Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
It finally happened. After a month of carefree skateboarding around New York, I slammed in the most unattractive way this morning on the way to school. This one is up there with Martin’s fall a couple of months ago. I should’ve seen it coming. Last week I hit a pot hole which sent me flying into an intersection but luckily I was able to catch myself and landed on my feet. Then yesterday, I was trying to squeeze between a car and the sidewalk and was met with the sewer grate which locked my shit up and sent me flying. I had a full backpack on so the weight of it went over my head and almost caused me to do a forward roll but again I was able to stop myself. This morning, I don’t know what the fuck happened. I was pushing along half awake trying to make it to my 9 o’clock class and my board just stopped like I hit something. I slammed shoulder first into the ground, sunglasses and hat flew off, backpack stayed on. I looked to see what caused me to fall but there was nothing but smooth pavement and a gum wrapper on the ground. A passing car stopped to see if I was ok but I grabbed my shit and took off before he could see the look of shock and embarrasment on my face. Got this shiner on my shoulder now and a scrape on my knee and elbow. My neck feels jacked and so does my back. Over 30 skateboarding rules!
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Went to the Mos Def show last night. Didn’t think I would get in because tickets were sold out but on a whim, I walked all the way across town to the Highline Ballroom in Chelsea by myself to try my luck. The effort of walking all that way gave me good karma and I got in. He sang Poison by Bel Biv Davoe and Time After Time as well as some Stevie Wonder. Q-tip from Tribe Called Quest went up and did Bonita Applebum on the spot. The band was pretty tight with their horn section that Mos conducted whenever he felt inspired. For the encore, Talib Kweli came out to do some Blackstar stuff. Interesting non-hip hop feel for a hip hop show. Today I went with my friend Dan upstate to check out the Dia Museum in Beacon, about an hour and a half up the Metro North. The building was an old cardboard printing factory that has been converted into this awesome space. It is very reminiscant of Beijing’s 798 DaShanZi. Sorry no pictures of the space because I could only get pictures where the cctv’s couldn’t see me. I’m too old to get kicked out of places now.I think I liked the space more than most of the art. There were some cool drawings by Sol LeWitt who was I.M. Pei’s draftsman. Only a dfatsman could make those drawing. The Richard Serra sculptures were nice. They may be trite and simplistic to some but I think they are pretty cool. They feel nice and are fun.I heard one guy has died and a couple others severely injured while installing these massive sheets of steel.I thought this was the coolest thing I saw and it was naturally made. A shadow on the scuplture made a nice synergy of the space and the piece.
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I can’t hold my tounge any longer. Ladies, ladies, ladies, please stop the insanity! The sun is out and so are those stupid oversized sunglasses. Look at the picture below. That’s reason enough not to wear these damn things. They should tack an extra 60 days on Paris’ sentence just for wearing those silly glasses. Most guys do not find them cute and unless you are Lenny Kravitiz’s drummer or Jackie O, you most likely can’t pull them off, so just say no. I know it’s hard, every mall in America is selling them these these days, but just try and stay away!Same note to all the guys out there with motorcycles, Harleys and rice rockets alike. Reving your engine to redline at a stoplight doesn’t prove how cool you are nor does it make ladies want to suck your dick it just makes people like me want to clothesline you as you pass by. I swear to God it’s not out of jealousy, it’s because I’m embarrased for you. There are a bunch of nimrods in my neighborhood that are doing this all night long.
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My friend from South Africa sent me this with the following text attached. Read it before you watch the video. Damn, 606 takes! The things you can do with time, patience and lots of money. None of which I ever have enough of. Which if I was buddhist I wouldn’t need, except for the patience. So I guess if I was buddhist I couldn’t make a commercial like this? I don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about. Just read and watch.And you Thought those people that set up roomfuls of dominos to knock over were amazing? There are no computer graphics or digital tricks in the film. Everything you see really happened in real time exactly as you see it.The film took 606 takes. On the first 605 takes, something, usually very minor, didn’t work. They would then have to set the whole thing up again. The crew spent weeks shooting night and day. By the time it was over, they were ready to change professions.The film cost six million dollars and took three months to complete including full engineering of the sequence. In addition, it’s two minutes long so every time Honda airs the film on British television, they’re shelling out enough dough to keep any one of us in clover for a lifetime.However, it is fast becoming the most downloaded advertisement in Internet history. Honda executives figure the ad will soon pay for itself simply in “free viewings” (Honda isn’t paying a dime to have youwatch this commercial!).When the ad was pitched to senior executives, they signed off on it immediately without any hesitation – including the costs. There are six and only six hand-made Honda Accords in the world. To the horror of Honda engineers, the filmmakers disassembled two of them to make the film.Everything you see in the film (aside from the walls, floor, ramp, and complete Honda Accord) is parts from those two cars.The voiceover is Garrison Keillor. When the ad was shown to Honda executives, they liked it and commented on how amazing computer graphicshave gotten. They fell off their chairs when they found out it was for real. Oh, and about those funky windshield wipers. On the new Accords, the windshield wipers have water sensors and are designed to start doing their thing automatically as soon as they become wet.
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I needed air in my bicycle tires, so I thought I’d stop by George’s Hardware which is next door to gr/eats. I rode into the back mechanics shop, and was amazed. Look at this place. It’s filled with parts, broken edgers, mowers, grease, working mechanics, tools, and a floor that’s gritty. There’s four dudes working most of the time, they’re mostly Latino except for Jake, who’s on our softball team. How old is this wood table? Look how far and deep it’s worn down. That’s Jake, and that’s my bike. When he couldn’t fix my mini bike, my dad would bring it here to get fixed. That was probably 25 years ago and the place looked the same as it does now. It’s just a new crew of people doing the same thing, fixing mowers for gardeners. I once saw them working on a go-kart and then test riding it on the streets. One cool thing about George’s Hardware, the dudes working always have a smile on their face, in six years we’ve been around, I have yet to see one look upset.
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