First day on a longboard

I always wanted to skateboard since watching teenage mutant ninja turtles in the 80’s. I spent too much time working in a factory in the frozen north but luckily, I found Zoltess, we made a family, and our world changed. This video is our first day with our new boards. We never skateboarded before; it should be glaringly obvious from our first steps onto our Longboards. It was something growing up that you saw and wished you could do but set it aside like so many other interests to pursue what was available, parented, socialized. As children some of us did exactly what we were told. I was always impressed and inspired by the rebels, not because I thought talking back to authority was cool but to have the bravery and self confidence to do something unacceptable – especially if it wasn’t hurting anyone. To decide what you wanted, what you believed and to defend it. Even if it was just making art or trying to ride a piece of wood on wheels.

Youtube and Instagram have been our connection to the world the past 2 years. Its such a strange, new and possibly artificial and damaging way to interact with people but this is the environment we’ve been born into. My generation has spent more time staring at windows into other worlds than interacting with people or being part of a community. The canaries in the coal mine of the information age. COVID magnified and amplified the problem. There are very sad reasons that the show Friends (first aired 25 years ago) plays 24/7 on repeat. We have spent most of our adult life at work and much of that’s been spent saying what you are trained to say, dressing how you are told to dress and representing the values of your employer ultimately pretending to be someone else, a replaceable cog in a corporate machine. Our free time is watching other people make friends, have reality show adventures and reality show dates or we spent our time trying to get to the next level, achievement, digital pet or next piece of 1337 gear.

I see people growing up, living, and dying almost completely alone in rooms surrounded by stuff staring at TV’s and monitors without much of an option. Not understanding that there are options. 30 year mortgage? Did we used to spend 30 years trying to build a house? What once could take a year to accomplish now takes a lifetime. I question what some consider improvements. I’ll leave this for another day.

What about your life? With all its potential is this what you imagined it would be? Are you fulfilling what you see as your purpose here? More and more people are waking up and re-evaluating their priorities, values, beliefs.

This is our first video made using DaVinci Resolve 17 and we filmed with a GoPro Black Hero 7. Blackmagic Design has a great Beginners Training Guide for DaVinci Resolve and as we work our way through the guides, courses and books our style and abilities will grow. We have the power to make videos in ways that were a dream. That would take people and tech and resources that only the wealthiest studios could access, and the change has occurred in a lifetime.

I want to document our progress, share what we are doing and take some notes of our learning as it evolves over time. I’ve been around long enough to know this isn’t a one and done whim, a small deviation, and I think it will be important to document the iterations and process improvements over the years.  Over the decades. As things look better, audio gets clearer, and stories are told with more impact I want you understand what changed and why. Your feedback helps me make those improvements. Don’t worry about commenting now (unless you want to!) but I’ll need your help in the future. The opportunities for us are glaring obvious at the moment.

I know this may seem like a different direction from a How to Paint Lawn Gnomes Video but for me that was just an easy first story to try to tell. I think over time you’ll see a trend of magic, whimsy, and mayhem. Due to the relative popularity of Gnome Painting I will be doing another “Ceramic How-To” before summer. I’m wrapping up 10 miniature painting videos for a Games Workshop boardgame called Dreadfleet (blog post link) and then I’ll be cleaning up a large ceramic lighthouse. After the lighthouse I’m starting another short video series on the board game units for Scythe. I’ll share some of my tips and tricks for painting boardgames and we will figure out how to keep clear indicators of which player has which models.

Creating and sharing ideas for me is like breathing and something has been sitting inside me clamped down for as long as I can hold it. It felt like every time something would come out someone was there to help stop me from releasing it. You can’t. It’s too hard. Foolish. Not good enough. Waste of time. Unfortunately, I learned to hold onto my breath too and grit and clench my teeth so hard they break. I’ve been the one keeping myself and everything inside me down. I’m trying to work on this. I have so many stories and poems and art and videos and ideas I want to share and work on with you. You’ve been patiently, quietly sitting out there waiting for me to speak up so we can get to work and create something together. I need you to help me create better. You can do that by being there and I improve by trying to reach you.

This video was filmed a couple weeks before I was handcuffed and taken to the Psych Ward of the Penticton hospital. I was turning 41 and having a complete mental breakdown. I removed some of the rumination footage from the video; the 50-yard zoned out stare where I pace like a zombie and block out sound and light. Where the inside of my mind is trapped, running through memories of the past, trying to make sense of its current reality. As I get more comfortable writing and sharing, I’ll dig into these details, but I just met you, you just met me, and we haven’t established much of a relationship yet.

Thank you for being here and reading this, wish you all the best today and take care!