Apparently, Josh Harris and David Blitzer (the owners of the Philadelphia 76ers and NJ Devils sporting teams) have purchased the Mt. Hood snowboard camp conglomerate known as We Are Camp. They’re saying they purchased it in partnership with the one and only snowboarder/business man Shaun White according to a story on TMZ Sports.
“I’m honored to officially partner with We Are Camp along with Josh and David. I’m excited to step in and help elevate a place that’s so special to me, so come June, you’ll know where to find me!”
Shaun White is just the icing on the cake. Looks like We Are Camp got a wonderful exit and now the sports guys can pour money into it for a while. They’ve for sure made money easier ways than running snowboard camps. How long do you think it will take them to flip the camps to the next round of PE bros?
Congrats and happy birthday to those stalwart Aussies hipsters who keep the action culture print dream alive with their parties, promotions, and pop-cultural sensibilities printed on actual paper and distributed the old fashioned way–by truck.
Twenty years is a long time to be at the wheel swerving this way that that to avoid the potholes most other print publications have fallen into on their profit driven roads to ruin. To celebrate the staff in Sydney threw a monster party and apparently it was rather large.
It was huge. We’re still hungover. Was it a dream? Thank you to all of our friends, staff, contributors, and fine people who work so closely with us now and throughout the last twenty to make Monster Children what it is that came out to celebrate. After all this time, it is you who keeps us in the game.
If you’re in NYC stop by Saturdays NYC on Crosby Street tonight (Wednesday, November 29, 2023) for the stateside version of the birthday party. Free everything will be provided apparently. For photo proof of all the Sydney festivities, please click the link.
The Arena Group, the company who ended up with Surfer, Snowboarder, TransWorld Skateboarding, Powderand Bike magazine titles after the last round of brand swapping has been accused of using “fake AI writers” to write fake AI generated stories at their flagship title Sports Illustrated, according to a story on Futurism. They’re running zombie titles, why not hire a hoard zombie writers?
“There’s a lot,” they told us of the fake authors. “I was like, what are they? This is ridiculous. This person does not exist.” . . . “At the bottom [of the page] there would be a photo of a person and some fake description of them like, ‘oh, John lives in Houston, Texas. He loves yard games and hanging out with his dog, Sam.’ Stuff like that,” they continued. “It’s just crazy.”
Futurism says that as soon as they asked Arena about it, the stories and writers were gone from the site. None of this is surprising to anyone who has been following along. Arena did eventually claim that the content was provided by a third party who uses real writers to write real stories but sometimes under pseudonyms. But we don’t believe them.
Just so you know, although he may look like an AI generated handsome man, Blair Alley actually exists. . . but Justin Leveille? We’re not so sure about that guy.
Steve Berra has done so much for skateboarding in SoCal and the world, and yet, few in the skateboard industry would be hard pressed to come up with at least a couple times when interactions with Mr. Berra went sour.
That’s why we were so stoked to see this opportunity to skate The Berrics without any interaction with Steve at all. It’s called The Berrics Transforming Park from Tech Deck.
Inspired by the legendary LA-based invite-only indoor skatepark, The Berrics, this skatepark playset is THE gift to wow just about anyone who loves the skating community!
So yeah, with this park you can skate The Berrics any time you want. You’ll just have to do it on your fingerboard. Click the link to buy one. And get it in time for the Holidays.
Walker Ryan discusses tricks, spots, aging, failure, and never giving up in this video essay from Old Friends. . . with an emphasis on the white whale of the nine stair.
A new exhibition titled Skateboard at the London Design Museum investigates the roll skateboarding has played in the world of youth culture, fashion design, and sports in general. Currated by Jonathan Olivares, the show is sponsored by Converse and will feature a book by Phaidon (Paul ‘The Professor’ Schmitt wrote the intro).
Skateboard examines the fundamentality of its namesake device. The show is an object study at its core; it tracks the backstory of the board across generations’ worth of iterations (one 2000’s deck features baroque squiggles called “money shapes” on its edge, for instance). Yet it also provides a crisp, clear flow of the world-building that has occurred around the apparatus. . . Over 100 chronologically advancing decks, their widely varied graphics, images sourced from over 40 photographers in multiple decades, and spin-off ephemera (such as zines and decals) illustrate this rise of skateboarding not only as an athletic discipline but also as an aspirational lifestyle. A 1960s-era Life cover, for example, shows a woman in neat white trousers riding against a big blue sky–while doing a handstand on her board, no less.
For more info on the show which opens October 20, 2023 (and how to visit if you’re in London town) please click the link.
Shaun White’s ascent from snowboarder to cultural zeitgeist is perfectly represented in his new book from Rizzoli titled Airborne. See photos from when he was just a SoCal kid who loved skateboarding and snowboarding. Watch as the fame machine grabs hold of him and sends him into the orbit of rockstars, fashionistas, and Hollywood girlfriends. Here’s how Rizzoli sets the scene:
Some of the world’s best action-sports photographers capture White performing his extreme snowboarding and skating tricks around the world–from his groundbreaking aerial maneuvers such as his Double McTwist 1260 on Olympic half pipes, to his radical skating tricks such as his Frontside 540 Sky Hook at the X Games. White exceeded the imaginable limits of snowboarding and raised the bar for other snowboarding competitors to try to keep up with him. Narrated by White with detailed commentary throughout, this book is an autobiography in images and an intimate glimpse into the life of a celebrity athlete: training, competing, on the road and in the spotlight.
It’s obviously another Shaun White celebrity product, but if you’re a fan then this is the book for you. Click here to buy it.
From the “wonder what The Arena Group is going to do with all their zombie magazine brands” files comes news that Arena has partnered with AcTVe to launch five FAST (stands for free, ad-supported television) “channels” with their action sporting brands, according to story on Deadline.com.
Powder Mag, Surfer Magazine, Transworld Skateboarding, Bike Mag and Snowboarder will provide the backbones for the new channels, which will debut globally this fall. The channels will be available on free, ad-supported streaming platforms like SportsTribal, FreeMovies+ and FreeCast, as well as via Roku, Vizio and Samsung. More distribution platforms will be added in 2024, the companies said.
We have absolutely no idea what these “platforms” are, who watches them, or what this means for the brands. Nor, do we believe they will spend any real money on content. So what is going to be on the channels (aside from paid advertising against no viewers)? If you understand any of this, please let us know in the comments.
Apparently, Josh Harris and David Blitzer (the owners of the Philadelphia 76ers and NJ Devils sporting teams) have purchased the Mt. Hood snowboard camp conglomerate known as We Are Camp. They’re saying they purchased it in partnership with the one and only snowboarder/business man Shaun White according to a story on TMZ Sports.
The Arena Group, the company who ended up with Surfer, Snowboarder, TransWorld Skateboarding, Powder and Bike magazine titles after the last round of brand swapping has been accused of using “fake AI writers” to write fake AI generated stories at their flagship title Sports Illustrated, according to a story on 
Shaun White’s ascent from snowboarder to cultural zeitgeist is perfectly represented in his new book from Rizzoli titled 
From the “wonder what 
