Quick Hits Archive: October 25 - October 31, 2007
Nov 09 2007 / Los Angeles, CAOctober 31, 2007
Nike SB Pays Homage To Crappy Childhoods
Published: 2:31 a.m. PT by Me
If you were young when I was young the skate based video games around then weren't even close in terms of quality to what we have around now, but we still played them. One such game from the 80s was '720'. The arcade game revolved around a skater (you) who had the ability to skate around town and tackle various courses obstacles in order to continue on with the game. What was distinctly unique about the game was the fact that the joystick had only a circular motion, so you had to spin the joystick around in circles to accomplish tricks. Basically it was a lame game that kept us occupied. Why do I bring this up? Because Nike SB has decided to release a pair of dunks to commemorate the game so many of us had grown up on. The dunks (seen below courtesy of NikeSB.org) features the distinctly 80s color scheme as well as a checkered interior. Details of the shoe's release are sketchy as of now, but just keep a look out for the pair at your nearest sneaker boutique if you're into either the 80s or neon colors. Again info courtesy of NikeSB.org.
More Event Notices
Published: 2:09 a.m. PT by Me
There are a lot of cool events coming up so we figure we put a bunch of them together for you with info/links, so here goes:
• Tomorrow marks the beginning of C1rca's Tour De Smash Florida at Outer Limitz in Jacksonville. The tour feature team riders Tony Tave, Sierra Fellers, Winsor James, Dennis Durrant, Abdias Rivera, Julien Davidson as they make stops and session all throughout Florida. Details of for each stop location can be found here.
• This Saturday is the 11th Annual Texas Skate Jam presented by Adio. The jam takes place at Southside Skatepark in Houston and is an event that benefits the Texas & Gulf Coast chapter of the Make A Wish Foundation, so it's for a great cause not to mention that tons (and we mean tons) of top pros will be out there jamming it up for both the people and the kids. This is an event you definitely should check out if your in the area. Doors will open at 10:30 in the morning while the skating starts at 12 noon, for more details on the Texas Skate Jam click the link here.
• Next week from November 3rd to 4th Sebastien Inlet will play host to Quiksilver's King of the Peak Surfing Contest in Melbourne, FL. This is an event for Floridian surfers to come out and proclaim their dominance and take home a $10,000 purse to boot. Past winners include Kelly Slater, CJ Hobgood, and Jeremy Johnston, so you know you'll be seeing some good surfing. For info on the event check the Quiksilver event page here.
• Lastly coming next Friday (November 9th) is Burton's 5th Annual Queens City Sessions in downtown Burlington, VT. The event features a rail jam on a new rail design, a bigger and better start structure, live graffiti, beats by DJ CRE8, tons of free giveaways, awards and a live set from local cover band, Böne Cöbra in City Hall Park. The event begins at or around 5:30 and admission is free. For more info on the Session check the link here.
Birdhouse: In Kentucky And Still On Tour
Published: 1:41 a.m. PT by Me
Just a reminder, Birdhouse is still on tour hitting up cities across the United States with their newest video 'The Beginning'. The most recent stop was this past Sunday at Ollie's Skatepark in Florence, Kentucky. Living in Kentucky it's probably not an everyday occurence to see one of the icons of a sport and a walking multimedia conglomerate like Tony Hawk stop by so the anticipation was quite high as evidenced by this article from the local newspaper, and as seen in the photos posted up from the tour stop by Birdhouse the Kentuckyans (is that what we call them?) were more than willing to fill the place to the rim to watch the Birdhouse gang including Jean Postec and Kevin Staab (both pictured with Hawk) do what they do best. So if you're looking at the schedule and see Birdhouse making a trip to your town (Next stop: Today in Frederick, MD) you can check out what to expect by skimming through the tour photos at Birdhouse's site here.
Photo courtesy of Birdhouse
Published: 1:12 a.m. PT by Me
It's been a long time since we've got one but finally the eS Blog has hooked it up with a team update featuring most of the eS skaters you've grown to love, including Rick McCrank (tearing up L.A. at both the GvR and Vans Downtown Showdown), Rodrigo Tx (prepping footage for the next Flip video), Justin Eldridge (skating up Santa Clarita), Nyjah Huston (back in sunny Puerto Rico after spending a lot of time killing it in Southern California), Cale Nuske (back home in Australia, planning a trip to Europe for some footy), Silas Baxter-Neal (out west for teh Inhabitants Video Tour), and the rest of the cast. Check out the eS Blog for the full team update in case you want details.
Hurley Encourages Kids To Sniff Glue
Published: 12:49 a.m. PT by Me
Surf brand Hurley has announced an upcoming clothing and eyewear collection inspired by legendary punk band The Ramones. The Ramones collection will feature 16 different pieces for men and women incorporating artwork from Ramones' albums and concert posters across the full spectrum of apparel Hurley puts out including boardshorts, hoodies, t-shirts and eyewear.
In speaking about their decision to create The Ramones collection Bob Hurley, the founder and CEO of Hurley, said this, “I love the Ramones for their energy -- the songs are exciting, brilliantly simple, and fun. I used to make surfboards for a living and every morning at 4:30am, I’d cruise into my factory, switch on the lights, insert my cassette tape and crank up some Ramones super loud. Their music gave me energy and inspiration; and the group changed the status quo, which is something that has always appealed to me.”
To kick off the release of the collection Hurley has decided to host a Ramones based art show at their headquarters in Costa Mesa, CA on November 2 (the flyer for which you can see below), followed by an official retail launch four days later at clothing boutique Fred Segal in Santa Monica, CA. Subsquently The Ramones collection will be available at select boutiques nationwide following the launch events, with prices ranging from $50 for tshirts and $150 for hoodies. For more details on the The Ramones collection as well as other Hurley/Art/Music related info check Hurley's official homepage here.
