Proper Shit Out

January 8th, 2018 · 4:13 pm · 5 Comments

Keeping along with last week’s 76ers theme…

Been a slow start to the year out there. Pretty excited for this heatwave though.

Steve Mastorelli (the guy who made The Meadowlands last year) has a sick new edit up, which screened before the video at the NJ Skateshop Stop Fakin’ 3 premiere. Features a bunch of familiar north Jersey faces and spots.

One of the standout ex-pat / visitor in New York vids in recent memory — “Dice of Life: Twenty Eighteen.” Huge array of spots (shout out to everyone venturing out to the still-good spots that weathered locals otherwise gave up on), really sick skating (the line at the Escape From New York cathedral on Amsterdam is fucked + the varial heel at Southbridge Towers is sick too), and one of the best No Limit songs to start it off, though they only used the worst verse on it :)

Coda has new montage for 2018, with some wild moves, especially in the first part, which seemed like it was about to be filmed exclusively under the J train.

Kinda an interview with Aidan Mackey + photos from the roof of the former QS office.

R.B. Umali mashed up a bunch of his old footage to create a “15 Years of New York skateboarding” montage that covers 1995 to 2010, with the first ever (?) regular-motion footage of the best kickflip ever done.

#comebackwatch2018: 1) Never been the biggest fan, but the DC Lynx is *officially* coming back into their line. 2) Gino Iannucci’s onetime Long Island Skateshop, Poet’s, is being relaunched as a standalone brand. 3) The sneaker nerds were already up on this, but Nike’s Grandstand 2, which you might remember Reese Forbes wearing in his first-ever SB ad, is set to re-release sometime soon. (It’s not an SB model though.)

“I never thought I’d send DVDs to Iraq.” Solo has an an interview with Nick from The Palomino, the internet’s best skate shop ♥ You can find QS on there too obvs ;)

An ocean away and old, but new, but a #spotcheck nonetheless.

Ten years since Static 3 with Soy Panday and Danny Renaud.

“The backside 360 with that gentle and (sarcastically?) smug roll away off the ledge is the first trick I think of when I think of Bobby Puleo in Static II.” And on that same note…“musing on” Puleo’s part in the second Static video.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Russ being Russ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Quote of the Week: “If you’re a guy who pays girls to kick you in the balls, you drink scotch.” — Barnes

Follow @quartersnacks

Shout out to all the stable geniuses out there ;)

The Backstreet Atlas Guide to New Jersey

July 27th, 2016 · 6:38 am · 7 Comments

New Jersey is impossible to ignore when you’re indulging the mythology of skateboarding. (Thrasher forgetting to give Fred Gall a S.O.T.Y. trophy for the past twenty years is a topic for another day I suppose…) You can talk all the shit you want on the nation’s greatest state, but in reality, at least two of your top five skaters are from there. And for all we know, the Muska might not even be with us today if not for the bravery of one, Michael V. Vallely — born in a New Jersey hospital.

But what do you REALLY know about New Jersey besides the turnpike, Tony Soprano, Jersey Dave, and it containing the global headquarters of I.K.S.R.T.F.O? Adam Abada and Zach Baker, two native New Jersey-ians who once upon a time INSULTINGLY opted to skate through New England rather than the glorious state of their upbringing, decided to take it all back and find out what happens in the majestic home of Brian Wenning and Lockdown Skateboards.

TWS posted the short film of their 100+ mile journey this morning, which chronicles the vast diversity of America’s greatest place from the George Washington Bridge in New York to the Ben Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia.

P.S. Happy [belated] July 26th everyone.

Previously: An Interview With Two Guys Who Skated from New York to Philadelphia

An Interview With Adam Abada & Zach Baker, Two Guys Who Skated From New York To Philadelphia

January 27th, 2016 · 5:30 am · 13 Comments

Hating New Jersey is hating America, because all of America is inside New Jersey. It’s the fourth smallest state, but it has Alpine celebrity mansions reminiscent of Beverly Hills, run-down cities that would fit inside the rust belt, Cape May retiree communities you’d expect in south Florida, a poor man’s Vegas called Atlantic City, overpriced river-view condos not unlike in its neighboring New York, beachside towns where Jersey Shore is very far from exaggerated, politicians that make fictionalized Jersey criminals seem tame, white trash, midgetvilles — and that’s only scratching the surface. Unless you’re making a crack about how confusing the turnpike is, a joke at New Jersey’s expense is a joke at our nation’s expense.

