{"id":1873,"date":"2005-03-04T23:12:11","date_gmt":"2005-03-04T23:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/?p=1873"},"modified":"2013-12-27T23:18:43","modified_gmt":"2013-12-27T23:18:43","slug":"life-and-limb-skateboarders-write-from-the-deep-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/print\/2005\/03\/life-and-limb-skateboarders-write-from-the-deep-end\/","title":{"rendered":"Life and Limb: Skateboarders Write from the Deep End"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Life<\/a><\/p>\n

Edited by Justin Hocking, Jared Maher, and Jeffrey Knutson
\nIntroduction by Jocko Weyland.
\nSoft Skull Press
\nISBN: 1-932360-28-X
\nCopyright Date: 06\/1\/2004
\nType: Soft cover. 220 Pages
\nSize: 5.5 x 98.5 inches
\nReview Date: 3\/4\/05<\/p>\n

Skateboarding culture has gradually assimilated art and personal expression. The origin can probably be traced to Stecyk\u2019s famous writings in Skateboarder where he first began to suggest that there was more to skateboarding than the simple act of rolling, and that a certain connection could be made to art and lifestyle. As far back as the eighties Thrasher magazine would occasionally feature fiction and obscure art, something that Transworld\u2019s \u201cSkate and Create\u201d ethos certainly helped along. GSD, Swank Zine, Contort, Templeton, and Gonzales were among those who ran with it. By the end of the nineties it was pretty much an acknowledged fact that a healthy portion of the core skateboard community was artsy-fartsy. Yes, somewhere along the way we got uppity. 2004 was a banner year for books by skaters, for skaters. Who knew we could read, let alone write?<\/p>\n

\u201cLife and Limb\u201d is a collection of short stories written by skaters, some famous, some not. Each story is accompanied by a photograph or illustration or two. Like a lot of short story collections, the quality or effectiveness can be hard to maintain from author to author. Jocko Weyland\u2019s introduction states \u201cYou won\u2019t find an anthology of poems by NBA players or a book of paintings by tennis pros, and if such a vanity indulgence were unleashed it would garner attention based solely on the contributor\u2019s celebrity instead of their talent.\u201d Basically, his point is that this collection is supposed to be interesting due to the fact that the author\u2019s common background in skating allows them a unique perspective on life and writing, and that the reader shouldn\u2019t care whether they are famous, good skaters, or even writing about skateboarding, for that matter. If you hold the book up to Weyland\u2019s standards, you\u2019ll find that Life and Limb somewhat successful. If you are only interested in reading about skateboarding, than you\u2019ll find it less interesting.<\/p>\n

One point that Weyland makes is that \u201canother facet of skateboarding\u2019s uniqueness is that a \u2018nobody\u2019 can write a story and it will end up in anthology with an acknowledged legend like Mark Gonzales.\u201d Ironically, Gonzales\u2019 contribution is one of the shortest and weakest ones in the book. It seem like he was included simply because of his celebrity. It\u2019s amusing, yes, but at about one page it seems lacking in effort and only serves to reinforce the Cult of Gonzales. Other pieces seem lacking because they are either too short or there is no background of work to subconsciously inform the reader.<\/p>\n

On the plus side, there are some really compelling stories present. A lot of them are actual excerpts from longer stories, or feel like they are based on some actual events. Sometimes it\u2019s hard to tell who is embellishing and who is re-tellingas with Jeff Knutson\u2019s Trip. Michael Burnett\u2019s Get Radical is a familiar and believable fiction with the exception of a historically inaccurate fingerboard collection. Nial Neeson\u2019s tale of the decline of Western Skateboarding Civilization through the likening of today\u2019s magazine and video spot\/trick obsession to that of pornography \u2013 actual title The Lost Boys might be the most thoughtful and concise analysis of the State of Skateboarding today, and it even includes an amusing personal tale. Jared Jagang Maher\u2019s The U.L.F. Does Not Exist! tackles similar and broader issues of skateboarder vs culture. Not surprisingly, it originally appeared in Adbusters magazine. U.L.F. is definitely one of the standouts, even if it is just a repurposed Fight Club. Jocko Weyland\u2019s Rumble at Riverside and Justin Hocking\u2019s Whaling are more vulnerable looks at culture clash.<\/p>\n

While some stories will likely only appeal to skaters, such as Wez Lundry\u2019s Last Summer Some Hippy Pinched My Stick (insert Surf Punks reference here), other highlights have marginal or no skateboarding references, including Andreas Trolf\u2019s With Love and Squalor, and Jeff Parker\u2019s Ovenman, who is the kind of character you can really empathize with. <\/p>\n

Life and Limb is kind of a tough one to call. There is definitely some interesting reading, but the collection doesn\u2019t succeed solely on the ground of good stories or purely on skateboard-related features, and some of it is just plain filler. Fortunately, at $13.95 it\u2019s not much of a risk.<\/p>\n

Online action: softskull.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Edited by Justin Hocking, Jared Maher, and Jeffrey Knutson Introduction by Jocko Weyland. Soft Skull Press ISBN: 1-932360-28-X Copyright Date: 06\/1\/2004 Type: Soft cover. 220 Pages Size: 5.5 x 98.5 inches Review Date: 3\/4\/05 Skateboarding culture has gradually assimilated art and personal expression. The origin can probably be traced to Stecyk\u2019s famous writings in Skateboarder […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1876,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,306],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-print","category-skateboarding-books"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2005\/03\/lifeandlimb-post.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}