Coming Home DVD
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New short films by Effort Inc and Horizonline Pictures
I’m very pleased to announce the release of a new DVD called Coming Home: the adventures of Spencer and Chris. Comprised primarily of four short documentaries, shot and edited by Chris Gallaway and myself, the video collection represents a labor of love (Notice the $14.99 price tag. Nobody is getting rich off of this project.) and our passion for sharing stories about our experiences on the water and in the outdoors.
Chris and I have worked together on several projects over the past five or six years, including his award winning Green Race Movie and my last production from Rapid Transit Video, which was entitled The Eddy Feeling. Chris is always a pleasure to work with an he really pushes me to make my creative work better. We tend to learn a lot working together and the Coming Home DVD was most definitely a learning experience. And I don’t mean that sarcastically at all. I only say that meaning that it has been enjoyable to produce this project and that I feel it is our best work so far. Chris does all kinds of great work through his company, Horizonline Pictures, and I encourage you to check out his website. He has this sort of inspiring style that makes you think he is only headed for great things. When I listen to his video narration I can’t help but think he belongs on a show like This American Life.
Further, I am really pleased to be able to share these stories with the paddling community and to do it with purpose. At first we honestly didn’t even plan to make these into a product that would be sold. We both had some short film ideas in mind that we wanted to do for ourselves primarily, kind of as scrapbooks, collected memories of monumental journeys we took with our kayaks. Thanks in part to our co-producers, Astral Buoyancy and Shred Ready, we were able to pool enough funds to pay for the DVD replication.
My primary contribution to the content of the DVD is a video entitled How to Go Surf Kayaking, which is second in a series of surf kayak films associated with INTERFERENCE, a surf kayak film my friend Joey Hall produced two years ago. Over the past fifteen years I have been traveling around the world with a group of friends on surf kayak trips. Without much direction we have documented these trips and I have tucked away footage and photos for years and years. The title, How to go Surf Kayaking, is both sarcastic and sincere, meaning that it’s not an actual instructional video. Rather, the title means that we as a group learned how to go surf kayaking, how to travel with kayaks, how to survive as tourists in other countries and how to have fun surfing together. The production was, as I state in my narration, “for my friends,” merely as a scrapbook piece, but now we are going to be able to share it with the world. And hopefully this video and the others on the Coming Home DVD will inspire people to go out and travel and find the fun and beauty we have found in the sport of kayaking.
Quickly, the other three films include Grand Canyon in Winter, North Shore: A guide to getting lost, and Coming Home: North Carolina. All three of these were produced fully by Chris Gallaway with the exception of Coming Home, which I was a big part of in filming and planning.
“Coming Home” Trailer from Horizonline Pictures on Vimeo.
Proceeds from sales of the DVD, as well as funds raised at the video premiere, will benefit two non-profit organizations local to Asheville, NC. We feel there is something we can all appreciate and gain from these groups and we aim to raise more awareness of both. Our VOICE is a intervention and prevention agency in Buncome County NC that serves victims of sexual assault. In short, they are a rape crisis center, and their services and purpose should not go unnoticed. RiverLink is an organization which spearheads the economic and environmental revitalization of the French Broad River and its tributaries as a place to live, work and play.
There is an awful lot to say about the music in the soundtracks of these films, which I will dive into on some separate articles that may be found later at RapidTransitMusic.com
Thanks,
Spencer Cooke – Effort Inc.
Pertinent Links:
Our VOICE
RiverLink
These are all the fine folks who donated product to raise money for Our VOICE and RiverLink at the upcoming world premiere.
Diamond Brand Outdoors
Astral Buoyancy
Shred Ready
Immersion Research
Limones
Lola Salon
Clingman Cafe
Mike Byer Auto and Truck Repair
Outdoor Sports Marketing
Seal Line
Effort Inc
teamscum
12 Bones Smokehouse
Coming Home DVD link for purchases http://rapidtransitvideo.com/main/store/2011/04/23/coming-home-dvd-14-99/
Rapid Santa Holiday DVD Special http://rapidtransitvideo.com/main/store/2011/12/13/rapid-santa/
Posted in Events, Multimedia, Ordinary News
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Smartwool Factory Tour Video
I recently had unique and exciting opportunity to shoot and edit a video for SmartWool. As I found out during the shoot, most of SmartWool’s socks are milled in the USA, near Chattanooga TN. Great company, lots of really fun people to be around.
Thanks,
Spencer Cooke, Effort Inc
IR has a bunch of new stuff for 2012.
Check out these bideos of the new stuff IR is coming out with for 2012.
Kling-On Empire, behold.
Rival Semi-Drytop
Arch Rival Drytop

