Rome Snowboard Design Syndicate

Ali and I just moved into a new apartment in downtown Stowe. The place is pretty small so we have had to downsize a lot (we traded Buster in for a Chihuahua).  To make things even more “cozy” my old friend Kennny has moved in and landed on our couch until he takes off for the Virgin Islands next month. 

the bike

Kenny bought two motor kits for him and his girls bicycles, so they can get around in the islands. He built the first one earlier this week and ohhhh man its sweet!

  

he's not going that fast

 

 

 

 

 

The thing rides like a 50cc dirt-bike, absolutely no balls, but when it gets going, it goes.  Ali and I both want one, but we decided that Stowe is pretty small and its probably good for us to peddle our bikes around town. Can’t wait to visit the Islands and see which one of the local’s stole your sweet ass wheels!

I learned about this restaurant Alinea a few weeks ago, and i must say that it blew me away. They are doing insane things with food, from the prep to the presentation. Take for instance, my favorite food – bacon:

not just bacon, but DESERT bacon!

Im in the midst of shooting the 2010 dealer catalog right now, and their food photography is top notch. Take a look for yourself.

Stefan Nadelman

Food Fight

Amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgocE-JfWFI

2011 product development is underway here at the shop, Im spending a lot of time looking around for inspiration from anywhere and everywhere. I found this today and was blow away, I had forgotten how awesome Sesame Street was.

UK based street artist (i hate that term by the way) Banksy recently hit up some big pieces in NYC. For those of you that aren’t familiar with him and his work, he’s most likely the reason you or anyone you know has cut a stencil and called it graffiti in the last 10 years. I stole these photos fair and square from his website, but you should go click around on it if you haven’t before. He’s also got photos of the recent stuff he did on the streets of New Orleans earlier this summer. Real smart social commentary pieces. Educate yourself kids.

Wooster Street hit

Crack is Back fools

Houston Street hit

Canal Street hit

Hi everyone, I’m back! Didja miss me?

Some of you may or may not know, but I got married a couple weeks ago – September 27^th to be exact. After that, Becky and I headed west to Bali, via Tokyo. Two quick days in Tokyo filled by seven nights in Bali. It was an epic vacation, with all sorts or time and places to relax. I did a fair amount of reading over there between the napping and swimming. Here’s a list of what I read:

“When You Are Engulfed in Flames” by David Sedaris

His latest book, with his signature style of personal story telling. There is a great story of this crazy old bird that lived in the apartment across the hall during the time he spent in NYC, as well as a day by day journal style account of his experience moving to Tokyo for 4 months in order to quit smoking among other stories. The cover of this book was designed by famed book designer Chip Kidd, and the painting, I learned, is actually a Van Gough from 1885. That really surprised me, as it feels very contemporary.

“Killing Pablo” by Mark Bowden

The true story about Pablo Escobar, his cocaine empire, and the FBI lead manhunt that lead in his death. It’s one hell of a read, and I would highly recommend it. Mark Bowden is the same guy that wrote the book (and eventual movie) Black Hawk Down, about the US involvement in Somolia. There has been a National Geographic channel documentary on this book, and a Hollywood picture is in the works, set for a 2009 release. Lets hope it’s better than Vincent Chase’s attempt at portraying El Doctor.

October, 2008 issue of “Gourmet” magazine

Cooking, as with most rewarding ventures in life, requires constant learning. I look at my self to be a fairly decent amateur home cook (although I did finally cook a dish – well, 3 actually – from The French Laundry cookbook last night – one of the more accomplished moments in my life – but that’s another post). It’s a pastime that I’ve recently become very passionate about, and I’m always on the lookout for new recipes to try out. Here’s what stood out for me in this issue:

Clams with Chorizo, Peppers and Potatoes
Canard aux Framboises (duck with raspberries)
Roasted Veal Chop with Morels
Salt and Pepper Crusted Rib Roast

If and when I get around to making these, I’ll share some photos if I remember to snap some.

Fall issue of “Town & Country Travel” magazine

I picked this up specifically for the story on New York’s Hudson Valley – the area of NY that I grew up in, and come to appreciate more and more with each return to see my friends and family.

“Surviving Grady” blog

With the Red Sox in the ALDS at the time, and me being halfway around the world, I had to keep tabs on their progress, and this is may favorite Red Sox blog out there.

Menu board at Warung Ibu Oka

Babi Guling, Balinese for roast pig, is the cuisine this small Indonesian island is known for, and by all accounts, Ibu Oka is the best place to eat it. We took the 1.5 hour drive to in village of Ubud in the center of the island, sat down and ate the greatest pork meal of my life.

4-5 different parts of the pig are served on a simple bed of rice and herbs. It is truly amazing what basting in coconut milk and fire roasting for 4 hours does to pork. Worth the trip just for this meal.

Warning sign at the Monkey Forest

The sign says it all I think.
 

DATA VIDEO RAPTURE

grab your rock board, there’s snow in them there hills!

photo’s taken October 3, 2008 at Stowe.

Alt Art is an after school/ weekend class I have been teaching on and off at Peoples Academy in Morrisville VT for going on two years now. Today was the first of a three week, Saturday 10-3 session. When I first started teaching I was nervous as hell, but I got this great group of super talented, art enthusiastic kids and the experience has been amazing. The group has basically stayed the same over the years, with a few kids graduating and moving on and new kids coming onboard.

I always start each class with a few minutes of introducing them to artists/designers that I’m stoked on and that have some relevance to what we will be working on.

Todays favorite was the Morning Breath book, “The Early Bird”. For this class we are focusing on screenprinting individual posters using collage and stencil techniques, so these guys are perfect.

I didn’t take pictures today so here are a few picture from Alt Art classes of the past

Here is a shot from last spring, we where screenprinting on canvas and stretching it over stretcher bars. We also made some pretty sweet tees. We used a small one color press and flash unit to cure the plastisol inks. The setup was a bit ghetto, but it worked really well and the kids didn’t know the difference.

Here Im demontstraing the proper way to pull a screen.  I’ll be sure to post pictures of the final results from the current class, I’m pretty stoked on what we have done so far and couldn’t be more proud of the kids.