Unicycle Is Embarassed By Its Owner
Published: 12:29 a.m. PT by Cary
I really gotta give a hearty thanks to the etnies Blog for bringing the following to my attention. I seriously used to constantly make unicycle jokes whenever people would ask me a transportation based question (i.e. "Hey Cary, how come it took you so long to get here?" "My leotard got caught in my unicycle." *hilarity ensues*). Well now a man named Shaun Johanneson has just upped the ante by putting unicycle jokes into visual form through a youtube clip of himself freestyle unicycling. After watching the clip I had no other conclusion to draw except to assume that Johanneson lost all spatial reasoning and couldn't tell that his bike had lost a wheel. Then again after watching the clip a second time I had no other choice but to come up a fictional scenario of how this video came about.
Maybe Shaun Johanneson used to dream of being in the Circus, the Circus Of The Sun, or Cirque Du Soleil as the rich people in his neighborhood called it. Maybe he didn't have much arm strength due to an accident involving his brother and nipple clamps. Maybe because of the impoverished life he had been thrown into due to an accident involving his brother and nipple clamps all he was left with in life was a wheel and a stool. Maybe he built that wheel and stool into a unicycle. Maybe he practiced on that unicycle so much that the neighborhood kids would laugh at him while they were playing Magic: The Gathering. Maybe Shaun continued on undeterred and even opened up a unicycling dojo even though dojos were only meant for karate. Maybe the dojo brought the attention of Cirque Du Soleil and they invited him on the tour. Maybe he got partnered along with another muscular unicyclist with the stage name of "Braccus". Maybe he took on the name "Whisper" and the duo took on the name of "Thunder And Lightning". Maybe through the course of several hundreds of performances they fell in love with one another. Maybe their love tore the stage show apart causing both to get thrown out of the troop. Maybe they haven't spoken in years and Shaun fell back into poverty. Maybe he created this youtube clip as a way to climb back out of poverty and back into the heart of Braccus. Maybe the Linkin Park song featured in the clip is really an expression of his inner agony. Maybe the rest is left for fate to write. Either way here is the clip:
More News For Your Accountant/Stock Broker
Published: 12:09 a.m. PT by Me
In news that might not interest you a bit, it looks like it's bad news for Volcom as the prices for the clothing brand's stock plunged 23 percent in after-hours trading after the company reported lower than expected numbers for its Fourth Quarter. Most of the major sales figures came in under expectations for the report including earnings per share and revenue numbers which led to the drop in stock prices. The company blamed concerns about the overall economic environment, slower-than-projected sales of outerwear, and weakness in the overall vulcanized slip-on category, which hurt the company's new footwear business, as the main culprits behind the lower than expected figures. What all of this means? I'm not sure at all, but if you want more detailed info on Volcom's performance check out the Forbes story here.
October 30, 2007
Dolphins + Surfboards = Hayden Panettiere In A BikiniPublished: 1:25 p.m. PT by Me
We knew we had to draw you into this story through some underhanded way, thus the attached picture, but this is a nice story worth reading. Pro Surfers including Dave Rastovich, Karlie Mackie, and Karina Petroni as well as celebrities such as Panettiere (pictured at the event), model Hannah Fraser Rastovich, and Australian actress Isabel Lucas took part in an event to help bring awareness to the commercial slaughter of dolphins in Japan. The event took place in the "notorious killing cove in Taiji Japan" over the weekend as the group of surfers, activists, and supporters paddled out on boards and formed a circle in the cove to protest the estimated 25,000 dolphins and porpoises that are are slaughtered by Japanese fishermen each year and are harvested for their meat in annual drives or captured for sale to marine and captive swim parks. Upon completing the circle the group also laid flowers in the water as a symbolic offering for the dolphins that have been killed. The whole event was watched by police and local fishermen (who are involved in the dolphin hunting practice), who earlier had planned to stop the event but changed their mind after negotiating with the group led by Rastovich in a surprisingly peaceful meeting.
To find out more about what happened in Japan check out the story here, to find out more about the cause itself head to the Surfers For Cetaceans site here.
Red Bull's Glamis Invasion This Weekend
Published: 12:39 p.m. PT by Me
In other Red Bull/Motorcross news: This Friday and Saturday night Red Bull FMX riders including Travis Pastrana, Ronnie Tenner, Jeff Tilton, and others will be paying the Glamis Beach Store in California a visit to screen the newest movie from Pastrana and the Nitro Circus crew, 'Thrillbillies'. It's good to hear Travis Pastrana has taken a break from his Rally Car career and squeezed in a little time for FMX. The event begins at 8:30pm Friday night and 7:30pm Saturday night so if you're interested in checking out Pastrana hold court make sure you're at the Glamis Beach Store (5379 E. State Hwy 78, Glamis, CA 92227) at those times.
Stops For The 2008 Red Bull X-Fighters Announced
Published: 12:16 p.m. PT by Me
The Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour is back at it for 2008 and this time they're planning to hit the good ol' U.S. of A. If you didn't know the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour is a motorcross tour that features the world's top riders making stops at some of the most unique places in the world (unique in the sense of "They had a Moto X event there?") to showcase their skills. Past stops have included bullrings in Spain and castles in Ireland so hopefully you get the drift.
For 2008 the creativity doesn't stop as Red Bull has planned a five stop jaunt through Mexico City, Rio De Janeiro, Rome, Fort worth, and Madrid. Mexico City will feature riders facing off in the now familiar setting of a bullring at the Monumental Plaza de Toros in April. After that it's headed to Rio in May where Brazilian samba will meet motorcross at the famed Sambadrome. Then it's off to Rome where the event will take place in the historic Circus Maximus where motorcross will now take the place of Charleton Heston-like chariot racing. Following Rome the tour will make its first ever American stop as it goes after the Toby Keith demographic by hitting up the rodeo at the Forth Worth Stockyards in Texas. Finally come July the tour will head back to Europe and visit a familiar haunt at the Las Ventas bullring in Madrid. Sounds like a whirlwind tour full of adrenaline, motorized madness, and stereotypes.
