Watch Lana Del Rey slide some waves and roll some back alleys in her new song F*ck It I Love You. For real. It’s good like a Madewell ad.
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Photographer Amir Zaki sees skateparks as the works of art they really are, albeit with no skateboarders.
“They are essentially large and elaborately designed empty vessels, as much as they are concrete models of naturally found elements of the landscape such as mountains, hills, waves, and rocks,” Zaki told Dezeen. . . “Although these refined spaces are born out of conceptions of the various curvilinear shapes found in nature, they are frozen and ‘permanently’ cemented, recalling some of the most extreme examples of Brutalist architecture.”
Check out all the dream lines in Zaki’s California Concrete series of images. Mind skating for hours.
[Link: Dezeen]
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“There is no way you just stumble on to a skater like Walker Ryan,” someone once told us. Well, yes and no. Met him at the St. Helena skatepark way back, appreciated his style and demeanor (plus that scene in Little Children), and now just look at him rollin’ the streets of LA for Thrasher. My, my.
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Sherman Poppen, the man most responsible for inspiring the idea of snowboarding with the creation of The Snurfer died Wednesday, July 31, 2019 in Griffin, Georgia, according to a story on Michigan Live. He was 89 years old.
Poppen’s legacy as a venerable pioneer of extreme winter sports proceeds him, but in Muskegon, he was known as so much more. The inventor spent much of his life and his fortune helping others through philanthropy and service to his community.
Poppen’s Snurfer was the device that inspired Jake Burton, Tom Sims, Dimitrije Milovich and a host of others to explore sliding on snow standing sideways. For the entire story on the creation of the Snurfer, please click here for an interview we did with Sherm on November 10, 1994 on FLAKEzine.com. He was an innovator and a kind man. We’re thankful for all he contributed to snowboarding. Our thoughts are with his family and close friends. He will be missed, but never forgotten.
[Link: MLive]
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MERGE4 has collaborated with Salman Agah on a new pair of socks that feature a collection of Pizzanista’s iconic logo boosts from all your favorite skate brands.
The Pizzanista! sock features . . . combed cotton, a terry loped foot, self-adjusting welt cuff, reinforced heel and toe, and elastic arch support, this awesome y-heel sock is athletic ribbed for performance (or for tip-toeing to the fridge in the middle of a night for that cold slice you’ve been dreaming about). . . “I’m constantly looking for relevant ways to communicate Pizzanista’s brand and teaming up with MERGE4 was a great way for us to do that,” said Agah, “Now everybody’s feet can also be ‘powered by Pizzanista!’”
Buy them wherever MERGE4 socks are sold.
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If you don’t know, then let Torstein Horgmo and Craig Gouweloos explain it to you.
[Link via TGR]
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Developers in San Diego, California (home to some of the best surf in the world) have announced plans to turn an old drive-in movie theatre turned swap-meet into a Wave Garden surfing pool. Yes, it’s a 15 minute bike ride to the Oceanside Pier, yes, it’s a 35 minute drive to Trestles, but developers are chasing the same dream that has sidetracked many developers in the past — perfect waves all the time, according to a story in the San Diego Reader.
The Oceanside Swap Meet, launched in 1971, held its last weekend event April 28 Its 90 acres on Mission Avenue in the San Luis Rey Valley, was originally built as a four-screen drive-in movie attraction. It was purchased by Zephyr Partners for an undisclosed sum. . . Weiss says the early plans offered by Zephyr call for 35 acres to be devoted to the wave park and accompanying restaurants, businesses and hotel rooms that would all be aimed at the surf culture. Another 20 acres would be set aside for open space, while the remainder 35 acres would be devoted to residential homes, public roads, and other public needs.
Let’s just say we’re looking forward to seeing it completed, but we’re not expecting much.
[Link: San Diego Reader]
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You might expect someone who inherited a massive fortune to be more frivolous with their money, you know, like blowing it on fringe sporting leagues, or building surf ponds on hot, dusty Central Californian farm land, but not the backer of a certain privately owned entertainment company specializing in event and online streamed content production (mostly surfing sport). No, Dirk Ziff is a savvy businessman who knows when to call it quits, and that’s exactly what his organization did with their plans for a wave pond in West Palm Beach, Florida recently.
More importantly Ziff is wise enough not to harm the rest of his surf interests by admitting in the press that his wave pond business model is terminally flawed. No, when Mr. Ziff pulls the plug on a project, he does what many businessmen have done before him, he blames the location. Here are the details in a story posted on Florida Today.
“The WSL is disappointed to confirm our decision to cancel the development of the wave basin planned for West Palm Beach, Florida. . . .The nature of this site, including the extremely high water table, exposed unforeseen challenges that made the decision around this unique project clear. These projects are complex and, in many ways, without precedent, and we have learned important lessons in this process.”
Seems the local “water table” would have been the first thing wave pool planners would have investigated, however, often times the majority of the benefit of a project like a wave pool is the press announcement that it will be built, not on building it, or losing money running it. We’re bearish on the Dirk Ziff wave pond model in general. Let us know if they build another one anywhere in the world.
[Link: Florida Today]
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This is the list of the news stories we didn’t have time to read, comment on, and/or pass on to you in a more visually pleasing format. Follow the link and enjoy! If you read something you like, leave a comment. It’s certainly okay to speak your mind every now and again.
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Today we’re highlighting an amazingly bland new product you don’t need, from a company we don’t like because, well, we got a press release from said company and putting up a press release is far easier than creating original content especially when all we’re interested in doing is fooling Google Ads into thinking we’re still posting content on this site so our rankings will continue to soar.
This banal new product is of course made in China and features several prominently placed logos from the company— both on the front, the back, the top, and the sides. In fact, this product features nine logos (if you count the one on the label). By moving this product around in the physical world you are acting as a sign spinner for this private equity funded zombie brand. You’re adding your youth, energy, and all around sexiness to their brand by being associated with it. Only difference is the sign spinner is getting paid $25 a hour and you’re getting nothing, aside from the pride you feel from sporting a logo that says you paid way more than you should have for this Bangladesh made product. Wait, did we say China before… sorry, same difference.
We’d highlight several of the features that set this product apart from all the other products available to you in this category and encourage you to purchase it, however, there’s nothing about this product that makes it standout from a similar product that can be purchased much more economically at one of the big box retailers.
That said, this product is being promoted as part of a “limited edition” collection which means you’ll be forced to visit one of the brand’s mall-based “flagship stores” or order it online directly from the brand because they don’t want to drop this product in the same massive chain stores where they dump the rest of their product because they’re charging more for this and that means they want you to have to work even harder to find it. As a value add this means you’ll have a product that your lazier, more thrifty friends won’t. And that makes you a big winner.
For more information on this product please visit the brand’s website where you can get the “product narrative” directly from their poorly paid marketing wizards. We’re guessing they’ll offer free shipping and returns so what have you got to lose? Shop, buy, consume. Repeat.
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