ASR Blog

How punk is network TV?

The rebellious "sport" of skateboarding will be all over network TV this weekend. Kids can get their fix between the Dew Tour on NBC and the Maloof Money Cup on CBS. The little wooden toy has come a long way. I remember when I got chased by security just for carrying my skateboard into the mall to buy a soda. Now kids go to the mall to get geared up. Some people like how big skateboarding has gotten, some people hate it and want to keep it underground. Personally, I’m happy I don’t have to hear about pro’s pulling shifts at UPS to pay the rent anymore. There’s a lot of garbage that comes with growth, and sure a lot of kids will try it, fall once, and give it up. But skateboarding has always been able to weed out the ones who aren’t really into it. We all have friends that “used to skate” until they got their driver’s license. So love it or hate it, get ready to O.D. on TV with the Dew Tour, Maloof Money Cup, and the X Games right around the corner. No matter how big skateboarding gets, it will always be punk. Its one thing to sit on the couch and watch somebody skate, but it’s another thing to actually do it.

Matt

What is your water footprint?

It seems like the more I learn about the environment, the more I get bummed out. We’ve all been aware of our carbon footprint for a while, and trying to make changes to minimize our individual impact on mother earth. Now, thanks to Surfers Village we can understand our individual water footprint. The Water footprint of an individual is defined as the total water used for the production of the goods and services consumed by the individual. It can be estimated by multiplying all goods and services consumed by their respective virtual-water content. Check out the article and get freaked out. As the population continues to grow, and as we continue to make a mess of the planet, our water demand is outpacing what the planet can replenish. You can find some examples of the water footprint for individual products and get a better understanding of what’s happening. Everything is listed in Litres. Unless you recently brushed up on the metric system, here’s how a Litre converts. One litre is slightly more than one U.S. liquid quart. There are two pints in a quart. So, two pints at Hensley’s equals one Litre. Now that I know my water footprint on a Friday night is over 200 litres I need to change some other things in my life.

Read the article, check out the examples and calculators, and spread the word. If it’s yellow let it mellow.

Matt

Steve & Barrys Chapter 11

A few months ago I wouldn’t have been too concerned with Steve & Barry’s filing for Bankruptcy.  But now that Laird Hamilton is part of the product mix it’s kind of a bummer. I’m not a Steve & Barry’s shopper, but I have to be honest… I wanted to see what everyone was talking about so I wandered into the local Steve and Barry’s the last time I was at the mall. You can buy a pair of Stephon Marbury basketball shoes for about ten bucks, t-shirts for around 3 bucks, and more of the same. I couldn’t figure out how they could operate on those razor thin margins. I know you get what you pay for, and I’ll keep supporting the brands that come to ASR, that’s why we’re all here. But everybody has their own situation. And for some people, this is what they can afford. I would rather see them support Laird Hamilton instead of some random discount store. Whatever happens with Steve & Barry's, I hope the Wonder Wall brand comes out ok. I’m sure there are guys that are stoked to get his gear at a price they can afford.

Matt

July 5th Morning After Mess

Back at the desk after three days in the real world. Part of my weekend was spent at the Sun Diego Morning After Mess Beach Clean Up. I’m happy to say, Oceanside wasn’t too bad.  I think the recent drinking ban on SD beaches had something to do with it. About a million people visited San Diego’s beaches during the July 4th weekend, but the numbers were still lower than the holiday weekend last year. Last year, about 1.8 million people visited the beaches in San Diego during the Independence Day Weekend. I guess there’s nothing fun to do at the beach if you can’t drink?? But, there was still a bunch of trash to pick. One thing I did notice was that I picked up three things more than anything else…

1. Cigarette butts
2. Juice box straw wrappers
3. The handle punch out section of a plastic bag.

Obviously this means one thing… all the toddlers are swinging by 7-11 on their way to the beach to pick up smokes and Hi-C. Next year, we need to get to those little groms before the holiday weekend.

Here are a couple pics from the Oceanside location. There were do-gooders everywhere, it’s just hard to see through the fog and amateur photo skills. I gave up trying to take pictures and got back to picking up trash.

Everyone met up at the pier and scattered with trash bags

There was a little fog

Early Risers got a free t-shirt

...Lost showed up and gave away even more stuff to the good samaritans

People were showing up all morning to pitch in. Oceanside folks definitely made a difference. Suck on that global warming.

