Wonderful/Horrible Life by Alex S.

Too much snow | Davos

2011-12-30T14:22:00.000-08:00

Colin's house (kind of), Davos, Switzerland

Strauss Illustration

2011-12-25T15:05:00.001-08:00

I've been working on the new Isenseven clothing line and was experimenting with some illustrations.

In the end I decided to scrap one of the designs for the attire and put it on canvas to give to Tobi and Fips Strauss for christmas.

Tobi & Fips Strauss
Illustration on canvas 45x60
Created with Bamboo graphics tablet and Adobe Illustrator (no filters or effects used)

The finished canvas

The original photo of Fips I used as a guideline for the illustration

And the original photo of Tobi taken by Howzee

Isenseven welcome trailer 2011

2011-03-28T12:04:00.000-07:00

Long time no blog. Not much going on since we were in Japan.
But we made a little trailer for our 2011 movie.

JTJ - Journey to Japan #2

2011-02-28T16:44:00.000-08:00

Today's our last day in Niseko before we head out to Asahidake, the highest mountain on Hokkaido.
Niseko was pretty good and we had some fun times. The snow isn't as much as we hoped to be but definitely enough to shoot.
Yesterday we had a guide who took us up on a peak in the backcountry where we found loads of spots to shoot. Since the snow situation in Europe is so crappy, just about every film crew is here in Japan right now. We met the Pirates yesterday at one spot which they wanted to hit but couldn't cause the Salomon crew was already there too. And I heard there are about 5 or 6 other film crews in Asahidake right now. Gonna be a fight for the spots.

Anyways, Japan is great, crew is great...looking forward to the rest of the trip.

Me, being a tourist.

Niseko backcountry.

Ullr is always with me on my avalanche beacon.

Fips cruising.

Peter in the most sketchy chairlift I've ever seen.

Kevin and me in the chairlift.

"Caution! A waterfall is there!" Thanks for the hint.

Kampai!

Sushi heaven.

The Grand Papa Lodge which we are staying in.

Peter in the 3D lights.

This is the view I woke up to every morning.

Peter and Fips doing some yoga.

The Mt. Yotei volcano in the sunrise.

The lodge.

Our little car and our little crew.

Niseko backcountry after the hike. Weather like this is very rare in Japan. The guide told us they have about 5-10 days of bluebird maximum every season. So we lucked out with 1 sunny day.

Fips, ready to drop in.

Kevin and Mt. Yotei.

Me, all sweaty after the hike but glad to be on top.

Updates will follow.

Sayonara!

JTJ - Journey to Japan #1

2011-02-25T04:54:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Niseko today after flying to Tokyo and then spending another night in Sapporo on the northern island Hokkaido. The crew (Markus Fischer and Christian Öfner from Pleasure Mag, Kevin Bäckström, Philipp Strauss, Peter König and I) crammed in to a tiny van that supposedly fits 10 people. 10 japanese people maybe, but not 6 Euros with boardbags and trolleys. After a 3 hour drive, Fischi got us safely through the lefty traffic and we checked in the "Grand Papa Lodge" in Niseko. It's pretty funny cause it's a japanese hotel trying to look like an alpine lodge. But it's a nice mix of japanese and euro style.
We arrived in the afternoon and took advantage of the illuminated slopes here in Niseko and went for a night ride. It's snowing alot and I hope we can get some stuff done in the next days. The crew is perfect and everyone is happy and motivated.
So far I'm really loving Japan. It's always been my dream to come here. It's actually not as weird as I expected it to be. Nobody really speaks english but everybody is super nice and helpful. And you can't read ANYTHING. But it's possible to get around and communicate with hands and feet. I was just hoping everything would be super weird and different here, but it's quite humane. Especially Niseko is very european. But I'm sure once we go to Tokyo things will get to the weirdo-factor I've been looking for.

Here a few pics from the last days.

Night riding in Niseko.

On the way to the resort.

Öfi and me trying to fit 12 bags in a minivan. This photo was stolen from Fischi (yeah Fischi, I know how much you love it when we steal your pics. But nobody except my parents read my blog anyway;-)

Öfi and me experimenting with the butt-spray tech toilets (shot again by Fischi)

Öfi, Fischi, me, Peter, Fips and Kevin at the Tokyo airport.

Sayonara! Öfi, Fips and me in Tokyo. Shot by Malkus Fischel.

Two turds in a sardine can. Öfi and Fips on the way to Niseko.

Swedish supermodel and newest addition to the Isenseven team: Kevin Bäckström

Me and one of my two little Strauss brothers.

Updates will follow. But first it's time to get shots!

Sayonara.
Alex-san.

Beatmaker 2 x iPhone 4 x ME!

2011-02-20T12:51:00.000-08:00

I just bought Beatmaker 2 for the iPhone and I am hooked. This sequencer & producing app is more than just cutting a bunch of loops after each other. You really need to start from scratch and you have endless possibilities. I'm just getting in to it and learning and this is kind of complicated, espacially with no music producing experience. But I'm getting there. This is so much fun!

