Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Uno Wikberg



Uno Wikberg was my grandfather, or farfar (fathers father) like we say in Sweden, up until today.
Because today Uno stopped breathing.


Uno has been losing a lot of weight this year. It´s been sad to see him fade away. He was ready to leave this earth a few years ago and has in a way been "stuck" here too long.


Yesterday I felt a really uncomfortable heartache.. I sent a message on a chat to my parents to call me when they got it cause I wanted to hear about Uno´s condition. I later talked to my father and he said Uno was pushing his last breaths..

I cried before I fell asleep. It´s been a long time since I cried. But just thinking about the pain he endured in his past months on this planet made me cry. Then thinking about how great it was to have him close to home for the past 10 years (he lived in Stockholm, 1000km away, for most of my life) made me cry even more.




Uno at my parents house on his 80th birthday. Feb 22, 2008.




Life is a strange thing. So is the human body. Uno smoked Camel´s without filters for most of his life (maybe John Silver too if I´m not mistaken) and he wasn´t a textbook eater or drinker either but his heart never wanted to stop beating.
I see a lot of myself in Uno, always have. My immediate family knows what I´m talking about :)
I looked up to Uno a lot. As I did to my late grandpa (morfar) Östen as well. They were both smart, and they were grandfathers.. you know.. grandma´s made the waffles and the rhubarb soup and grandpa´s smoked pipe or Camel´s without filter. They had grey hair and knew a lot about the world.

Östen knew everything about the land, forest, cars, tools, hunting.. he built his own houses, always fixed broken cars, cut down trees that would later become skateboard ramps in my backyard. He built one in the late 80´s and then my uncle Krille built a 5 sheet wide mini ramp with a small spine ramp out of grandpa Östen´s trees.
Östen was great. I´m still reminded about his greatness when I visit grandma Irene (mormor) at the property he built.. huge house, a handful of barns and garages and lots of forest.. It´s situated just a few km away from Luleå where my sister and parents live and it´s a really great place. Me and my cousins grew up playing here. Now we still meet here every now and then and I feel blessed with having such wonderful family in my life.
Östen was a trooper of another proportion. He tricked death once when his aorta bursted and my cousin and uncle got his to the hospital with only seconds to spare. His blood level was so low for days and the doctors said it was very rare for someone in his condition to come through. But he did.
Some years later his heart stopped beating while being in his own element. The woods hunting moose. Almost a fairy tale ending.

Uno knew all the answers in Jeopary, or maybe the questions.. you know how that show goes.
He was John and Alma Wikberg´s first born (Uno) and was sent to school in Stockholm after finishing elementary school in Luleå.
He was really ambitious in school and I always admired that. His english was great, he travelled a fair amount but since he divorced my grandmother (farmor) Britt when my father was young and moved to Stockholm I didn´t get to see him very often.
But the times I´d go to Stockholm and visit him remain some of my fondest childhood memories. Especially when I was there in the summer of 1988. They had build a huge vert ramp and some tiny street obstacles in Hammarbyhamnen and I just got home from a family trip in England with my first real skateboard, a Santa Cruz Rob Roskopp "Face". I hung out by that ramp for what seemed like weeks and walked back and forth to Uno´s apartment by Ringvägen on Södermalm a couple of times a day. The fact that I was only 11 and walked / took the bus around Stockholm didn´t seem odd. I actually think that summer helped me become self sufficient and it definitely helped my sense of direction (I have Jedi sense of direction in case you wondered).

Grandma Britt passed away in cancer when I was on my first trip to California in 1995, or maybe I had landed in Skellefteå where I went to school.. can´t remember.
Now Uno passed away while I´m sitting in New York City.. looking at the tall buildings.. I sure feel small right now. It feels good to be anonymous here. And crying has never felt so good. I know Uno is in a better place now, even though I don´t believe in heaven or any other christian myth. He´s with me in spirit, he´s in everyone he´s ever known´s spirit. And that´s where he should be. It hurt seeing him fade away in the assisted living home he was at. He hated that place too.. but I know he´s better off dead. Might sound harsh, but he knows what I´m talking about.






