”Since I am from California I’m addicted to them. Living in Copenhagen, I miss them, and whenever I go to California I get an OD. Everyone gets tired of me and my burritos”

Meet one of the nicest guys in town, Steven Borth II. He fell in love with a danish girl, married her in fall 2010 and moved to Copenhagen few months after. Together they have a 6 months old daughter.

On stage, he goes by the name ”Chllngr”. Pronounced correctly it’s ”Challenger”, but due to Googles searchresult (showing the spaceship-crash in ’86), he removed the vowels. Now people call him Chillinger, which is a perfect match for his music-genre. Last summer he released his first album, Haven, packed with chilled dub-tracks, and he’s following up with an EP dropping 6′th of february.

I came across him last summer where he played at Bakken with South-African Spoek Mathambo. Steven played a bit of his own music, jamming on the saxophone that he’s been playing since 4′th grade, playing around with voice-delays and what have you.

A great example on Chllngrs music is ”Change”. With help from two graphic-heads who made a rad movie, Change was all over my Facebook a few weeks ago. Last sunday he played at Rub’a'Dub at Stengade, and after that gig I just had to drag him in for a chat.

Comfort zones and Copenhagen
A lot of Chllngrs tracks are filled with melancholia which fits very neat with his source of inspiration.

”My latest inspiration has been having a baby. A lot of the last EP I wrote is a about growing up. The reason why kids start to cry so much at certain points is because they get out of their comfort zone, but you’re going trough that all your life. Whenever you feel super shitty or really depressed it’s probably because you’re stepping out of your comfort zone, which is a point you have to get past.”

Steven is, musically speaking, getting settled in Copenhagen. Steven has known Raske Penge since he arrived, and he met Pato Siebenhaar trough his wife. The three guys used to get together doing swimlaps at the swimhall, ’cause they were getting out of shape. Since then they’ve helped each other in their productions – latest Chllngr made a remix of Raske Penge and Klumbens ”Rundt”.

But it ain’t all local stuff Chllngr is about to face. He’s playing live at well-known american TV-show in march and doing South by Southwest aswell, on top of this, he’s hoping to do a Europe-tour in the summer.

The EP, Datter, is out on monday. Also check out the video for “Change”. And keep an eye on him, eh?

Pic and words by Lasse.

Hero and friend Gigi Rüf has thrown himself headlong into a board project aptly titled Slash by Gigi. After working hard over the last several years on perfecting board design and working closely on his boards when with Uninc and Volcom, it’s a natural step for one of our time’s best backcountry shredders. Built on Nidecker planks, I can’t wait to give one of these a hurl – maybe even while trying to keep up with Gigi in his Tirolean backyard.

A huge congratulations from us mate. Well done and well deserved. Now, kids – buy that shit!

For the most informative info about snow parks across the globe, just drop into the newly revamped mysnowparks.com. Run by Danish skier, Troels Feodor the sites gives you an insanely tight rated overview of how many obstacles (broken down into kickers, rails, pipes and jibs). It shows skills needed in internationally recognised colour coding and each park has an impressive slideshow of images. You can choose to ‘follow’ your favourite parks and it even links you up to current weather conditions, lift prices and a series of reviews – basically more than you’d need to base you travel decisions on. We like it. You can like it too.

We went to Berlin to hang at Bright. Here’s a look at some of the more legal stuff that went down. 

LL in colours by Sacha Maric. This is awesome, check it here.

Skatersvin drops their first full length video. These days full length internet is over 3 minutes ok. These dudes don’t have any corporate backing and have pretty much captured all this footy while out skating the last bunch of months. Respect for putting it together and keeping it alive!

This is good, watch it and then go skate. 

She’s the Forrest Gump of our time. She has whitnessed more than many of us ever dreamed of. She met Barack Obama, ran with bulls in Pamploma, were almost hit by Tiger Woods’ golf ball and beat some jamacin guy during Olympic Games.

Just got this in:
“Yo Bitchslap

I made this video for the danish-icelandic band Kúra. It’s their newest track and it’s released today with the video. 
In summary, it’s a … semi-documentary narrative of reassurance through discipline and solitude portrayed through a universe of control and routine, in contrast to the icelandic nature.

If you dig it, you might wanna consider putting in on the blog?

WOORD”

(From Kristian Touborg)

Wow! For a first time video, we’re really impressed – we hope this spreads!
Thanks Kristian, we love your stuff!

Here’s a quick follow up from the last few days of madness in Berlin. Thanks to Bright for having us and we’re looking forward to breakfast in the hotel next time.

We took half of these on our phones after several G&T’s so don’t hate on the quality. Next time, we promise to bring a real photog, instead of a couple of old dogs.

Above: Steven / Soletech Europe.