Check out my very first track called "Nippon". I still have a lot to improve and need to dive deeper in to all the possibilities this app offers. But for a first try I think it sounds ok. I'm definitely going to get an iPad JUST for this app.

Nippon by AxlSteez

I'm off to Japan next week for two weeks...so I'll probably have loads of new tunes by the time I get home.

Ain't nuthin but a g-thang!

2011-01-26T15:43:00.001-08:00

Hey fools! Just whipped up this new flyer design for the Pleasure ISPO party. I actually like what I did here (I've designed some pretty shitty flyers over the last years).

Pretty hyped on this party. Bringing back some good ol' rap music. Pleasure and Isenseven are hosting the party with the ghetto brand Technine so it's sure to be gangsta!

Our good old friend Roger Rekless will be spinning the decks with a bunch of other prominent Munich DJ's. For those of you who don't remember Roger Rekless....he produced a rap song way back when for IsenSevenLovesYou! in 2004.

Here's the facts:
Pleasure ISPO Mayhem, Feb 6th OhLeven, Schrannenclub, Munich, G-Unit.

Later ninjas! Peace!

Kanye X Bon Iver

2011-01-18T12:38:00.000-08:00

Kanye grabbed a sample of Bon Iver's "Lost In The Woods" and it actually works really well. Had this song on repeat for quite a while. I somehow seem to be getting back in to rap music. But only the good kind....like Kanye.

Also, if you haven't seen it yet you should check out Kanye's 35 minute clip "Runaway". It's good. Yes.

German Urban

2010-12-31T03:56:00.001-08:00

Duisburg, northern Germany. Probably one of the shittiest towns in Germany but with some good urban snowboarding.

More very interesting stories about our trip from hell shall follow.

Now back to beautiful Bavaria. God, I'm glad I live in Munich.

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Gorillaz "The Fall"

2010-12-25T15:52:00.001-08:00

Gorillaz released their new album "Plastic Beach" late 2009 and already have a new one out. How the hell? They recorded their entire new album "The Fall" on an iPad with only a few other instruments while they were on their north american tour.

I was never the biggest Gorillaz fan but the fact that this album was recorded in tour busses and hotel rooms on an iPad is pretty impressive.
Don't expect me to edit a movie of any great quality while I'm on the road during our premier tour.

Gorillaz - The fall by revolutioncontemporaine

You can stream the album for free on their website. Members of the fan club can download it as well.

Custom Star Wars posters by Olly Moss

2010-12-20T11:36:00.001-08:00

If these limited custom designed Star Wars posters aren't the coolest thing ever, then I don't know what is. British designer Olly Moss created them and they're 50$ a pop.

Fenech Soler

2010-12-19T12:47:00.000-08:00

British band Fenech Soler just dropped their debut album. "Demons" has been on heavy rotation on my iTunes. Can't wait to play this track at a club. Producing mastermind Yuksek also made a nice remix of the track.

Fenech Soler "Demons" from bobafettich on Vimeo.

Fenech-Soler--Demons Yuksek Vocal Remix by AudioThursdays

Stuttgart x Michele Danzé x Danger Tee

2010-12-19T12:22:00.000-08:00

I was just looking through my iPhoto library and found pictures from our premiere in Stuttgart that local photographer Michele Danzé took. I must say, this was THE best premiere we ever had! The vibe in Stuttgart was unlike anywhere else. And Michele managed to capture some great pictures.

Drunken Masters finest Big Joe

Slim-C and Big Joe making the crowd go buckwild!

Just a few of the ca. 1200 people that made the Stuttgart premiere that it was.
What's that plunger doing at a party?

Don't get all crazy, it's only Schiller on the decks.

Thanks to the guys at Frends for hooking me up with these awesome headphones from now on.

Me, playing with the flanger....way too much as usual.

Michele caught DBK and me showing some bro-love. I liked the picture so much that I decided to turn it into a t-shirt.

The original

The original fake.

Production of the 2011/12 Isenseven Custom Clothing collection has started and we are currently waiting for the samples. Can't wait to see what they came up with at the factory. Maybe you can catch a glimpse of the stuff at ISPO in february.

Anyways, Stuttgart was insane and I can't wait to go back there. Check Michele Danzé's web.

East Germany #1

2010-12-07T16:00:00.001-08:00

I headed up to Chemnitz, formerly known as Karl-Marx Stadt in former East Germany...still known as "Der Osten"
Peter "Method" König, Tom "Third Try" Klocker, Simon "Winchy" Gruber, Alex "Downrail" Tank, Tobi "Too Many Boards" Strauss and Christian "Fact Teller" Brecheis are up here with me to shoot some urban riding. In Chemnitz there are so many rails and spots in every shape and size you could imagine and nobody gives a damn if snowboarders are making noise or "destroying private property"....unlike back home in Bavaria. People are nice and they enjoy watching us. Even the cops are cool here. Weird.