Me and Uno in Luleå, June 2006.





For the past decade Uno lived in Luleå with close proximity to my family as well as his brothers and sisters. I´m assuming I´ll get to see them all the funeral soon. A funeral I don´t dread at all. We all saw it coming. And I for one is relived that my grandfather isn´t suffering.. anymore.


Saknar dig farfar.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

America...

This clip is from a Sarah Palin book signing in Ohio.

I have too many thought going through my head after watching this and I´m not going to write about them here.

I say; stop what you are doing and spend the next 8 minutes watching this. It´s pretty important and scary to say the least.




This is why I love Youtube. A guy can go interview some people for 1 hour, edit it and post it on Youtube for 600,000 people to watch in one week. Powerful stuff.
Makes me want to be a journalist.

Bad start of the day.

I gave a friend a 50% of code for the online DC store. Her kids are huge DC fans and she's about to visit NYC for a week so I thought it would be great if she could buy some stuff for her kids.

But after about 3-4 30-45 min phone calls and 10-15 emails there are no products coming her way.

The incompetence at the people who run the online store is beyond comprehension. Don't want to get into the details, but it sucks to know that these kids who were eagerly expecting some new DC product for x-mas won't get any.. so lame.



Then after hanging up with the online store customer service I was going to buy/watch a hockey game online. But no.. I'm outside Sweden so I can't buy it. WTF?! Why can't I buy it in the USA? This is fucked. I hate listening to the radio.. Wrong region, fuckers.


The world can suck it.

I'm expecting to sit down in some dog shit later tonight, or maybe get robbed.

Röyksopp in New York City!

The day started out on by the Pacific Ocean. In the afternoon I landed by the Atlantic Ocean. This went by way faster than Lewis and Clark got back.
Three hours after I got into the apartment in NYC I was 10 blocks away watching my favorite band, Röyksopp.
Considering I missed them in LA last Wednesday (due to one of the possibly worst cases of strep throat) I was very stoked.

If I hadn't Googled what was going on in the city I would have probably chillin on the bed, browsing the web, watching Californication.. If I would have realized that I missed Röyksopp again I would have almost jumped of a bridge, especially since they were playing 1.5 km away..

I went by myself, couldn´t find friends who would join me on such short notice.
So going by myself and sober wasn't really how I'd picture my next Röyksopp (saw them in Gothenburg/Sweden in August) concert, but better that than nothing. If I would have been drunk with friends I might have exploded with stoke.

Ever since I saw the video for 'Eple" I was hooked on this band. I used the "Remind Me" remix for a movie called "Lame" in 2003.
And ever since then they've been on most of my playlist.

The concert was sick. Small-ish venue with decent audio.
They played one unreleased song, but the rest were hits. I had high expectations on seeing Robyn come up on stage to sing like she did in LA last week, but no... the singer who sang all Robyn's and Karin's songs was Norwegian and she did a good job.

Instead of giving a full review of the concert I made this 11 minute clip of the concert.
So if you like Röyksopp and have 11 minutes to spare, here you go. Audio sucks and stuff.. but you get the idea.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Just landed in New York.

I was deadly sick last week (seriously) in a strep throat infection/virus. It was so painful and I had to lay in bed for days.
During this time my favorite, FAVORITE band Röyksopp played in LA and I missed it.. I was truly bummed.

So after I got somewhat situated in the apartment here in NYC I Googled what was going on.. and WHAM!! Röyksopp are playing tonight AND tomorrow! Guess who´s going both nights?

Sucks to go by myself, but what are you gonna do. Maybe I´ll be able to round up some friends by tomorrow..

Now just a quick run to the Smirnoff Ice store.. soon Norwegian electro tunes, not lame.







This photo is from when they played in Gothenburg/ Sweden this summer.


Then later tonight.. new Hank Moody episode. Wow, what have I done to deserve this?

Found my face in the new Transworld.


