I hooked up with Mark Halliday earlier in the year and we started hanging out together, me skating and him filming and shooting photos of me. Mark owns Moonrider Productions and shoots documentary style videos of multiple trades along with awesome photos to compliment them. Mark has a knack for discovering the inner beauty and meaning of his work and assisting it to express itself through his lenses. Over lunch one day we were discussing all the events I run and others that I participate in and decided it would be sweet to document 2 of these skateboard series’s together – The 19^th year of The Bowl Series, and The 10^th (and final) year of Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey. So Mark agreed to be part of these projects and committed himself to as many of the proposed dates as possible. Mark had shot a wide variety of different things in his life, but these were going to be serious eye-openers to how a humungous community can come together so tightly and treat each other like family. And the funny thing is, both of these events have a family of their own.

The first stop for the project was all-time best day of the year – Canada Day Bowl Series at Seylynn Bowl, it doesn’t get much more real than this. Mark brought all his gear, and his pal Jamie Madill, and they spent close to 9 hours taking photos and shooting video. The place was jumping, all the old time regulars were present, and everyone was ripping the bowl and having a great time. Anyone who is new to this event would be astonished at how many people can be in one place, all know each other, and have nothing but respect. It was a definite life altering experience for him I’m sure. Mark is a long time skateboarder, but he was new to this contest scene, and he totally loved it immediately. I remember talking with him afterwards and he just kept talking about how awesome all the people were and how everyone was so friendly and when we interviewed any of them they all said the same thing about how they just love being part of a family. It was probably a very heartwarming experience, but there was a lot more work to be done.

The next day we hooked up was July 6^th at Cloverdale Skate Park to kickoff the 10^th annual Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey. Now the entire feeling and emotional aspects were definitely the same, but suddenly it was all teenagers and young kids that were expressing themselves, and in a new style environment. I knew right away that Mark understood how I took that family appeal that I lived in with the old school skaters through Bowl Series and created the same feel in this group, but it is very different when you experience it. I could tell he was having a great time by the looks on his face throughout the day and just by how into his filming he was. I don’t know how many of you that are reading this have ever tried to film and shoot photos at the same time for a large scale event all by yourself but it’s very difficult and tiring because the action never stops making it undesirable for you to take a break. In your mind you believe that if you put your camera down for 2 minutes, the most important shots of the day will happen and you will miss them, it’s very torturous. The day went smooth and everyone had a great time. We did some interviews with this group as well and coincidentally, the same feelings and emotions were expressed as the group from Bowl Series. All of a sudden, Mark knew he was in for an amazing journey and there was no want to back out.

What a summer, 10 events in total between the 2 series’s and not one of them was rained out or postponed. Every event had the same dudes at them, and all of them were nothing but positive. The skating was amazing and unstoppable at each one, but different people would place in the finals. And the number one thing was how every person that was a part of any of these events was there because they loved to be there, not because they wanted to win. Mark put in a lot of effort while covering these events, and we still have some more interviews to do before either of the videos can be produced, but there are a ton of photos up on Mark’s Flickr page so you can get a real feel of what’s to come. A photo says a thousand words, I’m sure you will be able to hear all of them.

Thanks a ton to Mark Halliday and Moonrider Productions for being so supportive of both of these events and putting in so much effort. I know how hard it is to be a one man show behind the lenses and I know in the end it will be worth it.

Stay tuned for more information about when these videos will be released and how to get your hands on a copy very soon.

Until then, check out the photos from all the stops Mark was able to make it to and recognize that it’s not always about the best trick that went down that day, but actually about the day itself…

The Bowl Series

• Seylynn Bowl – http://www.flickr.com/x/t/0092009/gp/moonriderpro/05046w/
• Griffin Bowl – http://www.flickr.com/x/t/0095009/photos/moonriderpro/sets/72157634787834588/
• White Rock Bowl – http://www.flickr.com/x/t/0091009/photos/moonriderpro/sets/72157634868254074/
• Whistler Bowl – http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonriderpro/sets/72157635166738530/

Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey

• Cloverdale Skate Park – http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonriderpro/sets/72157634765730013/
• Fleetwood Skate Park – http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonriderpro/sets/72157635414286736/
• Bear Creek Skate Park – http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonriderpro/sets/72157635710267845/

7 painful years ago today – December 3, 2005 – our friend Lee Matasi was shot down in the streets and killed dead for no reason, all because he voiced his opinion to an ignorant idiot who thought it was cool to carry around a deadly weapon and flash it openly.