John Weld doesn't need your guns, cause he's got these guns. The IR Swelbo pad is coming back and it is going to pad your silly little swelbos.
Demshortz and Huck z gnar Shorts
Later we all celebrated with some cheeseburgers,
Thanks, Spencer Cooke
Posted in Brands, Ordinary News
Tagged 2012, arch rival, immersion, Immersion Research, ir, klingon empire, new, research, rival
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Spring 2011 Photo Journal
What happened this Spring, in 100 photos or less. Or less to be exact.
All photos taken with GoPro Hero HD, LG env3 or iPhone 4.
Thanks,
Spencer Cooke
Effort Inc
Posted in Multimedia
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Long live the fax machine.
Can we please come together as a community and just stop it with this “social networking” and “email.” I mean, companies like “OSM” and their fancy “RAVEN” ordering system need to just give it up. Do you honestly think that when Abraham Lincoln invented faxing that he didn’t foresee the internets and all it’s flaws? Well maybe he didn’t have his googles figured out but he darn well built the fax machine to stand the test of time. I’m pretty ticked off about all this facebook, youtube, tweeter blibble-de-blab. Get your fax machines out and let’s show the world how to do business the real way!
Posted in Ordinary News
Tagged end the fax, fax, great inventions, kill, kill your fax machine, osm raven, social networking
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Thrasheville Mountain Skate Festival Announced
My friends Felipe and Troy from Longboard Asheville have put together what looks to be a very fun and cause-worthy event.

I edited a promo video since the contest site is very near my house.
Soundtrack by Small Brown Bike
Listen to their new album, Fell and Found, in it’s entirety at No Idea Records

My Predicament
I guess this was around the time I got into all this mess.
The Smiley’s Nose Plug Story – Made in the USA
Shaman Products manufactures Smiley’s Nose Plugs, a brand I have provided to retail stores across North America since the late 90s. At the time Eric Southwick and Tanya Shuman were making nose plugs one by one out of their truck, alongside whichever river they may have just paddled. These were people making a product out of their true passion for the sport of paddling. I imagine it began as a way to supplement their fuel expenses for the next kayak adventure, but it quickly accelerated into a product and brand that was unlike any other. Every paddling shop (and every paddler subsequently) needed this product. From my perspective that is more or less how this brand was born.
Recently I wanted to hear from Wick exactly what was going on with the manufacturing of the product. Here’s what he had to offer:
All made in the USA. All materials sourced in the USA. The Manufacturing process is done by a Native American Family in New Mexico on the reservation in a cottage industry style. Without that job they would either have to give up their home or drive 2 to 4 hours every day. It’s my favorite kind of manufacturing. From the people for the people. Fair wages all the way around. – Wick
The most recent shipment of Smiley’s have arrived in the same, fuel-efficient, recyclable, reusable packaging as before, but with a cool new graphic on the bag.
Any shops who carry Smiley’s, you are supporting more than just a product category. You support mine and Wick’s small businesses in selling and distributing to your store, the Native US people who put the product together and much more.
Please contact me if you need these products. If you currently sell Smileys you are listed on this page. If your store is missing from the list, or if you would like to become a dealer, please let me know and I’ll add it immediately.
My sincere thanks,
Spencer Cooke, Effort Inc
Posted in Brands, Ordinary News
Tagged ear, ear plugs, grip, grip tape, health, kayaking, made in the USA, nose, nose plugs, paddle, paddling, plugs, tape, usa, usa made, water, watersports
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