Skate Geekout: Marc Johnson

Oh yes. A few years ago I got a skate video called Modus Operandi. There was a part in there by Marc Johnson that straight up blew me away. You don't have to watch all the videos I'm going to post, but the first minute of this video is definitely worth your time.



This video also introduced me to Built to Spill. I still love this song! Marc's parts have solid music, which is definitely important to building a quality vid part.

Marc skates with an incredibly smooth style while being truly innovative. When this part came out, just about everyone was skating big handrails and jumping down stairs. Marc did a little bit of this, but it was everything else that impressed me. Just a huge bag of tricks that he made look good.
Personality matters a lot when in skateboarding. I liked Marc, not just his skating. He is a bit of a flamboyant goofball at times, yet is shy to fame and seems fairly intelligent.


And then there were my Marc Johnson Emericas. These were probably my favorite skate shoes ever. They lasted a hell of a long time and had ridiculously good feel.

After Modus Marc became my favorite skater. He released a couple bro videos, Tilt Mode and Man Down, and then helped start Enjoi Skateboards with most of that crew. Enjoi has ridiculously absurd ads that are not about skateboarding at all. Good company.




Not long after helping to start Enjoi, Marc left to join the Chocolate Skateboards. Chocolate is sister company to the Girl Skateboarding Co. The two companies and their teams are widely considered among the best in the world. Their videos have rocked my world. Marc had a part in Girl's 2003 video Yeah Right.



More recently Marc has been working on his video part for his new shoe sponsor, Lakai Footwear. Lakai has been working on the Fully Flared video for the last four years, and it is the most highly anticipated skate video in years. Among a number of skate legends, including Eric Koston, Mike Carroll, and the return of Guy Mariano, Marc got the coveted last video part. The video premiered less than two weeks ago and hasn't been released to stores yet.

Even so, everyone in the skate community is talking about Marc's part. And today it was announced that he was awarded Thrasher Magazine's Skater of the Year award. Thrasher's SOTY is skateboarding's ultimate recognition.

The State of Scandinavia

From the centre-right Norwegian daily Aftenposten: "Norway's New Underclass"

"Thousands of people, most of them immigrants with no legal right to be in Norway, are believed to be working in the country under conditions that some experts describe as modern-day slavery.

Newspaper Aftenposten has been running a series of stories describing the lives of many members of the country's new underclass of illegal immigrants. The vast majority sought asylum in Norway, were turned down, but have avoided deportation.

Most are hiding out all over the country, in friends' homes, basements, churches or makeshift shelter. With no legal right to work, and lacking the state tax card necessary to obtain legitimate employment, members of this new underclass are vulnerable to exploitation.

That's because there's a pressing need for labour in Norway, and work abounds. Some employers are as willing to "hire" illegal immigrants at wages well below scale as the immigrants are willing to work.

Among them is "Ziad," a 32-year-old Palestinian who grew up in a refugee camp in Lebanon. He's been living underground in Norway for seven years, ever since his appeal for asylum in Norway was turned down. He sleeps on a mattress on the floor of an Oslo cellar along with six other illegal immigrants in Oslo, and is in constant fear of being seized and deported.

Ziad worked long days for a vegetable dealer in Oslo, also from the Middle East, who regularly abused him and paid him small change. But even that helped Ziad eat, since he's constantly desperate for money. The job ended abruptly when the vegetable dealer replaced him with a family member.

Such stories of desperation are repeated from Kristiansand to Tromsø, and have included a couple who even had a baby girl while hiding out. They're constantly worried her crying will attract attention and reveal their location in a small mountain town."


On a somewhat related note, Norway has slipped from number one to number two in the United Nation's Human Development Index. The HDI ranks nations on the basis of life expectancy, literacy, standard of living, and education.


Amnesty International has accused the government of Denmark of direct discrimination against recent immigrants. Here is the story from the Copenhagen Post: "Amnesty Accuses State of Discrimination

"The human rights watchdog has criticised the government for giving lower social benefits to new immigrants

Amnesty International published a report today labelling the government's controversial Start Help benefit, discriminative and causing poverty and blaming it for marginalizing immigrants.

