Blogs To Read - love from berlin

Today I want to introduce to you to Rae Tashman, a digital product designer and photographer, obviously located in Berlin. Also she runs her blog that is built with a big focus on visuals but the texts are at least as important. I'm going back to browsing through her archive now, see you wednesday.

http://raetashman.com/
http://www.lovefromberlin.net/


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Awesome Decks - UNIKORN Lorcan / Moostaste

I found the Moostaste in my Pinterest feed one day and was confused at first - many decks before tried to be arty as hell, but this one really got me. The UNIKORN Moostaste (on the right) is one of those boards that are supposed to hang on the wall and decorate your living room. It was actually released in 2012 already and now, it is not in production anymore.

So I headed to their website for a little research and found out that the artwork was designed by uberkraaft, a really awesome artist. Also I found the new board by UNIKORN - the Lorcan (which you see below).

The Lorcan is shorter and the kick makes it really useful for tricks and the griptape has a really performance oriented look. But UNIKORN from Montreal always works in cooperation with artists from all over the world so this has a artwork just as beautiful as the Moostaste. In this case it is the work of the Brazilian artist Victor Beuren. His thoughts on the deck:

“This deck is all about having fun, about the enjoyment you get from riding it. It’s about the wind on your face, the feeling that you are actually flying across town the kind of feeling that we all hold dear. The design brings toy planes, parachutes, wings and a pilot to help carry your imagination in flying with you.”

The Lorcan is available for $140 CAD deck only or a hundred dollars more for the complete board with Bennett Vector trucks and Seismic Rippler wheels

















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Alien Post - Mockingjay

Might be a little behind with that movie and I actually watched it some weeks ago. However, I didn't get to write about it until today. These are some things that stuck to my mind and for me are the major facts about Mockingjay.

Cut at the right spots.
There is this one thing I totally love about the Hunger Games movies: They are cut at the right spots. Especially after Catching Fire and now Mockingjay part one I can't wait for the next movie to come to the cinemas.

Hysterical screaming.
Also I really appreciated how Katniss kept her hysterical screaming to the minimum this time around - it pretty much made me hate the first movie.

Design of District 13.
At first I was a little disappointed by the design of District 13, but only until you got out of the living quarters. All the high tech elements were as impressive as in the Capitol.

Mockingjay evolution.
It is fascinating to see how the Mockingjay emblem changes over the movies and how it more or less sticks to the book covers. Also I found this fan edit including the possible, unofficial emblem for the last movie.



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In Pictures - Longboarding Together

My fourth post ever was about why it is so great to get together with people when longboaring. This here is a little follow up of pictures I found on Pinterest that really express the message I had in that post.

Each of these pictures tells a story of friends getting out together and searching for the thrill and fun of longboarding. Of course they all need a long road ahead - feeling the freedom and stuff. So beside that cliche and the fact that none of them was a real situation, I really like how they look and have different styles. One is dark and full of tension, another one showing the party going on on the road and one spreading pure summer and very happy and adventurous vibes.

However, I just wanted to show you these few pictures to stay motivated for longboarding - summer isn't even that far away! I'm already planning for new adventures and I might also buy a new board. But I will surely update you about anything exciting as it happens. Protect your spots and keep exploring!


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One Day In Hamburg - Christmas Time

One thing that's perfect in Hamburg in December is all the bright Christmas decoration that is spread all over the city. This here is just a tiny piece of it spread over maybe half a mile through the city. But I had a really good time trying out some stuff with the town hall and how it was lit from below and the clouds hushing by.

The scale of Christmas trees.

Love how this picture turned out with really warm colors..

While this one is really moody, especially the dark top.

A little too bright but I love how the buildings pops out from the background.

I like how the seagull sneaked in on this one.

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Cold Days Longboarding Outfit

Of course there are many longboarders that only ride in the summer because of the trend and the style. But if you are like me and the longboard is your major way of transportation you might know the struggle of iced hands and cold air inside your jacket. I found myself some ways to fight the cold so that I can stay on the board not only on the glaciers.

