coney island summertime polaroid trip

So, maybe 3 years ago I went to Coney Island for 4th of July... It was hot, sticky, sweaty, drunky and fun as hell. We watched the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, drank all day with some Puerto Rican thug dykes at the Cha Cha, and ate so much we all thought we were gonna puke. Epic.

Here are the photos to prove it.


Coney Island in the summer is bananas


"Welcome! We're glad to have ya, ...honky."


Summer Lovin' at the Cha Cha...


And ladies! If you're down with dudes like this, they are everywhere...


And if you're down with old reefer smoking sea dogs, they're around too.


It's almost weird how stoked on this piña colada I am.


But it's NOT weird how stoked on the chili cheese dogs I was. ('dogs" = plural)


Will the REAL Strawberry Shortcake please stand up? I was stoked she made an appearance, I thought she was only a myth like unicorns and france.


But it is real, and we had a blast. See you there this summer, bros.

Surfing and Shooting in S.C. w/ Band of Horses

Drove down to hang out with my bros Creighton, Rob, Ryan, Bill, Ben and Jared. They just got back from tour, and Jared flew out from CA to shoot the rest of their video, so fuck it, I went. (Oh yeah, and I sold Creighton my car, so I had to do that too.)



driving through the south



sunset in South Carolina



Folly Beach with Creighton



Ben and Creighton, between sets



Creightons new boyfreinds



Bill and Ben at Surf Bar for drinks after a day at the beach



Hey Cronin, how many sound guys does it take to screw in a lightbulb, mofo?



This bar rules. Surf videos all the time...



and Roscoe loves it too.



back at the beach house



gettin' crazy



and having fun.... always havin' a good time...

the great white north!

so I am in in my hotel in Toronto, editing a web film that I shot for Toshiba last weekend... It's like 2am and I have to get up at 6 to go shoot a national commercial for MegaBlox (kids toys, like Transformers). I am waiting for my rough edit to render and compress so I thought I'd load some photos I shot this week.



The VIA Express train from Montréal to Toronto



My Producer. Always working, ladies and gentlemen, always working.



Night time train crossing in the Canadian "middle of nowhere in a whiteout blizzard" type spot.



The street in front of the production company, sunset tonight.



Tonight, sunset over Toronto.

Ok, my video is almost done. Fuck, I gotta get to sleep...

Where in the hell am I now?

riding my motorcycle through the entire US, that's where. here are some notes (and pix) from the road, video to follow.

top of the Beartooth Pass, Montana.



Leadville, CO with Andy and Merlin:



Top of the pass, Rocky Mountain National Park. Look for Andy and Merlin in the distance. Elevation? 12,000ft:



91 in a 65... oops.



but on this road, could you blame us??



this photos was taken STANDING STILL. this is what 110 mph does to your hair. gummo aint got shit on me.



current location? Thermopolis, Wyoming. Home of the worlds largest geothermal baths. Just north of the Wind River Indian Reservation.



Google Earth that shit.

oh yeah...



...I didn't do it.

Paris International Air Show

I got stuck in Paris for 12 hours with nothing to do...

and it went a little something like this...

8:30 - Land at Charles de Gaulle airport, arrive late, no sleep on the plane, miss my flight to Nice
9:00 - try to rent a car to drive, all they have is a Ford Fiesta for 500 Euros. No effin way.
10:00 - get online at CDG and try to book another flight. Found one! Only $100 change fee! but I have to fly out of Orly...
10:30 - take the bus to Orly airport.
11:00 - get there and find out it will actually cost an additional EU199.50. Fuck that.
12:00 - get on the train back to CDG. I give a guy from India directions for the subway and he tells me he's going to the Paris International Air Show. He's some IT tech, there for new Defense technology stuff... He leans in to whisper when he talks about what he does and why he's going.
12:15 - I get off at the Anthony stop with him because I decide this is too good to miss and I'm fucking IN.
12:45 - realize I do NOT want to drag my luggage all over, decide to continue back to CDG and check it in so I can be FREE.
1:30 - They won't check my luggage in at the airport yet. Too early. No lockers, nothing. Fucking terrorists (George Bush and his infidel band of fundamentalist warlords, I mean)
2:00 - Take the train BACK to Gare du Nord train station where they have lockers.
2:45 - finally get there.
3:15 - track down the locker in the goddamn basement and ditch that shit.
3:30 - figure out the hard way that I can't buy a subway ticket at the machines in Gare du Nord without either a.) change or b.) a credit/debit card with one of those little gold chip things in them (like the calling cards)
4:00 - wait in a half hour line to buy EU6.00 worth of subway tickets
4:15 - in the train, on my way to Le Bourget for the Air Show
4:55 - get there, lie about my credentials, give a fake business card, wave my camera around and speak in wacky franglais and I'M IN!!!
5:00 - whoa. It's fucking amazing, it's like this weird military/civilian trade show with missles, defense systems, strike fighters, satellites, recon, un-manned warplanes, helicopters and weird trade show type shit. Except it's all dudes in either flashy business suits with dark, shady eyes or highly decorated military personnel. Similarity? They all want to kill people and they are all have dudes around them that are wearing sunglasses...
6:00 - It starts to rain. HARD. Everyone flees and suddenly getting ground transportation becomes nearly impossible (oh, the irony...)
6:10 - hook up with this Arab gypsy cab driver who tells me he hates rushing through trafiic because Arabs are calm people. word up. I want to tell him that from what I've just seen, traffic looks to be the least of his peoples future problems. I hold my tongue. We work out a deal for the ride after much language barrier haggling and it's on.
6:30 - get to Charles du Galles so I can catch the express train back to Gare du Nord.
6:50 - catch the train (finally!) My flight closes at 8:20, btw...
7:15 - get to GDN, RUN up the stairs to get across the station to where the luggage bunker is.
7:20 - stop. call my girlfriend xoxo she's a babe.
7:40 - get my stuff, slam it together and get back on the train to Charles du Galles (AGAIN)
8:14 - get off the train, boogie toward my terminal, laughing at how close I've cut it.
8:19 - saunter casually up to the ticket counter and check in like it ain't no thang.
11:00 - get to Nice, find out they have booked out of rental cars in my fare class, I look at the guy like thats just not the answer I'm prepared to hear right now.
11:02 - he upgrades me to a 2007 BMW 3 series sedan.
12:00 - check in to my hotel in Cannes, go get a panini, a salad and 2 beers.
2:20 - sitting here writing this shit because I need to adjust my biological clock thing so I am not fucked up all week.