I was like.. who is that, looks familiar. Oh gees it´s me on a very bad hair day.
That breakfast though.. classic awesome Alp breakfast.

I can´t remember that quote.. but I guess I wrote it. And sure, I mean it. It was just worded strange.

And if you haven´t seen the latest clip I filmed (with Vitlale) and edited for DC you can find it here.
http://snowboarding.transworld.net/videos/thursday-theater-dc-team-euro-hammer-video

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Ken drives with Solberg and Galli in Germany.

I really liked this clip.
The rally world is pretty conservative and has always been based on what car and driver can finish in the #1 position.
Ken on the other hand brings an element of interaction and to a degree some rockstardom to the sport. His Youtube videos has reached out to so many people. Nobody is arguing that he´s better then Solberg or Loeb. But he´s a very skilled driver and his marketing ideas with posters, viral video clips and spectacular photo shoots brings an element to rally that that industry has never seen. And some might say, well that´s cool Ken thinks he´s the man and stuff, but I´ve seen the people at the rallies and X-games.. they love talking to him, his pit crew, seeing him and Pastrana to some of these motorheads is like meeting Tiger Woods or Justin Timberlake and I doubt Solberg or Loeb get the same awe from their fans. Since they are more, or only, focused on winning and not so much about spreading the rally lifestyle to the people.
I mean how many rally fans have Loeb posters, Loeb sweaters, Loeb shoes, Loeb beanies or Loeb clips stacked up in their email inbox? Not as many as Ken and Pastrana´s fans...

Anywho..

Here´s a clip with Galli, Solberg and Ken.. hanging out and putting on a show for the Germans. And yes, this is wouldn´t have happened without Ken entering the rally world.
Period.

Battle At The Berrics final!




In & Out Burger truck and a lot of skate celebs (Dyrdek, Bod Boyle, Howard, Mariano, Thiebaud, Jason Lee, PJ Ladd, Duffy, McKay, Agah... ) showed up to watch the final at BATB #2.

I shot it with a friends Panasonic HVX and I was so hesitant to borrow it cause I hate that camera, a lot... and after tonight I hate it even more.. Thanks Carlino for lending it to me, but please say no next time.
I had to format/delete the first half of the contest due to a P2 card not working out so hot. Missed a lot of tricks and lost flow in the "storytelling"... super lame.

But oh well.. wished it would have gone better, but that camera man... I´m telling you.. it´s like a really bad pc computer. To me at least. Everyone else seems to love it.








Who won you say? You´ll have to check http://www.theberrics.com/dailyops.php tomorrow.

Thanks to WESC for getting me on the list and filming permit. And thanks to Steve and Eric for making The Berrics sucha phenomenon. It felt really awesome to see the place and the people roaming around there.

Friday, November 20, 2009

In LA for Battle At The Berrics final!


Chris Cole, Torey Pudwill, P-Rod and Cory Kennedy will battle in two hours. Very exited.

I saw Alex battle Chris in 2006 and that game was so fucking sick.
Here´s that game:


There´s also this clip from a couple of months ago with Chris and Dennis, pretty epic.



Let´s see what tonight can bring.

Check http://www.theberrics.com/dailyops.php tomorrow for video.

Some photos from the Diana Mini.

It´s a really fun camera. Small and it takes normal 35mm film.
I always like to shoot photos in pairs, or series and with this camera you always shoot two things on one frame..

There are no settings, except some focusing options, just point and shoot. Click on the pictures to enlarge.
Read more about it here:
http://microsites.lomography.com/dianamini/about



Iikka on the boardwalk between Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach.




This is one of my favorite houses in the Manhattan Beach area.



Iikka at the skatepark in Del Mar / Carmel Valley.



Todd doing grinds at Del Mar / Carmel Valley.



Todd and radar detector.



Todd and Reef at a renaissance fair in Escondido. People dress up in ancient gear and play war and stuff, for a whole weekend. Funny scene.



Cam and Reef play in the garage while dad plays some race car video game.



Hjalle outside his house.



Erin in Hermosa Beach.



Erin on the Hermosa pier.



