Matt Hart: to your journey... to my journey!

That first set of pictures up there is a sequence of Matt filming AJ fall on a ledge. You can even see AJ's shoe fly up in the air as he lands on the ground...

I'd have to say that Matt's part is my favorite of the video. I may be a little biased because he's my brother. Actually, I'm probably really biased. But nonetheless, whether or not these feelings have been tainted by my relationship with him, I really like watching his part. Matt's always pulled through in our videos with really entertaining parts. He'll be the first to admit, he's not doing the biggest or most technical tricks in the video, but sure knows how to put on a good show. He has showmanship, and that's what sells in this business. He knows how to entertain a crowd, whether he's riding a skateboard or a bike, or even driving in his station wagon, he knows how to make it fun and put a smile on your face. That's why I like his parts the most, they always remind me that you don't have to be doing the craziest stuff to have fun on your board, but you can just be chilling and have the best time with it.

With that said, Matt really did push himself to get the tricks that are in his part. He ended his filming by rolling his ankle pretty good on that wallride on the barrier, but he still filmed a couple tricks on a swollen ankle after that. The heelflip he on that bank was a pretty epic moment in filming for the video, because he had rolled his ankle a couple days earlier. It's not just the slight twist in the ankle either, but it was the complete 90 degree ankle bend into the ground with all the weight of his body coming down on it. So it was pretty serious. But Matt really wanted to get that heelflip, so we went there a couple days later. Maybe even the very next day, I can't remember... We had gone there last year, and he tried to get it, but he didn't. Then we went there a week earlier and tried again with no success. So this day, on his twisted ankle and a week left of filming, we went there again to get the trick. Matt tried it for a while until his ankle was way more swollen and he couldn't do it any more. I put away the camera and skated around for a little bit. Then as we were about to leave, he asked me to get out the camera and film him one more time. He just wanted to say he at least gave it all he had before we left. So he tried it one more time and didn't even spin a full heelflip. He couldn't end on that kind of note, so he said one more try for real then we were done. It wasn't the kind of "one more try" you half heartedly call out to try and motivate you to stick it, either, but it was the "one more try" a man at the end of his rope tells you, void of emotion, care, regret, or sorrow. He really was going to try it one more time. Then he landed it. It was epic and awesome, I was so proud of him for getting it, let alone for getting it on a hurt ankle.

That wallride line was also another victory for Matt's part. The frontside shuvit and wallride are both tricks that Matt doesn't do all that often. Actually, Matt never does wallrides. So to get both of those tricks in a line took diligence and a little bit of suffering before he pulled it off. But he did get it, and really clean too, so we were both way happy about that. Then we were going to film the wallride from another angle, and that's when Matt hurt his ankle. But he wasn't bummed, he at least got the line.

At the very end of the song, that's Matt that rides up that wall before it transitions into me butt boardsliding down it. That wall is tall, steep, and intimidating, but Matt took it on at full speed. The plan was to wallie up to boardslide, which he actually got into it but stuck or slipped out on the boardslide. It was insane. Seriously insane. To do that trick, Matt had to drill new holes in one of my old, cracked boards so that he could make the trucks wider apart so the board would fit down the ledge. Then we had to dig out the dirt on the other side so that the wheels would slide down the ledge. So Matt didn't end up getting the trick, but it was still a victory that he even attempted it and got into a boardslide on that thing.

So Matt's song was his idea. It's a Master P song, and the music video for the song is pretty much where we got the inspiration for the rest of the part. Look it up on youtube, and you'll see exactly what I mean: mid nineties rap video with sideways slow motion shots of Master P and company driving down the street in their bronco and Lexus. Also, whoever edited the video figured out that computers can produce some cool effects on the film, so there's a lot of ripples and spinning sideways shots of people. That's where the inspiration came from to make the part that way.

