January 29, 2013

Recap of Two Weeks of Tweets

Jan Jacobson is back up on the Youtube and here's the part I called "Best Local Video Part" for 2012, four posts and about a month ago. Now that it's here as a visual aid, please note: Lots of spots in the two cities, skated at Half Price Books in Highland, no handrail helpers and the first moves at One Financial in a decade. My point stands; the song+skating synergy a bonus.

Of course, this is the first post on this website in a long time. January coupled with the emergence of a truly lost Timberwolves season and freelance have lead to a ton of non-excuses, but maybe it was too cold to blog?

In any event, I'm going to mine my Twitter feed for links I thought were important. Let's do this in reverse, by date from the last time I posted here, on January 14.

January 14: The Deaf Lens interviewed Templeton Elliott about being perhaps the most well-known named skateboard blogger and perhaps being a robot. Elliott contends he is not a robot and talks about "Skate Time," which is a very real thing.

January 14: TJ Moran does tricks at the Familia HQ, he goes up; the dudes abide.

January 14: Clint Peterson has an ad; my current self thinks about the recent Fresh Air interview about Scientology (Scientology only mention in terms of Stereo Skateboards ownership).

January 15: I read a sublime and classic article about Ted Williams and learn about the death of Richard Ben Cramer; aspire to be that good at writing some day, remember the phrase, "This is a bitch of a line to draw in America's dust."

January 18: Tim Fulton put Flow Trash up for free download.

January 21: Jamiel Nowparvar gave the Familia HQ a new one, and stuff.

January 23: Quartersnacks interviewed Norwegian magazine maker Eirik Traavik, with the sick takeaway quote of "I think the focus on aesthetics as opposed to gnar factor is a natural consequence of how irrelevant being really, really good has become." I rembered that I'd seen a copy of Dank in the van in Oslo in 2011.

January 25: With the help of Mr. Elliott, once more, I seconded that Hugo Millards rips really well.

January 26: A New Balance blog posted photos of the NB skate shoes along with retail prices.

January 27: A social media site posted a breakdown of how social media was used to promote the Bones Brigade hagiography. The other takeaway from that link? Posting two weeks of "what I tweeted about because I thought it was interesting" actually has merit.

That is all; note that the still on the Jan video above is him on Highland Parkway. Linking to actual tweets seemed superfluous.

January 14, 2013

Hear Your Heartbeat

Admittedly, I was beginning to think I'd never get the return on my investment for kickstarting with these dudes. I wasn't even going to sweat it, but sources say the video and book will be out soon for the Done Trip 2.0 (sources are Sam McGuire's Facebook page.).

Aaron Christensen's part from Debris is available for online viewing. The comments section likes his socks.

Sending positive vibes to Patrick Voller, who did quite the number on his ankle this past weekend. Stay up.

Apologies for the 10 day gap in posts. What was I doing last week?

January 4, 2013

Attempt No. 34

A layperson's description of the events which begin at 0:25, from the June 13, 2001 issue of Citypages.
"[Clint] Peterson is trying to do two tricks in quick succession, otherwise known as a two-trick line. First there's the flip in the street, called a "fakie kickflip body varial" with an "ollie" onto the ledge; that's followed by a "backside 360 ollie" off of it. (For the uninitiated, an ollie is a trick in which the skater uses his back foot to strike the board's tail against the ground while using the front foot to pull the board into the air. Named for Alan "Ollie" Gelfand, who invented the move in 1977, the ollie is the pillar of street skating--it's the basis for almost every other trick.) Peterson comes close on one try, but doesn't quite nail a smooth landing. In his next dozen attempts, he misses the initial kickflip--either the board doesn't fully flip around and crashes with its underbelly exposed, or he steps off of it on the landing, or he doesn't have enough momentum to float into the next trick.

Here on Nicollet Mall, everything is an impediment. It's not just a matter of mastering the jumps. The real challenge is making the tricks in the ever-changing environment of the crowded downtown street. You've got to locate the spot and envision the trick. You've got to skate around the obstacles (the stream of water the flower vender tosses into the street) and the people (the toddler watching, mesmerized, mouth agape). You've got to wait for buses to pass. You've got to hide out around the corner until the police car scoots by (if a cop catches you rolling on Nicollet, he or she will hand you an $80 ticket and possibly take away your board). All these elements combine to form the essence of this creative, athletic, rebellious pastime called "street skating," or simply "street."

Peterson is unfazed by the chaos, and doggedly tries his two-trick line again and again. On attempt No. 17, he misses the kickflip and falls down on the street in an elongated sprawl, his pale arm stretching out in front of him.

Attempt No. 19: He comes close, but falls off the landing. He gets up, shakes his head, and skates vigorously back to the corner. "Next one!" Nesser calls out, encouragingly.

Attempt No. 21: Again, he falls on the landing, and with an aggravated "fuck!" taps his board to his forehead. As he skates back to the corner, hands grasping the sides of his face, he turns back to Nesser and mouths something that looks like, "I suck." Attempt No. 28: Again he misses the landing, and shares a quick analysis with Nesser: "Just a little more under me, and I've got it."

Attempt No. 31: He misses the kickflip, his hands catching him as he falls forward on to the street.

Attempt No. 33: He misses the kickflip.

Attempt No. 34: He lands it, garnering an excited yelp from Nesser. As Peterson coasts back up the street, his hands stretch high above his head. His face tilts skyward, dominated by a smile ignited by joy and relief."

The nearly 12-years-old Citypages piece mostly profiles Clint with mentions of mentions of Nesser and Zed. It holds up pretty well and harkens back to a time when this was a staunchly Consolidated town. Forgive me if I've posted this before, enjoy it if it's new to you. Happy weekend.

January 3, 2013

Wonderful Horrible

'Gram by Ripped Laces.

There's this reaction: "The new balance skate shoes look like old man shoes from the future". I sort of agree, but not in a necessarily bad way; they're sort of rad and PJ Ladd is the first guy on the team...

Some Devil's advocacy to counter our amnesiac rejection of all things "corporate in skateboarding." New Balance is privately held, made in the USA and entering skateboarding through a well-established and well-respected distribution house. Not sure how much that first part matters, but the latter two details should count for something.

A good number of older dudes: Don't tell me you weren't chilling in a pair of New Balances within the last 15 years.

None of these details are proof of anything, but I'm getting to the point where my feet have been treated so rottenly over the years by a tons and tons of different shoes from different companies that I'm keeping an open mind.

Trivia: Is there precedence for one distributor to move two shoe companies with two different owners in skateboarding? I'm not going to think so hard on it so if the answer is obvious don't fault me.

Update: Maybe the whole line:

'Gram by Vern Laird

January 2, 2013

Your Hangover's Hangover

The ripping continues.