Action sports is in full growth mode 🚀
Introducing the MoonPay X Games League, the beautiful thing about hobbies, it came from the comment section, Griptape beta, and more.
The definitive weekly ranking and analysis of all the skateboarding and other things online that I cannot stop consuming and how it makes me feel, personally.
Spotify for skate videos?
Rank: ?
Mood: 🤔💸
Contemporary media, such as it is, is now commonly "consumed" instead of enjoyed; a flat, affectless action. Media, which was maybe once art, is now content; a smoothing out of meaning like folds in a bedsheet.
This has contributed to a general malaise that permeates The Now. Things feel unsettled because we do not settle. We auto-play. Consumption demands only more consumption, so things are created merely to consume, not to stick in our hearts and our minds.
Cole Nowicki
That's some pretty overwrought woo-woo whinging, but having access to everything, everywhere, all the time has done something to us. It's both atomized and flattened our tastes and convinced us (in some cases, correctly) that with so much, it is impossible to pay for most or any of it.
Consider skateboarding. When's the last time you paid for a skateboarding video? Now, how many skateboarding videos, clips, or edits did you watch this week? Skateboarding, like many other sports and cultural interests, has mostly given up on trying to get paid for the art/media/content it produces.
That means skateboarding videos, still a company's premier brand expression and marketing tool, which often require years of effort from athletes, filmers, and those behind the scenes, rarely make the involved parties any money. Sales of Sorry on VHS were probably a decent driver of revenue for Flip Skateboards in the early aughts, but they weren't a heartbeat product. Still, videos were an additional revenue stream (for the company, not so much for the stars of the video).
Which is a long way of saying that finding a way to get people paid for the videos they appear in and produce would be a positive in an industry that has historically not remunerated its members well, if at all, for such work. Griptape, a new app championed by Thrasher's 2015 Skater of the Year, Anthony Van Engelen, aims to do just that.
Announced on Instagram last week, AVE touted Griptape as "a home for the complete history of skate videos — past, present, and future — and as a platform where new projects can thrive. Every skater and company has their own account. Where there [sic] percentages of streaming dollars get distributed."
That's an admirable, if lofty, goal. Curious if it had legs, I gave the app a try on Tuesday. Griptape is still in beta and can only be accessed through beta-testing apps like TestFlight, and comes with a $10/month or $100/year subscription fee (prices in USD).
Charging for beta access isn't uncommon, but in this instance, it feels a bit like a bait-and-switch. In AVE's introductory post, you see a screen recording of the Griptape app in action, with the user navigating through it with ease, scrolling between brands, videos, and individual skaters' sections in full-length videos.
That post elides the fact that the app is very much still in beta. Griptape's video library is, at this point, minimal. As of writing this, it only contains videos from 10 brands (Fucking Awesome, Hockey, Girl, Chocolate, April, Limosine, Swim, Vinyl, Dickies, and Former) and one independent filmmaker, Kevin Perez. A rough count of the total number of videos on the app came to 90. Many of those are solo parts or one-off web clips. Some individual brands' video libraries are incomplete (Girl's profile is missing all of their tour videos and even more recent projects like Nervous Circus).
Several of the app's features aren't functional despite being present and clickable (e.g., certain categories in the "browse" section are blank or marked as "coming Friday" when touched, the sub-category tabs in individual skaters' profiles are labelled "coming soon", and more).
To be clear, these missing and work-in-progress aspects aren't a mark of failure; this is a beta, after all. By definition, it is in development. The "playlisting" feature arrived yesterday evening. What is strange is that Griptape is charging $10-$100 USD for access to such an incomplete product. That's a lot of money. It's more than Paramount+ Essential ($8.99 USD per month) and a few bucks less than Spotify Premium ($12.99 USD per month), while offering almost nothing by comparison.
Skateboarders have been conditioned to consume skateboarding content for free. If you want them to pay for it, you'll need to give them a really good reason why.
A generous reading is that charging for the beta is a "fund-raising" activation as the app moves along in its production cycle, kicking cash to the development team and the skaters, filmers, and brands along the way as proof of concept.
However, Griptape's promotion has promised something more, something finished, with one recent Instagram post reading "Every part. Every era. Finally in one place." Maybe that'll be true at some point, but right now, that describes YouTube.