Also, Matt's professional history of being an ice cream man was a perfect fit for Matt and this song. If you don't know what I'm talking about when I say Matt was an ice cream man, check out these old posts where I tell the story in great detail. It's no joke, Matt was an ice cream man for two days. The story was so good I had to write it in three long posts:

http://boltsofthunder.blogspot.com/2011/03/here-comes-matt-ice-cream-man.html

http://boltsofthunder.blogspot.com/2011/03/adventures-in-ice-cream-delivering.html

http://boltsofthunder.blogspot.com/2011/03/he-works-hard-for-his-money.html

So Matt's packing up and skipping town in about a week. I'm sending him on a knight's quest. He's off to grad school in Omaha, so he won't be around to encourage you to go bigger and better than you'd ever anticipated. Sorry... But don't ride Matt off, he's just getting started. There's already talk of another video next year, and Matt's going to be hard at work filming for it in Omaha, so look forward to some more classic Matt in the years to come. As Bolts of Thunder's cofounder and comanager, I think we all owe Matt a big round of applause and bro-slap on the back. We'll definitely miss him here, but we'll carry on best we can... Awesome job on your part, Matt, and good luck in Omaha!!!!

Fear revisited

So Nick's comment on our last post got me thinking of all the good times we had together. The times we laughed. The times we cried. The times we talked about our fears, childhood dreams, and I lied about being a really good surfer. Well, we laughed together, and I think that's really about it. But that's just it, we laughed a lot. So I wanted to repost one of my favorite posts this blog has ever seen, one featuring Nick, entitled: Nick's Conversation with Fear. It's an oldie, goody, and it makes me laugh...

"Oh, hey Fear. Yeah... I remember you... What's up?"

"Yeah, ok. whatever dude...."

"OH REALLY?!!! Is that what you're going to do to me?"

"What? What'd you say?"

"JERK!!!"

"From this moment on, we are enemies, you and I!"

That was a conversation Nick had with an old acquaintance of his, Fear. Nick has declared war on Fear, and sent his first wave of launch on launch offensive action on the locals of Eagle Mountain late this winter. Looks like Nick's got the strategic advantage over Fear and is implementing new high-powered long range launch attacks. Good luck Fear, you're gonna need it...

Bolts of Thunder 3 secret section

So turns out that there's a secret section on the new Bolts of Thunder 3 dvd, but nobody was ever going to find it. I decided to be nice and just give up the secret, so I put it up on youtube. So here you go, the secret section of Bolts of Thunder:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6oMcVnKFWk

So a little about the riders in this section. First off is Derek Winn. He's Chad James' shadow/blood brother, and they are not to be seen without each other. I can't even tell them apart. I thought Chad was Derek for a while, but turns out he's not. Now I'm just all confused and stuff. We filmed this trick like 2 or 3 days before we finished editing, so we didn't have time to put it in the rest of the part. Tyler Winn is actually not related to Derek, although they share the same last name. Tyler is Wizard's older brother and lives with other Tyler, who is not related to Wizard but is always with him the same way that Chad and Derek are always together. Now I'm confused again at who is who. Tyler and Wizard are brothers, but not the Tyler you're thinking of, the other one. The Tyler you're thinking of is not his brother, just his good friend. Are we clear now?...

Matt Pace is one of my oldest friends. I watched footage a couple months ago that we have of him before he could even land a kickflip on flat ground. We were both in middle school when we started skating together, so that was about 14ish years ago. Crazy... Matt is one of the funniest/funnest people to hang out, and he's a complete ripper on his board. It's funny because I started skating before him and could do a lot of the basics when he was just getting on his board. But he caught up and passed me up in no time, so he pushed me a lot to learn new tricks. Now that we're older, it hasn't changed at all, and Matt's still a complete ripper. That melon he did over the gap was first or second try, and it was a good 6 feet in the air. No big deal, just a casual mega launch. Then nollie backside flip to back tail in the half pipe was amazing and, once again, totally casual for him to do. It was on his mini ramp at his house, and he just busted it out first thing in the morning. It didn't even take him too long to do, and it was surprisingly solid and effortless looking for him to do. Those were all the tricks we got of him in one day of skating. Too bad we don't get to see him all that often or you could imagine the crazy stuff he'd be getting all the time. Anyway, Matt's a ripper, and it's always a pleasure watching him skate. Hope you enjoyed the secret clip!

