Pissing toward greatness
A swagiversary, a triumph of the human spirit, Antonio Durao goes vertical, Pinson goes Proe, 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.
Swagiversary
Rank: 4
Mood: 🎩👕
September marked the semi-official fourth anniversary of this newsletter. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who reads, subscribes, enjoys, and contributes to this thing. It is a pleasure and privilege to write and publish, and I don't take it for granted that so many of you (tens of millions, I'm told) allow me into your inboxes each week. The inbox is a sacred place and I do my best not to besmirch it.
Now, how does one celebrate four years of existence? With swag, obviously.
This is for the 'sletter sickos out there, which I assume are legion. If you'd like a hat or shirt featuring art by Tylor Macmillan, feel free to check out the lil Simple Magic web shop. I've also got a whole whack of new stickers and bookmarks that'll go out with each order.
I had planned to release this stuff in September — you know, to align with the anniversary, but alas, the world had its own plans. All of this to say, if you do order something, I won't be able to ship it until later this month, as I'm heading to France tomorrow — merde!
Is launching the shop now a prudent business decision on my part? Probably not, but as noted above, this isn't business, it's pleasure. Consider whatever you order as a treat in waiting.
Additionally, if you are in Paris or will be in Bordeaux for Connect Festival and want to hang, get at me.
Au revoir pour l'instant!
Pissing toward greatness
Rank: 70m
Mood: 🌎🪂
Things can only get bigger. They must. What would be the point of going smaller, of reaching for the readily achievable? That is the triumphal nature of the human spirit. It must always, well, triumph.
That means things that were once triumphed over get bigger, even incrementally, so they can be triumphed over again. And again.
It's why Felix Baumgartner leapt to earth from the "edge of space" (space, famous for its edges), because people had skydived from high up before, but not that high up. Ultimately, that's what moves us, seeing whose stream of piss arcs highest.
Baumgartner, a fan of dictators, didn't consider his stunts as thrill-seeking; they were all meticulously planned, an extreme expression of control. The 56-year-old Austrian suffered a fatal paragliding accident in July, falling out of the skies above Porto Sant’Elpidio, Italy, into a hotel swimming pool.
In September, after three previous attempts, Poland's Andrzej Bargiel climbed Mount Everest and skied back down without the use of bottled oxygen. Most of these things had been done before, just not together at once, as The Guardian explained.
More than 6,000 people have climbed the mountain, according to the Himalayan database, but only about 200 have done it without additional bottled oxygen. A few people have skied back down, but never a continuous downhill without supplementary oxygen.
Bargiel would say that “Skiing down Everest without oxygen was a dream that had been growing inside me for years.” A very specific dream, indeed.
Last Thursday, 50-year-old vert skateboarding stalwart Sandro Dias broke his own world record multiple times on his way to claiming the highest drop-in ever done on a skateboard after riding 70 metres down the side of an office building in Porto Alegre, Brazil. This stunt was another long-gestating dream, as Dias told Thrasher that he first noticed the building and its oddly perfect quarter-pipe in his youth and had fantasized about rolling down it for decades, until he reached his fifth and made it a reality.
To be clear, these are all spectacular things. As audacious, gaudily branded, and stupid as they are, to watch the sun hit those golden arcs at their triumphant peak is a gift. It also makes sense that each of these feats was sponsored by Red Bull, a golden-hued energy drink that promises to give its consumers wings.
Red Bull's marketing has always been exactly this: audacious, gaudily branded, and stupid. While thrilling, it does feel strange that the limits of human achievement, our great pissing toward greatness, can only be facilitated by lads in an Austrian boardroom.
What happens when these tests of spirit become simple product promotion? More importantly, have they ever been anything more than that?
Preserving the wild Tony
Rank: 1
Mood: 🤳
It's something of a running joke, at least for me, a person looking at their phone, that professional skateboarder Antonio Durao will regularly post to his Instagram Stories, clips of tricks that would be "enders" or "curtains" or "hammers" for any other skateboarder, normal, amateur, or PRO.