The benefit, paid instead of the regular state income support, is for unemployed people who have not resided in Denmark for seven out of the previous eight years.

The amount is DKK 11,968 monthly before tax for a family of two adults and two children - an amount lower than the EU margin for poverty.

The start benefit is significantly lower than that of the normal state income support, which amounts to a monthly minimum of DKK 21,672 before tax for the same sized family.

Amnesty finds the benefit directly discriminative as it is primarily given to immigrants and refugees. In 2006, 94 percent of recipients were people with non-Danish backgrounds.

Stinne Lyager Bech, author of the report, emphasised: 'Even if the Start Help benefit was intended for all, in practice, it affects foreigners, and that is illegal.'

She also stated that the legislation was not in accordance with international human rights standards.

'Start Help is an example of discrimination that the Danish state is directly responsible for,' she continued. 'It must therefore be abolished.'

Ida Elisabeth Koch, senior researcher at the Institute of Human Rights, reiterated that the benefit affected Danes and foreigners differently.

Similar cases had been taken to the European Court of Human Rights where it was possible for Start Help recipients to sue national states on charges of discrimination.

The newly appointed integration minister, Birthe Rønn Hornbech, did not wish to comment on the outcome of the report.

However, Karen Elleman the integration spokesperson for the prime minister's Liberal Party, said: 'Start Help is a loving push in the right direction - results show that recipients are more motivated to look for work or enter a study programme.'

that is a wrap

Its been a while since I really updated about whats going on over here.

SUST 07 is done. Last night our group went on an overnight cabin trip in Nordmarka. We are home and the semester is officially over. It was a good trip, with a couple nice hikes through snowy forested hills. Tim made a reindeer stew last night and this morning we had a good American style breakfast. We had a cozy fire inside and a toasty bonfire outside. A few drinks, some cards, some stories.

I am very glad it is over. This semester has been very difficult, and I am really looking forward to a new semester of TAing now that I have more experience. For the next couple of weeks we will have semester wrap-up work and some prep for the spring, and then I have about a month off for vacation. Cate arrives on the 23rd of Dec for two and a half weeks. yes.

We won't receive student evals for a couple weeks yet, until they've been compiled at HECUA and sent back. I am VERY much looking forward to reading them, though I know it will be a stressful and difficult process.

The last few weeks have been pretty busy. I've been enjoying more of the cultural life of Oslo and further developing friendships. I made it to a couple films during the Oslo International Film Festival: Bomb It and I Love Hip-Hop in Morocco. I especially recommend Bomb It, which is a great documentary about graffiti. It looks at its development, its different styles including culture jamming, and also covers several continents. Trailer here.

I made it to another show at the John Dee. This time a Norwegian bluegrass band, Ila Auto, that was surprisingly excellent. Folks were dancing and singing along, which is rare here. Listen to them on Myspace here.

On Sunday I went to a jazz show at Blå that was free and quite good. Free music here is rare and while the band was a bit rough and less than first rate, it was a lot of fun and I ran into several friends there. The Frank Znort Quartet is kinda a house band at Blå and they play free just about every Sunday. Their definition of jazz is pretty open, including some bluesy and rocky numbers and even a cover of the Dead Kennedy's "Too Drunk to Fuck!" I will definitely be making return visits. Website, including videos, here

I also managed to read Henrik Ibsen's verse epic Peer Gynt which combines Norwegian folk tales with some skewering of Enlightenment ideals of the self. I've also been slowly reading Naomi Klein's No Logo. This book has been really quite good, though it is slightly dated. It details the convergence of corporate branding, mergers/synergy, and the changed nature of the job market in the mid 1990's than describes some of the new types of activism popping up, especially grounded in anti-corporatism and culture jamming. It is very connected with some of the things I've been interested in lately.

prince

Dave Chappelle Show. Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories. Prince.

Its old and everyone has seen it. But I'm betting its been a while since you have. Do enjoy. It is good to laugh.




