It’s a bummer to see a magazine we actually liked reading stop publishing, but it seems Concussion magazine has taken its own advice and is destroying itself, according to a story on Skate and Annoy.
Publisher Davoud Kermaninejad sent the news out to supporters via email last Friday night. He’s been half-seriously threatening to do it for years, but the harsh transitions of our shitty economy finally sealed the deal. . . He’s throwing in the towel as far as print issues go. He decided to go out with a bang rather than see future issues strangled by the ever-shrinking list of advertisers and the production budget that comes with them. You’ve got to respect his style.
Sean Newsom (pictured right) is the ski editor for The Sunday Times of London. He’s apparently taking one for the team to illustrate a story on a new snowboard training device called the Human Touch Board.
When you turn it on, the board wiggles. Technically speaking, it’s “pitching, rolling and yawing”, but wiggling covers it — and what’s more, it wiggles at three speeds, controlled by a remote you hang around your neck.
It’s hard to believe he would pose like that in his own newspaper. Then again, he is a skier. Yee haw!
The course was quick, if a bit icy. The riders who could stay on course put up some fast times, but more than a couple cartwheeled past gates. One victim was Blair Habenicht, who fell twice and missed a gate on Friday. He made the most of his Saturday run, qualifying 8th in Pro Men.
When we spoke to Andy Howell last fall about the Artsprojekt website that he had created with Zazzle.com he presented it as a place where serious artists would be given the technology to create custom art products in limited runs. When he said “artists” we never imagined anything like Rob Dyrdek’s Wild Grinders clothing. But Andy certainly spins it well.
“Rob is a visionary, not just as an innovator of street skating, but for continuing to bring skateboarding lifestyle and art to the core and pop culture audiences in compelling ways, without losing sight of his true skateboarding roots,” said Andy Howell, former pro skateboarder and founder of ARTSPROJEKT. “Dyrdek and his Wild Grinders™ crew offer a cool brand for younger skaters, while maintaining authenticity which is crucial to a brand’s success and longevity. They understand what consumers want, and continue to push limits and take it to the next level.”
After looking at the product more closely we’re thinking a deal with Kohls or Kmart might be a better place for Rob’s little homies. But that’s just us.
A skateboard park in Poway, California may start fingerprinting skaters before giving them access to the park according to a story in the North County Times.
A new turnstile would unlock only after a scanner read and recognized the thumbprint of anyone who wanted to enter, said Poway Community Services Director Robert Clark of the city’s plan to curb vandalism and misbehavior at the park. Use of the park would still be free. . . . The system already is employed in parking lots, gyms and other facilities, but this may be the first time it would be used at a skate park, Clark said.
Reminds us a little of the old Bible verse, Revelation 13:17: “And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Then again, it’s just for the lock and fingerprints are a lot harder to lose than keys.
Durwin Keg, 41, of Maroubra Beach, Australia was surfing Cellito beach on the north coast of New South Wales when he saw something dark beneath him, according to a story in the Herald Sun.
“Straight away I knew it was a shark. He was just sitting under there watching me. . . I knew it was after me,” he said. “I started moving and I could see him going behind me.” Moments later it struck with all its force into Mr Keg’s board. . . .Screaming to his mates to get out of the surf, he began wildly throwing punches at the shark which eventually moved off.
Keg was surprised that he escaped completely unscathed. Maybe that whole “punch ’em in the nose” thing really does work.
The Boston Police Department seems to have a flair for street art themselves as they apparently chose to arrest artist Shepard Fairey on his way to DJ a party celebrating his Friday night February 6, 2009 art show opening at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art.
Police allege that he tagged locations in the Massachusetts Avenue and Newbury Street area and the railroad trestle by the BU Bridge, said department spokesman Officer James Kenneally. . . Fairey faces arraignment Monday in either Brighton District Court or Roxbury District Court or both, said Suffolk district attorney’s spokesman Jake Wark.
According to Fairey this is the 15th time he has been arrested.
Some pretty heavy Hawai’ians at last fall’s ASR Show were carrying around what looked like a SUP paddle with a wheel on the bottom instead of a blade.
It was a Kahuna Big Stick. And it is endorsed by Buttons Kaluhiokalani. Now, it appears that Surfer DudeMatthew McConaughey has picked up on it, according to a story on Celebuzz.
The actor/surfer dude went for a ride using a wheeled stick to balance himself and go even faster as zipped along the sidewalk, accompanied by his dog BJ.
Maybe the Big Stick is the secret to Hollywood abs.
We’re not exactly what you would call huge Nitro Circus fans, however, there are occasions when Travis Pastrana pulls off some cool stuff. Like this Big Wheel backflip at Bob Burnquist’s house spotted by the ever vigilant Kilwag at Skate and Annoy.
Having hung out at the top of that drop-in we can tell you this is way more messed up than it looks on video.
Greg MacGillivray, one half of the famous MacGillivray-Freeman IMAX movie team is reportedly working on a documentary film that will explore 50 years of surfing in Hollywood film with a special focus on all the trouble John Milius had making Big Wednesday, according to a story in Variety.
It’s really about how Hollywood’s superficial view of surfing culture has influenced popular culture and the story of what happened when real surfers tried to change that,” MacGillivray said. . . . The yet-to-be-titled documentary includes Thomas Edison’s 1906 Hawaiian surfing footage and excerpts from numerous other surfing films, plus interviews with Kathy Kohner (the real-life Gidget), surfers such as Greg Noll and Mickey Munoz along with Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and Quentin Tarantino.
Sounds like something Ben Marcus was talking about five years ago. . .
It’s a bummer to see a magazine we actually liked reading stop publishing, but it seems Concussion magazine has taken its own advice and is destroying itself, according to a story on Skate and Annoy.
