CasaSugar

This Just In: Skate Study House Expo to Open in Paris

CasaSugar — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:15:00 -0800

Beginning January 28, Colette, a design concept store in Paris, will house the "Skate Study House" exhibit, a reinterpretation of the most famous pieces of modern design through the vision of a skateboarder, created by Pierre-André Senizergues and Gil Le Bon De Lapointe. Pierre-André Senizergues is the president and CEO of Sole Technology, parent company of skate apparel fixture Etnies, and Gil Le Bon De Lapointe is a skateboarder and designer. The exhibit pays homage to Case Study House, a famous experimentation in residential architecture, which ran between 1945 until 1966, commissioning major architects of the day, including Richard Neutra, Raphael Soriano, Craig Ellwood, Charles and Ray Eames, Pierre Koenig and Eero Saarinen, "to design and build inexpensive and efficient model homes for the United States residential housing boom." The exposition will include a skateboard-shaped Nelson Platform Bench, Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman, Le Corbusier Chaise Lounge, Noguchi Table, and Eames Hang-it-All. To see these skate reinterpretations up close (trust me, you want to), read more

Click the images below to see the modern skate furniture up close and personal.

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If you are looking to keep the surf of Summer alive in your landlocked life, you might want to try a dry version of stand-up paddling (SUP). Riding a long skateboard by Kahuna Creations while paddling yourself about with a Big Stick is the skating version of the popular water sport. As you can see, Matthew McConaughey is a fan of skate paddling; I would say I am too, but I'm not quite proficient enough at stopping yet to really claim to be a fan.

The Kahuna boards are beautiful - I tried the 45-inch Haka Pua ($169) - as are the Big Sticks ($89). To see how it feels to use them, just read more.

I had fun paddling up and down my street. Not only is it an upper body workout, but the motion gets your heart rate up too. As someone who is accident-prone with no prior skateboarding experience, it just doesn't feel all that safe - hence the helmet. Falling into water while SUPing is much less daunting than wiping out on asphalt. I found stopping and steering difficult, but feel these skills would come with practice. And skate paddling is fun, so practicing to gain skills would be a good time.

Here are a few more detailed shots of the board and stick.

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Check out this video clip of two dudes who know how to work the Big Stick.

Skate 2 Review: Frustrating, Then Totally Addictive

GeekSugar — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 04:02:13 -0800

The first time I popped open my copy of Skate 2, I knew I was in for a different kind of skating game. Not only are you able to get a crash course in boarding trickery at the local skate park, but you can also roam free around the city of New San Vanelona - jumping curbs, popping ollies, accepting challenges and running from the police Burnout Paradise style. I later found that Skate 2 kept me entertained, but at times it would make me oh-so-frustrated.

Skate 2 starts with you getting released from prison. Your friend Al picks you up and immediately takes you to Slappy's skate park to reclaim your place at the top of the skateboarding food chain. If you played the first installment of Skate (I didn't), you'll find that your city has been taken over and "rebuilt" by a mega-corporation and all your old favorite skating spots have been deemed useless. Plus, the police take skateboarding seriously and if you're caught skating on public property, you might get pinched if you aren't quick.

There are many things I liked about Skate 2, and some things that had me cursing the skating gods. To see what I mean, read more.

In Skate 2's career mode, you are climbing your way back to being the best skater in San Vanelona and reclaiming the city for your comrades. Doing so involves taking on different challenges from other skaters, racking up high scoring tricks, and participating in magazine photo shoots. All of this is easy peasy if you get the moves down. And that's a big if.

So when I tell you that learning the tricks in the game can be frustrating, it's only because I was sloppy at my timing or my control combos. It's funny cause I've seen kids around my old neighborhood doing these exact tricks, so I feel like it should be easy, but it's not. Just like in real life, if you aren't popping your board at the right second, you fail. You either land (hard) on your rear, or you just simply jump off your deck. But once you get it, it's really, really fun. Plus, there's a cool feature in Skate 2 that allows you to mark the beginning of your trick so that if you fail (which will probably be often), you can go back to that spot and try, try again.

Exploring the city is awesome since almost anything you see is "skateable", and you can engage in different challenges along the way to increase your score. You are also super strong (must have been all those gym hours in the Big House) and can move almost any object with ease to make your own little skating heaven anywhere you find a spot. But watch out for the police - those dudes are everywhere. Overall, Skate 2 is entertaining, engaging, and addictive. Even at my most frustrated times, I just wanted to keep going so that I could learn just one more trick. Although I could do without the citizens of San Vanelona getting in my way when I'm trying to race (Hello? I'm trying to race here), but I suppose that is how it would be if I were a real life skating bad ass, which will probably never happen.

Skate 2 is available today on your XBox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles.

Source

Lil Links: Are the Evian Babies Creepy or Cute?

babysugar — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:00:01 -0700

Roller-skating babies cute or creepy? - ParentDish
Breastfeeding and mastitis - AlphaMom
Autism may be linked to autoimmune disease - Health
The Aubry-Berries are happy in the water - Celebrity Baby Blog
What lesbian mums are doing differently - Cookie
Adorable DIY wallpaper wipe-off boards - CafeMom
Scarlett and Ryan will adopt - Celebrity Baby Scoop
Chalkboard tees let artists dream - Inhabitots

Calories Burned Playing Wii Fit Games

FitSugar — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:00:00 -0700

I'm in full support of anything that gets you off the couch and moving, so I'm a fan of the Wii Fit. Although many say that exercising with the Balance Board may not compare to a real workout, anything is better than nothing, right?