Karl Marx with snowballs in his face.

I like the little guy on the east german traffic lights.

Peter flippin'....

...Klocker lippin'.

Tschöle.

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Arcade Fire!

2010-11-28T15:49:00.001-08:00

Went to see Arcade Fire tonight with Lena and Öfi. Still the best band in the world! Even though it was in the shitty Zenith in Munich the sound was exhilirating and the band had so much power. Not as emotional as the 2007 show at the Tonhalle but still gave me the chills.
I really love the new album "The Suburbs" but it was the songs from "Funeral" that did it for me. They played "Power Out" with a direct transition to "Rebellion Lies" which was my personal highlight.
Thank you!

"No Cars Go"

Oh, and the opening act was....um...special. "Fucked Up" from Toronto played and their genre could be described as Screamo-Hardcore-Punk-Metal. Definitely not something you would expect from a Arcade Fire opening band. But on the otherside, people that go to an AF concert probably would never go see that type of band. So it seemed like an interesting "concept"

See you in another 3 years.

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Thanksgiving

2010-11-27T14:15:00.001-08:00

Headed over to Isen to celebrate late thanksgiving with the parents and friends of the family. Too much wine and way too much food. Fantastic as every year!

The hosts, Mom and Dad.

The Harrises looking forward to loads of turkey.

Moms famous pumpkin pie.

Dad treated us to some fantastic wine.

Lena is sceptic if she will ever be able to eat again.

Jeff "Chef" Ely thinking about which book to get next for his Kindle.

Dad and the rest of the turkey...which we will be feeding from for the next two weeks.

Stuffed!

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Trysil x Oslo x Berlin x Munich x Isen

2010-11-26T12:25:00.000-08:00

Just arrived at my hotel in Oslo, waiting for my flight home. Can't wait to visit my parents for thanksgiving.

Here some impressions from our trip to Trysil.

The arctic magic carpet

A friendly game of "Doucheball"

Peter surfing Mario on the indoor wave in our hotel

Simon and the controversial frozen squirrel "Frozey"

Simon, 5050 FS3 Nosebonk at Trysil High

The real Peter König showing how a Backside Air is done.

Mario and Peter G'in it up.

A typical situation at breakfast

Pepe's Pizza. Pizza Hut can go home big time!

Italian stallion Simon Gruber impressed by norwegian pizza.

Yum!

And here the whole reason we came for: The jump at the Sweet Rumble contest.
Peter König sending a Backside 7 way down.

Trysil, Norway

2010-11-22T16:03:00.000-08:00

Just arrived in Trysil, Norway for the Sweet Rumble contest. I'm here with our Forum riders Peter König and Simon Gruber and joining us to make himself feel important is Isenseven rider turned Forum teammanager Chris "Bignose" Patsch. Also swiss brosef Mario Käppeli is here with us and new Isenseven rider Kevin Bäckström from Sweden will be joining us for some good time pre-season filming/riding/partying/hanging with the crew.

I got to hang out at the Oslo airport for 4 hours waiting for the rest of the crew. I seriously have never spent so much time at any other airport than Oslo. All together over the last 4 years I've probably spent over 40 hours waiting at Gardermoen. At least there's lots of Pølse to eat, Snus to buy and pretty girls to watch there.

3 hours of bus riding later we arrived in Trysil where it's about -15° C and on the way to the hotel we got to watch our friends slip on the ice which was fun. We are in the Radisson Blu Resort hotel and it's pretty sweet. There's probably like one million rooms, an indoor surfing wave, spa and all the other shenanigans a luxury hotel needs. And a beer in the mini-bar is only 8 Euros. What a bargain. I'll have to ration my one beer over the entire week or else I'll go broke.

The hotel lobby.

Chris "Christobal" Patsch and our "crib"

So it's up to the mountain tomorrow for some park laps with the crew. Looking forward to the first shoot of the season. I'll keep y'all posted.

Howdy!

Tron Legacy

2010-11-12T06:50:00.001-08:00

I cannot wait for this movie! The entire Soundtrack is done by Daft Punk, so it just has to be off the hook.

Influencers.

2010-11-11T06:17:00.000-08:00

Cool clip about trends, fashion, design and the people that influence it.

INFLUENCERS FULL VERSION from R+I creative on Vimeo.

This Is The Arrival! Yes, it is!

2010-10-28T07:21:00.000-07:00

Have I told you about "This Is The Arrival"? They are an up and coming band from Munich and are sure to blow up pretty soon. Actually this is happening as we speak. And actually they're not from Munich, but also from around Isen, Erding, Dorfen where I grew up.

They're our friends and they are awesome. It's just a matter of time till we see Mario, Hot, Timo and Piet on MTV. Perfect Indie Pop at it's finest. You just have to like it.

They just released their new single "New York's Got A Piece Of My Chest" today.