Above: Best ever minigolf course. Seriously. We sucked at it though. Claus from Obey got 3 hole in ones.

Above: Jo & Gunnar from Shins & Cheeks, a series of portraits which we ran in Bitchslap issue 14.

Above: Bright Girls Are Awesome #1 / Filis, 21, Student (left) & Tina, 28, Student. Thanks for the Vans window scraper glove Filis – you’re awesome!

Above: Bright Girls Are Awesome #2 / Bela-Tess, 20, Fashion Writer (left) & Anne-Katrin, 19, Student.

Above: Bright Girls Are Awesome #3 / Johanna, 26, Law Graduate.
Johanna was pretty awesome because she had no idea why anyone would want to take her photo and made her boyfriend face the wall because she was so embarrassed. Cute.

Above: Bright Girls Are Awesome #4 / Annelise, 24, PR intern at Element Europe

Above: Bright Girls Are Awesome #5 / Gabriele, 17, Student and am skater. Gabriele is awesome because she was at Bright scouting for new sponsors with a portfolio showing her doing mean tricks like kickflipping stairs. We would sponsor her just for that smile!

Above: Bright Girls Are Awesome #6 / Camille, 28, Designer for RVCA Women
Camille is awesome and holding 2 small girls in her belly. Double trouble.

Above: Bright Girls Are Awesome #7 / Crista, 28, Photographer. Crista was awesome because she put up with our shit over the whole weekend, and takes brilliant photos on real film. She’s a bit fucked now that Kodak had gone bust though.

Above: Chris Haslam & Fluff Magazine’s Marcel Veldman. Wicked skateboarder and wicked photographer.

Above: A blurry Ray Barbee giving a solo performance at the first ever European Skateboard Awards – which, by the way, were hilarious and tightly landed.

Above: Transit in Berlin had yummy food and lots of bird cages.

Above: Girls are Awesome #9 / Mali – our second favourite girl in Berlin. What a pleasure to hang out for the evening and thanks for the presents!

Above: Odessa. Thank you for existing.

Above: Breakfast at YamYam at around 3pm Sunday.

Above: Nike skaters Danijel & Wieger. Wieger couldn’t get in – anywhere.

I was in Australia for three weeks to visit my sister’s husband’s family. We drove along the Great Ocean Road, went swimming in the sea, hung out Melbourne and the foothills to Adelaide, ate tons of great food, I looked at lots of girls and spent more money. This is all I’ve got to show for it – Peter

Back in issue 11 we did a feature called Fuck the kids where we briefly showcased a bunch of up and coming talents who were more or less well on their way to doing great things – if not already doing them – but greater things were definitely on the horizon. One of these kids was August Fenger, aka, ELOQ. As the producer behind most of Kidd’s hugely successful tracks on Cheff Records, he’s a young tech wizz with an eye for talent and skills on the decks.
Here’s his first video release. Obviously no longer a kid, we can’t fuck with that. 

Jimmy Castor, the American pop and funk musician has sadly passed away.
Best known as a disco/funk saxophonist and leader of The Jimmy Castor Bunch in the 1970s, he released several successful albums and singles. The group reached the peak of their commercial success in 1972 with the release of their album, It’s Just Begun, which featured two hit singles: the title track and “Troglodyte (Cave Man)”.

Many of the group’s tunes have been heavily sampled in films and in hip-hop over the years. In particular, the saxophone hook and groove from “It’s Just Begun” and the spoken word intro and groove from “Troglodyte” (namely, “What we’re gonna do right here is go back…”) have been sampled extensively.

RIP Jimmy.

Lasse is in Paris on a serious study trip with his class from Fatamorgana. He’s being dragged from museum to museum to check out the works of famous photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Diane Arbus. He’s more eager to run around with his own camera, Paris being shit cold and quite big has so far resulted in sore knees, ankles and a eye-infection is in the cooker. Meanwhile he does manage to get some shots once in a while – here’s a bit from the past three days.

Having scooped the Grand Prix at Cannes last year I have my fingers crossed this film will be shown at Berlinale festival next month, as the Dardenne brothers usually have their shit down pretty tight.

The story revolves around Cyril (Thomas Doret), who has one plan: to find the father (Jérémie Renier) who left him in a children’s home. He meets Samantha (Cécile de France), who runs a hairdressing salon and although Cyril doesn’t recognize the love Samantha feels for him, it’s the affection he desperately needs to calm his rage.

I caught this when it first toured selected cinemas around the world, making a stop at Grand in Copenhagen thanks to support from Sweet Talk Copenhagen and Plant. It’s a must see if you have the slightest interest in the digital revolution over the last decade. 

From their vimeo:
The digital revolution of the last decade has unleashed creativity and talent in an unprecedented way, with unlimited opportunities. 

