Handsome men, ugly times: toy machine in Spain.THERE WERE DARK CLOUDS LOOMING over this Toy Machine Toy Machine, also known as Toy Machine Bloodsucking Skateboard Company, is a skateboarding company started by Ed Templeton in 1993. [1] The Toy Machine brand is housed under the Tum Yeto distribution company. trip to Barcelona. As we (the team, minus Caswell and Broussard, plus P-Stone, Spiro and Dave Hoang) prepared for another two weeks of four-wheeled fun in the sun, US Forces were getting ready to clobber (jargon) clobber - To overwrite, usually unintentionally: "I walked off the end of the array and clobbered the stack." Compare mung, scribble, trash, smash the stack. Iraq, much to the disapproval of the United Nations Security Council and disgust of the rest of the free world. As a representative of my country, I was fully ready to throw up my arms and say, 'Yeah, I know. We suck," when confronted by the angry mobs who would detect the stink of my American-ness and beat me with their berets and baguettes while calling me filthy words which have no comparable English translations. Sure, I still managed to eat at least one-to-three ice creams a day (I won't let Saddam or George W. take that from me), but the chocolate sprinkles were bitter in my mouth as I thought about the reckless course being taken by my arrogant, simple-minded President. CONFOUNDING confounding when the effects of two, or more, processes on results cannot be separated, the results are said to be confounded, a cause of bias in disease studies. confounding factor MY GUILT is the steadily disintegrating state of the skate paradise Barcelona. Don't get me wrong. It's still one of the best cities in the world for boardin'. The plazas are still beautifully ridable and filled with architectural treasures straight out of skateparks. It's just that, like San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. , San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden , and Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. before it, Barcelona is feeling the burden of being the hot skate city of the day Spots that the locals have had free reign of for years are being skate proofed and we got the cops called on us at popular spots three or four times within two weeks. There is talk of knobs at MACBA MACBA Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art) and we saw anti-foreigner graffiti on the bathroom walls of the "skater" bar. Yep, that's right. There's a skater bar. You can go there any night of the week and overhear o·ver·hear v. o·ver·heard , o·ver·hear·ing, o·ver·hears v.tr. To hear (speech or someone speaking) without the speaker's awareness or intent. v.intr. kids from all over the world talking about their footy Foot´y a. 1. Having foots, or settlings; as, footy oil, molasses, etc. s> 2. Poor; mean. and Kostons. And there's nothing wrong with that--skaters uniting in their love of the stuntwood. But you know how things can get, and how quickly a place can get blown out. I've done four Barcelona articles in the last three years and. as far as a productive destination, you can do little better. It really is all it's cracked up to be. I guess I feel guilty because of the search-and-destroy nature of the modem skate trip--getting the moves on camera at all costs. It's a much more intrusive approach than average sessioning, and much harder on the spots. I try to adhere to adhere to verb 1. follow, keep, maintain, respect, observe, be true, fulfil, obey, heed, keep to, abide by, be loyal, mind, be constant, be faithful 2. the classic rules of spot preservation (no trash, no graffiti, common courtesy, etc), but that still doesn't mean that you're not the fourth group of skaters to hit the hubba that day--making a racket and scaring the old people. While Europe may be more enlightened as far as liability concerns and a live-and-let-live attitude, the main reason you don't get booted from spots in Spain as often as in America is because there are fewer skaters. Up the number of shredders, and suddenly the cops in Barcelona seem more like their comrades in Newport Beach Newport Beach, residential and resort city (1990 pop. 66,643), Orange co., S Calif., on Newport Bay and the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1906. It is a popular seaside resort and yachting center. Manufactures include electrical and medical equipment, computers, boats, and adhesives. . It's not just professional American skaters adding to the crowds at Sants Sants is a neighbourhood of Barcelona, in the southern zone of the city. It belongs to the district of Sants-Montjuïc, and is bounded by the districts of Eixample on the northeast, Les Corts on the northwest, and by the municipality of Hospitalet de Llobregat on the south. (though we bumped into the Habitat and Darkstar teams on our visit); crews from all over Western Europe Western Europe The countries of western Europe, especially those that are allied with the United States and Canada in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (established 1949 and usually known as NATO). are moving to Barcelona to get in on the action. It makes sense for them--the weather of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, without giving up the weird cheeses of Germany There are also several skate photographers with meaningfully-marked subway maps, ready to take the next crew who gets off the plane to all the newest spots. Can't blame 'em. It all just seems so, well...so American. To their credit, the local skaters are amazingly generous. They give directions, act as translators and help the tourists track down kingpins with a skater-to-skater friendliness