Trent Munro To Retire
Published: 1:01 a.m. PT by Me
One of the top surfers in recent years has called it quits. WCT Pro surfer Trent Munro has announced that he plans to retire from competitive surfing at the end of this year citing the grueling travel schedule and the fact that he is a father-to-be as the main reasons that have led to his decision. In retiring Munro leaves behind accomplishments including two WCT wins, six WQS wins, many 2nds and 3rds, and the 2001 Rookie of the Year award. In speaking of his decision Munro said, “I’ll miss most of the boys for sure. I’ll miss most of the venues we go to and the people I’ve met but really it is just the right time for me to pack my board bags away and move on. I have stayed with some great families along the way and I really can’t thank them enough for making me feel at home”. Of course all of this doesn't mean that Munro will stop surfing, upon retiring he plans on building up his Trent Munro Surf Academy to help practicing surfers at the intermediate to expert levels improve in the sport. But as for now it seems Munro is just looking to relax a bit from the jetsetting lifestyle of a competitive surfer, and start preparing to be a daddy.
For more on Munro's decision check out the announcement via World Professional Surfers.
Terje Haakonsen's Got Ideas About Shaun White
Published: 12:36 a.m. PT by Me
As a follow-up to something we mentioned last week, Snowboarder Mag has posted up the second part of their Terje Haakonsen interview. If you checked out the first interview, or if you know anything about Haakonsen himself, you would know that the interview goes deep. In the first installment Terje talked about his career, the sport, and Craig Kelly, this time around Terje discusses contests, his dislike of photo shoots, "selling out", and corporate sponsorships. He also shares his thoughts about Shaun White, who he's talked about quite a bit in recent interviews, including this almost muted dismissal of White when speaking of what could possibly save the soul of snowboarding: "I don’t really think snowboarding needs to be saved; it seems like it’s doing well. I don’t think it would save anything sending Shaun White to the backcountry and getting rid of some of his mainstream sponsors." Ouch.
To read the 2nd part of Snowboarder Mag's interview with the legend Terje Haakonsen check out the link here. In case you missed the first part of the interview head over here.
I Should Have Paid More Attention In Spanish Class: Plan B In The Dominican Republic
Published: 12:11 a.m. PT by Me
According to the Plan B Blog the whole team (including lovely Ryan Sheckler, P Rod, and icon Danny Way) is going to be hitting up the Dominican Repbulic from November 12th to the 19th. The details of this mini tour are actually set it's just that as the headline indicates my Spanish isn't up to par with say a Mark Madsen so I couldn't decipher the bits of information on the website announcing the tour. Here you try to figure it out.
October 29, 2007
Foundation Pulls Out Time Machine Type Footage
Published: 3:46 p.m. PT by Me
Don't you hate it when your mom pulls out those old photos of you as a baby taking a bath naked (as opposed to those clothed baths) and shows them off to the hot date you just brought over? Don't you also hate it when she pulls out the same photos for the insurance saleman too? Or how about that time she pulled out the big guns and showed the Mormon missionaries the old footage she has of you as a baby sniffing the bowels your dog had just released on the lawn? Man your mom's got issues...but yeah Foundation just played the role of mom to two of their ams, Angel Ramirez and David Reyes, by posting up old footage of them tearing it up as kids on skateboards. Though the footage isn't as embarassing as the "hypothetical" situations mentioned above, the footage is awfully cute in a little kid sorta way. See what I mean below:
Spitfire And Lakai's Fully Fired WheelsPublished: 2:20 p.m. PT by Me
Here's something you might wanna be on the lookout for at your local skateshop, Spitfire has hooked up with Lakai to put out a set of wheels to celebrate the upcoming release of Lakai's video "Fully Flared". In true creative form the wheels will be called "Fully Fired" as a play on both the video's title and the wheel company's name, but the best part of the whole deal is that proceeds from the sale of the wheels will help benefit victims of the recent wild fires in Southern California. So make sure you pick up a set of these wheels if you're looking to update your deck. Also don't forget to check out 'Fully Flared' when it comes out on November 16th, 'cause from the looks of the clips posted on the Lakai site this video's gonna be insanely good.
Pastrana Takes Rally America Title
Published: 1:09 p.m. PT by Me
It seems now we have an answer to why Travis Pastrana had forgone a lot of recent Motorcross events for rally car racing, as this past weekend Pastrana took his second Rally America National Championship Series title. Pastrana's title came after placing first at the final race of the Rally America championship, the Lake Superior Performance Rally in Houghton, Michigan. Heading into the event Subaru Rally Team USA driver Pastrana was tied with DC Shoes owner and fellow Subaru team member Ken Block for second place in the overall point standings, both just four points behind overall leader RockStar Energy Drink Rally Team driver Andrew Pinker. Within the first day of the event though Block was knocked out of title contention after damage to his car eliminated him from the contest, then in the following day Pinker fell behind both his fellow RockStar teammate Tanner Foust and Pastrana, leading to Pastrana's eventual win. Pinker still finished second in the overall standings with Block coming in behind him at third. To read more about Pastrana's win and to get the complete final standings of the Rally America Championship Series check Rally America's official site here.
