As you walk through today's urban environment, observe
public benches, walls, handrails, and any
constructed inclines. You may notice various bolted on elements,
extraneous steel installations, etc. One analysis deems this
"defensive architecture," in a thoughtful piece that touches on thinkers, such as Michel de Certeau, Foucault, and the works of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
[more inside]
posted by taro sato
on Jun 19, 2012 -
93 comments
"She lets go of the handle and goes into free fall. At the same time, she jerks the manual release on her cervical collar and goes into full Michelin Man mode as tiny gas cartridges detonate in several strategic locations around her bod. The biggest one goes off like an M-80 at the nape of her neck, unfurling the coverall's collar into a cylindrical gas bag that shoots straight up and encases her entire head. Other airbags go off around her torso and pelvis, paying lots of attention to that spinal column."
In his 1992 book
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson described a protective airbag technology for bikers and skateboarders.
It's become a reality.
[more inside]
posted by quin
on May 15, 2012 -
59 comments
Gory images of Gaddafi. Exotic pets being slaughtered. The EU on the verge of a financial meltdown... Your 90-second
mental health break, courtesy of Lynda Carter.
posted by wensink
on Oct 22, 2011 -
90 comments
Corey Adams and Alex Craig are a tag-team of independent filmmakers probably best known for their feature film,
Machotaildrop, the fruit of having won a million dollars in a filmmaking contest held by Fuel TV. That win was on the strength of their very cool short,
Harvey Spannos. Their most recent
project features the dread "Manwolf" gang from Machotaildrop and appears to be an ad for an eponymous skate shoe model that is being released by éS. Mammas don't let your babies grow up to be Manwolfs (sic, so sic, dude.)
posted by Roachbeard
on Aug 18, 2011 -
4 comments
8 Hours in Brooklyn - Fantastic little compilation of slo-mo footage taken over the course of eight hours in BKLN. Extra good watched in fullscreen.
posted by dobbs
on Aug 14, 2011 -
12 comments
Here are two videos of the astoundingly creative and masterful skateboarder Kilian Martin:
1 and
2
posted by mhjb
on Jul 3, 2011 -
33 comments
Skateboard Kings is a 1978 BBC documentary about the
Dogtown skateboarding scene in late 70's Venice Beach and Santa Monica. Featuring a lot of footage of the skaters' daily life as well as an exploration of the business side of skateboarding, the documentary is a time capsule of late 70's Southern California. For more about Dogtown go to
z-boys.com.
[previously on MetaFilter]
posted by Kattullus
on Nov 29, 2007 -
10 comments
Noel Black's first project after graduate film school at UCLA was writing and directing
Skaterdater, a short subject cinematic romance without dialogue, which used only music and sound effects to advance its plot. It won nine international film awards.
[more inside]
posted by snsranch
on Nov 1, 2007 -
11 comments
Stacey Peralta's directing and editing chops date back to the 1980s. His skateboard company
Powell-Peralta's legendary
Bones Brigade (the dream team of
Tony Hawk,
Steve Caballero,
Lance Mountain,
Mike McGill,
Rodney Mullen and
Tommy Guerrero) were dominating professional skateboarding, and Stacey lovingly documented the progress of his team with a series of great Bones Brigade videocassette releases such as the
Bones Brigade Video Show (1984),
Future Primitive (1985) and
The Search for Animal Chin (1987)
(all Google Video). Each video is a skateboarding historical signpost, featuring the debuts of
Caballerials,
McTwists and
720s. Don't miss the soundtrack to the
Bones Brigade Video Show, which features great 1980s punk rock such as the
Youth Brigade and the
Faction (Steve Caballero's band).
posted by porn in the woods
on May 13, 2007 -
22 comments
In the 1980's, Mark "Gator" Rogowski was on par with Tony Hawk at the top of the nascent world of professional skateboarding. Contrasting the path Hawk took in the 90's (video games, ESPN tie-ins), things did not go so well for Gator. After surviving a hideous accident in 1989, Mark turned to Jesus, and then shortly thereafter he brutally
raped & murdered a female friend of his ex-girlfriend's. The
documentary of his rise & amazing fall appears today in limited release.
posted by jonson
on Aug 15, 2003 -
43 comments
"What do you expect from a bunch of underprivileged, delinquent teenagers? Certainly not genius, but that's what was happening." Welcome to the
Z-Boy revival. A new
documentary about Dogtown opens this weekend that tells the story about how some
punks from Santa Monica turned skating hardcore and along the way transformed youth culture and spawned a $3 billion dollar industry. A 1999 Spin article
"The Lords of Dogtown" kicked off the current revival.
posted by euphorb
on Apr 26, 2002 -
4 comments
