Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Director - Woody Allen
Cast
Rebecca Hall - Vicky
Scarlett Johansson - Cristina
Christopher Evan Welch - Narrator
Chris Messina - Doug
Patricia Clarkson - Judy Nash
Kevin Dunn - Mark Nash
Julio Perillán - Charles
Javier Bardem - Juan Antonio

Two American women traveling in Spain, meet an artist and develop an unhealthy 3 way relationship; enter the unstable ex-wife. Check out the trailer here at Fierce.com.

Banff Mountain Film Festival
November 1-9, 2008

An annual event in its 33rd season, the Banff Mountain Film Festival features great independent film from across North America and around the globe. I’m stoked I stumbled upon this venue and will certainly try to catch a local screening for the 2008 season. In the meantime, check out a few of 2007 winners: 20 Seconds of Joy, a documentary following the adrenaline filled base jumper Karina Hollekim; King Lines, which documents Chris Sharma and his often insane and always exciting life as a professional climber; and Nine Winters Old, probably the most creative and awe inspiring celebration of the winter season. Very cool stuff, make sure to check this out for sure!

Enter to win two passes to The Adventure of the Year party at NG’s headquarters in D.C. on November 20, 2008. Rub elbows with explorers and other adventure junkies. Also meet previous honorees Andrew Skurka and Colin & Julie Angus. Check out these accomplishments:

- Skurka hiked the Great Western Loop in 208 days ( a mere 6,875 mile trek)!
- The Anguses walked, rowed and biked the globe covering more than 26,000 miles in 720 days!

So I spent the weekend skateboarding, eating my weight in sushi and lounging on the roofdeck with the family.

Holly Beck
Pro Surfer
PALOS VERDES, CALIFORNIA

Rusty Ps
Milwaukee, WI
Label - None

DJ Madhatter, S Watson, Phantom Channel and Count Classic make up Milwaukee based Hip-Hip crew, Rusty Ps. No that wasn’t a typo. Folks I’ve found what could very well be the lost sound of great Hip-Hop from the 80’s and 90’s..in the Midwest no less! So take A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde, some De La Soul and the discipline of Eric B. & Rakim and you have The Ps. Formerly ‘The Rusty Pelicans’, Rusty Ps churn out their own style of jazz drizzled and funk infused Hip-Hop that true aficionados to haters can respect. Check out my personal favorite ‘Tread Water’ ftr Imani from The Pharcyde for a well representative cut from self produced ‘Rusty Ps vs. Milwaukee’ (2005). But the whole damn album is worth the download! Most memorable for me were ‘The Return’ and ‘Gather Around’. Do yourself a h-u-g-e favor and give these cats a listen!

Check out their vid at Fierce.com, ‘Elevatin The Game’ showing some respect to The Bucks!

Deaf Children At Play
Los Angeles, CA
Label - Indie

DCAP is simply straight up Rock and Roll done right! I stumbled upon this LA clan a few days ago and I’m now straight up hooked! Not much in terms of background on these cats. I know they aspire to create great music that transcends mainstream music and yah know what? I think they’re well on their way. Just check out ‘Red’, ‘Vampire’, and my absolute favorite ‘Beautiful Liar’. All are really well orchestrated tracks available off their self titled and self produced album DCAP. Check out this video and audio montage I pulled..enjoy!

The Echoing Green
ALBUQUERQUE, NM
Label - Indie

Simply put, I’m completely hooked on Echoing Green. I was introduced to this Albuquerque based Elecronica duo via ‘Seaside’, a particularly chill and representative track off The Winter of Our Discontent (2004 BEC Records). I found there to be a pleasant consistency in their music. Each track is blended with creative lyrics, soulful vox and well orchestrated instrumentals; characteristics that if present and consistent make the difference between good and great music. Just dive into ‘Flame’ (Antique Toy Mix) from Sanctuary (2008 A Different Drum) and my personal fav and what’s put me on the road to perpetual fandon, ‘Yesterday’s Taking Over’ off Supernova (2007 The Echoing Green). The video is definitely worth a glance. Make a point and subscribe to their podcast and catch the filming of ‘Cutting Hearts’ and their ‘Til Tuesday remake of Voices Carry..very cool!

What do you get when you fill up a NYC subway car with identical twins? Well a human mirror, of course, and the latest staged scene from NYC based Improv Everywhere. Headed by SC native turned NYC resident Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has staged over 70 scenes from the simply outrageous to the highly creative all over New York City. Like Frozen in Grand Central where 200+ people, on key, freeze in place for 5 minutes, or The Mobeius where 7 actors recreate the same 5-minute loop of time 12 times in a row in a Starbucks. You have to check out more from this group at Fierce.com.

Toyota Challenge Dew Tour
301 West South Temple
Salt Lake City, UT. 84101

Sweet! Free Flow Tour, the official amatuer series of the AST Dew Tour kicks off at the Toyota Challenge Dew Tour in Salt Lake in September. Events include, Skate and BMX. Winners earn a wildcard for to compete against the pros in the Playstation Pro, Oct 16-19 in Orlando, Fl.. So check out the official contest rules and get yourself signed up!

Globaloneness Project

noun: The fact or state of being unified or whole, though comprised of two or more parts.

The folks over at Globaloneness Project are building quite a collection of web based videos that document the simple notion of oneness and how we’re all connected and share a common responsibility for eachother and our shared world. I was particularly moved and inspired by The Seva Cafe’ in Ahmedabad, India; a cafe’ built on the pay-it-forward principle, in this case, if you eat today, whatever you leave pays-it-forward to the next person who comes sees you tomorrow. Each day they take in 60 guests and ask them to feel at home and enjoy the cafe’ while the Seva staff and volunteers cook and serve the food with love. Here’s the most interesting part for these 60 guests..Seva doesn’t present a bill at the end of the meal. Rather they ask the guests to think about the food, where it came from, who planted the seeds, etc. A simple yet powerful concept that affords a deep experience beyond the meal itself. I’m really excited about this organization and plan on keeping a close watch on their activities. Check out more Globaloneness at Fierce.com and their site directly.