Venice pier bird.



Venice pier bird #2.



Venice skatepark.



Venice skatepark, again.



Venice houses.



Mitch.



The canals in Venice.



The house from season 1&2 of Californication.
Check out the video of the house here:







Random garage by LAX.




Hangover day in Laguna Beach, nice.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

New way to look at magazines.

I know the Swedish mag Expressen did this a while back, but they targeted them towards mobile phones and not so much desktop computers. Which makes sense cause I mostly read magazines, especially daily ones, while up and about. So when you saw a "tag" on a feature in the mag you could hold it up against your phone and voila you got a video that went with the story.
Why Swedes didn´t like this I have no idea, maybe the video content was week (should have consulted with my unemployed ass) or maybe they just failed in user friendlyness, PC people have a tendency of doing that.

Anyway. Here´s Esquires experiment. Very interesting.
I should probably adapt this to the snow/skateboard industry. But that would be too easy.
Maybe golf...

Here´s the clip, enjoy:

New clip I made for DC. Pretty happy with this one.

Feel free to watch this clip I made featuring Devun Walsh, Iikka Backstrom, Lauri Heiskari and Aaron Biittner.
It was shot in Lech and St Moritz in 4 or 5 days.
http://snowboarding.transworld.net/videos/thursday-theater-dc-team-euro-hammer-video

If anyone has any similar trips planned feel free to give me a shout since I'm unemployed and always looking for fun things to do.
I'm pretty good and filming, editing, eating Mexican food, blogging, would you rather scenarios and team managing.
God knows us filmers have to do that more than the team managers :)


More powder to you / Pierre

Possibly dumbest idea in snowboarding?

Really.. what´s the logic behind this?

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Mike Carroll is sooooo good.

He was never my favorite, but I really liked this clip. Kind of unpolished and awesome, feels like the skating wasn´t too contrived.
The skating kicks in after 2 minutes.

Iikka and foam pit.

I´m so jealous of this set up. I always wanted to skate into a foam pit. Soooooooooo jealous!



You can follow the DC fools, I mean tools, here:
http://community.dcshoes.com/blog

I´m a hero.

Sorry, this clip is in Swedish.. but you´ll still get it by just looking at the visuals.

It takes a while to load.

Steve Berra and The Berrics change the skateboard industry, again..


It´s about supporting your local skate scene.

If interested watch Steve explain it here:
http://theberrics.com/dailyopspost.php?postid=1498

Monday, November 16, 2009

Porsche commercial

I´m a huge fan of the new Porsche Panamera.
The commercial for it is pretty sick too. To bad it's fake..

Commercial:



The making of the commercial:


And why have I called the car a "poorch" for my entire life when they say "poor-cha" in the commercial?

Video from Mammoth weekend.



Eddie had a huge garage sale too, some lucky locals walked away with $150 boards and $50 jackets.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Jeff Anderson art.

There's an art show here in Mammoth featuring Jeff Andersson.
Jeff was a Mammoth local who tragiclly past away a few years ago.

I really like the one of him on his belly, signed Jamie Lynn.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Thursday, November 12, 2009

I don´t like guns.

This guy walks up to another dude and pulls a gun on him.
After some words the guy with the gun gets beat down and then the fight starts...

So scary.. a nervous twitch can fire the gun and end a persons life.. wtf are kids doing walking around with guns?

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Did we really land on the moon 40 years ago?

I find that very hard to believe when I can't get a receipt from T-Mobile after paying my cell phone bill.

After calling in for 17 minutes I accept the terms and they can charge my Visa over the phone.

Then I ask where I can view / get a receipt of my payment (because the fucking government need to see this when I claim I paid $119 to use my phone).
T-Mobile:
- We can send a text message with your confirmation number.
Me:
- Sure, but for what?
T-Mobile:
- For your records.
Me:
- I just need a receipt, so I can prove to the government that I'm deducting my income with $119 for cell phone usage. Surely I can't be the first one to ask for a receipt.
T-Mobile:
- I will talk to my supervisor if we can give you a receipt.
After 2-3 minutes..
T-Mobile:
- Yes you can contact our customer relations and they can probably help you.
Do you want their address?
Me:
- Address??!! Like address as in me mailing a letter from Sweden (come tax time) to get a receipt?
T-Mobile:
- Aha, yes. Mailing a letter to them is the only way you can receive a receipt as proof of payment.
Do you want the address Sir?
Me:
- No, I do not want the address.

