Alright the team has narrowed it down to these Top 3 Tricks
Congratulations for making this far.
The Winner will be announced tomorrow – December 20, 2012
Okay here’s the list of who made the Top Ten in The Best Trick Contest
In no particular order
Time for the Team to make a decision on the winner. It will be announced this Thursday.
As the snow starts falling today and the rain has been nonstop for over a month we are all in need of some good summer love. Since it’s a long while away it’s great to have a video like this come out and get us exited for what we got too experience this year. One of my favourite days of the year every year is Canada Day – July 1st. Hundreds of amazing people gather every year on this day and skate Seylynn Bowl for the kickoff of the annual Bowl Series and just hang out.
Steve Denham, Jonny B., Steve Lange, Cuz, Mike Strato, Andy Anderson, Adam Hopkins, Hippo, Bushman, Eve, Dave Boyce, myself (Hippie Mike), and so many more who you are pretty much guaranteed to see every single year. It’s a great time and a great party and tons of awesome skating is sure to go down.
Here’s a Rolling Podcast Video recap of 2012 Seylynn Bowl Series. Late as always, but this year, I’d have to say Perfect Timing!!
Enjoy
They say that December 21st, 2012 is going to be the end of the Earth, that all hell is going to break loose and meteors are going to fall from the sky and kill us all, demolishing the planet we live on. I say bullshit…
In all the years I’ve been alive there have been many times where we are told the whole world is going down. And no one even cares about this prediction, they’re all non-believers. Sorry Mayans.
My favourite threat like this was the Millennium when all technology was supposed to fail us and we were all going to be helpless for weeks and months if we weren’t prepared. Oh we prepared alright, by going to Barbados where we could warm and relaxed and make sure we would enjoy ourselves if we couldn’t utilize technology to survive. Oh no, please don’t trap me on this beautiful island where we have plenty of natural substances and just enough people to share them with. But unfortunately the reality I believed was true and we still had a plane to catch on January 2nd. Now the earth is going to explode? Sure.
Either way I’m going to prepare to go out in style like always.
Join me for the end of the earth on December 21st – 4-8pm at Chuck Bailey Skate Park where I will be dressed as Santa Claus handing out gifts to everyone who shows up for a session in the park.
Rain, Shine, Snow, Meteors…. Don’t matter.
Jaden Easton-Ellett, my partner in crime…
This kid’s still only 18 years old and proven himself quite the man lately, but one of the things I will always recognize about Jaden is how he loves to invent new combo tricks. Back when Jaden was younger and skated a lot more he would dominate in lots of contests just because of his creativity and crazy mentality. He loves to go for it and do things that make you do a double take and ask – “What the hell was that?”
Here’s a new one from Jaden Easton-Ellett that I had never seen done before
Fandangle Blunt to Seran Wrap
I apologize for the language but God Damn, did you check out this latest teaser from One Love Skateboard Shop? Ty Williamson out with some of the most talented dudes around right now all representin’ for One Love – Lanny DeBoer, Micky Papa, Jesse Holland, Jason Wilson and the man behind it all Dan Pageau. It’s a one day session at Mackin Park and the homies were definitely Mackin’!! Phat gaps and tech tricks, you know that’s what you’re seein’, and then Micky takes over on the handrail Street League style…
Just watch it
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Death is all around me, it’s painful. Constant flashbacks and memories of friends and family who I’ll never see again. Reminders of how precious we are to the people who surround us. Tears….
Every day we go through so much struggle, everybody does, Mental, Physical, Emotional, Financial… I’m always being pushed down to the ground and kicked multiple times while lying there hurt. And what do I do about it? Get back up and beg for more.
When life throws shit at you from every angle it shows how strong or weak you really are as a person. Can you continue to just wipe it off, and throw some back every now and then. And how much can one man take before he just crumbles. I consider myself a very strong individual and I have a stubborn mentality when it comes to giving up – I don’t do it. For me it’s about how much I can take before asking for help to overcome it. Giving up isn’t even a question. The question is how do I beat it?
When life knocks you down you gotta get back up.
When you’re crying tears of sadness you gotta think of all the good things you have, and good times you had.
When you are so hurt you can’t move you gotta set goals for getting better.
And when you lose one that you love you gotta look towards the others who love you for comfort.
I have to quote 3 Bob Marley songs this time and they all mean the same thing –
“They made their world so hard, every day we got to keep on fightin’” – One Drop
“So arm in arms, with arms, we’ll fight this little struggle, ’cause that’s the only way we can overcome our little trouble” – Zimbabwe
“Get up, Stand up: Stand up for your rights! Get up, Stand up: Don’t give up the fight!” – Get up, Stand up
All three of these songs are talking about completely different subjects, political; cultural; religious beliefs;, but they all have the same message. Take what you believe and let the world know you believe it. Don’t take shit from anyone, and never back down. Stand up for yourself and everyone who walks beside you. And be yourself every day for the rest of your life.