Given the unfinished state of Griptape, questions linger about the app's functionality and, perhaps most importantly, its revenue-sharing program, which makes the app distinct from others in the field. In an Instagram post, Griptape tried to explain how the program will function, but the numbers around specific revenue splits remain fuzzy and we don't know what a "stream" earns.
Sponsors join the platform. Skaters own their parts. If you have 80%+ of the tricks, it's yours. Parts over 30 seconds count as streams. Intros, montages, skits, tours, and credits go to the video's sponsor.
60% of revenue goes to skaters and sponsors for their parts.
10% goes to the video's sponsor (filmers included).
30% covers costs and development.
On Wednesday, I reached out to Griptape with a series of questions and promptly and kindly heard back from someone at the company who asked if we could "do a call for better understanding." I agreed. We played a bit of email tag and I haven't heard back since. These are the questions I sent over.
- Who are the folks behind Griptape and when did this project first come about?
- How did AVE get involved in the project (if he wasn't from the jump) and what's his role?
- What's the reaction to Griptape been like so far?
- The exciting hook of using Griptape is that skaters, filmers, and brands can earn money from their creative/professional work. How much does 1 stream earn and what's the revenue split between skater, filmer, and brand/sponsor per stream, if that's how the payment structure functions?
- In an Instagram post, you note that "60% of revenue goes to skaters and sponsors for their parts. 10% goes to the video's sponsor (filmers included)" and the remaining 30% going toward "costs and development." For clarification on my end, what's the difference between the "video's sponsor" that 10% goes toward and the sponsor who splits the 60% with the skater?
- Is that split the same across the board, no matter who the skater, brand, or filmer is?
- How does a brand, skater, or filmer get their videos hosted on Griptape and is there a defined approval process?
- Is there a threshold a video has to reach before it's eligible for monetization, like how Spotify requires a song reach 1000 streams in the previous 12 months to earn?
- In AVE's introductory Instagram post for Griptape on January 20, he says that "Some skaters are already earning from their parts on the platform." Does that mean the app had already been live and accepting subscriptions?
- Is there worry about running into legal issues when monetizing against skate videos that often, historically, didn't get approval to use copyrighted works (songs, movie clips as b-roll, etc.)
- Griptape is still very much in beta, as your website notes. Is there any concern about charging $10-$100 to use an app through TestFlight that still has quite a way to go in its development? (While trying it out last night, there are a number of features that aren't yet in place and the video library is quite limited.)
- What are the next steps for Griptape now that it's been announced and people are using the beta version of the app?
Again, the app is incomplete. Once they've ironed out the kinks and fleshed out the library, perhaps Griptape can work toward fulfilling its goals.
But in the here and now, this is a perfect example of why a product's rollout is so important, and why clear, concise messaging around it is imperative, because asking for money to access an unfinished streaming content platform only contributes to that general malaise of The Now. We live in a moment in time when trust is at a premium because everything, and I mean everything, is designed to rip us off. Every aspect of our lives has been monetized and everyone is looking for a cut. If you paid $10, or god forbid, $100 for Griptape, you might rightly feel like you got hoodwinked.
Mike Anderson, during the initial round of social media hype following AVE's post, likened Griptape to "Spotify for skate videos."
If your stated goal is to help get skaters get paid for their work, Spotify is not the connection you want users to make.
Official Simple Magic life advice, vol. 1
Rank: 1
Mood: ✨
It's no one's place but their own to define what makes a full and healthy person, as in a life and the way it's spent, but it can't be argued that diversifying and widening the scope of one's interests and abilities, wherever possible, will make existing on this planet more enjoyable, or, at the very least, and little less tedious.
Maybe that means getting more creative with your at-home cooking, learning a second or third language, pursuing a trade, or getting into pickleball — things that can be useful in practice and as an experience, for you and those around you. Dishing up a delicious meal for your friends and family, making small talk while on vacation overseas, making a box for you and your friends to skate, slapping some balls around with strangers — those are all personally and publicly enriching.
Think of it this way: can you live a perfectly happy life without being able to boost a heelfip-indy well above coping? Sure, of course. But imagine how much joy it'll bring not just you, but everyone else around you to throw one of those fuckers out while on the session.
