Wicked games

18/02/2012

As days go by, weird things happen.
A rollercoaster of emotions filling every single day. Day and night. Weird nightmares at night and days filled with bursts of happiness, goals achieved and an overall feeling of complete happiness, mixed with a bittersweat taste.
Whats been going on these days in the SKULLS Hq?

1. Working on Collection 6 orders from stores worldwide:
Some people is still wondering what happens with Collection 5. Well, Collection 5 will be the 1 one year anniversary of the brand. I have been going deep into getting crazy and good fabrics for this one, and Im pretty sure you all will appreciate the effort that went into it. Most of that collection (About 95%) will be sold online by the brand itself. That means, “nobody” else will be able to sell the new 9 hats, just because there are not enough. Most of the fabric I found and with the one I wanted to create hats with was extremely rare and most of it deadstock, not to talk about a very special project that will have a lot of 90′s loving fam excited. So thats the story of Collection 5… low number of hats produced because of the fabric chosen, and the 1 year anniversary. When? Late march.

2. Cameras, cameras: People that know me, know Im an avid camera collector. I have some of the latest cameras, old cameras, polaroids and well, you name it, I might have it. Nikon, leica, Yashica, Panasonic, Fuji, and an array of Polaroids and Fuji Instax cameras… These days I have been thinking about getting a new camera to the fam the new Fuji X1 with one of these fast, sharp and old school touch. Anybody tried it?

3. New music: Just sucks. Nothing exciting. Please email me suggestions here.

4. Wondering on crazy crap going on: I have no idea what Bruce has to do with skate or why some tees came out in really bad spanish…Maybe I have lost on what once I thought was the best… But this project definitely got just lost in translation.

5. Wondering on amazing crap going on: Real music, amazing concert. Great live gig.

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Sports

16/02/2012

I know, sometimes I get too personal here, but fuck it, this is my space after all! So just wanted to post a little something about sports.
Have been into sports all my life, with, sometimes, long breaks due to, who knows what, mainly girlfriend issues (Yeah, I was dumb like that).
I begun with swimming when I was like 5 or so, won a handful of medals doing dont even remember what… I have them at my parents place I think.
Then I went to basketball. I basically sucked for years, then all of a sudden I got promoted to play at the national league and ended up with a regional 3rd place at this championship.
Skateboarding knocked my door in 1990 and have been hooked on it until I stopped riding on a more or less daily or weekly around 2007 or so.
In the meanwhile I started doing karate for about 4 years and dropped to get more involved into skateboarding and travelling.
One day, who knows why, went back to my loved karate gym to find out there was this martial art called jiujitsu. I tried it, it was the japanese jiujitsu, aimed to self defense and basically destroying an enemy. It was surreal. Loved it.
Dropped again dont even remember why, and in 2004 I started brazilian jiujitsu for a year. Didnt understand anything: A martial art based on ground fighting and not punching anybody? Would that work? The first day my body was so sore I couldnt even walk (Word). Then you get some moves and begun feeling comfortable on the groun controlling people. I sucked, but I was happy.

When Nike knocked on my door to run Nike SB quitted too to focus 101% on this new job and wasnt til 2009 when I returned to karate and japanese jiujitsu. Got my brown belt in karate and my blue belt in japanese jiujitsu and meanwhile, started again bjj at another gym, with my now, Aranha team.
Its been about 2 years I have been training this “weird” martial art without punching people, and its just constant fun. Its hard, its challenging everyday, its physically exhausting sometimes, but its worth every minute spent on the mat.
This post is just to encourage you to try it. Brazilian jiujitsu or grappling, try it and dont be afraid to get hurt, I got more injuries because of skateboarding and karate than in bjj.
Its a healthy sport, loyal and mentally rewarding.
Ok, enough promotion ;-)

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Creative

14/02/2012

After a much needed break in Vegas, back to the city. I fucking love New York, can´t lie… Ey, I went to the Theophilus London gig at Webster hall, and all I can say, is that the dude rocks…

This song has been playing since then non stop.

While 99% of the streetwear world is in vegas for MAGIC, Im here finishing new stuff for all of you. Being independent is somehow a blessing, sometimes a curse, but overall a wonderful experience. I can create anything I want, anything I feel I would wear. I will elaborate better on what´s coming for the next collection in another post, but the Collection 5, which is going to be a “1 year anniversary” collection, will be, I think, one of the craziest collections in 5 panels I can remember. I mixed waterproof fabrics, silk, vintage fabric from some brand you all love(d) and throw in the mix some crazy low numbers (Last fabric available in some of designs), and you get a crazy mix of limited edition hat, really amazing finished products and a range of themes that would drive most people crazy.


