Last night, we gathered to celebrate the future of surfing. In the heart of HipsterWood CA, most people who attended would have been told to go home and put on more appropriate attire. instead, Le Deux nightclub was bombarded by flannel, sandals, tight jeans, and beanies for a night
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To be more exact, we were there for the primeire of Modern Collective, the newest film by Kai Neville featuring 6 young high performance surfers, Dane Reynolds, Dion Agius, Yadin Nicol, Mitch Coleborn, Dusty Payne and Jordy Smith. This movie is about focusing on state of the art, high performance surfing. It wasn't about perfect hollow barrels and long drawn out point breaks, it was more about pushing the limits on a surfboard.

The greatest thing about this movie was the way in which Kai Neville captured the essence of each of the surfers individuality in the film. It's pretty fair to say these guys each have their own "Uniqueness" about them, which is why the movie was so appealing. This movie was more of an Art Piece than your standard Surf Porn film, the cinematography is going to set a new standard. After the movie I wasn't sure what i was more impressed with, the lifestyle parts or the Surfing?

Speaking of the Surfing, there was plenty of stuff that will make you want to go back and watch it over and over. All of these guy's charge, especially Jordy, he had some air that seemed impossible, especially for a guy his size...




Kai also did something original for this film, they posted on the modern collective blog the ability for people to submit music they think should be in the film. Not sure how many songs they pulled from that, but the music was quality and fit the feel of the film perfectly. The sound of the movie was so important, Skull Candy gave out wireless head phones as you walked in the door to make damn sure you heard the movie...

The way too fancy club actually turned out to be a great place for the premiere, it definitely fit the hipster vibe of flannels and tight pants. In fact I think there were more flannels than women, but it was a great night, all the surfers, especially the Australians enjoyed themselves.

Make sure you get Modern Collective, it comes out next Tuesday...










Check out some VIntage Polaroids by J Fry who actually brought a Polaroid to the Party...

If you have been paying attention to GrindTV during the past two years, you have undoubtedly seen a glimpse of the magic from Stuck In Ohio. With their vintage Ice Cream Cone logo, imaginative shot composition, and creative use of the family farm, these two brothers from a tiny town in Ohio have given us such classics as Ohio Farm Shred and Easter in Ohio.

It's about time we sat down with the creative minds behind Stuck In Ohio and answer one very important question, are they really that talented or really just that bored?

GTV Nate-How did Stuck In Ohio come about, what's the back story on SIO productions?
Stuck In Ohio-My older brother Ken and I, are from a small town in Northeast Ohio which doesn't bode well for one particular sport because the season's aren't very long or cooperative. Our parents had us snowskiing and waterskiing since before we could remember, so we were used to running around and getting out and having fun outdoors. Then we started skating in the mid 90's and that kinda transformed us. From then on we pretty much ditched the ski's and started to shred, boarding all year round. Snowboarding in the winter and wakeboarding in the summer, and skating year round whenever we could. Then one winter when I was in middle school I saved up all my Christmas cash and bought a little handycam. From then on we just started filming everything. Then one winter (think it was like '01 or '02) it snowed every weekend and ironically stayed all winter, which usually wasn't the case. Our dad didn't want to drive the 3+ hours to the hill in the crap so he hooked one of our waterski ropes up to one of our snowmobiles and pulled us around the yard for hours. We got a big yard so we made a bunch of little kickers and would hit em for hours and film each other getting broke trying to learn how to spin and flip, straight first timer stuff. As far as tricks go, we didn't learn much that winter, but I guess it kinda made us tougher, because the next Winter was the first one Ken was allowed to drive to the hill, so we went all the time and just chucked off the park jumps because we were used to landing on our heads I guess. We filmed a bunch that winter, at home and at the parks, and ended up cutting it up into a 10 minute flick. We called it Stuck In Ohio because the first section was to a track called "Stuck In America" by Sugarcult. We played it at a family Christmas gathering the next year and everyone loved it. We have a big extended family and everyone wanted a copy. I remember it so well, it was on VHS and it sucked, we had to dub all the copies. We must have dubbed at least 200 VHS copies for our family and friends and they showed everyone. We kept riding and gradually got better, so we started to hit more street stuff. It got to the point where we'd be hitting a street spot and kids would come up to us and say "are you those Stuck In Ohio guys from that video". So that's kinda who we were known as. Then we started using our improving camera skills to do random film jobs to get extra cash for camera gear and needed a name. Stuck In Ohio productions was pretty much a no brainer because that's who we were known as, and it pretty much summed up our situation/mindset. We never meant it to be derogatory towards Ohio (though some older folks take it that way), we always said that we're stuck in ohio and loving it. Pretty much just making the most out of our situation.

