Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Me

That's right. I'm next in the line up. First off, to answer Zak's question, I head out of town on Wednesday, July 31. I've got one week left. We need to skate more before I leave... So my part. I'm going to say it at the very beginning, just to get it off my chest. I'm very happy with my part. I haven't been this pleased with my own video part since the first Bolts of Thunder video. Not that I don't like my other parts or wasn't happy with them, but I feel that I pushed myself for this part harder than I pushed myself for the other videos. Bolts of Thunder Gone Wild has a few tricks that I really wanted to get, like the 5050 on the hospital hubba. And I really like the Paris and Geneva footage. But I kind of got tired of filming for the second and third videos and didn't push myself too hard. Especially the third video. So this video was my comeback part in my mind. That's kind of how I felt about it, at least.

I'm not sure what it was. It could have been the massive amounts of olive oil I consumed in Italy. Or... well, no, there was nothing else. Yeah, It must have been the olive oil. So the olive oil breathed new life into me, and I caught a second wind. It's actually more like a 3rd wind, because I had given up on making videos even before Bolts of Thunder was on its way, but I decided to make the video as a final hurrah to filming and ended up making three more videos after. So for this video I really wanted to go out and film tricks. I didn't have a lot of tricks that I really wanted to get, but I just wanted to get stuff. So most of my part is full of tricks that I wasn't planning on getting, but I ended up getting on the fly when we were at the spot. Other people had spots they wanted to skate, an I got a trick while we happened to be there. That's the bulk of my part.

There is one  trick that I've been wanting to film for the last 6 years, and I finally got it. It's the grind down the hubba at the end of my part. That hubba is perfect size to skate, but it has no runway, landing, and is made of stucco. It has never been skated before, so the thing doesn't grind. I've gone there for every video we've made and have made feeble threats of skating it, none of which ever materialized. It is the one trick that I have always wanted to get and has eluded me until now. My Moby Dick, if you will. The white whale, the white devil, the one that bit my hand off and has consumed my life. All those would be suitable titles for the ledge. So what was different about this year? Motivation plus creativity. The first two videos I had the motivation, just not the creativity. The third video I had creativity, not motivation. This year I added them all together and got the trick. I had to open the door to this office building, run through the hall, jump on my board and ollie onto the ledge a split second later then land on a piece of wood before I slid into the grass. It was a quick trick. It honestly is one of the hardest obstacles I've ever skated because of its set up and because I had to wax it over and over in order to make it grind. I wanted to give up after a little bit, but I knew it was my final chance to get it. It took me over an hour of jumping down it to finally get it to grind and to ride away from it. But I got it, and I haven't been that happy about a trick in a really long time.

That was the only trick I can think of that I really wanted to get and got. All the others I didn't get, and I really don't mind all that much. I could have just had the 5050 on the hubba, and I would have been happy.

It's kind of strange when I think that I'm going to be 29 in a couple of months, and I was still able to go out and film a part of tricks that I haven't done before or that I've really wanted to get. I'm glad that I can still flip my board around and that I've got it in my legs. Seeing as this might be the last video we do for a little while, I really put all I had into it, which might not be a ton compared to other people, but it was a personal triumph on my part, and I'm really proud of my part.

I like my songs, too. Pink Floyd, Blonde Redhead, and Ennio Morricone. You can't go wrong with either one, and especially not when you combine them.

Thanks, AJ, Zak, Kenzo, and Rachel for filming my part!

Monday, July 22, 2013

Steve

Steve Roushar. His name is Czech, and that's where he served his mission. Fun fact number one for the post, and it's only been two sentences. Just think of the other treasures this post will hold. Shall we continue?

Steve is the embodiment of Bolts of Thunder. The incarnation of our principles, if you will. He is actually the perfect blend of every Bolts of Thunder team rider to come before him: the double wrist guards, going to grad school to be a doctor, musical talent, married and has a brand new baby, and skills on a board after not having skated for a couple years. I met Steve at the old teen center's skate park, and he divulged his abridged life story to me in 15 minutes. It was at that moment that I saw everything Bolts of Thunder has ever believed in radiating from his presence. I offered him a 6 month Bolts of Thunder contract on the spot, and he signed it. He's been with us ever since, and in standard Bolts of Thunder fashion, he's leaving in a couple weeks to go to grad school in another part of the country.

