This is my last video in the awesome Canada. I didn’t film too much this winter because indoor session in Montreal is not that great for good footages. But I did more effort before my departure to bring clip of everybody who was around the Taz and was juiced to skate something else than a typical box session.I wanna thank you all for this year, now i’m back to France and I don’t know when i’m gonna see you again, but life goes on, will see what’s happen. Thanks to shop-task as well, Leon is the master, the best shop owner I met and a good friend as well.
This Weekend on Saturday, March 6 (AKA tomorrow) at 8 pm, We are having the first ever world premier of Mushroom blading 2. The premier will be held at shop-task and we can only accommodate up to 30 people, so if you are interested in coming and enjoying this amazing experience please contact me (Leon) at 604-218-3251 to reserve a spot.
For those of you who don’t know, I moved to the Vancouver area (North Burnaby to be exact) two summers ago from Ontario. I moved here to get my photography career going and enjoy a better quality of life. I attempt to “live the dream” whenever I have time off. “Living the dream generally consists of activities like skiing, rollerblading and swimming in the same day. Vancouver is one of the only places you can hit the mountains skiing then come down and skate one of the many skate parks in +10 degree weather in the winter.
Lately, since winter started, I have been training for the Olympics; trying to ski at least 4-5 times a week at Mt. Seymore and then the bigger mountains like Whistler on weekends. During summer I try and rollerblade a few times a week and hang by the ocean. Sometimes being so active becomes hard with my old ACL knee injury that I had about 4 years ago, but that’s another story. I am 25 years old going on 80 with some wicked arthritis.
For work I am a freelance photographer mainly shooting portraits, architecture and weddings. I have future plans to start a wedding media company that will provide high-end photography and video with a fellow rollerblader. I would also like to try promote the Vancouver skate scene in Be-mag and One magazine, so if you have a hot trick for my camera, contact me. Aside from photography, I also work at a professional photo lab working with most of the professional photographers in BC.
When I am not skating, skiing, or working. I enjoy, relaxing, watching movies, playing pool and hanging out with Lauren and friends.
If you are interested in seeing some of my photography you can check it out at www.willpursell.com
I don’t know how the hell does he manage to always come out with little park edits that shake the whole industry and get everyone talking about him….. Mathieu this and Mathieu that. This guy is pissing me off because he makes me feel like a 12 years old grom again. So now after watching his edit about 20 times, I have go out and try to dress like him and try to do all his tricks while having his stupid song stuck in my had. Damn, I hate being a grom.
I hate re posting stuff from other websites but in some cases, especially when our team riders being recognized outside of Canada, I find it very important to make sure all our readers know. Sean Knight has recently been featured on ACHOSEN-FEW’s day in a life episode. ACHOSEN-FEW is a new website created by Quinn Feldman only a few months ago. The website has been getting alot of recognition due to it’s consistently great content of amazing skaters both known and unknown. We are very proud to see Sean dominating the internet with his unique edits and proving over and over again that he can skate anything at anytime, even if the spot is unskatable and it’s -30 degree weather. I want to thank him for pushing rollerblading to new levels while motivating thousands of bladers around the world to go out there and skate.
Our very own team rider, Mathieu Ledoux is featured on the cover of the latest issue of ROLL’s Magazine. ROLL’s is a European Rollerblading Magazine based out of France. The Magazine is becoming very popular around the world and you can find it in most major skate shops in North America. This is Mat’s first magazine cover and if I am not mistaking, he is the second Canadian ever to be on an International Magazine cover. The first one was Ritchie Eisler on the cover of Be-mag a few years ago. So as you can see it’s kind of a big deal for Mat and Canadian rollerblading. I want to congratulate Mat for this achievement and thank him for being so cool. The picture above was taken a few weeks ago, when I visited Mat at his house, just outside of Montreal. I told Mat that if he wouldn’t personally autograph all the copies for SHOP-TASK, I would go all stunt man on him and kick his ass. So without much choice he had to do as I say and sign all the copies. If you would like to buy a copy and own this piece of history, signed by the one and only, CLICK HERE. Don’t forget that we offer free shipping this month on all orders (even if it’s just a magazine) so you should use this chance and order one.