straight out of the 1980s. None of the locals we hung out with seemed too mad about the influx--pretty much the opposite. "Hey Now I don't have to move back to LA!" Enrique laughed. Diego loves Barcelona He and P-Stone got their own apartment and stayed in town a month. "Finally! A place where I can skate every day and speak Spanish," he often says. The apartment was a hook-up from Barcelona legend Jose Noro--a Spanish pro notorious for his knowledge of the hidden runs in the city's far-flung boroughs and suburbs. Jose took us to some great shit--either driving our van or leading us on his scooter; sometimes with a friend and two boards riding on the back. Jose's got real pride in his town and has even started building Burnside-like extensions on his semi-shoddy neighborhood skatepark A skatepark is a purpose-built recreational environment for skateboarders, bmxers and aggressive skaters to ride and develop their sport and technique. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, quarter pipes, handrails, trick boxes, vert ramps, pyramids, banked ramps, full pipes, stairs, . The Spanish air turned Diego into a Spring Break-caliber party animal and he, P-Stone, Spiro and Jose went out almost every night to the Skate Bar or The Bar of Heavy Metal. After being kicked out of the former for blowing out the crapper, P-Stone found he had more fun just hanging out in the street out front. He quickly befriended the TJ-style beer vendors and even took over some of their shifts in exchange for a steady supply of cold ones. "I'll show ya how to sell beer!" he told his new friends. "Git your ice-cold beer herel Come 'n' git it!" People flocked around the big man and his garbage bag full of fun. ALL THE DAYS of this trip kind of ran into each other. In a near-Groundhog's Day-style exercise, we'd get up, skate all day, then go eat at one of Ed and Deanna's vegetarian restaurants--12 days in a row. The only slight aberration were the couple of nights I went to the disco cave with Diego and made myself retarded. Other than that, it was strictly nerdsville. I read books and watched BBC BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. news, Billy made long international calls to his girlfriend, Austin and Josh played chess and talked about David Bowie and Ed and Deanna did whatever it is they do (read: 50-percent snacking, 50-percent the type of things that happen when two people love each other very much--this is only a guess). The skating was top-notch, but if Ed hadn't gotten into the knife fight with the senior citizen (see sidebar) this trip could have been boring enough to be in 411. The only other thing worthy of mention is an episode I like to call Hoang's Hell Ride. The Tampa Pro was scheduled around the same time as the last few days of our trip. And even though Dave freely admitted there was really no need for his presence there (the small contingency of the Etnies team attending the event are all grown men and can apparently manage themselves), he decided to fly from Barcelona to Tampa, Florida “Tampa” redirects here. For other uses, see Tampa (disambiguation). Tampa is a United States city in Hillsborough County, on the west coast of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County.GR6. anyway. He was only there for two days, then he had to fly back to Barcelona for the last two days of the trip' then get back on a plane to return to LA. Regarding the approximate 50 hours of torturous travel time, the eerily unflappable Dave said, "I'm stoked stoked adj. Slang 1. Exhilarated or excited. 2. Being or feeling high or intoxicated, especially from a drug. . I'm just glad I got it under my belt." "But there was no reason for you to go!" I said. "Maybe not. But it was cool to see the boys. It wasn't so bad. I'm glad I did it." This, my friends, is the kind of positive-thinking, easy-going eas·y·go·ing also eas·y-go·ing adj. 1. a. Living without undue worry or concern; calm. b. Lax or negligent; careless. c. attitude we need in the White House. AT THE TIME OF THIS WRITING, the official war on Iraq is over. The images of free Iraqis dancing in the streets and kissing US soldiers were heartwarming heart·warm·ing or heart-warm·ing adj. 1. Causing gladness and pleasure. 2. Eliciting sympathy and tender feelings: a heartwarming tale. Adj. 1. and made me hopeful that, regardless of the means, maybe the ends will be worth it. Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (born April 28, 1937, Tikrit, Iraq—died Dec. 30, 2006, Baghdad) President of Iraq (1979–2003). He joined the Ba'th Party in 1957. Following participation in a failed attempt to assassinate Iraqi Pres. was an evil tyrant who no one will miss, However, the following pictures of the people looting, the huge anti-US demonstrations on the streets of Baghdad and the fact that the weapons of mass destruction Weapons that are capable of a high order of destruction and/or of being used in such a manner as to destroy large numbers of people. Weapons of mass destruction can be high explosives or nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological weapons, but exclude the means of transporting or are still yet to be found (not to mention that Bush refuses to let the UN weapons inspectors back in to supervise, that the water is still not back on for millions of people, that thousands of Iraqis were killed, that all the rebuilding contracts were awarded to US companies who made huge contributions to Bush's campaign and that, in making a preemptive strike Preemptive strike may refer to:
