Happy Halloween pt. II

Happy Halloween

This pumpkin is ridiculous!

And now for the numbers...

Great day on wall street today.

Today

Woke up this morning and found some of this outside. Maybe I'll go for a walk in it soon...

Testers

Does it work?

WP s.2 x AF

Still in New York. Leaving tomorrow. I really like this place. Could definitely spend some time here. Will have some photos and trip recap in the next couple days.
This is the first time I've been on my computer the whole trip. Media retention is a beautiful thing.
During the small amount of time I did apply to my computer today, I came across this video. Looks like Adam Falk has kicked off season 2 of his Winter Project. This time he's got a Canon 5D. The picture is amazing. Adam and Nicke do a real nice job with this Project. Follow Adam on his blog to keep up to speed with his travels and skiing contributions. Hopefully I can get in the mix once again...

Winter Project Season 2 - JW edition from Adam Falk on Vimeo.

Eastbound and...just East

Headed East tomorrow. New York City to be exact. Been a handful of years since I last took a visit. It's going to be fun and wild. And three more days until the real Wild makes its theatrical entrance. And here's some more wildness from Jeremy Jones. The score is quite EEEEPPPPIIIIICCCCC!! Looks good though.

Deeper from Anavak on Vimeo.

Adieu and see you next time from the East.
Peas.

Acquisition

Happy! Happy! Happy! Changed it up a bit over the past couple weeks. Not sure if anyone noticed, but the sponsors tab on the right side of the page is different.

I decided to jump ship from two of my previous sponsors (thanks for the support fellas) and involve myself with two new companies I'm super psyched on!



First is Evo Gear up in Seattle. Really cool company ran by really cool people. They've built a business around their passion's and have done it well. Everyone else on Nimbus has been working with Evo for the past years and it only made sense for me to jump over and work with them.
If you're looking to purchase some new gear, whether it be ski, snowboard, skateboard, bike, etc... go to Evogear.com and they'll be able to help you out. If you link to them through my site and purchase something, I get a bonus too! Or if you see something you like that I'm wearing in a photo/movie, go to Evogear.com, type my name in the search bar and most of that stuff should probably pop up! Rad little feature (feature coming soon...ha).


Second is Siege Audio. These guys are a newer gem out of Salt Lake and are posting some major growth. Guys like Jeremy Jones, Seth Huot and Jon Kooley are backing this brand. I'm the first skier to get involved and I couldn't be more psyched to have my name associated with theirs and be working with such a rad brand that produces a super quality product (much better quality than the nameless brand that is currently over saturating our market). If you're a dealer head on over to their site and open up an account! If you're a consumer, keep your eyes peeled at your local shops, if it's not already there, it will be soon...

I highly suggest supporting these brands because they support the industries we all love, which in turn supports you.
Thanks and here's to the open road ahead!

Background

I recently acquired Grizzly Bear's newest album "Veckatimest". Pretty good piece of work, especially the song "Two Weeks". But this morning I hopped on the good ol' internet to do some work and came across a video series that Pitchfork did with Grizzly Bear. I watched the first bit and enjoyed it, but I had to go about doing what I originally intended to, but I kept the audio portion of the video playing and found myself enjoying it more and more while working. Some nice mellow music that allows your brain to continue working without causing much distraction. If you're in need of that, just push play. Enjoy.

Cycle for a Cause

We've been announcing this event at all the Nimbus premiers and hoping to gather donations that way. So thanks to all of you who have contributed or helped the contribution cause. Newschoolers just did a story about the ride. Head on over there to read how they're doing and where they are at.
Follow the links below for more information about the Cycle.
Thanks!

Blake

(post stolen from Newschoolers. Click here to access the full version.)
The ski industry has seen many tragedies in the past few years, from spinal cord injuries to athlete deaths. Now is a time to give back with awareness to the general public, in our case, we are giving back as fellow athletes and friends. A group of professional skiers and other members of the ski industry are partaking in a charity bike ride during the month of October from Seattle to San Diego on the Pacific Coast Highway/101 to benefit the Riley Poor Foundation, The Shane McConkey Fund and Billy Poole Foundation.

Links containing information about these foundations are the following:

Riley Poor
Riley’s Blog
Nike 6.0’s Riley Site
The Transplant Fund

Shane McConkey
The Shane McConkey Fund
Make a Wish Foundation

Billy Poole
The Billy Poole Ski Foundation

Through this ride we are seeking to have individuals, businesses, major corporations, etc. support our injured and fallen friends and icons in the ski industry. We will need as much support as possible.

To donate to this cause, click on the image above, or here.

This ride is open to anyone, friends, family, strangers, fans…anyone.

For further information, please email at: PacificCoastCycleforaCause@Gmail.com

Hope to see you on the road!