So our peace loving, work hating, thrift shopping, hippie team rider, Dustin Werbeski has an interview on Shock magazine. Shock is one of the best and most interesting sources of creative rollerblading websites on the net and I highly recommend everyone to check their website on the daily. Kevin Yee, one of the creators of the website has recently contacted Dustin to make an Interview for their website, which turned out very good. Shop-Task and everyone that knows Dustin must be very proud to see him get the recognition that he deserves. So now, you should drop everything that you are doing and CLICK HERE to read Dustin’s Interview. It might be a long read but I assure you it’s worth your time.
So for those who don’t know what Ive been up to, last year I made a sporadic move from Calgary to Vancouver. I spent the first month sleeping on couches at Jon Knipe’s and the Shop Task residence. I finally got an apartment right downtown, where some of my closest friends created this block party effect by all living a stone throw away. With beautiful weather, skating and beaches I was loving life! I ended up getting a pretty cool job working at the Vancouver Film studios renting out movie props. 7 months later I ended up getting Laid off, so I took advantage went on EI and went back to school. Once I finished my program I got in the habit of loafing around and living the dream on EI. With nothing but tons of sunny days to skate and the government funding my eating habits and luscious lifestyle, I was on top of the world! I recently just got back from a month long Vacation in Ontario where I got to see the family and skate with tons of old friends. It was freezing cold and Halfway through my trip my EI got cut off. I was faced with the reality of not being able to roll out of bed at noon and go skate whenever I want. It was time to get my grown man on again and get a job. I ended up getting a position in Quality control working with all the 2010 Olympic merchandise. It’s pretty awesome getting to be surrounded with the chaos that’s about to hit Vancouver in less than 2 weeks. Other than that I’m back in Vancouver and I’m still living in the good old Ontario House, we recently recruited Mr Werbeski and Moe Ruiz to Fill the gap of Jon Knipe moving. Always having roommates that skate defiantly has it’s advantages! Shout outs to everyone Ive crossed paths with on my journey across Canada, I Can’t wait to see everyone at Pop Contest this Year! I also wanna say thanks, especially to Leon and Jon and to everyone in Calgary, without great friends my transitions from province to province wouldn’t be as easy!
Here is an edit that AJ sent me from his adventures in Germany. I gave him a HERO HD Camera to try out and promote it in Europe. The sound in the edit is very low because AJ had the water proof case on and the case also had a little smudge on it so it looks like a dirty lance. If you didn’t know the HERO HD camera is available at shop-task for only $369.99 CAD, click HERE to find out more.
Words from AJ:
As some of you may know I’m currently in Germany (Berlin to be exact right now) visiting friends and going to the Winterclash. My good friend Olli Nermerich organized a session at the Area 51 skatepark in Eindenhoven. This is the skatepark where Winterclash was held last year. There was a lumberjack theme to the session, so everyone that wore a flanel shirt got a 4€ discount entry to the park. It was an awesome night, and we skated for probably 5 hours. Here’s just a few clips that we captured with the GoPro Hero HD camera and roughly cut together with QuickTime at 4am in the morning after arriving at our hostel in Berlin. Make sure to watch the edit in it’s best quality on you tube (480P)
Here is a second part of the French connection with RPT edit made by my homie, Jesse Karma. The edit features Greg and Gauthier from France during their visit to Calgary this summer. They came to visit their french friend Alex France who skates with the Calgary boys, AKA RPT crew AKA, Dallas, Karma, Culp, Kaylo Baines, Tommy D, and more. Enjoy.
If you would like to see the first part, which was posted on the blog a few weeks ago, CLICK HERE.