New York's Got A Piece Of My Chest by This Is The Arrival

Clemens and Vincent produced the music video for their first single "Mexico" a few months ago.

This Is The Arrival - Mexico (Official Music Video) from This Is The Arrival on Vimeo.

And when you read about these boys in the newspaper, see them on TV and listen to their Album, I'll be all like "told you so!"

Give them some love and buy their debut album. Schiller told you so!

All work and no play make Alex something something....

2010-10-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

No time to blog. I have a life. Or don't I? I'm not even sure anymore.
Here is the best music video in the world (and Mars).

Madder Red by Yeasayer from Secretly Jag on Vimeo.

Movie done. New tattoo. Mini vacation. Big night.

2010-09-07T12:41:00.000-07:00

So. I've been sitting in the editing dungeon with Vincent for the last two months. And I didn't blög about anything because simply.....nothing happened worth telling. All I did was sit in front of the computer, edit, eat, sleep (rarely) and repeat.
But now "Don't Panic!" is finished and we're storing it in our safe until the world premiere on September 17th.

Stefan, Vincent, Simon and I have wanted to get matching tattoos for quite a while and now we finally did it. Vincent and Stefan are leaving for a 3 month trip to Asia soon so we decided to do it now or never. The day I finished the movie, Stefan and I headed to the tattoo parlor around the corner from my office and got ourselves a good old fashioned anchor. Simon and Vincent are next and we'll all be sporting the same ink. Thanks to the dudes at Surface Tattoo for making our awesome pieces.

The back of my upper arm.

Stefan under the needle.

Now I'm off to Hannover for 3 days to meet up with Lenas family. Never been up there before and I look forward to hanging out with a bunch of north Germans.

Remember to RSVP the world premiere Facebook event. It's gonna be off the sheezy....or something like that.

Peace

Between Bears

2010-08-08T09:13:00.001-07:00

While constantly searching the interweb for inspiration for my filmmaking, I came across this amazing video. No deep story but the animation is stunning! Would be cool to see a feature film in this style some day.

Between Bears from Eran Hilleli on Vimeo.

Musiqué

2010-07-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

On the never ending search for music to use in our movies, I stumble over a lot of new tunes by my favorite artists. I´m such a music junkie and spend way too much money on iTunes! Here's just a few I´ve stumbled across lately. (No, none of these will end up in the new IsenSeven movie. I´m smarter than to post our future songs in the stalkernet, hehe)

Midnight Juggernauts - Vital Signs

Midnight Juggernauts - Vital Signs from Ewan MacLeod on Vimeo.

These Aussies have been on my radar for a long time and I've played just about every single one of their remixes when I was DJing. This Album is awesome and a little bit more guitars than synthezisers.

Stars - Fixed

If I had to spend the rest of my life on a deserted island, Stars from Canada would be one of the bands I would take with me if I could only choose five bands for the rest of my life. "In Our Bedroom After The War" was such an amazing album and "Five Ghosts" almost lives up to it.

Miami Horror - Sometimes

Sometimes from Miami Horror on Vimeo.

Everyday I check online to see if the debut album from Miami Horror is finally available. But still no luck.

Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros - Home

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros "Home" from Ryan Gall on Vimeo.

The leadsinger used to be part of the band Ima Robot which made electronic pop. A few years later he converted to a full fledged hippie in a multi-man(woman) band, playing music that sounds like it´s straight from the 60's. Cool beans.

Supershirt - 8000 Mark

After all, there is life after Frittenbude.

MSTRKRFT - Heartbreaker

MSTRKRFT - Heartbreaker from Dim Mak on Vimeo.

Nothing new but still one of my favorite bands. I was never a big Jon Legend fan, but every band that features him comes out with great tracks.

Oh, and I must note that I hate Vincent. He drove up to Sweden to see one of the only european shows of Arcade Fire (only the best band in the world). They´re coming out with a new album on my birthday and so far their only German show is in Berlin. Lame!

Don´t Panic!!!!

2010-06-08T14:32:00.000-07:00

So, after a few long nights in the editing dungeon, Vince and I completed the trailer for our new movie "Don´t Panic".....THAT'S what´s up!

Isenseven - "Don't Panic!" TEASER from Vincent Urban on Vimeo.

Trailer Time!

2010-05-29T20:31:00.001-07:00

Vincent and I have been pulling some pretty gnarly nightshifts to get the official trailer of our new movie "Don't Panic" done. Waiting for footage, waiting for software, waiting for computer slowness....Vince has been viewing ALL the footage we filmed this year and started the edit for the trailer while I've been working on some pretty complicated motion graphics. Every Adobe After Effects professional might find what I'm doing pretty simple, but it's quite the new frontier for me. So many buttons, settings and layers to take care of. But I'm stoked on how it's looking so far. You'll see it in the trailer.

