"Warren Miller's" "Dynasty"

Another movie, another step closer to the start of the season. Sure some of the resorts on the East Coast are technically open, but the season doesn't really start until "Warren Miller" arrives.

Now things can begin.

We took the 8 minute walk up to the Somerville Theatre and arrived with time to spare and time to get some great seats. The place was packed and the anticipation for the start of the show was palpable (big word).

After the MC got things warmed up and a brief appearance by Lorraine Huber, the show was under way. All in all, it was your typical Warren Miller movie. Some cool locations, some cool characters and some good laughs. Three highlights for me were the the return of the Schrab brothers, along with their 600CC motorcycle rope tow; a 9 year old girl who rides better than I ever will; and a snowboarding alligator. There was also a cool story revolving around the history of Crystal Mountain. Pretty sure it made everyone in the theatre wish their parents had decided to up ship and move to the mountains when they were little.

As always though, the greatest part of the movie was the atmosphere. There's nothing like being amongst several hundred people, all amped up for the coming winter. Its also a fun feeling spilling out onto Davis Square with waiting movie goers wondering what the hell all of these people were just doing at a 7pm movie on a Wednesday night.

So that's the review. Not too in depth, but you should get out there and see it for yourself! Its snowing in Colorado right now and really making this rain we are getting feel that much worse.

Next up is the Edge of Never at the Brattle Theatre on Tuesday. See you all there!

Transworld's "Get Real" Review

Jealousy and depression...and that was before the movie even started.

Going off a twitter post from the guys at Stratton, I heard about the showing of Transworld's "Get Real" at BU Central on 10/27. Some confusion finding out the details and being the only one that RSVP'd on Stratton's Facebook page left us a little skeptical as we made our way to the movie.

We made our way downstairs and found ourselves smack dab in the middle of the BU Ski & Snowboard Team's kick-off. A bunch of 18-21 year olds awaiting the start of the show and three 'older' kids trying to act like they were supposed to be there. I think we fit in just fine. The leaders of the ski club talked about upcoming trips and even a great long weekend in Montreal where they could "Party their faces off". They also had some crazy deal on a trip to Telluride. Ah, to be in college again. No...really, I want to be in college again.

The movie itself was pretty good. There was a lot of good footage and it got some of the kids nice and juiced up for the coming months. Scott Stevens' part got a great reaction from all of his fellow Massholes. And that little kid saying, "I almost got knocked the f*ck out" was priceless. The one thing I will say though is that the soundtrack needed some work. The upbeat footage needed to have a matching playlist, but a lot of the music was too slow paced and mellow. It was definitely worth the trip out, but I don't know that Get Real is a DVD I'll be picking up. I know its a tall order to try to recreate what That's It That's All was, but a little narration or footage breaks really does help to make a better experience.

That's it for today. Next up is "Warren Miller's" "Dynasty" on November 11th.

Until then...powder dreams.

"In Deep: the skiing experience" (Cambridge, MA)

Well, its been three long days since our last film premiere. Too long!

We discovered last night that we'd forgotten our calendars and that our next outing was just around the corner. Match Stick Production's new movie "In Deep: the skiing experience" was showing at the historic Brattle Street Theatre in historic Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Looking back, the easiest thing to do would have just been to buy tickets on-line last night. Putting it off until today though, just added to the story.

After work I headed out to meet Sean at the theatre, yeah, that's right, its so historic its with an 're'. I arrived first and quickly learned that the show was sold out. The 230 seat theatre had sold 200 tickets and was holding 30 tickets for guests. If those 'guests' didn't show though, the first 30 were in. I was sitting pretty at number 21. Luck would be on our side and $30 later we had 2 tickets and made our way past the gigantic beer line and to our seats in the balcony.

Before the show started, Frankie Alisuag from MSP came on and pumped everybody up. He brought skiers Hugo Harrisson and Bobby Brown to throw out some 'group giveaways'. He also took a minute to pay a quick tribute to the man, the myth, the legend that is Shane McConkey.

