Rob Welsh | Quartersnacks

A Bunch of Dumb Big Pictures & No Numbers

Daily News January 26th, 2015 · 6:05 am · 5

After much deliberation, the Nosesliders Guild of America has awarded Hjatle Halberg its “Noseslider of the Year” award based on recent output. This is an unprecedented event, as no foreigner has ever won the coveted title. Photo above by Mike O’Meally.

Studies in Flat — Daniel Lebron.

It seems that Frozen in Carbonite’s hyper-nerdery and far-fetched non sequiturs aren’t translating to Ride Channel commenters, because this was great, at least for fans of the blog: An analysis of the parallels between the Yankee-Red Sox rivalry and current day Boston-New York skateboarding. (Boston is 200+ miles from New York btw.)

Part one of NY Skateboarding’s joint interview with Gino and Dill is live.

A lot of familiar faces and hot moves in Debut, a new video featuring the youth.

A boom-bapified remix of peak era Wu-Welsh via Hit You Off Management. That five-trick line at Pier 7 is the absolute best.

Anthony Pappalardo, early Alien days. Shot by Tim Anderson.

“Ugggh, I have such a weakness for cute skateboarders.” We have such a weakness for any Ant Banks #musicsupervision in skate videos.

The VX is dead volume seven via Johnny Wilson et al.

Seeing Michael Mackrodt skate in real life is genuinely one of the most impressive things you could ever witness in skateboarding. His consistency and quick footedness is absurd (personal top 3 most impressive IRL pros.) The next best thing is seeing him skate on video, via this new all-lines part filmed out in the Parisian suburbs. (He also had a New York “Fishing Lines” part in 2010, in case you didn’t know.)

Despite all its frustrations, midtown is still the funnest.

Quick montage from the crew at Matériel Supply.

Got a kick out of this: “Fear City,” a mid-seventies pamphlet covertly distributed to tourists by NYPD unions at odds with the mayor (sound familiar?)

In case you only go on skate websites…you’ll be paying $2.75 to ride the train and $116.50 for an unlimited starting March 22nd.

Until Travis Porter fulfills recent promises of bringing the “fun” back to music, Rae Sremmeueurururd is the Rap Desk’s fill-in vote for “funnest” rap group of the moment:

[Late] Spot Updates: 1) Not many people caught onto this spot, but it had a short lifespan. 2) Those round flatbars on 22nd and Fifth near the Flatiron Building are gone. 3) The two-second bust Marriott Banks are also gone.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: What else? Klay Thompson went 13-of-13 from the field (nine of which were contested three-pointers) against the Sacramento Kings earlier this week, in what was an utter video game of a single quarter. He now holds the record for most points in a NBA quarter with 37. The Golden State Warriors will be at Madison Square Garden on Saturday :)

Quote of the Week: “Oh Fifty Shades of Grey, I want to read that when the movie comes out.” — E.J.

Follow @quartersnacks

Good luck with the snow these next two days. The National Weather Service is predicting we may get up to two feet in the city :( Dust those ‘Lo boots off.

The Origin of the White Rapper

Features & Interviews May 9th, 2014 · 5:00 am · 21

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…

The 10 Best Noseslides in Skateboard History

Features & Interviews October 2nd, 2012 · 10:05 am · 49

“He [Jereme Rogers A.K.A. J. Cassanova A.K.A. J.R. Blastoff] leads off this latest offering with a noseslide, the building block of modern skateboarding…Indeed, the noseslide serves as the basis for his entire repertoire. This is the main thing he has going for him in 2012. Shit is relatable; it’s still the first trick I do in any session. Dude also does a lot of switch tailslides, which are, of course, an inverted mirror-image way of getting into a noseslide. And whether you are switch inward heelflipping into one or f/s switch bigspin kickflipping (or some shit like that) out of one, a noseslide is still a noseslide. His ender even incorporates two different noseslides into a three-trick ledge combo that the editors of Transworld probably hate. More importantly, as we have seen in the recent Gino x McEnroe internet video clip, noseslides are highly relevant in 2012 because most people can do them, but few can do them well.” — Frozen in Carbonite: Bookmark Me, Maybe? – 2012 Song of the Summer/Video Part of the Summer Retrospective

There is not much to be said about the obvious significance of the the ollie, kickflip and Osiris D3 in skateboarding history. But there *was* something to be said about the oft-forgotten cornerstone of skateboarding known as the noseslide, until the above paragraph conveniently took care of that two days ago. Consider this an addendum to our “30 Phattest Outfits” study. It should come as no surprise that there is an overlap between the two lists — any skater who knows how to dress, knows how to do a proper noseslide. Thanks to Sweet Waste for compiling this list.

The 30 Phattest Outfits in Skate Video History: 1992-2012

Features & Interviews September 6th, 2012 · 12:56 pm · 101

Happy fall fashion week. We hope that you are fashion-forward during these next several days, and wish you the best of luck in sparking a brief romance with a lonely stylist’s assistant before the week is out.

In honor of this most festive of weeks, we have compiled a somewhat comprehensive guide to the best gear from the past twenty years’ worth of skate videos. Skateboarding didn’t just begin “embracing fashion,” as some misinformed outfits have recently reported. Fashion has been stealing shit from skaters for years. (Luckily, they left Javier Nunez’s City Stars jeans alone.) Here’s the proof: All the jerseys, sweats, camo, braids, insane patches, sweater vests and swooshy pants that you could ever hope for. Yes, there are omissions. No, it isn’t in order. Thanks to Roctakon, Boss Bauer, Sweet Waste, Jack Sabback and Jason from Frozen in Carbonite for their contributions to this post.

“Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.”

Daily News January 17th, 2011 · 9:55 am · 8

Not that much happened on the internet this past week. Everything related to skateboarding was eclipsed by Daewon Song and Brandon Westgate, while all other non-skate news was put aside once Gucci tatted an ice cream cone on his face with his trademark “Burrr” misspelled (notice the ‘U’ or lack thereof.) But either way, here are some things that surfaced, which you have probably seen.

If you’re active on Tumblr, please re-blog this initial post of the Quartersnacks cruiser board to help get the ball rolling on it. Depending on how FedEx pulls through, they should be at the door sooner than later.

A two-year-old, but seldom seen clip that reinforces this website’s opinion that the T.F. is one of New York’s finest cultural institutions, regardless of what ups and downs it has been through these past several years.

Although as of late, Taji has been focussed on his journalist / documentarian grind and thus on the board a bit less, you can still catch footage of him with the Acapulco Gold squad ripping at the House of Vans park.

KCDC Skateshop re-designed their website and draped it out with some new content.

The thirteenth installment of the T.C. mixtapes from out in Michigan is more than worth ten minutes of your time. Witnessing insane things being done on ledges is always more fun to watch when there’s some sketchiness involved, in that it adds a tangible and human feeling to the skating. None of us are ever coming close to landing anything Shane O’Neill manages to casually pull off, so it’s good to sometimes remind ourselves that imperfect rollaways exist in the terrestrial world. All-around solid video with a musical affinity for remixes as opposed to original versions, but whatever.

While on the topic of ledges, allow me to quote one of my associates: “When you talk about ‘style icons,’ we think about Rob Welsh.” His first line at Third and Army in Madness remains to be one of 2010’s brightest moments, but you already knew that.

The (big?) 360 flip debate. Where you stand invariably has to do with what decade you were born in. Dylan looks so wonderful doing it “the new school way,” so we’re kind of torn between a choice over here.

Quote of the Week: “We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate.” If you’re in, about to go, or going back to college, read this one. It’s important, and for the attention span deficient, short.

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