Marshall Creative / online branding + strategy + design + short film + content creation » Skiing

Just another example of why we’re living in the future

Sandy Marshall — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:38:45 +0000

Time was, kids on a ski hill or mountain bike would buy a helmut and attach a small (or sometimes huge) camera to the side with a wad of duct tape. Sometimes they’d balance the lopsided weight of the camera with an actual, real weight on the other side — carrying a literal sack of potatoes while ripping up the mini back bowls of Southern Minnesota. Now, Liquid Image is offering a pair of goggles for about $150 designed to serve this very need with a built-in camera above the nose piece. These goggles, nearly identical to my first pair from 1988, are about two steps away from a built-in blue tooth to answer phone calls or offer a heads-up GPS-generated virtual trail map on the inside of the lens. An alpine version of StreetHawk. No more icy cameras, glove juggling, or sacks of potatoes.

Your friendly Thursday ski movie trailer

Sandy Marshall — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:30:55 +0000

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Amidst some company transition and expansion, I’ve taken advantage of some sporadic downtime by watching bits of ski movies online. Ski movies are great: 90-minute music videos interspersed with comedy bits and slow-motion helicopter shots of gorgeous mountain powder. You probably know by now that I’m a huge fan of the uber-popular underground flick “The Blizzard of Ahhh’s.” And what better than a ski movie trailer featuring a remake of Rush’s Tom Sawyer? Well here it is. Bonus points for filming in Colorado.

From sport to career in 1:40

Sandy Marshall — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:44:50 +0000

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Named “The world’s most recognizable skier,” Glen Plake started out skiing in the mid-80′s and quickly became a cult phenom among skiers and ski shop owners and ski movie buffs. Here’s how he made the leap from just skiing to making money skiing.

A Project Called Snowbird

Sandy Marshall — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:58:46 +0000

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In celebration of so much snow around the country, here’s another clip from the famous 1998 Greg Stump ski flick “The Blizzard of Ahhh’s,” arguably the favorite late ’80′s wintertime movie from the Skyline neighborhood in Mankato, Minnesota.

The Blizzard of Ahhh’s

Sandy Marshall — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:55:28 +0000

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I learned to ski in Southern Minnesota, and in the late 1980′s, this was the movie to watch — Greg Stump’s “The Blizzard of Ahhh’s.” In the world of ski movies (most of you’ve probably seen Warren Miller flicks on a Sunday on ESPN), this marked the beginning of the documentation of (what is now “so-called”) extreme skiing. For the uninitiated, this movie has an enormous cult following among skiers. With a soundtrack by the German techno-pop band “Act” (which later became “Propaganda”) and lots of neon, it’s pretty sweet. It also introduced Glen Plake, the world’s most recognized skier (he’s the guy with the mohawk), to the world. A little 5-minute ski zen for you on this snowy Friday. You can thank me later.

Would you buy a ski resort?

Sandy Marshall — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:34:14 +0000

California’s Mt. Waterman is for sale for a mere $1.65 million and though that sounds like a lot of money, it seems like a pretty good deal for an area with 27 trails and 3 double chairlifts. Inc magazine has a nice rundown of the pros and cons of the bid. Sounds like the biggest reinvestment you’ll need to make, if interested, is in area-wide snowmaking machines, which is ironic because the Mt. Waterman slogan is “Snow from the Heavens, Not the Hoses.” A new marketing strategy is going to be a big mountain to climb as well, though judging from their FB page, they’re on top of posting videos and quick updates about weather and fun goings on. Track weather and reports via the official Mt. Waterman site and keep in mind that if you buy a ski resort you’ll want a really good lawyer, because sooner or later someone will slip and fall and sue the resort and forget about the fact that to rent skis or even buy a lift ticket they agreed to the risks involved in skiing, which, to be honest, are nil. Did you know that 90% of all ski injuries occur when people ski beyond their abilities and go for broke down the double blacks after a few Coors Lights in the lodge? Rants aside, I’m looking forward to tracking progress on Mt. Waterman and their sale. Being the product of a small ski area in southern Minnesota, I wish these guys the best of luck and tons of snow.

Weekend Bonus! Glen Plake on Tree Skiing

Sandy Marshall — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:46:00 +0000

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