The name for the new movie "Don't Panic" was suggested by our new filmer, Tom Elliott. Obviously "Don't Panic" is a well known catch phrase from one of the greatest books/movies of all times: The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. But "Don't Panic" is also a very appropriate title, due to so very many reasons that I couldn't even elaborate here. Some of which were that we got some criticism for "Let's Go Get Lost" and were accused of "losing our roots". But all we can say is DON'T PANIC! Isenseven is still your favorite filmcrew from the little bavarian town Isen and we haven't forgotten what our movies are all about. Everyone will get what they asked for.

Anywho...after Vince and I are done spending long nights in the editing studio there will be a brand spanking new trailer for Isensevens 2010 movie.

And of course we need every reason we can find to party. So we're throwing a sweet-ass premiere party for the trailer of our movie. The whole thing is going down on Wednesday, June 2nd at a venue which is probably one of the most stylish clubs in Munich: Elli Disco near Hauptbahnhof in Munich.

I will be DJing there with my friend Mr AM To PM (the dude that taught me very much about spinning the decks) and I'm super excited to DJ at Elli Disco. After the first time I went to this club I always dreamt of playing there. It's just such a super cool location. All the walls, ceilings and floors are full of LED lights which are syncronized to the music playing. This club is a visual/musical super-extravaganza and I'm stoked that Pleasure Magazine managed to book the place for our party.

So, be sure to peep by the fantastic Elli Disco on Wednesday and dance till the morning with the Isenseven gang.

PS: If you're looking for some music to listen to, go buy Ellie Gouldings new album. It's a little bit girlie music, but this pretty little London lady has a great voice and some catchy electro-pop tunes. If you're not in to that kind of stuff, listen to The National's "High Violet"...It's the best album of 2010 so far....until The Arcade Fire's new album comes out (on my birthday)

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Surfing in Stad, Norway

2010-05-18T14:16:00.000-07:00

The weather and snow conditions in Grotli left us no choice but to find other things to do than snowboard, hang on facebook and watch TV. So we drove three hours to Stad on the west coast of Norway to do some surfing.

What a breathtaking place that was. A drive through the deepest fjords of Norway in an old piece of junk van and then you come down this valley with the ocean on the horizon. I could picture myself living here some day.

ESMOD Aftershow Party

2010-05-18T13:21:00.001-07:00

I will be DJing at the official aftershow party of the ESMOD fashion show (ESMOD is a fashion school in Munich) on thursday. My good friend and DJ mentor Mr. AM to PM will be backing me on the turntables and it will be a night with electro-pop, indie mixes, techno, champagne and pretty girls. The party is happening at 10 PM at the Ampere club right next to Muffathalle. See you there.

Timelapse of Eyjfja...Eyallaföck...Eyjjölallfök....well, you know.....that volcano in Iceland

2010-05-16T14:38:00.000-07:00

Cinematographer Sean Stiegemeier managed to capture some breathtaking timelapses of Eyjafjallajökull. Hopefully it won't be spitting ash anytime soon cause I kind of planned flying home from Norway this week.

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

If you have the possibility, you should watch the recent Saturday Night Live episode with Ryan Phillippe. Kristen Wiig does a hilarious impression of Bjork talking about the volcano.

Grotli Mafia

2010-05-16T06:42:00.001-07:00

It´s raining and I got bored. So I got rid of my beard. And hair?

(Taken by my good friend Preben Stene Larsen)

Grotli Downday

2010-05-15T10:17:00.000-07:00

Weather has been crappy so I played around with my camera and photoshop.(Grotli Clan)

(Moi. Working)

(Benny Wetscher)

(Colin Frei)

(Sindre Iversen)

(Christophe Schmidt)

If the weather continues to poop on us we´re going to go to Stad to surf which is a nice alternative to the snowy spring greybird here right now. Surfs up dude!

Grotli - First Day Of Shooting

2010-05-13T15:57:00.000-07:00

We had our first day of shooting yesterday. We got about eight shots so I´m happy.

(Colin hucking a Switch Backside 9, Benny, Colin and Christophe scoping in the backcountry)

Weather has been confusing us so we have loads of spots built but just need Mr. Sun to come out so we can shoot them. But waiting for good weather gives us more time to eat. The food here at Hotel Grotli is incredible. Thanks Ap!

Bloodbuzz Ohio

2010-05-11T17:38:00.000-07:00

Ok, while I´m at it:

The National - "Bloodbuzz Ohio" (official video) from The National on Vimeo.

Grotli. Norway - The Homecoming Pt. 4

2010-05-11T17:18:00.000-07:00

Damn, I´m really bad at this blogging thing. I kind of forget that I have it sometimes. Or maybe I realise that I actually have a life outside the internet. But then again I catch myself spending half the day on Facebook. Note for the future: Less Facebook, more blog.

Anyways, I went to Russia which was a pretty crazy experience. And I didn´t blog about it. But I was busy filming everything 24/7 with the amazing Canon 7D DLSR camera so I didn´t get any cool pictures to post anyway.