The AST Goes Global
Published: 12:30 p.m. PT by Me
Hot on the heels of our profile of the SMP Skatepark in China, the AST (the people who bring you the Dew Tour) has announced the creation of the AST China to take place in Beijing in April 2008. The AST China will be a Skateboard Vert and Park event featuring some of the top skaters who qualify on the basis of their Dew Tour point standings (ummm we have feeling Ryan Sheckler and Shaun White will be some of the first participants named). In addition to the Dew Tour participants local Asian skaters will get a shot at the pros as qualifications will take place throughout China for skaters looking to take part in the AST China competition as wildcard-like qualifiers. The venue, sponsors and prize money and all the other meat and bones of the inaugural AST China competition will be announced at a later date. To find out more about the AST China and to keep up-to-date with AST announcements check the AST home page here early and often.
de Souza Wins the Onbongo Pro
Published: 1:19 a.m. PT by Me
Brazilian Adriano de Souza has won the Onbongo Pro in Itamambuca Beach, Brazil, the second WQS title he's won in a row follwing a victory in Itajai last week. He took the final Australian Kieren Perrow.
The win means de Souza will compete in this week's Foster’s ASP World Tour event in Santa Catarina (Oct. 30 - Nov 7). If the Brazillian wins, he will be the first to do so since Peterson Rosa in Rio nine years ago.
"I am living a dream. I don´t know what to say. I am very happy winning two events in a row, but it hasn´t finished yet. My main focus is still on the World Tour event in Imbituba this week, and I really want to give my best there," de Souza said.
By making the final, Perrow has qualified for the 2008 WQS. Brazilian Jihad Kohdr, who made the semifinals, also qualified for 2008 with his finish.
Volcom Damn An Results: Scott DeCenzo Wins, Ortiz Second
Published: 12:01 a.m. PT by Me
Scott DeCenzo has won the Volcom Damn AM 2007 in Costa Mesa with AST Dew Tour winner Chazz Ortiz coming in second. GvR hero Luan De Oliveira finished in fifth for the contest, right behind Flip phenom Louie Lopez.
Chris Mendes won best trick thanks to his kickflip backside tailslide big spin out.
Volcom Damn Am 2007 STREET FINALS Results
1. Scott DeCenzo
2. Chazz Ortiz
3. Ryan Decenzo
4. Louie Lopez
5. Luan De Oliveira
6. Donovan Piscopo
7. Kechaud Johnson
8. Axel Cruysberghs
9. Evan Smith
10. Felipe Gustavo
11. Timmy Knuth
12. Kyle Walker
13. Luis Perez
Volcom Damn Am 2007 STREET BEST TRICK Results
1. Chris Mendes
Trick: Kickflip backside tailslide big spin out
2. Dan Nepscha
Trick: Kickflip body varial to backside lipslide
3. Dominique Johnson
Trick: Kickflip frontside bluntslide shuv it out
4. Shane Browning
Trick: 360 flip noseblunt slide
5. Jon Rojas
Trick: Nollie flip back lip
October 28, 2007
Note to South Africa: Train Surfing is Not a Sport
Published: 1:19 a.m. PT by Me
Occasionally we see stories about train surfing come through and there is something sort of tragic about people dying doing something so stupid. But all that said, when the word "sport" is attached to it, as opposed to "idiotic thing." This story not only refers to it as a sport, but also as something done in Brazil and Russia. Now, I haven't heard about that before -- with the exception of perhaps James Bond in "From Russia With Love" -- but to call it a sport... Well, people think Parkour is a sport, too, and that was in a James Bond movie, too.
Surfing is done on a wave, not a train, not a car...
Aussies Love Mick Fanning's ChancesPublished: 12:52 a.m. PT by Me
The Aussies are positively giddy about Mick Fanning's chances of winning the Foster's ASP World Tour. We've already talked about this to no end but to set the table once again, Mick Fanning has a huge lead in the points race, and only Taj Burrow or Kelly Slater have a mathematical chance of winning it. But if Mick Fanning shows up, he's pretty much guaranteed to win the overall title by either the next stop in Brazil, the Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro, or the final stop in Hawaii, the Pipeline Masters.
Among the happy Aussies? Mark Occhilupo, only the last Australian surfer to be world champ.
"“It would be classic," Occhilupo said. "It’s a good and bad thing to be the last Australian World Champion. You get a few accolades for that, but Australia is the kind of place where it has been too long. We used to win a lot of World Titles. I’ll be more than happy to hand it over to one of the boys."
Joel Parkinson, who fell out of the race recently, is fine with any of the possible scenarios working out, since he has plans for the future.
"They can have it this year - because I'm going to win it next year," he said.
But perhaps the most interesting quote out there is from Rip Curl team manager Matt Griggs, who thinks Fanning won't have any chance to follow in 35 year-old Slater's footsteps to win for years to come.
"One thing with Mick is, he won't get the longevity in his career because of how hard he's going right now," Griggs said. "It's pretty intense, you know."
You can read more here. The holding period for the Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro starts on Oct. 30.
Volcom's Damn Am Qualifier Results: De Oliveira, Ortiz Among Leaders Published: 12:12 a.m. PT by Me
Here are the top 16 qualifiers from Volcom's Damn Am that will be taking place in Sunday's semi's, which will be webcast live starting at 12 noon PT at Volcom.com.
As you look over the names, check out a few cool things: First place on Friday was GvR wonder Luan De Oliveira followed by AST Dew Tour Free Flow Tour winner Chazz Ortiz (right). Last year's Free Flow winner David Loy made the cut barely on Saturday. Also of note -- famous siblings and sons -- Riley Hawk (yep, Tony's son) made the cut on Friday while Shane Sheckler, Ryan's younger bro, made it on Saturday -- now why doesn't he ever skate on the show?