Adam Abada and Zach Baker, two guys who skated from Boston to New York in 2012, followed up “Backstreet Atlas” with a ten-day skate through their home state. “The Backstreet Atlas Guide to New Jersey” premieres at Kinfolk Studios in Brooklyn tomorrow, but until then, here is a quick conversation about their journey.

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Is there anything you learned on the skate from Boston to New York that you took into consideration when planning this one?

Zach: We knew how far we could skate in a day, which is about thirty miles.

Adam: There was no worry about whether or not we could do it. Our friend Everett Brown walked from Philadelphia to New York in three days, so that was an inspiration behind this trip.

Z: Yeah, he’s an artist.

Was there always an idea of doing another long distance skate?

Z: The pace of skateboarding long distance is something people respond to in a good way. We got to meet people in a different way than if we were walking or on bikes.

A: Something about telling people you’re skating through piques their attention. People seem more down. They’ve heard of bike trips; you could bike to Philadelphia in a day, so it’s easier for them to understand.

Z: It’s what skateboards were created for. They get you from point A to point B. They’re for traveling, but it’s still hard for people to fathom them being used for that.

A: That’s the thing about skateboards — they make distance real. The way we uncovered places on the Boston trip seemed like a cool thing we could do in a state that we were both from. There was less risk because we both knew New Jersey better than the middle of New England.

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New Jersey: Skating’s Low-Key Dominant Governing Body

November 13th, 2015 · 9:02 am · 9 Comments

^When u show up 2 the NY spot and notice NJ hieroglyphics on the wall…

It’s hard being the low-key most important geographic region in all of skateboarding (if not American culture altogether) without some of your parliament members getting highlighted more than others. Not everyone gonna be Fetty Wap or Ishod Wair :)

Ron has been one of my favorites since I saw an #early #web #clip (you had to actually download those) of him skating Eatontown rink and switch flipping the PSE&G big five back in maybe ~2002. Just as we are huge advocates of #happy #rap #music, we’re also big advocates of happy skateboarding. Ron happens to be one of that all-too-rare sub-genre’s greatest practitioners. Not everything needs to be an epic bro.

On the flip side, got a bit *weird* with this remix since it didn’t make sense to just toss another funk song under it. Been heavy on the Nick Jensen 11th Hour revisitations this fall, and maybe the spaced out trippy vibez had a rub-off effect on this vid — at for least the first half. Footage sourced from Ron’s “Under the Hudson” part, plus some bonus bits. Filmed by R.B. Umali.

BTW front noseslide fakie, half cab nose shuv, switch front shuv off a curb is top three most #onbrand line in the history of this sk8 blog ;)

Alternate YouTube Link. Check this old [2013] favorite after.

FWIW Reggie Noble is still cooler than your favorite rapper from the nineties.

Have a good weekend. Go skate Jersey maybe ;)

Previously: Ron Deily — R.I.P. Junk Spot Part

Rest in Peace Junk Spot

September 24th, 2015 · 4:05 am · 5 Comments

Photo by Jersey Dave

Since maybe ~2010, the entire Jersey City skate scene gyrated around the Liberty State Park Junk Spot. Even for such a rapidly developing city, there were no plazas or street spots that didn’t come with a two-second kick out. The Junk Spot was hassle-free and tucked away from everything. Over the past year, the builds there reached a new level — to the point where nearly every corner of the spot was receiving some sort of transition (e.g. check what it looked like in 2011 @ the 0:50 mark.) All of that ended last week when construction crews arrived and demolished the spot.

(Someone will inevitably bring up that this area is getting a skatepark next year, but I’ll spare you any sort of #core speech about how it’s not the same bro.)

Ron Deily had been working on this all-Junk Spot part for the past summer with Jersey Dave. The intention was to release it in a few weeks after a couple more days of filming, but obviously, that can no longer happen.

Thanks to all the guys who made the spot possible. It was fun.