Tag: Czech Republic

A while back, when Marc-Alexandre Barbier and myself were out filming and skating in Marseille, the guy who owns “Chill or Die” (Baptiste Besse) called us and wanted to know, if we would like to spend the first week of April in Praha (Prague). We didn’t really need to think about it, we were immediately down to go.

That’s how we ended up joining a crew consisting of a total of 5 guys: Vincent Coupeau, Matt Debauche, Baptiste Besse and of course Marc-A and myself.
Because Marc-A is scared to fly, everybody got on the bus for a 15-hour drive out to Praha, the journey was long! But we had fun and drank a lot of booze.

Our narrator Augustin in action.
Our narrator Augustin in action.

What can I tell you about our destination? Praha is the capital of the Czech Republic and the countries largest city. I would say it’s a cosmopolitan city and according to our research (clubbing), we found out that there are large groups of foreigners amongst the city’s population. Since I landed on the subject, the night life there is pretty cheap if you compare it to most of the other capital cities in the western part of Europe. As you can imagine, we fell into the city’s dark side pretty easily, this meant Matt was at his absolute best! And Marc-A was able to show everybody that he is indeed a killer on the dance floor.

Marca-A Frontside 50-50 grind.
Marca-A Frontside 50-50 grind.

The only spot we knew before going there was the world famous Stalin Platz, which has a similar function as the Republique Square in Paris, the only difference being that it is better than Republique. “Why?” you might ask… Because there are simply more things to skate, you can grind, slide, fly down some stairs, over and down gaps, do wheelies and skate handrails, which was the object of Marc-A’s first trick of the trip, a 50-50 grind up and down a long rail followed by a lengthy firecracker down some stairs!

ChillOrDie_Prague_web-15

Like most main spots you get sucked in quite easily and we did film a bunch of stuff there but we didn’t want to hang out there for the whole tour.

Marc-A Frontside 50-50 backside revert.
Marc-A Frontside 50-50 backside revert.
Marc-A tube ride backside 180 out.
Marc-A tube ride backside 180 out.

So we went into the city to search for some street spots that could enhance our “street cred ” (laughs).
During one of our first spot-hunting missions, Marc-A had the brilliant idea to grab hold of a very nice Porsche! When the driver finally noticed him he brusquely stopped the car, jumped out and wanted to engage in a fight with Mr. Barbier. The guy had such a bright red face that I started to doubt if it was anger or alcohol that had turned his face strawberry-red.

ChillOrDie_Prague_web-4-1

In the end, we managed to find this cool little square with multiple skate-able benches, after we seshed it, we found out that the spot was only two minutes away from our apartment. From that point on almost all sessions ended at this little peaceful square, and Praha being as cheap as it is, these moments where naturally accompanied by a nice cold beer clenched between of our fingers.

Matt Debauche - backside flip.
Matt Debauche – backside flip.

Photos by Vincent Coupeau
Text by Augustin Giovannoni

To turn something simple and random into something meaningful gifted with form and substance can bring precious satisfaction. In skateboarding, this something might be a bent pole or just a wall. As soon as you put your eyes on it, the glimpse of a movement through space and time comes to your mind. You picture yourself doing your own little special thing right there and unconsciously you’re giving this infinitesimal fragment of your physical environment a new purpose. If you make this vision real, you get that valuable satisfaction and be sure you count among the coolest people on earth from then on. The truly cool ones, top 5%.

As there are limitless possibilities of shaping and adapting what’s around you to your own perception, it can be very entertaining to widen the range. That’s how we come to talk about the street view on Google maps. It offers way more than one may think. I know some skaters use it to find new spots but I have no clue what the street view’s original function is. It must cost loads of money to drive those Google-maps-360°camera-cars through every city in the world. All that for a gimmick? No, the street view is one of the hidden treasures of the world wide web. One of the rare escapes from the boredom of social media, for example.
The street view embodies normality and randomness. The 360° camera captures ordinary streets at random moments of the day. Average people doing regular things outside. And you can’t see their faces (they are blurred), which makes it even more emotionless. Moreover, the camera settings are so basic all the pictures taken over the planet lookalike. But the street view doesn’t care much about aesthetics, it is about raw reality. That makes it so great… I like to think so. The more normal things get, the more anything unusual sticks out.
For a better understanding, I would like to invite you to click on the link below and to spend a few minutes on the streets of Mlada Boleslav. And you should read the instructions first:
Mlada Boleslav is a small city of Central Bohemia, a region of the Czech Republic. As soon as you click, you find yourself on a street with no name, surrounded by parking blocks and you fully experience the flair of Czech suburbia. Now, follow the road straight and observe what’s around you until you reach the next road junction. That’s where the journey ends.

Now let’s venture into the world of street view and into the Czech city of Mlada Boleslav.

To go on to the road junction click here.

Did you see what I saw?

And what else did you see?

Did you notice this guy?

And

Did you check him out properly?

Did you see that the guy is wearing a Thrasher shirt tailored into a lovely tanktop.

So… You’re virtually going through these streets, it seems like time has stopped and so you can take some time to notice things you wouldn’t see if you were there in real time, caught in the rush of life.

You are looking at all this average stuff, realizing almost every corner of the “Western world” looks alike. Suddenly, you see something that sticks out. Someone flipping a bird to the camera is a classic. Someone picking up his dog’s business as well. If you’re lucky, you come upon a 60-year-old badass wearing a Thrasher tank top in the absolute middle of nowhere. At that moment, the best thing to do is to take a screenshot because you don’t want it to sink into oblivion. There is a good chance for you to be the first web surfer to notice this deviation from the ordinary. And that feels good, so handle the street view with care or it might turn into your major pastime: exploring the streets in order to capture the aberrations of a society that wants to be cast into the mold.

Here are some screenshots from my personal collection that I’ve been widening over the last two or three years. A breathtaking mosaic of impressions from a virtual odyssey, from Skagen (Denmark) to Zadar (Croatia) passing through Miami Beach.

 

boat

No clue what is happening here. Are they waiting for the school-boat?

miami

No words needed to describe the intimate beauty of this one.

wall talk kopie

“The man who talked to walls.”

wildlife kopie

That’s a wolf. Wildlife at it’s finest.

circle kopie

“People in love near the Military Circle.”

church green kopie church red kopie

 

True words. Get them and forget them.

dannysom kopie

I wish I was a little bit taller, an ode to the Deutsch Stylechef.

deal kopie

It’s a done deal.

batmann kopie

When your shoes match her zip sweat/ When your zip sweat matches his shoes.

dye kopie

Same blood & fashion sense.

durag kopie

This is my favorite one. (note his face is not blurred)

Text by Franz Grimm

Images by Google Maps selected by Franz Grimm