R.I.P. Rihanna’s Instagram Account

j john the don

Two J-John the Don Monday Links headliner images in four weeks? Sure. Photo by Jason Lecras.

Okay, let’s get all the Workshop-related links out of the way first…

Manolo’s Mixtapes put together a seven-minute tribute edit from all the Alien videos.

Jake Johnson sits down with Thrasher radio to talk about the Alien situation, the slappy 5050 down the Clipper ledge, and why Brandon Turner broke up with his shorty, all while playing some Elton John and Billy Joel songs.

Boil the Ocean has a good ramble about the end of Alien Workshop / “the biggest board company to go out since Plan B.” (No Blueprint 2.0-esque reboots pls thx.)

Joe Castrucci released a statement regarding the future of Habitat.

[ end of Alien Workshop-related links ]

Rodrigo TX skates Three Up Three Down and Lil’ Lui ollies over the entire Rector Street Bench in the Adidas Skate Copa NYC street edit. (Back smith down the Battery Park wall rail = the new backside flip over the Wall Street Gap?)

Between that Adidas clip, and the new Gavin Nolan “Five Trick Fix,” there’s really no reason to skate the median ledge on 111th and 7th ever again.

Frozen in Carbonite reviews the latest batch of Washington D.C-based skate videos, while comparing each to Scandal, House of Cards, Veep, etc. We are also admirably reminded to revisit Bobby Worrest’s switch 360 flip up / fakie hardflip / switch 360 flip down White Steps line from Right Foot Forward.

Also also also, this rather vague “Underdog Skate Part” #listicle from Kingpin reminds us to revisit Jack Sabback’s part from the 2005 I-Path promo. The revert out of the switch nosegrind at Universitat is cute.

Another black and white one from Pop Trading Company out in The Netherlands.

Apparently, when you comply to last year’s #TRENDWATCH by skating on televisions, there’s a chance you end up in a real-life version of that Simpsons episode where Homer found the Tron wall inside of his closet.

We often joke about the “Skaters see the world differently” cliché around here, but Jonathan Mehring’s “Frame of Reference” feature for Bitchslap magazine is awesome.

A two-minute fan remix of Alex Olson appearances in web clips throughout the years.

BTW, Yaje is a movie star now

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: The end of the first half of WCF Game 3 was pretty intense. How about that Ibaka comeback?

Quote of the Week: “That spot was like a Philly step into poverty.” — Josh Velez

In order to commemorate four years since our relaunch and the end of @badgalriri on Instagram, you have an additional half day to use the MEMORIALDAY code at checkout for 25% off anything left in the webstore ♥♥♥

Start of Summer / Memorial Day Weekend 2014 Montage

dre all white

All white season is upon us.

We’re up to nine Christmas clips and nine Start of Summer clips…

Features Josh Velez, Rob Gonyon, Keith Denley, Matthew Perez, Connor Champion, Troy Stillwell, Kadeem Walters, Lurker Lou, Emilio Cuilan, Elijah Cole, Lui Elliot, Andre Page, Eli Reed, Brendan Carroll, Jack Sabback, Zach Baker, Sweet Waste, Will Robson-Scott, Pad Dowd, Kevin Tierney and Tyler Tufty.

This Memorial Day Weekend also commemorates four years since QS relaunched as a modern, somewhat frequently updated enterprise. Prior to that (2005-2010), it was a depository of inside jokes that got updated bi-weekly. It has sometimes been a struggle to keep this thing current during those four years, but it’s been fun. Four years is a long time — when the site relaunched, Waka was the most #relevant rapper out, our intro post had Jersey Shore references, Amare Stoudemire played for the Suns and they were in the Western Conference Finals, and Monday Links happened on Saturdays — so we’d like to pat ourselves on the back a bit. We’d also like to thank you for visiting, talking shit in the comments, and any kind words or referrals throughout the years.

Hard to even remember what life was like before Future.

Anyway, if you want 25% off anything that’s left in the webstore, enter MEMORIALDAY at checkout. We on dat J. Crew shit fam. Discount does not apply to shipping and expires on Monday night ♥♥♥ xoxo ;) Enjoy the long weekend.

Alternate YouTube link

Past Start of Summer Clips: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013

The Origin of the White Rapper

white rapper

For a group that considers itself so creative, skateboarders sure suck at naming tricks. The sex change, benihana and even salad grind have all fallen out of fashion, and so have fun trick names altogether. Skaters have grown into stringent conservatives about trick names; QS is routinely lambasted for use of the term “nollie half cab” for nollie frontside 180s, as if 90% of the T.F. doesn’t call it that already. Even seemingly clever names e.g. “the fishhook” for the nollie frontside 180 switch nosegrind revert point to mechanical similarities rather than any hint of playful nomenclature.

But one name has stood strong over the past decade. Maybe it’s not an official name, but the “white rapper” B.K.A. the switch varial heelflip is still keeping the fun in trick names up and down the eastern seaboard, and evidently abroad as well. (Some corners will contend that it also refers to regular stance varial heelflips…more on that in a bit.) What genius came up with this name? Who did it refer to and where did it originate from? We decided to find out.

The most common origin story comes from Philadelphia, some ten-plus years ago. That is where we will begin our journey…

More »

Reps Who Rip

waste

Before product hits the shelves of your local shop, it needs to go through a maze of Excel sheets at the hands of a #skateboard #industry #sales #representative. Below is a tribute to all the sales reps out there worried about their fall 2014 numbers. Or better yet, it’s a tribute to the ones who aren’t worried about their fall 2014 numbers, so they can go out and film chill tricks ‘n stuff ♥♥♥

Features Sweet Waste A.K.A. Black Boy White Boy, with guest tricks from fellow competitor sales reps, Tyler Tufty and Jack Sabback. Filmed sometime after spring 2014 numbers had already been taken care of.

Alternate YouTube Link

Past QS Individual Parts (they’re few and far between…) — Josh Velez, Torey Goodall

Merry Christmas

east 73rd st

Merry Christmas everybody. Here’s our annual mostly midtown / Christmas light footage / non-rap clip. Comes complete with two backpack lines and more tricks on three/four stair handrails than ever before. “I done seen everything today!”

In case you guys didn’t know, during annual Christmas music research for this clip, the fact that the Ying Yang Twins have a Christmas album came to light. Needless to say, it’s incredible. At least for the first minute or so. (Here’s another good one.)

Features: Alexander Mosley, Black Dave A.K.A. Black Santa, Tyshawn Jones, TJ’s homie (sorry for not getting your name), Gavin Nolan, Eli Reed, Josh Velez, Ritch Swain, Roctakon, Pad Dowd, Ty Lyons, Tyler Tufty, Dustin Eggeling, Keith Denley, Sweet Waste, Pryce Holmes, Pat Edge, Torey Goodall, Brendan Carroll, Matthew Mooney, Jack Sabback, Kevin Tierney, Brian Clarke, and Andre Page.

Contributing filmers: Joe Bressler, Jeff Ricker, Andre Page, Josh Velez. Thank you.

Alternate YouTube Link. Just an FYI for mobile users: YouTube will *not* play the video on iPhones, etc. because of third party content (i.e. uncleared music.) It should, however, work on Vimeo. YouTube poorly words their disable notice by making it seem like the uploader is preventing it for mobile playback as opposed to the company who owns the music.

This is the eighth one. In case you haven’t been keeping up, here are some relevant links to past Christmas clips: 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005.