The movie began with a segment on a 16 year old kid named Sean Petit and the hits never stopped. Pretty sure 'holy sh*t' was everyone's favorite response. That or 'oh my god'. Either way, it was pretty awe inspiring. After some unreal footage, and some hilarious commentary and passing shots, the movie moved onto an amazing tribute to Saucer Boy himself. Made the whole reason for going to see the movie at a theatre with other people excited about skiing, rather than just buying a DVD, make sense.

The montage to Shane made for a fitting although a bit sad ending to a great film. But then camera cut to one last scene. Say what you want about Billy Joel but his song 'Piano Man' took a whole new meaning tonight. The crew at Match Stick Productions might make some so-so ski movies, but MAN can they make a music video!

All around, just a great movie. If you can get out there and see it in a theatre, don't miss it! If not, the DVD is definitely worth it.

Alright, that's it for tonight. Next stop, Transworld's 'Get Real' at BU Central on 10/27.

Burton's "The B" Movie Premiere 10.16.09

Alright, so where have we come since Portsmouth. We've all heard about the battle that was YoBeat vs Burton. And I'd have to say, YoBeat won. And we've now had our first openings out west leaving everyone on the East Coast jealous as hell. The winter is creeping closer and closer.

I made my first trip out west of the season, alright it was only to Cincinatti for a wedding but it did have profound effect on the upcoming season. Sitting in the Boston airport for our 9am flight to Cincinatti, our lovely Delta agents came on the mic and informed everyone that the flight had been over sold and that they were looking for people to trade in their seats for a later flight and a $400 voucher. Yup, that's another trip to Denver.

Friday the 16th was the next date on our movie tour. Burton was showing its new film, the 'B Movie', at Jillian's. After watching the first few innings of the Phillies game over we headed over with the Bartley's and settled in for another depression causing movie. The footage was pretty sick, and the B park that they built was definitely the highlight. Jeremy Jones segment was pretty impressive and the new use of the ICS boards for a different kind of spin trick.

Now, hanging out with some like minded people for the night, talking about the coming season would have been just fine, but tonight had an extra special treat. At the close of the show, the MC for the night called everyone around him and informed us all that Concepts had donated a Burton Custom V Rocker 156 and he was going to give it away. How you might ask? A raffle? No, it was a one question, first person to scream out the answer and the guy saw you. Pretty basic, and my expectations were pretty low, but man, that was the perfect board for me.

As he asked the question, I quickly realized that I knew the answer to a pretty obscure question. Thanks to my damn near obsession for the past 3 months, I'd seen a cool video on YoBeat about the legend that is Terje Haakonsen that gave me the answer to the question, "What snowboarder currently holds the record for the highest jump out of a quarter pipe?"

Mass hysteria broke out with people screaming answeres at teh top of their lungs. Shaun White was the most popular answer, but sadly wrong. About 5 seconds went by and all of the sudden, with one last "Terje!!!" I met the look of the MC. He was pointing right at me. Next thing I knew, I was walking up to claim my prize, a brand new 2010 Burton Custom V Rocker!!

After a quick photo and some posts to twitter and texts to friends, I'd notice a lot of jealous people looking my way. I took them gladly!

Two days have passed now and it still hasn't really sunk in. A nice unplanned perk for the coming season. Plus, it gives us another deck for Sean to use if he ever decides to give up his ski obsession.

After hanging out at the party for a while we put the board in the safe keeping of the Bartley's and moved on to Harvard Sq to meet up with some family visiting from Philly. Needless to say, the good spirits from Jillians kept with us througout the night and caused for a long Saturday morning.

Well, two movies down and a bunch still to come.

Next stop, a ski flick, Match Stick Production's 'In Deep: The Skiing Experience'

Forum Premiere 10.3.09

The official start of the new season. Alright, we might need to wait a bit for some snow, but tonight was the first or our movie stops for the pre-season. Tonight was the release of Forum Snowboard's 'Forever' in Portsmouth, NH.

We left Boston in the early afternoon and had a pit stop in Andover to pick up our park builder, Lawton. A little bit over an hour later we were in Portsmouth and walking towards The Music Hall. Once inside the beautiful lobby we saw our first great sight of the night...RBV drink specials. It was going to be a good night.

The show started off with the treat of Forum's footage from the Transworld Team Shootout. If you haven't seen the pictures, go check them out.

