Feels kinda crazy starting a QS update without a picture of Keith… Was tempted to use some of Pat Steiner’s modern art masterpieces this week, but we have a whole year-end content season for that! ;)
Jawn Gardner leads the charge on an important message with a nine-minute documentary about shedding the stigma of discussing mental health issues in the skate community ♥
On the chance that you haven’t been catching the …Arizona Iced Tea skate team edits on the TWS site (..yeah!), some of the most insane skateboarding in New York released this year was via their trip edit, e.g. the back tail off the marble kicker, the switch frontside flip across from the Stock Exchange, etc. TWSjust posted upthe first two raw edits from it, and wow it is crazy to look back at how desolate the city was last fall.
“In a sense, Jeff Grosso’s contributions to the world aren’t singular but part of an entire point of view — one that could reflect how ridiculous life is while also hugging what he viewed as important tightly in secret. That’s an art. The ability to make things like skateboarding that feel so disposable yet life-changing — tricks that last seconds, yet feel immortal.” — A Loveletter to Jeff Grosso.
“What’s the story behind Harold’s ‘Cheer Up, Bagel’ remark?” We finally learn the origin of the greatest sound byte in skate video history (“sometimes I wanna live and sometimes I wanna die” is runner-up) via Chrome Ball’s new interview with Dan Wolfe.
“The production numbers were so large that when I was on a solo trip to Korea tasked with moving production from one factory to the next, during a business dinner at a 5 star restaurant with the factory owner, I was told through a translator that, ‘The factory owner would like to inform you, that he can kill a man in this country and their body will never be found so you might want to change your decisions too.’” — Anthony “The Writer” Pappalardo tracks down the history behind the Osiris D3 with its designer.
Though he let up on the gas a bit since he got robbed for S.O.T.Y. by the third #big #rail #skater to get it in the past three years, Village Psychic offers up a mid-year remix video of Tiago’s stray bits of coverage to emerge these past seven months.
“Think of this magazine as a platform for you — yes, you! — to showcase what it is you do for skateboarding. Wherever you are. Whoever you are. Because as you’ll see here, skateboarding can really be anything you want it to be. It’s just a fucking toy after all.” Vice has an interview with the creators of Skateism, a magazine focused on nontraditional and underrepresented corners of the skateboard universe.
In an age of tuning out pre-roll commercials before skate parts, this line and song are still burned in everyone’s brain — it’s The Chocolate Commercial™, after all. The word “timeless” gets thrown around a lot, but it is hard to imagine this ever looking dated.
Tennyson Corporation put together a Mike and Quim Cardona 411 remix video to tug at your heartstrings (that nollie shove, varial flip line…) Our NY Revisited remix of Quim’s clips still gets brought up as many people’s favorite piece of QS #content, and remains one of this website’s proudest moments — probably because there are few skaters as infectiously inspiring in their footage as Quim. Thanks man ♥
A couple new Puleo clips in this commercial for German Nieves’ company, Paterson.
“What if you’d been told, on the occasion of Fully Flared‘s premiere nigh ten years ago, that Anthony Pappalardo’s part would provide a primary guiding light for the shoe supplier’s next full-length video — would you have believed it?” Boil the Ocean reviews Lakai’s latest video.
“Is this like a Seinfeld thing, where there’s no story?” Trick link: Anthony Pappalardo interviews Gino Iannucci. Gino is also now on Instagram. Everyone caves. Except Max Palmer and Stuart Hammond.
Spot Updates — 1) Not sure how recent this is, but the Philly step(s) under the Williamsburg Bridge on the way to Alligator Ledge are no more. The school installed rails running down the middle of them. 2) Herearea couplephotos of the skatepark being built on 114th and 1st Avenue via neighborhood correspondent, Tron Jenkins. It is set to officially open in March of next year.
Quote of the Week: “If Pontus ever has a heart attack, I’m definitely sending my sponsor me tape to Frog.” — Hjalte Halberg
The Warschauer Benches are on the shortlist of the funnest spots I’ve ever skated, and they’re nothing more than a better version of the Newport blocks from ~15 years ago. Kingpin has a full feature on their creation and history. Amazing how the formula for a perfect skate spot is no more sophisticated than decent ground + wooden benches + metal, and how often that goes ignored.
Isle’s Vase video is premiering on Thursday, November 19 at 8 P.M. and Paul Young’s Bleach video is premiering on Wednesday, November 25 at 8 P.M. Guess what theater? If you guessed the Imax on 68th Street, then you guessed wrong.
Did you know Fully Flared premiered eight years ago to the day? Village Psychic looked back on Anthony Pappalardo’s seminal yet at-the-time misunderstood section, which inspired legions of twenty-somethings to scour Bushwick for unchartered crust, caused a 5% spike in applications to Pratt’s sculpture program, and skyrocketed the demand for brown chino fabric among the world’s textile mills.
Footage of the 5050 + quick set-up barhop in front of Wavy’s is in the Local Express friends section, although no footage could really do justice to how crazy that is.
Dude you’re probably gonna be really bummed — but…the Hooters Rail is gone. What a fun spot! Shout out to Rodney Torres for being the first one to skate it, and to Connor Champion for switch nosesliding it just before the plaza got leveled.
Quote of the Week Kuz: “Just give me the word, I’ll quit my job and break up with my girlfriend.” Inquisitive Gentleman: “You have a girlfriend?” Kuz: “No, but if I did, I’d break up with her.”