The Events That Defined New York City Skateboarding in 2012: 20-16

stuytownrail

Big news of the day: Google Maps is back for iPhones. Did anyone ever try going on a road trip with that Apple Maps app? It was horrible. Anyway, here is the second installment of our “Year in Review” series. Previously: #s 25-21.

20. Stuy Town Rail Becomes a Normal Spot

New York’s main contribution to the “skateboarding is beginning to look like rollerblading” theory (see: recent advancements in ledge dancing, 16-flat-16 handrails) was this rail’s transition into something people actually skated the whole way down. Before, it was only utilized for quick grind-to-pop-in tricks on the handicap ramp (Alex Olson does a feeble pop over on it in the Pretty Sweet bonus section) and near-death experiences for those attempting to slide the entire thing (Kerel Roach in the 2004 ABC video / maybe Remedy.) In the past year plus, Kevin Tierney boardslid it, Jonathan Ettman 5050ed it and some Australian will lipslide it next summer. (Sorry for all the parenthetical asides…)

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‘NO ARM & HAMMER IN MY HANNAH MONTANA’

Everyone skateboards now! Miley Cyrus is into it! Rihanna skates! This girl skates! Everyone skates! What a fun way to get your cardio in! Sk8 or die, girls! Derek Zoolander |*ngb**rds! When is the male model game of S.K.A.T.E? My money’s on Ted.

12th & A lives. There was an East Village community board meeting this past Thursday to decide its fate, and skateboarding prevailed. It’s open 5-8 P.M. on weekdays, 12-8 P.M. on Saturdays, and unfortunately closed on Sundays. Better than nothing. Hopefully, it will open earlier during late-fall and winter weekdays, since it gets dark at 4:30. (Also, there’s a new ~15-foot-long round flatbar there, and they sawed the legs off the larger picnic table to make it “Cali size.”)

“Gyro” is a montage filmed in New York over the course of two weeks via the same crew that brought you the SF-based Chunder and VHS1K videos.

Some kid wallrid off that giant bottle sculpture near 57th Street on the Westside Highway, which is pretty gnarly. It would make a great photo. Photo here. That trick, and six minutes of other NY/NJ/Philly-based footage in this “Gravity Hammers” clip.

Death Video throwaway clips set to the soothing sounds of 2 Chainz.

The first summer edition “Diamond Days” video (#62) is now online. It utilizes the early frontrunner for “Song of the Summer 2012,” Cash Out’s “Cashing Out” A.K.A. “Yeah, it’s the ‘Racks’ of 2012, but it’s not as good as ‘Racks.'” Grown & Sexy S.O.T.S. early honorable mention: Usher “Climax.”

Nate Rojas’ part from Five on That is on YouTube. He 5050s the kinked handrail outside the Tribeca jail skatepark.

“Oh no, I’m completely fine. I do this all the time. Have a nice day.”

The Museum of Modern Art in Finland claims to currently have “the world’s first large scale skatable sculptural installation” on its premises. Stadium did that, like, last year, bro. Though to be fair, the Finnish one is a superior “skateable sculpture” for “normal” people and not Zered Bassett.

SPOT UPDATES: 1) The rail gap and keyhole ledge at CBS are now blocked off by scaffolding. 2) The gas station on 15th & 10th with the flat rails got torn down. Near the end of this clip, Gigliotti does a line there in a controversial hat. (Aren’t there ~six gas stations south of 96th Street? Why the hell are they tearing them down?) 3) Those awful marble windowsill ledges on 4th and Bowery got knobbed.

Quote of the Week:


Straight bling-bling, whip it with an antenna

Spike Lee Need To Get This Shit On Film

Nothing like a good front shove. Ishod Wair at some secret gap spot. Photo by Zander Taketomo.

As if Matt Mooney getting busted for the croissant heist of the century after tweeting about it wasn’t enough, here’s further evidence that you should avoid social media after committing idiotic hilarious “crimes.”

Chris Nieratko interviews the judges, skaters, and producer from this year’s mess of a One in a Million series. What are skateboarders who spend an unhealthy amount of time typing YouTube comments going to complain about now? (Full QS interview with Lurker Lou coming this week or next at the latest. Weather has been nice, so transcribing/editing has been slow.)

