Guy Mariano

We've both spent time away from skating and have come back. I know there are things that I really appreciate about it when I'm not around it and things I really hate about it when I am. Maybe hate is too strong, let's say really find great discomfort in. Did you find this to be true when you started skating a lot again?

Yes I agree. It's like a love / hate relationship. When I was away from skating I would only wish to be in a 10 hour van ride to some random town going to battle a trick just to end up not getting it and then being so sore the next day it would hurt to walk. People might think that's the bad part but to me that's the love. People might think that it's all about the money, the contracts, and the fame but that's the part that I find discomforting. That's the stuff that will pull you away.

This reinforces what Drake Jones told me about ducking out of professional skateboarding: "it feels like a job." For most of us, what this means is 'it sucked having to do stuff and deal with stuff I don't want to do, based off the feeling in my gut.' It's just amazing that this can happen even in careers where the employee is doing exactly what he wants to do, what he's passionate about, he just doesn't like the forum or context he has to do it in as a pro. This has everything to do with how freedom, can be so frail a concept (and how it is an addiction).

GOLF THUG LIFE

This one's for the old man, who is bewildered by the plethora of "No Skateboarding" signs in public domain. Well, turns out, we aint the only vandals.

The 4th Dimension is Mind

This is Elliot Ave from 2 perspectives, North-bound, then South-bound. I bent space and time. Seattle can never get its fill of colorful corners.

Flash Blizzard W/ Flash

Lastnights flash snowstorm was a fun surprise. I enjoy "harsh" weather, just as long as it changes with the seasons. Using a flash in falling snow added a stipple effect to the graffiti shots. Wish it had all stuck around longer than morning.

 Learned this move from Danny Torrance.

 

"And just like that -poof, it was gone..."

Eyes Wide Shut Me Down

First project in class at AIS. I put some solid effort into it, 12 layers/7 channels, and the teacher said, "eh, it was just to get you working, I don't even want to see it."

How could you deny that face??

"Assassination is the extreme form of censorship." -George Bernard Shaw

 "On Thursday, Gabby Giffords rose in the House of Representatives to read the First Amendment to the Constitution. On Saturday, she was gunned down by one of her constituents. Giffords held "Congress on Your Corner" outside a Tucson grocery, something she has regularly done to talk face to face with the public, not all of whom supported her. The interchange of views and information is precious to me, nothing is more symbolic of that than the First Amendment and Giffords' commitment to dialog with her community. Nothing is more offensive to me than efforts to cut that off, the ultimate means of silencing an adversary being assassination. The vituperation we've seen in politics is, in and of itself, a means of cutting off the conversations that are needed to move this society and this nation forward. That the vitriol that has become so common can inspire the weak-minded to physical harm and even murder is something we should be concerned with. Please, we are not Enemies!"

~G Armour Van Horn