A chemical taste
Plus: Natalie Porter on Worble, Evan Smith on IPath, a round-up of nice things, Valentine's Day, and more.
The definitive weekly ranking and analysis of all the skateboarding and other things online that I cannot stop consuming and how it makes me feel, personally.
For the love of Worble
A special correspondence by Natalie Porter
There comes a time in any modern-day relationship when you find yourself sitting next to your partner on the couch, together, yet separately absorbed in watching your own inane Instagram Reels until something amusing causes you to pause and share. My husband doesn’t skate, and that’s not a criticism, it’s just a fact of life. He watches slow, mindful videos on woodcarving while I’m obsessed with all things women in skateboarding. But there I was, chuckling away to a Worble sketch, and I couldn’t resist but flip my phone in his direction.
It would be an exaggeration to say that Worble saved my marriage, but they’ve provided ample entertainment that I can share with my beloved non-skateboarder. Worble’s humour is accessible to the mainstream, like Jackass but not Jackass. Perhaps, the polar opposite of Jackass and for that, I am grateful. There’s a history of comedy in skateboarding videos, but thanks to productions like Jackass, shame-based performances where someone either chose to be humiliated or was forced to be the butt of a joke was deemed the pinnacle of ridiculousness in the late 1990s and beyond.
There was also this tendency in skateboard videos (and snowboard videos like Whiskey – does anyone remember Boozy the Clown?) to include lifestyle footage as a form of comedic relief. The scenarios usually involved alcohol and occurred in a hotel room in the process of getting trashed. The vibes were toxic, like Lord of the Flies meets frat-house hazing, and included predictable scenes of a dude passed out and his “friends” covering his face in permanent black marker, girls getting creeped on, and all-out physical violence. I never got the jokes. Instead, I imagined the dismay of the hotel cleaner, who would likely be a woman of colour, opening the door the next day and being tasked with cleaning up puke and gathering shit-stained sheets drenched in beer. I highly doubt that a hotel room full of drunk skaters offered her any LOL moments.
In contrast, Worble revolves around being weird, creative, and joyful, and demonstrates a welcoming alternative to what a skateboard community can look like. And they are genuinely funny. The gateway video that I shared featured the delightful Eunice Chang as she awkwardly tried to retrieve her skateboard in a skit called “Saying goodbye is hard.” Instead of popping her board into her hands, Eunice bumbles her way around a parking lot, seemingly tripping over and kicking her board forward, relentlessly just out of reach, made even more uncomfortable because she already said goodbye to her crew. The clip is slapstick genius and Eunice plays her part flawlessly, reminiscent of Eric Koston in Mouse (1996) riffing on Charlie Chaplin.
From there, my husband and I delved into Worble’s rendition of “Skodge Ball” and “What Are the Odds,” with my favourite challenge going down between Poppy Starr Olsen and Steve Mull, who has to perform knee pad parkour. Mull spends the afternoon sliding obstacles on his knees before taking the challenge to the next level, hucking himself down a hubba and over pyramid hips with gleeful abandon which turns into a bit of an obsession to ride away clean on his skateboard. I loved it.
It's worth noting that some of Worble’s performances are not original. The Red Dragons included comparable antics at the very end of RDS/FSU(Fuck Shit Up)/2002, where Colin McKay acts as a kind of “man ramp,” holding a grind box in place on the wall of a vert ramp as Danny Way skates down it. There’s another scene where McKay slides across the vert ramp extension on his knee pads while playing air guitar — just boys being boys in their clubhouse. Ugh. Would I ever actively seek out an RDS video to share with my loved one? God no! I’ve always associated the RDS brand with “entitled jock arsehole,” and if I see someone wearing their gear, I assume that they’re a dick. It’s terrible.
I’ve never felt threatened by an RDS team rider. When Sluggo showed up at Confederation Skatepark in Burnaby, where my girl gang presided in the late ‘90s, we were stoked to witness his backflips out of the bowl, and he always gave us stickers. He’s a sweet dude. And when Moses had a meltdown and winged his board into the trash, we avoided him and waited to retrieve his set-up once he peeled out of the parking lot — free board! And yet, in terms of RDS videos, we were obviously not their target audience. The message was skateboarding is a boys’ domain; it’s about fighting security guards and partying with your bros.
