I got a lot of hits on my video from this polish wake site a while back, so I clicked to check it out…

And this is the awesome translation I got from Google:

Haha. Poland!

The history of ski aerial acrobatics! This is awesome. Thanks for the vid ISO50, couldn’t help but to share it. I think we can all get a little inspiration out of this one…

When I was younger I wanted to grow up and have a house with stairs like this. Good too see someone else is on the same page. I never though I’d actually see them in existance. And maybe a handrail that hangs from the ceiling. Some days I think I should have followed whats embedded in my genes and go the architect route. Thanks Ffffound.

Imagine being constrained to the walls of your empty room for the rest of your life…when you should be out exploring the world. You would go crazy too. I understand his chances of survival are slim, but at least he would be free! I’d take the risk, without a second thought. I imagine Sea World doesn’t want to take the risk because it will cost $$$. Not only to transport him back to the ocean, but then to adapt him back to the wild, then to replace him. But if they really truly cared about these animals, they wouldn’t cage them up. Set him free! A few interesting killer whale facts:

- Killer whales are capable of swimming 100 miles in a day.

- Tilikum is the largest Orca in captivity, measuring 22ft 6in long, weighing somewhere around 12,500 lbs.

- The life expectancy of a killer whale in the wild is 50 – 60 years for males, and up to 90 years for females, however, killer whales in captivity live less than 30 years.

- Wikipedia quotes: ‘Wild killer whales are not considered a threat to humans, although there have been cases of captive killer whales attacking their handlers at marine theme parks.’ Interesting.

Some more interesting facts & details can be found at the Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society…

Check out this great article by Ric O’Barry from The Cove, expressing his thoughts on Tilly and Sea World…

I just wrote an article about the ‘trick board’ hanging on the wall at the Conway House on Alliance Wakeskate…check it out here.

Thanks GSG. Really cool effect. Still looks really crappy in vimeo, not sure what’s up with that but I’ve got a cleaner version on my own server here. I think I like it played better in reverse than normal. Lot’s more playing to do. I need to work on this lighting rig, and loosing some grain. More layers! One giant glossy jawbreaker coming right up…

After two years of being stuck primarily building websites, I’m working on getting my 3D and AE chops back. Thanks to GSG for some great tutorials. Here’s a little screen grab of today’s render which should be done in a few hours…

Browsing ffffound for some daily inspiration, I came across some branding for an action sports photographer based in Salt Lake, which led me to his blog. And the first post of his blog had this amazing & unique snowboarding video…

Really cool concept that gets me excited about other possibilities, and a whole new approach. If you are curious on the making of, read the subtitles on this making if vid:

I live in a nice neighborhood, on a fairly busy road…front door facing the street. Last Thursday mid-afternoon someone kicked our front door open and welcomed themselves in during a two hour window no one was home. They picked up a couple macbooks, sorted through a few things. Then we are left to assume they opened a bedroom door to find an angry bulldog that scared them out, 2 macbooks in hand. I am so, so very lucky neither of those computers was mine. However some of my roommates not so lucky. I would have lost tons of freelance work to say the least. Maybe even my new camera. I don’t have renters insurance, or any kind of mac anti-theft program, or recent back-ups of anything really…well I sure do now.

Point being, let this be a reminder. Back up your stuff! Lock your windows and doors. Don’t leave precious items in plain view. Be cautious of who you let in to your precious home. In almost every case the person that breaks into your home is someone you know. Or a friend of a friend that’s been there once before. They know what you have and don’t know you well enough to care about you, and your precious things. Someone’s got some realllly bad karma headed there way.

First go with the 7D…

Playing around with some more Mograph 2, thanks to some help from GSG. I’m not sure why it’s playing so crappy on Vimeo. I’ve tried a few different things. I guess I need to upgrade to Pro…soon enough. You can check out the FCTN animation clean and crisp here on my own server.

Ally from TID had her HD GoPro Hero shipped to the Conway house while she was in town and it showed up at the door a few days after she left for Canada, so she left us in charge to test it out for her…

It’s awesome! I am half tempted to just buy it off her and get a new one sent her way. We’ve only taken it out for two test runs, one overcast set and Danny took it for a few laps on the dirtbike track. This sucker is actually going to help dial in kickflips. It’s cool to see frame by frame from your angle, and where things might be going wrong. As soon as the sun comes back out in Orlando Keaton and I are jimmy-rigging it to a boom and shredding doubles. Woooo! Thanks Ally!

Learning Mograph 2 in C4D thanks to Grey Scale Gorilla. Check out GSG site for some great tutorials!

