If there’s one thing people can’t avoid in life, it’s getting older. As much as we try to stay involved in the sports that we grew up doing as kids, it gets harder and harder on your body each year. Knowing this is one thing, but experiencing it first hand is another. When it comes to street skating in Canada, Barcelona and New York City, Ian Twa has all the secret spots on lock. With a network of friends inside each skate community, Ian spent his earlier years avoiding the harsh Canadian winters by escaping to skate inside Barcelona. One thing that surprises me about Ian is that as he gets older, his skating seems to get better. I guess you could say that as the years rolled by, Ian has really learned more about what it takes to stay current in this game. By combining years of experience on the streets with a network of friends across the world, it looks like Ian’s skateboard career is in the best place yet: his own hands.

What’s new these days?
Not much man, just been chillin’ in Van city.

It’s been raining everyday in Vancouver, where have you been skating? Any travel plans to escape the rainy days?
It only rains part of every day. Haha! When it’s dry I skate the plaza a lot, and there are some pretty good new street spots in my neighborhood too.

I see on your Facebook profile that you were tagged in someone’s Instagram photo while you were snowboarding. How often do you get up the hill?
Shit, that was the first time I’ve been snowboarding in, like, six years.

Do you find shredding to be fun, or do you do it just to pass the time?
Definitely a good time. I rolled up with my roommate Joey Williams, who’s sick as fuck. We have been living together for almost eight years and that was the first time we went together.

On a completely creepy note, I also noticed a picture of what appears to be 35 bottles of alcohol on your Instagram. Is this how your crew at The Chateau rolls during the lonely winter months?
There could be up to as many as 10 people staying in the house at any given time, so a lot of wine can get drank around dinnertime. And the holidays are all about good food and friends.

As someone that grew up in Calgary, is there really that much of a difference in the skate scene during the summer months?
Honestly I haven’t lived there in so long I am not really sure what the skate scene is like anymore. I know some ill skaters from there and I think they have their own good thing going on.

Now that the plaza is all redone, it’s time for the truth to come out: in your opinion, did the city do a good job with the renovations? What’s left to fix?
Yeah they did a bang up job. I wouldn’t really fix anything at the moment. I always like skating the streets and the plaza is still just a skatepark, but it’s a dope skatepark and I’ve skated a lot of street spots that aren’t as good. If you can run some shit real good on the granite at the plaza, you can do it anywhere.

Back in the day you used to spend a decent amount of time behind the lens filming and skating. What’s the deal with your footage these days? Are you stacking for anything?
Me and Coops (Jason Cooper) used to film each other a lot, just trying to come up. Now the house has a camera but I generally go out with a filmer: Dane, Ty, and my homey LJ gets down. We’re just starting to film for a house vid which should be real nice.

Speaking of coverage, you had a pretty serious interview in last summers SBC Skateboard magazine. In that interview they mentioned that you were taking some school courses. How’s that going for you and what’s the future hold?
Just trying to be productive with my time, and it’s only a part-time program. It’s going well; no plans for the future but skating.

If you had to choose Vancouver or NYC, what would it be?
Vancouver is my home, but I would definitely like to do a couple years in New York.

Who’s hooking it up these days?
I get love from Zoo York, Matix, Spitfire, Diamond, Independent, Incase and G-Shock. And a couple people have been hooking me up with some shoes, so thank you.

Written by Mikey Scott on Push.ca HERE.

The Hundreds brand ambassador DJ Flipout has been tearing up Telus Ski & Snowboard Festival and it’s only four days in. Check out the recap video from KINGSNOW’s party at Garfinkels this past Saturday.

Ottawa has a new skateshop in town and its name is Antique. They had their grand opening on Saturday and it was filled with over 150+ supporters and tons of alcohol. Make sure to check out Antique online HERE and keep up to date with the latest & greatest.

Our friends at The Urban Bakery in Winnipeg have been supporting The Lytics, a local hip-hop crew for a while now. They were hanging out in the shop pre-show and managed to get this little video edit together. Check it out.

As most of you should know by now, Vancouver is playing host the the Red Bull Thre3style World Finals in search of the best party rocking DJ in the world. Our good friend Hedspin is reppin’ Canada after his win at the National Finals in Toronto. He took the win last night and has now qualified to the Finals on Saturday at Commodore Ballroom featuring the final four party rocking DJs. Livestock & Red Bull just put this artwork up of Hedspin in their Gastown location. Congrats Hedspin, good luck on Saturday and see you there! Grab your tickets HERE!

Dazed presents a behind-the-scenes insight into Rankin’s various shoots for the 20 cover stars of our December issue. This one featuring Billionaire Boys Club owner, Pharrell.

Dazed & Confused has teamed up with photographer Rankin for the 20 + 20 Covers Project, which is in celebration of their 20th anniversary.

“The series of 20 covers have been shot for the upcoming December issue, featuring portraits of 20 iconic cover stars from Dazed’s past, including Kate Moss, Pharrell Williams, Chloe Sevigny, Eva Green and Jarvis Cocker. Each unique cover has a gatefold pull out, which features 20 rising stars chosen by each celebrity, as a portrait of pop culture heroes of the future. Each issue also includes a series of interviews where Dazed speaks to the legendary names featured, including PJ Harvey, Damien Hirst, Bjork, and Pharrell Williams, alongside with new young stars such as Little Dragon, Jamie Woon, S.C.U.M, and Josephine de la Baume.”

Most of you reading this know Mitch Yrjola, one of our sales reps here at Take Five Trading. He is donating his face to support men’s health and growing a wonderful crumb duster. KnowBlog recently did a write up on him, so check it out!

“Tell us about your moustache:
Well, it’s a peculiar little crumb duster. My mom is Chinese so I get these super stiff, sparse, wiry protrusions from my face; while my old man is Finnish so amidst the Fu Manchu there are some little blonde and even ginger whiskers! It ends at the upper lip, there’s no connection to the chin so mind the gap. This year I am a proud member of Movember team: TONY in honour of Tony Hutchinson.

What is your favourite Moustache of all time:
Among the top ranking in my mind are: Jack Layton (RIP), Frida Kahlo and Dale Earnhardt Sr. However, my favourite of all time would have to be Salvador Dali’s — Amazing artist and one hell of a creepstache. {ed. note: nice pussy}

Why you are participating in Movember?
It seems like every year I lose someone very close to me to cancer. I’m just doing my part as a man to raise money and awareness towards prevention and cure research. Prostate cancer specifically accounts for 27% of all new cancer cases in men. This year 25,500 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 4,100 of them will die. 1 out of every 7 guys who reads this will get lumps in their rumps, luckily 90% of prostate cases are curable if detected and treated in the early stages. I’m growing a moustache because getting pledges for my follicle farm is easier than running and marathon; but, also to remind men (especially those over 40) to go get a finger in their butt.”

Follow his progress, chirp and/or donate to Mitch and the team at: http://mobro.co/mitchstache