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Snigggty snap boom crack….ahh yEAAA….  THE MESSAGE is BACK!!!

Summer, Summer, Summmer tiiiiiiiiiime is finally winding down, there have been some kickass concerts going down in Tahoe all summer I saw Pato Banton, Andre Nickatina, Rebelution, The Pyrx Band, and many others,  4th of July was off the hook! For those of you who caught the fireworks, than you know that Tahoe and Big Bear offer some amazing fireworks shows, if you didn't make it to the lakes this year, you better plan on it next year!!!! And then we had Labor Day, Thanks to everyone who came out and partied last weekend! Both Hotels were SOLD OUT and it was an amazing time!!!  IF you can't wait to get away, check out these upcoming events that you don't want to miss!!!

In LAKE TAHOE,

Tuesday September 16th – Living Legends – (Eli, Sunspot Jones, Luckyiam, Scarub, Aesop, Bicasso +more TBA) along with The Bayliens and Rise of the Revolution.


Tues September 23rd - Eek-a-Mouse

Wed Sept. 24th - Sweatshop Union

Nov 28th - "Blizzard" Pray for Snow Party at Vex Night Club


And X-mas with THE GROUCH!!!


All of the above shows are at Whiskey Dick's Saloon a few miles from THE BLOCK. Cept the "Blizzard" Party at VEX.

Coming up in BIG BEAR,

Weekends, September 13 - October 25th - 38th Annual Big Bear Lake Oktoberfest, located at The Convention Center at Big Bear Lake.

AND THEN, the 1st SNOWBOARD CONTEST OF THE SEASON is BACK!!!! September 20th – Hot Dawgs and Hand Rails returns to Big Bear! Pro Jib Contest with over $15,000 prize purse!  Vendor Village, weenie roast, raffles, FREE ADMISSION! 6,000+ people showed up last year, so Book your rooms at THE BLOCK early to insure you got a spot to crash!!



Big Bear is also getting ready to open a new skate park at the community center,  be amped on that!!

SO with the 1st contest coming our way that means winter is just around the corner, and THE BLOCK has been busy preparing for THE BLOCK BOOTCAMP 2008!!  This year's BLOCK Bootcamp will be held once again in Big Bear from Nov 10-22.  We have been receiving numerous applications from all over the world and will be selecting 100 recruits to participate in THE BLOCK Bootcamp of which only 20 will be hired! The Bootcamp is a HIGH STRESS Environment and will be intense, so start training now! If you have any injuries that prevent you from completing physical tasks (ie. push-ups, pull-ups, running and general calisthenics), please refrain from enrolling as we will not be making any exceptions for any physical and mental handicaps this year!  If you were not hired last year and can physically complete the course you are welcome to re-apply for Season 3.

However, This year we are going stern on snowboarders, you MUST BE ABLE TO SNOWBOARD! We don't want non-snowboarding actors trying to get the job, just because it's a TV Show. SO if you don't own your own snowboard and gear and cant ride down the mountain, don't even bother applying!!!!!!  Snowboarding will be part of The Bootcamp, so your skills will be put to the test!

If you have already applied, don't worry your application has been received and we are in the process of reviewing them, All accepted recruits will be notified atleast 30 days prior to Boot Camp Departure Via 1st Class Mail from Marc Frank Montoya and Liko Smith.

IF you think you have what it takes to work for the Dopest Hotel on the planet, Please send a resume (include work history, address and phone #), 2 pictures, your myspace link (if you got one) and a paragraph on why you would be good for THE BLOCK to bootcamp@theblockhotels.com

 This year is going to be the best year to date at THE BLOCK, Liko and G4TV have been throwing around all types of rumors for Season 3, will we be going to Japan, Whistler, LAAX or somewhere else equally as cool, we will just have to wait for this next upcoming season to find out!!! THE BLOCK Season 2, is downloadable on iTunes and X-Box Live so if you ain't seen it, go check out all the debauchery that goes down at our Hotel!! Everything from bootcamp to Aspen X-Games, Vivid Porn Stars and Spring BLOCK!!!

Also if you missed THE BLOCK, when it premiered on 4-20 you can catch it again when it re-plays again this winter or download it on i-Tunes, V.O.D., or X-Box Live.

Click to Watch NOW!

Click to Watch NOW!




Sundays at 8pm PT 11pm ET ONLY on G4



AIGHT thats all I got for ya this time, WE will be having more updates closer to bootcamp, so keep yo eyes and ears peeled!!