GTV Nate-Where is the family farm located in Ohio?
SIO-We are based in Vienna, Ohio. For some reason the locals here pronounce it "Vie-enna", not the conventional Vee-enna. It's 5 minutes from the PA border, halfway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Our house is on the corner of our grandparents' farm, so we got plenty of room to do whatever.

GTV Nate-Where did you guys develop your crazy eye for filmmaking?
SIO-Well, everyone is pretty much a product of their environment, and the same goes for us. We unfortunately didn't grow up near any major mountain ranges, oceans, or desirable climates. But we were fortunate enough to grow up somewhere that had a little bit of all of those. Being based where we are, it allowed us to be involved in a bunch of different things. As any kids growing up in action sports, we were video junkies. How else would we know what the cool tricks were. And every sport kind of has its own video style. In some sports you have to be up close and personal, while in others you have to be a far away to see the action. Some you're posted up just waiting, and others you're on the move. Whether we're hanging out of a convertible on the freeway, or posted up on hill surrounded in poison ivy, kinda just do what we gotta do to get the "shot". We like to take each style of filming and use it in a different aspect that tries to give the viewer a perspective they might not have seen before. There's only so many tricks you can do on a board, the challenge we welcome as filmmakers is to film those tricks in ways many haven't seen before.

GTV Nate-Are you guys really that bored or really that creative with a lot of the various clips and random hits and jumps in your films?
SIO-To be honest, it started out as pure boredom. For example, back in the day we used to use our dog's doghouse as a kicker because it was less snow we'd have to shovel. We used to think it was kinda hokey, but as we progressed we started to realize how unique our situation was, and how our stuff looked different even though it was essentially the same as what others were doing. We're at the point now where we don't stress too much about traveling far and wide for new street spots or a certain types of hits, we'll just drive around town with a trailer full of snow or plywood, put in a couple man hours of labor, add a few brain cells, and usually come away with something a little different that hasn't been seen before.




GTV Nate-How Long did it take to produce Long Weekend and tell us the back story about the movie?
SIO-Long Weekend took about two years to film. It was a lot of work, and we went through a lot making the film. We wanted to do something that really showcases our region, and it only made sense to make an action sports film of multiple sports because there's something for us to do for every season. It's kind of hard to film a full snow part in Ohio in a year because the winters are so short, same goes with the other sports. What triggered the name Long Weekend was the fact that my brother and I work other 9-5 jobs during the week, so all of our shoots and filming was done on the weekends. It was pretty much every weekend we could (weather permitting), we were in the snow, on the water, or running the streets trying to get the best shots we could. A typical "long weekend" involved us somehow getting out of work early on Friday, packing our minivan to the roof with boards and camera gear. Then setting sail to wherever to the conditions were good and coming back late Sunday night dead as a doornail. The biggest challenge was coordinating our schedule and our rider's to coincide with the weather. Stuff was always getting pushed back, or moved up depending on what mother nature was giving us. It was a crazy process, and there's always stuff we wish would've gone a little differently, but in the end it all worked out and we came away with some good memories and sweet flick (in our eye's anyways).

GTV Nate-What's next for you guys, what's in the pipeline at SIO?
SIO-We were thinking about doing a mini movie, maybe about 15-20min long, and releasing it as a digital download. Everything's going to digital downloads now, so why waste money on packaging when you can release it digitally, and still watch the same thing. With the success of LW, a lot of people are coming to us with interesting projects outside of the action sports realm. Recently we've been a part of music videos, nature shows, and movie documentaries because people have either seen, or heard about LW and its production quality. Working on these projects is different than we're used to, it's a lot more set up and formal as far as filming goes, but to grow in this movie game you gotta be as well versed as possible, so we welcome all of it. In the end, no matter what we do, or where we go, we'll always be Midwestern farm boys having fun doing everything.

The first night of X Games went down last night and the highlight of the night may not be what you think…

There was the main attraction Skateboard Big Air, which didn’t disappoint, the hardest working dude in the building last night Jake Brown got redemption on Bob Burquist when he won the gold medal stealing it away from Bob. Whenever Jake got the chance, he took a practice run, he must have gone at least 50 times last night. Every time ESPN went to commercial Jake was taking a run. Each time he fell it looked more and more painful. Congrats Jake on gold, you definitely deserved it more than anyone.



