A shitty essay for Trendkill.

A person’s perceptions create the way they see the world and the way they choose to present themselves, they create the way that person thinks, and they create what that person does and ultimately is.  When riding a scooter, a person is moving their body in a way conducive to the way their body is shaped and the way their body feels, to the way the obstacles presented to them are made.  They have a vision of the way they want their riding to feel like, and what tricks they want to do because they are the most fun.  This is a direct reflection of the self, the perceptions of the world around you in this moment you are riding your scooter, the perceptions or the body you find yourself within.  This is art, this is pure self expression, you are expressing the way you feel, and working with all of your possible energy into the way you want to feel.  A competition rider in this mindset is riding to the fullest of their ability to a run they want to see perfected in the way only they can do it; they want to feel the best they can while riding through their run or even doing their trick for best trick.  When a rider is filming a video part, they have a vision of what they want their video to feel, sound, and look like.  They want it to be a direct representation of the way they live their life, that is why many riders usually edit their own videos or have their close friends edit them. (I'm not sure who else would?) This is a reflection of the perceptions the rider has of the world, possibly the inspiration of other riders, and the feelings those riders have inflicted upon them in their videos.

While both a competition and filming for a video part are great outlets for self expression, and great for other riders to appreciate others feelings and riding; there is another destructive side of both.  When a rider is thinking about what other people think about their video, or about winning a competition, they are changing what riding is about.  Riding is no longer a reflection of your past experiences, you are doing things based on what people who have perceived vastly different things than appreciate; whether it be the guys who write the blogs, the people watching your run, the kids who watch the videos, the judges of the competition, or the rep you’re trying to get picked up by.  This makes a huge wish-wash of people doing things for similar reasons, as opposed to everyone doing their own thing and working for themselves; you have people doing things for the average opinion, the mean, what the most people think because you are doing things because you want the most possible amount of people to like you.  This exponentiates, the more common opinions are the ones the most riders move to please, and these riders can go into the spotlight as the most popular riders, which influences people to think they must ride like these people to get the most views, comments, and blog posts on their videos, or to win competitions, which is firstly not true and secondly is not as fun.  People aren’t doing the most fun thing to them, they are no longer doing the thing that they live for for themselves, but for other people.  The riding becomes all similar, there is a standard set on what you have to do to be respected or sponsored.  I’m not saying the industry/scene is completely like this, but I am telling people that the more they let other’s views influence them, the more they will fall into the vortex that can is being self conscious of their art.  There is no one who should be able to tell you what to do, if people call your video bland and boring, well thats because they probably don’t appreciate the same things you do, and if you give into their wishes you are becoming more like them.  You are succuming to the eniterty of the scene becoming the same things being expressed.  This is where the industry starts dying, people get bored of the same feelings over and over again, you need to make videos that kids will get hyped off of, and that doesn’t come with the decision to do a trick people think is sick.  That comes with hard work, dedication, and getting to know yourself.  You have to wait until your video is done to put it out, not put it out because you want other people to see it.  Your riding is for you, other people will know, but if you ride for yourself you won’t give a flying fuck how clean, technical, or sick the kids on youtube or at your skatepark think.  You know you’re gonna keep doing it either way.  Don’t do tricks because other people think they are cool, do tricks you think are fun and feel good to you.  Thats how you get noticed, but you’re probably not going to get noticed if you’re trying to get noticed. -Parrish

The Philly Files is HERE

I've been slacking on the blog updates but for all of you who still check this regularly we premiered "The Philly Files" on ScooterResource last Friday.  This is not your average scooter video.  We wanted to a show a different side to riding that isn't seen in most videos.  I'd call it a "documentary" style of an edit because there's so much more that happens behind than riding. Here on the east coast there's a different mentality to finding and riding spots.  Nothing here is perfect, it allows us to have more creativity with what we do but at the same time there's a whole lot of drama.  Philly is a crazy city, from the spots to the people, it can be fucking awesome one day and unbearable the next.  We hope that this video sheds a new perspective on scooter riding and what it means to film a full video. Enjoy!

- McKeen

FinScooter DVD rundown with Helmeri Pirinen

Our Finnish bros have been working on a full length DVD for the past two years and it's finally complete!  I  haven't had the chance to watch it yet but I was lucky to witness some of the footage before it came out and I gotta say it was really refreshing to see the originality from these dudes!  I caught up with Helmeri to ask him more about the DVD and what went into the making of it.  

How long did you film for the FinScooter DVD?

We filmed this DVD over two years. We all are living far away from each other so it has been really hard to get everyone together and film. This whole project has been so great and it has been awesome to film and chill with the whole team. We filmed this with many sd cameras and we had about 10 filmers. Huge thanks to all!

Who has parts?

Antti Karppinen, Oliver Teder, Otto Märkjärvi and I have full parts.

Whose part is your favorite?

To be honest I can't choose my favorite part. Otto has edited the whole movie so good. Every part has personality and the music fits perfectly. We all have also very different style so it's hard to choose the best part.

Who put the most work into their part?

Everyone did great job there but I think that Antti had footage for two full parts or something haha. I have to give him some credit for that. Sometimes one single clip took almost few hours to get it done but no one didn't give up ever. Great guys indeed.

What kept you guys motivated in the harsh Finnish winters?

Good question! The winter is almost 6 months long here and it's impossible to ride outside during that time. Luckily we have our own indoor park now. During winter you can choose between ice hockey and beer. The beer was our 

choice haha.

Was it FinScooter beer?

Definitely it was! Without that magic drink we would't be able to survive. 100% real stuff!

How long is the video?

