Almost got caught off guard with December starting so close to Thanksgiving until NY Mag ran their “Reasons To Love New York” shit (which is what this series is pretty much based on.) Had to scramble the notes throughout the year and get to writin’.
Wow. Here we go…
Intro + Interviews by Frozen in Carbonite
Top Collage by Requiem For A Screen
Illustrations by Charles Rivard
Pants, as an article of clothing and a philosophical entity, dominate the skate zeitgeist. They consume the daily banter on #skatetwitter, inspired an Instagram account dedicated to IDing them, and have the potential to become the most controversial item of one’s kit. Pants factions line up like the gangs at the beginning of The Warriors — Dickies disciples, nineties enthusiasts, Polar people, and so on.
So began our quest to investigate — not so much the what of pants — but the why. To accomplish this goal, we interviewed four skaters over a generational spectrum and asked the same set of questions.
As we stitched together the interviews, one common thread stood out: Like everything else in 2020, one’s choice of pants is a political act.
DANY video JFK Terminal 1 premiere. Coming soon.
Noseslides on handrails have remained dormant since the peak Muska years, Koston/Frankhouse nosesliding the curved 20 at City Hall era, etc. It’s been a long 10+ years, but we may have to consider a plain and simple noseslide down a handrail as a current frontrunner for N.S.O.T.Y. Shout to Mostly Skateboarding for the tip.
EggsTech™ without the Eggs. The boy Dana Ericson hit up Barcelona for a lot of heavy noseslide and shove nosegrind maneuverings. [*Mandatory mention that he skates a lot of non-stock Barcelona spots :) *]
/ end noseslide related content
Some heavy start of summer vibes in Genesis’ new iPhone clip, and MDW edit from Buck Prichard featuring Caddo, Brendan Carroll + others.
Beef Patty alumni v.s. Connecticut concrete parks via Max Hull.
“Let’s not forget that skateboarding has been multi-platform media since the Bones Brigade videos.” Skateboard Story ran a brutally blunt and honest interview with Eben Sterling, a guy who’s worked at Thrasher for over two decades, about the mag’s continued success as we decry the imminent collapse of print media, and how you’re definitely a dick if you’re on the QS comments section in 2016 thinking Rihanna being the god is some Urban Outfitters “irony” shit.
On same-but-different note, Village Psychic has a feature about Scotland’s North magazine, which only shoots and runs photos on film.
Bobshirt has a video interview with backside nosegrind popout pioneer, Jerry Fowler.
“The way they let the hill bombs run out with no music has an intensity impossible to concoct with slow-motion drone filmography, and its montage structuring is refreshingly dense, difficult to digest in even a few watches…” Boil the Ocean gets its #filmtheory on to juxtapose the GX1000 video with um, skateboarding in the Olympics.
There’s tons of heavy shit in the new Kyron Davis part, including a full-on front board up that thing in the Columbus Park playground that only BMXers hit up.
A topic that has more-or-less steered skate conversations for 20 years: pants.
Although this has to do with one of the worst qualities of American culture, here’s an interesting interview with a lawyer who skates handrails, and took his proficiency at talking to cops to specialize in skateboard related legal-cases.
QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: This is going five, right? …four?
Quote of the Week: “Anthony Bourdain ruined dating because now you have to take a girl to like, Thailand.” — T-Bird
Out of the country for a bit, so be aware of a potential delay in reply time if you’re trying to get in touch re: anything xoxo :)