contained all evils; opened up, evils escape to afflict world. [Rom. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 799] See : Evil in the Middle East and the rest of the world. RELATED ARTICLE: HAIR MACHINE THE TOY MACHINE HAS ALWAYS PUSHED THE LIMITS of on-board performance, but only lately have they applied this bravado to their personal appearances. Forget the Jerry Fowler Jerry Marston Fowler (born April 26, 1940) is a Baton Rouge businessman who, as part of a family political dynasty, was Louisiana's state elections commissioner from 1980 until his defeat in the 1999 jungle primary. chili-bowls of rosters past, the current crew have some of the most provocative and exciting 'dos the sport has ever seen: AUSTIN Austin's got the best hair of the team--a tallish pile of garage-band-inspired excess; partly Rod Stewart, mostly New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of sophisticate, always looking nice. He never washed it the whole trip but still managed to appear the most together. His fanciful assortment of scarves and women's blouses certainly did nothing to detract from detract from verb 1. lessen, reduce, diminish, lower, take away from, derogate, devaluate << OPPOSITE enhance verb 2. this success ED Forget the hair-hiding and Primus mullets of his early years, those looks are as gone as Deanna's floppy Lisa Bonet Lisa Michelle Boney (born November 16, 1967), known professionally as Lisa Bonet (IPA: /boʊˈneɪ/), is an American actress. hats. For Ed, the Miami Vice slick-back is the order of the day. Not only is this style timeless in its simplicity and ease of assembly, the slick lets him move easily from dusty skatepark to high-end gallery opening with the confidence and grace of a Dennis Hopper or, dare we say, a Jason Lee. While the critics call bullshit on the old guard's nouveau mops and mousse 'hawks, Ed can rock the Crockett well into living legend Living Legend may refer to:
DIEGO Easily the most shocking Most Shocking is a reality television show produced by Nash Entertainment and Court TV Original Productions. It generally features a video of criminal behavior, police pursuits, robberies, and shootouts. of the Toy styles, Diego's Oasis coif continues to morph as he constantly worries it with his magical Argentinian hair-cut comb. Available only from vendors on busses in and around his home city of Buenos Aries, the magic comb has a hidden razor blade ra·zor·blade also ra·zor blade n. A thin sharp-edged piece of steel that can be fitted into a razor. razor blade n → hoja de afeitar razor blade which extends half-way to the end of the teeth, preventing accidental lacerations but allowing its wielder to thin and shape his or her hair with easy swipes that mimic normal hair maintenance. For now he gets plenty of attention; looking stylish in the streets--mistaken for either a travelin' lad from Manchester or a Hasidic Jew whose curls have fallen BILLY Billy's inky mop is very medieval in form and I've often thought he'd make a great Friar Tuck Friar Tuck fat friar, jovial companion of Robin Hood. [Br. Legend: Benét, 371] See : Joviality or King Henry the VIII for Halloween, should he be so inclined (and able to procure the necessary tights and tunic tu·nic n. A coat or layer enveloping an organ or a part; tunica. tunic a covering or coat. See also tunica. abdominal tunic see tunica flava abdominis. ). In comparison to his stylish team-mates, Billy is pretty Plain Jane. However, I think his hair cut is the best because I'm pretty sure he puts absolutely no work or thought into it. Skate and destroy JOSH What Josh lacks in general artistic direction, he more than makes up for in sheer volume. This kid carts around a nest big enough to start one of those Hair Clubs for Men, and still manages to keep it out of his eyes. Josh's hair is uniform in length, the front of which gets corralled out of his face in a flipper-like sweep that may also act as a natural visor. It keeps its sheen with a moderate application of a waxing agent and was bouncin' and behavin' throughout the entire trip KNIFE FIGHT! THIS IS THE STORY of my first "fight" ever, and really it was not a fight, but more of a defense. For some reason or other, we had no filmer for one of our days in Barcelona, Spain. There was no way we would still go out skating to just take pictures. What, do something good enough to shoot a picture of without filming it? In this day and age that would be stupid. As lame as it sounds, and is, pro skateboarding is a three-person collaboration these days: skater, photographer, filmer. Anyway, we needed a break and decided to lurk up in the nearby mountains. We drove up in search of the funicular to the huge church at the summit, but found it was closed. So we decided to just rough it into the forest by ourselves. We left Deanna behind as we hiked up into the trees. There was human shit and used condoms everywhere. People go into these hills to party and fuck. We hiked up the steep trails, breaking bottles and throwing rocks at trees along the way. On our return, Deanna was nowhere to be seen. I called out for her in a loud scream, "DEANNA!" At this point, a man who was standing by the road started yelling at me. He took a whistle from his pocket and blew it facing the tree-covered hillside and yelled something in Spanish, then turned to me and shouted threats to me in Spanish which I don't understand. But his body language and the fact that he had pulled a large butcher knife from under his shirt and was waving it at me, was enough for me to know that he didn't want me yelling in his area He was an older man, and his whole tirade sort of interested me. I yelled "DEANNA!!!" once more and he again waved the knife and shook his spear at me--a long stick with a sharpened point. I did not feel threatened by this man, so I started to walk over to him to find out what his problem was. He was yelling the whole time. I asked him what was going on in English and when he heard that I spoke English he seemed to dismiss me from his mind. He just stood there and loo ked into the hills. I was standing about five feet from him, and realized what a cool picture this would be: a guy standing there with a spear and a knife and a plastic shopping bag. So I got out my small camera and shot his picture. He went berzerk! He instantly came running at me with his sharpened stick and swung it at my face. I had a stick with me from our hike, luckily, and used it to deflect his blow. Now I was in shock. That fucker fuck·er n. Vulgar Slang 1. A despised person. 