Brief Hiatus

Hey All,

We're hitting the road sans computer and since the Motorola Q is such a lousy tool, don't expect too many updates for the next two weeks.

When we come back though, watch out for new reviews of gear from UNIV, DaKine, Olympus, Wii gear and whatever else comes our way.

Burton NoBoard and Bad PR

So my East Coast brother of another mother, Liv2Ride, did a little post about the fellas at NoBoard working with Burton.

Someone, maybe from NoBoard, maybe not, left a nice comment calling him a kook. Another guy left a great one insinuating that he likes to roll with dudes. On the latter, whatever man, super mature. On the former, here's my stance:

Everyone is entitled to the opinion. If you wanted to sway Liv2Ride, maybe you should have put something intelligent in there? Or told him about the fun aspects of it? Or sent him a YouTube clip? I'm sure there could have been a better way to get him to see your point instead of calling him a kook. Or gay. Or switch-kook.

I liken NoBoard to snowskating... it could be cool, but it's not something I'd see out after driving five hours to Mammoth. If I lived in an area where there was more, closer snow, maybe I'd be down with both. I enjoy snowskating (not blading.... those skate-deck snowboard hybrids) and would probably have some fun on a NoBoard too. Instead, "NoBoarder" just made some stupid comment that'll live together in cyberspace.

I know Burton's PR firm is smart enough not to make dumb posts. Hopefully NoBoarder is just some guy and not the crew actually at NoBoard.

Do police hate skateboarders?

I'd say not inherently, but this guy definitely lost it. Maybe he had a bad day, but I can't imagine him doing this to a group of kids that built setup a makeshift tennis court or basketball hoop.



I can't help but think this officer had better things to do with his time... like give me a jay walking ticket in San Diego (two tickets in two point five years... none in 30 in New York) or bust a drug deal or something.

Props to the UNIV/Robust Flavor crew for getting this to me.

And for the record, I am friends with a few police offices, so keep the "cops suck" comments to yourselves. This guy doesn't speak for everyone.

The Jeannie Tate Show

Have you seen the Jeannie Tate Show?

Probably one of the better things to come out of the writers strike. Lots of tv types with lots of time on their hands, putting the Web to good use.

Above is my favorite episode with Rashida Jones (aka Hot Girl) from "The Office".

Malakye Gets It Right With Office Booyz

Sometimes, those of us in the action sports industry think we're too cool for school and forget why we got into it in the first place... we actually enjoy skateboarding, snowboarding, freestyle scootering, stair-boarding, etc.

Malakye has not forgotten this and to celebrate the greatness of sitting at a desk and talking about limited edition socks all day from eesa, there is is Office Booyz.

I'll be traveling, so I can't make it to the comp, but I'd love to have entered the "most gray hairs" competition or "kit so rad you can't possibly back it up" event. Or just have fun drinking beers with people who realize we're really lucky to talk about limited edition socks all day. I'm just glad South of the North and Liv2Ride aren't on this coast.... otherwise I'd have to cancel my trip and show them how to throw down apres ski style.

Oh, and if you're looking for a job in the action sports industry, check out Malakye too. But be smart about it.... apply for jobs you're qualified for and if you're not, look at how to get qualified. You'll notice none of the jobs say "must be able to kickflip." Board skills are nice, but for these gigs, you need the mental tools too.

Shaun White's Lambo

Liv2Ride will love this.

Robust Flavor, the same guys behind UNIV, took a picture of Shaun White's Lambo.

I wish I had a Lambo.

Targus USB Hub - Piece of Junk and Piece of Junk Customer Service

A little side posting tieng back to my Generation: WTF ramblings.

Today I bought a Targus Micro USB 2.0 hub that's supposedly Mac compatible.


Well, after calling Targus five times on Monday (was disconnected the first four), I spoke with a nice woman who told me that my hub was not Mac compatible. I explained to her that it says Mac compatible on the box, so why should I think otherwise?


I'm calling Targus out, here and now. What's the deal with this hub? The woman I spoke with on the phone said my request would be escalated and I'd receive a response via email... what I really want is my time and gas money back.

