Spy Optic Drops The Apollo

Straight from SIA, Spy is showing their newest goggle for next winter, the Apollo.


The Apollo is the first goggle (ever) to introduce what Spy calls a dual radius lens. Basically, other goggles have cylindrical or spherical shapes. Bigger lenses that give you better vision also make you look like you’ve got a fishbowl on your face.

The blended radius idea on the Apollo combines multiple radius angles (radii?) so you get more peripheral vision than ever before in a smaller package goggle.

I'm not the only guy who thinks this is cool, the heads @ Future Snowboarding are down too.

Nike Drops Snowboard Boots - Really.... Again!

I know I've clowned on the idea of Nike doing boots for snowboarding before, but it looks like they're really happening.

I'm @ SIA now and I'll see if I can get any details, but Liv2Ride and South of North have it pretty much covered.

To Present Action Sports With Relevance, You Should Have an Action Sports Background

South of North just covered a fairly tame (could have been way more scathing) post about Steve Fischer being the Phil Mickelson of snowboarding. This comes on the heels of a very nice woman sending me info that was close to accurate about a great skateboarder, but just a little bit off... enough to make me laugh (she's one of the better PR people I've run across, so I won't call her out ;-).

Here's the deal. Jeep with their garage ads showing an old Burton Air from the early 90's in the garage, Honda Element with it's clueless "half-cab 540 comment" and other marketers (and media to some extent), just don't get it. When your features/ads/whatever are off, even just a little, we notice, mock and write you off.

It'd be the equivalent of me writing about a football game and saying a kicker shot come touchdowns for three points. Football fans know what I'm talking about, but don't I look a little bit silly?

There are a ton of marketing firms in action sports available for marketing consulting, not to mention a few bloggers like South of North. Pay the little extra to have your marketing dialed.

BTW- Know what would have made a great article, the Burton/Shaun comparison to Sims/Steve. That would have been worth reading.

Pic via the Aspen Times.

Rome SDS Draggers Only Jacket

Liv2Ride just picked up some info from the Snob.

Rome dropped their first boot collection this year and for next winter it looks like outerwear is on the horizon.

The Draggers Only jacket has a neat little 3-in-1 thing going, kind of like my Columbia Bugaboo jacket from 8th grade. Unlike it, the Draggers Only isn't in neon (wish there were blur croc pics) and has a hood.


Being a former east coaster, I'm biased towards brands that have their roots there. I love riding Bear Mountain and it's 100s of jibs, but I'd love to see these yo-park rats deal with the 0 degree temps and 'crete conditions of the Mid-Atlantic and Vermont. There's a reason Kass moved to Mammoth and it's not for the chicks (ok, maybe that's part of it).
Pics from Liv2Ride via High Snobiety.

Steve Caballero Gets His Ski Art on With Rossi

This isn't uber-breaking news (check out South of North's post earlier this week), but it's cool, so I'll cover it. Steve Caballero is doing ski art with Rossignol. What? Yeah, but in this day and age, skiing isn't all that bad (doing all I can to highlight how sideways shredding saved the industry, but that's another post on another blog). And besides, Rossi is owned by Quik, so they can't help but see how youth culture drive sports, versus old-man ski culture (I kid... some of my best friends are skiers... ok, two friends.. aquaintances really, but good guys none the less).

Dubbed the 'Seven Artistic Sins' the collection takes some of the most well respected and innovative artists (some, not all, so haters stop hating) and lets them use skis as a canvas. While I'd prefer to see these on a board, skis as a medium for display is definitely something interesting to check out.

The ski itself is dubbed the S7 and it's for those that like to ski where no man has skied before (or at least in the last 20 minutes). From their press release:

Sage Cattabriga-Alosa and Rossignol have designed the ultimate backcountry slash ski. Using twin tip construction combined with a new tricked-out reverse camber, reverse sidecut shape and incorporating sidecut underfoot for navigating on the cat tracks, the S7 is the most revolutionary powder twin tip to hit the backcountry! 100% Backcountry.

Lots of other worthwhile artists are involved, including Andy Howell, whose ski is more park/pipe style:

The S1 is specifically designed to be a very versatile park and pipe ski with solid, all-mountain performance. This ROSSICAP twin is for the jibber for wants to hang in the park all day or to surf the whole mountain with friends. 80% All Mountain / 20% Jib

Ok, that's enough ski talk for the evening. If you're heading to SIA, check them out at the Rossi booth or online when they drop early at www.evogear.com. Nice work Rossi, you're onto something.

I/O Biocompatibles Signature FC Hoody

One of my favorite things in my closet is my I/O Biocompatibles Signature FC Hoody.

Sorry for the lousy photo, I'm not a stylist.

Classic grey hoody updated with a little graphic print for style.

If you're into hoodies and into things that are soft, this is the hoody for you. It's so soft I got drunk the other night and told everyone to touch it. Mental note not to do that again.

I'd love it if it had a little windblocker membrane, but that would probably kill the internal softness factor.

New Videos from Mortified

Mortified is one of those things that's easily copied, but hard to get right. I've checked out their shows and they're pretty frickin' hilarious. I've also heard about friends that have been to similar shows... not true Mortified events though, and had mixed reviews.

