it’s raining

hey its raining!!

Congratulations to Jason!

Congratulation to OPEN skater Jason Park. he won the Hawaii stop on the Element 2010 International series.. he will be flow to cali later this year again all the other winners. he will slay it for sure.

OWLs are designed to kill

we got a new product in at OPEN hq. check it out, and pick up one via the website!

rehabing getting psyched!

ok rehab seems to be going good. though i’m pushing it. going all out!
to help, got to watch awesome skate clips. so here are some selects.

friends: lesque

homies across the big pond, Lesque. have a set of new decks designed by OPEN designer Ian Lynam.
check em out.

priceless

there are a lot of part in a skateboard, that a lot of people don’t talk about. mainly hardware. there is a product i love endlessly, that no one talks about. what are they?

Dooks shock pads. you find them under the riser pad section. but they are not riser pads. they are soft. so once you bolt down properly. these guys may.. MAY add a 16th of an inch.
what do they. once i started using them. i don’t get vertical stress cracks anymore. witch has lead to longer board life, and longer pop life.
there is no other option, so i can’t compare dooks to anything else. they smoosh under my truck. i don’t notice them. and stress cracks around my trucks are gone.

a good stocking stuffer to say the least.

the department

i’m a pretty banged up person. who isn’t who skateboards. i went to the dept. of skateboarding in PDX this evening. its mostly wood.. with graniet ledges. the few. and some serious steps. like the big three. being someone who only started skating again in nyc, last winter. skateparks are something i have never known. its weird. i don’t get the flow. it seems to be best suited for people who spend the most time there. verse just general skating. if your use to that wedge to gap, your use to it. i had to take my stacks. (witch are getting painfull cause i keep falling on the same knee, and lets not even talk about my foot!) and i feel dumb and stupid.
the feeling in the park is its less dangerous and safer. and you can rip all the time. when a park is totally new. this is not the case. atleast for me. i went in with confiendence, and by the end was well shook up. because of my bad foot. i couldn’t trust my pop. witch only lead to slams. witch only lead to less trust in my pop. and etc. on it goes. im not saying parks are bad. but right now. they are not as relaxing as a solid street spot. but i’ll be back. and i’ll win.

by the way. the guys at cal’s pharmacy are great. what an awesome small shop.

away

i’ve lived in the same place for so long. being someplace new with no tour guide is more alien then all my times i’ve flown in to japan. i dont get the NW culture, and people can just tell im from out of town. and, im lost, all the time.

i went to cal’s pharmacy, witch i guess is different then cal’s skate shop.
but cal’s pharm, and the dept. of skateboarding is really close to where i am staying. so i am sure i will be there a lot.

portland, in just 2 days of biking, seems like spots for miles. from gnarly, to just small manny pads. i am sure people would say the same about nyc. probably something in knowing the area, and how people react.

i hate being in a new place. but once i get my bearings i love it. so here’s to hope. oh, and maybe i can score some tribute rain drop 53s. ha.

are we getting fat?

not me. you think i would just sitting for 6 weeks. but i don’t work like that. anyways. no, whats getting fat are our skateboards! and its not subtle. even i put on some .10th of an inch.
i don’t know a single person who hasn’t gone up a size in skateboards decks. when i started the year, it seemed like most people i knew skated on 7.6″ wide skateboard decks. 7.6s were pluntifull and we were all happy. now. not even a year later. most companies are only releasing maybe one 7.6 model, and many 8 + inch decks. and people seem to be loving it. what happened? feb.. 7.6s and skinny low trucks. now. 8″ and wide hi trucks. skate videos don’t seem to be any different, though most videos have been shot over the last couple years. not this summer. so whats happened? why is this happening? i know i was more “comfortable” moving up to the 7.75″. and i get that from other people on the 8″. but, i don’t really know. why did you change deck size. and don’t be telling me. “oh, i always have ridden 8″s”..

delays

where am i? (i don’t need a screw yet) here i am. my foot is still broken. really close to having to have a screw put in. ewwww.
open sk wise. we are still waiting on sougwens deck to get done. then they will go out to distro, and so forth. otherwise, we are working on custom bolts, tshirts, and lots of stickers!
a small web update has happened. but its small to say the least. since my foot is broken, not much is happening. and i am shooting all my film analog. so once i finish off my last roll. the i can make a full report on itoshin from lesque skateboards short visit to nyc. maybe i’ll have some new stuff to post!! keep staying in touch.. we’ll get this shit rolling sooner then later