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Shaun White - photos by Terry Richardson

Nobody told me Carrot Top won a gold medal at the Winter Olympics… I didn’t even know he was competing!

Definitely gotta cop some of those American flag jeans though, shit’s fyre.

This is a pretty awesome little video I found floating anonymously through the Internets. It’s a short history of skateboarding in New York City called The New York Skate Movie and it features a ton of old footage and interviews. Deathbowl to Downtown may have stolen its thunder just a little bit (actually, a lotta bit), but it’s still an interesting view into NYC skateboarding’s glory days. Basically, before it was just 16-year-olds in front of Union Square who care more about what shoes they’re wearing than if they can actually kickflip in them.

You know, skating might have been born in California, but it was when kids in Connecticut, and New Jersey, and New York got a hold of it and actualized it in their own environment, that it really came to life. 

Given that it’s coming an East Coast skater like Mike Vallely, that quote might come across as a bit biased, but I think there’s a good amount of truth in there regardless. Skateboarding has always benefited from an influx of different viewpoints and perspectives. Whether you prefer a backyard pool session to an afternoon of ledge dancing is besides the point — without a constant surge of originality, without new ideas, skateboarding will get boring. Which is exactly what happened to competition vert. Look at it this way, without new ideas, we’d all still be wearing huge jeans, and that alone should be enough proof of evolution for all the creationists out there. Go to hell, you bunch of goddies.

The relentless push of progress does take its toll, though. Edmund Burke said that “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” however, he was not a skateboarder. Unfortunately, this is not the case in our beloved subculture, and simply knowing of a time when security guards had better things to do than harass skaters is not enough to make that the case once more. Retrospectives like this one are valuable because they can provide a glimpse of a time that we’ll never get to experience for ourselves.

It’s a shame — these days, cities often view skaters as more of a nuisance than the passed-out junkies littering their many delectable stair sets. Which is fair, I guess, since skateboarding is pretty noisy and everybody knows that city-dwellers really value peace and quiet.

Lakai just put out a new commercial featuring some awesome tripped-out editing and Vincent Alvarez, who is a rather bright spot on my radar these days. And if you know the difference between skateboarding and flossing your crack with huge checks from Red Bull, you’re watching out for this dude as well. At the very least, watch this clip and the beautiful full cab over a picnic table contained within. You owe it to yourself, so just do it already… indulge in the luxury of skateboarding.

Cory Kennedy might be the next Mike Mo, who was the next um… whoever was skating like hot flame before him, and so forth. But regardless of who’s flashing their sponsor’s shirts the most at The Berrics right now, Vincent Alvarez is easily one of skateboarding’s most exciting up-and-comers. The dude’s got style, skates fast as hell, and is one of those precious all-terrain rippers.

How long do you think this footage will tide us over for? Hopefully at least a decade, or until the Chocolate video is released… which ever comes first.

Danny Way, mid descent - photo by Grant Brittain

Whenever my mom asks me why I’m still skateboarding at my age, as if it’s equivalent to picking your nose (which I haven’t grown out of either), I wish I could transport this picture into her mind.

A wise (and perhaps autistic) guy I used to skate with once told me, “Skateboarding is the closest we can come to flying.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him that airplanes have been around for over 100 years, plus I liked the point he was making anyway. It only makes sense in a way that somebody who’s really experienced skateboarding could know. The speed and danger and freedom and shit… fuck, it is a little bit like flying, isn’t it?

And I guess, just like anything that goes up in the air… at some point, you must come back down.

This just in: Posh Spice is a poser.

“Built to grind”… psh, yeah, David Beckham maybe, IF YOU KNOW WHAT I’M SAYING

Alright, enough is enough, you guys. If you’re going to do a collaboration, at least do it with Bagel Bites or Mountain Dew… you know, a respectable company that has a legitimate history with skateboarding.

I mean, Jesus Christ, all Lil’ Wayne wears are Skytops and everybody knows you can’t actually skate in those! I dunno, Steve… maybe it’s time for you to re-watch Questionable and think about what that title really means.

Check out this awesome Super 8 film by Dalan McNabola featuring Jesse Hotchkiss skating through San Francisco. This is a vastly different kind of skateboarding video than the type you’re going to find coming out of the industry these days. Frankly, this type of video has been historically rare in skateboarding altogether — it straddles the line between skate flick and art project. But both of those happen to incorporate two of my favorite things.