Hung up.

Really?! This is what the world has come to? Me wasting 20 min on the phone with a person who has the brain capacity of a straw (and speaks very limited english) just to find out I can' get a receipt...?

So for my 2009 taxes I'll be missing some receipts and if the government denies my deductions I'll just go back to the gun range in Oceanside.

This is only one of a dozen stupid hassles with T-Mobile. They truly are very very very very very very very very very bad at what they are supposed to do...; connect my calls.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Skated this huge skatepark today, but we were pretty shaky from shooting guns and the no water-30 degree celsius weather didn't help either.
I felt pretty bad not even trying to appreciate a park that's better than pretty much any park in Sweden.. but shooting guns and July heat will do that to you.

So we headed to DC to skate the warehouse (where they have this sick bench) or the nearby Black Box park.

But I was a little intimidated to skate at DC when Josh Kalis was there working on his muscle car 20 feet from the marble bench.. so we left.

DC are also putting in a new vert ramp into their warehouse. Looks like the ceiling is a little to close though. Pretty sure it´s around 10 feet to the ceiling from the coping.



We never made it to Black Box either since Iikka fell in the parking lot after this heated session.


Hopefully tomorrow. After Iikka gets done shooting with the Uzi.

Video clip from the gun range.



Ian was pretty confident. Eero was quiet (and I think a little nervous), Iikka wants to go back there tomorrow and shoot the Uzi ($10 extra) and I was straight up sweating.
Of course the target you're aiming at are illustrations of the human torso.. is a circle that dull?

The fact that Iikka can go back there tomorrow and have a loaded Uzi in his hands with no drug/alcohol check or any other form of check up is just flat out scary.
After we left the place Iikka said:
- How can I go back to playing shuffle board or something after this? Nothing compares to this, it´s all downhill from here.

But this is what Ian does when he´s not helping scared Scandinavians to load 9mm guns. Shooting guns isn´t that scary in comparison imo.


Apparently you can wear a loaded gun in some states, Arizona for example.
They even have a gun check at the bars so you can't access your gun while at the actual bar, only when you leave.. true story.
This gun loving mom from Pennsylvania unfortunately died way too young.

Todd does halloween.

My 40 year old friend goes trick or treatin' with his family.



Inside info, this is what 40+ year old Kermit does when not dressed up.

Shooting.

Went to shoot guns today. Pretty nuts that you can walk into a place
and have gun and ammo in 5 minutes. No background check or anything.
Then you're in a room with 10 strangers with loaded Glocks.
Sketchy.

After this I'm having tacos and Starbucks. Love America.

Aren´t Brazilians used to seeing skin?

Sure this 20 year olds dress was a little short, but not worthy of a full riot with people yelling whore after her and a police escort.
Gees, relax already.

Monday, November 09, 2009

Screw hockey fights, it´s all about womens soccer.



Like how wasn´t she pulled of the field? Gross.

I´d say, suspend the coach and all over her teammates for not stepping in. God knows ( I can say got when we´re talking about BYU here) I would have been mighty pissed if a friend of mine were playing on the BYU team.

It´s only fucking soccer. Send this bitch to a Mexican prison with T-Bag so she can fight her way back to America.

Saturday, November 07, 2009

Saturday skate with Finns.

Both Iikka and Jussi rides a snowboard for a living. And they do so
with their left foot forward. But when they skateboard they put their
right foot forward. Fucked up.
There are a lot more pros who do this; Nicolas Muller, Gian Simmen,
Thomas Harstad, Heikki Sorsa...
Simon Chamberlain and Jed Anderson does it the other way, skate
regular and snowboard goofy.. weirdos.