And now I´m in Grotli, Norway again for the 4th time in a row. We´ve been coming here since 2007 to film at our friend HC Bergheim's hotel. This place is in the middle of nowhere, miles away from any civilization. But his family has two snowmobiles and and an endless backcountry which we can access to build jump after jump after jump. The shoots in Grotli have been pretty much the most productive trips of the previous seasons. Hopefully it turns out good as well this year. I arrived yesterday at 5 AM after a 2 hour flight to Oslo and a 6 hour busride up here. Pretty intense since I was afraid my flight would get cancelled thanks to the volcano in Iceland. You know what else is intense? Camping.

I finally got to play around with my photo camera again which my parents gave me for X-mas a few years ago. It´s a Panasonic Lumix 3 and it´s super cool.

Maybe I´ll remember to post another blog on this trip.

Oh, and I just want to put it out there: The new album "High Violet" by The National is awesome and everybody should go out and buy it! Definitely the soundtrack of my trip.

What else? Hmm...check out my friend Howzee's blog, cause he does cool stuff.

London

2010-04-01T23:39:00.000-07:00

Lena and I went London last weekend for a quick four day vacation. It was great fun but my feet still hurt from all the walking.
Now I'm off to Russia with the IsenSeven/Pleasure crew. It's weird...first two weeks of warm sunny California and now a week of powder and cold in the polar region of Kirovsk. Nastrovjė!

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IsenSeven - First Teaser for 2010

2010-03-15T22:22:00.000-07:00

For those of you who haven´t seen it yet: Here is our new teaser.

Isenseven 2010 - Welcome Teaser from Vincent Urban on Vimeo.

Edited by Vincent Urban. Motion Graphics by moi! Filming by Alex, Tom Elliott, Vincent Urban, Richard Prendergast and Mikkael Norrman. Watched by YOU

So Cal and Bear Mountain

2010-03-15T18:35:00.000-07:00

I´ve been in southern California for 5 days now and life is treating us pretty well. We spent two days in LA doing all the typical tourist crap. I, being used to the size of small town Munich, was quite overwhelmed by the size of this super city. We planned to see "everything" in LA in one day....we didn´t even manage to see half of it. This city is freakin´huge. It definitely was cool to see this place but I do prefer my lovely hometown.

Santa Monica Pier

Laguna Beach, OC

After two days in LA we went filming in Mountain High, about one hour north of the city. After being cramped in a crappy hotel on some random highway for 3 nights we continued east to Big Bear Lake were we moved in to our sweet new crib. This place is off the hook! For a change, I wasn´t in charge of organizing the whole trip so my colleagues from Pleasure magazine took care of all the important stuff. And the house they booked us for Bear Mountain is definitely one of the nicest I´ve had in my last 8 years of snowboard trips.

Our living room. Just one of the nice places in our temporary home. We have two hot tubs, a pool table, 4 bedrooms and a bunch of other fantabulous shindigs to keep us happy in the next two weeks.

We rode Bear Mountain today for the first time and I must say....this resort is unbelievable. Never have I seen a resort build so much in a park for snowboarders. I did follow runs all day without a break (Mom, Dad...."follow run" means that you follow the rider for an entire run through the park while filming and riding at the same time). I´ve never been so tired out after a day of filming but I´ve never had such a fun time filming my boys before. Every resort in the world should have a look at Bear Mountain to see what potential a snowboard park can have. This place is a snowboarders heaven.

Alex Tank pressing some nose in Bear Mountain on one of the 50 obstacles in the park(captured from one of my follow runs)

Right now it´s really the german invasion here at Big Bear Lake. We´re about twenty germans in the village. We´ve been barbequeing all night, drinking (crappy) american beer and playing pool. Life is pretty good right now.

I got burnt pretty bad in my face today even though I used a SPF 50 sunscreen so I´ll be going to bed soon to sleep on my red face. But tomorrow will be another fun day in the park.

So Cal #1

2010-03-11T22:27:00.001-08:00

Laguna Beach sunset. I'm here in LA for two days, then heading out to Bear Mountain for a week or so. California ain't that bad. Especially when it's already mid march and it's still snowing like crazy back home. I could get used to this beach and sun stuff everyone's always talking about.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Just another day at the office....

2010-02-13T12:00:00.001-08:00

I´m in Switzerland right now, shooting for the new IsenSeven movie and I captured a couple of pictures of my daily work routine.

Get up early, hike into the backcountry, build a jump, shoot the boys, play with my camera, eat alot, hike even more, hang out with the best crew in the planet, go to bed happy with nice shots in my pocket.

Sure beats working at a bank 9 to 5.

Ai Weiwei and a cold day in Munich

2010-01-03T08:59:00.001-08:00

Lena and I took a little stroll through the freezing cold city today and checked out the Ai Weiwei exhibition at Haus Der Kunst. Neat stuff.

Japanese X-mas

2009-12-24T12:01:00.001-08:00

Went home to Isen to celebrate christmas with dad. Mom is visiting grandma in Florida, so we're having a guys-xmas. Homemade sushi, beer and watching a lot of TV.