2. One that engages in sexual intercourse. Noun 1. just took a swing at my head! I took another picture as I was trying to watch for his next move. He started jabbing the knife at me and I backed away. This whole thing was sort of fun for me. Josh and Mike had run up from our car when they saw me block the spear and were waiting to help if things got bad. The guy wanted to kill me. I only started to get scared when I saw he was planning to throw his spear at me. I thought, "That could suck if I got stuck with a spear." So I retreated from the crazy man. A hiker getting into his car had seen the whole thing and told us that the guy was "loco" and that we should just leave him alone. Still, Deanna had not come back and I was getting worried. We were sitting around our van talking, when out of nowhere, the man came running at us. We as a group said "Get in the van!" and did just that. The guy whacked at our van with his stick and jabbed at Austin's face through the glass as Mike drove us away. I was kinda pissed now, that old man just hit our car and made us run away like wimps! I got out of the car and started walking towards the guy with my stick. I picked up a rock as I advanced. The boo man also picked up a rock. We stood there looking at each other holding rocks and sticks. I laughed in my head at the sight and just dropped the rock and left the man there. His buddy had come running from their mountain lair and tried to calm him. We drove around the bend looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. Deanna and then looped right back and there she was, unharmed, with no sign of Loco Homeless Lurker. We told her the story and she said she walked right past that guy and he smiled. Ed Templeton Ed Templeton (born July 28, 1972 in Orange County, California) is a professional skateboarder who resides in Huntington Beach, California. [1] Ed started skateboarding in 1985 in his hometown of Huntington Beach, California, with his friend Jason Lee. the P-Stone Age Once again, Preston "P-Stone" Maigetter continued to amaze with his amazingly positive outlook on...well, on just about everything. Use this handy chart to see how your reactions to common unpleasant road-trip situations stack up against the King of the Even Keel. SITUATION: There are no beds NORMAL REACTION: Find somewhere else to stay P-STONE'S REACTION: "Sounds good. Floor's good for my back!" SITUATION: There is no floor space NORMAL REACTION: Find somewhere else to stay P-STONE'S REACTION: "I'll just sleep on this stool. It's like I'm at the bar all night!" SITUATION: There are only cactus to sleep on NORMAL REACTION: "Let's get the hell out of here!" P-STONE'S REACTION: "Sounds good. I've always wanted to try acupuncture!" SITUATION: Nothing but fat girls at the party NORMAL REACTION: Find another party P-STONE'S REACTION: "Damn! I bet they know where the best restaurants are!" SITUATION: The session's on the other side of town and there's no more room in the van NORMAL REACTION: "We're not skating today." P-STONE'S REACTION: "Sweet. Gives me a chance to get in some street skating Street skating is the practice of roller skating (commonly on inline skates or quad skates) in groups on public roads. Street skates can be formal affairs, with prespecified routes, marshals and, at times, police escorts or ad hoc gatherings of like minded individuals. . I'll meet you there!" SITUATION: The beer's warm NORMAL REACTION: Put it in the fridge and wait P-STONE'S REACTION: "Hey, it gets warm in your stomach anyway." SITUATION: Three month skate trip across Europe with no money or places to stay NORMAL REACTION: "I'm over it." P-STONE'S REACTION: "I'm down!" THIS IS NOT A SKATEPARK Believe it or not, none of these spots were built for skating. How is it that architects in Spain can accidentally build skateparks better than the ones that so-called professionals in Southern California get paid millions of dollars for? America sucks. NO WAR FOR HEAVY METAL This is some heavy shit and I don't blame you if you just want to think about your switch crooks and put the rest out of your mind. I was 17 when the Gulf War broke out, and all I kept thinking was, "God, I hope I don't get drafted." Other than that, I couldn't have cared less. The difference now is that the stakes are much higher. A generation of desperate people are growing up convinced that the US is the cause of their horrible state. If you are even half-way concerned, I suggest following a reliable news source (NPR NPR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Nepal Rupee. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. or one of the big papers, not the local network crap) and forming some opinions of your own. Putting an American flag sticker on your car doesn't really do anything. At the age of 30. I'm finally registering to vote. Man, these are some ugly times. |
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