And just so you know, this is part of the Collection 5 hats…

I invite you to listen this speech by John Paul Caponigro. It adresses how everyone is a creative person. I get emails sometimes by people who are stuck with some ideas, but can´t or feel they can´t execute them. Please, listen to the speech, it is a really interesting piece that can make us all think and realize we can all do better and bigger things with our days. By the way, I really can´t draw, but I suppose if I practice enough, I can get better, that´s the main point here!

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Vegas

11/02/2012

The story goes like this: Im at my apartment listening to David Choes segment on Howard Stern on the whole Facebook thing, which amazingly, turning the interview into Choe’s winning techniques in Vegas. I had already been there, but I was like “Well, I can go there just bet a little, have fun and change a little bit my weekends”. So I called my friend Yoshi from LA and he just told me he was hitting Vegas that same weekend. In 2 days I was there enjoying a better weather, surrounded by gamblers, silicone and huge drinks.

Vegas has always intrigued me. For some reason, movies and stories about gamblers who broke the bank systems and won millions always have been a staple on the Vegas myth. To me, reality is much crazier, where millions of people every year go to the sin city to spend thousands, sometimes millions on gambling. Even myself, in one morning racked a nice $600… to loose part of it afterwards… its a crazy balance game thing… Check this documentary if you have some spare time and if you like the kind of “David vs Goliath” stories…





So Im still in Vegas, with a crew of asian people, having fun and enjoying life. Lets see if I can break some kind of code while here and get some extra money to pay for production of the next collection!

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Los Angeles moment

05/02/2012

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Music afternoons

02/02/2012

Few words, more images, more music.

These days Im trying to fill my iphone with meaningful music, good and positive tunes. Found this compilation at the Cool Hunting website. I thought I could share it wth you so you let it playing while you do some computer job, Facebook investigations or just for the sake of it.

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NYC

30/01/2012

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Star Wars

27/01/2012

There was a time when there was no internet, there were no emails, there was no movie piracy, no i-pods, no i-phones… you get the point. Those times were filled with little moments that had a major impact on everybody’s life. Let me get you an example: When the VHS (The videos) came out, going to the videoclub was a huge thing. You went to that marvelous place filled with bulky tapes and you were going to watch THAT movie, THAT night. It usually required some kind of a rite, going to get the movie, getting popcorn, talking with the family and decide what movie to watch (Yes, we watched movies as a family), watch it, enjoy it, no pausing the movie, and feeling mega excited when you introduced the big tape on the mega bulky Vhs tape player.
Those were priceless moments.
And then, there were those moments when a big, good and exciting movie came out. Oh boy, THAT was a magical moment. One of those movies was Star Wars. Called “Episode” 4, 5 and 6, Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi were movies that impacted a whole generation (or two) or young kids who grem up with the magic, the ships, the sounds, the ideas, of a movie franchise.
That was from 1977 until around 1983 when Return of the Jedi came out. I remember exactly when I watched Star Wars in the cinema, as believe me, I think I was around 2 years old or so. Return of the jedi I even remember how my auntie took me from my grandparents place and I was feeling super excited about it.

It was a movie that introduced the merchandise concept. It was one of the first movies to create a complete toy line around the movie characters, and remember, in an era when kids didnt have cell phones or the internet, toys were BIG.

For a kid like me, Star Wars was a very impactful and something that would be with me ever since today, that I visited the Star Wars expo at the Anaheim Science center in California. I just couldnt miss it… So, here the 57 photos I took. Hope you can sense the excitment I felt when I saw the props, the models used for the movie and everything in between.

CLICK MORE TO GET INTO THE GALLERY
[click to continue…]

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More hours under the sun

27/01/2012

The second day in Los Angeles. Yesterday was so productive I was dead by 8 pm. Its just amazing what the good weather can bring to the table when you want to do things.
New projects, coffees, a visit to the cliched stores in Fairfax, Chad from Foreign Fam, driving, Whole foods, Yoshi, Sherry, thai food…



Big Yoshi one of the best artists I know.


Chad from FF

The new beanies are out! Beanie made from pre-consumer cotton fibers and clippings & ecological (Made with pre-consumer textile waste). Really soft and comfortable, for only $20. Get it in two colors!

Today more. The new Skulls stickers will be available next monday, have it mind too as lots of you have been asking about purchasing stickers!

Out now… kicking it with this guy and need to get to the shower…

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California

26/01/2012

Can’t love this place more than I already do.
Just driving the highway already relaxes me. Road rage? I have never ever got that. I see driving in California as a pause, a pause on all the rushed hours going way beyond the light speed.
California is a place where I have always visited to relax and refocus. It just gives me vision, allows me to concentrate and meet some of my great friends Im lucky to have here.
A lot of things to do this time, NY, dont miss me, will be back soon…

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