Kickstarter My Heart

Sam McGuire, jerboiz Davis and Todd and a bevy of other dudes are trying to alternatively fund a skate trip of dreams in a way we all wished we'd have thought of first. They're trying to raise $15,000 (or more) in a month, starting today. All the info you need is right here on their Kickstarter page.

Will Kevin Love get suspended for this, which happened over the weekend? Let's find out today!

Edit: Two game suspension!

Also, 0 comments

Lions and Lambs

We've made it so far that skateboarding is writing its mythology from within for without. The trailers above feature plenty of recognizably amazing skateboarding with soundbites from recognizable skateboard faces speaking a language for mass consumption. Writing about Harold Ramis and his early comedic success in a 2004 New Yorker piece, Tad Friend said, accurately,

"The secret of American commercial success is to hijack a subculture and ransom it to the mainstream."

"Hijack" may not be precisely the correct term for what Stacy Peralta and Jacob Rosenberg are up to, because there probably wasn't or isn't anyone at the controls in the first place. The two filmmakers do seem, however, to have vested interests in how the subject matter and the people in the films are portrayed. They are, inextricably, parts of the stories they're trying to tell (Peralta to such an extent that he's directing something about something he directed).

Are the two films going to be compelling and entertaining? With a doubt. Would For Whom The Bell Tolls be more apropos for the D. Way biopic? Yeah (it might even be in there even. Another question, did Trent Reznor score Waiting for Lightening?). Will there be some entertaining montages set to "The Faction," and, well, more "Metallica?" Sure thing. We, skate nerds, might even learn a thing or two from watching.

I'll have to reserve judgement until I've seen both movies, but the likelihood that either will do more than gloss over any real controversy in either story seems low, unless the controversial figure is seriously on the outs. Looking at you, Swindell. Of course, both films are histories written by the victors and any concerns about their accuracy should be filed away while I tune in, to tune out. Entertain me.

Elsewhere, Butttown's newest and finest, Alec Majerus is doing some seriously heavy lifting.

Chromeball interviews Tim O'Connor just in time for the weekend.

I'm late to posting this Rob Brink interview, which is a good read.

Finally, to a dude who seems like he could be 28 because he's been doing it for so damn long, but he's only 23; happy birthday to David Jaimes. This is six years old; let it play out the credits.

No Limit Soldier

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Thrasher has what is essentially a Nike SB edit that's quite pleasing, though the caption for it has me trying to determine if I'm being a bit too PC when it comes to the lack of "art-faggery" mentioned. Should I care? Does the hyphen score points? Is it just a matter of Thrasher's "coreness?" Nah, that's pretty tacky*.

That said, the highlight of the clip is BA's none-seen-that-often-or-ever flatground impossible bigspin. I'd wanted someone to do that trick forever (lacking the skills to do it myself) and the wait was well worth it due to BA's impecable "slow motion for me" style and the meandering that lead to that boneless lipper.

For sheer audacity (that probably hasn't been matched since) this is one of the best covers ever, 13 years on.

*I agree with the commenter. The final sentence was changed from a milquetoast rejection of caring for what is now there.

On Dunks and Video Parts

While the commentariat over at Boil The Ocean struggles over concerns of Mark Suciu and authenticity (yes, I added my two cents as well), my mind wanders to matters like the Herculean dunk above (violence!) and this piece by Bethlehem Shoals about quantifying, or qualifying the best dunk. As it happens, my mind wandered back to rankings in skateboarding, how frivolous a pursuit they really are (but how fun are they?) and then Shoals laid it all out so succinctly and with an analogy I can take to heart, I decided to post. Shoals says (apply this as you will to skateboarding):

"Dunks are a subjective shudder, felt by spectators, but mostly an exchange among players. Each dunk is singular, and yet very much the same: someone got totally fucked and all the world saw it. Ranking them is like comparing other people's genital size when we fans will all die virgins."

Virgins, man.

Edit: Jordan Sanchez!

Masonite Boogz

The one-off, indoor skateboard contest for-the-sake-of-an indoor skateboard contest is a time tested and true, seemingly Middle Western tradition that I hold in high esteem having participated in many myself. The locked in feeling of a day or weekend at the skatepark during the throws of winter holds a hazy, masonite boogery, jittery-legs-type nostalgia for me that harkens back to my first-ever contest in spring of '97. I got second, maybe third, intermediate; they didn't bother with a beginner because no self-respecting 15-year-old (we were the youngest there) would stoop to that (maybe there was a beginner section, I don't know).

Which brings us to the vestigially named Southern Slaughter at the Lair. B-Show gave the finals high marks as a judge and let's not gloss over the fact that the above video features babies doing cute skateboarding, a 39-year-old man nosesliding the handrail and a bunch of teenagers killing it. 3rd Lair features one other "contest for the hell of it," that exists on its own outside of some other run formatted contest series, the more lastingly titled and older Midwest Melee. My pontifications here should be taken with a grain of salt, but with the lead-in here in mind, maybe the "Southern Slaughter" title could be dropped and the contest could be simplified into something older, more cabin fevered, with only a 15-25 and a 25 and up division, an intense masonite dust experience of a single day that gives the teens their due, but might also give the semi-retired and Dan Jackson a chance to come out and relive their other days with some dignity (not that Dan was lacking, I'm thinking of myself).

That's not quite the ode to the local contest I had in mind, but I'm cool. Be sure to take a Pizzy Break and ponder the economics of a trip to Cream City in the waning days of the most mild/best winter ever.

PS: Henkler, ask me sometime about the 411 rule on contest video editing.

Charles Barkley Bar Fight

Whether or not B-Show actually came up with the idea for a Kevin Garnett jersey buy-back program for Timberwolves games this season (he was traded a long time ago now, folks), the dude is still fascinating because he's an unvarnished maniac. Here are a couple other magical KG moments. I was also going to type something about how rad it is that the Wolves have a better record than Boston, but alas, after the bar fight last night that's no longer the case.

As for the skate-related video above that you've probably already watched, Quartersnacks most likely improved an already good video part by upping the pacing with a song that provides more than background music. I wasn't a fan of the original James Brown. Ishod Wair rips, good job.

It's pretty rad to see a Supernatural ad in a CBI post.

Happy weekend.

Edit: Why Longboards Suck.

Another edit: Buttery Ass Donovan sets the Internets afire by figuring out exactly which day was a good day.

Race To The Bottom

Says fithzx1, "the best skate intro of all the time tho."

Please read Kyle Beachy on Nike SB. There are no easy nor good answers, but he lays it out just how it is. Also, he drops some gems:

"Once sufficient hype had gathered, [Nike] released Nothing But the Truth in 2007, which remains one of the empirically shittiest videos ever produced (I see you, Shorty's Guilty). Bloated, lethargic, and uncomfortably lacking any clear team identity, the video was a shrill caw from that parrot—it reminded us that we were being courted."

Which brings up a much more interesting and answerable question than Nike's place in skateboarding, which is, what is the worst skateboard video of all time? Neither of the videos above lack in the skateboarding department, so that's not part of the criteria here. They're simply difficult/embarrassing/painful to watch. They definitely set the bar high, but are there others out there on par, or worse? Let me know.