A couple of years ago I had the pleasure to go to Hemsedal, Norway with the Roxy team for a photo shoot. While I was on that trip, I roomed with Per-Hampus Stålhandske, who at the time, was filming for the Roxy project, "Labor of Love" and we hit it off. Although I haven't spoken with him too many times since, it has always been a pleasure to run into him or see that he is doing well. So it goes without saying, when his new project dropped, I definitely wanted to make sure I had a chance to give it my full attention.
First off, it's a free movie. In our current market place, people do not want to pay for anything. I am for the idea of just giving the movie away and increasing your viewing audience. The reason sponsors give money for projects like this is so that when you see their rider, it will connect you to their product. Enough said. I'm heading towards a tangent here, but, I cannot stand going to a movie premier and having to pay to get in to watch the film that they want me to purchase. That's like paying for it twice. Anyways, back on track. Stepchild was one of the first companies to realize that if they gave the movie away, more people would watch it, thus, increasing the advertising. Give the people what they want. Awesome. Obviously, this doesn't apply to every situation and is much more complex than I am making it seem.
Secondly, the film stars some of my favorite riders including: Stian Solberg, Knut Eliassen, Hampus Mosseson, Jakob Wilhelmson and a slew of other very talented Scandanavians. These guys rip hard.
Thirdly, this film, unlike many other snowboard movies on the market, is free of the normal politics of big business snowboarding, meaning, that it's fun to watch and makes you want to go snowboarding. This should be the end product of a film about snowboarding. Simple, right? Well, aparently not. Many films on the market today are plagued with ultra cool guy image, directors not getting the final cut for their art due to financial leverage and a complete lack of any type of underlying theme or message other than snowboarding sells so here is a bunch of snowboarding. This is not.
So with all that being said, I'm going to have to say that this is one of my favorite movies of the year and recommend it to anyone who like to snowboard for the fun of it. Pat Moore has a great cameo in the movie. Just trust me, download it for free at http://www.actionhorsefilms.com/ponytale/.
One thing I should mention, I had a really difficult time downloading the movie. I mean, it wasn't user friendly, so if your not Über computer saavy, you may have some difficulty in downloading it. The best way I found to do this was to click High Definition under the "Torrent" section. On a Mac, when you click this, a dialouge box will open. See the diagram below. Click ok and it will open Opera and begin downloading. Easy enough, however, this was not obvious at first. The first option on the site works through a third party called GigaSize. The ten times that I tried to download it through this option, it would stall and never complete the download which was annoying. I actually had to chat with Stian to figure it out. Anyways, hope this helps.
(The man behind the lens, Per-Hampus Stålhandske)
(Per-Hampus with a silky smooth bs5 on the step up. Hesedal, Norway)
(Tonia Detomas hitting a kicker in Hemsedal, Norway)
(Erin Comstock with a proper method on the hip in Hemsedal)
(Portrait of Knut Elissen in the Tahoe Backcountry)
(Knut showing the kids how it's done - Ouray, Colorado)
(Stian Solberg looking...)
(...at this)
First off, it's a free movie. In our current market place, people do not want to pay for anything. I am for the idea of just giving the movie away and increasing your viewing audience. The reason sponsors give money for projects like this is so that when you see their rider, it will connect you to their product. Enough said. I'm heading towards a tangent here, but, I cannot stand going to a movie premier and having to pay to get in to watch the film that they want me to purchase. That's like paying for it twice. Anyways, back on track. Stepchild was one of the first companies to realize that if they gave the movie away, more people would watch it, thus, increasing the advertising. Give the people what they want. Awesome. Obviously, this doesn't apply to every situation and is much more complex than I am making it seem.
Secondly, the film stars some of my favorite riders including: Stian Solberg, Knut Eliassen, Hampus Mosseson, Jakob Wilhelmson and a slew of other very talented Scandanavians. These guys rip hard.
Thirdly, this film, unlike many other snowboard movies on the market, is free of the normal politics of big business snowboarding, meaning, that it's fun to watch and makes you want to go snowboarding. This should be the end product of a film about snowboarding. Simple, right? Well, aparently not. Many films on the market today are plagued with ultra cool guy image, directors not getting the final cut for their art due to financial leverage and a complete lack of any type of underlying theme or message other than snowboarding sells so here is a bunch of snowboarding. This is not.
So with all that being said, I'm going to have to say that this is one of my favorite movies of the year and recommend it to anyone who like to snowboard for the fun of it. Pat Moore has a great cameo in the movie. Just trust me, download it for free at http://www.actionhorsefilms.com/ponytale/.
One thing I should mention, I had a really difficult time downloading the movie. I mean, it wasn't user friendly, so if your not Über computer saavy, you may have some difficulty in downloading it. The best way I found to do this was to click High Definition under the "Torrent" section. On a Mac, when you click this, a dialouge box will open. See the diagram below. Click ok and it will open Opera and begin downloading. Easy enough, however, this was not obvious at first. The first option on the site works through a third party called GigaSize. The ten times that I tried to download it through this option, it would stall and never complete the download which was annoying. I actually had to chat with Stian to figure it out. Anyways, hope this helps.
Below are some photos from the Roxy trip to Norway and other uncategorizeable instances where I have chilled with these dudes. Check 'em out homies.
(The man behind the lens, Per-Hampus Stålhandske)
(Per-Hampus with a silky smooth bs5 on the step up. Hesedal, Norway)
(Tonia Detomas hitting a kicker in Hemsedal, Norway)
(Erin Comstock with a proper method on the hip in Hemsedal)
(Portrait of Knut Elissen in the Tahoe Backcountry)
(Knut showing the kids how it's done - Ouray, Colorado)
(Stian Solberg looking...)
(...at this)
So, whatever, whatever...Check the film!