-Max Kuszaj

10 More Days...

WP Photos

Had these photos sitting on my desktop for the past few weeks. Been meaning to write an in-depth post about the World Premier up in Seattle, but I'm just going to say that it was a great weekend, one of the bigger highlights of my ski career thus far and I'm super humbled to have my name listed next to the likes of Eric, Chris, Pep and Andy. I'm going to steal a post Gary Winberg did over on the Nimbus site. It's much more detailed than what I would have created. You can check out the original here.
The assortment of photos have been stolen from Freeskier, Powder, Newschoolers, Surface and the Nimbus site. Enjoy...

There is a lot that goes into planning big events, much of which is stress, large quantities of caffeine and many sleepless nights. Once the event date is set, there are only so many days, hours and minutes left to get everything done. As the planner and organizer you can appear confident, yet in the back of your mind, there is still a fear that nobody will show up or something massive will go wrong. In the end, you just keep your eye on the prize, focus on what you can control and hope for the best. Unfortunately, the process can be so taxing you just want it to be over or you are so busy during the event, it's not as enjoyable as it should be.

The World Premiere for the Triple Threat Tour had more elements of planning than most I've done in the past. We had people flying in from all around the world, hotels to book, a reception/party at the hotel, limo rides, red carpet, a photo/art exhibit, DJ's, VIP packages to arrange, shop visits, poster signings, advertising, email blasts, organizing all the tour assets, setting up the theater and the biggest challenge being, putting the whole event live over the internet.

As you can probably gather from Nimbus, I'm a big believer in digital distribution. So this fall, I wanted to implement new digital downloads of our films directly off of our website, and even grander, broadcast the World Premiere live online. Okay, so that requires scripting the event, herding athletes, sponsors and media down the red carpet at the right time. Having two talents, Mike Douglas and Jeff Schmuck, interview people and then beam the whole thing to a satellite in space and back. Oh, plus creating an iFrame, getting it posted on our media partners sites and the creation of a microsite.

Luckily I had the help of Mobile Rider and Mountain Sports International (MSI). They combine forces on a regular basis, producing events like the Powder Video Awards and Freeskiing World Tour to name a few. For them, putting on a event like ours is a walk in the park. Keith Carlsen and the MSI crew had just gotten back from Chile and a live event, came out to do ours and have another one this upcoming weekend. Then I had the assistance of PBP too...

So how did it go? From what I heard and saw, the event went off!!! The reception at Red Fin had sushi and cocktails flowing for an hour straight, until I couldn't let my credit card take any more abuse. The limo pulled up, the Nimbus Crew loaded first, then PBP, followed by athletes and sponsors for over an hour. Hotel Max is just two blocks from the King Cat Theater, so it was easy for the limo to circle the block. Upon arrival, VIP's exited the limo to a crowd of young fans, slapping high fives as they walked the red carpet into the venue.

We oversold the venue with a thousand plus in attendance, the Amaani Lounge was packed the whole evening, the VIP area - called the Green Room - was as hot as a real "Green Room" with heat lamps. Kids lined up to get there posters signed while other viewers checked out the framed photos by Eric Seo and artwork from Icelantic. The theater had people standing in the hall, sitting in the aisles and kids sitting on the floor down in front. It was so crowed there wasn't an empty seat in the house, instead people were figuring out new places to sit.

We showed our new film "Contrast" first. It has been a while since I'd watched the whole thing, and can say I'm very proud of the work. It's not ski porn, which was the goal. There are enough ski porn films in the industry, we don't need more in my opinion. I'm happy to think we successfully brought something more unique and a different perspective. It's about the sport of skiing, in a manner that people of all ages and abilities can relate to. This format may not be as commercial, but I hope you enjoy it.

Then we had a huge raffle and SWAG giveaway. Next the PBP crew got up on stage and introduced "Everyday Is A Saturday". This is one of the better films PBP has done. It isn't as long as most of the big film companies and although I haven't seen any other film projects yet, I'm guessing will be the best ski porn of the year. Dane Tudor has a breakout segment and Tim Durtchi closes out the film with a segment that takes stunt skiing to a new level. It leaves you with your mouth hanging open.

After both films were shown, people lingered for more celebrating, staying at the bar until the theater wanted to close and kicked everybody out. We migrated to the Hurricane for more celebratory drinks and food. I was practically delierous from lack of sleep and decided it was time to pull the cord. My night was done, although I heard of some amazing stories of adventures that lasted well into morning.