But people can change. It’s normal to make mistakes in your youth and be immature; in fact, being immature is fantastic as long as you can own it, and if you cross a line and hurt someone, make amends and be accountable. Just look at Colin McKay. If someone had told him in the 1990s that he would be coaching girls in vert, aka pre-teen wunderkind and Birdhouse Skateboards professional Reese Nelson, he might have punched them in the face. I marvel at how things have evolved, although I still struggle with cynicism.
I suspect, in the 1990s, male skateboarders wanted to associate with something rebellious and counterculture, but the problem was that being an entitled asshole is just another form of patriarchy that can be branded and sold to a naive market. While political leaders, CEOs, and mainstream media suggest otherwise, the only true way to be countercultural is through acts of humility and kindness. It also doesn’t hurt to have a sense of humour that invites everyone to have a good time instead of belittling people.
Worble fills me with hope. Introducing my husband to Worble turned into a binge-fest, we watched all of their videos, not just the comedy clips. The best part was that you don’t have to have an advanced degree in skateboard trickery to enjoy them because the emphasis is on fun, and I never felt the need to explain their tricks, let alone the purpose of Man Ramp. While it’s obvious that the members of Worble are highly skilled and innovative skaters, they are a joy to watch because they appreciate each other’s company and are the ultimate hype team.
And in the spirit of romance, if you’re looking for date night ideas, I highly recommend an all-nighter with Worble. It’s a win/win. You’re guaranteed some laughs, and if there’s a disconnect between you and your partner because of skateboarding, Worble will surely bring you together. If you’re single, I still recommend watching Worble because their energy is infectious, and will make you make you feel the love, whether you're on the board or off.
Experimenting, evolving, Worbling
Rank: N/A
Mood: <3
Last week, Worble, the loveable auteurs of charming skateboarding videos and skits and also company that produces physical skateboarding products, announced that they would no longer do the latter.
We’ve decided to no longer make skateboards. Filming videos together has always brought us the most joy and that’s what we’ve chosen to focus our time on.
Big time THANK YOU to @chriscolbourn, @poppystarr, @davermontmull, @steevmull, and @manramp for letting us put their legendary names on these sacred pieces of wood. And shoutout to the whole crew for riding these things, and to all of the artists who have blessed us with graphics.
Last but not least, special thanks to YOU— friends, fans, and skate shops—for supporting our experiment and being patient with us through this transition. We can’t wait for you to see what the crew has been cookin’.
Perhaps this is the best fate for the skateboarding company at a time when the industry struggles with slumping sales, acquisitions, and the ravages of private equity. Just return to what you already were — good times with friends captured on video.
Good ol'-fashioned roster intrigue
Rank: 1!
Mood: 👁️🛣️
As a kid, I was never big into the "big four" ball-and-stick sports. I didn't watch sports much at all, except for skateboarding. And Judge Judy, which was the ultimate game of winners and losers and always on before The Simpsons when I got home from school. But now that I've been around for a few more decades and have settled into my fandom of various televised athletics, I can see the throughlines of my attractions then and now.
Primarily team trades. Defections. Roster updates. The behind-the-scenes intrigue that leaves one sitting in the possibilities of what's to come. Whether it's the bewildering bombshell Luka Dončić deal the Dallas Mavericks made with the Los Angeles Lakers or Marc Johnson's messy move from Lakai to adidas — this is the type of stuff I used to be fascinated with as I pored over that month's Transworld in my childhood bedroom.
Perhaps it's because more professional and amateur skateboarders are losing sponsors outright than getting poached by new ones, or that the remaining talent market feels more like a clearing house split between the three or four major shoe brands that keep professional skateboarders afloat, or I've aged out of this particular form of fan fascination, but we don't seem to get those blockbuster moves as frequently anymore. The last one of import that comes to mind is Fabiana Delfino jumping ship from Vans to Etnies last year.
That is, until Monday when the recently relaunched IPath footwear announced the addition of Evan Smith to their squad.
