Category Archive: Media Watch
Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
From The Turkish Daily News (where else?) comes your guide to skateboarding in Turkey. It’s not really a guide but more of a fluff piece titled “Skating not just leisure but a sub-culture” that talks about the cost of equipment, and how you can actually buy skateboard gear and fashions in Turkey now. No great surprise there. They also have a separate breakdown of skate spots in Istanbul titled “Skating fun in Istanbul. Surprisingly, one of the hot spots listed is the New Mosque. A quick search for skatebording and Istanbul on the Interweb™ turns up a web site called KayKayci.com that carries the tagline (in English) of “This is Turkish Skateboarding.” The rest of the site is in Turkish (?) and doesn’t appear to have any photos whatsoever, unless maybe you have to log in to see the content. I also found one video on YouTube, which you can watch after the jump. I wonder if Foundation skateboards are big over there. Think about that moon and star logo, now where have I seen that? Turkish Skateboarding brethren, let’s hear from you.
Warm Fuzzy
Top 6 Reasons to Skateboard according to About.com. 1) Skateboard to Try Something New 2) Skateboard for Fitness 3) Skateboard to Make Friends 4) Skateboarding Teaches Stick-To-It-Iveness 5) Skateboard to Build Confidence 6) Skateboard for Fun! Hmm… I don’t see “to meet cute girls” or “because it’s more punk rock than baseball” on that list. Get all the Warm fuzzy details here. Thanks to John Aguilar for finding this.
What the hell?
Grove City, Ohio? I thought this was a weird rendering of a concept when I saw it on The Concretins. But photos of people skating the thing can be found on this site. It needs to be bigger. Someone needs to get a shot of 4 people hitting inverts on the various walls of this thing at the same time.
They also think math is amusing.
– Thanks to Kathleen for the tip Update: From Kilwag – I had to make an addition to Mark’s post. Usually I’m hands off but in this case, for the sake of continuity and timeline, I’ve added a cartoon titled How Electric Skateboards Really Work after the jump.
Roadtrip
Pretty cool overview of Oregon skateparks at SkateOregon with a photo of each one. Dang there are a bunch of them.
Apple pie, Chevrolet and street skating.
As seen in the May 2007 issue of People Magazine, this advert for the Chevy Cobalt features street skating prominently. Some publicist or team rider over at Powell ought to be getting a fat check for this product placement. Usually company logos are not so readily identifiable. As for the Devil Dogs lyrics to Brand New Chevy… Devil Dogs? Never heard of them, but according to Last.Fm “People who like The Devil Dogs also like New Bomb Turks, Radio Birdman, Supersuckers…” Really? OK, Sounds good, but going against their credibility is the fact that they released the song in 1989, which would not have been an especially noteworthy year in the annals of American car design. Is anyone in this day and age excited by new Chevrolets, Corvettes even? I doubt the Devil Dogs would find the Cobalt that inspiring, but I’m sure the publishing rights inspired their bank accounts. Enlarge the advert after the jump.
Everybody knows Japan is a dishpan.
A copy of TokyoLOCO from 1999. I’ve seen other Japanese magazines and websites like this. Chock-full of shots of what people are wearing on the street. I think people over here do that too and call it cool-hunting but I think here, people use it as research to try to find something to market. They don’t just serve up the images. The New York Times had a column called Street Fashion that would point out a certain trend through a series of photos but I’ve never seen a whole American magazine like that.
Adding insult (and a fine) to injury
No, the guy in the bottom left picture is not a rabid Adam Ant fan going through a Prince Charming phase, it’s Toronto skateboarder Ben Davis after he got hit by a car while skateboarding in the street. A security camera caught the whole thing on tape, and City News reported on it. The street is supposed to be one that gets a lot of foot, bicycle and skateboard traffic. It’s not a major artery, and some residents even want it closed to automobile traffic all together. It’s not shocking that Ben got hit by a car, after all, he was in the middle of the street going against traffic. The interesting bit here (aside from gawking at the carnage) is the fact that the car driver got off scott free and Ben is the one who got the ticket. Check it out. [Source: Altered Skateboarding] Postscript: I had a hard time picking a Prince Charming link to reference, check out this alternative.
Tony Hawk plays Speed Racer
When it rains (Tony Hawk) it pours Tony Hawk. ABC’s “Fast Cars & Superstars: Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race.” premiered last night. I didn’t catch it and it’s not online at ABC.com yet, so I can’t say how much screen time Tony Hawk got, but he is one of the celebrities appearing in the show. Hopefully Tony drives better under the camera than Eddie Griffin. And speaking of Nascar promotions, Tony is also one of the celebrities designing Daytona 500 tickets that fans will ultimately decide whether or not to produce by voting in a poll. I’m guessing this is the last time they have a design contest, because Tony’s is actually one of the better ones. Some of these celebrities either had random small children do the design or spent a grand total of 30 seconds on the whole thing. It’s embarrassing for them, really. The artwork is being auctioned for charity and some of these guys didn’t put any effort into it. Anyway, the Speed Racer reference is just an excuse to post a picture of the new Mach 5 from the upcoming Speed Racer movie. I’ve been waiting for that car all my life. [Photos Clockwise: Tony…











Recent Comments