David: Day in the Life

I think I'm going to start doing some posts like this. We post a lot of things about other people, but not enough about us. So it's time for all of you to get to see some of Gray and myself outside of the blog. Just a day in the life.

Below is a picture taken by Rikki Lee Thiel of myself and the big homie/second father Luis Calderin, owner of OKAY!! OKAY!! (http://okay-okay.com). This was a little get together right before my Winter Break started. Got to always kick it with the older homies every now and then. 

Luis Calderin & David

For those that may remember we've done a lot of projects with OKAY!! OKAY!! from the Burton US Open, Burton summer sales, concerts, and anything we can work on together. They helped us on our big TKFV vs. LA video that essentially started this blog too.

P.S. Shouts to Burton for hooking up the jacket I'm wearing in this picture.

http://okay-okay.com/

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David: Cisco Adler's New Mixtape SUPERCALIFORNIALIPSTICKSEXYMAGICDOPESHIT

Cisco Adler

Yes, the mixtape name is a mouth full, but you can simple call it SUPERCALI. Cisco Adler, best known for his role in alterna-rap duo Shwayze, just released this yesterday, and after a few listens I'm very impressed. Perfect mixtape to start the summer off with.

Cisco is a part of the OKAY!! OKAY!! family and Luis (the head guy of the company) went on the Party Rock tour with him, Shwayze, LMFAO, Far East Movement, Paradiso Girls, & Space Cowboy. So yeah, we do not mess around over here and neither does Cisco. Here's some of what OKAY!! OKAY!! had to say about the mixtape on their blog:

Malibu, CA- SUPERCALIFORNIALIPSTICKSEXYMAGICDOPESHIT (aka SUPERCALI) is the latest offering from Cisco Adler, best known for his role in alterna-rap duo Shwayze. Showcasing his talents as a songwriter, performer, and producer, this mixtape not only shows Adler’s range of skills and dedication to music production– it proves that he is a formidable, triple-threat music force to be reckoned with in 2010. Adler is breaking all of the rules by offering up an album of completely original songs, tallying in at an unprecedented twenty-three tracks- all of which are available for free. Musically, this collection of smash hits touches on everything from hip-hop and electro to rock-love songs and summer super-pop. To have this sort of diversity all on one release while maintaining continuity and flow is rare, but then again Adler’s success in this impressive collection is due in part to the breadth of folks he works with. - OKAY!! OKAY!! (full post click here)

Download here - BandCamp

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Gray: TKFV vs Burton US OPEN 2010

It's finally here! I know it took us awhile to finish this, but school is finally out for me (David still has one more week), but here's the final product we came up with after our weekend at the Burton US OPEN. Special thanks to OKAY!! OKAY!!, Burton, and the Simpson family for such a great weekend. Enjoy:

TKFV vs. Burton US OPEN 2010 from Two Kids From Vermont on Vimeo.

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Gray: Talent Skatepark Renovations

I feel pretty safe to say if you ask a young skateboarder in Vermont where he bought his deck, 1 out of 2 will say Talent Skatepark. This park is great for a ton of reasons but il get to the meat of it. It starts with the owners. Hannah and Dave Wood own the skatepark and shop, and sure know how to run both! They have created an environment where soccer moms can drop their kids off for 3 hours with peace of mind, and still get the 16-21 year old crowd there throwin down. So props to both of them for being positive people, and being successful in what they do! The skatepark has been around since 2002, and has changed a bit but nothing too drastic. Recently, they raised the roof, so bigger ramps could be made. Last week they tore down all the ramps and have been reusing the wood to make new ramps and a new layout for the park. Although the park is closed for the renovations now, it will be reopening May 27th. Check out the new layout of the shop in the meantime, and show your love for your local skatepark! With park hours, directions, etc. check out their website HERE.

Here's one more pic of the renovations and a throwback video filmed by myself called, Terror at Talent:

Terror at Talent from Two Kids From Vermont on Vimeo.

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David: CJ Bowman x Within the Forest

CJ Bowman

CJ sent this over to me today to check out on his blog. Below is another new piece from the artist and TKFV homie himself. In his own words he explains more about it below:

"Growing up in Vermont and always being close to nature has left its mark within a majority of my art, and the exploration of human traits among the wild. There was no real intension with this piece other than I bought some paper and wanted to silk screen. So it is up to the viewers interpretation. Writing this now I am pondering the idea further coming up with my own thoughts about the piece, so I guess it is to think about it. Take it in."