Friday, November 06, 2009

Jussi Oksanen is now a blogger.


I helped him set up a blog last week and I just went to see if he has been updating it and he has!
I told him to go with Wordpress instead of Blogspot because I don´t like Blogspot at all, but still use it... pretty sure I´m quitting soon though..

So go to Jussi´s blog. I bet there will be a lot of good stories and photos on there once he gets warmed up.

http://oksanenjussi.wordpress.com

I don't know what to think of this.

According to Forbes: “Corporate money has been pouring into action sports in recent years as the popularity of these sports has taken off with consumers. Participation in skateboarding increased 74% between 1998 and 2007 to 10.1 million participants, the fastest growth of any sport in the U.S. Snowboarding registered the third fastest growth over the same 10-year period, up 42% to 5.1 million participants according to the National Sporting Goods Association.”
Forbes based its estimates on interviews with industry experts and excluded Motocross racing.The top 10 earners in 2008 were all male. Top female snowboarders like Torah Bright, Gretchen Bleiler and Hannah Teter make as much as $750,000 annually, but that fell short of their $1 million cut off.

I wouldn't trust this very far though.. I'm questioning some of these people..
I'm know some people who make more money than 1 million.. Rob Dyrdek and Danny Way for example. There's no doubt in my mind they make more than Kass and Rice, for example.

Anyway, some of you might find this interesting



Here’s the break down of 2008 earnings.

1. Tony Hawk - Skateboarding - $12 million
Hawk retired from competitive skating in 1999, but he has built a business empire that sold $200 million worth of Tony Hawk branded products last year

2. Shaun White - Snowboarding/Skateboarding - $9 million
White was the first athlete to compete at both the Summer and Winter X-Games. He’s racked up 10 X-Games gold medals as well as the gold for the men’s half pipe in the 2006 Winter Olympics. Following in the footsteps of Hawk, White launched his own videogame last year through Ubisoft called “Shaun White Snowboarding.”

3. Ryan Sheckler - Skateboarding - $5 million
Sheckler is a hit with teenage girls thanks to his MTV reality show, Life of Ryan, which just wrapped filming its third season. The skateboard prodigy turned pro in 2003 at age 13. Current big sponsors include Oakley, Red Bull and Volcom.

4. Travis Pastrana - Freestyle MX - $3 million (tie)

4. Kelly Slater - Surfing - $3 million
The nine-time surfing champion is both the youngest and oldest to win the title. We won $260,000 in prize money in 2008 when he captured his ninth title. Slater has won $2 million during his career. The bulk of his earnings comes from sponsors like Quiksilver and surfboard maker Channel Islands.

6. Laird Hamilton - Surfing - $2.5 million
The oldest member of our top 10 athletes at 44, Hamilton has always eschewed traditional surfing competitions for the thrill of big-wave surfing. He has built a reputation as an all-around waterman that has spurred books, movies and a clothing line. His wife is pro volleyball player Gabrielle Reece.

7. Paul Rodriguez - Skateboarding - $2 million
The skater known as P-Rod is the son of actor and comedian Paul Rodriguez. Nike signed Rodriguez to a lucrative shoe and apparel deal in 2004 and has released several signature P-Rod sneakers since then.

8. Danny Kass - Snowboarding - $1 million
Kass won silver medals in the men’s half pipe at each of the last two Winter Olympics. He has sponsorship deals with Gnu Snowboards, Nike and Oakley. With his brother Matt and several friends, Kass founded apparel company Grenade which focuses on winter gloves.

8. Dave Mirra - BMX - $1 million

8. Travis Rice - Snowboarding - $1 million
Considered one of the best boarders on the planet, Rice is a renaissance man on the snow competing in big air, slope style and pipe events. Rice counts Quicksilver and Red Bull as major sponsors and also produces and stars in popular snowboard movies like The Community Project and That’s It, That’s All.


Source:
http://business.transworld.net/2009/02/18/action-sports-highest-paid-athletes

Shaun on tv.