Volcom Damn Am 2007 FRIDAY STREET QUALIFIERS Results
1 Luan De Oliveira
2 Chazz Ortiz
3 Louie Lopez
4 Luis Perez
5 Filipe Ortiz
6 Kevin Romar
7 Axel Cruysberghs
8 Felipe Gustavo
9 Jesse Andres
10 Evan Smith
11 Dylan Perry
12 Curren Caples
13 Dominique Johnson
14 Ryan Decenzo
15 Shuriken Shannon
16 Riley Hawk
Volcom Damn Am 2007 SATURDAY STREET QUALIFIERS Results
1. Donovan Piscopo
2 Tommy Werner
3 Aaron Herrington
4 Kechaud Johnson
5 Andrew Pott
6 Scott DeCenzo
7 Dave Abair
8 Timmy Knuth
9 Shawn Hale
10 Manny Santiago
11 Shane Browning
12 Chris Mendes
13 Shane Sheckler
14 Kyle Walker
15 Mario Matabele
16 David Loy
October 27, 2007
The World's Greatest Skatepark
Published: 12:36 a.m. PT by Me
While coming up with a recent Quick Hits entry on the Shanghai Showdown that happened this month in China I came across something in the article that caught my attention, it claimed that the SMP Skatepark in Shanghai was the largest Skatepark in the world. Then this morning I noticed the eS blog had an entry up that listed the SMP Skatepark as the best contemporary skatepark. At this point my curiosity peaked (I had also just recently visited China so that helped too). I had to learn more about this, so I searched for a site for the park and found it. From what I see on the site this place is AMAZING.
First off the park covers an area of roughly 13,700 square meters (147,500 square feet) which is like the size of The Shire from 'The Lord Of The Rings'. Within those 13,700 square meters you've got 7 separate bowls of various shapes (one being the six-pack bowl shaped like a six-pack) and sizes to skate, 2 vert ramps (one being insanely huge), a separate competition area with a full-fledged park-like course, 2 major street plaza areas, a 16 stair Hubba Hideout-like ledge and rail, and a full pipe tucked away in one of the bowls.
At the site you can catch footage of Darren White, the main designer of the park, talk about how the design developed out of a crazy brainstorming session where everything and anything went (thus the six-pack bowl) because the budget wasn't an issue (it ended up costing about $26 million). The park developed out of a partnership between the Chinese government, SMP International (the global licensor of the SMP and Shy lifestyle clothing brands) and Convic Design, as a project to rejuvenate the New Jiangwan City site in Shanghai. Given what I saw when I was in China, this type of construction on a grand scale isn't very surprising, I mean this is the country that just finished building this, is in the process of building this and this oh and also this. Like I've told others visit Beijing in about 10 years and you'll probably be visiting a super- future-mega-city (that phrase is all mine).
So yeah though I haven't ever been to SMP Skatepark I'd probably agree with the assessment by eS that it is the best skatepark out now. To find out more about the SMP Skatepark in Shanghai as well as get results from the Shanghai Showdown that went down earlier this month there head to the park's official site here.
Oh yeah in somewhat related news also check out photos from the Zoo York team as they tour China, Hong Kong specifically, here...some funny stuff.
Published: 12:35 a.m. PT by Me
• DC's got a promo up for it's newest Josh Kalis shoe, the "JK7". A small version of the promo can be caught on DC's main site, while the larger screen version is downloadable as a podcast. To catch Kalis talking about his new shoe and putting it into action check the link here.
• StrangeNotes has footage up of Greg Lutzka sessioning Cream City Skatepark in Milwaukee and doing a good job at that. To check out Lutzka taking over Cream City head over here.
• 411VM's Digging In The Crates (D.I.T.C.) Friday has an old clip of the Chocolate team visiting the Hernandez Ledges in Los Angeles. To rewind back to 2005 for some Hernandez Ledge footage click here.
• Thrasher's King Of The Road series has outtakes from Blind's upcoming part which you can check out here.
• Element has footage of Mike Vallely's tour stop in Paris where he and fellow Element skater Guillaume Mocquin go wild on a local skatepark. Check the Parisian footage out here.
• And finally...David Loy needs to respect his elders.