I still remember the day it happened and how I was arguing with a young teenager at the Cloverdale Youth Centre while I was working about Gangsters and Guns and fighting and shit like that. It’s so hard to get across to these kids that what happens in movies and on records in the music is not something to think is cool. Violence is not cool, it’s ignorant. Weapons are not cool, there destructive. And murder is definitely not cool, it’s the worst thing you could do. Not only do you end someone’s life without justice but you cause everyone who loved that person to hate – hate the world, hate the system, hate you. During the time I was having this ridiculous conversation with this ignorant kid, Lee Matasi lost his life…

I didn’t know it had happened until Monday when my wife Carrie called me from work crying. Someone had brought in the newspaper and put it in front of her, and there was a picture of Lee with the story of him being shot. I had never cried so uncontrollably in my life up to that point. All I could think of was Why? And How? Why would someone shoot Lee? And how could anybody just shoot someone dead? It changed my whole life. I was already fully against weapons, but this incident made me think twice before stating my opinion about things I didn’t agree with to people I didn’t know. It took away every last bit of trust I had for anyone any more. And it broke my heart to think about how his family had to suffer.

Lee was a great guy, and I’ve written lots of articles about him and what he meant to me, and how he helped to change the face of skateboarding in Vancouver. He is a legend. And proof of that was when we all gathered into the Tunnel called Leeside and paid our respects to him only days after he was killed. Hundreds of people, skateboarders, graffiti artists, and anyone else that knew him joined together in a heartbreaking ceremony to remember the man he was. And not one person in that crowd had a dry eye.

It’s times like that where I believe in the Death Penalty. When you outright take someone’s life away without rhyme or reason and the proof is there, you deserve to die. 16 years of imprisonment without chance of parole was the sentence for one Dennis Robert White, the man that killed our friend. But to me, that’s not enough.

I thank Michelle Pezel at Antisocial Skate Shop for all the I Love Lee Matasi gear they have created over the years to help us show our appreciation, and also Momentum Wheels for the I Love Lee Wheels they made. We all miss Lee Matasi every day. The smiles he brought to the skate park, the crazy tricks he would land first try, and that mellow stoned look in his eyes. And every time I skate at Leeside Memorial Park I give him praise. That place has come so far from when Lee originally found it and we began putting skateable objects down there and it’s a damn shame that he isn’t here to enjoy it. But in spirit he is, and we are with him today and every day.

Rest in Peace Lee Matasi – a hero to so many

you will never be forgotten…

I was just informed by my Mom that my Dad, Raymond James Faux, will be recognized by the Heritage Exhibit at the Banting Farmhouse at Banting Homestead Heritage Park in Alliston, Ontario. The Banting Farmhouse is a public exhibit space which was just restored at the original Farmhouse where Sir Frederick Banting was born in 1891. As a “50 year user of Insulin” my Dad will join a list of others who have reached this historic milestone. Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at age 15 it seems amazing that this chemical balance assisted in his survival for so many years, and I can recall him talking about it just before he passed away, how amazed he was that he had been on insulin for 50 years. Insulin was discovered in 1921/1922 by the team of Frederick Banting and Charles Best at the University of Toronto in a lab space provided by physiologist Dr J. McLeod. Along with biochemist J.B. Collip, they discovered a way to produce commercial qualities of insulin, and so began the battle against Diabetes. McLeod and Banting were awarded the Nobel Prize for their accomplishments and were actually the first Canadians to ever have that honour. Ironically my Father’s Grandfather, Allan Brock, worked as a Lab Technician at the Toronto General Hospital during this time period and actually helped to create the equipment necessary for Banting and Best’s research in the discovery of insulin. A huge connection to my Father’s pride.

It’s a shame that my Dad did not get to experience this moment, but I am very happy that he will be recognized and his story of survival will be told. He was a huge influence on my frame of mind to always push through any battle, set lots of impossible goals, and to never give up on anything I believe in and I hope to go and see the exhibit someday soon.

Raymond James Faux – Hero, Warrior, True Man – Forever Loved

1947-2012

For more information of Frederick Banting and the Banting Farmhouse click the link

www.bantinglegacy.ca.

Is the end of the world on it’s way? Were the Mayans right when they predicted that December 21, 2012 will be the last day we all see? According to the Mayan Calendar, that’s the final day. And with all these chaotic Natural Disasters happening around us, people are really starting to believe it.

2 large earthquakes off the coast of British Columbia causing Tsunami Warnings on Vancouver Island, and then this nasty Hurricane Sandy happening in the Atlantic Ocean, destroying parts of New York City. The city that never sleeps, had to learn how to swim, and fast. It is very rare that both Oceans are being negatively active at the same time like this.

There is always talk of the world coming to an end, and hey, the end is on the way. That doesn’t mean that it will happen this year though. Remember the Great Millennium Scare? The world was gonna end then too. The entire North American atmosphere was upside down over that one, buying tons of supplies, and building Bomb Shelters, and preparing for all the airlines to crash, and so on. Why? Because the government and the news kept talking like it was going to happen, and people believed it. Was the whole world fooled back then? Is the whole world going to be fooled again? The news is the worst thing for us as people, you have to believe some of what you see and hear, but how much of it? Look at this photo of the Statue of Liberty getting swarmed by the clouds. Everyone knew that there was a Hurricane Warning down there and so when someone photoshopped this picture and put it out on the internet it was huge news, and everyone started worrying right away that it was really happening. I thought it was a scene from the original Ghostbusters Movie myself, but you never know what’s real and what’s not. I mean it is kind of coincidental that 2 months before the predicted end of existence there is mayhem, but mayhem happens all the time. The past decade especially has been packed with tons of Natural Disasters, or “Acts of God” as some would call them, all over the world. There was Hurricane Katrina in 2005 which completely demolished New Orleans and left the people struggling to survive without immediate help from the American Government. There was the Tsunami that followed the massive Earthquake in 2010 and washed out more than half of Haiti which is still trying to recover. And what about the Cyclone Nargis in 2008 where almost 150,000 people in Burma lost their lives. All of these Disasters have been happening all over the world, and that’s part of the Earth and the way it revolves. If anything, we the Human Race, are the ones promoting these Natural Disasters in the sense of our technical evolution, drilling the earth for resources, and placing satellites all around us in space generating waves of electrical energy.

