by The Editors on February 11, 2009
No one in skateboarding “entertains” the media better than Sole Technology, Inc. For the past three days (February 8-10, 2009) they’ve hosted representatives of the world skateboard media at owner Pierre André’s loft, yacht, offices, and private TF.
From the look of the photos and stories on ESPN, The Skateboard Mag, Skateboarder, and Skate Park of Tampa everyone bought in pretty hard to the. . . well, lets call it “gesture of friendship” from the skateboard shoe manufacturer.
Free beer, free smokes, and and a couple “models” still goes a very long way toward, ah, let’s just say “good times.”
[Link: és footwear]
by The Editors on February 11, 2009
Like it or not, the moms of the suburban west shop at Sport Chalet for snowboards and skateboards (and ping pong balls) so it is no real surprise that the retailer whose 55 stores are all in “the housing states” would be down in the third quarter ending December 28, 2008, according to a story on Sports One Source.
Sport Chalet, Inc. saw sales for its third quarter of FY09 ended Dec. 28, 2008 declined 10.3% to $104.6 million compared to $116.6 million last year. Eight new stores not included in same store sales contributed $4.7 million in sales for the quarter while same store sales decreased 15.4%. . . . Gross profit as a percent of sales was 22.3% compared to 30.2% for the third quarter of last year.
The last quarter was bad for almost everyone.
[Link: SportsOneSource]
by The Editors on February 11, 2009
The palatial mansion that Target rented as Shaun White’s homebase for the X Games 13 at Buttermilk is on its way to foreclosure according to a story in the Aspen Daily News.
A notice of election and demand — a document that starts a foreclosure proceeding in Colorado — was filed on the property Dec. 22. The 14,000-square-foot palace that Target Corp. rented out for its extreme athletes is set to be auctioned off on the steps of the Pitkin County Courthouse on April 29 unless the $4.6 million note securing the property is satisfied.
The “Target House” was a spec house that was reportedly finished last fall and “was listed for $26 million but was recently marked down to $19.5 million,” the paper said. Ah, the X Games glamor fades so quickly, doesn’t it?
[Link: Aspen Daily News]
by The Editors on February 11, 2009
Surf City and Ship Bottom New Jersey beaches, it turns out, are littered with World War I era bombs and fuses, according to a story on the AP wire.
Back when World War I was winding down, Navy ships patrolling the New Jersey coast found themselves with leftover ammunition and no targets. . . So they dumped it all overboard, probably thinking the fuses and other ordnance would never be seen or heard from again. . . . They were wrong. Nearly 90 years later, the fuses resurfaced, invading the shores of two of New Jersey’s most popular beaches, Surf City and Ship Bottom.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which accidentally moved many of the munitions in a beach replenishment program that started in 2006 are now faced with getting all the explosives emoved before someone gets blown up. “So far, work crews have retrieved 1,213 pieces of munitions, mostly 6 to 8-inch-long fuses filled with gunpowder that could explode if jostled or struck.”
[Link: Associated Press]
by The Editors on February 11, 2009
Not to be outdone by Quiksilver Skate, Rip Curl shows how much they still believe in the magazine as metaphor by creating Ripcurrents digital magazine: a magazine that is literally on your computer screen with pages that actually turn when you click on them, you know like a paper magazine only on your computer with music that will drive you crazy and that retro sound of crisp pages turning through salty air.
There is even a shadow in the middle of every spread to screw up the photos just like in a real magazine. . . did we mention how much we hate these things?
[Link: Rip Curl Currents via Global Surf News]
by The Editors on February 11, 2009
by The Editors on February 11, 2009
After a 7.5 quake rocked the easter region of North Sulawesi, Indonesia has issued a Tsunami warning according to Fox News.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 7.0-magnitude quake was centered 195 miles from Manado, the northernmost city on Sulawesi island. It said it had a depth of about 20 miles beneath the ocean floor.. . . The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reports that a pacific-wide tsunami that would threaten Hawaii is not expected. . . . However, earthquakes of this size can generate local tsunamis that could be destructive along coasts located within 62 miles of the epicenter.
[Link: Fox News]
[Update 7:30 PM PST February 11, 2009: The Tsunami warning has been cancelled. No Tsunami.]
by The Editors on February 11, 2009
We had to laugh today when our new Mike Valleley copy of Skatebook arrived (in time to get signed). The thoughtful warehouse guys had protected the new issue from damage at the hands of the US Postal Service by packing it in a layer of wadded up pages torn from the latest issue of The Skateboard Mag. There’s a message in every medium, apparently.
by The Editors on February 11, 2009
From the “we hate turning pages online” files comes Quiksilver’s latest online misfire: Roam ‘Zine 1.
With all the cool (or mudane) things that can be done online it seems almost sad that Quik skate would build a ‘zine by hand, scan it, and then put it up online in a format that is difficult to navigate, hard to read, and kind of pointless.
The video and audio were cool, but having to hunt for it was silly. Then again, maybe they were going for that retro, early 90s online thing. If they were, they nailed it (just like RipCurl did).
[Link: Roam #1 via The Skateboard Mag]
by The Editors on February 11, 2009
We’ve been meaning to mention this for a while, but never ended up posting anything. For the past year we’ve been keeping up on the international competition shred scenes with the Shralp! podcast on our Apple TV.
Every two weeks Shralp collects video from the best snowboard events around the world, VO’s them up with a euro-english accent, and pushes out a podcast in every format known to video. The clips are super timely, well edited and smooth.
Shralp is created by Christian “mee-z” Miessner with help from Boris Bendek (David’s brother) and Quirin Rohleder and has been rolling since 2005. Don’t ask us why it took us so long to mention it, but now we have. The best way is to subscribe via iTunes.
[Link: Shralp.com]