Although Steve doesn't have as many tricks as the others with full parts, he was still with us during the entire filming. He didn't just show up for a couple sessions and film his tricks then, but he was there for practically every filming session and got stuff when he wanted to. That's how Steve works, no pushing him around.

Steve's first trick in his part, the blunt shuv it out on the bank to curb is my favorite trick of his. He did it so casually and fast that it seemed like we should all be able to do that trick. But we can't. Only Steve can. Ok, I'll speak for myself, at least, when I say I can't do that trick, but Steve made it look way too easy. I also appreciated his grass ride at the end. Steve was way down for grass rides, and that's something I can deeply appreciate. So thanks, Steve, for getting the grass ride.

In Steve's part is also where you'll find the first subliminal message of the video. It comes in the form of Nick's glaring eyes and very faded words. I'm not going to tell you what it says, but I'll let you try and figure it out. I put that there for two reasons, the first being that Steve specially requested subliminal messages in the video, so I felt it appropriate to put the first in his part. Yes, there are others. I'll let you find them on your own. The second reason I put it there is because Steve didn't actually ride away from that line he did. He landed on his board and fell off. But I wanted to use it, so I just cut it off right when he landed and put in him riding away from a completely different line. That's right, I cheated. and I'm not ashamed to say it either. Because neither Steve, nor Bolts of Thunder, which could be considered synonyms, has to prove anything to anyone. We make our own rules, and we tell you all what's up. That's right. What's up?

I'm going to miss skating with Steve as both he and I are leaving this month to grad schools, but Steve, it was so fun skating and hanging out with you!!! Congratulations on your new girl, and good luck with everything! Bolts of Thunder hall of famer, no questions asked...

The rest of the part is the friends that didn't film full parts for various reasons. I like the song and the way it's edited to the skating, and it's a fun part to watch. If you want a full part, film one. And that's all I have to say about that.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Coleman



Coleman represents the innocence and purity that used to be alive and well in all of us but was put out long ago by the reality of life. Coleman has managed to go 20ish years and keep his innocence intact, which is a greater accomplishment than any of of have ever done. His part is a visual representation of what I am talking about.

Filming Coleman was fun and scary. He charges everything without a second thought of consequences, pedestrians, cars, or fellow skaters that might roll in his way, and this enthusiasm can sometimes result in Coleman slamming into objects, other people, or the filmer. Being the filmer, and caring deeply for my camera and my own well-being, I had to constantly be on guard while filming Coleman. When you're shuving a fisheye lens in someone's grill, you should always be light on your toes and quick on your feet, but filming Coleman I was even more on my guard. So considering that I was so cautious while filming him, we were able to get a lot of really fast tricks filmed up close and personal. With that little intro, I will now tell you about Coleman's part.

First off, I'm super proud of Coleman and all the tricks he got! Everyone else in the video had little spurts where they would film a lot in a couple week period then kind of take it easy for a couple of weeks, but Coleman constantly came out and filmed every single week. He had some really good weeks where he got a couple really good tricks all at once, but even in the slow times, he was always filming stuff. It was when he filmed that first line where he front boards the 2 stair rail that I knew he was going to get a part in the video. Before that he had just filmed a couple single tricks, so I wasn't sure if he was going to pull through with a full part or if he was going to just have a cameo in the video. I was rooting for him, so I was super happy when he got that line. Then after he filmed it, pretty much every time we went out skating he would get something or slam trying.

I especially love Coleman's part after the song picks up and it's just a bunch of single tricks filmed really fast and close together. It keeps a good pace, and I think of all the parts in the video his gives you a taste of what Coleman skates like on a daily basis. He skates really fast, charges the obstacle, and pulls it off holding on by the toes on his feet and in good fashion. He's super fun to watch in person, and I think his part does a good job of showing that.