Dirty D Signing OFF



Check out these flicks from the Summer...





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Down With People Teaser

Ekipa z Mack Dawg Productions w 2008 roku powraca z nowym filmem pod tytułem Dawn With People. Zeszłoroczny projekt We’re People Too odniósł duży sukces, a występujący w nim Austin Smith zdobył nagrodę TransWorld SNOWboarding Magazine “Rookie of the Year” i “Video Part of the Year”.
http://www.roninsnowboards.com/down-with-people-teaser/


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January 21, 2008

Posted by: Stuart Britton 

This Past Saturday, Snow Valley hosted the first stop of the Smith Grudge Match V. The event went off! Lots of good riders of all ages both male and female were in attendance. The weather was beautiful and the park was solid thanks in part to Trevor Jennings who spent days and nights getting the park just right for the competition. The competition was strong and Jamie took out every sucka that stood in his way on the way to the finals. In the finals the competition was fierce and the final had to go to a 4th and final run to decide the outcome. Jamie fought hard, but was narrowly beat out. Still, Jamie took home another 2nd place finish and automatically advances to the finals of the Smith Grudge Match V on Feb 23rd at Mt. St. Louis. The announcing and the MCing was off the chains with L.S. and his DJ spinning live on the one’s and two’s all day. Defending Smith Grudge Match champion, Kevin Scriver, was ripping up the park all day, and the only thing that prevented a repeat of last year's finals showdown was an attempted hand plant on the top of the wall ride that went bad for Kevin. Kevin went up, planted his hand which then slipped out sending Kevin crashing down onto his head. Good thing helmets are mandatory at the comp! Will Johnson was out ripping and put together a solid second run. Trevor Jennings, not only built the park, he was competing too, Trev made the finals but working on the event and riding in the event was tiring for T.J. and he laid down after an attempted on the wall ride. Give the guy a break, he needed a rest. Tev and Keving also advance to the finals along with the remainder of the top 16 competitors. Congrats to all that came out and had a great day. Let's make the Lakeridge stop even better! See everyone out on Feb 2nd at Lakeridge.  Finally, we want to give a shout out to our girl Janelle Leclair who has impressed a lot out west this year, including the crew over at Diviante snowboard show.  Janelle is now getting hooked up by them on top of a long list of awesome supportive sponsors.

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By Wang Don & Photos by Lorenz Holder

  

When most people think about China, they imagine Kung Fu, The Great Wall, poverty and communism.  Where these things still make an appearance in our daily lives every so often over here, the new face of China has changed.  In an economy that is flourishing, not only are most snowboards now produced here, but also the sport itself is finding is feet in what turns out to be the new snowboard market that has the most potential in the world.
 

Just a few short years ago, the population of in China had never even heard of snowboarding (or skiing for that matter), but thanks to Steve Zdarsky and his event The Nanshan Open things are changing.  Nowadays just outside of Beijing you can find 14 ski areas, one of which is Nanshan, the host of the only international snowboard event and the resort which boasts The Nokia Nanshan Mellow Park, the best freestyle area in the country.  With the first and largest event in China, The Nanshan Open with only 6 years behind it is now a 4 star TTR event and has a prize purse of $25,000 US Dollars.  But, things were not always so glamorous…

Austin Smith, frontside 5.

“The Chinese people remind me of the early 90’s when snowboarding just   started. There is a buzz around it, like the good old days. Nothing but positive passion for this great shredding activity. I’m looking forward to experiencing this wild country once again." -Marc Andre Tarte”

Tadej Valentan with another front 5.

The Open was born when a handful of riders, mostly foreigners living in China, got together in the small but first park on Chinese soil.  The day was reminiscent of those homegrown events that took place twenty years ago in the west, but no one could imagine the potential. For an event to find such success in such a short time in a country that didn’t event have distributors of snowboard goods until a short time ago has never been done before.  And with International media attention, top-level riders in attendance and sponsors such as Red Bull, Quiksilver and Gibson Guitars, the Nanshan Open is putting Chinese snowboarding on the map.

 

The Nanshan Open has single-handedly driven the progression of snowboarding from a newborn infant to a teenager in the Peoples Republic.  The snowboard scene has by no means reached its potential, but when you witness the Nanshan Open you would never believe that this is Chinese snowboarding.  With Chinese riders competing head to head with international pros, musical acts on stage that are famous nationwide, and video productions like Mack Dawg and The Pirates on hand to catch all the action, its like you were magically taken back to the west for these tow days.