Ultimate Boarder

Have you heard of the Ultimate Boarder competition?
The name sounds hokey, but a lot of the riders are legit.

The 'Squan's finest Shayne Posipil, element's Tosh, Aaron Astorga and Kurt Wastell are just some of the riders I'm stoked to check out.

Unfortunately, their site leaves a lot of info lacking (besides stats on how marketable action sports are today). Maybe they should reach out to one of those action sports PR firms and see if they can help get things going?

Pics from the Ultimate Boarder site.

Ellis Snowboards

Just got a MySpace request from the heads @ Ellis Snowboards. While their MySpace page is pretty lacking (we make snowboards), I give props to these SoCal guys for going for it in an already crowded market. Then again, so did Rome SDS and Stepchild, and those guys seem to be doing ok.

The board I'm most interested in is the Bot, which seems to have a pretty cool construction in the nose and tail areas:

The Bot offers Freedom Tips™ which are areas where we use space age aluminum honey comb in the core (nose and tail.)

Check them out at www.ellissnowboards.com

Sanuk’s Sidewalk Surfer wins award

Love it. Shop-Eat-Surf just let us know Sanuk won product of the year from Footwear Plus.

I actually own two pairs of these, one I haven't worn yet and I can tell you the Sanuk Sidewalk Surfer's kill it almost anywhere.

I can go out in them, casual meetings with clients and even skate in them (and by skate I mean yes, I can ollie up a curb if I desire... but yeah skateshoes still offer better support).

What's a bummer is that many brands are imitating what Sanuk is doing these days. Imitation happens everywhere (see Crocs), but with such unique product, I think the other brands should leave Sanuk alone. They're making plenty of money already.

Trestles Saved!!!

Just got this from Johnny West @ Maku Furniture.

Gabe & Max - Internet Thing

My buddy Mike turned me onto this.


It's funny.

Riding Shit on Shit

My girlfriend always gets mad because I have a penchant for riding, as she terms "shit on shit" or SOS. One of my favorite SOS activities is stairboarding, which is what it looks like, taking a board down some stairs.

In college, we used to do this with skate decks, but I'm older and wiser now and snowboards are faster and slide better.

These guys take the cake though. Enjoy Texas Ditch Surfing!

Not everyone in snowboarding likes Shaun White

I don't know Shaun White. He's probably a good guy. But sometimes when you're too successful, get too much coverage or otherwise start to annoy people due to your on-screen X-Games moping, people may start to hate you.

Case in point, Liv2Ride, who joined Generation WTF to voice his opinion on the Flying Tomato (note to mainstream media, no one in snowboarding calls him that).

Before you knock LivRide, realize I know him and the guy likes riding. He didn't grow up in a family of riders, is self taught and drives an incredibly boring four hours each weekend to shred the Ice Coast of Mount Snow. What's snowboarding to him may not be snowboarding to you and as a passionate shredder, he's definitely entitled to his opinion. The same way some skaters dislike Tony Hawk (note to mainstream media, no one calls him the Flying Egg Man).

Gameboy Bricks

I can't use these, but they're pretty cool. Old Gameboys converted into real bricks.

Pic courtesy of Apartment Therapy Unplugged via Gieskes.

Not everybody wants Nike SB Snowboard Boots

Looks like the fellas from Rome are teaming up with Consolidated to help keep Nike from invading action sports.

I won't lie, I own Nike SB's, but I don't skate in them. I appreciate their recent support of skateboarding to some extent, but I'm wondering about their commitment there and in snowboarding.

Are they a part of this because they want to bring something to skate/snow or because they see the writing on the ramp saying shred and skate will only continue to grow in popularity?

I haven't seen any tech info on these yet. If there's a compelling reason to wear them besides Danny Kass and faux croc, I could change my glum opinon on them.

Nitro 09 Slant Snowboard Boots

South of the North seemed to have a lock on SIA 09 coverage, but he missed these Nitro slant boots from the fine folks @ Nitro who keep coming on year after year.

I don't have too much info on them, but I like the idea of making the boots look like a slip on sneaker. I wonder why the guys @ Vans haven't done a checkerboard?

Pics courtesy of the Snowboard Mag.