i get really excited! it'll probably change a lot before my actual proposal (not due for another year) but i basically want to build a jawa sandcrawler in lagos, nigeria. it would be an informal marketplace at the ground level and then maybe some more civic spaces above like a library/museum/whatever. and it'd be all about natural light and shade. gahh i want to do it like right now! jp even said he has family there that i could stay with for sure. i'm worried that this is all just a temporary excitement after reviews, so i'm recording it now so it doesn't disappear. i'm sure a lot of people will laugh at me, but if i'm gonna work on something for a year i better at least be genuinely interested in it..

i should really be worrying about summer, 4th year, etc.

Sunday 14 March 2010

ripoff!




maluca, 2009
gaga, 2010

Wednesday 10 February 2010

my girl since 4eva



wadup kiddo
a rare deviation from rap/hip-hop



i'm gonna head out into the blizzard now..

Sunday 31 January 2010

i ♥ geto boys



it was dark as fuck on the streets
my hands were all bloodied; from punching on the concrete
god damn, homie
my mind is playin' tricks on me

Friday 22 January 2010

this guy

hasn't had as much fun probably since his brother's wedding in '07

: )

Wednesday 20 January 2010

Friday 15 January 2010

fallen soldiers

this isn't supposed to be a shoe blog, but they seem to be occupying a significant portion of my brain right now so whatever. here are just 4 of the countless victims to my skateboards over the years, we salute you..


vans rowley classics
truly noteworthy in their age, these shoes have been on an active volcano in iceland and to the bottom of the rapidan river in virginia. they don't make these anymore (?) even though they had been standards since the mid-90s. my favourite thing about them is that because everything is synthetic you can swim in them, perfect for exploring rocky-water areas without worrying about cutting your feet on glass. despite their condition i still sometimes wear these to the store for their comfort. of course they also skate good, but the soles are thin so you will feel every pebble you roll over.




eS avers
no great stories with these shoes, i got them just because they were black, in the store and looked pretty functional, which they were. simple aesthetics and they skated really well, only problem was the toe-cap wasn't particularly durable for a modern skate shoe, still nice though.




vans TNT mid-top
this is the only thing i've ever purchased on staten island except for a subway sandwich. i don't really know what i was thinking when i got these, i think i just missed my red rowleys that i somehow left in a mall. it takes a while to get used to skating shoes this thin, but if you do it a lot it's good because you can feel the board better. i don't skate enough so i need more padding otherwise my feet kill me for the whole day afterwards.




eS avers (brown)
i wasn't kidding when i said i liked the black ones! tried these out again in a stylish new colourway, main difference being these were suede not synthetic. stronger toecap, but the little hood that's supposed to protect the laces failed much more quickly, leading to the age-old problem of ripped laces every 5 seconds. to skate shoe designers, even in suede shoes, the lace protector needs to be the synthetic stuff, then these would have lasted weeks longer for real.


p.s. i caved and ordered the square ones below : (

new favs

eS Square One Mid-top




Emerica - Heath



ok now i'd return the shoes i got and buy both of these, only 50 bucks each : /
i saw a guy on the subway today with the adidas ones though and they were pretty good, i'm torn..

Thursday 14 January 2010

GTL BABY

ok not really, but with skate shoes i try to follow a checklist
-low top
-flat soles
-black top and white sole

recently in desperation, i strayed from my old ways and am already regretting the 60 bucks i dropped on these guys:


here is a list of shoes i should have bought instead


1. Lakai Manchester
i've had 3 different pairs of these before, and they were what i went out intending to buy but the store was out. they're simple, look good and are surprisingly durable.

if i was feeling adventurous, i could have settled for these:





2. Adidas Dennis Busenitz pro shoe
i'm not really sure how to feel about big companies jumping on to the skateboarding bandwagon (nike, reebok etc) when so many good companies have been around for 10 or 20 years now. the last few months it seems a lot of nyc skaters are rocking adidas, just like the year before nikes were everywhere. trends are one thing but these companies don't need it. however, these were pretty eye-catching because they remind me of old sambas/football shoes. not sure how they'd skate, maybe i'd try to keep them for casual.





3. eS square one
i don't know how yellow crept in here but i dig how these look a lot, and they're based on accels which i skated a lot before, i've had like 3 pairs of those so i know how they skate. i also think they look really good, shame pretty much all the shoes i pick only look good with black pants. and they only last like a couple of months.



i realise these shoes and so many others look exactly the same to most people but for me seemingly slight differences can completely make or break it. maybe i could design a shoe? probably not, i bet it's hard as hell. i like those styles though, new trends are trying to turn it into like dress shoes you can skate which is retarded to me, or they go the other way with crazy colours and over-detailed. EVERYTHING IN MODERATION GUYS.

Thursday 7 January 2010

SoHo in the morning



lafayette and broome street, freezing

Sunday 3 January 2010