The guy responsible for this live broadcast should obviously not work with this.
Using cropped, horribly shot, still photos over and over is not ok. Especially when Shaun isn't even the guy in the photo.

What's the likelihood of them using a random tennis player while Andre Agassi was talking on the microphone?

Tool time.




On Conan:


Would be fun to see the foam pit footage while he's talking about it. It's not like they haven't rehearsed before they tape it.

On Fallon:



I'm hoping Wendy's didn't pay for him endorsing his halloween set up.

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Just so you know.





http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/spo_sum_oly_med_all_tim_percap-medals-all-time-per-capita

LA / Halloween




I hate dressing up. I like when people have clever outfits but hate the part of possibly having to go to the nearest overpriced halloween store to buy a Jack Sparrow or Fred Flitstone outfit just so you can go to a party..
Believe me when I say that Americans love to dress up for costume parties. I wish I did too.

One thing I find pretty interesting is that a lot of girls dress up as nurses, police officers and moulin rouge-ish outfits. Almost exclusively with a lot a skin showing. Since this is the attire of choice for about 33.3% of all the girls at halloween or any other costume party one can only assume that they really like dressing up as Britney Spears at the VMA's.

Me and Hjalle considered getting staff shirts at Ikea and going as two Ikea Swedes, but that didn't happen cause Ikea wouldn't let me buy their staff shirts.
Then Hjalle came up with the idea of putting an Ikea bag over my head and buy a wig = Swedish bag lady.

But being the party pooper I am I just sat on his couch until the very last minute and settled for pairing up with him as 80's skiers.

Thanks for excessive amounts of Andre wine, Smirnoff Ice and Vodka and no eating from 2pm on Saturday to 2pm on Sunday I can't remember all the details of the evening but definitely remember the 1 hour drive to Laguna Beach on Sunday... so hungry, thirsty and hungover.. but Hjalle wouldn't stop. As soon as we did I ran to Taco Bell... soooo good.

My friend Iikka had the best outfit imo. The zombie / turtle kid from this famous Youtube clip.



Speaking of hangover. A lot of people were dressed up as Alan from The Hangover. Pretty funny. Here are three photos that showed up on my Facebook this weekend.






My hangover was spent at a very relaxed and pleasant engagement party in Laguna. Mimosas, waffles, chips, donuts, friends and a great view of the Pacific.
It was then I decided to stay here in the US for a little longer. Sweden didn't feel too appealing when I was soaking in the sun with July temperatures. So I'm here for a few more weeks, with a New York and Reykjavik stopover before landing in Luleå in December.




Typical cars in Laguna.







I also got to meet up with my good friend Eddie Wall for a bit. He was in town to be on Fuel TV (action sports channel) promoting a video that Mammoth Mountain made (dvd should be included in the January issue of Snowboarder Mag).


Greg Hunt (skate filmmaker) also stopped by and we nerded out on filming with the new Canon digital cameras that also doubles as amazing film/video cameras.
5D or 7D, that is the question... more on this later.


Iikka and I also skated a little.
After getting turned down to skate in a parking lot by a bitch who refused to park anywhere else in the empty parking lot. No she had to park right where I was skating. After asking her politely if she could consider parking anywhere but in that particular spot I got a little upset and called her a bitch. I wish I would have made more of scene though, would have made great photos if I got the ghetto mama to yell at me.




Her license plate is 5TLJ544, feel free to use it to report a suspicious drunk driver, illegally parked car, hit and run etc.. I know I will.


After that short session we went to check out the Rob Dyrdek skate plaza and I was really impressed by it. Super small, no transitions, just curbs, ledges and stairs.
If only there would be more of these...

Basket ball courts = 0 people.
Soccer fields = 0 people.
Small 650 m2 (7000 feet2) skate plaza = 100 people.





I love the entrepreneurship in this lady. She's sells water, soda, chips and candy at the skate plaza. This would NEVER happen in Sweden.



I also took Iikka to the DC and Burton stores on Melrose. As well as made him consume a Diana Mini camera.