Andy Kessler… R.I.P.

Growing up in NYC skateboarding I was part of a generation that was looking forward and never back. We never really gave a shit about the old school guys before us…that was until I met Andy Kessler. Andy was just this perfect mix of old school skateboarder and NYC attitude. He was oen of the pioneers here in NYC when it came to skateparks and always did it with a true skateboarders attitude.

I had the privelage of working with Andy and Dan Pensyl for a little over a year at a skatepark and was blessed to work with these guys. We worked with this other fucking idiot who I can’t remember his real name but Andy named him Spicolli and ragged on him all day in true NYC fashion. But at the end of the day Andy was all for the progression of skateboarding in NYC on our own terms and for that he will always be missed.

Andy… you will be missed and I was blessed to have whatever little time I had with you.

Now I am going to set up a board and go skate again…

Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others

Randomly browsing through blogs today I thought about an indirect side effect of blogging… fat girls. It seems to me that every blog that is updated several times a day is usually by a fat girl. And I don’t mean a “I have a thyroid condition” fat girl. But a “I can take a wicked Myspace angle pic so I don’t look that fat but when you come to my house to bang me you give me a diet soda and cry” fat girl. Maybe the blogging is making them fat. This could be the secret obesity problem we have developed in this country that’s been a mystery for so many years. I think there should probably be a weigh in when you log into WordPress. That would encourage some of these pudgy punks to get off their asses and maybe walk a few blocks, and not just to Dunkin Donuts for their noon fix of krullers .

Fake ass MOZ fans

Where were you in 1988?… listening to Skate Master Tate. Where were you in 1991?… listening to Naughty By Nature. Where were you in 1994?… listening to Stereo Mcs. Where were you in 1998?…. listening to Lauren Hill. Where were you in 2001?… listening to Jay-Z. Where were you in 2002?…listening to Lynkin Park. Where were you in 2005?…listening to Pussycat Dolls. Now all you punk ass bitches are down with Moz… Do everyone a favor and stop playing yourself. You never went to one Moz show yet you rip him off for your lame ass streetwear lines, video parts, and street cred values.

When you have stubs from Nassua Colleseum in 91 give me a call, until then go listen to OPP and put on your washed too many times Cross Color jeans you still put on to get banged by your prison boyfriend…. you pussy!

The Depression Loves a Design Fight

If you havent heard yet there is a nice little design fight brewing between Murray Moss (owner of Moss in Soho) and Michael Cannell (design writer) over an article that Cannell wrote in the NY Times entitled “Design Loves a Depression“. And Mr. Moss decided to post a rebutal on Design Observer entitled “Design Hates a Depression“. Both are pretty interesting reads… but thats not even where it gets good. It gets really spicy in the commenting on both sites and various others (Design Glut, Sally TV, etc). I especially like the so called “luxury” designers kissing Murray’s ass because he is the only person buying their marginal over gilded concepts to the people pointing out how ridiculous one of the CEOs of Merril Lynch spent $500k on an interior designer for his office. I obviously am a avante garde designer in the current workspace. I, and partner, were heavily influenced by Moss’s design exhibits in the mid to late 90s. But I have to say Moss has fallen off big time. So for him to come out and defend ridiculous expenditures and making design for only the elite comes off rather absurd. He sorta proved Cannell’s point. I think these trying times can actually serve as a sort of Darwinism of design… may be only the strong need to survive. I, for one, welcome the challenge and have fealt a renewed creativity in these times.

But what I really want to see is these two go at it in person. I bet people would pay good money for that. Just imagine a “Blood Sport” sorta battle… all underground in Chinatown… people placing bets. That shit would be hot… But who plays Frank Dux and who is Chong Li… that’s up for you to decide.

I don’t think this is how Obama wanted to stimulate the economy…

You know it’s bound to happen. In today’s American consumer landscape we as a society try to create products for any and every event. We’ve all seen bad Super Bowl souvenirs, memorial 9/11 plaques, even memorial coins for when the Pope came to visit. Now with the upcoming Obama inaguration a few days away there has been all types of bad shit popping up. While I am all for designing new products I think some of the following are the worst things I have ever seen…

Get Your Kicks On For Obama

I am all for creative expression but my man should have chilled with the Backwoods and markers before he got down with this.