Coleman also picked up the torch right where Nick left it by finding a roof that never should have been skated, using local supplies to make the roof skateable, then riding off that thing. Nick first pulled this off 3 years ago by making Bolts of Thunder history, then Coleman decided to get Nick's back and ollie of an old roof in the rain. He tried it 11 times and never rode away, but that counts as a solid roof drop in my book. That was the craziest thing I've ever seen Coleman do, and I'm super proud of him for doing it.

Besides his last roof ollie and the line with the 2 stair front board, some of my favorite tricks of Coleman include his back tail at the baseball diamonds, which was so beautiful and inspiring that I since have learned that trick, his board slide on the village rail at the end of his part because he almost rode into joggers when he landed, and instead of pulling away from them he kept riding at them to get closer. That reminds me of when a bear stole Dan's backpack while hiking and Dan chased the bear. He got so close that he reached out and I think touched the fur of the bear before it doubled its speed and left Dan behind. When asking Dan why he would try his luck with a bear, he said he just wanted to see how close he could get... Anyway, Coleman's early grab at the very end was also nuts.

I've been writing this entire post while talking to the comcast sales people about my internet bill. They keep trying to rip me off every month by charging me for all this extra stuff, so I have to call them every month. At the end of today's phone call, I will get refunded most of my internet bill for the month. And I will pay more attention to what I'm writing now...

I read what I wrote at first, and I don't think I did a good job of saying what I wanted to say. Instead of rewriting it, I'm just going to say it again. Coleman is awesome, and he's one of the most inspiring people you could ever skate with. Every time I was nervous to try a trick, I seriously kept thinking of Coleman's courage and "if he can go for it, so can I." Literally, if it weren't for Coleman, there would have been some tricks in my part I would not have skated. Coleman is Bolts of Thunder in its purest form with makeshift roof drops, no specific genre of skating or clothing choices, and a drive to go faster. I love his part, and it makes me smile and want to skate really fast every time I watch it. You should watch it again right now then think of what you'll be capable of if you man up like Coleman and charge your trick with pure confidence and speed.

Now, to end this post, I will say something about Coleman the man, not Coleman the skater. He is a true friend, and a good friend. Those are hard to come by in this world, but he's got your back and down for whatever. Even though I'm quite a bit older than he is, hanging out and skating with him is always fun because he's such a nice, genuine guy. This is his first part he's ever filmed, and I'm honored to say that his debut is in a Bolts of Thunder video. Good job on your part, Coleman, and good luck with your mission!!!!

Friday, July 12, 2013

AJ




As promised yesterday, today I will talk about AJ's part. First off, the pictures up top are AJ locked into a solid 5-0 that is so well-grounded on the rail that you would have thought that he simply ollied onto the rail. And that's where you'd be wrong. He kickflipped into that 5-0, and he did it 3 times (I think in a row?) just to entertain you. In the other picture he's wiping what appears to be poop off his arm. We're still investigating as to why the poop was there in the first place and who left if for AJ to play in. Details to follow as they develop.

Andrew James Neuenswander. Or is it John? Can't remember. So maybe that's not his name. But I remembered miraculously 2 weeks ago when I checked out a projector under his name at school. Then we didn't even need it. Anyway, he goes by AJ. AJ's part is the perfect part to start off the video. After that blood-raging board smash that he performed on one of our first filming missions, I knew I wanted him to start off the video. He had last part in the last video, so I wanted to change it up for this video, even though he easily could have had last part. But I started filming with the intention of having AJ first. And I think it worked out really well that way.