To see the original post on his blog click here!

Gray Update: PS - CJ is the newest member to the OKAY!! OKAY!! family. Glad to have you on the team homie!

Hit read more to see a more up close look of the silkscreen

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David: China Trip Day 14

So as you know Day 14 marked my final day in China. I'm back in the United States writing this now, and it's a little late because I'm still trying to adapt to this time change lol (China's time is 12 hours ahead so it feels like the morning right now). But anyway, we started off the day packing up all our stuff and went to a park not too far away from our hotel. We just relaxed, said our goodbyes to the new people we met, and headed to the airport for pretty much the rest of the day. I spent 15 hours total on planes on my way back lol. SUCKED, but I'm here and finally back. Saw two sunsets while I was traveling home and slept the rest of the way. China Trip x TKFV. To all the homies in China, thanks again for the good times. PEACE

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David: China Trip Day 13

To start off the day we went to the Temple of Heaven. When we entered there were all types of performances going on that we got to watch for awhile from opera to regular Chinese R&B. Which was weird again lol, but I can't understand it anyway so there's not much else to think about it. After all the performances we went to check out all the touristy things. The biggest one was the supposed Center of the Earth lol. There was a little circle in the middle of a big area that you could stand on and be at the center of the whole world. Of course I got up there and threw up my OKAY!! OKAY!! signs with my friend Michael. Only problem was that the photographer didn't get the platform in the bottom of the picture... which is the whole point. BUT I'll post it anyway for everyone to see. After the Temple of Heaven we left to go to the Pearl Market. Which is a giant shopping mall with jewelry (mostly pearls like the title says lol) and then a lot of knockoff items from iPhones to designer clothing. Pretty much anything you want you can get a knockoff of in China. And everything looks almost like the real thing lol. Tempting, but after shopping around the Pearl Market I went to a mall with our host Hu Jia and got a few things there. One very special present for a friend of mine when I get back too. When we were done we left to go meet up with the group at dinner. And after dinner we walked around this park area with a big pond, restaurants, bars, and stores and just hung out for awhile and enjoyed the rest of the night. And now I'm packing to leave for home. Staying till lunch tomorrow and then getting on a plane to head back to Vermont. There will be a Day 14 post when I get back home and there will be a return trip to this region of the world. It's been a good time for sure and I can't wait to come back.
TKFV x CHINA...yerrr


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David: China Trip Day 12

Today we spent our last few hours in Ji'nan saying goodbye to our hosts and visiting Baotu Spring Park. At the park we got our first taste of Chinese Opera... Which is a little weird for my ears, but it was cool to see something so valued in Chinese history lol. The music and loud screaming in a different language was a little hard for me to listen to, but it was pretty interesting at the same time. Besides that we walked around for a little bit, and the whole park is beautiful. There were little kids everywhere too... and there's something about the babies here that make you smile lol. Most of them are fitted with pants with holes in the back too so it makes it easy access to poop wherever they are. And literally where ever. We went to a Walmart afterwards to see what the differences were (the only thing really was that there weren't as many people to take pictures of to throw up on People of Walmart and also there were some weird foods everywhere) and there was a kid full out using that little hole in his pants dropping dookies on the Walmart floor while his mom watched... yup lol. After that episode we left for the airport and said goodbye to our fantastic hosts Mr. Xing & Andy... Oh and also our bus driver who couldn't speak a work of English. On our flight to over to Beijing I met a new friend named David Dai who works for a company called Tesco, which is a British international grocery and general merchandising chain... kind of like a Walmart in the UK oddly enough lol. Lots of Walmart type stores in this post today. But he told me a lot about himself and China. He was born in China, but studied at the University of San Diego and said he loved it there. Which was interesting because when I met Eric (Day 10 post) he was very scared about going to the United States because he thought he would be outcasted like many Chinese students that come to America. Besides his personal life though he told me a lot about food, drinks, and Chinese nightlife. Which was good to hear some new information, especially from an expert who deals with things like food and drinks for his job. When we landed in Beijing we headed to our hotel, relaxed in our rooms for a little, and then went to dinner... which has probably been the best dinner I've had all trip so far lol. I liked everything that was served. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel and that's where I am now. Kinda tired so I'm going to end it here. Last full day in Beijing tomorrow.
Day 12... almost over.
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David: China Trip Day 11