Ben Gringeri's part

Now that the video is done, I'm going to go through the different parts and give you a little inside scoop on them. We didn't have much of an intro, and that was just fine with me. You know what video you're watching, so let's get on with it. That's how we felt. The intro turned out just how Matt and I had imagined it, short and to the point. Throw a little creepy in the mix, and that about sums it up. I didn't feel like drawing this time, and so we just kept it really simple. Let's go on to Ben's part...

So Ben is one of the new members of Bolts of Thunder. When I say new member, I mean that he was not in any of our other videos. Ben's a ripper, he's got a bag of tricks more diverse, unique, and powerful than just about anyone I know, and he's a Thunder Bolt from head to toe. So I'm going to tell you about his part now...

I think Ben slammed more and harder than anyone else in the video. AJ took some good ones too, but I think Ben took more. He was always bleeding out of his elbows and his hands and heels were perpetually bruised. But one really cool thing about Ben is that he still landed pretty much every trick he slammed on. Like that varial flip down the grass gap at the end of his part, we went there 3 times before he landed it because he kept slamming every time. There's one trick that he didn't land, the smith grind on that rail that he slammed on in his part, but I'm sure he'll go back and get it again some time. A lot of his other tricks, like that huge ollie at first and pop shuvit tail grab at the end (photos above) required slamming pretty hard before he rolled away.

Something funny about Ben. I think it's funny at least. Maybe you don't. But all the people on Bolts of Thunder, you could tell they were skaters when you looked at them. The clothes they wore, the tricks they did, all that, it said that they were skaters. But Ben, his disposition doesn't yell "skater" at you when you see him. He could be involved in anything and everything but skating, which he basically is. So when you see him hit a home run in baseball, climb huge cliffs and mountains, or kick a goal in socker, it's a little surprising to see him step on his board and jump down some huge gap. But what am I talking about, I've never actually seen Ben play other sports, I've just heard about it... Anyway, he's an undercover ripper, kind of like Dan.

Ok, so Ben's song was Matt's idea. I think he's had this song in mind for a video for some time now. A fast song fit really good with Ben's skating, so it was a good fit. Editing the part was pretty easy because a lot of Ben's skating go perfectly with the beats and singing in the song. This is the third video in a row that we've used Blonde Redhead songs. They just seem to fit.

What else do you want to know?...I can't think of much else... Oh yeah, Ben's abs. Yes, those are real, and they are often on display during the hotter summer months. That was the first time I had seen them when we filmed them that day from his part, and I did not know abs realistically looked like that on living human beings. But they do, and you wouldn't want to mess with them. They look like they came from a cake mold of abs that someone made and glued on to Ben's body. Maybe that's all they are, little cake balls?... Could be.

I guess that's all I have to say right now for Ben's part. I will end by saying that I love watching it. Ben worked really hard to film all those tricks. My favorite tricks from his part are the kickflip boardslide and varial flip lipslide down that rail. He does those so good, and nobody else goes near those tricks. Also, that pop shuvit tail grab at the end was massive, and it was a relief to see him ride away clean from it. And that 5-0 on the kinked out rail, that thing is nuts, and I wouldn't touch a 5-0 on that rail with a 10 foot pole. But pretty much everything in his part is crazy, and Ben had to work to get. So you should take another look at Ben's part because it's worth watching over and over.

If you film it, they will come

We did it! We had our premiere yesterday for Bolts of Thunder 3. It was super fun, and we had a really good turn out, around 60 people came. Thanks to everyone that came, and especially those that brought food. When I was hungry, you fed me... So here's the link to the video. I put up the entire thing as one video on youtube. That way if you want to watch one of us, you watch us all. It's my way of forcing people to watch me when they're only just friends of Ben or AJ. That's right, suckers, you get to watch me now... Here's the link to the video. If you've already seen it, watch it again. It's only 12 minutes and 23 seconds, so you can watch it between class breaks and what not:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW4mKqr4N0g

And share it with everyone, we're really proud of the video. Good job all involved!