Everyone needs a Lava Lamp

Fuck you and your Hippie Spencer Gifts shit

Do The Bart Man

I can think of a thousand captions for the back but most would make me seem racist

And now you can fuck yourself

I really don’t think these needs a caption… oh yeah it does… fuck you

Sick Boys…. Coming to DVD

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Sick Boys to Men – 20 Years Later on …“, posted with vodpod

When I first started skating in Brooklyn as a kid there weren’t that many raw skateboarding videos. But one that was the first real influence of my, and so many others, skateboarding was Sick Boys. I remember Jimmy, Ray, and myself would watch this jacked up copy we got from some kids we skated with from Crown Heights. This was our bible. We would watch this on Saturday morning before we took the subway to the banks. The visions of Natas’ frontside flip on the Venice banks, Julien’s frontside slide on the handrail, and all that hilly SF footage would be burnt into our brains on that 45 minute train ride. Once we got off that train you were so stoked to skate that there was no other feeling like it. If you want to see a piece of film that was the first influence on a generation of progressive street skaters go pick it up ASAP..

TEASER 1 TEASER 2

Joanathan Adler…. yeah you pretty much suck…seriously…

I try not to watch too many reality shows. There are only so many times I can see some hick girl from Kansas get into a teary eyed tantrum because she is so far away from ehr stable boy boyfriend who just happens to be banging her best friend. But I do try to watch some of the more creative ones… Project Runway, Top Chef, and I hate admit this shit… Top Design. Being a designer I thought this show would be interesting. But the only thing I get from it is that Jonathan Adler is just a straight up cunt face. Well maybe thats too harsh….actually it isn’t. First off its really sad that he has become the popular face of American Design. His work is so pedestrian and one dimensional. It lacks no originality or concept… its as he say “Chic”. Yeah I dont think so smuggles. Second off I think he knows how bad he sucks because anytime anyone does anything interesting on that show he has this little Chelsea queen smirk like “Oh bitch my shit is so much tighter” And the sad thing is these people on this show suck so bad yet their stuff is so much tighter than his… what does that say. Lastly he hasn’t done anything vital for design in America except publicly intimidate the people into thinking design is about being bitchy, smirky, and untalented. The juxtaposition of him and Todd Oldham is amazing. Todd is actually really creative, positive, eclectic, and takes risks. Next season get rid of Jonathan “Alfred E Newman” Adler and put Todd Oldham in charge. Jonathan should just go to being a house boy for his stylist boyfriend who actually has taste.

OBAMA BUMAYE!!!

What else can be said about such a historical day…. I really don’t know except he kicked that vampire’s ass hard. I mean it was sorta sad thinking on McCain and his trophy ex-stripper wife bringing up the first time they invited Palin over for a threesome thinking she would make a good candidate for VP. You know CIndy had to be like… “John, I know she blew you good but I don’t think she is gonna bang Putin, she told me she isn’t into foreigners”. But at least the White Oprah is going to be entertaining while we fix this country.

But on a serious note, finally a historic day when we as a people take our country back and spit in the face of the old world politics that put us in this 7 plus years of bullshit. We should all be very proud and use that pride for the next 4 years to work hard as a unified people to restore our country to what we envision it to be…yes we can…

Bodegas… now for white people too…

Growing up in NYC the bodega was the staple. it’s where you got your first pack of Parliament Lights, the first place you bought a 40 of OE, and probably the first place you scored dirty Dominican Coke with enough baby laxative to feel like you’ve been drinking Mexican water for a week. But now with the advent of more and more white folk moving into Bed Stuy and such areas these Bodega owners have had to step up their game. You can pretty much walk into anyone of them and grab some Fiji water, a Cliff bar, some Altoids and pop over to your next new media meeting. But I miss the good old days. The days of videogame machines with busted joysticks in the back, when you could five finger discount shit loads of Swedish fish, and make an entire meal consisting of quarter waters, Bravos, and some Now & Laters. And now these owners have to stock their shelves with gringo ass merch. Bad enough they have to learn how to speak English… now we are gonna tell them to carry organic produce… man this country is fucked up…

Pop Up Stores… ready to Pop The Fuck Off!!!

The notion of a pop up store is something that sounds like an intriguing concept. Rent a small space, have a basic concept and then POP THE FUCK OFF. But I think this new retail micro-concept is getting a little too out of control. You know when Target is getting into it it’s way too much. I am all for indie brands doing this, I think it’s a great way to bring a little excitement about a brand. But at the same time it does seem like too much of a creative push into consumerism with no smash. Let’s see if we as a design community can actually come up with a new concept for temporary retail inception. Why not a prison store… that seems like a novel idea…