Between pancakes and waffles I seem to be on a breakfast theme this week.

on waffles and revolution

Found at blitz.no

"I began making waffles with 82 men. If I had to do it again, I do it with 10 or 15 and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and a waffle recipie".
- Fidel Castro

"An ounce of waffles is worth a ton of theory."
- Friedrich Engels

"Anarchism is the revolutionary stock that no one is more qualified than you are to decide how your waffles will be"

”No one in this world can you trust, not men, not pancakes, not beasts. But this (points at the waffle), this you can trust” - Conan's father

”And he also came to know the pleasures of waffles, when he got bred with the finest stock....” - Conan the Barbarian.

"We anarchists do not want to emancipate the waffels; we want the waffels to emancipate themselves." - Errico Malatesta

"If there is a State, then there is domination, and in turn, there is pancakes." -Bakunin

"Lenin is not comparable to any revolutionary figure in history. Revolutionaries have had ideals. Lenin made pancakes." - Peter Kropotkin

"Vladimir Ilyich [Lenin], your concrete actions are completely unworthy of the waffles you pretend to make." - Peter Kropotkin

"Freedom, morality, and the human dignity of the individual consists precisely in this; that he makes waffles not because he is forced to do so, but because he freely conceives it, wants it, and loves it." - Bakunin

"Does it follow that I reject all authority? Perish the thought. In the matter of waffles, I defer to the authority of the waffle-maker." Mikhail A. Bakunin

"And if it were said of us that we're almost romantics, that we're incorrigible idealists, that we think the impossible, then a thousand and one times, we have to answer... WAFFLES! WE MAKE WAFFLES!" Ernesto Che Guevara

DF

Tomorrow there is an election in Denmark. The populist Danish People's Party (Dansk Folkeparti or DF) has released the below as their main campaign ad. This three minute video can teach you a lot about why SUST and DSE tackles immigration in Scandinavia.



I can't translate all of it, but here is the gist.
The Danish People's Party has put Denmark on the right course. But there is a threat. The welfare system can be saved if it is only for those who need welfare. The Danish People's Party will return Denmark to a safe harbor.

Around the 2 minute mark the film gets a little nuts. The film uses images from demonstrations in the UK, from the Danish cartoon controversy, from youth riots over the loss of a youth radical center, and a few other sources.

The Danish People's Party openly admits that it is racist. The party is the third largest in Denmark, though recently has suffered a bit. It generally polls between 12 and 18 % and has arguably been the most influential political party of the last twenty years though it has never been in government.

this is skateboarding

These are worth your time. From the Stereo Sound Agency These clips kinda encapsulate why I think skateboarding is so beautiful: art, music, the streets, people, travel, movement, and of course the fun of it all.









From the Stereo website:

"Founded in ’92 by renowned professional skateboarders and longtime friends Jason Lee and Chris Pastras, Stereo came as a breath of fresh air during a time that many skaters felt that skateboarding had creatively hit rock bottom.

Stereo’s unique and highly innovative approach to skating, with emphasis on style, originality and plain old fashion fun, was quickly embraced by the skateboard community. By incorporating street art, 50s and 60s design, jazz album cover artwork and ideas pulled from early men’s magazines, Stereo has been credited as revolutionizing skateboard graphics, artwork and advertising. The classic Americana styles Stereo produced -- and continues to produce -- carries with it a lightness and humor that promotes individuality and creativity amongst skateboarders of all ages.

As fate would have it, however, Chris and Jason joined forces again in ’03 to re-launch Stereo under Giant Distribution. With a new team of skateboarders and other influential artists, musicians, actors and individuals dubbed Sound Agents, Stereo quickly gained momentum.

In addition to resurrecting Stereo, Jason and Chris continued to advance their personal careers. Jason landed the leading role on NBC's hit sitcom My Name is Earl, and Chris was beginning to establish himself as prominent figure in the contemporary art world, displaying his work at world-famous galleries all across the globe."

The team also includes a former MPLS-head, Clint Peterson, who I have much respects for.

