I stopped by Fry’s Electronics today… after hearing a rumor that the 2008 retail release of Slide America could be found there. The retail version hit stores February 5th… and after checking all the major players (Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, and Wal-Mart) to no avail, you could say I was a bit confused.

It felt really good to see this on the shelf at Fry’s:

I felt a major sense of accomplishment seeing it in a retail environment like this. This project has come so far… and to see it… not only on the shelf – but placed & tagged face out was amazing. We still have not been sent any of this copy… so this was my first time seeing it in its retail skin.

How could this joyous encounter be overshadowed by a sense of dissapointment? The fact that I had to buy my own copy to get one makes for a good start. I really dislike the artwork on the DVD. I understand the need to appeal to a broader market that may not know about drifting… but I don’t fall into that demographic, so I’m unsure of its effectiveness. This cover is not what Slide America is (to me). I fought every aspect of this cover design. In the end… all I asked was for the Slide Style logo be placed on the back. Somehow even that request fell by the wayside.

I suppose that all success comes with sacrifice. With that in mind… I can let the petty details go, and know that at the end of the day… we did it. We really did it… and nothing can ever take THAT away.

I put together a rad flyer for Unnatural Inc’s Drift Invasion series. I’m always down to help the grassroots guys… especially when it comes to promoting grassroots drift events. If you’re in the Portland area… definitely check out Unnatural Inc. and support their series.

Some cool type treatments for the guys over at Unnatural Inc. for their Drift Invasion series at Portland International Raceway.

Four new Slide Style™ decks arrived on Monday. I had two new designs pressed, along with two decks from the ’07 lineup.

I snapped a few pics straight out the box… still wrapped in shrink.

Motorcult Modern & Wireframed.rnThese decks both started out as typography/style explorations.

Detail.

Firebird & SlantBig ups to Dosa Kim for the Firebird illustration. That thing is sick no matter where it lands.

Detail.

I met up with Antonio Alvendia today to shoot some snaps of the E46 for a new project he’s working on called Speedhunters. Byron Hill brought his s14 down, and Marcos Ruiz towed his s13 with insane wheel fitment out to be shot as well. Cody Wellons from S3 Magazine came out… Erik Jacobs and Eugene Chou from DGTrials were in effect as well.

Speedhunters is going to be a world-wide collaboration of sorts… bringing you REAL automotive culture from across the globe. I’m really excited to see it launch. Personally, I like to see coverage of real cars that are built with passion, and actually DRIVEN. If I know Antonio… then I know Speedhunters will have plenty of that… not to mention plenty of slammed rides with insane offset.I won’t give any shots away from the shoot… just some random snaps only.

The 2nd round of Formula Drift went down this weekend up at Road Atlanta. This was my first time since the 2005 season that I wasn’t out there competing. I had a great time kicking back, chilling with old friends, and enjoying America’s best attacking the 10a-10b complex… but it just wasn’t quite the same for me this year.

Making our way down to the pits, we saw this GORGEOUS E30 M3.

I had the E46 down at the Everything Drift booth, where we managed to sell a ton of Slide Styleâ„¢ shirts. rnHuge thanks to Jacob & Thao for hooking it up, and to Lieze for helping with the sales.

This year’s attendance was the largest I’ve seen it since Formula Drift’s first event here in 2004. It was PACKED.

Point-and-shoot action.

What more can I say… “Stay Hungry” is one of the best drifting DVD’s I have ever seen. This movie was what I wanted their last DVD to be. It was an excellent mix of amazing drifting, crazy DA antics, hilarious skits, life on the road, comedy, and most of all… what it means to be America’s most infamous drift team.

Andy Laputka shot and edited everything and really set the bar with this one. He put an enormous effort into making this the COMPLETE package, and he succeeded with flying colors. There was not a dull moment from start to finish.”Stay Hungry” is a MUST HAVE for anyone even remotely interested in drifting.

So go get one… and support these guys in what they do.Andy Luputka getting interviewed by Jarod DeAnda.

Drift Alliance and crew on the red carpet.

We roll deep, and with knives. DriftMechaniks repping it.

Red carpet from the seats.

The title screen.

Outside the theatre, post movie.

We’re headed down to the red-carpet premiere of Drift Alliance’s new DVD “Stay Hungry”. There’s definitely a lot of anticipation surrounding the release. The premiere will be at the same theater we premiered Slide America almost 1 year ago. With the entire professional drift community in town for round 2 of Formula Drift… tonight is sure to be a riot.

We’ll see you all down on the red carpet… in the meantime – enjoy the “Stay Hungry” teaser trailer:

Southeastdrift threw a practice event up at the Braves Municipal Stadium in Greenville, SC on Saturday. The asphault DESTROYED tyres, but the event was a blast! It was definitely laid back, and rad to chill with the crew for the weekend.

Chris Rhoad let me slide his GTS hatchback around until the tyres popped. It definitely made me miss my li’l eight-six!

This car looks so sexy without 20lbs of vinyl & stickers.

I heart vitaminenergy.

Chris Rhoad on cone detail:

Aftermath.

Support Drifting.

I took the e46 up to Foerst Motorwerks today so we could get her prepped for the Southeastdrift event in Greenville next weekend.

Delicious Steve stopped by sporting his custom Slide Style™ Hot Wheels. He just picked up some aero for his ride… I can’t wait to see it kitted out!

Southeastdrift.com threw their “All You Can Drift Buffet” down at Watermelon Capital Speedway on Friday night. This was the first legal night event that Georgia has seen.This was also my first drift event since I shattered my collarbone in September. With the E46 fully stripped of all her graphics, and all pressure and politics lying in a dumpster somewhere south of Atlanta… this event was single-handedly the MOST FUN I have had at a drift event EVER. Multi-car tandems, enough flashing lights for a year’s supply of seizures, and a leprechaun’s bag of colored lights underneath my car… this event will be tough to top.

Photos by PandamoniumPhoto.com.

We started pulling graphics off tonight. Can’t there be an easier way to get this stuff off? I can’t feel my fingers. Backing all the holographic vinyl with plain black was the best idea EVER. It made removing most of the graphics SO much easier.

Design-wise, I stepped way out of my comfort-zone (in several ways) with the 3rd issue of Wrecked Magazine. These three spreads illustrate some of the different typographic, illustrative, and layout styles I put into the latest issue..

As the only designer on staff for Wrecked Magazine, I always have a huge task to undertake with each issue. I like to design the cover last… so it it can reflect the vibe of the issue. I’m really pleased how this cover turned out. It definitely represents the issue well, for all those who really do judge books (or in this case, magazines) by their covers.

What started out as a random experiment in typography ended up landing itself as a new deck for Slide Style™.

I can’t wait to see these printed on wood.

After the deck was designed, I implemented the style into an ad appearing in Wrecked Magazine.