Re: unauthorized skateboarding activity
Violet and Spitfire release two very different videos, skateboarders preemptively kicked out of spot by electronic mail, the stupid is closer than you think, 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.
A charming patina
Rank: 4
Mood: 🤷
The novel, by definition, does not stay novel. Eventually, what was new and fresh will lose its lustre if it doesn't continue to find a way to be new and fresh. That's fine. To look at it one way, being in a constant state of flux is to be nothing at all. To be known is to be worn, and if lucky, sturdy and dependable, perhaps having even developed a charming patina if treated right.
This is all a long-winded way of saying that William Strobeck's latest full-length skateboarding video, "SQUEAKY", for his skateboard brand Violet, is fine. It hits all the Strobeckian notes that once made a project like Supreme's Cherry feel novel: shaky, nausea-inducing filming that zooms and pans with such force that the context for skater, trick, and skate spot is often indiscriminately lopped off, doing a disservice to the time spent on and risk inherent to many of those tricks; a solid soundtrack; a mix of new and established on-board talent, some of which are quite young; uncomfortably lingering hero shots of those pubescent skateboarders; some genuinely beautiful b-roll, like Efron Danzig with the sun at her back, walking in slo-motion toward the camera; some fantastic scenes of both character development and resistablishment, such as Kader Sylla lighting a blunt before kickflip grinding a large handrail, as if to signal to the haters that he can live the life he wants and still stack; along with some excellent skateboarding from the whole team mixed with a fair amount of filler to push "SQUEAKY" to just a hair over 54 minutes in runtime, about 20 minutes longer than it needed to be.
Overall, this was more enjoyable than Strobeck's most recent efforts for Supreme, but at this point, at least for me, the patina has worn off. The armoire is just old. That said, I really enjoyed the thank-yous in the credits section, some highlights of which include:
Mike Ward: "Bump to can, video games, Fat Bill, Skinny Bill"
Kader Sylla: "Hurricane grinds, and I don't thank TMZ and mushrooms"
Troy Gipson: "All the beautiful people who make up this time whom I get to call my friends :)"
Formula Four (a good video)
Rank: 1
Mood: 🔥
Now, if we're talking about novel and not-novel things, San Francisco Burning, last week's city-centric full-length (35 minutes) release by Thrasher Magazine and Spitfire Wheels, is about as straightforward as it gets for a skate video. Ingredients: Thrash metal, limited b-roll, a whole bunch of skateboarders skateboarding, and a title card here and there. No frills, just clips. That's been the formula fo(u)r(😈) Thrasher videos since time immemorium.
Not novel, but in this instance, incredible. As something of a counterpoint to "SQUEAKY", that's thanks to the filmmakers getting out of the way of the skateboarding. There are things to quibble about if you were so inclined, like how parts of the video felt like mini shoe company videos within a wheel company video, with globs of ASICS, New Balance, Nike, and adidas riders lumped into their own little segments, and I'm not sure we needed to see Gabriel Summers bleeding from the skull again thanks to the same failed boardslide attempts featured in his Thrasher "Out There" episode from last year (along with the make this time), but that's grasping.
The underappreciated advantage of a wheel company video is that, especially for Spitfire, their team is massive and populated by some of the most talented and exciting skateboarders on the planet, and they all brought it to San Francisco.
Chris Athans, noted champion of public transit? Yes, please. Grant Taylor and blonde colourway Grant Taylor (Finn Pope)? Absolutely. Rob Bootes, who I am declaring here and now as Simple Magic's new Heelflip Champion? I can't get enough. What about Diego Todd? Is he still Simple Magic's reigning Number One Four-Eyes? If he weren't, I'd be shouting "stop the steal" from my office chair. Did Miles Silvas manage to get an ROI on an NBD? I'd say so. If that wasn't enough, Big Nollie. Long backside-noseblunt. You know the one.
Longtime readers of this newsletter know my top-line metric when reviewing a skateboarding video is if it Makes You Feel Something. That most often comes through in how the edit is handled, where a highlight reel of skateboarding tricks becomes more than. Emotion conjured through storytelling and artistic intent. When done well, that's what makes it sing. San Francisco Burning is almost the opposite: a bare-bones, blunt, and welcome reminder of how fucking cool skateboarding is. To look at, to do, to commit yourself to. It howls.