I’ve wakeskated maybe 4 times in the last month and a half as opposed to everyday. Between going home for Christmas, freezing weather in Orlando, being sick, and spending lots of time in Tennessee for work…I haven’t really had a chance to ride. However, when you live in the mecca of wakeboarding it’s hard to take a break, and breaks are necessary. So I suppose I wouldn’t take one if it wasn’t forced. Either way I am siked (I just tried to spell that ‘psyched’ haha) to go back to Orlando and shred every single day. More than anything, I’m pumped to ride some dirtbikes! With my biker gang friends of course…

I’m in the sweet state of Tennessee. Nashville, the country capitol of the world. Too bad I can’t stand country. Everyone is really nice here, and I’ve never been called ‘baby girl’ so many times in my life. Most of Fiction is working up here for the next month or two, working on our sweet Tennessee accents. We even have a temporary townhouse which includes a mandatory work-out every afternoon. It’s cold here. Bone chilling, long johns under the jeans kind of cold. I can’t escape it.

Tomorrow is a big day. Mark it down. I’m finally buying a nice camera. Photography is essential to graphic design. Remember that. I’ve always been town between buying a nice video camera or a nice digital camera, and finally I can get the best of both worlds all beautifully packaged in one Canon 7d. I’m probably going to need to revamp this blog to fit big pretty pictures and some high quality video! Lot’s and lots of great stuff to come. Can’t wait!! In the meantime I got my hands on Chase’s Mark II for a hot minute and snapped this photo out of the jet window on the way to TN…

2009 is gone already?! Where does time go? I want to find that place and soak up all the minutes and hours that slipped by too fast…

Highlights:

- my trip to Rome

- Landing my 1st kickflip

- Receiving and riding my 1st Integrity Jenny Danger which I created the graphics for with a picture of my gorgeous grandma.

- 1 year anniversary

- Nor Cal Convergence 8 & 9

- 1st Place at Worlds & WakeGames

- O’Neill, Vans, & Pro-Tec

- Throwing my first event/gathering: Girls Ride Day

Lows:

- stolen car (again. 2x)

- saying goodbye to Poppy

- getting wrecked

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I’m sure the list could go on & on. Pretty crazy I know so many great people that passed away in 2009. However, for every person I know that passed, I also know of a baby that was born…pretty impressive how the world goes round. It was a great year, and 2010 has even more to offer, most of which will be a surprise. Fiction’s headquarters is almost done being built and we will be moving in February! We’ve got our hands full with a new project, and got into lots of music goodness last year. I’m hope to keep pushing the women’s side of wakeskating in the right direction. Here’s to 2010!

To-Do List

Pay 2008 Taxes

Win Lottery

Crown the pirate tooth

Pay off half of credit card

Over pay student loans

Buy plane tickets to Reno for Nationals

Purchase Camera (7D ?)

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That’s a pricey to-do list. I have several to-do list’s. To-Do to make money, and To-Do with the money. After 5 years of an implant post I finally have a tooth, instead of just a metal rod. For the same price as a new tooth, I could have bought a Canon 7D. C’est la vie. I get to relearn how to eat with my whole mouth instead of just one side…now that I have a full set of teeth, hah. Most  problems get more expensive given time. I’m patting myself on the back for rearranging my priorities from needs to wants. It’s tough. At this rate I may not have a camera for a loooong time. Given several months a priority rearrangement may be considered to bump the camera up a few levels. Now for task #1. Before it’s 2010. Or maybe  #2 will pay for it all? Did I mention I dispise money? I vote we go back to the barter system. Even though that’s primarily what I seem to do anyways…

A t-shirt design that never made it to the press and a neat little remix…

I stumbled upon Mark Weaver’s site today…you might want to stumble over there yourself. Some really cool work. I think its the simple shapes, classic objects and colors that draw me in. I’m a fool for simple geometry and lines…

I’m trying to get my brain out of the coding mess and back into more design and creative realms. The easiest way is some good old tutorials to get the blood flowing in the right direction again and fuel some creativity…I hope this blog eventually turns into a mess of graphic experiments.

Girls Ride Day was a success! This is the first event I’ve put together and I hope to do several more. This kind of grill & chill & wakeskate fun environment is so key for the progression of the sport. Fuel the progression, give it a place to live and breathe. Be the catalyst. Check out the video P.Wie made on Alliance of Girl Ride Day. There’s also photos and a write-up on The Projects site and Throw It Down. Thanks to all the girls that came out!

Big thanks to The Projects, Nike 6.0, Pro-Tec, Skull Candy, Integrity, and Rockstar for making this event happen!

Chase’s Washed Out video made Pitchfork’s list of top music videos of 2009! Congrats Chase, and Fiction.

Also…Charles (Fiction’s Creative Director) whipped up some sweet show visuals for the Viernes show last weekend. I missed it to due the Crash-O-Rama, but I heard it was great! Luckily we can still see pieces of the show visuals on vimeo:

Poppy. My grandfather was a real character. He knew how to make quarters cry, and rub them into his elbow until they disappeared. A true child at heart, the gray hairs didn’t fool him. He was passionate about all the beautiful things in life. He was an artist, an architect, and as far as I knew, a magician. His smile and laughter will be missed, but never forgotten!

<3

FCTN.tv — 4th Quarter Update. We’ve added some new projects, don’t forget to peek at the Play section! It been a good month for music, Chase and Charles are blowing up. Check out all the music news goodness here.