It came from the comment section
Rank: N/A
Mood: 🧌
A working theory: the invention of the online "comment section" was the first domino to fall in a series of subsequent moments in history that clack-clacked as they fell until we arrived at our present moment, one big domino left teetering — societal collapse, revolution — it's hard to make out what it says on it from here.
Maybe that's a bit hyperbolic and not overly original. But one can't deny that the heads of the world's leading superpower, who hold the fate of the world in their hands, are primarily concerned with posting, usually about their continued attrocities, or that many of these people found their putrid origin stories in dank forums and, perhaps even more stupidly, by self-martyrdom in the comment section, as Max Read wrote last week.
"... to be a regular commenter anywhere is to constantly put yourself in a subject position all but guaranteed to develop the kind of resentment that powers Trumpist politics: Your voice is (literally) suppressed, made subordinate, often hidden; your intelligence and expertise receives a fraction of the attention of the glib P.M.C. blogger you’re responding to, whose attention and approval you both scorn and desire."
The democratizing power of the internet is real in many ways, but it also functions in the inverse, giving air and opportunity to our worst selves. So it makes perfect sense that Thrasher Magazine turned the comments off on an Instagram post they made on Sunday, the day after the murder of Alex Pretti by CPB agents in Minneapolis, condemning the Trump administration and ICE as their siege on Minnesota continues.
Why give the chuds more air?
It's a strong statement, especially from a niche hobbyist magazine, which, in its own way, is heartening. Cosmo made one too, which includes a series of helpful resources. The alarm bells are ringing loud enough that even the r/massivecock subreddit put out a statement. It's obviously a low bar to oppose fascism, but at a time when few refuse the risk, this level of unity is essential. Offline and online, because the run-of-the-mill ghouls, for now, are most confident in the latter.
And as the glut of "stick to skating" comments on the surrounding Thrasher Instagram posts shows, it hurts and maybe even scares them to see people stand up to what is happening, to see that people care about one another more than they care about themselves.
Nathan Kalman-Lamb
Action sports is in full growth mode 🚀
Rank: 00,000,000
Mood: 🏅
Sickos, are you out there? You, the true freaks who care about the burgeoning, bubbling, stumbling cohort of Upstart Skateboarding Leagues? Ah, there you are, you beautiful bastards. This dollop of updates is for you.
First of all, unfortunate news. The Professional Skateboarding League, the brainchild of Mike Mo Capaldi, was set to kick off its inaugural season on Saturday, but has had to postpone to February 7 due to "unforeseen circumstances."
Those circumstances must be especially unforeseen as the PSL is also switching venues from a custom park built in the Crailtap warehouse, which Capaldi has spent the last weeks vlogging the construction of (those videos now set to "unlisted" on the PSL YouTube page), to Paul Rodriguez's Primitive Skatepark.
It's a tough setback, particularly as Capaldi has apparently put his "house on the line" to get PSL off the ground. Us sickos are rooting for you, Mo.
Speaking of sickos, Jeremy Bloom, the CEO of X Games, made a big announcement on LinkedIn this week:
Fresh off an epic Winter X Games in Aspen, we're thrilled to announce the biggest sponsorship deal in X Games history— a large eight figure, three year naming rights deal with MoonPay, the world's leading crypto company. The partnership also includes an option for MoonPay to invest in the league and acquire up to two X Games teams.
The MoonPay X Games League officially kicks off at our draft on March 12 in LA. We're also introducing four new pro summer teams: X Games Club LA, New York, São Paulo, and Tokyo. Each team will draft 10 athletes (five men and five women) at the draft in Los Angeles.
Stay tuned.. action sports is in full growth mode! 🚀
The "MoonPay X Games League." Breathtaking.
I have previously been critical of the X Games' big revamp, particularly around the proposed integration of AI judging and sports betting into their events, which the company broke down thusly:
AI-Powered Judging (The OWL): Real-time, transparent scoring that ensures accuracy and trust for athletes and fans.
Sports Betting & Fantasy Sports: Entering a U.S. market already valued at $17B+, unlocking deeper engagement with fans under 35.
By "deeper engagement" do they mean sending fans under 35 deeper into all-consuming, life-ruining debt? Also, it turns out that Bloom, X Games CEO, is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Owl AI, the company providing "AI-judging" technology to the X Games (as well as Major League Pickleball). That's convenient.
