by The Editors on April 2, 2009
Designer Aaron Draplin was just written up in Creativity Magazine for the design work for President Obama’s American Recovery project. The story even included a Mark Welsh photo of the man himself.
Draplin, a Minneapolis College of Art and Design grad has worked as art director of Snowboarder magazine, as a senior designer at Portland’s Cinco and on his own at Draplin Design Co. since 2004. He still has ties to the slopes as graphic designer for Snowboard magazine (not to be confused with Snowboarder), and designs boards for Ride, Gnu and Lib Tech. He also does identity and collateral work for Grenade Gloves, Union Binding Co. and Coal Headwear.
Yes, he does. And everyone loves his work. Don’t they?
[Link: Creativity Online]
by The Editors on April 2, 2009
After the January 2009 ASR show we’d be surprised at nothing, but ASR today announced that they are moving the dates for 2010 to February 3-4 and August 14-16.
“By realigning ASR’s dates we believe the industry can best position itself for future growth,” says Andy Tompkins, ASR Group Show Director. “Through ongoing dialogue with both our exhibitor and retail attendees, it became apparent that the timing of the ASR January show was too early to completely service fall line breaks. In the future, August show dates will allow buyers to preview the entire landscape of action sports product before making purchase decisions.”
And according to quotes from VeeCo’s Tom Ruiz, and Lost’s Joel Cooper these dates are great. Follow the jump for the entire release.
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by The Editors on April 2, 2009
Wondering why your favorite skateboard industry head isn’t returning your calls today? They’re all holed up at Woodward West from April 1-3, 2009 skating the parks, drinking, and sitting in rooms listening to themselves talk at the Skateboarding Industry Summit 2009.
“So, how many people did you guys lay off last week? Really? That’s nothing. We gutted the entire finance department. No sales, no accounting. I heard you’re using a new paint on your boards. How’s that working for you? Phht: Twitter, yeah, I’m taken a dump right now world isn’t that cool? Don’t you wish more people were buying our boards. Maybe a prayer group would work. And how! Nike sure does suck. We’re focusing all our marketing efforts on social media this year. Social what? Did you enjoy your Woodward palace last night? Oh, shhhhh, here comes that guy from Converse. So what exactly are PR people supposed to do?”
Sounds like fun, huh?
[Link: International Association of Skateboard Companies]
by The Editors on April 2, 2009
by The Editors on April 2, 2009
The Esurance Icer Air always had the trappings of an over-hyped circus side show. The faux contest began as a fun event on the snow-covered streets of San Francisco and in the hands of marketing experts quickly escalated into an example of everything that is wrong with snowboarding as grand spectacle.
Now according to a story on ESPN.com/Action it looks like the circus left town without paying the dancing bears.
Icer Air is, for all intents and purposes, out of business. As yet another major contest bites the dust, Icer Air has managed to rile up a controversy in its wake that has the 28 invite-only athletes fired up. . . The athletes will not be paid the $2,000 agreed upon fee for competing in the October 2008 event. ($5,000 each for winners of Best Trick in skiing and snowboarding.) . . . To add to the frustration, last week riders saw a $271.51 charge appear on the credit cards they put down for incidentals at the W Hotel, which Icer Air had provided according to the rider contracts. . . “First we were told that no one was going to get paid from the event. Now the riders who put their cards down for the security deposit are being charged for their hotel rooms, which were supposed to be covered. What else is the Icer Air going to take away from us?” commented athlete Tim Humphreys.
We wish we could say we were surprised, but here is what we said about the event last September.
[Link: ESPN.com/Action]
by The Editors on April 1, 2009
As baffled as we are by the timing of this announcement (no, it’s not an April Fools joke), it would appear from a story posted on the Transworld Business website that Transworld Media reduced its staff today by eight people.
Here’s what Transworld Business Publisher Rob Campbell said:
We’ve had to report on a lot of layoffs over the past six months. Unfortunately, those stories usually involved friends and great people we’ve had close working relationships with for years. Today, the news hits especially close to home. . . TransWorld has eliminated eight positions within the company. Departments affected are TransWorld Business, Transworld Surf, TransWorld Skateboarding sales, marketing, and finance. More specifically, TransWorld Business lost two editors.
These “eight positions eliminated” do not appear to include a change made yesterday in the sales group at TransWorld’s Tustin office.
[Link: TransWorld Business]
by The Editors on April 1, 2009
This year’s celebrity skateboarder for the Long Beach Grand Prix Toyota Pro/Celebrity race is Danny Way (Bucky Lasek won the event in 2006). Already the Las Vegas line is picking him to win against stars like Adrien Brody, Keanu Reeves, Raven-Symoné, Alex Trebek, and P-Diddy’s butler Bentley.
As the world’s longest-running and most prestigious celebrity racing event, the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race has introduced more than 500 celebrities to the sport of real race car competition. Pitting popular personalities against professional racers, the 10-lap sprint around the 1.97-mile downtown Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach street circuit gives celebrities the chance to put the pedal to the metal from behind the wheel of race-ready Scion tCs.
Too bad about the cars, though.
[Link: Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race]
by The Editors on April 1, 2009
Kelly Slater has apparently committed to surfing in the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, according to the Geelong Advertiser.
In February, Quiksilver spokesman Johnathan Jenkins said if Slater performed well at the Snapper Rocks Quicksilver Pro, he would be more likely to surf Bells. . . The 37-year-old was eliminated in round three, but decided to try his luck down south.
We have some questions: what boards will he ride? Does this mean Bells is the do or die event for number 10? As for how Kelly will done at Bells in the past we luckily have the break down from CJ Hobgood. But CJ’s numbers aren’t all that reassuring.
[Link: Geelong Advertiser]
by The Editors on April 1, 2009
On Sunday March 30, 2009 Whistler’s Peak 2 Peak Gondola had to be shut down after a “drive motor on the on the new conveyance’s acceleration/deceleration mechanism malfunctioned,” according to a story in The Question.
No guests were in danger either during or after the shutdown, which occurred on Sunday at 12:46 p.m. and last 19 minutes, WB communications officer Amber Turnau said on Monday (March 30). Guests inside the sky cabins at the time were kept abreast of the situation by intercom, she said.
Sounds like someone got a 19 minutes thrill view of Whistler Blackcomb that they won’t soon forget. And we’re still not riding that beast.
[Link: Question]
by The Editors on April 1, 2009
Australian surfing pioneer Kim Bradley, who died on March 26, 2009, was found by his family two days later in “his favourite room in the house he built overlooking Kuta beach,” according to an AFP news story. He was 54 years old.
In a 2007 interview with “Surfer’s Path” magazine, Bradley recalled the excitement of exploring Bali’s huge offshore breaks with a small group of other surfers. . . “We had to work it out for ourselves… there’s like 26 breaks or something on the Bukit Peninsula now, but when I came we knew of two,” he was quoted as saying. . . “Paddling out at 12 foot (four metres) Nusa Dua by yourself… even at eight foot it’s pretty scary. . . “You’re looking out there and it’s 10-12 foot but it’s too good to resist so I’d say a quiet word to myself and my master: ‘Well if it’s today, it’s a good day to die.’
Our thoughts are with his family and friends.
[Link: AFP]
Designer Aaron Draplin was just written up in Creativity Magazine for the design work for President Obama’s American Recovery project. The story even included a Mark Welsh photo of the man himself.
