I'm not trying to steeze it out, dude
Plus: "Barking at the Knot", Andrew Allen stuns in "Hockey IV", AI disgusts in daily life, Antisocial forever, 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.
I'm not trying to steeze it out, dude
Rank: 1
Mood: 🐶🪢
"Dude, I just inhaled a Zyn," is the last thing you hear when watching Seamus Foster's Barking at the Knot to completion. That line, spoken from somewhere in the darkness surrounding a shakily filmed campfire, is also the end of one of the video's strongest thematic threads: that this is a project made by and for friends.
Credit to Foster's guiding hand, Barking at the Knot is well-produced, has its own distinct visual bent, a great soundtrack, and equally great skateboarding. What animates it, in concert with the rest, is that the skateboarders on screen appear to enjoy spending time with one another. That character — "friendship," the discerning observer might call it — is pulled through into the edit, from candid bits of conversation, b-roll of blissful trips to the corner store to get ice cream with the family, to an aside where a pal implores Colin Brophy to "quit trying to steeze it out" if he wants to actually land a sizable ollie. Advice that Brophy appears to get agitated by. You know, like friends will do to one another.
These are talented, delightfully imperfect skateboarders. Some tricks might be sloppy, some styles not quite smooth, but they are all the more charming for the herky-jerky normalcy that their 9-5 bodies provide. Kevin "Spanky" Long is also in this, but his grace, refined over a handful of decades as a professional, is forgivable and only adds to things.
The heart of this video, and its title, is that sometimes skateboarding does feel like "barking at the knot" — a silly, futile task with no discernible goal. But when you decide the goal is to make something out of that nothing with your friends, it becomes everything. When the people involved in the project get that, you can pick up on it as a viewer, who, if we're being honest, are all barking along.
Pleasure tumble
Rank: IV
Mood: 🏒🔪
Hockey IV, as a video, taps into something. There's an urgency to its soundtrack of predominantly medieval dungeon metal muzak. Benny Maglinao's art, spliced throughout, is pulsing, propulsive, abrasive, and hard to look away from. Skating-wise, it's populated by a level of risk-taking and life-threatening boardslides that Quartersnacks described as a reaction to our "troubled times."
We don’t boardslide to feel nothing. We boardslide to feel something. To feel alive.
It's a video of and for the current moment, and the Hockey team looks to have put their all into, as well as their bodies on the line for this production. That effort pairs well with the horror-chic of Maglinao's art direction. Diego Todd bails spectacularly and slides into the highway on his head. A high-five between skaters gets animated, severing the receiver's hand. It's cohesive, it works. It prods at the amygdala, making you both fearful for Cruise Mosberg's well-being and stoked to watch him attempt handrails that barely work as accessibility features.
But, best of all, we get Andrew Allen in peak form. Something of a cult figure, despite riding for some of the biggest brands in the industry, Allen has managed to maintain and grow his career as he's pared back and refined his trick and spot selection. He's now arrived in a place where his skateboarding speaks most directly to the skateboarder like me, those who prioritize low-impact obstacles, small and tight transitions, banks to ledges, curbs, and the occasional manual.
He is the everyman, but good. And now, if I may, svelt. Admittedly, my longtime fandom of Allen, a skater who is both relatable and inspiring, is a clear bias. But this bias is multi-dimensional. He seems nice. He likes movies. He likes to return to spots and build upon what he's already accomplished. He is a skater wont to tumble — that endearing splat and bounce a meme-able signature at this point.
While I was expecting Joseph Campos to close the show in Hockey IV, forgetting he had moved on to Violet Skateboards, Allen would still remain the highlight. May he continue to tumble for years to come.
A little rant, as a treat
Rank: -24
Mood: 🤖🔫
If you work in an industry where the key-jangling, dead-eyed boosterism of "AI" gets trotted out ad nauseam in company-wide emails, townhalls, or slotted into interviews with CEOs and CTOs with little to no context or detail around how this technology figures to be implemented, other than to signal to shareholders that they're considering the hot new bubble item, then you likely recognize how absurd and annoying all this bullshit is.
