March 30, 2012

Reading Tea Leaves

The Done Trip is coming through in a couple of weeks. There's not really a locked down line-up of who's going to be here though one must expect jerboi Davis to show up for the hometown gig.

In which a high schooler asks Ricky Rubio to prom, via Youtube. That was rad.

Is mounting hardware a right or a privilege? Following some esoterics about Larry Balma BTO strikes back with some really good stuff about bolts.

Some little kid did a 1080. I liked his reaction, *shrugs*.

April Fools day is Sunday. Here're some newspaper hoaxes of the past for nerds like me. Hey D-Bong, I've seen your April Fools list. I expect you to actually pull that one off this year. I'll be waiting.

Happy weekend. Go Wolves.

March 29, 2012

"This For Everybody in 'Sota"

I never posted this part. Shame on me.

Remember how Dana Ross and two others were jumped/attacked on Nicolett Mall from what I can reconstruct as March 10? Well, that seems to be an unreported part of a larger series of attacks downtown (the comments on that article are toxic) and it seems like they were lucky in that they weren't hurt worse (nobody got seriously injured). I'm not sure what else to draw from this but avoiding Nicolett for a bit or keeping your head on a swivel if you still have to skate there. Many of the attacks have gone down between 7th and 4th on Nicolett and if you need to visualize, you can see on this map that it's a zone near a lot of skatespots. Keep your eyes open out there.

With that out of the way, Twitter sort of shit its pants Wednesday night with the revelation that Kevin Garnett doesn't like the Timberwolves organization but still loves the fans here in Minneapolis. Even though this website long ago diagnosed KG as having lost his mind, any reaction to the linked quote above needs to keep in mind that the first shout out he gave upon winning the NBA Finals was a shout out to here. But then what? How far removed are we from the breakup again? Yeah, going on five years. In that time, the Wolves have put up one watchable shortened season of basketball, this year, and even prior to KG's departure we weren't competitive for another three. The rose colored glasses are deceiving us. What's more, Kevin Love is in the MVP discussion (albeit on a barely losing team) and some are still lamenting the one that got away. Let's move on.

But only so far. On NBA players who are traded mid-season. It's a good read, makes the dudes seem human/normal, which really shouldn't be a big surprise.

Still trying to make sense of the Larry Balma song.

March 27, 2012

Circular Blogging or The 411 Rule Taken to Extremes

The rules about songs in skateboard videos entered murky territory with the advent of the web video and the passing of the 411 rule*, but the dudes at Royal have mucked the whole game up even further by using Rudy's song from Goldfish for the welcome video above. Shall we see it as some form of homage (however you actually should say the word) and read it as "Rudy Johnson is really hyped on this kid," or do we read it as an "Ah, fuck it, song works" type moment where conventions were thrown to the wayside and a song that just worked was used? Does any of this matter? And could this be the same Miles Silvas or an approximation thereof who either rode for Shorty's or Termite back when? I'm not sure or I'm making the whole thing up. Yes, the skating above was amazing.

There's always an argument as to whether songs should be reused at all in videos, just for the sake of the fact that while there may be a finite amount of songs out there, the amount of skateboard videos, promos, webclips, etc., could never actually match the quantity of music in existence. It's difficult not to think of the "I Want You Back" controversy of old, which was purely allusion and not homage, a nudge in the rips that was a little too hard, but I'd lean more towards an "Ah, fuck it," type thing than some sort of deeper message. Cool song, cool part. What was the point I was trying to make?

*That songs used in forgettable sections of the bi-monthly video magazine could be used in other projects without sanction. Songs from memorable parts are off limits, see "No Shame in My Game" or '93 'til Infinity".

March 26, 2012

Rumors Confirmed?

The Familia HQ will open April 7 at a yet to be disclosed locale. Per Twitter and what one can gleam from the video above, some sort of indoor setup built by California Skateparks is coming down the pipeline, set to open in just under two weeks. The post title doesn't work because there were no rumors to confirm.

Congrats to Dooner for a respectable finish out in Tampa and a pat on the back to D-Bong for not getting last.

Word has it that the City of Plymouth is already a little sketched out by having a good skatepark and they've reached out to Dan Jackson for help. He sends this message via Plymouth: "Don't be a pile, pick up your trash and smile!" It's pretty simple: throw your shit away and don't get caught smoking at the park, or at least throw your butts away. The sad fact of the matter is that cities want to shut down their huge investments if an excuse shows its face. Don't let them. Go skate Plymouth and help with the upkeep, pack some trash at the end of the session and all will be well.

March 23, 2012

On North Coasts

Through a series of unfortunate events, I've still yet to see North Coast in its entirety. I've heard nothing but good and the Andrew Ellison part above only reinforces that. Well done on the body-varials, etc. You can buy the video at all the usual suspects or pick up at the previous link.

Class conflict on BTO.

Familia's got something in the works for Monday.

March 20, 2012

North and About

Quickly: Sam McGuire has a website that's fairly new called North and About, a credit's section of sort on the web, a place to put content that never found a home elsewhere. Be sure to make your browser extra big when you look at it. It's pretty cool.

Someone posted this in the previous post's comment section. Shame on you for reminding me.