Oh christmasplant, oh christmasplant....

Tiltshiftmaker is neato.

Dad and his creation.

Christmas dinner.

Happy Kwaanza folks!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

SonyEricsson Mobile Sessions

2009-12-03T07:02:00.000-08:00

Went to the Ed Moses bar in Munich the other day to hear german actor Ralf Richter read excerpts of stories from people around Germany that wrote about their cities. I came to the conclusion that it's really trendy to love Berlin. And everybody that doesn't live there or Munich wrote about being bummed. Cool thing was that there were video beamers setup that projected the texts on the audience which looked kinda fancy.

Anyways, I'm on my way to Berlin with Vince right now for the second premiere of LGGL and a weekend of hangin with some friends.

Peace
- Post From My iPhone

New Design Directions

2009-10-19T13:55:00.000-07:00

Wow. Long time no blog. I´m so lazy. Come to think of it, writing a blog only takes 10 minutes of my day. That´s ten minutes I could be NOT wasting my life on Facebook. I´ll try to post some more stuff from now on.

I´ve been doing some flyer designing for a bunch of events and it´s a breath of fresh air to me. It´s great not doing the same stuff I´ve been doing all season. I get to experiment around.
Just today I got the job to do the flyer for a Mike Väth gig. You know, techno producer Sven Väth´s brother. I was pretty stoked on that since he´s kind of a big deal.

The first draft of the Mike Väth flyer. The booking agency wants his name bigger and a picture of him, which I´m not so stoked on but whatever.

This is the final version.

I also did a flyer for a screening of "Let´s Go Get Lost" at the T-Mobile concept store "4010" in Berlin.

They liked the flyer so much that I got another job designing one for an art exhibition in Berlin.
Me likey.
Happy bloggin, nerds!

New IsenSeven clip "Times" online

2009-08-22T05:07:00.001-07:00

"Times" is a self-contained short-clip by Isenseven and at the same time the last part of the upcoming full-length movie "Let's Go Get Lost". As this clip will be edited slightly different in the final movie, we decided to publish this original version online already now.

This clip contains a collection of footage we gathered throughout the season and during the summer days in our hometown Munich as well as in Berlin, New York, Tokyo, Bejing, Portland, Barcelona and many other places.
We like to thank all of our close friends for a great year 2009 and especially thank those guys for riding their skateboards for us: Conny Mirbach, Christopher Geyer, Jonas Rosenbauer, Michael Von Finten, Christoph Friedmann, Dennis GlÃ€ser, Timo Kavermann, Mack McKelton, Gunes Ozdogan, Marcus Sweeney, Philipp Schuster and John Zelehoski.

Filmed by: Felix Urbauer, Alex Schiller, Vincent Urban, Niko Jentsch, Magnus Törnkvist
Edited by: Vincent Urban

Find the video and links to downloadable HD-versions on our website www.isenseven.de

Isenseven - TIMES from ISENSEVEN on Vimeo.

The editing dungeon

2009-08-20T11:34:00.001-07:00

Hello friends! Long time no blog. Howzee needs to keep reminding me to update my blog.
Things have been quite stressful lately with the move to the new apartment and working on the new movie. We´ve been pulling all nighters, filming intro´s and eating unhealthy food this summer during the editing process.....like every year.
Here a little insight of what I do all day in the dark but air conditioned office.

My editing workplace.

The little notes that help me not forget what I´m working on.

The workmachines in our office.

Me, Vincent and Felix....handsome like always.

I´ll be back soon with some pics of the new apartment.

Peace!

New home!

2009-07-29T13:33:00.001-07:00

After searching intensely for over 7 months, Lena and I finally found our dream apartment in the beautiful Glockenbachviertel in Munich. We´ll be moving in in two weeks, so we´ll post some more pics then. Thanks to everyone that helped us out finding something over the last half year.

Dear lord.....

2009-07-29T13:10:00.001-07:00

....Vincent got a violin today!
More noise in our apartment is just what we needed. But it will definitely make our songs for the upcoming video.....well, interesting. Since I´ve been playing so much piano lately, he felt the urge to also get himself a classy instrument. Maybe I´ll start playing the tuba next.

Friendly graffiti

2009-07-26T12:02:00.001-07:00

Found this around the corner from the IsenSeven office

-- Post From My iPhone

Music time...

2009-07-21T05:49:00.000-07:00

Finally Vincent and I are reunited after his long stay in Portland. I was getting pretty bored, not being able to play music with my buddy. But now he´s back and we´ve been experimenting.
Our friend Stefan gave us this awesome box thingy that lets you hook up midi instruments, mics, even guitars to your Macbook. So now we are rocking it on Garageband. I hooked up my electric guitar and my keyboard and Vince is actually singing.
You are definitely going to hear a few of our songs in the new IsenSeven video.....if we ever get to editing it since we´ve only been playing music all day.

