2013 NBA BRACKETOLOGY

Like we always do at this time.

This year's NBA bracket is up and running. We've been doing this for a few years now - always fun to see poorly everyone does at predicting future NBA champs.

Decided to go with an In-N-Out gift card for the winner. And of course if you don't live within driving distance of an In-N-Out then you have bigger things to worry about than some online hamburger contest.

The playoffs should be fun this year. Excited to see how James Harden takes his hard feelings out on the Thunder, if the Clips can outlast Memphis again (I think they can), if D.Rose will emerge and take the Bulls to a 2nd Round Heat matchup and of course if the Lakers can pull off a few miracles.

nba2013.nobizplan.com

We'll accept brackets until next Tuesday, spread the word.

DESERT STORM

Went out to the middle of nowhere for a couple days last week.

Shot a cool little spot for our boys at Cycle World.

This was just more of a passion project from Jeff Allen at Cycle World than anything else. No editorial story or client guidelines - just a fun piece that Jeff had a vision for. He asked us to help out and be a part and it was a no-brainer for us.

Brought out Scott and Sean from 4120 to film some RC helicopter aerial stuff for us. Check out those virtual reality goggles - pretty sweet right?

An on-board shot via one of the new GoPro Hero3 Black Editions - we used these out in Austin as well. Footage quality improvement from the Hero2's is huge. We still got love for Contour - excited to see what they come out with next.

Shout out to everyone at Cycle World for bringing us out to the desert for some fun (and adventure). The CW guys are so chill and easy to work with. Also thanks to Ducati for the bikes and Alpinestars and Arai for the gear. Stay tuned for the vid.

DUCATI AUSTIN: I

First half of the recap from our epic week in Texas.

We spent most of the week out at the Circuit of the Americas which is the new F1 racetrack they have down there. The track and the whole facility was amazing - plus Ducati went all out all week branding everything from the paddock at the track to the Audi courtesy cars. They had a full setup at the hotel - Ducati reception desks, a Panigale in the lobby, Ducati room keys - it was legit.

Anyway, Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies were out there for the first couple days and Ducati flew in journalists from all over the globe to come in throughout the week and ride and test and review the new Panigale R.

We crashed here for the week. #toughlife

We had one sort of half day off in Austin and we made the most of it. First off we stopped by Taco Deli and grabbed some food. The tacos were good - they had Mexican Mashed Potatoes - it was a cool spot. All the food in Austin costs a fortune though, but whatevs.

After lunch we stopped by DJI Innovations - they make radio controlled helicopters for flying cameras and capturing aerial footage and their HQ happens to be in Austin. The whole aerial cinematography game is something we've been looking into lately so we just sort of dropped in unannounced and luckily they were cool and chatted with us for awhile about new products and stuff they're working on.

After that we stopped by Nice Kicks and Ryan picked up some sneakers. Then we hit South Congress which is apparently the 'cool' street of shops and food trucks and stuff.

There are a million food trucks all over Austin - it's kind of insane. Grabbed a gourmet grilled cheese from this one called Burro - the branding and truck design was cool. Not sure about the sandwich, Ryan claimed it was good but left half of it rotting back at the hotel the rest of the week.

This vintage shop Uncommon Objects was cool. We stopped in here and bought some used horseshoes and stuff - very well curated. You could spend all day in there.

And finally, us, looking tough, in the 25-story tall observation deck that towers over the track.

Part II coming soon including a full Yelp recap of all the Austin food places that bankrupted us.

Meanwhile we're staying busy - filming the next 2 days in a dry lakebed out the middle of nowhere. Should be fun :)