"We can judge games, and referee purely objectively, not subjectively," Bloom is quoted as saying on the Owl AI website. Is that so? Can the AI tell the difference between a toe-drag and a light hand touch? Can it gauge whether a flip trick is executed cleanly — popped high, caught high, landed bolts — and one that rockets and flops to the ground with the skateboarder lucky to stay on? How does it discern style? I digress.
Per Sportico this week, "XGL appointed general managers for the inaugural four teams: Bob Burnquist (São Paulo), Harumi Suzuki (Tokyo), Sharalee “Haze” Hazen (Los Angeles) and Steve Rodriguez (New York). The GMs will oversee athlete and team strategy and collaborate with XGL leadership on operations, content and marketing."
That's pretty cool. And, those previous criticisms aside, the MoonPay X Games League could work! There's a very good chance it's fun for however long it lasts. If their promises bear fruit, the athletes involved will also earn decent money, with prize purses on top of base salaries (of currently unknown amount) and all travel costs covered by the organization.
But, at the risk of being a continued bummer in this newsletter, is this what it takes for things to work and be fun now? Pushing AI trash and taking — one presumes real — money from cryptocurrency companies? And that company, MoonPay, I must contest, isn't even the "world's leading crypto company" as Bloom claims.
Bloom, it should be noted, says a lot of things. Especially on LinkedIn, where he is something of an AI slop-posting savant, a slopvant if you will. Take this lovely anecdote from a few months back, first shared by a dear 'sletterhead on Bluesky.
I spoke to a kid yesterday, two years out of college. Really impressive—1500+ SAT, Ivy League degree, and hungry to work at X Games.
I only took the call as a favor to a friend since we don’t have any open roles that fit him. But he asked me, “What could I say or do that would make you want to hire me on the spot?”
Nobody has ever asked me that before. I told him, If you mastered AI and could leverage it at X Games in a way that helps us move and scale faster, I’d hire you on the spot.
And after the call the thought I had was: AI mastery is the new Harvard MBA.
If I were graduating high school today, and sports weren’t a factor, I doubt I’d even consider college. I’d spend every waking hour on AI—especially agents. Build with it. Break it. Push it. Ship it. Document the wins.
"AI mastery is the new Harvard MBA." Wow! Now, don't you be hating, because that's just fuel, as Bloom explained in this excerpt from another very obviously ChatGPT-generated LinkedIn post.
Even now, at X Games, we hear the skepticism. Some question the vision. Some quietly hope we fall short. And yeah, it still gets under our skin. Still fuels that fire. Still drives us to prove, through action—not words, that we’re building something very special.
You never fully lose that chip on your shoulder. It just evolves.
People often say, “Don’t listen to the naysayers.” But we do. We hear every word. We write it down. We remember the names. Not to dwell—but to remind us what we’re capable of when we’re underestimated.
We’ve never claimed to be the smartest in the room. But we know how to show up early, stay late, and outwork the noise.
So to everyone grinding in the shadows, keep going. There’s a whole tribe of us doing the same. The right people will see you. And the wrong ones? They’ll just keep making us more hungry.
Onward 🚀
That's right, fellow shadowgrinders: stay grinding in the dark. Wait, whose names is he writing down?
Some things to consider:
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Adam Serwer
Good thing: BA. KU. Horde 3 premieres next Thursday. I've seen Deer Man do some pretty messed-up tricks over the last couple of years here in Vancouver. This should be a good one.
Cole Nowicki
Another good thing:
Some good Ryan Lay things;
Village Psychic
Another reason to be mad at computer: "Inside an AI start-up’s plan to scan and dispose of millions of books" by Aaron Schaffer, Will Oremus, and Nitasha Tiku for The Washington Post.
Until next week… this world, despite it all, remains a beautiful place.
Laser Quit Smoking Massage
NEWEST PRESS
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A collection of essays that I think you might like. The Edmonton Journal called it a "local book set to make a mark in 2024," The CBC said it's "quirky yet insightful" (lol), and it won Trade Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the 2025 Alberta Book Publishing Awards.
Book cover by Hiller Goodspeed.
Right, Down + Circle
ECW PRESS
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I wrote a book about the history and cultural impact of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater that you can find at your local bookshop or order online now. I think you might like this one, too.
Photo via The Palomino.