To find out how many calories you'll burn working out with the Wii Fit, read more.

I used our Calorie Burner Counter Calculator to calculate the calories burned based on a 130-pound woman. I couldn't find calculations for specific Wii games, so I used calculations based on similar activities and intensity levels. Just like with any type of fitness, the more active and intense, the more calories you'll burn.

Activity:	Calories burned per 30 minutes:
Skate It	85
Gold's Gym Cardio Workout	100
All Star Cheer Squad	177
We Ski	118
Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum	100
EA Sports Active	89
Don King Boxing	180
Ski and Shoot	118
Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2 (using the Dance Mat)	207
Yoga	118
Tennis	170
Bowling	39
Baseball	95
Golf	75

Do you play any of the Wii games regularly? Do you wear your heart rate monitor when doing so? If so, I am curious how many calories you burn - tell me in the comments section below.

Grind It! Skateboard Shaped Flash Drive

GeekSugar — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:02:38 -0800

Skateboarding geeks unite; first you could bring the geek to your deck, now go the opposite route and put the memory in a deck with a 2GB SkateDrive ($22).

It combines the desktop convenience of a finger board with the memory of a thumb drive - your hands will be happy and your hobbies combined.

Simply Fab: Stephen Sprouse Skateboard

FabSugarUK — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:30:13 -0800

Is your new year's resolution to do more exercise? Why not take up a slightly unusual sport and try out skateboarding? Earlier this week I told you about the Stephen Sprouse and Louis Vuitton collaboration which is due to hit stores on 15th January. It includes clothes and handbags but also this lavish skate board. The skateboard is limited edition and will only be available from the New York's SoHo store for $8,250 each (about £5,506). It comes complete with a hard case monogram trunk and proceeds will benefit Free Arts NYC. What do you think of this extravagant piece of sports equipment?

Source

Free Skating: It Takes Balance

FitSugar — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:00:00 -0800

There are so many ways to enjoy the snow. Free skating is like skate skiing, but you don't use poles to propel you along. You push off with the edge of your skis to give you momentum forward and your arms swing to assist the motion. Check out the video to see what it looks like. It's really graceful.

If you love ice skating or snow boarding because they don't require poles, you may prefer this Winter sport over free skating or cross country skiing. Once you get the technique of balancing, pushing off with your skis, and swinging your arms, you'll be able to move quickly on flat surfaces. Also, it's incredible exercise for your lower body and really fun to try since it takes so much coordination and balance to get going. If you're interested in trying it out, call up your local ski resort or outdoor center and see about renting equipment and taking a lesson.

Street Surfing: Ride The Wave

FitSugar — Fri, 18 May 2007 04:00:00 -0700

Winter has come to an end and those of us who are into snowboarding may be a little down. Maybe you're fortunate enough that you're able to go surfing now - For those of us that don't live anywhere close to water, we can still ride the wave...

The Wave ($129.95) is a very cool new board that's part skateboarding, part surfing, part snowboarding. It's also known as street surfing because your body is doing the movements much like you would if you were actually surfing (the board has two wheels that rotate 360 degrees). Aside from being really, really cool, the board is propelled by using core movements of the body, making it a great addition to your fitness plan. My guess is that you can burn about 250 (or more) calories per hour while riding The Wave, depending on how skilled you are. Buy it from StreetSurfing.com.

Skate or Die.

Fit's Tip: Be sure to wear pads and a helmet, because nothing is as uncool as busting open your head, while trying to be cool.

Wolfgang Says No To Foie Gras

YumSugar — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 11:12:35 -0700

Celebrity chef to the celebs, Wolfgang Puck has just announced several new animal welfare policies that he and his restaurants will be putting into place. In a joint press release with the Humane Society, Puck has released a nine-point program aimed at raising the bar on farm animal treatment.

"I have regularly spent weekends at my local farmers markets and farms, getting to know my vendors, their animals and their animal treatment programs. As my companies have grown much bigger, we must now develop formal policies to maintain our exacting standards."

The polices in his nine-point program are:

The elimination of foie gras (fattened duck & geese livers) from his restaurants.
No longer allow the use of eggs from hens confined in battery cages.
No pork from producers that confine breeding sows in gestation crates.
No veal from producers that confine calves in individual veal crates.

To see the rest of the policies, read more

More vegetarian options for consumers who want to eat humanely.
More certified organic selections, for those concerned about the environment.
Puck will send letters to companies' chicken & turkey suppliers indicating interest in more humane slaughter methods.
Only serve chicken & turkey from farms that are audited for compliance with progressive animal welfare standards.
Only serve sustainable seafood.

Personally I think these are great steps (although we can argue for a while on foie gras...), and am glad to hear that he is doing this across the board and not just for one item. Nor does it seem like a trendy thing, it seems like something he's personally involved in (even this year's Oscar menu was all organic). Although it must be mentioned, that for the time being, Pucks' chefs will continue to kill lobsters by cutting them in half alive, instead of using a stun gun, and that skate and Russian caviar are still on his menus (they're on Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch "avoid" list).

Source: PR Newswire