AI, generative AI, or whatever hokum dragnet of empty technological promise whose implicit purpose is to reduce workforce numbers is being pitched, is precisely that. Empty. The way it's talked about, especially when it comes to the future of work, creative and otherwise, continues to be obscene, and its proposed application gross, at times explicitly, outrageously hateful, and a tool gladly wielded by a growing anti-human, anti-democratic movement.
We're now years into this hype cycle and all there is to show for it is mass theft of intellectual property, isolationism and suffering, the atrophying of users' cognitive functions, an increase of spam on an unprecedented scale, and, of course, a couple chatbots and generative AI image and video makers that are "better" than they were last iteration, but still don't make any money.
Because, after all that, as it stands, this is the height of the billions and billions of dollars that have been poured into "AI":
Great.
Antisocial forever
Rank: ...
Mood: 🌧️
It is hard, harder than ever, not to become ossified by cynicism. To see beauty and meaning in a world where a premium has been placed on dismantling both. I know I struggle to avoid it, as readers of the previous section of this newsletter can attest. But as hackneyed as it may sound, it's impossible to ignore that the endless pursuit of profit and the demand for shareholder growth is quite literally destroying the world. Sorry!
From multi-level marketing scams ruining countless lives and funding the extreme Christian nationalist forces at the helm of America's fascist takeover, fossil fuel lobbyists lying about their own science to continue to ravage the earth for cash, to housing being distorted further as a financial asset and, subsequently, making it out of reach for the majority of people who aren't monied. Things are not great.
Again, apologies, I should take a breath — but I won't, because my local skate shop, Antisocial, which has had a physical space for over 20 years, announced on Wednesday that it would be closing its doors, effective immediately.
The neighbourhood it has been in for over two decades, and the location it has occupied for over 15 years, have become too expensive for most small businesses to survive in. Developers and a docile city hall made to heel by lobbyist intervention do not care that the places that give the city its soul are being pushed out in favour of million-dollar shoebox condos and cookie-cutter storefronts.
This doesn't mean Antisocial is done; it just exists outside the bounds of a physical space for now, and going forward, may not be able to exist in the neighbourhood corridor that they've helped turn into a legitimate community hub.
The loss, while hopefully temporary, is still a heavy blow. A skate shop, when done right, is the nucleus of a skate scene. They can also be so much more. One of the rare things that loosens me from cynicism's grip are places like Antisocial and people like Michelle Pezel, who run it. The shop sells hard and soft skateboarding goods, yes, but it also sells flowers, produce, has an art gallery, hosts video premieres, raucous live events in the back parking lot, and has been a home to generations worth of skaters, artists, and everyday people who just like to come in and shoot the shit. Community has always been at its core.
Antisocial is one of the rare businesses with a heart. Whether that's hosting local arts and crafts fairs, fundraisers for Nations Skate Youth and Palestine, or putting on countless events for the next generation of skateboarders. It's a space to gather and simply be. A place with meaning, and it is beautiful.
While difficult, we don't have to let cynicism's cold, clammy hand rest on our shoulder. I'm optimistic they will find a new location and grateful that they've been around so long. I'm writing this in the cafe across the street from Antisocial's locked-up storefront. A place I've sat for years to do my work, and once finished, make my way over to say hello, shoot the shit, and buy some gear. I look forward to doing the same wherever they end up next.
If you want to support the shop, they're doing a pre-sale on some new merch:
Something to consider: good news...?
Bill McKibben
Good thing: 'sletter friend and contributor Max Harrison-Caldwell with a heater for The San Francisco Standard.
smondrossfstandard.com
A good gear thing:
THE WAR REPORT
A banging thing: Alex Doyle and friends are back with another, well, banger.
That's correct, another good thing: That opening line from Auby Taylor... damn, dude.
A local news thing: I hope so!
A be careful out there thing:
Dell Cameron
A good retrospective thing:
Until next week… when you do your grocery shopping for the week ahead, if possible, pick up one new item — something you've never purchased before. Maybe it's for a recipe you want to try, a condiment you've never heard of, or a loaf of bread with even more ancient grains than the others. Surprise yourself.
Laser Quit Smoking Massage
NEWEST PRESS
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My new collection of essays is available now. I think you might like it. The Edmonton Journal called it a "local book set to make a mark in 2024." The CBC said it's "quirky yet insightful." lol.
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.