Vince and me in our "studio" aka living room.

Me, dreaming about some kind of food probably.

Vincent is fumbling around on the Macbook
.
Shredding away on my axe.

Thanks Lena for taking these pictures. And thanks Howzee for reminding me to update my blög. Turd.

A day in Vancouver

2009-06-28T16:46:00.000-07:00

Since camp is closed in Whistler on saturdays and everybody is so wasted from the friday night party we decided to take a stroll in to Vancouver for the day. All we did was shop and eat. Awesome!

Kidrobot toys at Headquarter shop pt.1

Kidrobot toys at Headquarter shop pt.2

Kidrobot toys at Headquarter shop pt.3

Kidrobot toys at Headquarter shop pt.4

Mega Dunny!

Yummy chocolate covered stuff.

The gang at Earl´s. Hot food and even hotter waitresses.

Purrrty downtown Van.

Check Fischi´s blog for a few more impressions from the trip. He has the funnier pics.

Sushi Village - Whistler

2009-06-25T22:04:00.001-07:00

Tonight we finally did what we actually came to Whistler for. Sushi Village. The best sushi I have ever tasted and if you ever have the pleasure to visit Whistler, you need to go there.
Sushivillage.com
We all had some yummy raw fish, frozen strawberry margheritas, big expensive beers and a good time. Life can be pretty sweet when you´re hanging in Whistler and have nothing to do cause it´s been raining 24/7....explore the realms of yummieness.

The appetizers

The sushi

The happy campers: Beer, Christophe, Peter, Ludde, Niko, Fischi, Me and Margharita

Transformers - Revenge Of The Fallen is the best movie ever....in the universe. And I need to let everybody know how stoked I am on it.

2009-06-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

After waiting a painful and long two years I finally got to indulge the fantastic super film experience that is Transformers - Revenge Of The Fallen.
I can´t even explain how awesome this movie is. The first part was out of this world and the sequel blew my socks off even harder. I know, I know.....it´s a dumb Micheal Bay blockbuster, it´s totally overdone and unrealistic, the plot is terrible, the acting sucks bla bla bla....But seriously....you don´t watch a Micheal Bay movie because you want to see some deep and thoughtful filmmaking paired with class actors. You watch it cause you know alot of stuff will be blowing up, there will be crazy highspeed pursuits/battles between the coolest vehicles and mostly there will be one or two stunningly hot chicks (Scarlett Johansson in The Island) included.
Explosions, cool cars, military super jets, giant robots from outerspace battling each other and Megan Fox....I mean really, if you are a guy and don´t think this is a remotely fun movie you need to grow a pair of testies.
I´m gonna go watch the movie one more time here in Whistler with Peter. Then when I get back home I´ll watch it in the IMAX at least once and when the DVD comes out I will lock myself in my room for a week watching it. I´m such a nerd and I love it.

If you really aren´t into exploding alien fighter robots that battle on top of skyscrapers while aircraft carriers launch laser missiles on to pyramids, maybe this will change your mind:

Megan Fox

The other new girl.....

Revenge Of The Fallen from zhanghao on Vimeo.

Whistler update 1

2009-06-25T02:14:00.000-07:00

Once again I´m in Whistler, Canada at the Camp Of Champions snowboard camp. I´m here with Niko the new IsenSeven filmer, Fischi from Pleasure Mag and the riders Peter, Alex, Christophe and Ludde. I drove up from Portland after visiting Vincent for a few days which took roughly 7 hours. Quite the boring drive, but my super mixtape cd´s made the drive easier.
Vincent is doing great in Portland. I think he found a new home there. The city ist just amazing and the people you meet there are even amazinger. Two days was way too little though for hanging out there. Vincent and I got matching tattoos one night to remind us of the trip and the whole move to Portland. I´ll be posting a picture of that soon.
Whistler has been good so far. Great crew, great house, great snowboarding, great town. The weather has been poopy but it´ll get better. I´ve only been on the mountain one day so far....but that leaves more time for other activities like minigolf, eating, skating and partying.
Me, sporting my tight pants in whistler. Super!

Niko, Fischi and Peter chilling in our crib in Whistler

I´m such a tourist. Whistler.

Alex and Carmen chilling in the park. Whistler.

Mr. Tank infront of our house in Whistler

Welcome to my blög.

2009-06-25T01:21:00.000-07:00

Hey friends. This is my blog. I once told myself I´d never make one, but now I have fallen for the internets way of letting me tell you how super interesting everything I do is. I got tired of facebooking everything that happened to me, my thoughts and other random stuff that goes on in my life, so now I have one more thing that keeps my productivity at an all time low.
This is also for you, Mom and Dad....since I never call or come home anymore. To let you know what your vagabond son is up to.
Have fun with this shenanigan of mine. I will have something interesting to say pretty son.
Greets from Whistler, Canada.

This picture was taken by my wonderful and talented girlfriend