Kassia Meador's Vice-riffic Bike RidePublished: 12:30 a.m. PT by Me
Mosey on over to VBS to check out Hi Shredability's newest episode which shines the spotlight on Roxy longboarder Kassia Meador. In the episode, show host Tyler Manson checks in with Kassia as she hits the streets of New York on a bike while looking for a bike. In their search for a potential bike Kassia gets to speak on her love of NYC (she's from Oceanside) and the state of women's surfing from an exposure standpoint, all the while cutting in footage of Kassia doing her thing on a long board. Yeah, yeah, I know this could have probably been thrown into the video roundup entry but it's actually a really cool feature, 'cause she seems pretty cool, and it's longer than your usual round up clip, plus it's got that Vice TV style that all the young dudes love. To check out the clip of Hi Shredability taking on Kassia Meador check the VBS link here. Damien Hobgood Is Getting Sick Of His Couch
Published: 12:22 a.m. PT by Me
If you don't remember a few months ago while still in ASP World Title contention Damien Hobgood took himself out of the tour because of a lingering knee injury that was affecting his performance. He had injured it at the Rip Curl Search where despite the injury he still finished 2nd at the stop and moved to 2nd in the WCT ratings. Then the following stop at the Billabong Pro JBay he ended up finishing 33rd, prompting him to step away from the tour to heal. Well Damien's hit up the World Pro Surfer's Super Blog with an update on his condition, and it seems some good news is in order as he's said that he's pretty much healed and will be training by November, with a possible entry into the Pipeline Masters at Banzai (the last stop of the Tour). That's good news to hear since Hobgood had been begged as one of the ones to watch at the World Title. To get the news straight from the horse's mouth check out the WPS Super Blog here. Event Reminder: Damn Am 2007 (Comes With Live Webcast)
Published: 12:16 a.m. PT by Me
Don't forget, running from now through this Sunday is the Damn Am competition happening in Southern California (Costa Mesa to be exact) presented by Volcom. Like I mentioned the event has already kicked off but the finals as well as the best trick competitions don't get underway until Sunday. Since this is an amateur contest there's probably a lot of heads you don't quite know about, luckily the organizers got a good riders list going at their site which you can access here so that you aren't all out of the loop. Now if you aren't able to physically be there this Sunday 411VM's going to have a live webcast of the event going that day starting from 12 noon, so be sure to catch that over at 411. Rome SDS Covers Their "I Love Box" Tour
Published: 12:06 a.m. PT by Me
Head over to Rome SDS' site to check out their coverage of the Mission Viejo stop of their "I Love Box" Tour where they got a first hand account (with photos) of what it's been like at the start of the West Coast leg of the tour. If you didn't catch it in our Events Calendar , Rome SDS's "I Love Box" Tour kicked off earlier this month in Manchester, New Hampshire with a total of 23 stops planned on both the East Coast and West Coast. The tour features open jib sessions at the parking lots of each stop's shop, with snow hauled in for stops still in the midst of late Summer weather. As mentioned each stop allows for any and all riders to take part and for those not geared up and out there to watch there are also booths set up with giveaways, free food, and general fun-having. So if your city is one of the stops on the tour you should, like I said, head over to Rome SDS and find out exactly what to expect from the "I Love Box". October 26, 2007
Erica Hosseini Takes You Home With HerPublished: 2:33 a.m. PT by Me
One of our past Girl On subjects, Erica Hosseini, has just been featured in Surfline's Hometown series. The series follows different girl surfers around as they show off their hometown through a slideshow of photos and matching audio. In Hosseini's case the hometown is Newport Beach where we get to see her stroll through her neighboorhood streets, surf her favorite breaks, and hang out at home while she guides us through her background through her narration, where she also reveals that she watches 'Newport Harbor' (you lose points for that one Erica). To check out Erica Hosseini's Hometown Profile you can go here, then in case you missed it you can check out Erica's Girl On profile over here.
Epicly Later'd Episode 11: Aaron Suski Feature
Published: 2:03 a.m. PT by Me
After a four episode cycle that focused on Andrew Reynolds VBS' Epicly Later'd has returned with Episode 11 of their Emerica Wild Ride series. This time the focus is on Zoo York skater and all around free spirit Aaron Suski. Whereas the previous episodes really went up-close and personal with Reynolds this time around the Suski profile has more of a casual interview feature where Suski talks briefly about his rise up the skateboarding ranks and his feelings on skating in New York. From the looks of things it seems like Suski will be featured again in the coming episodes, but for now it's just Episode 11 of Epicly Later'd. David (Consolidated) vs Goliath (Nike)
Published: 1:41 a.m. PT by Me
If you're into kitsch and also hate multi-national corporations that rely on sweatshop labor, Consolidated Skateboards has got the perfect shoe for you. See Consolidated had created a series of sneaker last year called "Drunks" as part of its "Don't Do It" campaign which takes aim at Nike's entry into the skateboard arena. The most recent version of the shoe (whose name is a play on the famous Nike Dunks) has been released and is a collaboration with fellow skate company, Osiris. It features a patent leather basketball look with a banana substituted in for the familiar Swoosh (that's where the kitsch comes into play), which has been a motif running throughout all the sneakers in the series.
In speaking of the sneaker and the "Don't Do It" campaign in general Steve “Birdo” Guisinger, owner of Consolidated Skateboards, laid out his beef with Nike in this way, "There is a reason there are no football, baseball, basketball, or soccer, player owned companies-and there should be. We don't want this to happen to our industry."
The Consolidated/Osiris "Drunks" are available at local skate shops, for more info on the shoe and the "Drunk" series check Sneaker Freaker here, and also keep a look out for future "Drunk" collaborations by Consolidated.
Published: 1:32 a.m. PT by Me
This past weekend was the Goofy vs. Regular Surf competition held in Oceanside where the regular team featuring Kieren Horn, Sunny Garcia, Austin Ware, and Team MVP Sebastian Zietz, defeated the goofy team that was highlighted by Timmy Curran, Cory Arrambide, Mike Losness and others. For those who weren't able to follow the event Transworld Surf has put up a photo gallery from the GvR Surf. The gallery can be found at Transworld Surf's site here.
While your over at Transworld Surf you can also catch the short interview they did with Goofy team's top surfer Tim Curran while at the GvR. The interview mainly focuses on Curran's recent release of his album which can be gotten on the web for FREE. To check out the Curran interview head over here, to download Tim Curran's album 'Word Of Mouth' click on this link.
Terje Haakonsen Back In The News
Published: 1:02 a.m. PT by Me
Besides having a name I hate spelling Terje Haakonsen is truly one of the living legends of snowboarding. He's more than likely done it all when it comes to riding a board through snow, and with his world record backside 360 this past March at The Oakley Arctic Challenge he's showing that he's still got tons left to show and gallons left in the tank. In light of that Snowboarder Mag has decided to do a real in-depth interview with the icon himself where they broach the topic of his life in snowboarding, the craft itself, the influence of Craig Kelly and his current direction in the sport...and that's only part 1 of the interview (part 2 will be posted next week). So head over to Snowboard Mag to get a peak into the mind of Terje Haakonsen and hopefully some of his greatness might rub off on you.
Also check out this bit of Haakonsen news: TTR has announced Terje's return to the Nissan X-Trail Jam (a Six Star TTR event) in Tokyo December 8th and 9th. Supposedly his re-entry into the contest was spurred on by the above-mentioned world record backside 360, but we get a feeling he's probably just trying to show some of these young guns how it's really done. To read up on the TTR announcement check their official press release here.