    Atsushi Ishikawa pleasing the crowd.

The park, which was expanded in 2006 by relocating 30,000 cubic meters of earth, is now the only international standard area of its kind in the country. Hosting top riders such as Hampus Mossesson, Marc Andre Tarte, Kier Dillon and Danny Davis, The Nokia Nanshan Mellow Park is an integral part of The Open.  Without the hard work of Steve and his crew of local top riders, the Chinese snowboard scene would sill be unheard of….

 

The Nanshan Open takes place this January 5^th and 6^th at The Nokia Nanshan Mellow Park, 20 mins outside Beijing, China. 

 

For more information, please visit www.mellowparks.cn or stay tuned to www.snowboard.com for future updates!



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Every day we are faced with a myriad of decisions: paper or plastic, beer or whiskey, left or right hand, cracker or toast; life certainly is complicated. Even in snowboarding, an activity pursued as a means to escape daily life, we are constantly making decisions: frontside or backside, groomers or glades, powder or ice (some decisions are much easier than others). How often, however, are you faced with a decision that will impact your future ability to ride? You might just be surprised at just how often we are faced with just such a choice and by some accounts make the wrong decision. When it comes to making choices about the environment, as snowboarders we should probably tend to those that won't make the planet warmer. We like snow, so global warming should be a severe pain in our collective asses. Although when faced with certain choices, that decision isn't quite so easy. The answer might not be obvious, so how do you come to a decision?

Recently a colleague sent me an article explaining how, by reducing our consumption of meat by 10%, we could reduce our CO₂ footprint by up to 25%. The premise being that factory farming practices are responsible for the creation of massive amounts greenhouse trapping gasses via the release of methane from bovine bungholes. Who knew our ability to shred could be so affected by flatulence (fart jokes: they're not just for the juvenile anymore). This idea of reducing one's carbon footprint by eating less meat is by no means a new idea, vegetarians have been arguing this fact for years. There is a gaping hole in this argument, however, which is often overlooked, namely the point of origin of our food.

I have much respect for people who choose to be vegetarians. In fact, for a period in my life, I myself was vegetarian although it caused me to become under weight and sickly (I'm too lazy to want to spend two hours a day cooking good vegetarian meals that will keep me from losing weight). If being vegetarian works for you, that's great, there are many advantages to a non-meat diet. A smaller carbon footprint, however, is not necessarily one of them. The reality is, that pretty much anywhere where you snowboard there's winter. This means that for a good part of the year, the basic elements of a vegetarian diet are not available locally and must be imported. This usually involves trucks which are heavy emitters of greenhouse gases thus negating the reduction in cow farts.

For more significant reductions in your personal carbon footprint than cutting meet out of your diet, you should look to buying locally grown food whenever possible. I'm pretty sure this would have a much greater impact on the environment in general as well as bolster the local economy. Besides the real culprit is not diet but mass consumerism and the lengths industry goes to in order to support it. By eliminating factory farming, Adam Smith's invisible hand of the market would do what it should and give beef it's proper natural price (which ought to be much higher than it is now). Increases in the cost of beef would be a significant step toward reducing our daily intake of it (in developed countries, people typically eat about 224 grams of beef per day whereas in Africa most people consume only about 31 grams per day), not to mention a decrease in cow farts thus ensuring a continued state of winter.

I realise that this is straying somewhat from the topic of snowboarding, however, this relates back to the old adage of thinking globally and acting locally. This can be interpereted as meaning that the global impact of your daily decisions should be taken into account. For example:

• Left or right hand? Try the stranger, it feels like someone else is doing it.
• Cracker or toast? Here's an idea, avoid the circle jerk in the first place.
• Frontside or backside? Surprise me.
• Powder or ice? Jeeze is there really a decision to make here?

What's important is that these are things that should be kept in mind when faced with choices, namely the more global impact of even the smallest decision. I'd like to be able to keep snowboarding for many years to come, so I'd hate to feel even partly responsible for the disapearance of winter thus negating my ability to...

Keep Shreddin' the GNAR!

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Photo By Andy Laird

Basic info, where were you born, where you living,  age, and sponsors?