I'm famous, but so is Sheba.

I forgot to mention I got into a newspaper here last weekend. Aftenposten, a centre-right paper and the most popular daily in Norway, runs a weekly person-on-the-street deal. Well, last Thursday as I was walking near the bus station I was approached for it. They asked for a comment on the fact that only one in four parents who are heavily involved in their kid's schools are men. I mentioned something about historical construction of gender roles with the kids education as a woman's purview but how this was also changing in Norway and folks need a more global perspective to understand that one in four is actually pretty good (not to say that it is perfect by any means, still a long way to go!). Regretably, the journalist had to take a photo of me. If you remember, last Thursday was November 1st. Day after Halloween, drinking heavy night before, early morning to get students to homestays, etc. I looked ROUGH.

yup.

A bit of interest for Rooney fammers and visitors to the farm. While I was at the REMA (local grocer) today another shopper was picking up some cat food. Or at least, I assume it was cat food as it had a black cat on the tin. Here is the crazy part: the name of the food was Sheba!
For those not it the know, Sheba is the name of the cat at my mom's farm. My mom named the cat, I always thought is was kinda a strange but cute name that my mom just kinda made up. Damn cat hadn't liked me for years, but after Meenous (Sheba's son) disappeared she became friendlier. The cat has been blind for a few years now and is well aged. I just got kinda freaked out seeing our cat's name on catfood.

crazy.

Also crazy awesome was the Circus World Theatre last night! CWT is connected with HausMania, that lovely anarcho-punk squat/hangout. CWT celebrated its 100 year anniversiry this week with a few shows. Last night Paul and I made it out for about an hour and a half. Sadly we missed the first hour and had to take off before they were done, BUT we still saw some awesome stuff and had a great time. There was a big folk-gypsy band going off. There were comedians, jugglers, dancers, pyros, acrobats, and even a clown. Now, keep in mind this was a radical scene, so this ain't no regular clown makeup kinda circus thing going on. Oh no, this was in the basement of a squatted flat off the river, about 100 people standing or sitting on the floor in a loose semi-circle with some great audience-performer interaction.
Here is a photo from their website promotion of the gig:



Last night was hella hella rad and a highlight of my time here.
It was really unfortunate that I missed part of it! I had to get up early this morning to proctor the TOEFL test weekend I did the same for the GRE. It gives me a few extra kroner in the pocket, but terrible timing.

reverse graffiti in brazil

Find out more.

news of the world (read all about it)

hey hey my my

Allow me to fill in a bit on happenings lately.
Last Thursday SUSTers went out on their regional homestays. They spent a long weekend with a family living in regional Norway. One of the hosts was a woman who I stayed with two years ago, Debbie. She invited me out on Thursday evening for dinner with her two SUSTers and a few friends. She only lives 30 minutes away by train, so it was very possible. And it was very fun! We went hiking for an hour and a half, sat in a sauna, had a nice big meal, engaging in decent convo. Her guests were a bit of the stiff academics, but it was still alright. It was just nice to get out and be cared after, if only for a bit. I took the train home that night.

Last friday I hung out with Knut Erik. It had been about a month, what with all my travels. It was good to hangout, drink some beer and gin, talk about politics and love and music. He lived in Birmingham for a while a couple years ago and has some interesting thoughts about american society and race relations. Just good convo, y'know.

The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet, which I was happy about considering three nights of going around a bit. I was TIRED!

I think the early night is starting to affect me. The sun rises around 8:30 and sets around 4, I would say. My kind mum got me a blue lamp as a going away present. I used it a couple times but have lent it to a student who is in much rougher shape. Looking forward to getting it back in three weeks!

That's right! Three weeks! Thats all thats left in SUST 07. It is an early end, but we began early too. Official last day of class is Wednesday, November 28th. And only two full weeks of class left, really. The semester has flown by. As teachers, we have felt like it has gotten away from us, but we also recognize there has been a lot of growth and learning over the course of the semester. That is all I will comment on publicly, except to say that today was one of our best days, in my opinion, as a class.