Where's Jack?!?! I Think He's Buried In The Snow! Quick Look For The Giant Vulva!!!
Published: 12:57 a.m. PT by Me
I know the guys at Cool Hunting usually find some pretty dope stuff but it just seems that everytime it involves something worth covering here its usually of the "quirky" variety. This time around we got the Life Bag created by the Swiss Company Snowpulse. It's sorta like this self-inflating life jacket/flak jacket for snowboarders/skiiers/mountain people to wear like backpack straps when they head to places where avalanches are a distinct possibilty. The bag when inflated (it becomes fully inflated within 3 seconds) acts as both a protective cushion around the head and a "flotation" device that attempts to prevent a person from being buried underneath the snow. Though the bag is obviously something quite helpful in a life-saving sort of way, I just can't get over the look of it upon inflation (check the picture). It kinda looks like a mountaineer about to be birthed (well at least from the torso up). But seriously don't be burdened by my unnecessary imagination...feel free to create your own idea of what the Life Bag looks like.
But back to the product details. As of now the Life Bag cannot be purchased in the States (you have to wait until December 2008) but when it does be prepared to spend roughly $1,100 on it. A hefty price to pay...for your LIFE. For more info on the Life Bag hit up their official site, and also you can continue to check Cool Hunting for plenty of unique products.
Published: 12:41 a.m. PT by Me
Lakai is giving away free tickets to the Los Angeles premiere of their newest flick 'Fully Flared' on November 16th to 25 lucky winners. Each winner will be given 2 tickets but no hotel or travel accomidations, meaning participants should already be in Southern California at the time of the premiere. To enter the contest for the premiere tickets you only have to mail (snail mail not the electronic type) a letter to Lakai which includes your name, address, contact info, and any Lakai print ad by November 2nd. The winner will then be picked randomly (they claim they'll be drawing them out of a hat) and notified.
For the contest address and an Eric Koston outtake from 'Fully Flared' head over to Crailtap (the top left box).
Phillip Soven Makes Wakeboarding History
Published: 12:11 a.m. PT by Me
Quick note: a couple of days ago Phillip Soven became the first rider ever to win the Pro Wakeboard Tour, the WWA World Series and the King of Wake World Cup in the same year. At 18 years-old he's also become the youngest wakeboarder ever to win the King Of Wake World Cup (which is like the ASP World Title for Wakeboarding), for that he bagged $25,000 as well as the chance to have his friends and family call him King as opposed to humble old Phillip. To read more about King Phillip's accomplishments this past Wakeboarding season check out the press release he's had posted on all his subject's doors.
October 25, 2007
...But It Wasn't All Bad News For Tony Hawk
Published: 3:00 a.m. PT by Me
Given what we wrote about earlier in regards to the sales numbers for Tony Hawk's Proving Grounds it's best that we post some good news for the Tony Hawk camp, and this one's really good news as it seems the Tony Hawk Foundation helped raise over $1 million earlier this month through its Tony Hawk's Proving Ground Stand Up For Skateparks Benefit. The Benefit brought out some big stars like Sean "Diddy" Combs, Lance Armstrong, Jon Favreau, and Shaun White among others, and featured skate and BMX demos, carnival-like games, live music, and a charity auction (items up for bid included a "Hawkized" Jeep 4-door Wrangler) all to raise money for the Foundation. The funds raised by the benefit are going to be used to help finance and provide guidance in the development of free public skateparks in low-income areas across the United States...a noble mission indeed. For more information on the 4th Annual Tony Hawk's Proving Ground Stand Up For Skateparks Benefit check the Transworld site here, and make sure you catch the last part about how the Tony Hawk Foundation has donated $1,712,334 to date in order to help build local skate parks.
Tony Hawk Might Be Sleeping On A Bed Stuffed With Less Cash Than Before
Published: 2:33 a.m. PT by Me
So after being on shelves for a full week the numbers are out for Tony Hawk's Proving Grounds and things aren't looking so good for the Birdman, especially in comparison to EA Skate. Proving Ground, which was simultaneously released on three platforms (XBox 360, PS3, and PS2), saw the PS2 version take the highest position out all three consoles at #13 with roughly 27,000 in sales. The XBox 360 version came in at #16 on the charts with sales of roughly 24,000 while the PS3 version eeked out a spot in the top 50 at #49 with 9,700 in sales. So in total Proving Grounds sold around 60,000 copies spread across the three platforms for its first week. To put this in perspective, that's roughly equal to the amount of copies sold of Wii Games on its 36th week (though Wii Games is a lot cheaper).
Now to put this in terms of the Proving Ground/EA Skate rivalry, Skate had opening week sales of 74,000 copies for its XBox 360 version (which by itself trumped the total first week sales of Proving Ground). The PS3 version of Skate, which had a delayed release, sold roughly 22,000 in its first week (more than double Proving Grounds PS3 first week sales). So all together EA Skate had first week sales equal to roughly 96,000 (Skate has not been released for PS2), compared to first week sales of 60,000 copies for Proving Ground (which had an extra console to account for AND a Guitar Hero 3 Demo included). Another thing worth noting is the fact that even in its sixth week EA Skate for XBox 360 nearly matched/outsold its Proving Ground counterpart.
If all these numbers are confusing you just take it as this: Hawk's video game empire might just be crumbling under his feet. Now if you aren't someone scared by numbers and raw data then check out the actual video game sales charts here and do some accounting of your own.