Re: Unauthorized Skateboarding Activity
Rank: 333
Mood: 💌
In what might be an unprecedented first, a skate spot has preemptively reached out to skateboarders to kick them out. Representatives of 333 Seymour Street, the 17-storey Downtown Vancouver office building whose main entrance is at the foot of what is known as the "Black Ice" double set, sent a "formal warning" to the team at Jenny Skateboards. Jenny was the presenting sponsor at Black Ice during Go Skateboarding Day in 2022. However, Black Ice has been a regular attraction for GSD for decades and was even the scene for one of the more iconic skateboarding photos ever taken in the city, long before Jenny as a company existed.
To attempt to big-dog Jenny Skateboards via electronic mail betrays a significant lack of rudimentary online research skills (googling), because with just a few keystrokes, 333 Seymour would know that GSD has been moved to the University of British Columbia, thanks to the upheaval the FIFA World Cup has had on the city. Also, let's take a moment to marvel at this threat: "Any attempt to organize, promote, advertise or encourage activity at Black Ice will be treated as trespassing on private property. Security has been instructed to monitor the site and remove individuals engaging in unauthorized activity. Further action may be taken where necessary."
Does that mean an Instagram post telling people to roast beef the double is effectively trespassing? Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they sent Justin Behan a cease-and-desist.
Anyway, in these trying times, it's good to laugh.
Closer (and stupider) than you think
Rank: 250
Mood: 🇺🇸🥴
On Sunday, to celebrate the 80th birthday of the President of the United States, the Ultimate Fighting Championship held a grand, propagandistic celebration on the South Lawn of the White House. You have probably seen endless amounts of coverage about this event already, decrying it as an overt display of fascistic theatre, a show of strength and ingenuity, or, as countless tweets and skeets have made sure to note, a scene out of Idiocracy.
If you, like me, are a longtime fan of mixed martial arts and have more often than not felt embarrassed to mention that personal factoid to acquaintances, friends, and lovers because of how godawful and stupid the people who dominate the sport's industry are, UFC Freedom 250 certainly didn't help. I won't get much further into the MMA side of things here because I don't want to bore you with more outside sports in this skateboarding newsletter, but there is an angle to this story that is closer to skateboarding than you might think.
On Saturday, during the UFC Freedom 250 fan festival, dudes on motorbikes did backflips in front of a giant screen set up in front of the White House that had the White House displayed on it. Got that? Great.
This was an effort led by Travis Pastrana and his freestyle motocross compatriots at Nitro Circus. Nitro Circus is a property of Thrill Sports (formerly Thrill One Entertainment), which is also the parent company of the slap-fighting(?) league Power Slap, the brainchild of UFC CEO Dana White, who was caught slapping his wife on camera shortly before the league's launch in early 2023. White is also a co-owner of Thrill Sports. According to a LinkedIn post by Thrill Sports Chief Revenue Officer, Brett Clarke, the "Freedom Jump" (lol) came together at a Power Slap event.
There are days in your life and in your career that stand out from others. Saturday, June 13 was that day for me - the Nitro Circus Freedom Jump at the White House.
At our recent Power Slap event, Travis Pastrana made a request to our owner, Dana White, to see if he could backflip a motorcycle on the South Lawn of the White House to celebrate America250 birthday. In a way that only Dana White can do, he delivered (the hidden lesson here is: take your shot, dream big and don’t be afraid to chase what you want). The only request from Dana was “make it iconic!” - Yes sir!
Cool. That doe-eyed level of stupid has a direct hand in skateboarding, as Street League Skateboarding is also under the umbrella of Thrill Sports. Don't be surprised if, when the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has to be emptied and resurfaced again, it's done under the auspices of those handsome Street League boys wanting to do some patriotic stunts in it.
Cole Nowicki
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Screengrab via The New York Times.
Some things to consider:
Gary Baum
Dell Cameron and Dhruv Mehrotra
From earlier this week:
Cole Nowicki
A lovely complement to the above by Finn Anderson from last week:
Farran Golding
Good thing:
Ben Komins
Good pod round-up:
Posted by
Templeton
Village Psychic
A piece I wrote from last week about a Vancouver icon:
Cole Nowicki
Until next week… if you wear brightly coloured clothing outside, you will come to find that you attract bugs, but you will also attract the adoration of those bugs, who respect your sense of style and think you are a giant, beautiful flower. Which we all are.
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.