Matt

Riley Hawk

Nothing too serious the day before a long weekend. Just looking forward to three days where I can skate before the sun goes down. Here’s something I know I will never say… “Hey, I’m going to do a front 180 switch crooked grind half cab kickflip out”. I won’t say that, but Riley Hawk will. Click on the video below.

That’s crazy.  I’m still skating around on a Fully Flared buzz six months later and it looks like everyone else is too. Just the other day I was talking to someone about how good the future of skateboarding will be with guys like Sean Malto, Mike Mo, David Loy, Theotis Beasley… the list goes on. Riley is climbing up that list now too. It doesn’t matter what your last name is if you’re skating like this (click the video below).

On the subject of the Bones Brigade, catch up with a legend while you wait for quittin’ time – Cab’s Blog.

Matt

Billabong acquires Sector 9

That’s what everyone is talking about today... Sector 9 joins the Billabong family. There are a lot of opinions out there, both good and bad. Where there’s skaters there’s haters. I should know, I’ve been skating a long time and I hate a lot of stuff. But I’m not hatin’ on this. Billabong is a good company, and Sector 9 is a good company. Sounds good. But, it is interesting to see what people are saying…

Transworld Business

Silverfish

Shop-Eat-Surf

At minimum, I hope this leads to more distribution for Sector 9 which means more people will be exposed to longboarding.

Matt

Clean up!

Wow, it’s July 1st. That means we’re just a few days away from the Fourth of July. Nice! Paid time off, BBQ’s, and fireworks. What are you doing on July 5th? Nothing cures a fireworks hangover better than picking up trash. Seriously, the beaches look like a junkyard the day after the 4th of July. Thankfully, Sun Diego pulled together 6 meeting points for Beach Clean Up Day in San Diego…

Del Mar with Volcom
Pacific Beach with O’Neill
Ocean Beach with Quiksilver
Ponto Beach with Billabong
Mission Beach with Ocean Minded
Oceanside Pier with …Lost

Pick your spot and pick up trash. Check out the flier for more info.

Click here to view the flier.

I’m heading to the O’side Pier to clean up. Anyone outside of SD, spread the word about your own scene on July 5th. Clean up your beach, your local park, or your neighborhood after the ragin’ block party.

Matt

This is goodbye

I'm sad to say that this is my last entry for the ASR blog. I want to thank everyone who read and commented to my entries this past year, I appreciate everyone taking the time in doing so. The hardworking staff at ASR will continue to write the blog themselves, so please make sure to keep checking it and making reading the blog part of your daily routine.

Have a wonderful summer!
Alex

NSSA attacks Lower's

The NSSA Nationals are running wild at Lower Trestles. The event has been running since Tuesday, with the championships taking place tomorrow. If you’ve never been to Nationals, you should really try to make it down. It’s a circus—the sponsor’s tents are set up running down the beach for what seems like miles and each company tries to outdo the other with the coolest activities for the kids in between heats. Foosball tables are brought down, there are full on BBQ set-ups with team managers cooking lunch for their team, and games (the wackier the better) are in full force. The beach gets crowded with parents, photographers, media and lots of umbrellas, so claim your sand early. You can try and get a surf in at Middle’s—try meaning you hope a grom (who out surfs you even though they are more than half your age) doesn’t snake you. It is a great time and it will take your breath away to see these kids perform on the waves.

For more NSSA Nationals info, click here.
To see the event live, click here.

Insight's ad creativity

As you probably heard back in May, Insight was the recipient of two SIMA Image Awards— Breakthrough Brand of the Year and Men’s Marketing Campaign of the Year—the latter of which is what I wanted to talk about.

For two year's running, Insight has had fantastic campaigns, and 2008 is no exception. I’m sure you’ve seen the ads, they are insane. Shot by D. Hump, each ad features an underwater scene—from surfer Jared Mell surfing over some orange egg like things to Malia Jones and Bunnyman watching Kai Otton do an off the top over them. You can check out the whole series of photos on the Insight site.    

In a related note, for those of you who are as mesmerized by this type of photography as I am, I was reading an issue of Smithsonian Magazine when an article on photographer Bruce Mozert caught my eye. He did the same type of photography to promote Silver Springs, Florida in the late 1930’s and forties. Although Mozert’s differ from D. Hump’s because the viewer can only see the scene under the water (D. Hump’s are a “split view”—you see the surfer above as well as the scene below), the set-ups are just as interesting. If you’d like to see the article, click here.   

*Insight photos taken from the Insight site.
**Bruce Mozert shot taken from the Smithsonian site.