tally

ran 5 of 6 days since monday for a total of 18 miles. cycled every day. cooked every day. it's good to move. it's good to use my faculties and guts to enrich the days. for this I give thanks.

roots and herbs

Rashoman

Rashoman is probably one of the best films in terms of examining the human condition and our inhumanity. Janus Films has just remastered it and apparently it's going to be making the rounds in theaters. For those of you in SF and NYC please take advantage as I very much doubt we'll get the pleasure here in Halifax. Kurosawa is by far my favourite film director (I'm not much of a film buff) and Toshiro Mifune never disappoints.

me no wan no rub a dub is only backshot me love

my evil friend surprised me with this photo he snapped sometime this past winter somewhere in Nova Scotia. my backhand has improved since moving to the land of rights three years ago.



the photo is kinda funny -looks like I'm holdin on to a ski rope.

"me no wan no rub a dub is only backshot me love" Lady Saw and Spragga Benz

been a while

since I made somethin.

got out to the spider lake trails on the old single speed for a spring spin. been a year since my last time out there. only saw one lady slipper in bloom. the ferns under the trees green like emeralds. mosquitoes only got me when I stopped for a breather.

riding a bike through the forest is exhilarating. recommend it to anyone. and you don't need a three thousand dollar bike. mine is from 1999 with one speed, V type brakes and an updated fork. I like keeping my bike dialed in so it always feels good with everything tight and straight. no squeaks. all I could hear was my own labored breathing and tires slipping over roots and rocks. I followed the ride with a three mile run and now it's time to rest. it's good to feel my muscles and tendons and joints and guts.

rubbish heap summer transport

dug this frame outta rubbish bin. striped it and threw on an old set of wheels and bars and gone again. simple and basic no fail transport for cross town runs. whole heap a freeness out there. people love dash good things inna trash.

bike week

I love riding my bike and do so most every day exceptin ice or minus 17 temps. yeah I know I'm a pu$$y.

I still remember clearly Christmas day as a kid in Venezuela when my parents presented me with my first wheeled machine -a shiny red and white trike. I dogged that little thing for a long time.

I learned to ride a proper bike in '83. ol Jack got me a Krate style bike from the used bike shop. I ran it up a giant oak tree in the church lot across the street from our house on the first day.

then back in the Andes Calitos and Manuel were bolting 5 speed derailleurs on our beater bmx bikes with t-shifters on the top bar. we'd climb the winding steep road to the village above Las Virtudes -a slow grinding climb that seemed to take hours. at the top the boys would buy a flask of agua ardiente or Anise and then we'd come flyin and hollering down the mountain road like pre-adolescent maniacs with no regard for safety -your standard risk taking youthful behavior.

riding my bike is still as fun today as it was then in my youth.

so if it's been too long since you rode your bike, take your tire back from Pooky the pup and go for a spin. not to save the environment or to advocate for cycling rights, or to be healthy but just to have fun. simple old fun.

RIP David Carradine

rest in peace grasshopper

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream

here's a scene from one of Jim Jarmuch's best films Down by Law.

stop

things are supposed to die -to come to a natural end.

we do.

yet we strive for some sort of legacy that we may be remembered.

old Chinaski had it right. it's a wonder how long people will wanna read about his gamblin and whorin and drinkin and fightin. about dingy LA and other failed writers and about his cars and listening to classical music on the radio while drinking beer wine whisky.

all things are naturally meant to come to an end, to fulfill the cycle of energy moving across our earths surface and through its guts, moving always and endlessly.

humans?

we like to prolong the inevitable. we like pretend like we can stop change. like we's some sorta power above the antelope when in truth modern man can't even chase the antelope.

these are the good old days no?

this dribbly rubbish inspired partly by Juana's Addicion

sons of slaves

as times change and one generation's seeming demise shifts into the next generations pop culture emblems one thing remains constant. humanity is not humanist. humanism is nothing but a construct of our romantic ideals of peace and love. humans are in fact animals (duh)who live by the basic code of survival using intrinsic instinct. where's the hope? self reliance. it is our nature.