Something about it touches the core of whatever it is inside me that lusts after the concrete rolling underneath my feet. I suppose because it’s more about the ride, the journey as it were, than anything else skateboarders tend to get distracted by these days. To me, it really captures that sense of joy that’s inherent in just pushing along while getting lost in the pure act of skating. Ol’ Dirty said it best, “oh baby I like it raw,” and raw this is.

One type of skateboarding bowl:

Tony Trujillo, pivot grab - photo via life.com

Another kind entirely:

The definition of craftsmanship - photo via fuckyeahskateboarding.com

Seldom have I been more impressed. Although I gotta say, whoever packed that bowl has probably had more than enough to smoke already. Shit’s looking like the Leaning Tower of Retarded.

Also — apologies for the wealth of drug-related posts recently if you’re one of dedleg’s many puritanical readers. You must understand, we’re in the dead of winter here and I’m going through a bit of a phase… for the past three years or so.

Here’s a recent photo of Pat McGee, one time national girls’ champion skateboarder — back in the long lost days before skateboarding was a total sausage fest. She’s holding a couple of magazines that featured her on the cover, including the May 14^th 1965 issue of LIFE, which actually happens to be the first magazine to ever cover skateboarding.

The issue focused on “the craze and menace of skateboarding.” And god knows I love me some menace, so I went and put that shit on my wall.

Although it was the first to address the topic, LIFE might not have done it best. The tone of the article is skeptical to say the least, more in-line with how a modern-day blogger might write of UGG Boots or Lady Gaga’s fictitious testicles. The very first sentence of the article comes off like an introduction to a lousy PSA:

That thing 19 year-old Pat McGee is balancing on is a skateboard, the most exhilarating and dangerous joy-riding device this side of the hot rod. 

Of course, this hostile tone that remains throughout the article only makes it that much more hilarious. Such is the case with this brief anecdote about a victim of an ill-fated skateboarding experiment:

It reminded Mrs. Greer of a roller coaster and gave her “a very free kind of feeling, but if Peter had let go of me, I think I would have died.” She was luckier than a California woman who tried her son’s board and got going too fast. She landed on both elbows and now has one arm in a sling, the other in a cast. 

I’ll never understand this type of resentment toward an activity whose injuries are entirely limited to those participating in said activity. If you don’t want to get hurt, don’t go skateboarding, bitch. It’s part of the fun. Bob Muller must have felt similar confusion, as he wrote a letter to the editor in response to the article, which was published three weeks later:

So what if we get a few broken bones, scraped knees and lumpy heads. They’re our bones, knees and heads. 

My feelings exactly. Now get out there and bruise something, already.

About a month ago, a bunch of semi-professional skateboarding dudes put out a pretty semi-professional skateboarding film, Lindsay Lohan: The Worst American Skateboard Video. It stars Joey Pepper, Nikhil Thayer, and Matt Jones, alongside a stalwart band of brothers, sometimes referred to as “bros” in the larger shred stick community. And while the video may have a low budget (roughly 0 dollars if you don’t count beer), I still found it more entertaining than a lot of footage put out by the so-called “professional” companies in recent months.

There were 20 hand-numbered physical copies available at DQM when it came out. I imagine they’re all gone now, but maybe if you stop by you could trade a copy with somebody for some weed.

Watching this type of skateboarding is refreshing, because it’s a more accurate representation of what skating is really like for your average dude when compared to the epic spectacles presented by top tier board and shoe companies. This may come as a bit of a surprise, but most of us are not on some Marc Johnson level shit. Most of us are not on some Marc Johnson 10 years ago level shit, even. But there’s still a lot of great skateboarding to be had in the lower ranks, and probably a good deal more fun as well. This is raw skating — better yet, this is why you started skating in the first place. Unless it was just to pick up chicks, in which case… nice job, man, cuz that shit totally works.

I present to you, the Sit n’ Skate, also commonly referred to as “the worst invention in the history of bad inventions.” There are aliens watching this from space, and they are laughing.

Not only is this “invention” (a term I’m using generously here since it’s really more of a monstrosity if you want to get technical) insane looking, the whole concept is just insane, period. What, are you supposed to be going down hill constantly? Otherwise, trying to shuffle your legs to gain momentum is going to look like a dog dragging its ass across the backyard. Although, if you’re sitting on one of those things in the first place, I suppose things like “appearance” and “dignity” aren’t really a concern anyway.