So what is going to happen next?

Is the world going to explode? Or is it just the living creatures that will be abolished?

Will we have another Ice Age?

Or is the centre of the earth just going to open up and swallow us whole?

Nobody knows what or when, but they tell you to be ready for it everyday, and that part is true. Because the way things are going, you never know what Natural Disaster is hiding around the corner ready to pounce on you, your city, and even your Country that you live in, and all you can do is hope that it doesn’t happen. Don’t take your days for granted, and love as many people as you can, so when the day does come you can feel accomplished.

Tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, floods and fires –  

Onward to 2013.

http://voices.yahoo.com/ten-natural-disasters-2000-2009-5107511.html?cat=58 

What is wrong with this world that we are still accepting the fact that it’s okay to have guns around. We are not warriors fighting for survival and  trying to take over each others land. We don’t need to hunt and kill animals for survival. So why are these weapons still so accessible?

I picked up the newspaper off my porch this morning and the cover said, “Border Guard shot in neck will recover…” Wow. We live in Canada and we have to worry about people trying to shoot there way across the border, what is wrong with people? Some poor dude goes to work on a Tuesday and gets shot in the neck for it. As far as I knew we actually have gun laws in this country that make it illegal for people to carry them around in streets, unlike the United States. So how come I know of 3 totally unrelated stories that involved guns that all happened around here on Monday and Tuesday of this week? And I don’t even watch the news. We need to discourage weapons. What the kids don’t understand is that carrying a weapon for protection is gonna get them killed. Or they’re gonna take someone else’s life and pay for it the rest of theirs.

I’ve had 3 friends die to the gun, none of who deserved it at all – Rachel Hunter, trying to stop an argument outside a bar; Chris Whitmee, taking a piss beside the wrong person who someone tried to assassinate; and Lee Matasi, chased down the street for voicing his opinion and being ignorantly shot straight up in the head.  And do you think any of these people who committed these murders were punished enough, or even at all for some cases? And what about the families of these innocent victims? What did these incidents do to them and to their lifestyles? Why do we still have these guns?

I just don’t think it’s fair to any of us civilized people to have to worry about dying to a bullet at any given moment wherever we are. This is not a knife or a club where the person has to come near you to hurt you, these are guns, that shoot death across the sky.

We don’t need them…

Every person you meet is different, some are happy, some are angry, some are complete idiots, but everyone has one thing in common – we’re alive. We all have a life that we’re living and no one can predict exactly where they will end up at the end. But you can try in some ways to pave the pathways for your future and then go for the ride. Sometimes those pathways are a steep climb, and sometimes they are an uncontrollable down hill that leaves you wishing you had some brakes. And the rest of the time, you’re just strollin’ along.

When you wake up in the morning, what are the first things you think about. Those are usually the important features of your life. Do you worry about debt? Do you reach for the liquor? Do you think about the people you love?Do you have a plan for the day, or a goal you want to accomplish? Every day it’s different. Your life is always changing.

If you’re a positive thinker, or an Optimist they call it, then you’re usually a pretty happy person and it takes a lot to get you down. But these are the people that get really down when shit happens. It’s like you’re always believing that everything is gonna be okay, and life will get better, and everybody loves you. Then when it all crashes at once, you can’t understand why. “Why me?” you say… It’s not just you.

Then there’s the Pessimist that is always unhappy and complaining about every little thing. If you believe that everything is going to go wrong, then why are you surprised when it does? That makes no sense. To me, the negative thinker is just someone who’s afraid of life. They’re scared to believe in the good things in case they don’t come true. And they live their lives in hope that one day they will be happy, but don’t allow it to happen. These people are gonna miss out on the best things in life and die depressed.

Now we have the people in the middle that have no plans at all and just take whatever life serves them on their plate. This can be relaxing and dangerous at the same time. These are the people that get taken advantage of and used all the time because they trust. They trust the people around them , they trust the governments of the world, they believe whatever they are told, and always think that everything is gonna work out.

We are all living our lives, and our lives are filled with ups and downs. Everyone goes through good times and bad times. We all have dreams of what we want to be and where we want to end up. So take those visions and strive to make them reality. Meet lots of people along the way, and learn your lessons the first time. Be who you are, not who your told to be. And choose your paths carefully.

Then know – your life is what you make it, smile and be happy…