On Thursday March 12, The Copenhagen Skatepark will hold a fundraiser to help support Project Skateistan the organization that we mentioned back in June of 2008 that is spreading peace in Afghanistan through skateboarding.
Worldfamous Trentemöller and many more music acts are supporting the project by playing for free on this evening. A lot of very talented artists among them Olafsur Eliasson has donated art for our beneficiary art auction. Famous chefs from Gasthaus4Experiment in Germany are coming to cook extraordinary food, skaters are coming from all over Europe to participate in our skatecompetition, where Eastpack has already donated 4 x 1000€ for price money that will go directly to Skateistan!
What Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, which has now generated $1 billion in sales across the course of the series, added was an extraordinary level of realism to the over-the-top antics that resonated with many players who were turned off by the overly competitive nature of the previous games. By making it about technique over style, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater expanded its audience to far more players than any other game of its type before.
Thanks Gamasutra, we won’t have to buy the book. Click the link for the rest of the five page story.
[Update 2:20 PM: According to a comment from Bill Loguidice the Tony Hawk Pro Skater history isn’t even in the book, it’s a bonus chapter run exclusively on Gamasutra.com Sorry for the mix up, Bill.]
More than results for the January quarter, “What matters much more than this is whether or not the company is able to restructure its uncommitted debt, and we would expect to get an update on this issue,” analyst Mitch Kummetz of Robert W. Baird & Co. said in a note to clients this week. . . . Kummetz and other company watchers have been eagerly awaiting word on Quiksilver’s efforts to rework its near-term debt.
All we keep thinking as we contemplate Quik’s upcoming $71 million debt payment to a European lender is: Beware the ides of March.
Aaron Lieber, the talented, young filmmaker behind the film The Pursuit is working on a new series of videos on Brett Simpson titled Simply Simpo. This is episode one.
Surf legend Shaun Tomson and actress Tanna Frederick (interviewed here by Scott Bass) have launched a new fund raising organization “that campaigns globally to protect and restore the world’s oceans.” It’s called Project SOS, not to be confused with Project SOS (Strengthening Our Students) or Project SOS (Support our soldiers) or Project SOS (Support Open Source) or SOS (snowboard outreach society)
Project SOS is collaborating with a number of generous local and national sponsors including ZJ Boardinghouse, Quiksilver, Rocker Board Shop, Kreation Café, Charlie Palmer Restaurants and Natural Surf Technique. . . Surf participants will raise money by asking people to sponsor their commitment to surf non-stop during a five-hour shift. . . The event will be followed by a Gala with a live band, auction, cocktails, tapas, buffet dinner, a performance by Tom Curren and a celebrity “blue” carpet befitting Oceana. . . Celebrities Surfing the event include Michelle Rodriguez (”Lost”), David Chokachi (“Baywatch”) and World Champion of International Professional Surfing Peter “P.T.” Townend under Project SOS Surf Captain Frank Caronna.
The surf event is Sunday April 5, 2009 from 10 AM to 3 PM with a celebrity Gala event is Sunday night from 6 PM to 10 PM at Shuters on the Beach Ballroom in Santa Monica, California. Sounds like a great party for a good cause.
The Eagles placed first in all four men’s events, with four different athletes winning. . . . “It was great for the guys to have every event won by a different athlete,” coach Jeff Corrado said.
This is like a trifecta of stuff we’ve never heard of before. . . and that’s a rare occurrence. Not that we care about any of this, it’s just more proof that there is some kind of parallel universe out there.
Looks like Greg Weaver and the guys have decided that they no longer want to share their Sonora Pass antics with the world so they put a password on the clip. Can’t say we blame them, really.
Collin Murray, Mike McGraw, Brian Callan, and Scott Petrichko are Bean Snowboards: Boston’s snowboard micro-brewery. And, according to a story in the Boston Herald, they are “proudly spreading the word that their boards are ‘Made in Boston.'”
By hosting numerous demo days and rail jams at Blue Hills, which is only a few miles from downtown Boston, Bean is trying to build a local riding community that takes pride in a homegrown board, commented Callan. . . . It’s a business model that has worked well for some small West Coast board companies, but might be tough to duplicate in New England, where brands like Burton, Ride and Rome dominate. “The East Coast is more of a commoditized market,” Murray said.
Last week the Volusia Couinty Council approved a surf contest for April at New Smyrna Beach, Florida’s shark infested waters. The sponsor? Jacksonville, Florida’s Landshark Lager.
We’re not sure if this is funny, or dumb. According to the Orlando Sentinel April is peak shark bit month with “26 bites during the past decade that month.” Nice marketing hook.
