It's Time To Die
It's Time To Die heads back toward the style of Another Nail in the Coffin in the sense that
it is more basic and generally has less to say. The introduction and wreck section were combined in this
video. The introductory captions sort of run into the wreck section without any kind of separation. They
even share the same song. It has a good wreck section, at least on par with the others thus far. As with
On the Edge of Enlightenment, all the sections have mixed music and skate sounds. The art that is
underneath the title is a picture I found in some artsy magazine lying around campus. If you haven't seen
it, it has a stretched out skull painted in the bottom right and in the upper left are a combination of
coins, spent shell casings, and live ammunition all set in a sort of arc that points at a bullseye on the
skull's forehead. I thought that this art really fit the developing "Kill Yourself" idea that we had going
on, as well as the title of the video. There's something about this picture that just inexplicably attracts
me to it as well, but that's neither here nor there. I also used this picture in an attempt I made at a
'zine while I was in college (it was called Doppelganger) which had to do with personal expression and a
sort of anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalism bent. This video probably has the most diverse soundtrack thus
far, but I'm not 100% sure about that. This video is the first (and only...so far) HCS/Outlaw Collective
video to have a part in it that wasn't done by us. Joe's part was something he edited together from a bunch
of his own footage, as well as footage he got off HCS. He put it together on an editing machine for some
sort of class he was taking. I think it was a Video Production class at BOCES if I remember right. It fits
right into our style. The only thing that makes it obvious that we didn't do it is the presence of any kind
of camera and editing effects...and there's one shot that uses fisheye. Realistically though, it doesn't
stand out at all. Craig's section has some sketchy parts in the visual area because his camera at the time
was gettin' real old and would shut off or stop recording if you moved it too much or too fast. Probably
half his footage is from us and half is shit he taped while skating in Canadia with kids up there. The music
in Craig's section is actually an original beatmatch with original scratching that Seth did for him. Craig
was talking about wanting a good beat in his section with some scratching, but he couldn't find one. I told
him that Seth was a pretty good DJ and gave him his number. They talked about it, Seth put it together, and
then sent me the tape. The second song in that part isn't Seth's work, but the song they had ran short 'cause
Craig got some extra footage he wanted added in. When Derek decided to use "Stagger Lee" in his section, I
was shocked. He's usually down for the sillier or more rockin' songs. Serious songs don't usually find
their way into Derek's parts. He was set on it though, and it fits real well. The beginning was
just sort of a joke that we thought would be funny...it still makes me laugh so it must've been at least a
little bit funny. Final point of interest for Derek's section is that the 180 he does down the massive stair
set at the end of his section wasn't the trick he wanted...even though he pulled that shit first fucking try.
The 180 was just a manly way to warm up for the ginormous 360 attempts that ended before the trick got pulled.
It never came together 'cause he got injured; his shoes were real thin and he bruised his ankle. Also, he was
already riding on a rolled ankle at the time. If you watch Can You See?, you'll notice that a couple
of the wrecks from the 360 attempts are in there. That's 'cause the wreck section was already done for It's
Time To Die and they wouldn't fit in right. Finally, Andy's section was voted the best despite his best
efforts to say otherwise. I thought Derek's section was much better, but whatevs. The pictures in the
background are of me when I was a little kid. I was looking at them on the wall at my mom's one night and
I noticed that they all had this sort of sadness about them. I thought that was real weird 'cause I was just
a little kid. Also, I had just graduated from college, and I was getting ready to move down to Pittsburgh.
All of this comes together in the music for the section. I searched a long time for the right songs to put
in there. I picked those two because they had the same sort of lonely, sad feel that my pictures did. I had
also been wanting to use the Metallica song "I Disappear" for a long time. At the time I felt this real
strong desire to disappear, to be forgotten, to fall from view, to disintegrate. I'm actually still really
enamored with that idea. I love the idea of being forgotten. So anyway, that explains the Metallica song.
The Danzig song (actually a song that he wrote to give as a gift to Johnny Cash) was in there because it fit
perfectly with the way I felt looking at those pictures of me when I was young. The lines, "bad luck wind
been blowin' at my back," and, "I was born in the soul of misery," both really hit home with me. I know
that sounds little too dramatic, but whatevs. I was into it; still am as a matter of fact. Anyway, I wanted
to communicate a feeling of aloneness with the whiney "poor me" sentiment that usually comes out of people who
feel alone. There were lines from a Thursday song that I was really into that said basically the same thing.
They were the basis for the stencil I did that says, "Stop all the clocks, erase all the maps." I don't
have a lot to say about it, but I think the "Friends" section came out really good in this video. The song
("Badlands" by AC/DC) was perfect...and so fucking fun to listen to. I was starting to get bored with doing
things with the credits, which you can easily see 'cause they just sort of run by. They do, however, give
me a place to stick in a fantastic George Thorogood song. The song, incidentally, is connected to the last
thing officially in the video: me trying a disustingly long ledge, and just not making it. I tried
that ledge for two and a half hours. Ryan was nice and patient enough to film my 40 thousand attempts. I
turned my trucks into meat doing that, and that was as close as I got. I wanted it so bad...and--much like
the ollie over the 9 set rail I tried in Another Nail in the Coffin-- I didn't make it. Oh well, like
Lonesome George says, "You gotta lose. You can't win all the time." There are two things left to talk about.
The first is the Thrasher section. That trick took me so long to do 'cause you can't see what you're landing
on and if you miss the tiny little board-length tranny, you pile out and don't make it. It was so fun to put
that in the video. A lot of people didn't like it and thought it was stupid. I thought then, and still think
now, that it's fucking funny as shit. As a matter of fact, I have plans in the works to have another Thrasher
section in the next video. The second thing that needs to be mentioned before I finish this on is that this video
is the first time I ever put completely raw footage in a video. After my attempt at the long ledge, I put in
the raw footage of Craig trying his fakie tailslide down the ledge at his skate park. There were basically 2
reasons I did this. The first one was because he tried it so many times that I found it to be insane, and
fascinating. I decided that other people might feel the same way. Also, I wanted to show in some way, even
if it was at the end of the video and a little overstated, what goes into making a skate video. I know that
in some way the wreck section does that, but I was starting to feel like that didn't express it well enough.
There needed to be some sort of recognition of all the tries that didn't result in good-looking falls or funny
yells. There needed to be something that showed how much energy we all put into what we do...which is something
that you never really see in videos. This desire continues on into the next video, where I put together a
"Frustration" section. It's something I still want to find better ways to show/express. I'm Outie 5000 jerks.