Thrasher Magazine’s SOTY party went off at the Great American Music Hall on Friday night December 12, 2008. And the San Francisco Weekly’s Eric K. Arnold was there to take down all the details. He got in while many skate heads were left standing in the street.
There was a lot of standing and milling around, and not much else to do but imbibe copious amounts of booze for a couple of hours. Hey, that’s what skaters do, brah. The open bar helped in this respect, although any efforts to actually get a drink within a reasonable time frame (say, under half an hour) were rebuffed by an apparently overwhelmed peroxide blonde bartender with a lip ring who became somewhat of a Seinfeld-esque “Beer Nazi,” arbitrarily granting or denying requests to be served based on…well, who knows what was going through that dude’s head.
So you’re saying we didn’t miss anything? We mean aside from Too $hort.
Forbes Magazine just released its list of the 10 Most Influential Athletes and Tony Hawk weighs in at number three behind Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong and ahead of Peyton Manning, Shaq, and several Nascar drivers. Here’s what they said:
This month, Hawk competed in the All ’80s All Day Vert Challenge, his first competition in eight years. Fittingly, the man who won many times during his storied career came out on top again. Hawk’s influence is evident in the popularity of the videogame franchise named after him. The skater also owns his own film and TV production company.
Iconic skateboarder/film director Stacy Peralta is getting grief from all corners for a recent commercial project commissioned by Burger King via bad-boy advertising agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky in which Peralta traveled the world to find “Whopper Virgins.” Burger King apparently wanted to find out which tastes better the Whopper of McDonald’s Big Mac, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.
The campaign immediately sparked a backlash in the blogosphere and beyond, with critics claiming Burger King is exploiting poverty-stricken regions for marketing. “I don’t think indigenous people should be used in that way to amuse a bored public that wants a sensation at any price,” a commenter wrote on Gothamist.com.
It’s no surprise that Peralta’s footage is extremely well shot, seemingly sincere, funny, and compelling. But working for Burger King on a project that introduces crap fast food to third world cultures seems like an incredible waste of Peralta’s immense talents. Then again we’ve never eaten a hamburger in our lives, so we’re no authority.
Skatepark of Tampa’sBoards for Bro program is getting bigger every year. This December 20, 2008 they will be distributing 300 skateboards to Tampa, Florida’s low-income children, according to a story in on TampaBay.com.
Boards for Bros has provided skateboards to low-income children since 2006. Organizers get plenty of board donations. But the charity falls short on the amount of trucks, wheels and other hardware needed to make a skateboard complete. Ready-to-roll skateboards can cost up to $150.
But that’s where Chad Cardoza’s99 Bottle of Beer On The Wall art show came it. He raised $2,000 to complete the skateboards. Nice work.
Eric Bush, the 14-year-old Baltimore skater who became web famous when a Youtube video of him being harassed by police officer Salvatore Rivieri showed the rest of the world what many skateboarders put up with on a daily basis, has be given the right to sue the officer.
A Baltimore judge ruled Eric Bush can continue with his case, even though he was late notifying the city of his intent to sue.
The judge denied a motion to dismiss the case, saying Bush had shown good cause for missing the deadline.
Officer Salvatore Rivieri was removed from street duty shortly after the incident made headlines and, thankfully, has yet to return.
Danny Way checks in with The Wall Street Journal writer Conor Dougherty to discuss the state of x sports, the mega ramp, and his Brazil back breaking, and as usual comes off as the talented tough guy that he is.
If you’re not ready to be able to face the repercussions of what you’re doing, then I really feel like you shouldn’t be doing it. You’ve got to be geared up for the worst-case scenario and be able to accept that before you get up there and before it happens. You don’t go up with a negative mind set, but by no means do you underestimate what the hazard is.
Rumors from the UK are emerging regarding the demise of one of our favorite skateboard magazines. Factory Media “Europe’s largest action sports publisher” is apparently redirecting their efforts and calling an end to Document Skateboard Magazine. The following note was eventually posted on their site.
I’d personally like to thank all contributing writers and photographers, advertisers, all the real skate shops, skaters who let us photograph them, everyone that let us sleep on their floors or skate their ramps and anyone who ever bought the mag, it’s been a blast! See you out skating, Sam.
Some sources claim Factory Media will turn their efforts toward a more lifestyle oriented product (+1?). Wonder what will happen with Kingpin and Sidewalk? We always thought three skateboard magazines was a couple too many.
We’ve never really seen the work of “action sports” marketers laid out so succinctly as in this story about ASA Entertainment in Florida Today.
Gen Y consumers can be a hard market for advertisers to crack, but an Indialantic company has found a way to lure teens and 20-somethings to its clients. . . . Marketing agency ASA Entertainment fuels brand loyalty through the use of action sports events that plug into young consumers’ psyches. . . “Action sports are a great way to reach the market,” Bratman said.
Found a way to lure teens? . . . Fuels brand loyalty through the use of action sports? We know that’s the whole point of sponsors, but still it sounds so dirty. We feel so used.
EA is rolling out Skate2 and G4TV’sRaymond Padilla sat down with Darren Navarrette to talk video gaming with the “handplant specialist.” What kind of games does Navarrette like?
I guess I like shooting people. Yeah? Though I’m more of a sniper kind of guy. I wish there were more games that only emphasized just sniping. Of course I like Madden, NBA Live games, that kind of stuff. It’s funny, because I always liked football as a kid, but I never really played it in an organized way, you know? Now I know a lot more about football, just from playing Madden.
Thrasher Magazine’s SOTY party went off at the Great American Music Hall on Friday night December 12, 2008. And the San Francisco Weekly’s Eric K. Arnold was there to take down all the details. He got in while many skate heads were left standing in the street.
