New artwork by Fabian…all we can say is DOPE!
Remember to check out more artwork by Fabian HERE!
- K
Girls with Bikes by Fabian Molina
July 13th, 2010Brandon Calilan
July 10th, 2010
sightRIZE: Tell us a little about yourself.
Brandon: I’m a 23 year old skateboarder from Vallejo. I’ve been skateboarding since 1999 and have loved it from the first day. I’m Filipino so I have a strong sense of family, and when it comes down to it my family and friends are the motivation behind my skateboarding.
sightRIZE: What made you get into skateboarding?
Brandon: Back in middle school, one of my friends, Ryan Atienza, was doing kickflips and frontside boardslides and I thought to myself, “Damn, I wanna do that too!” This was back in 1999, so you could say I’m in it for life.
sightRIZE: How has Vallejo impacted your skate style?
Brandon: These days everybody wants to look good when they are doing what they do. In skateboarding, style matters too. The fact that you can make a normal trick look great is one of the best things about skateboarding, but it comes from repitition and a lot of practice.
sightRIZE: You mentioned you were starting to tour, where are some spots that you are definitely going to film?
Brandon: The Bay Area in general is like a mecca in skateboarding, with people coming from all over the world to skate local spots that we sometimes overlook. There’s really good spots in SF and the East Bay, like Emeryville, Oakland, and Berkeley. Oakland and Richmond have new skateparks that are really good, just make sure you bring the crew!
sightRIZE: What is the worst injury you have sustained while skating?
Brandon: I tore my left ACL last summer in 2009. The shit hurt so bad that I couldn’t skate for 2 months. I still feel it to this day.
sightRIZE: Complete the sentence, skating is…
Brandon: my first love, my passion, and my release.
sightRIZE: If you had to choose a brand to sign with tomorrow, what would it be and why?
Brandon: Nike SB. They have a great skate team and their shoes are the most functional. And their colorways are crazy!
sightRIZE: A day in your life is…
Brandon: Waking up, drinking some coffee or tea to get the blood flowing, hanging out with my dogs for a little bit, going skating with my boys at the Vallejo skatepark, coming home and eating, maybe working out, then going to sleep!
sightRIZE: Your favorite deck you’ve owned?
Brandon: My favorite has to be the first pro board I ever owned, a Birdhouse Tony Hawk. Signed by Tony Hawk.
sightRIZE: Short and long term goals?
Brandon: I’d like to move out of my parents’ house and keep skateboarding no matter where I’m at. For the long term, I’d like to have my own place but keeping all my friends and definitely still skating.
sightRIZE: What do you feel about todays skate culture? Is it irritating to see the many people that stamp the word “skater” on themselves without actually being able to skate?
Brandon: Today’s skate culture is crazy! Fashion is really coming back to like it was in the 80′s, and style is a big part of it. People want to express themselves, but I think they get confused when they try to be something they’re not. Just go out and be yourself. Nobody likes a poser.
sightRIZE: Anything you’d like to end with?
Brandon: A big shout out to Khang, the man behind TES who was cool enough to put me on. Anshil, the man behind the lens who takes great photos, and everybody for letting me do what I love to do the most: skateboard! TES ALL DAY!
now that’s cold
July 5th, 2010so Usher performed here in Taipei last night and we managed to get good tickets. Man had I known that they allow cameras in the concerts here I would have brought my Panasonic, but I had to settle for the quadcamera app on my iphone for the best shutter speed.
The crowd didn’t know the lyrics to his older songs and so after Usher got the hint when holding out the microphone and no one could sing along he looked sad and said, “those were classics”. Also, he sweats a lot; every time he did a spin move in his dance routines three ounces of sweat would fly from his forehead and hit the dancer next to him. But it was an awesome concert and Usher lives up to the hype from his multi million dollar music videos! He would lift up his shirt just a little and all the cute Taiwanese girls would go AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
SEASON 2 is ready for PRE-ORDER
June 27th, 2010Hello everyone,
Season 2 is ready for pre-order! This season revolves around Freebot, a junkyard robot that befriends a young boy. The boy helps him rediscover his humanity, and slowly rebuilds the Freebot into the man he once was. Freebot becomes empowered once again and his choice to become human is depicted throughout the collection.
All our art this season was done by our friend Fabina Molina, and we’re really happy with all the work he’s done! Thanks to everyone for being patient, and we hope you like our shirts!
Keep reading!
-K
Alaska Pt2
June 27th, 2010Before I left Seward, I had this Green Chili Burrito.
It was the perfect meal to get me back on the road again.
I tend to get motion sickness on trains when I look outside, so for 8 hours I was looking at this ceiling while people around me looked at me like, “Aren’t you gonna look outside, there’s a Moose!”
But instead, I did this.
Then I got a little bit more daring ran to the back platform of the train, and snapped this pretty shot of the Alaskan rails. Oh and my run to the back of the train resulted in me vomiting off the platform and onto these rails. The rails didn’t look as pretty after that.
I stayed here in Denali. A pretty clean cabin with a small cafe inside, considering Denali is a national park, this was quite impressive.
And since Denali is a forest type environment. All sorts of flying bugs approached me as soon as I left the commercial area. I learned that Cutter makes a damn good insect repellent, it saved me quite a few bug bites.
Got the opportunity to go on a glacier via helicopter, it’s definitely an experience of a lifetime.
That’s water straight from the source. I wanted to drink some, but the pilot strongly advised against it since it could contain snow worms. Thank god we have purifiers.
Fascinated by the helicopter experience, once I got back on land I wanted to see more glaciers. Someone recommended this 9 mile glacier hike that takes you right to the tip of a glacier. I went, and the glacier welcomed me with this.
Alaska is a trip one should take if there is a wish to see the true non-commercial United States. I personally highly recommend everyone pays a visit there, there is something eye catching enough to satisfy everyones interests.
Usually I dislike landing during late nights. My flight back to San Francisco landed around 10, but after not seeing darkness after 8 days due to the fact Alaskan summers are always illuminated by the sun, you can bet I was happy to see that the sun finally went down.