I can't describe what Mortified is any better than they can, so here's how they put it:

Ripped from the pages of real life... Mortified is a comic excavation of adolescent artifacts (journals, letters, poems, lyrics, home movies, stories and more) as shared by their original authors before total strangers.

// The Mortified Shoebox Show //



Check out more videos and info on their two books at www.getmortified.com/

Shaun White Collection Dropping at a Target Near You

Well, anything beats Hollister I guess.

Shaun White is dropping a collection @ Target. Sounds similar to what Kohl's is did with Hawk. Not a shocker, since Target has sponsored Shaun for a while now.

I'll be interested to see what it's like and how it compares to the Laird Hamilton / Steve & Barry's line.

Fiberops Pop-Up Shop At UNIV In Encinitas 27 January

I like when local heads do big things. It's well known that SoCal has played a big part in surf/skate/snow culture (big part, NOT the only part, thank you) and the east coast transplants over @ Fiberops are bringing it on hard now.

This Sunday, you can check out the Fiberops pop-up shop over @ UNIV.

UNIV always has a ton to offer and if you're local or just visiting, this is definitely a spot to pop into. I own some UNIV gear, the designs and quality of which have never let me down. I'll post some on the site eventually.

Also on the Robust Flavor blog is an interview with Alyasha Owerka-Moore, who was a big part of Shut skates back in the day (I loved the Shut street shark) and now is bringing back Alpha Numeric (along with Fiberops).

Check out this photo of Aly ripping at the Brooklyn Banks (which everyone should know realize are not in Brooklyn).

Images courtesy of Robust Flavor.

N-V8DR Hoody

I wish I could find the true site for N-V8DR, but I can't, so you have to just roll with their online store here: http://nv8dr.bigcartel.com/

I bought their Icon Zip-Up hoody and I'm pretty stoked on it. Anyone with friends in the action sports industry has no shortage of hand me downs and samples coming their way (which are always appreciated, btw). I needed a light-weight hoody that no one else was rocking in San Diego though, and this is it.

Not much more than meets the eye here. Black hoody, cool logo combining skateboarding and videogames. What else is there?

One note though, the hoody is 10 oz cotton, so it's light for sure. If you're an east coaster, it won't work for winter on its own. If you're in San Diego, please don't buy this one.. i have such a hard time finding clothing.

Quiksilver's Eco-Friendly Outerwear

Read this press release on Quik's new outerwear line. Not bad, some traditional press release BS:

Nanotechnology which makes it possible to copy nature and use the non-stick and self-cleaning process of certain plants and insects onto textiles. In order to do this the surface of the textile is altered by using the nanoparticles.

Is that really what nanotechnology is? Regardless, it's a step in the rigth direction by Quik. Good for them, good for all of us.

Check out all the info here: http://expn.go.com/expn/story?id=3207266

Recon x Futura Sunglasses

High Snobiety just dropped info on the new Recon shades.

Futura has done a lot in his career and I'm stoked to see these come out.

Image courtesy of High Snobiety.

Airblaster Preview

I kind of know the fellas @ AirBlaster through a mutual friend, but not as well as Johnny @ South Of North does, because they've got the ins on the new line.


I like Air Blaster. Know why? They don't take themselves too seriously. Snowboarding is not just about the X-Games, Shaun White or Gretchen Bleiler. It's about fun clothes, jester hats and goofing off as you slide around.

Ok, maybe it's not about jester hats. I'm glad those are gone.


BTW- Check out South of North more when you can. One day I'll start doing blog reviews, but until then, consider this a review. I like the site, because contrary to public opionion, there are people outside of SoCal who skate/surf/snow/stairboard. Heck, I used to be one of them.

Zeemote - Mobile Gaming May Never Be the Same

In another life, I worked for a "mobile social network" as their director of PR. You probably received countless text messages and emails from them. Sorry, not my doing. I resigned after six months.

Anyway, I do believe in mobile (cell phone) applications. People tend to hate and say "I'll never want to X, Y & Z on my cell phone." Well, normally, you wouldn't, but you have to factor in the time and place, which most people don't.

This brings me to the Zee Mote.


Now you're probably saying that you'd never want to play games on your mobile phone, so this is useless. Again, I say it's the right time and place. For example, Slingbox and Orb let you watch TV on your phone. Normally, I wouldn't want to watch TV on my phone. I'll never call anyone up to watch the big game or hacky sack invitationals on my shitty Motorola Q (don't buy it). But, if I'm stuck in the airport and the only thing on is Sportscenter, Orb's free media-shifting service becomes pretty darn appealing.

Same with the Zeemote. It's not a Wii killer, it's an alternative time killer, such as the paperback book or Walkman (remember those?). No one said Walkman's would sound as good as the stereo in your home, but since you're not home, you make do.

Disclosure: In another life, my mother used to be on the same bowling team as someone who works at Zeemote. When we grew up, we used to go out in Huntington and drink bad beer then eat chicken rings from White Castle. I'm neither an investor or have any stake in Zeemote.

The Hundreds Skate Decks

Know what I like about this image?

Someone is actually skating. Nice. Kickflipping at that. I wish I could still kickflip.

Big props to the hundreds for putting the deck in a skater's hands. Top of it looks cool too, I wonder if they'll be able to release clear grip-tape too?

Info courtesy of CtotheJL. Image from The Hundreds blog.