In my opinion, this part was harder for AJ to film than Bolts of Thunder 3 in that he had more challenges and obstacles struggling for his time and attention. He had to battle a dislocated collar bone (he received a Purple Heart for this act of heroism. He saved my camera and took one for the team. Sorry and thank you, AJ) followed closely by a rolled ankle, the GRE, Gary (on multiple occasions Gary the cat has ran out of AJ's front yard, resulting in a manhunt for the cat by AJ and Hailey. This requires time away from his skateboard in order to catch Gary and keep him safe from the outside world), and my first born son in order to film for this part. I had a lot going on, so there were some stretches of time that I couldn't film which meant that nobody filmed AJ (I think there are 3 tricks in his part that AJ filmed when I wasn't there: the back lip down the rail and bigspin and bigflip over that flat gap. Every other trick I was there for and I likely filmed it as well). So that was a bit different than our last video where both Matt and I were around to film, so we pretty much had at least one person on filming duty any given day of the week. So AJ had to plan a lot more the tricks he wanted to get and when we would get them. He made a google doc of tricks, and we went through the list and good a good handful of them filmed.

Another difference from this part compared to last part is that I think AJ pushed himself more to get harder tricks. There were quite a few tricks that AJ got that I've never seen him do before, like the fakie kickflip tailslide bigspin out, the 360 heelflip (I don't have the term 'laser flip' in my vocabulary. That and 'tre flip' both don't exist. They're dead to me. Dead.) down the stairs, and the cab back tail bigspin out. I'm sure there are others, but those just came to mind. And the other tricks he got he did them on bigger or harder terrain that was harder to skate. Not that the last video didn't have new or hard tricks, but it had quite a few tricks that are his go-to tricks while this part I don't see that as much. I could be wrong, call me crazy, but that's how I see things.

The front blunt on the long ledge at the end of his part is my favorite trick of his for sure. I never thought I'd see the day that someone would front blunt that ledge. Honestly, I didn't think it would ever be done. It's one of a few tricks that I've ever seen that I really had ruled out as a possibility but then lived to see it. I'm trying to think of some others but I can't. When I kickflipped the bloomington elementary 6 stair way back when I had the same kind of feeling, I didn't think I'd ever do that. Anyway, that front blunt is crazy. AJ tried getting a varial heelflip down a gap and some stairs, but broke 2 different boards trying it, and jumped down these stairs so much that he couldn't walk for a couple days after. Other than that, he got every trick that he went for, which is a really good track record, especially considering the kinds of tricks he was going for.

To finish this post, I'll tell you more about AJ the person. The video would not have happened if it wasn't for his constant enthusiasm for it. This video was quite a bit different for me to work on than the past 3 videos because Matt wasn't here working on it. So me working on a video by myself with everything else I have going on isn't the funnest thing to do sometimes. But AJ always has the best attitude about things and always kept people pumped up to go out and skate. If he hadn't, I honestly can't imagine having been able to go out and film as much as I did because I would have ran out of steam back in February, a couple weeks after starting the project. So everyone should thank him for keeping the video alive when it wasn't so easy at times. AJ is the highest quality of person and friend, and it's a shame there aren't more of him out in the world. I'm super proud of him for getting back up every time he slammed and giving so much effort to filming and making this video. So you should watch his part another time and pay close attention to every trick he does because you will soon realize that he can do the hardest, craziest tricks and make them look like everyone's supposed to be able to do them so easily. Good job on your part, AJ!!!!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Overview, intro


To start off, I'll say that I am so pleased with the way the video turned out. It's funny because a lot of times when I'm working on a project, I'll have an idea of how it'll be, but then it turns into something way different. But this video actually turned out to be pretty close to what I imagined it to be, only the skating was better than I even had expected. This has been the funnest video to work on for me since we made the first Bolts of Thunder video, and the making of this video felt very similar to the first one as well. That's a good thing. In my opinion, it's how making skate videos should be; friends skating together and pushing each other to go bigger and better. That's exactly how it felt for me. I'm so proud of everyone in the video, especially those that came out and tried their best to skate and film. This video is up there at the tippy top of my list of favorite videos I've made(I've made 7, so it's a decent sized list to choose from). Also, I'm so relieved that the video is over with and we can enjoy it now. Life is pretty busy for me and everyone else involved, so having the video out of the way frees up all kinds of time I didn't realize I had, giving me more time to fall asleep face down on my carpet and what not. So, with that little intro, I'm going to start to give you the low down on each section of the video. Today I will talk about the intro...