The final event of the night featured some popular old school moto guys, Jeremy McGrath, Robbie Renner, Kevin Windham, Ricky Carmichael, and Brian Deegan. After a really long competition, a bunch of white trash hollering, and a crash by Carmichael, Robbie Renner was the only one left standing. (I know in this picture he's lying down.)



But the true highlight of the night came when no one was watching. Some member of the media decided it was time to take the plunge. He did what everyone wanted to do but wasn’t sure how it would turn out. The anonymous member of the media slide down the mega ramp while the step up contest was going on. He took the giant plunge down the ramp on his ass. The result was a shredded forearm and a quick exit by a Staples Center red coat. He had the balls to do what I have always wondered how it would turn out, who knows tonight may be my night to go for it?




Make sure tonight you watch Moto’s Best Trick, Pastrana is going to do his new trick, a back flip 360. Is that even possible, plus the first ever front flip will be landed tonight!

Ok, before we start talking X Games Big Air, let’s get one thing out of the way, BIG AIR IS CRAZY and the guys that do it are out of their minds.


Nestled inside of Staples Center, the Mega Ramp has a giant roll in, if you safely make the drop, you then get to choose either a 50ft or 70ft gap to clear, those who successfully clear the gap are greeted with a 27ft quarter pipe. It’s hard to truly appreciate the massiveness of the ramp until you see it in person. The mega ramp has a mysterious way of making those who choose to tackle it, an instant celebrity. You don’t always have to make the jump to be a hero, as we saw a couple years ago when Jake Brown got the speed wobbles as he approached the quarter pipe and fell 50ft in the air to flat bottom. Miraculously Brown walked away and became an instant hero for surviving the worst fall in X Games history.

At X Games 15, Big Air has changed, a sign of progression in the sport. There’s your standard Skateboard Big Air which Bob Burnquist will most likely win his 3rd consecutive X Games gold, Kevin Robinson and Chad Kagy will go as high as ever in BMX Big Air, but this year, the first ever woman, Lindsey Robertson is charging the mega ramp. Also Danny Way is leading the charge in Big Air Rail Jam. That’s right they’re putting a rail in the middle of the gap, for the skaters to rail slide before they hit the monster quarter pipe. As if it’s not hard enough to stay alive, they needed to add another level of difficulty.


Yesterday during practice everyone was killing it, going ridiculously high. I have a good feeling that you’re going to want to tune in and see what happens…

Predictions for Big Air-
I’m not really going out a limb here, but it’s hard not to think Burnquist will win his 3rd straight gold, in practice he was doing things I didn’t think were possible. But my sleeper pick is no name Elliot Sloan. I saw him training 2 years ago for this moment; I’m pulling for him.

Kevin Robinson continued to go bigger than everyone else, plus he drops in from the very top, which makes him even gnarlier.

The God Father of Big Air Danny Way will continue his brilliance and win Big Air Rail Jam.

The most unpredictable discipline at X Games 15 will be Rally, a bunch of pimped out rice rockets, with drivers who are known for other things than their driving, whipping around a track including a 70ft jump in the middle of the Home Depot Center.



What makes this year's Rally so great is the drivers that are competing. It is to no ones surprise when Travis Pastrana decided to retire from freestyle moto and do Rally he’d be good, so good that he’s the defending 2 time X Games Gold Medalist. It seems like what ever he does he’s good at, he just throws up the thumbs up and wins! Fellow crossover athletes Dave Mirra and Brian Deegan aren’t expected to do as well, but I’m sure they will make for some entertaining television.

Keep an eye out for Deegan, on Tuesday while I was out at El Toro Marine Base watching Team Ford practice, Deegan was struggling, hitting cone after cone. But after talking to him at lunch, I understood why, he races trucks, not rally cars, in fact that was only the second time he drove his Ford Fiesta that he’ll be driving with on Sunday at X Games. He’s pretty fired up to jump the Fiesta, he’s not sure how the car will jump but he doesn’t care, in fact he said, “If I’m losing, I’m just going to launch the frickin fiesta as high as I can and get the crowd excited.”



Now for my predictions; if I was a betting man, which I am, so if anyone wants to make a wager, let’s do it, Tanner Foust will win gold at X Games 15. After driving with him inside his Fiesta, I couldn’t believe how close he gets to every cone and barrier without hitting them. Plus he is a driver, that’s what he does, he drives, plus he seemed a little too excited about the jump on Sunday, so he has what it takes to win. I also predict, Pastrana will do something insane that will cost him the victory, Brian Deegan will roll his fiesta at some point in the race, and Mirra will still be known as the golden boy of BMX, not Rally.

Check out some highlights from Tuesday’s practice with The Ford Fiesta team at El Toro Marine Base…