Great trick, no face
Mike Munzenrider talks to Michael Burnett about Chris Joslin's cover, Monster put out another good video, the X Games is going all-in on the future of action sports, it's gonna take a lotta love to change the way things are, 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.
Cover strategies
with Michael Burnett
A special correspondence by Mike Munzenrider
It was anything but business as usual when Chris Joslin went to El Toro High School this summer to skate its iconic 20-stair. In tow were two photographers and enough cameras and crew for 11 video angles, alongside other bystanders, according to Thrasher Magazine editor-in-chief Michael Burnett. “You usually don’t bring your kids to the spot,” he says over the phone.
Joslin landed a 360-flip1 down the steps, which landed him on the cover of the latest Thrasher that is showing up in skate shops and mailboxes now. Joslin nearly could have missed the cover — in his exaltation of landing the trick, Burnett was told that Joslin was “ready to post [the 360-flip photo] from the stairs.”
It was more business as usual on Burnett’s end when it came to putting Joslin on the cover of his magazine. Anytime a skater is going to try something special, Burnett says he gets on the phone with the photographer to talk strategy. His main talking point with Atiba Jefferson, who shot the cover photo, was a practical concern: Make sure you can see Joslin’s face.
“He’s kind of in a little ball a lot of the times he’s in the air,” Burnett says of Joslin. “The way he skates and because of his style, you don’t see his face … For a magazine, you need to see his face.”
“Hats can fuck up a photo, too,” he adds, explaining that unless the shot is taken from the correct angle, the hat completely covers the skater’s head and they end up looking like the helmeted Cobra Commander from G.I. Joe. Burnett says another photo taken at El Toro, shot by the late Joe Hammeke, was ruined by a hat. When Nyjah Huston backside-smith-grinded the rail, before it was replaced by the current un-skateable version, a hat brim obscured Huston’s identity. Great trick, no face. He says he thinks the photo never ran.
When it comes to skaters who are paid to wear a particular hat, perhaps with a Red Bull logo on it, Burnett says he’ll suggest they switch from the cap to a beanie. There can also be uncomfortable discussions about turning the cap backwards. “That’s Fred Durst territory,” he says, “some people look insane in backwards hats.”
Another bit of strategy discussed with Jefferson, Burnett says, was to shoot the trick fisheye. This goes against a loose rule of thumb, which is that when shooting tricks on 14 or more stairs, give or take, you don’t need a fisheye because the stairs are already big enough. That is, you don’t need to make them look bigger. The photo seems to have turned out.
“I was happy to have it, I think it was very cool,” Burnett says of the picture, saying it offers a new perspective on an old spot.
Jefferson, on his personal Instagram account, captioned the photo as “one of the gnarliest things I have [ever] shot in my career.” Burnett says the gnarliest things he’s shot were Dane Burman’s grind in Philadelphia and Aaron “Jaws” Hamoki’s 25-stair ollie in Lyon, France. Despite the danger inherent to those tricks and others, Burnett says when he’s out shooting, he’s only concerned with doing his job. “I totally don’t worry about the guys and women. It’s really rare that things go catastrophically wrong… I take myself out of it when I’m focusing on the photo. Sometimes the gravity of it doesn’t hit me until after.”
Burnett has worked at Thrasher since 1997, accumulating responsibilities and weightier titles throughout that time, up until Jake Phelps’ death in 2019, when he replaced Phelps as editor-in-chief. “We put some covers on ice” over the years, he says, pointing to the making of 2015’s Propeller as an example, which was two years' worth of photo trips with Vans.
In the magazine business, of course, pictures are still king. “Traditionally, we always put the photos out before the video,” Burnett says, adding he could have waited a month on the Joslin cover, assuming Joslin agreed not to release the clips. He says he’s been tagged on Instagram and accused of “ruining the footage” by putting the photo out first, and that he’s always thought it was weird that Transworld Skateboarding ran a photo feature on Birdhouse’s The End after the video had come out. “If someone’s going to buy a paper magazine, let’s pack as many surprises in there as possible.”
You know a cover when you see it, Burnett says, “Sometimes you’ll have a big plan, and then I shoot a photo or you get a photo, and you go, ‘Holy shit, this is it.’” And yet, with a monthly magazine, you can’t just take it one month at a time. “I’m thinking three covers out right now.”
We have two kidneys for a reason
Rank: 1
Mood: Ⓜ️
I've said it before, and yes, I will say it again: shoutout to Monster Energy.
The company that produces fun-coloured poisons that make your hands shake, and I assume, kidneys disintegrate, recently released another excellent skateboarding video, Down Straight Up! Vol. 4, via Thrasher.