The intro. Pretty straight forward. I have to thank Dan for the idea for the animation. I wasn't planning on doing any animation at all for the video, just text that said "Bolts of Thunder 4: The Legend of Billy Wayne Michael Duff", and that was it. But Dan said something to the effect that it wouldn't be a Bolts of Thunder video without any animation at all. So I used the title from the first video and just added the 4 and the Legend of Billy Wayne Michael Duff to it, and voila, animated intro. Thank you Dan. The rest of the intro is Bolts of Thunder's reaction to the way many skate videos are heading in these days: artsy and overproduced. I'm not putting them down or saying their stupid or anything, but Bolts of Thunder has never been about perfection on or off the skateboard. When I watch a skate video, I want to watch skateboarding, not super slow motion high def shots of people smiling awkwardly after they landed a trick. Call me crazy, but that's just me. Matt feels the same way. If he were here, he'd totally have my back. Then he'd lie down on his back on the couch, stare at the ceiling, exhale really loud and slow, and then say again how much he hates artsy crap in skate videos. I'd be sitting on the floor, and I'd agree with him. And since we run the show, we don't put up with all the trends you're seeing in your little skate videos these days.

So our intro was our shot at showing that anyone can make an awesome high-def, slow motion explosions going off whilst tricks are performed, followed up by the mandatory 360 flip. I won't say tre flip because that's also a new trend that I don't support. When I'm speaking to an American, I speak in cold, hard English. When I'm speaking to an Italian, I say "tre" in reference to "3". But I don't confuse the two. And don't even get me started on my Spanish skills...

So to make the intro, we had to rehearse in our church parking lot for a couple minutes. I had this idea of how I wanted it to start, so I told everyone what I was thinking, and away we went. AJ provided the sparklers which we barely got to light on our very last match, and Kenzo was given the all-important role of 360 flipper. No, not tre flipper. Don't get me started on why I don't say tre flip... It worked out perfectly, and after a couple practices, we were ready to film. We lit the sparklers, then gave it a shot. It happened super fast, and the sparklers were still going, so we thought we'd try it again. We ended up doing it 4 times, and the second one was my favorite, so it's the one we used.

I wanted to go from this epic slow motion shot with sparklers and choirs singing to an abrupt stop and a violent board smack down performed by AJ. The feel I was going for was similar to the first scene of "No Country for Old Men" where the guy strangles the cop. Just a quiet, harsh, violent scene. AJ had already stomped his board, so we had the footage, then just had to film the first part. In the end, it all came together really well, and surprisingly just how I imagined it. I believe it sets the tone for a good old fashioned Bolts of Thunder video, so it accomplishes its job quite well.

Next time I'll share my thoughts on AJ's part, which is one of the best parts I've ever worked on as far as the quality of skating and tricks put into the part. I'll prep our next post by saying that AJ's part is amazing and you should watch it right now and focus on every trick that he does, because it's mind blowing what he's capable of.

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Premier today!!!!

I write this post with just an hour or so before the premier. This week we've battled everything from broken boards to broken computers in order to finish this video. My computer gave out on me minutes before I finished editing, and we nearly lost everything. But by some act of miraculous wonder, my computer breathed new life just long enough for me to finish the video and get it onto DVD. So there will be a premier today. If you can't make it, then keep an eye out on YouTube for it because I'll put it up ASAP. Good job everyone in the video, I'm so proud of you guys!!!

Monday, July 1, 2013

Last week

Saturday finished our last week of filming, and it was quite an epic week. We all got our last tricks we've been wanting to get, and I've been editing a ton. The premier is this Saturday, and it's going to be awesome. I'll just come out and say it, this video is my favorite since the first video. I don't know if we're supposed to have favorites, but the first video was always my favorite, hands down. The new one has the same feel as the first for me, so I like it a lot. We all pushed ourselves really hard to get our tricks, so I'm way excited to premier the video. So keep an eye out on YouTube for it, and come to the premier if you can! Here are some photos from our last week. And a picture of Jonas for good measure.