That's one hell of a day. And now, the pictures to prove it:

The line to get my subway tickets was LONG.



haha, New York styled shirt, made by foreigners. Where the hell is Fifty-FirTH Street anyway??



These dudes look like they REALLY need some more bigger guns. Especially the dude mean muggin' me...



This guy was selling unmanned warcraft like it was magic snake oil.



This was in this Israeli Defense strategy area. There were a lot of people with headsets and sunglasses on around here...

They showed a video about tactical command technologies and efficient airstrike capabilities. This is the target before:



and after. BOOYAH Palestine! Take that, bitches...



I looked above the visor and under the seat for the keys, but no dice. These people are not as dumb as they look.



Would you like a small slaying, medium maiming or large sized killing? Oh, super sized slaughter?? We have that too. Don't forget our "buy 10,000 and we'll throw in a free ethnic genocide post-momorial day" special!!! (NOTE: in the background, it reads "And it will keep on delivering for decades" -think about the fucked up implications of that statement for a second, seriously.)



and this? this just scared the bejeezus out of me:



but wait. dude. spaceships! rockets! coolest thing ever.



and back to Charles de Gaulle...



peace in the middle east.

The Old Man and The Sea...

this was the last day of our trip... Ali and Julio agreed to take us fishing, down on the Maleçon, where the rest of the Cubans fished.

So we met with them at Ali's house





Then we went out, Julio went to get fishing lines and we ran into a bit of trouble. Ali was walking along with Jena and they were so cute I took out my camera and snapped this picture:



No sooner did I take the picture then the Police came running up and arrested Ali for consorting with a white woman, a tourist. He was immediately targeted as a Jintero, a hustler, and since there is a sort of institutionalized apartheid in Cuba, this is a jailable offense.

We protested, and offered to help, but he told us no and walked away with the police, obviously embarrassed and I would guess, scared.

Right after that, Julio came around the corner and told us to wait... he ran around the corner and between the two of them, they were able to work it out and Ali was released.

The rest of the walk to get our hooks and bait, though, Ali had to walk about a block ahead of us for fear of being arrested again. It was sad and angering and we felt helpless. It sucked. If you look in this picture, you'll see Ali.



Anyway, the moods picked up as we got our gear together... We walked down the Maleçon to get bait, past the old Spanish castle and some guys playing bob marley.





We went and got bait, which are like these long, nasty millipedes they sell. They live in these roots, and you squeeze them out from one end to the other, then shove the hook in their mouth and basically impale them on the hook. The fishies love 'em.



We threw our first casts as the sun set over Habana. Awesome.



And Jena caught the first fish. Goddamn beginners luck.



She wanted to throw it back but Ali and Julio protested. They'll eat that shit. It's no joke in Cuba.

I went and bought a bottle of Havana Club Rum, a couple cokes and stole some cups from some other touristas and we got our fish on and our drink on...

Julio caught the next fish, almost just as small, but still a keeper. Look at Julio and Ali, I love these guys...



The thing that sucks about being the photographer is that you're never in the pictures... oh well. Still so awesome.



After that, we climbed down on the rocks into the crashing surf and fished from there, catching more baby fishies and having an all around rad time. Julio is hilarious.



When it was all over, we walked Ali home, where he jumped in on a cut throat game of Dominoes with some people outside his house...



We walked home, but then I had to run back to give him his house key. I left Jena with a bunch of locals who were grubbing on some late night spaghetti - we ordered her some with tomatoe sauce, ham and cheese.

When I got back, I saw this:



Jena, making friends wherever she goes...

The next day we left for the airport. I have no pictures of that because all my memory cards were full, but I will tell you this:

We had no money to pay our airport tax so Jena had to standby patiently while I made this announcement to a line of Canadian tourists:

"EXCUSE ME!! I AM AN AMERICAN, AND I HAVE NO MONEY TO PAY AIRPORT TAX. BECAUSE MY GOVERNMENT IS RUN BY IDIOTS, I CANNOT USE A BANK, ATM, CHECK OR CREDIT CARD TO GET MONEY... CAN ANYONE PLEASE LOAN ME 50 DOLLARS SO I CAN GET HOME???"

a kind woman generously loaned me the money I needed, allowing us to get through customs and sprint to catch our plane.

I sent her a check the day I got home. The memo line on the check?

"FOR: being awesome. thanks."