I was born in Leduc Alberta February 5th 1984.... that would make me 23. I ride for Billabong, Sapient, Smith and Level Gloves.

How has your season treated you this year?

My season was awesome. I rode a lot of pow. A couple minor injuries but that's ok. It’s a part of the game.

You have a sled yet?

Ya, I got a 99 Summit 670. I LOVE SLEDDING.

Do you plan on getting more into the backcountry next year?

Ya ... All I want to do is sled. Its so much better then snowboarding anywhere I've been.

Give me a percentage breakdown on your snowboarding: contest, traveling, urban missions, filming, backcountry, mellow shredding (park), whatever floats your boat, etc.....

35% Backcountry

25% Whatever Floats

15% Urban Missions

10% Contests

10% Park

5% Traveling 

Plans for the summer?

Work, try to make money to buy a truck. Of course hit up camp a bit, hit a few street rails in Van, and skate and wakeskate whenever possible.

Rail missions in winter or summer? Why?

I like rail missions in the summer mostly because Vancouver never gets snow and if they have snow that usually means that the mountain is going to be so much sicker than some street rail.

What do you do to get the bills paid?

I drive taxi for Resort Cabs here in Whistler... if you ever need a cab Request Warren.

Who do you ride with?

Anyone that calls me in the morning.

What pisses you off?

Waiting for people, sleds that don't work, negative people, people that back out of missions, cops and Rent-a-cop’s.

What gets you pumped?

Good Friends, Good attitude, Good Conditions, Good music. Anything good.

Shout outs?

Shout out to Risto at Billabong, Chris at Smith and Level, Spencer at Sapeint, Todd and Brad at the Summit, Slizzy at Gnarcore, Tyler, Ryan Conway, Chase Conway, Mr Jack Crompton, all my friends, my Mom and Dad, Jess and Court and anyone else that has helped me out over the years. Thanks!

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Well its time to start getting a little more arty on this damn profile. so (when ever we find  the time) we are going to start profiling some of our favorite artist. this first one happens to be a friend and a snowboarder and he just so happens to be one of my favorites. corey smith

Corey Smith is a painter and photographer, who resides in Portland, Oregon. Through his masterful use of contour, Smith’s high gloss ultra-flat paintings cleverly capture the joys of plasticity, absurd recreation, and the fall out of the pre-manufactured American Dream. Smith’s candid photographs are memorials to the joys of thoughtless reasoning. They celebrate the spontaneity of humanity and youthful self-destruction.

corey's newer works


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I feel it welling up inside
And Robert Smith lied,
Boys do cry and with
Blood tears in my eyes I’m an Anne Rice novel come to life.
I can’t hide the monster… anymore.
One can, only feel desolate for so long until
One starts to change into
Something the mirror doesn't recognize.
Metamorphosize.
The darkness has been biding its time
To claim its latest victim,
Fresh meat for carnal desires,
To become, what I became.
I viewed the sun for the last time.

Will you still hold me when you see what I have done?
Will you still kiss me the same,
When you taste my victim’s blood?
So crimson and red,
I feel it flowing from your lips. (Crimson and red)
My heart is dead and so are you.

And it pulses through,
The desire to change, to deconstruct
All of my,
All of my, past failings.
But where to begin, because when you live in sin
It’s hard to look at saints,
Without them reflecting your jet black aura back on you.
And all I have is hope
My inner burn’s not fading,
I’ll wipe the blood from my cheek and get on with my day.

Will you still hold me when you see what I have done?
Will you still kiss me the same,
When you taste my victim’s blood?
So crimson and red,
I feel it flowing from your lips. (Crimson and red)
My heart is dead and so are you.

And all I have is hope
And all I need is time
To bury in pine under six feet of time
The lies I told me about myself.
Claw my way out,
Pick the splinters from under my fingernails.
I won’t lose hope,
I won’t give in.
Just live and breathe, try not to die again.
Just live and breathe, try not to die again.
Just live and breathe, try not to die again.
I try not to die again.

Will you still hold me when you see what I have done?
Will you still kiss me the same,
When you taste my victim’s blood?
So crimson and red,
I feel it flowing from your lips. (Crimson and red)
My heart is dead and so are you.

Will you still hold me when you see what I have done?
Will you still kiss me the same,
When you taste my victim’s blood?
So crimson and red,
I feel it flowing from your lips.(When you taste my victim's blood)
My heart is dead and so are you.

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March 27, 2007

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