Last night I went to a show! It was terrible! Disappointing! I haven't been to too much live music here. There were a few shows that looked good, but I had time conflicts or just never got around to getting tickets. So, last night I went on a limb and went to see Liars. They had gotten a good review on pitchfork. I downloaded their album but didn't care for it much, honestly. still, I hadn't been to a show in a while and there isn't anything else I'm interested in for a few weeks. So I took a chance hoping for the best.
It was bad. Just loud noise without much rhythm. Lead singer was annoying. I went with Paul, and we left early. Even the opener sucked. Very disappointing, but hey, not every show can rock.
In about four weeks there are a couple shows I wanna go to: Mos Def and The National. Hopefully I'll get off my butt and get some tickets!

Off Butt!

DSE, gnome, banksy

A lot has been happening here lately. It is kinda wonderful!

Big news first:
The application deadline for the spring program, Divided States of Europe, has passed. DSE, which was canceled before as summer and spring terms for lack of students, has four students registered for spring 08. HECUA has asked Tim and I to run the program.

Justifications: Programs have been run with few students. Last year SUST ran with 6. Colombia in its first year had 5. Environmental Sustainability has run with 3. If DSE doesn't run this spring and we cancel, the program is dead. period. Many students have expressed interest in DSE for spring 2009, by finally getting the program going we'll build momentum for the future. The Norway site is still in the black, what with 14 students this fall and support from institutional partner the University of Oslo's International Summer School.

Problems: The pedagogy is dependent on participation of students in discussion and in engaging with guests. With four students, this could be damaged especially if we have quiet kids. Inter-group relations are also quite difficult, if any students are outcast by the others it could be an incredibly lonely and difficult semester for them. We want them to have a good time! They're studying abroad! Four students could kill Tim and I as teachers. Tim struggled with six, but the hope is with me around four can be managed. It is also difficult to schedule the high quality of speakers that we get when we only have four students. And since this is the first semester with this program, we don't have established relationships to rely upon. The program also runs a two-week trip to Poland. Field trips are HARD on groups. Two weeks is going to be just brutal no matter what, but with four students it could be a nightmare.

Personally: I want to go ahead with four, if just have another semester teaching. I've learned a lot this semester, if only by making mistakes. I never quite found my footing with this group, and I would be quite upset if this semester was my only experience as a HECUA TA. There would also be the issue of trying to find a job as soon as I got back.

SO: We are planning to go ahead with the program. We are informing the students of the low numbers, with full disclosure in mind. If any students drop out before November 8th, if we go down to three by next wednesday, we will not run.

Okay, thats out of the way.

HALLOWEEN!
It was a blast! We started partying here, us flatmates. Some friends came over, including Sierra who I've barely seen in the last month what with all the travel. We drank plenty of Tullamore Dew. We went to a party on campus hosted by the International Students Union. It was a good time: decently packed with club atmosphere, cheap drinks, and good dancing. Walked home around 1. I went as a garden gnome (Thanks Mo!). Last week my corduroys ripped, so I cut them off into shorts. I wore my olive green shirt and stuck a red cone on my head. No suspenders, but still an excellent amount of goofy. Nobody got it until I told them, and when I did folks either looked confused or said brilliant. Costume culture among the international crowd is different, there isn't the goofiness factor so much as at home.

I've uploaded photos from Halloween online. I've also posted photos of the SUST field trip and some other random parties in Oslo. Lots of photos of me in there. Click here.

Of course Halloween came at a price. I had to get up early the next morning. Students went off on their regional homestays this weekend. I arranged most of it, so I wanted to be there as they left to make sure they made it and there were no problems. Of course, the first train left at 8 am. Of course. But I made it! And all the students made their travels, which was good. During one stretch between departure times I walked down Karl Johans and went to Tronsmo, one of the best bookstores ever.
And I bought something! Banksy's Wall and Piece. YES! YES! YES!

A few of his pieces:
And the above is from a previous post, of course.


Okay, I have more to say about the last few days but I need to go do some actual work.
Shame.