I wrote this following the release of Down Straight Up! Vol. 2:
It is upsetting, in a very particular way, for Monstery Energy, purveyor of FDA-approved petrol for sleepy people and sponsor of everything from MMA fighters to bull riders, gamers, and a blandly retrograde category of "girls," to also be responsible for the production of a legitimately good skateboarding video. It shouldn't be surprising that DOWN STRAIGHT UP! Volume 2 is of quality, given that Monster Energy appears to have bottomless coffers.
What is surprising is that Monster Energy has continued to give the reins to filming and directorial talent Daniel Galli, whose work like YOU CAN'T WIN for Beyond Medals and independent projects like Cheap Motel and Angelina are all visually distinct, excellent watches. Galli's efforts seem far outside the stale machismo that Monster Energy has branded itself with from the outset. Yet, here he is, making aesthetically, sonically, and emotionally cohesive videos that I would enjoy sitting through more than once.
That's the upsetting part. This ugly, unfeeling energy drink corporation has done something genuinely good. And that's not all: from all accounts, sponsors like Monster, Red Bull, and the like are the last best way for professional skateboarders to make skateboarding their profession, as in, one that pays. They also don't make their riders wear giant "M" logos anymore, with most on the payroll opting for small, sometimes imperceptible iron-on patches.
And they've done it again! This time, by giving the director's reins to Shari White, whose canon is now chock full of excellent projects, like Vans' Credits, Keepsake, and Antisocial Summer.
Under White's command, we get full sections from Fabiana Delfino, Ruby Lilley, and Rayssa Leal, who all deliver. Delfino's switch-layback-grind is a superbly executed rarity, as is seeing Leal take to the streets, where she excels, but we don't often get to see her, assuming due to the demands of the competitive circuit.
But the video's star, if we are to play games like this, is clearly Ruby Lilley. A skater whom we've seen impressive glimpses of, just not in a project like this, one guided by a hand like White's. In Down Straight Up! Vol. 4, we catch pieces of Lilley's personality, which comes through in the artful editing, b-roll, and also her choice of dress, which I'd categorize as Cataclysmic Abyss-era Ethan Fowler, a former member of the Foundation Skateboarders roster. Lilley is currently one. They even share a similar knock-kneed style.
It's a great watch, so much so that it makes me wonder if I should crack a cold can of Monster. I mean, we have two kidneys for a reason, right?
Toward a theory of nothingness
Rank: X
Mood: 😒
On Wednesday, the X Games launched their brand and strategic refresh, the headline of which reads:
X Games Goes “ALL IN” on the Future of Action Sports
That does imply that they were only partly "in" for the previous 30 years, but nitpicking aside, the "key moves" in the X Games' all-in future include:
X Games League (2026): Led by Annie Lokesh, formerly of the WNBA, the world’s first team-based action sports league debuts Summer 2026 with drafted athletes competing at every X Games. Over 150 athletes have declared for the inaugural XGL Summer Draft. The league will have both summer and winter seasons.
Year-Round Global Events: Expanding beyond the traditional summer/winter schedule, with more stops around the world and local-language broadcasts.
Athlete-First Model: Bigger prize purses, new compensation pathways, and deeper storytelling to elevate the athletes who fuel the movement.
Festival-Like Live Events: Blending competition with music, tech, culture, and community for unforgettable fan experiences.
Explosive Social Growth: Building on momentum that doubled YouTube subscribers to 2M and grew total reach to 16M+ across channels—with a sharper focus on two-way dialogue with fans.
That all sounds pretty decent! And it does fit with what they're calling the "dawn of a new era" for the company. However, I did purposefully leave out these "key moves" for dramatic effect:
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.
Cool, cool. The accurate, transparent AI adjudication of a skateboard or BMX trick. A thing that is definitely possible. And, as 'sletter friend Ian Browning wrote on Bluesky, "You know, I’ve been looking for new ways to bet money on what teenagers do."
X Games also promoted its logo refresh, giving it a highly polished hype job that you really should watch.
Via X Games on Youtube.
If you can't be bothered, spoiler alert: this is what their new logo looks like.
The X Games logo has never particularly stood out, but at least they were making what could qualify as an effort in years past.
As with the curious mess that is the Skate Board Association (SBA), which I wrote about a couple of weeks back, I do hope the X Games and its XGL venture can find success. To lazily quote myself, skateboarding is better for athletes and fans when there are more opportunities. And if anyone can pull it off, it's the X Games.
Cole Nowicki
Still, it bears mentioning that these are not insignificant examples of how we're continuing to careen toward a world of, shall we say, hyper-homogenization. From a wash of new "league" style experiments, lifeless logos, and lifeless insertions of "AI" into any available marketing opportunity, to life-sucking gambling ads and opportunities flooding the market and every corner of the screen, the audience experience of sports in general is becoming increasingly uniform, and depending on your view, hostile.