ASP Previews The Three Headed Monster That Is The Santa Catarina Pro
Published: 2:12 a.m. PT by Me
In anticipation of next week's Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro, the second to the last stop of the ASP WCT, ASP has a preview of the event up on its site. Of course all eyes are on the trio fighting it out for the World Title Crown: Kelly Slater, Mick Fanning (current points leader), and Taj Burrow, and the preview makes sure that that's the focus.
If you're wondering what the mindset of the current leader is right now heading into the Santa Catarina Pro at Imbituba the preview has got a good show of confidence from Fanning himself who says, “I can’t speak for the others but I feel really comfortable in Brazil. It has been a strong event for me over the years.”
Beyond that the preview does a great job in detailing all the possible scenarios that could lead to a World Title for each of the top three, the conditions of which are too lengthy to include here. So if you're itching to get a head start on what you gotta keep an eye out for in Brazil check out the ASP preview of the Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro here.
Published: 1:42 a.m. PT by Me
Uh oh another exclusive collaboration project between an artist and a skate/clothing company, this time it's Zoo York with design artist Mike Perry producint some really nice looking skate decks that focus on Perry's vision of NYC.
via The Empire Of KittyLaBoom:
Michael Perry works in Brooklyn, NY making books, magazines, newspapers, clothing, and drawings. He is currently curating two new books. He also recently started a magazine called Untitled a… That explores his current interests. Doodling away night and day, Perry creates new typefaces and sundry graphics that inevitably evolve into his new work, exercising the great belief that the generating of piles is the sincerest form of creative process…
To check out more of the Zoo York decks head over to the blog entry here.
Snowboarders Two Steps Ahead Of JesusPublished: 1:19 a.m. PT by Me
In line with what the skateboarding world does every year in September with 'Go Skateboarding Day', snowboarders around the world have circled December 23rd as World Snowboard Day. Like Go Skate Day, World Snowboard Day will be a day for snowboarders of all levels/ages/genders to gather wherever they can (preferably where there is snow) and celebrate the sport they love so much by practicing the sport. World Snowboard Day spawned out of the first Snowboard Day celebration in Europe organized by the European Boardsports Industry Manufacturers Association a year ago whose success helped in developing the larger version for this year (and so on into the future). The greater hope is that different industry participants from companies to resorts will launch (free?) events to allow riders to celebrate the day properly, but as for now just keep December 23rd in mind and find out more about World snowboard Day at the official website.
I'm Having Flashbacks
Published: 12:59 a.m. PT by Me
Through a circuitous route (From The Skateboard Mag's Blog to BobShirt.com to Rob Brink's Blog) I stumbled on two separate items that threw me back into the early 90s era of skating, and which might be of interest to those of you who like learning about where you came from. One was Rob Brink's archiving of old Big Brother issues (the magazine that spawned 'Jackass' for you youngins) through photo shots of individual articles from issues #1 to #4. Articles archived include those Rodney Mullen articles/essays, the infamous "How To Kill Yourself" article, and my personal favorite from the time the Quotes box. If you didn't know Big Brother Magazine was a huge huge influence on skateboarding and culture in general in the 90s, so much so that I won't even write about it and instead just hope you check out the articles themselves (keep in mind that these articles were written wayyyyy before things like Vice were out). To read some of the these old Big Brother articles head to Rob Brink's blog here.
Now the second thing that had me reminiscing was Rob putting up a trailer for the World Industries DVD Boxset. The boxset looks like it will include all the past World Industries Videos including the landmark 'New World Order' and '20 Shot Sequences'. The trailer features some old-but-great footage of Rodney Mullen, Kareem Campbell, Daewon Song and others from these videos and even includes some of the great music that was featured in those videos (i.e. De La Soul's 'Eye Know'). No info on the release of the boxset is included unfortunately but it's definitely something you wanna keep your eye on. To check out the World Industries Boxset check out the YouTube link below.
Thanks for the memories Mr. Brink.
Published: 12:19 a.m. PT by Me
If you didn't notice it in our events calendar this past weekend Automatic Magazine held the Fourth Annual Battle Of The Shops in Vista, Califonia (near San Diego). The Battle was pretty much how it sounds with Automatic and Adio (the event's other main sponsor) rounding up teams from some of the best local skateshops to duke it out on a custom made course. The shops involved included the likes of Santa Cruz Skateshop, Utility Board Shop, Street Machine, willy's Workshop and 19 others, who were each asked to choose 4 team members to do battle in 4 different competitions (based around the 4 main obstacles of the course). In the end ZJ Boardshop came out on top with Pharmacy, and Val Surf coming in second and third respectively. The best part though is that in case you missed it both Vital Video and 411VM have clips from the event up on their sites. So check out the local kids tear up the gap, the tranny (transition...not the other type of tranny), the rail, and the street tech setup. To see footage from the Battle Of The Shops hit up Vital Video right here and/or 411VM here. Active's "Hot Spots"
Published: 12:02 a.m. PT by Me
Head on over to Active's blog to check out the first installment of their "Hot Spots" feature. The feature (which they promise will be continually updated) shines a spotlight on some of the favorite haunts of local skaters (unfortunately this most likely limits the series to only Southern California spots) with footage from the spot (with real nice tracking shots that survey the whole park) as well as Google maps to locate the spot and tidbits of info. First up for the series is Garvanza Park in the Highland Park Area of Los Angeles (near Glendale), a nice concrete skate park that features plenty of smooth transitions, a pool, requiste ledges and rails, and a six-step stair set. The footage from the park features skaters like Mike Anderson, Luan De Olveira (winner of GvR), and others really tearing up Garvanza Park, taking advantage of a lot of the transitions.
A thing to note is that you can also look to contribute your own favorite spots in the hopes of getting it featured in the series, unless of course you like keeping your favorite places hidden and all. To check out Active's profile of Garvanza Park go to their blog here.
