It is time to take a look back at the most viewed stories of the last half of 2008 (we went online July 1, 200). The posts listed below are ranked by the number of pageviews each received. Follow the jump for the complete rundown:
[click to continue…]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Skate artist/designer Randy Laybourne will be premiering a new collection of 20 20×20 inch pieces in a show at Swiv Tackle Circus in Oceanside, California on January 17, 2009 from 6 – 10 PM. The evening will features music by DJ Blackass and friends and Stone Brew will be served.
For those of us who have collected Randy’s smaller works, it going to be great to seem them on a larger scale.
[Link: lookforwardtothepast.com and swivtacklecircus]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The New York Times jumps on the age old pool skater mantra: disasters mean more empty pools with a story on how the increase in home foreclosure is doing just that.
Across the nation, the ultimate symbol of suburban success has become one more reminder of the economic meltdown, with builders going under, pools going to seed and skaters finding a surplus of deserted pools in which to perfect their acrobatic aerials. . . . In these boom times for skaters, Mr. Peacock travels with a gas-powered pump, five-gallon buckets, shovels and a push broom, risking trespassing charges in the pursuit of emptying forlorn pools and turning them into de facto skate parks. . . . Some skateboarders use realty tracking sites like realquest.com and realtor.com to find foreclosed houses with pools, while others trawl through satellite images from Google Earth. On the Web site skateandannoy.com, where skaters trade tips about how to find and drain abandoned pools, one poster wrote about the current economic malaise. “God bless Greenspan,” the post read, “patron saint of pool skatin’.”
It’s nice to know that no matter how bad things get, skateboarders will continue to feast on the corpse of suburban excess.
[Link: The New York Times]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Thrasher Magazine Photo Editor Michael Burnett has a new book out that is a collection of “photos of a summer’s worth of exotic skateboarding trips [Russia, China, Skatopia] focusing on what goes on between the tricks. Also includes a short story involving ice skaters, shabby bedding and Boris Yeltsin look-a-likes.”
According to the emerica blog it also features:
Random boob signings, ass grabs, public urination, cop confrontations, face-stuffing, product tosses, local culture and so much more–not to mention plenty of pyromania and stripper pole shenanigans at Skatopia.
Click here to buy a copy with PayPal.
[Link: Emerica Skate]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Facebook and eBay have joined to help seven celebrities (including Tony Hawk) raise money for their favorite charity. It’s called Re-Gift The Fruitcake on Facebook, according to a story on VentureBeat.com.
“It’s an incentive to get the Facebook generation into philanthropy,” Hawk said. “It encourages people to pass along the message about the charities and donate money.”
Sadly, we ignore all apps. If we didn’t, this would probably be a cool way to make a donation to the Tony Hawk Foundation.
[Link: VentureBeat]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Bob McKnight, Joe Scirocco, Bruce Thomas, and Marty Samuels covered a lot of ground in last week’s conference call, but there was one topic that they didn’t go over: the rumor that Quiksilver is actively negotiating the sale of DC Shoes.
This rumor has gained momentum lately most likely because the deal seems to make sense. On the conference call DC was repeatedly spoken of as a bright spot in Quiksilver’s brand portfolio. If Quik could unload DC Shoes for somewhere in the $700 million range, that would go a long way toward covering the company’s $1 billion debt. It would also allow Quiksilver to get back to basics with its core business after spending a couple years running the whole expansion thing into the ground. Not to mention it being a relief to many DC employees who believe all their hard work is being blown by bad business decision at the mothership. It probably wouldn’t hurt the company’s stock price, either.
So far no “official word” on the sale.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Camp Woodward has signed a licensing and consulting agreement with the Chinese government to help develop the next wave of Chinese action sports automatons as they create their “first international camp in Beijing next summer.”
Woodward Camp President Gary Ream is obviously looking forward to monetizing China’s billions.
[Link: Sports Business Journal]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
It’s always nice to break the commerce up with a little art. And Skate One Corp is hosting a show to “celebrate the Ripper’s influence on skateboarding since his introduction” featuring artwork from pretty much every who ever created anything in the world of skateboarding. It will be on display in Room 28B at the ASR Show Jan. 22-24, 2009.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Looks like we should have jumped in on the $.80 Quiksilver share prices several weeks ago because Quiksilver is fighting its way through some rough times. In their conference call today with analysts they stated that they doing well, but still have a ways to go.
Consolidated net revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008 increased 3% to $606.9 million compared to $587.3 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007. . . . Consolidated net revenues for the full year of fiscal 2008 increased 11% to $2.26 billion compared to $2.05 billion in fiscal 2007. . . . European net revenues increased 16% during the full year of fiscal 2008 to $933.1 million and were up 4% in local currency.
Bob McKnight says:
I am proud of the efforts of the entire Quiksilver team around the world as we fought through a deteriorating global economy to deliver financial results that were consistent with the outlook we provided 6 months ago. As economic conditions continue to worsen in our key markets in the US and in Europe, we’ve continued our efforts to reduce expenses and capital expenditures, to carefully control inventory and to reconfigure our post-Rossignol capital structure.”
Notes from the conference call:
The Street appeared happy with the report as the stock rose 10% in after-hours trading.
For the whole press release, follow the jump, or click here for a transcript, or listen to the whole call right here.
[click to continue…]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Santa Cruz Skateboard Shop has partnered up instructional applications developer Whagga Software to produce an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch called GoLearn Skateboarding. The horribly named, 348 mg app costs $4.99 and reportedly allows skaters to “learn different tricks with over 45 high definition videos with slow motion, multiple angles and detailed instruction, and find nearby skateboard parks.”
Skaters want to see different tricks performed by different people in different places. By providing an intimate discussion of how to re-thread a truck axle or watching Josh Mattson walk you through doing a Miller Flip, it’s as if we are speaking directly to the skater. Couple that with a GPS-driven Skate Park Locator for the traveling skater and the GoLearn Skateboarding application is unparalled in today’s market. Our partnership with Whagaa is an exciting one allowing us to transform our vision of Action Sport applications into reality,” comments Danny Keith, CEO of Santa Cruz Skate Shop.
We haven’t downloaded the app yet (and we’re not too optimistic about it teaching us backlips on a rail), but we’ll let you know. If you do download it make sure you do it from iTunes on your computer, not on your phone. This thing is HUGE!
[Link: MarketWatch]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