Total length is approximately 32min but Otto made super work with the editing so the movie feels like 5min long. Everything just works there and the feeling is so intense.

Why should we, the American people, be stoked to see it?!

Well in this movie we want to show how we see scootering. For us it's not competing or trying to be better than someone else. We just enjoy ride together and this is one big part of our life. Hopefully this DVD will help to open some eyes.  

Nowadays you can search good videos on Youtube so easily and it's not profitable to make dvd's anymore. That's a shame because in my opinion dvd is one of the best ways to build our culture around scootering. Hopefully kids will respect companies who put the effort for those huge projects. I'm sure that older riders will always understand the meaning of these but I'm not sure what younger riders think.

So yeah we offer you 32min street movie filmed with SD cameras and I promise that the footage is pure gold haha. You all should see this.

Any bonus features on the DVD?

Yes we have an extra montage there. It's a mix of our team riders, our flow-team riders and friends. You will see some clips for example from Matt McKeen, Alex Peasley, Johann Moreau, Coedie Donovan, Flavio Pesenti, Travis 

House, Madis Kukk... heh the list is long.

What’s next for FinScooter?

We will just chill few weeks now and then we start to plan our Winter Jams. It will be organized at our indoor park Valli and it will be held probably in February or March. You guys will see some edits from our team for sure and of course we will surprise you all somehow next year.

Finally I want to thank all the riders, filmers and other people who have helped us to make this project happen. Our sport needs these culture pieces for keeping the whole puzzle together. Keep shredding and have fun!

Peace!

Helmeri

Be sure to add the FinScooter DVD to your collection, this one is a keeper!

- McKeen

The Philly Files Coming Soon!

Sorry for the lack of real updates , we've been caught up in trying to put out our first full length video, The Philly Files.  If you're an east coast native you can understand how fucked it is trying to finish a video in the midsts of winter.  It's in the final stages though, a few clips here and there, a little editing and you will all have your minds wasted after viewing our urban masterpiece.  Here's some recent flicks for shameless self promotional purposes.  

By the way, don't think we're slowing down.  We have many evil mastermind plans for the upcoming 2014.  You will back.

- McKeen

Hella Broke with George Justiniano

  

It's been awhile since we've posted a gnarly bail and this time it happens to be the most gruesome one yet.  Our good "Hella Grip" homie George Justiniano slammed over the summer trying to slide this burly rail.   George also has no health insurance so that's another chiller for this video.  In light of this shitty situation, Hella Grip has decided to sell special sheets in order to help George pay for his medical bills.  See the photo below for more details then head to http://hellagrip.co 

I've known George for ages, super rad human being, help da homie out!

- McKeen

Marvin Erse Edit/Interview

Marvin is a good friend of ours who just droped his first edit, i met him before he scootered n he was chill as fuck to hang out with n always down to get rowdy. so of course i was stoked to see him pick it up the next time i went to visit. always a good guy to have in the crew durring them gnarly seshs to get the stoke going! I Recently dropped him a few questions to hear what he had to say!


what up marvin, hows it been going dude?!?!
Pretty good dood ! "DAR" as we say here !

how long have you been shredding for now and what got you into it
Damn that's a hard one.. since i'm 19, i'm now 23 so it's now 4 years if i'm good ! I wasn't doing any sport for like 2 years, was looking for something steezy. I always was on xtreme sport, and naturlly i turned into scootering. You know, 2 wheels it's like a small motor bike dood ! And mostly because of a gnarly friend I have, I see him shred and grind our hometown

you enjoy having a dialed scooter at all times but you also roll some dialed spliffs. whats the secret to those ever lastings splifs?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH !! first when I set up my scoot I'm so focus, I got to get it dialed dood. So it's basicly the same with all those spliffs haha Good dexterity dood. Nothing better than a Dialed scoot and a well rolled G.

hook me up with one of those heavy french rap songs
show buisness - Ideal J

get a metro pass yet or still hopping the subway like a boss?
I dont need to hop them dood, I just walk over it.

most fustrating trick you always try but can never get it to work.
Fs 50-50 hardway 180.

secret to fs smiths?
I will never tell.

what about the secret to friendship?
Sincerity, communication, talk about everything "no black topic list"

secret to fun?
Listen Disco music sometimes.

whaaatt about the secret of chilling?
Friends, grass

anymore secrets?
Raging Mental. I couldn't ride that much without my brother Johann Moreau. Big thanks to Matt Mckeen, Alex Peasley, Michael Cajas and JD who gave me my first Addict deck. They all are fucking comics character. If it would have been a " Joe Bar Team " comic they'll will be the main character haha !


-peasley

Addict Scooters Winter Update

Hey all,

It's been awhile since we've given you some news. You may have heard some rumors already but now it's time for the official announcement.

Firstly, Maxime “Le Baron” Legrand will no longer be a part of Addict. He's chosen to ride a different path and we wish him luck where ever he may land.  This might bum some of you out but with bad news there's always some good.  We're officially announcing a new shredder to our crew. Tobias Mayer, he is Austrian, you probably heard of him..wait to see his welcome edit. 


Also you've probably noticed that we are testing new parts. We can't give an exact release date at the moment but rest assured we're shredding hard & you will be stoked
on the new product line!! New parts means new sig parts, colors, graphics, specs..as soon as the testing is complete we'll give you an update ;)

Check out Matt testing the Blacksmith deck 

Lots of new projects in the works! Looking forward to this coming year, thanks for all your support! Keep shredding!!  Check out our facebook (Addict Scootering) page/instagram @addictscootering for more informations/flicks.

-Johann Moreau, Addict Big Ol’TM