Called it. Lil’ Wayne inks an endorsement deal with Supra. (Original post here.)

Here’s a New York-based “Day in the Life” clip with Danny Supa. More “lifestyle” stuff than actual skating, but the song makes it great. Any skate clips edited to a song off AZ’s first few albums are more or less guaranteed a link here — maybe even that Tyrone Olson part where he skates to “Sugar Hill.”

Someone is making a documentary about Harry Jumonji. The interviews in the trailer seem real honest and unfiltered, so it definitely has the potential to be great. Watch the trailer here.

Andre Page flatground lines at the T.F., Hawaiian shirts, strobe lights, and an avoidance of the most notorious line off that “Ass” song, all in this GoPro clip.

The VHS aesthetic continues with Twomanji, a video whose description boasts the revitalization of laserdiscs.

Pro skaters giving back to the community, one worn-out ledge at a time.

Some new photos over on the Dunions Tumblr, including one that solves the mystery of what happens to Tompkins’ legendary cones. (A dog ate them. No, really.)

KCDC temporarily moved to 68 N. 3rd for the summer. It’s still off the Bedford stop, but a bit further west than before (closer to the bridge, as well.)

Bill Strobeck recommends some music over on The World’s Best Ever for people who don’t mind playlists that exclude Meek Mill. Oh, and Dreamchasers 2 comes out Monday, May 7th.

R.I.P. Os Dias Do Video, the internet’s leading destination for pirated skate videos.

Quote of the Week:


FOR THE 21.3% OF QS READERSHIP THAT FOLLOWS SPORTS: In commemoration of the regular NBA season ending this week, here are JaVale McGee’s top eight dumbest plays. The most entertaining player in the league, but not in a Derrick Rose sort of way. We’re eternally grateful that he got traded to a playoff team, because it means at least an extra week of this.

Same Old Video Part, But It’s On That New Shit

“WE ON THE WAY.”

It’s great to have south Jersey/Philly-based skaters going pro for major companies these days. It was also great to have Philly rappers (or at least one) resurface to national prominence last year. Considering skateboarding and rap are the two dominant concerns of this website, it should come as no surprise that the first re-edit of 2012 merges Real’s latest pro teamrider, Ishod Wair, with the Maybach Music Group’s latest pro teamrider, Meek Mill. Meek Mill saved the late-summer/early-fall of 2011, by drowning out the sound of people playing that lame collaborative album by those two boring rich guys with his repeated proclamations of being a boss. For that, we salute him and Ishod (another boss) with this remix.

Sometime in the near future, we’ll devise a non-rap re-edit for a change of pace. They just have to come back full swing by the summer though. Dreamchasers 2 should be out by then. We’re still going to be stretching 4:3 and mixing HD with SD, don’t worry…

Alternate YouTube Link: Pool, I don’t ever swim

Mr. Ice Cream Man…

The new Hopps commercial is online. It may not feature any skateboarding, but it has Jahmal Williams flying on a bicycle. If there was ever a skateboard commercial that deserved to be developed into a television show, a commercial that features Jahmal bicycling around Brooklyn selling ice cream and/or magical skateboards is certainly it.

Hopps > Spielberg. Be sure to stop by HoppsSkateboards.com as well.

[A lot of things popped up on the internet yesterday, and didn’t make the weekly Monday links post, so please pardon this extension of yesterday’s update…]

“Death Video” throwaway clips. YouTube comments already called out the “soft music for a ‘death’ video,” but these kids skate all over the city, and make Manhattan look like it has way more fun skate spots than it actually does. The line at Brick Nine is a new twist on the spot, and the near-ender at Frederick Douglass Park is pretty sick too. Wallie trends are real easy to predict.

Ishod Wair’s 4-Star Welcome Clip. Great to see a plain ol’ heelflip in circa-2011 skate footage. (Yes, obviously this particular inclusion isn’t exactly a “plain” heelflip, but still.)

From now on, every Quartersnacks clip will be edited exactly like this video. Check back tomorrow for a video update.