Thanks Bob
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7 painful years ago today – December 3, 2005 – our friend Lee Matasi was shot down in the streets and killed dead for no reason, all because he voiced his opinion to an ignorant idiot who thought it was cool to carry around a deadly weapon and flash it openly.
I still remember the day it happened and how I was arguing with a young teenager at the Cloverdale Youth Centre while I was working about Gangsters and Guns and fighting and shit like that. It’s so hard to get across to these kids that what happens in movies and on records in the music is not something to think is cool. Violence is not cool, it’s ignorant. Weapons are not cool, there destructive. And murder is definitely not cool, it’s the worst thing you could do. Not only do you end someone’s life without justice but you cause everyone who loved that person to hate – hate the world, hate the system, hate you. During the time I was having this ridiculous conversation with this ignorant kid, Lee Matasi lost his life…
I didn’t know it had happened until Monday when my wife Carrie called me from work crying. Someone had brought in the newspaper and put it in front of her, and there was a picture of Lee with the story of him being shot. I had never cried so uncontrollably in my life up to that point. All I could think of was Why? And How? Why would someone shoot Lee? And how could anybody just shoot someone dead? It changed my whole life. I was already fully against weapons, but this incident made me think twice before stating my opinion about things I didn’t agree with to people I didn’t know. It took away every last bit of trust I had for anyone any more. And it broke my heart to think about how his family had to suffer.
Lee was a great guy, and I’ve written lots of articles about him and what he meant to me, and how he helped to change the face of skateboarding in Vancouver. He is a legend. And proof of that was when we all gathered into the Tunnel called Leeside and paid our respects to him only days after he was killed. Hundreds of people, skateboarders, graffiti artists, and anyone else that knew him joined together in a heartbreaking ceremony to remember the man he was. And not one person in that crowd had a dry eye.
It’s times like that where I believe in the Death Penalty. When you outright take someone’s life away without rhyme or reason and the proof is there, you deserve to die. 16 years of imprisonment without chance of parole was the sentence for one Dennis Robert White, the man that killed our friend. But to me, that’s not enough.
I thank Michelle Pezel at Antisocial Skate Shop for all the I Love Lee Matasi gear they have created over the years to help us show our appreciation, and also Momentum Wheels for the I Love Lee Wheels they made. We all miss Lee Matasi every day. The smiles he brought to the skate park, the crazy tricks he would land first try, and that mellow stoned look in his eyes. And every time I skate at Leeside Memorial Park I give him praise. That place has come so far from when Lee originally found it and we began putting skateable objects down there and it’s a damn shame that he isn’t here to enjoy it. But in spirit he is, and we are with him today and every day.
Rest in Peace Lee Matasi – a hero to so many
you will never be forgotten…
Don’t forget about the Protest Online Best Trick Contest.
Win a huge Prize Pack from Protest Skateboards!!
So far we have lots of sick entries from all over. There’s the Smithgrind to Hardflip by Brendan Nielsen, The Frontside 360 Kickflip by Lanny Deboer, the Godzilla Flip by Mohd Firdaus Tora, the Miller Flip by Allen Handley or the Varialflip Mute by Jonathan Reichert… there are so many crazy ones already. Go to the Leaderboard and vote for your favourites.
Remember that you have until December 17th 11:59pm to have your videos submitted and voted upon. The Top Ten Voted Tricks will move on to the Finals where Team Protest will pick the winner.
Winner will be announced December 20th.
I was just informed by my Mom that my Dad, Raymond James Faux, will be recognized by the Heritage Exhibit at the Banting Farmhouse at Banting Homestead Heritage Park in Alliston, Ontario. The Banting Farmhouse is a public exhibit space which was just restored at the original Farmhouse where Sir Frederick Banting was born in 1891. As a “50 year user of Insulin” my Dad will join a list of others who have reached this historic milestone. Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at age 15 it seems amazing that this chemical balance assisted in his survival for so many years, and I can recall him talking about it just before he passed away, how amazed he was that he had been on insulin for 50 years. Insulin was discovered in 1921/1922 by the team of Frederick Banting and Charles Best at the University of Toronto in a lab space provided by physiologist Dr J. McLeod. Along with biochemist J.B. Collip, they discovered a way to produce commercial qualities of insulin, and so began the battle against Diabetes. McLeod and Banting were awarded the Nobel Prize for their accomplishments and were actually the first Canadians to ever have that honour. Ironically my Father’s Grandfather, Allan Brock, worked as a Lab Technician at the Toronto General Hospital during this time period and actually helped to create the equipment necessary for Banting and Best’s research in the discovery of insulin. A huge connection to my Father’s pride.
It’s a shame that my Dad did not get to experience this moment, but I am very happy that he will be recognized and his story of survival will be told. He was a huge influence on my frame of mind to always push through any battle, set lots of impossible goals, and to never give up on anything I believe in and I hope to go and see the exhibit someday soon.
Raymond James Faux – Hero, Warrior, True Man – Forever Loved
1947-2012
For more information of Frederick Banting and the Banting Farmhouse click the link