Now you might think we are done, not even close. We are just getting started. Two weeks going into the event, I was averaging 3-4 hours of sleep a night and it's going to continue for another couple weeks. MSI just finished editing the World Premiere and we're in the process of getting the show back online. Hoping for Thursday or Friday. I ask everybody to be patient, as it's takes a while to edit four and a half hours of footage, compress it and then upload. You will also notice a new download button in our navigation. This is for you to purchase Contrast, Hunting Yeti and IDEA. IDEA isn't up yet but will be soon. We are still working out some of the bugs of our digital storefront, so bare with us there too. If something goes wrong, rest assured, we will get you a refund or make sure you get the video files.

As far as the online stream and live show itself, it didn't go totally as planned. Yes, there were problems I wish hadn't happened, but it is what it is. We did something that has never been done before, of course there are going to be some problems. But I figure you have to get the first one done, learn from our mistakes, adapt and we will be better in the future. The goal is to share our love for the sport of skiing with as many people as possible. To help our sport grow. That objective was met, even if it was a bumpy ride.

Since I was helping produce the whole event, I unfortunately didn't get to eat the sushi, ride in the limo, walk the red carpet, slap high fives, get interviewed, etc. so I'm looking forward to watching the final production to see what really went down as much as you are. I hope you will join me this Thursday or Friday, when it's back online for viewing. It costs $10 bucks for a month subscription. You will only be able to watch it from the computer you purchase it on. We've had a number of people buy the subscription and then email their login info to others. We track the IP address, it won't work from other computers. That and it protects us from people trying to share passwords.

For those of you who made it to Seattle for the event, thanks. To all our fans who are supporting the Nimbus cause, thank you so much.

Time for me to get back to work... Check out the imagery provided by: Mark Epstein, Matt Stauble, and Parker Hemingway

Triple Threat Tour SLC 10-2-09...that's today!

To all the applicable people in my proximity. This is the home turf show. It's the one that counts for me. Bangarang...

TRIPLE THREAT TOUR SALT LAKE CITY, UT 10/2/09

Poor Boyz presents the "Triple Threat Tour". The tour includes Poor Boyz Production's "Everyday is a Saturday” and Nimbus Independent’s Contrast. Doors will open at 6:00 pm in the Fine Arts Auditorium at the University of Utah campus and the showing will start at 7:00 pm. Tickets will be sold for the event at the Sports Den and online at www.poorboyzstore.com


Nimbus will showcase their second motion picture film, “Contrast,” which takes a unique look at the sport of skiing, examining the difference between objects, people, concepts, color, light and the skiing of Pep Fujas, Eric Pollard, Chris Bencethler, Blake Nyman (awww shucks!!), and Andy Mahre. Watch and listen as the Nimbus crew takes the audience through different thematic elements of ski culture.


PBP will present their feature film release of “Everyday Is A Saturday,” where everyday beings with a process. Whether it’s waiting for that bluebird day to come or countless training sessions before a competition. Any skier knows that feeling, to work hard, play hard, and share epic days of skiing like “Everyday Is A Saturday.” Check out all the action from Simon Dumont, Tanner Hall, Jossi Wells, Dane Tudor, Tim Dusrtschi, Charley Ager, Mike Douglas, Charles Gagnier, TJ Schiller, Mark Abma, Nick Martini, Mike Douglas, and more.


Come get posters signed by athletes featured in both films and receive ample amounts of SWAG from our partners: Salomon, K2, Nike 6.0, Atomic, Helly Hansen, Oakley, Tecnica, Marker, Dakine, Dragon, evo, Newschoolers, Kicker, Skullcandy, Bula, Bern, Freeskier, Dragon, SBC Skier and Red Bull.


Live DJ, product toss, autograph signings from the pro's, Salomon Skis, iKicks, Skull Candy, Park City season pass and more to be raffled!


Tanner Hall will be on hand to help host! This is one of the few premieres Tanner will be at so come and show your support! Get Stoked SLC, winter is coming and The Triple Threat Tour Will help you get ready!


Raffle tickets are:
1$ for 1 Ticket
5$ For 10 Tickets
10$ for 25 Tickets


An after party will be held at Green Street. Free with event ticket stubs, $5 without. Specials include $1 draft beers, $3 Jameson shots, $4 patron shots and more


Members of the University of Utah OneLove Ski and Snowboard Club get in complimentary; please sign up with the ski club first before the night of the show.


DOORS 6PM
CONTRAST 7PM
EDIAS 8PM
AFTER PARTY 10PM


For more information visit:


www.poorboyz.com
www.uofuonelove.com


To purchase tickets check out www.poorboyzstore.com online or visit:


Sports Den
1350 Foothill Dr
Salt Lake City, UT 84108-2390
(801) 582-5611

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TwoTubes

Billy Marks and his Battle Commander edit. The Berrics just doesn't stop...


And some Storm Troopers talking shop at the bar...