The movie itself was so-so. I mean, if you like killing it when you ride, hitting unbelievable drops and riding in places I'd never even imagine, then yeah I guess it was ok. All kidding aside, it was really well done. The Forum Team definitely showed up. Just when I thought I was ready to ride just about anything, I saw this movie. Just shows why those guys are pros. For me, Pat Moore and Nick Suave were the best pieces but everyone has their own. Film flew by and before we knew it, all the fun was over...or was it.

A quick walk took us to the after party at The Page. A 'quick' couple appetizers in the upstairs bar and we headed downstairs for more great RBV specials. There's nothing like $15.25 for three drinks. As the drinks were flowing, people's hips started loosening up a bit and before we knew it, it was a dance off. There was even a new Forum board being given to the best dancer of the night. We were in it to win it. We quickly decided that a little double dutch was in order and sought out a nice girl member or our crew. No one likes watching three dudes dance. I scoped out the floor and Becca got the nod. She had the moves to bring it home.

Sadly though, the dance contest was a sh*t show. Everyone just started going after it in front of the DJ, it was pandemonium. We gave up our attempts at double dutch due to lack of space and loss of interest. The after party continued its downward spiral of booze, sweat & filthy dance moves...good times. It would soon come to an end though.

But the night wasn't over just yet.

The party spilled outside and we soon found ourselves hanging out wih Nico Cioffi and up and comer Sean Murphy. Basic conversation revolved around the fact that winter could not come soon enough. John Jackson was sitting on a bench next to us talking up a local, but was in a whole nother world. One fun note from the after-after party was finding out that Becca, our would have been double dutch partner, walked away as the eventual dance off winner. She credited my belief in her dance skills with giving her the confidence to win. Her thanks were great, but my asking for the board was met with a quick 'no'. I couldn't argue with her.

Now two hours after the bar had closed, we made a quick trip to Joe's New York Pizza for a slice and we started our way back south. The night would finally end at 4am but it was sure one hell of a start to the season.

Next up...Burton's 'The B' premiere in Boston.

1,000th Post!!!!

Thanks for all of you who have been following this space for the past 5 years. I can't believe we are already at 1,000 posts. Unfortunately, the first 999 have been lost in something called the Internet.

I'm tired as hell so this will be a short 1,000th post. Over the next 7 months or so, I'm hoping to turn this thing into a fun place to keep my experiences down in writing. I'm in the midst of rehabbing my shoulder after arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn labrum, so I'm kind of bored.

I first started snowboarding in the winter of 1993, in the snowboard mecca of the world, the suburbs of Philadelphia. I made my first board out of my old Nash Redline and some bike inner tubes. No edges and no real bindings, but damn it was fun. I'd had enough with sleds.

Back then, snowboarding was pretty new, at least to me, and low and behold chicks dug it. One dance to Inner Circle's 'Girl I'm Gonna Make you Sweat', during a CYO trip, with a girl from somewhere, and I knew that snowboarding had got me. That reminds me, I've got to get that song on this season's playlist.

I was going to give a long drawn out history of my snowboarding life but then I realized how bored I'd be if someone tried to make me read their story, unless they can land cork 1080s. Then I bet it would be pretty damn interesting.

So I'll make it short. Some of my best early snowboard memories involved my parents' Chevy Astro Van and friends making the 2 hour drive to the Poconos to ride. Then there was my first trip to Killington over my first winter break and using the worst fake id in the world to by an 18 pack on the way. Stories of the flaming log toss off that balcony never get old. Smart times! And who can forget riding in an afro and floral pants at my first Parrot Head Weekend at Sunday River. And I don't think anyone will ever forget the great Blue Whale versus 400 Polar Bears debate. That sh*t got heated.

But I digress. After some off and on years, I finally started getting back into riding seriously about 3 years ago thanks to my brother's new found goal to become a skier. Since then our small crew has made its way to Snowmass, Breckenridge, A-Basin, Vail, Keystone, Snowbird, and our mountains on the east coast and have had some great times along the way. I've got some fun memories from those trips but I've heard that blogs aren't about the past so maybe I'll share them with you on a lift some day. Its now Tuesday September 1st and it feels like the season is right around the corner. I'm looking forward to sharing some good stories, or so I hope, in the coming months.

More to come...