We started the day saying our goodbyes and set off for Ji'nan, but on the way we stopped at Mount Tai. For those that don't know Mount Tai is one of the most famous mountains on the east coast of China. Instead of taking the 6 hour hike to the top though we took the transportation they had to the top lol. Yup, lazy Americans we are. When we were at the top we did the normal touristy things and took mad pictures of everything. And then we went to the very top of the mountain and had lunch at a hotel... which didn't end up being that good lol, but it's probably because I'm getting sick of all this Chinese food. I've been in a huge pizza and hamburger mood for a few days now. When we finished we walked back down to the gondolas and then took the bus back down to the bottom. Then we took off for the city of Ji'nan. When we arrived we checked into our hotel, which is ping pong inspired lol. They have one whole floor just for ping pong and all the rooms and elevators have ping pong designs on them. But after spending all that time looking around our hotel we headed out into the city to check out some of the nightlife. Our first stop was McDonalds though lol. The menu is weird, but they had McFlurrys so that was a plus. Afterwards we hit a mall to look around a bit and then we headed back to the hotel where I'm at right now. But I'm about to head back out again so I decided to do this now cause I doubt I'll be back for awhile. This is our first and only night in Ji'nan. Gotta make it last...
Ya digg! Day 11.
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David: China Trip Day 10

Today we started off with some touristy things. First we went to Confucius' Temple, then Confucius' Mansion, & ended with the Kong family cemetery (which is Confucius' family name). At all the spots we had a tour guide who explained a lot about the history of every place we visited, but at Confucius' Temple & Confucius' Mansion I met a new person named Eric (his Chinese name is Feng Lu Yao). We compared a lot about the United States culture and the Chinese culture, and he thought it was so funny that guys and girls switch boyfriends and girlfriends so often and things like that. He also laughed when we said we never ate heads lol. He told us there's one Chinese dish that's just fish heads. But the three things I thought were the most interesting was when he was talking about the huge test to get into college, the political views between China and Japan, and also how he's scared to come to the United States because many Chinese men and women are outcasted when they go there. The test they take to get in college determines what level school they'll go to and everything like that. You can't apply different colleges like you can here. You can only pick one and hope you score high enough to get in. Second was the political views, and I thought it was interesting when he said he respected the people but not the political views in Japan because many people in China hate all of Japan because of the history the two countries have had together. When we were at dinner there was a fly and one of the Chinese hosts called it a Japanese lady and tried to swat it... so that shows you what some older Chinese people feel towards the Japanese lol. The last I thought was pretty sad because I see a lot of foreigners outcasted here in the United States and he didn't know why. I didn't really have a good reason for him, but he seemed kind of frustrated that it is like that. Once we said goodbye to Eric though we headed over to the Kong family cemetery (where over 100,000 descendants of the Kong family are buried) and saw Confucius' grave. The whole cemetery was very beautiful. Afterwards we went to our farewell dinner presented by our hosts from Qufu Normal University. I tasted my first pig head which I didn't realize it was that till after dinner lol. Someone showed me a picture of there's from the other table and I couldn't believe it. Always so many heads at the dinner table lol. After dinner was done we said our goodbyes and thank yous and headed back to the hotel. And that ended Day 10

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David: China Trip Day 9

Today we started off the day going to one of the Senior Middle Schools aka a High School, named The Affiliated High School of Qufu Normal University, and sat in on an English class. It was funny listening and watching the class being taught since I understood everything, but all the kids were struggling to get everything lol. We did meet a lot of new people though and exchanged emails and everything like that. Everyone is a lot more shy though compared to high school students in the US. We were talking to some kids and all they said they do in their free time is study lol. They aren't allowed to even have boyfriends or girlfriends till they're in college and were so surprised to hear that we were allowed to in the US. Their school days also went from 7AM in the morning till 9PM at night... which is crazy. I'd probably shoot myself if I had to be in school that long lol. We walked into one study hall and kids literally had a foot of books stacked on their desks. Everyones also obsessed with basketball over here. One kid came up to me and said "I know black people can run and jump really fast and really high... do you play basketball? You look like Tracy McGrady!" I didn't know what to do but laugh lol but I told him I did and we all played basketball for awhile outside which was fun.

Today was pretty much spent at the school, which was good because I finally got a chance to rest a little bit and I met some new people from across the world. It also opened me up into seeing how different high schools are compared to ones in the United States. So overall it was a good day. And that's Day 9.

Word.