But does democratized culture mean better art or is true talent instead drowned out? This is the question addressed by PressPausePlay, a documentary film containing interviews with some of the world’s most influential creators of the digital era. presspauseplay.com @presspauseplay Facebook: on.fb.me/y4gEK1

If you like the film you can support us by rating it on IMDB - imdb.to/jUqhFn. Thanks!

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Thanks to Friend Of Foul Weather for this one!

(click through and it moves)

The title pretty much explains it all – Din Camp and Nike have teamed up to offer you the chance to be 1 of 2 lucky winners to win a week’s free riding at the Din Camp summer camp. To add to the sweetness, Nike are tossing in top-to-toe outfits for both winners so you’ll be all stealth like a ninja.

All you have to do is get in there and upload a picture or film and get the most likes before all the way in March. So there’s ample time to get billions of likes and shares and all that.

Either way, go have a perv and like some of the dudes pictures and films. I liked 1 so far.

http://nike6.freeride.dk/

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Pretty much sums it up right here.

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I’m more than happy for people to keep bringing these. After the huge success of Shit Girls Say, followed by the even funnier Shit Girls Don’t Say comes Shit Nobody Says. Watch and weep.

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The kind folks over at JanSport Europe are giving you and a friend the chance to WINWIN not only 1 of 7 Jansport HUF packs, but also a double InterRail Global Passes offering 10 days travel within a 22day period anywhere in Euroland. 

I’ve already entered, but all you need to do to get involved is (as always) like their facebook page and enter your deets. The contest is running until Jan 16 so get cracking and good luck.

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Now this is one hell of a tight colab. Featuring a quilted chambray shoe and shoe bag, this capsule release from Pointer x Lavenham is tidy. Hm-hmmm. Maybe I’ve been sleeping but the last company I saw team up with British brand Lavenham, famous for their horse rugs, was when Norse Projects dropped their Rane Vest and Sune Shirt (both of which tickled my fancy, but I could only get the one).

As with many colab projects these days, these will be strictly available from Pointers flagship in Berlin with a release on January 18.

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Simon Weyhe drops the Goodwind showreel for last year that has had him on the road for months and in the cutting room for even longer. Goodwind’s reel gives us a wee peek into some of the commercial and pro bono projects they’ve been up to over the last little bit. Props from here – you’ve come a long way.

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Nowadays everybody seem to be looking for the new “it”, trying to become the new Mark Zuckerberg. There is no doubt that the competition is tough but this Rube Goldberg ’page turner’ contraption made by Joseph Herscher has to be the best invention ever. Have a look at the video and check the New York Times interview with Joseph here.

Posted by Thomas / TheMeat.dk

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After what’s been coined the driest early season in history – that’s like EVER – flakes started falling in the old world shortly after new years and didn’t stop. So-called snow chaos has paralysed southern German and Austrian roads, while the alps have been quickly getting absolutely loaded with powder. If you’re going riding pretty much anywhere in Europe this week, you’re a fucking lucky bastard. Keep safe. Here’s a look at what you’re heading into.

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Rasheed Chappell’s album ‘Future Before Nostalgia’ dropped at the back end of last year and is f’rilla. ”Break Loose” is a throwback to the era which influenced the spirit behind the album and a homage to Big Daddy Kane, Rakim and those that came before, produced by Kenny Dope, with DJ Scratch (EPMD), this song serves as a bridge between era’s and as a nod to the founders that the culture will be preserved.

nice vid shot by Zunbug Turskee,  (Creative Control.)

“Future Before Nostalgia” is available on iTunes & for CD or Vinyl go to www.kaydeerecords.com

Despite the apparent rainy summer, the Streetmachine team put together this short but comprehensive video. With some of Denmark’s best riders in the crew, this is well worth a watch, or 2. Curious though – there’s not a drop of rain in the film.

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What: Troelstrup Building in 1936
Photog: ‘A passing American’
Why: When Troelstrup closed their doors on the Møntergade shop in 1936, they hung jackets from the roof to the street to celebrate and say farewell before moving to the current location on Vestervoldgade. The police kept a presence to hold order, and Mr. Troelstrup sold out of jackets.

There is no doubt that Ai Wei Wei is one of our time’s most revolutionary artists and one of the few who really dare to stand up for himself and his art – He’s got balls – and this trailer is a great example of that. Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry is a documentary portraying the Chinese artist which should have been released in 2011 but got postponed, and will now premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Make sure it will stop by your town as well by requesting the movie at Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry. To do: watch the trailer above.

Posted by Thomas / Themeat.dk

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Koppi Kaffe & Rosteri from Tim Ciasto on Vimeo.

Koppi might have one of Sweden’s best espresso’s along side with a beautiful space located on Storgatan. If you’re ever in Helsingborg, make sure to check it out.