classic Junior Delgado tune with Lee Perry production

style: fixed lean 1930's

when the surf is flat my mind turns to bikes

"when the surfer is high, so is the risk of drowning"

well I managed to get out for a sunrise surf with Blacks on Saturday. we hit up secret spot number sevens for some waist high glassy lines. this spot seems to still hold it's shape even when it's small and we both had our share of long down the line waves over the shallow kelpy boulders that sometimes pitched and boiled the wave face like a melting highway on an acid trip.

speaking of acid trips -here's an interesting study revealed at the 56th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Seattle. according to the study "Surfing under the influence of drugs or alcohol are two of the prime dangers facing surfing enthusiasts..." Dr. James MacDonald goes on to illuminate us with "The 'cool factor' sort of mitigates against wearing helmets or ear plugs to protect against swimmer's ear."

never mind kooks with cords dangling soft tops in the mush like so many dinosaur spears.

old MacDonald didn't forget to remind us about the dangers of localism either: "I was surprised at how much violence there can be in surfing culture. Some of the injuries I've seen have nothing to do with surfing-they're fisticuffs. There's no referee out in the water to break up fights." As popular surfing sites become crowded with novices and out-of-towners, veteran surfers may react to protect their "zones." remebers that!

maybe this Doc surfs and rather than stink eye the soft toppers he publishes blatant warnings in scientific journals. I reckon it won't be long before the Bra Boys start adopting his tactics.

my favourite part of the study though was that "those with full-time jobs that cut into wave time may experience injuries relating to deconditioning, such as muscle strains, soft tissue damage and falls."

so it is. I better close my office door today and bust a few push ups and crunches lest I get injured from deconditioning. and most importantly I think I've learned that the two shots of Crown in my dawn patrol coffee are probably adding to the "risk" factor of surfing making my 'cool' and 'core' factors rise to new highs (pun intended).

ok best get to work

see the original article here or search PubMed

further

the popularization of surfing continues its spread across America. the WHO has announced that surfing is getting close to becoming a pandemic and will likely declare it a level 5 in the coming days.

FARC turns 45

that is what I call perserverance!

death

keep on runnin

style = chase hawk

5 things

1. favourite blog at the moment is the Esteyonage
















2. best surf writing coming from North America on the web is Postsurf: unfiltered thoughts on Surf Culture by Lewis Samuels. check it here postsurf.com

3. best girl in the world is my lickle B

4. favourite food is arepas con carne mechada, fried egg and queso blanco (or light feta in Halifax)














5. and daily runs this week for relaxation and trimming to fit into the new thruster

happy birthday Mr T.

..and dammit it's flat. but it's sunny here in the north Atlantic so for that I must give thanks.

if you haven't already check out the rad new blog talkin' story. Mick Sowry of Safe to Sea and Musica Surfica has a great story there of surfing in Europe and chatting with Dora about Charlie Manson.

seen

as far as the eye can see

bike ninja vs. mr. perfect bicycle commuter man

over the last few weeks there's been an increase in bike commuters on my daily route. it's expected in spring just as there are more surfers in the water. there's one guy in particular, a middle-aged man astride a shiny new sporty street bike with flat bar and disk brakes, one of those homogeneous jobbies from one the big three bike companies. anyways, today he called me out for my swiftness at charging the yellow. I could hear him behind me, scolding in "that is ridiculous" kinda tone.

so what did I say? nothing. I just sped off on my merry way as I do every day. been communing to work by bike since 2005 when we lived in PDX. my friend Drew in PDX, originally from D.C., had always commuted and had been hit by cars twice -neither time his fault and accidents quite serious. Drew never followed the "traffic laws" on his bike.

let's face it. laws that state that cyclist should obey the same rules as motor vehicles are absurd. cyclists cannot accelerate like a motored metal box therefore they can be overrun, especially on narrow streets. a bicycle weighs nothing compared to even a small car or motorcycle so accidents caused by cyclists tend to cause little harm. and most obvious of all a bike is NOT a motor vehicle and should not be treated as such.

I know if I'm self righteous. why else have a blog? but I also value self preservation, especially in a city like Halifax where the driving public hates cyclists. so the new commuter on his shiny bike can kiss my ass, I'd rather be a bike ninja than a cripple.