Updates (2015 Archived Post)

The Mob Rules DVD and Photo Book is now available!

Over the last few months I’ve had no time to blog because I’ve been so busy. The Mob Rules was in its final stages, and we made many long road trips to get last minute footage, many of us going broke resultantly. I quit a well paying full time job to focus solely on the skateboarding. At some point during the long filming missions, my DSLR body died, leaving me only with the HVX. Not having use of a fisheye lens, alternate angles, and good low light capabilities proved to be a real pain in the ass as some of the best tricks went down. Meanwhile, I was spending entire days in court with Corey because I was a witness to a frivolous case a dishonest lady relentlessly pursued. He was found not guilty, of course.

Early mornings rolled into late nights as I edited the video and photo book with a deadline approaching. All nighters were pulled editing in order to have the DVDs ready for the premiere, all the way up until deadline-morning. I felt extremely sick for the next couple days. Then the photo books arrived from the printers completely wrong, badly printed and bound like a calendar, not a normal book (seriously, WTF). It took another monumental effort with the printers to get the books corrected in time for the premiere. Eventually it was all said and done, the DVDs and books in hand, and the venue of choice being rented out—although quite expensively and all at my own cost.

“Beers, bros, and skateboarding,” as Eric would put it.

On the afternoon before the premiere, we barbequed by the skatepark—which was of course closed to skateboarders that day. In typical fashion, we hopped the fence to the once-public park when it closed, anyway. The premiere went off wonderfully, and the venue was more packed than we’d ever anticipated. For everyone, including those featured, it was the first time they’d seen the whole thing. I’ll never forget the electric atmosphere, all the hype, and the amazing feeling of seeing all of our efforts culminate on the big screen.

The Mob Rules was done, and the flurry of nonstop work in the last months was over-but not for me. My plan, all along, had been to finish the video and move to Seattle, Washington with my girlfriend, Breanne, as soon as it was over. So we spent the next week getting ready to go, throwing out 21 years of garbage and packing what would fit into the car for the 18 hour drive. Then we left, meandering up I-5 in 106 degree temperatures, arriving a couple days later. We found a nice place to live overlooking Lake Union and took an extended vacation, visiting everything around Seattle, notably the amazing Olympic Coast. After so much work and nonstop effort, this break—creatively, mentally, and physically—was much needed.

Breanne, high tide on the rugged Olympic Coast after a 4 mile hike in.