Softshell jacket. One of the major problems is that the warmed up air inside your jacked gets pushed out by the cold air because of wind and your own movements. First step to counteract that is to buy a wind proof softshell jacket. You might want to find one with a little strip of fabric behind the zipper - I often felt the cold sneaking through that cracks.

Flexible gloves. When choosing your gloves you might want to go for the thinner ones. There is nothing worse for me than loosing the grip on my fingers, so I always use my winter biking-gloves for longboarding as well. They have the right balance of keeping your fingers warm and usable. If you have a bad day and it's too cold for your fingers, just get the blood into your hands by closing and opening your fists repeatedly.

Oversize and layers. I generally like to wear larger cloths when I'm on the board - in the summer they provide good air circulation but when it's cold they have another effect. Your shirts make your jacket tighter around the waist because of the excess cloth. Also you get the possibility of working out warm wind proof joints at your hands and feet. Layering up shirts and jackets also helps with that.

Beanie and scarf. There is one thing I love about the cold season: Hiding my face behind a fluffy and warm scarf. I pull it up tightly over my nose so that the warm air I'm breathing out flow all around my cheeks and over my eyes - all the condensing water gets caught in your eyelashes but that's totally worth it. Even better is to have a beanie on your head as well so there is nothing more than your eyes exposed to the cold and your ears are protected by two layers of fabric.

So do you have your own ways to tackle the cold or do you prefer public transport as soon as it gets colder?


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Winter Season - Cleaning Your Bearings

First of all, there are two reasons that there came no post on Wednesday. It was the day after my birthday, so I didn't really have the time to sit down and write. But also I was busy with preparations for this upcoming mini series: Winter Season! In this case "mini" doesn't mean in short time because I'm going to stretch it out until maybe February - not sure yet - but there won't be many posts of the series. It will be all about getting your board ready for spring, starting with cleaning your bearings. I personally do it every three or four months but it might be different for you because of different products and the difference in use. Actually you could do that every other week as it is so easy.

To begin with, get your wheels off the board - I use a 13mm socket on a ratchet. Be sure to collect all the speed rings as it's quite easy to loose one or two of them. Sometimes, the inner speed rings stick to the truck because they get pressed together pretty hard - just use the tip of are small screwdriver to get them loosened and pull them off the truck with your fingers.

Then get the bearings out of the wheels with that same screwdriver: Get it halfway into the core, push the spacer aside and leverage it out from all sides. You could actually do it without moving the screwdriver around but I would surely get it in my eye some way.

 You should now have eight speed rings, eight bearings, four spacers and for lock nuts. As I said before, these small parts get lost so easily.



The next step is to get the covering off the bearings by simply pushing the tip of your screwdriver in between the covering and the bearing's inner ring. Then gently pull it up - it might stick a little if it is very dirty. They also stick to your screwdriver if it has a magnetic tip as the inside of the covering is made of metal.

Repeat that for both sides of each bearing. Some like to  keep one covering on, but I personally don't think they get really clean that way.

Prepare a empty can of vitamin supplements by getting the resin out of the cap. Just cut out the paper-like covering in the middle. Then put the parts that you want to get cleaned - I usually clean all of the other parts as well, but separated from the bearings -  inside there, add a drop of dish detergent and fill it up with water. But leave some space for the fluid and the parts to move inside the can. Shake the can with the cap on for a minute or two, wash it out with some fresh water and repeat the cleaning two or three times. By the way - I advise you, not to hit any animals that are interested in what you're doing. Dry all the parts properly with paper towels and a hair dryer on low temperature.

Then use your speed lube - I used some left-overs from our latest car servicing - to get the bearings working again. Don't use too much as that slows the bearings but. Then simply put the covering back on, assemble the wheels and get them onto the trucks again. That's it. You might need some time when doing it for the first time but once you know how to get it done, it's a task of maybe half an hour.

Do you have any shortcuts or tips? And how often do you think is it necessary?


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