Some of the most incredible skateboarding you will ever see, captured and released into the ether within 24 hours. Given the way that Instagram and most other social media platforms function now, where ads and "suggested" posts clog our feeds like plaque in a vital artery, you may never get the chance to witness Durao's greatness. His latest astounding feat, likely filmed portrait, a whisper lost in the din.
That's why it's not surprising that Durao would release a new video part, via Quartersnacks, captured entirely on his friends' iPhones and formatted for all the vertical screen watchers out there. It also appears to complement his natural state, catching Durao skating akin to a cryptid or a street fight — if you don't pull out your phone, you'll miss it.
Immigration Part is flush with so many ludicrous tricks that it is almost enraging. Why! Why would you not film these with a legitimate camera! As Snackman says, "Maybe we’re traditionalists, but if these four minutes were filmed on a 'real' cam, it’d be a shoo-in for one of the year’s best parts."
That is part of what makes Durao so special, though. He is so good at skateboarding that he doesn't appear to give a shit about it. This is everyday normal stuff for him; why bother waiting for someone to screw on the fisheye when you can just land the trick and move on to the next spot. Or lunch.
Sure, it sucks to watch clips presented like this, but it isn't about us; this is purely a form of conservation. Let's just be happy we get to see anything from Durao at all.
Pro Pinson
Rank: 1
Mood: 🎩
Ahead of this year's Unity Fest in San Francisco, and last night's premiere of There Skateboard's latest video, Ripped in Half, the board company turned Poe Pinson pro. Pro Pinson. It's perfect, as far as wordplay goes, and as an overall decision. Pinson has been one of the most exciting talents going for some time, and to see her get this recognition is genuinely exciting.
I've written many times in this newsletter that turning someone PRO AF remains one of skateboarding's most cherished and fulfilling traditions, touching on it again in March when Nelly Morville got promoted.
That's the key ingredient in what makes professional skateboarding work: it gives us, the audience and purchasing public, something to care about. If a brand cares enough to foster a skateboarder and present them in an interesting, authentic light, we can see and sense that, too. When that skateboarder fulfills their potential and gets the PRO nod, it's the culmination of years' worth of shared interest and becomes a communal event. Then, as is the raw capitalist intent of professional skateboarding, we're hopefully driven to purchase a Nelly Morville skateboard.
But it also just feels good to care about something worthwhile, which in this instance, is good people doing good skateboarding.
What's touched on lightly there is, as nice as these moments are, they're also integral to the skateboarding industry refreshing itself. Or, at least they were, and maybe still are. The hot new PRO is a tried-and-true marketing tactic that generally doesn't feel like one, because you're buying a product tied to someone else's achievement. You are supporting good skateboarding done by people you enjoy.
While many (valid) arguments have been made about "legacy" professional skateboarders (and industry folk) hanging around too long, this has always been a central part of the solution. Uplifting exciting new talent into the same strata, in front and behind the scenes. If those skateboarders can connect with wider audiences in our fractured media environment, in the way they did when print ruled, is another question, but this is where it starts. Continued industry support is where it solidifies, and it bears out when people buy those Pro Pinson Poe models.
Something to consider:
Corbin Smith
Good thing:
Natalie Porter
Another good thing: 'sletter friend Josh Sabini has a new series going on Monster Children called Artist Advice Corner.
Josh Sabini
Yes! Another good thing:
Leticia Nogueira
A good thing about an absolute legend:
A good thing about a bad thing:
Seth Harp
Some good fighting stories:
Dan Brooks
Ben Fowlkes
Tell 'em, brother:
Josh Gondelman
RIP Jane Goodall: A towering figure who loved this Far Side comic.
Until next week… take things one step at a time. Then, if you want, take two or even three. Hell, why not go for four? Take as many steps as you want. Hop, leap, and soar.
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.