All of these different somethings are being pressed into a similar nothing, while promising us a new everything, as when the SBA claims its league will be "a groundbreaking initiative set to transform global sports, youth culture, and innovation."
Maybe I'm being dramatic again. This is just a rebrand, after all.
"This is more than a rebrand. This is the future of sports." X Games CEO Jeremy Bloom said in the company's press release on Wednesday.
Lotta love
Rank: N/A
Mood: N/A
"Is he a comedian?" My brother asked, but I misheard and thought he said "Canadian."
No, MJ Lenderman is not Canadian, or a comedian, but he is pretty funny and was here in Vancouver, where I saw him play a show on Friday night, I explained, after understanding our misunderstanding. The noise of the mechanic's shop hummed and buzzed and clanked on his side of the phone.
"Crazy news about Jimmy Kimmel, eh?" My generally apolitical brother said about the American comedian whose late-night show was "indefinitely suspended" after threats made by Brendan Carr, the head of the FCC. Appointed by America's fascist president to do just that, enact government censorship, Carr callously leveraged the horrific murder of a racist conservative podcaster to claim a milquetoast comment made by the comedian was grounds for an entire broadcast network to have its license pulled. The network, ABC, cowardly caved.
Less than a week later, ABC would cave once more, putting Kimmel back on the air after a subsequent boycott was set to impact a planned price hike for Disney+, the streaming service of the network's parent company, as reported by Marisa Kabas at The Handbasket.
"Sorry, I've gotta get back to work." My brother said. There was big overtime money to be made on weekends.
Sitting in my reading chair, no longer talking or reading, I wondered what our workplaces will do when things get bad. I mean, worse than they are now, which is already quite bad. When America's slide into authoritarianism becomes impossible to ignore any longer, will they schedule an all-hands Zoom meeting, maybe send out a company-wide email?
Subject Line: To our valued employees, don't forget to sign up for your bi-weekly TPUSA education sessions!
We don't have to imagine, really. Following October 7, 2023, many companies sent out mass emails "acknowledging recent events." Offering support in these "difficult times." How many companies have sent out updates since? Say, in the weeks after, when experts were already calling Israel's devastation of Gaza a genocide. Or at any point in the last two years, as evidence of Israel's genocidal horrors enacted on Palestinians mounted, deaths reached over 200,000 (that figure according to a gleeful estimate from the IDF), along with attacks on Iran, Jordan, Yemen, Syria, Qatar.
Does it not warrant an email when the United Nations declares that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza, as they did last week?
Subject Line: To our valued employees, don't forget to abide by the IHRA definition of antisemitism!
Our leaders in business and government are already comfortable with fascism. That's why they do their best to ignore large-scale protests against genocide but will bend, like Canada did last week, to Israeli lobbyist groups, whom MPs like Vince Gasparro met with, and then days later banned the Irish musicians Kneecap from entering the country over their support of Palestine, which Gasparro deemed hateful and antisemitic.
Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia did recognize the State of Palestine on Sunday, which is about 80 years late. That "recognition" is also conditional. The people being systemically and savagely destroyed by the genocidal bloodlust of a rogue state are still required to make certain commitments as the horrors committed against them continue. As war criminals walk among us. None of the country's statements includes the word genocide.
If our leaders are still unwilling to take immediate, meaningful action to stop the crime of all crimes two years on, it's difficult to imagine them standing up to even a doddering autocrat.
Subject Line: To our valued employees, don't!
At the show, Lenderman played a cover of Neil Young's "Lotta Love." He's said that a Canadian friend sent the song to him after Trump's reelection, and they've been playing it on tour since.
As the song reached its climax, Lenderman stood locked in front of the microphone, as if bracing against some powerful gale, and sang.
It's gonna take a lotta love
To change the way things are
It's gonna take a lotta love
It's gonna take a lotta love
It's gonna take a lotta love
It's gonna take a lotta love
It's going to take more than that to change the way things are; hopefully we can get there soon.
Harry Davies
Some things to consider:
Edward Ongweso Jr
Good thing: Ten Years of Free! Here's to another decade.
Another good thing:
Leticia Nogueira
Good pod round-up:
Village Psychic
Justin
Good Adjacent panel round-up:
Good roster addition thing:
Until next week… hug three friends, eat two pieces of fruit, touch a tree, move in a circle counter-clockwise, and read six poems.
1 The 360-flip cover was captioned on Thrasher’s Instagram and X accounts as a “tré bomb.” Astute readers may have wondered if Thrasher had updated its stylebook to include the accented e when referencing the trick, but Burnett says it has not and that the é was an error.
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.