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David: China Trip Day 8

This morning we had a lot of time to ourselves so I decided to head out and check the town out in the daylight. I stopped at some stores and other street shops, but didn't want to buy anything so I didn't stay for too long. If you stay for too long the people working start to throw things in your face and different prices to buy things lol. Just walking into any store they always have someone following you around the whole time. But anyway afterwards we heading to Qufu Normal University to hear a lecture about Confucius, which was really interesting to hear the perspective of him from a professor over here. Once we finished that we went to a banquet held just for us where we ate and watched a performance by students from the school, which made a pretty good end to the night. But instead of going back to the hotel my friend Emily and I decided to go back out into the town for awhile. We ended up meeting some new people who could speak a little English which is always refreshing to hear every now and then lol. And to cap off the night I met some dudes that were already throwing up OKAY!! OKAY!! signs so I had to get a picture lol. One of them knew English too and we talked for a bit. And that's Day 8...

TKFV

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David: China Trip Day 3

It was a long and tiring Day 3. We started off at Tiananmen Square just walking around. It was crazy to be in the same spot where so many important things have happened. And it was funny to see the longest line I've ever seen waiting to put flowers on Mao's gravesite. If I were to compare it to anything it was literally 40 blocks in NYC of just people lol. HUGE. Right after that we went to the Forbidden City which was crazy. There were so many people and the architecture of the buildings were beautiful. Took us a little over an hour just to walk from one side to the other, but we were stopped a couple of times to take pictures with people lol. Everyone here seems to be fascinated by a bunch of Americans walking around, specially the blonde haired blue eyed girls in our group. Next we headed off to the Summer Palace, which was also huge. There was a lake there that was all hand dug and the palace was overlooking everything. We were lucky enough to hike up to the top and see everything from up there too. Everything we've seen so far from all these dynasties and Chinese history is so amazing to see especially after learning about it in school. But it truly is nothing without the actual experience and being surrounded by the Chinese culture. Everyone always stares at us because we're the minorities and stick out in a crowd easily, but at the same time everyone is so nice here. Not once have I seen anyone be rude. All smiles and pictures over here lol. It's really been a great experience so far... And it's only been three days. So many more to go.

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David: China Trip Day 2

Blogger was messed up last night so this is David's Day 2 post. Day 3 up soon.

Ah so I'm back with the second day to my China Trip. Today we went to the Great Wall of China in the morning and it was a workout lol. Going up there were a bunch of people trying to sell you various souvenirs, but when we finally got onto the wall it was amazing. It's cool going somewhere that you always saw pictures of or studied in school cause you never know how amazing the actual experience is till you're there. And let me tell you, it was crazy lol. I can't imagine how they built that thing. Just walking on it was tough, but aye.

Anyway leaving the Great Wall we went to the Olympic Village which was cool. Our guide, Cindy (who actually volunteered at the Beijing Olympics and saw the opening ceremony), told us it was forbidden to enter it... I don't know why, and I saw people on the other side of the fence when we were walking around, but I didn't bother to ask her. Either way it was a good time walking around that area. Plus I met some new friends again and took a picture with them throwing up the OKAY!! OKAY!! sign lol. And to end the day we had dumplings for dinner. So that's Day 2 in China.

Previous Post - China Trip Day 1

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David: SNOMAD x Burton US Open

It was a good weekend for sure down at the US Open in Stratton, Vermont. Saturday night, March 20th, TKFV, OKAY!! OKAY!!, and homies Josh (DJ D-Cutz) & Scotty helped put on the Snomad event. The show featured the works of well known photographers, Cole Barash & Dean "Blotto" Gray, and their captivating imagery in snowboarding. D-Cutz and myself threw down on the tables for the night and kept the party moving. Below are some photos from the event!

Check out Dean "Blotto" Gray's site here!

Check out Cole Barash's site here!

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David: Preview of the Burton US Open

Mason Aguirre of Frends signing autographs

Homies Josh (DJ D-Cutz) and Nate throwing

up the OKAY!! OKAY!! sign

Men's Half Pipe Winners

Luke Mitrani of Frends

Louie Vito on the Half Pipe

Above are some pictures from the Burton US Open in Stratton, Vermont. Gray, myself, and friends Scotty and Josh (DJ D-Cutz) all went down for the weekend representing the media crew for OKAY!! OKAY!! Everything was dope and everything turned out great. Be sure to check out OKAY!! OKAY!!'s website here and the Frends Crew here!

The video will be coming to you soon!

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