I found this kid on youtube a while ago. I’m not sure when or why exactly. I must of been looking into getting a new laptop and he came into my algorithm somehow. Watched a couple of his videos and I liked the content. He just point the camera and made some edits. You could see that he wasn’t taking YouTube overly serious. He had a good amount of view, definitely making some money but YouTube wasn’t his main hustle. At least that’s what it felt like
A few days ago I was looking into Lenovo laptops and Linux and he popped back into the feed. As a programmer that’s kind of his things. I watched a couple videos just to see what he was up to, and bro was doing alright for himself. In school, working at a startup, learning a language. During which he made videos showing how he managed his time to do this. While at some point he was living out of a van(which is dope)
I don’t know what it was but maybe it was the tech he had or the cat or the unkept hair but subscribed. Something about this kid I’m just rooting for him.
Today I saw this video of him being vulnerable and I fucked with it. So I thought I’d share it with yall. It hit home for me. James rocks!
Our “Locals” series focuses on the often overlooked characters in and around skateboarding. For our latest episode, we bring you Killian Pryor, the skateboarding UPS driver. He’s known in the Phoenix, Arizona area for spreading joy through his love of skateboarding to families all along his delivery route. Playing part philanthropic local, part plain-clothed Santa Claus, we had to know more.
I just finished watching Andrew Schulz’s new special “LIFE” on netflix. I know that dude has been in the headline about his comments about Black women during his interview with Shzt and gigs. But personally I don’t think dude is a bad guy, certainly not a racist. I think Andrew is a guy like me and you. A guy in the know. A guy with his finger on the pulse. As a comedian should. Schulz’s is an equal opportunist offender lol everyone can get these jokes.
Do The Right Thing is a movie I’ve heard about for years now and I finally made my way to see it. Spike Lee’s movies are always powerful with what feels like a hidden message if you’re sharp enough to catch it. Mookie, the main character played by Spike Lee, works at Sal’s Pizzeria delivering pizzas around the neighborhood on foot. As he makes his deliveries we meet the neighbors(or supporting cast) which all play their part in communicating Spike Lee’s many messages throughout the movie.
Mookie, the main character, is a hard working young man that tends to play peacemaker throughout the film. He focused on making money and though he’s not like the majority of the people in the neighborhood without a job, he still has his own sets of issues when it comes to responsibilities and maturing as an adult.
The three elders, as I call them, watch from across the street observing and criticizing the neighborhood, amazed at how the Korean shop owners have done so much in such little time since their arrival to the neighborhood. One of the wise men says that in time he’s going to save up his money and do the same thing as the Korean shop owner. But quickly the one of the other elders confronts him telling him that he isn’t going to do anything. That he’s just all talk.
Tina, played by Rosie Perez (Mookie’s baby’s mother), complains about Mookie not doing enough for her and the baby but also is continuing to see Mookie for good times. When Mookie tries to leave she quickly switches back from loving partner to angry baby mother.
Each character has a message or a theme that they are trying to communicate either directly or indirectly through their actions. If you haven’t seen Do the right Thing, I suggest you give it a watch and see if you can catch all the different themes and messages that the cast is trying to communicate to the viewers. I feel a lot of these characters are still around in modern day.
I found an old Jerry Hsu interview with GQ where Jerry talks about some of the origins of Sci-fi Fantasy, his style and his influences as he grow up in skateboarding watching other Pros.
An old interview but new to me. At the time of this interview Sci-Fi Fantasy wasn’t even a board company. Jerry was just making shit and putting it online. Which is what I try to do. Find something cool and share it with the people. Lately it’s been a lot more articles and videos, music and what not but I am aware originality is what people want. Shit originality is what I want.
Jerry Hsu is definitely an American original. And it’s skaters and people like Jerry show you how to carve your own path by just watching what they do because you not going to find another person like him.
Burning in paradise 