Video disclaimer

The premiere is tomorrow. This means I haven't been sleeping good and I've got the songs from the video constantly playing in my head. But it's all in good fun, so I' don't mind the physical beating. It also means my hygiene has gone south, I haven't been eating regularly, and I've been smacking my lips a lot lately. Can't tell you why... Anyway, these pictures are evidence of our editing the video. Me and Matt have spent a ton of time on it, so we hope you enjoy it. You know what, there's one thing I hope you notice from these pictures. Pilates has made my calf muscles even larger and my pants tighter on the legs. That's all.

Ok, premiere business. First off, Matt wants me to tell all of you that the video is only 12 minutes long. I don't know what you're expecting out of us, but he's convinced that we're going to have an angry mob on our hands if we don't beat the 15 minute barrier. We won't. So consider yourself warned. You knew what we were when you picked us up. You knew we made short videos... Ok, now here are the details for the premiere:


Thursday, July 12th (tomorrow) at 8:00 PM at Center St and Freedom (200 W) above Provo Art and Frame. Bring some kind of food or drink because we're having a barbecue. I'll have DVDs of the video at the premier (or I should), so if you want one, I'm charging a dollar for them. I think that's it. Just call me or leave a comment if you have questions. See you there!

Happy Birthday AJ!!!

So today is AJ's birthday. He's 23. He and Ben have significantly decreased the mean age of Thunder Bolts worldwide. I don't know if that's a change we were looking for in recruiting the two, but it happened none the less. Nonetheless. I was checking my spell check to see if that's one word. It is. My Bible thinks it is, so I thought it would be right. I should not have doubted in the first place...

Ok, and to finish with our standard business. Our video premiere is next week!!!!! Details:

Thursday, July 12th, at 8:00 PM at Center St and Freedom (200 W) above Provo Art and Frame.

We will be barbecuing, but not providing all the food. So bring something small to eat or drink and we'll all have a good time. See you there!!!

Advertising at its best and most respectable

Yeah, I'll admit, we've been doing some ledge dancing as of late. Freestyle, that is. AJ's leading the team with all his flip in flip out sidewinding grind slider techniques. Here are a few examples of a seemingly never ending arsenal of ledge tricks. You just wait, you'll see what I'm talking about next week. Yeah, that's right, next week we're premiering our video. You're invited, too, whoever you are. Details will follow on the blog...

So apparently there's this big underground movement of girls making big money off of blogs, writing about how to submit unsuspecting mates to your will, cupcake decorating, the perfect date, manipulation, control, anger, fear, resentment, grudge, the Grudge II, designer clothes, and smart 401K investment plans. Real sick stuff like that. I was introduced into this strange world by Bolts of Thunder's very own spy/system infiltrator, Ben. His wife has one of these blogs, and Ben's been working as a double agent to find out how these blogs are even making money and giving me these secrets. Sorry to reveal your identity, Ben, I guess I didn't really have to do that. But it's too late, I won't take it back.

I guess in this world of money-making blogs, advertising is what gets you money. And networking. And appealing to the masses, being presentable, having pretty women featured on the blog, blogger meet ups, baking cookies, pink, cursive writing, life stories, and possible selling out. All those things help in making money as well. So what I've decided to do is get in on this and start making money. So what I'm going to do is start charging people money every time I mention them on the blog. Starting now. For example, AJ. He now owes me a dollar (I charge a dollar per name mention, and you know what, 5 bucks per photo. I'm going to add more of AJ on this post... Ok, now there's three of him.) Ok, so AJ, I've mentioned his name directly twice and indirectly referred to him about a half dozen times. That's 8 bucks right there that he owes me. And 15 for those pictures. Thanks, AJ, that's 25 bucks for this post.

But AJ is not my target today (Sorry, AJ, $26...), but Ben's wife's blog, La Vita e Bella, is where I want all my money to come from. So every time I mention that blog, I'm going to consider that advertising space on my blog, and I'm going to be forced to charge $5 per mention. Ok, la vita e bella, that's $10 I'll be collecting from you soon. Thanks. Just give it to Ben. And Ben, that's twice now I've said your name. You owe me two bucks.