Brad Miller's Mid-Summer-in-March Night Dream


I know I'm guilty of starting a post with, "When I interviewed so-and-so..." and it always feels a bit self-aggrandizing (but still better than posts about packages), but still, interviewing Daewon Song was pretty cool. Getting him to call back/answer with his phone wasn't a King of the Road challenge for nothing either, so my half-hour conversation (that ended up going in about a month past deadline) with the guy still ranks pretty high. I can say this: He's normal [though he was driving a Hummer and had just ordered McDonald's coffee when I talked to him (he loved that stuff, don't know now)], aside from his getting-better-with-age skateboarding, his tricks that are relentlessly impossible to caption and, well, the video part above. He contorts his body in the way I'd figured you'd have to do certain tricks while doing certain tricks I'd never in a million years of thought. Says Ali G, "Respect."

Also, new from Glue Factory, at finer skateshops in the Twin Cities:

Late, yes, but, "Well just smoke the weed here." I thought there was a chance for "Hey, did my flash go off," but simply hitting the little guy did the job just fine.

Edit: Brad Miller is reportedly retiring following his thirteenth year in the NBA and only season with the Timberwolves. He'd been banned from this website in previous years during his time with the Kings, only to be amnestied on the "banned" thing when all NBA teams that were previously banned were brought back into good standing on this website. He hopped around the league while evidently smoking some weed and famously, or not, was fishhooked by Rondo, in what should have been a flagrant foul in one of the best NBA Playoff series ever. Relegated to trade and salary fodder over the offseason (he helped us get rid of Johnny Flynn) just by still being in the league, Miller remains as the guy I wish was wearing a microphone just to hear the cool shit he says to Kevin Love. His "Scrappy Doo" tattoo will be missed, if not understood.

March 14, 2012

Downtown Field Notes

Result of a Google image search for "Minneapolis by night."

As a bookend, perhaps, to the weirdness felt last fall downtown, last night provided an equally confounding experience skateboarding in a place that we all thought we knew, as the anti-winter comes to a close. Evidently, there are surprises left in the city.

-Dana Ross and two others were jumped on Nicollet Mall on Saturday in broad daylight by a group of people. This deterred none of them from showing up Tuesday night. It's insanely difficult for grown-ass men to understand this. None were hurt that bad. Word has it the young guy that got jumped Saturday ended up in the paddy-wagon Tuesday night.

-Yelling at skateboarders from cars is, evidently, absolutely not passé, while onlookers on foot will be wearing Janoski's. They say nothing.

-In 16 years of skating downtown I'd never used the bathroom at the Government Center parking garage. The drinking fountain yes, the lavatory no.

-It was good to see multiple crews downtown, at night, all jamming up the parking garage. You know what I'm talking about.

-Rob had the quote of the night trying to get the mute security guard at Yellow Curb to allow another time, exhorting him with the fact that "We've got a ton of dough on this." It didn't work. In another life the kid kicking us out looked like someone we might have chilled with, or sold shoes to.

-Short of a ton of negatively-charged-mood slime flowing beneath the city streets tonight, damn, people were not in good moods.

-Drunk chicks trying to impress skateboarders by riding skateboards is still not cool nor impressive.

-"I hope you don't get it up."

March 12, 2012

Frat Boards as Blog Post

Yes, I punted on the screen grab.

No need to devote 800 uninspired words and time spent gathering photos from the Frat Boards site when all we really want to do is point and laugh. Then again, there's this video which Fink summed up perfectly:

"Everything about [it] is so awesomely wrong that I could see actual skateboarders being behind it to troll us all."
If only we could be so lucky.

I'd have a write up of North Coast on here if I hadn't been at a wedding last Saturday night. Feel free to jump in with thoughts in the comments.

It shouldn't be that confusing that there's a skater named Kevin Love who skates pretty well, but it gets me every time. Call me one-track minded. On the Twolves, you may have heard that our guy, Ricky Rubio, is out for the season with a torn ACL. There's a palpable feeling that the good basketball feelings in this town may have to wait until November to return, but before all the doom and gloom (or a playoff push, which Truehoop says is still a possibility), read this only slightly gloomy Bethlehem Shoals piece and don't count the Pups out, yet.

As a PSA, Joe Clarke recently had his camera gear stolen and it may have been skate-related. Hit up the Devolve guys if anything of interest comes to light.

PS: I'm still pretty psyched on Kirian's switchflip from last post.

March 11, 2012

March 7, 2012

Spring Braking

If weekly edits of what goes on at 3rd Lair on a Tuesday become a consistent thing, we'll all have a little bit more entertainment on our hands. How about Cody Banks? Is Judd wearing Nike again? Anyways.

McGuire's Kickstarter Tour: Route 1086, or whatever the proper name for it is, as of yesterday, is fully funded. On behalf of him and all the broke or non-broke dudes that will participate in it, I'll say "thanks," even though I'm just hoping to skate with them and hit the bar while they're in town. Expect a demo in town with some big names coming soon.

Random come-up of the month (so far), Duffy and Welsh playing country music at SXSW. I still haven't had time to read the interview past that.

Please excuse the lack of posting, I've been knee deep in 18 credits. If only I had an intern that could also update this site. Who knows? Next week is spring break. The weather looks fine, too. I know that dudes have been skating downtown (for sometime now, but what with 55 or so yesterday, it's more accessible) and AC has even been tweeting skate conditions. Still, nothing will beat a summer's night with the asphalt still radiating heat. With that in mind, read Kyle Beachy's "The Deep Seams", ruminations on the fallacy of skateparks, Midwestern June nights and David Foster Wallace. I know I jock the guy, but sometimes a dude's got to jock.

Edit: The Kyle Beachy link is fixed, a lot of days late. It's well worth the read if you already haven't stumbled upon it already. Tell me if I fuck up a link!

March 5, 2012