Festivals come and go.  Some even have an impressive line-up, but it’s getting better as the years roll along. This festival’s bill, however, is one of those unforgettable ‘I’m paying rent late, pulling a sickie and doing a road trip’ types.

On October 31st, Melbourne will exclusively host the monstrous MegaRampage Festival.  Let’s start with the equipment - Etihad Stadium will contain a nine storey ramp which will take four days to build, covering 12 acres of ground.  The largest in the southern hemisphere!

The skateboarders - USA’s Danny Way, Brazil’s Bob Burnquist, Australia’s Jake Brown, Buster Halterman, Rob Lorifice, Andy Macdonald, Adam Taylor and Alex Perelson from the States, Lincoln Ueda and Vovo from Brazil and rumoured appearances from Ryan Sheckler (USA) and Jake Duncombe (AUS).

The BMX riders - American champs Morgan Wade, Kevin Robinson, Anthony Napolitan, Allan Cooke, Dave Mirra and Chad Kagy, and reppin’ Australia is Steve McCann.

As for the music, you’re gonna need more than dancing shoes and you’d better be prepared to be sore the next day.  Live performances by The Offspring, Good Charlotte, Wu-Tang Clan, Pitbull and Kelley James. Aussie acts include COG, the slammin’ Mammal, and Shaman Son.

On sale from today @ Ticketmaster.

So, who bought NAS tickets for the Sydney show?

PS - Happy birthday Will.

As the clock struck midnight I realised that it was my birthday, but with the nights celebrations continuing and drinks flowing over at Bimbos on Fitzroy (which I also have to mention has the best $4 pizzas ever!) we became aware of the fact that this was our last day here and we had a long drive ahead of us, so the night drew to a close in the early hours of 4am.

Later on in the morning we grabbed a big pan breakfast at the ‘Corner on Bellair’ at Kensington for the second time in two days. Served with bacon, sausages, eggs, baked beans, tomatoes, toast and covered completely in cheese and served in a hot pan… will definitely be back for thirds next time we’re in town.

Goodbye Melbourne… Till next time.

After a full of day of trekking around the streets of Melbourne visiting the local hotspots we were starving, so our host Miko took us to a humble little Vietnamese restaurant. Mmm anyone for Quail?

Just around the corner from Hemley this piece caught my eye.

Wall by the Everfresh Crew. Find out more about the Melbourne based artists here.

The highlight of our DS mission to Melbourne was definitely our visit to Hemley on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. We are stoked to announce that Hemley will be one of our first Melbourne stockist, bringing DS apparel to the Victorian state in the not so far future.

We originally blogged Hemley a few months ago, if you haven’t been there yourself or don’t know about this impressive store, Hemley consists of two floors, a Skate oriented upper floor together with the boutique streetwear ground level. While chillin upstairs, Jimmy (captain of the ship) pointed out the custom built timber skateboard rack and display shelves, which gives a unique classic aesthetic appeal to the shop. You can tell that the interior design has a personal touch to it. They also have a massive selection of ol-skool boards from, Santa Cruz, Hosoi, Dogtown, Alva, Powell Peralta, Pocket Pistols and Black Label ‘Emergency’ collection.

Downstairs is a nice transition from ’skateboard heaven’ to high end cut & sew ‘hot as hell’ apparel and kicks. With sneakers from, Supra, Reebok, Vans, Puma, Converse, DC, New Balance and Vision Street Wear to clothing from Triumvir, Insight, Wesc, One Teaspoon, Evil Twins, 2 Blocks South and Neon Blonde, there is enough gear to keep you out-fitted and forever stayin Everfresh, just how they like it in Fitzroy.

Thanks to Jimmy, Tim, Eloise and the rest of the Hemley family for keepin it real!

PS You got to get those kicks hangin off the front again… i’ll send you a pair of mine.

As part of our Melbourne mission we dropped into Evolve on Chapel Street to catch up with Scott. Sheltered from temperamental MelBurnian weather we were welcomed with Evolve’s interior of Skateboards, kicks, cut and sew apparel and of course without fail, a collection of dope printed Tee’s from a variety of different labels.

Apart from talking business we eventually ended up conversing on upcoming Sci-fi flicks. One trailer that Scott mentioned was being released at midnight, James Cameron Avatar.

The release date for Avatar (no relation to the cartoon) is on the 18th of December. Avatar actually went through one of the longest post production periods in cinematic history, almost 2years. Director James Cameron (Aliens, Titanic) and Fox Studios took their time to bring us the beginning of the 3D revolution, with Avatar potentially, and most likely to be the biggest live-action 3D Hollywood movie ever made, surpassing Spiderman 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Using new 3D polarized glasses with digital cinema projectors, we will no longer get headaches or see any ghosting of the images, but rather have our preceptors sh*t themselves and our eyes trip out cause we’re watchin 3D on IMAX! EPIC! But wait they also had the couch potatoes in mind, locking a deal with Panasonic who will be pushing to release of this film together with their new 3D flat-panel TV’s mid next year.

Now… if you haven’t seen it already… Disney’s Tron Legacy which is due to re-stimulate the senses is coming out on IMAX 3D in 2010. Yet another cinematic record broken, being the sequel with the longest time span from the original, 27 years! Bringing back Jeff Bridges (who was in the original) to yet again help pioneer ground-breakin-neon-beamin-movie-makin technology. How quick is technology moving these days? I’m still livin up Blu-rays.

On a finishing note, we can only get a idea on how Disney’s Tron will really look in 3D, when they release Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland first, on March the 5th.