Admittedly, this isn't the most high-wattage move one could make in the current era — but it should be up there, shouldn't it? We're not that far removed from Smith being in contention for Thrasher's Skater of The Year award multiple years in a row. He's slowed down a bit since but he was producing at a maddening, thankless pace. Consider his entire body of work and you'll see one of the most talented professional skateboarders to ever do it.
Following his release from DC Shoes — another company purchased and pilfered by the brand licensing grift of Authentic Brands Group — Smith had a dalliance with Clearweather's skateboarding effort, which seems to have gone dormant or kaput. Now, here he is clad in IPath, in a pick-up that makes perfect sense. If not for Smith's pocketbook, then at least for his aesthetic. If there were ever an IPath-coded skateboarder, it would be Smith.
It's unclear why none of the major athletic shoe brands pursued him or if that was an avenue he was interested in, but this is interesting news. Not Luka-to-the-Lakers level, but maybe De'Aron Fox to the Spurs-ish — a top veteran talent brought in to round out a once-storied franchise on the rebound. Not sure who Victor Wembanyama would be in that equation, but Fred Gall can stand in for Gregg Popovich. Why not.
It has a weight
weighs on you
me
with a certainty unearned
unmeasured, unreasonable
until it is
all of a
suddenly
poof, bang
boom
a feeling felt
becomes a room to explore
windows, hallways
doors
open like lungs, finally
sudden
full, woozy
weightless, like air
but a little sweet
a chemical taste
Multi-generational appreciation (or a round-up of nice things)
Rank: 1-56
Mood: 👶👧🧑👴
While much typing has been done in service of whinging about content over-saturation in the skateboarding space, particularly in this very newsletter, it's important to stop and smell the roses before they circle the drain of the memory hole. This does become a challenge because there is such an incredible amount of incredible skateboarding happening every day, everywhere, that it is hard to make sense of it all. There is a new skateboarder on the scene each week who is the best skateboarder you've ever seen. Consider Simon Hallberg's part from Wednesday, another next-level Fritte Söderström joint.
Or Vince Guzaldo's part for Chicago's Uprise Skate Shop from last week. Who is that guy? Has he always been here? Was he always this good?
Say what you will about Censorship Skateboards' muddled, corny brand identity — and I have — but their latest video, Stroke, opens and closes with a serious bang thanks to sections from Maria Jesus Corvalán and Miguel Bahamon, names I was unfamiliar with but am certainly paying attention to now.
To continue the flood of Free videos, how about Carlisle Aiken's latest video part, Past Life? Aikens gets a lot of criticism for being more fashion-oriented than skateboard-forward, which I don't understand. He looks good as hell on a skateboard, is good as hell on a skateboard, and his sartorial choices only enhance that. Past Life is an impressive achievement in Aikens' still-young career. Will we remember it in two weeks' time? I hope so.
Because that's just a taste of the young talent skateboarding is currently chock-full of.
Speaking of celebrating those young, exciting skateboarders, how about venerating the mature and quietly influential? I've been cognizant of Anthony Mapstone for as long as I've been paying attention to skateboarding, and from all accounts, he's served as a keystone for Australian skateboarding for decades, developing and supporting multiple generations of skateboarders and brands along the way.
Pass~Port Skateboards went the extra mile to give "Stone" his flowers, not just with a capsule collection of various hard and soft goods, but blessing us with a new video part from the 50-year-old himself. It's a lovely watch. Heartwarming, even.
In other lovely, if left-field news, Sour Solution has bestowed Canadian skateboarding icon and master of the tall tee, Grant Patterson, with a guest board for Skate Shop Day.
And if that wasn't enough, Tony Hawk is out here celebrating the olds by posting on /OldSkaters Reddit page (h/t 'sletter friend Pete Williams for the link). What a world. There is simply too much of it to take in. Untold years' worth of "content" from multiple generations of skateboarders collides to become a mass of swirling, insurmountable screentime. This can become a burden for the viewer at home, to be sure, and likely has a pronounced downstream effect on the efficacy of marketing campaigns in the face of constant content floods that drag our attention this way and that, but if you think about it in another, potentially sunnier way, we've wound up here because we've become overtaken by abundance.
Something to consider: Hey! Things aren't great, but I found some small comfort in this quote from Luke O'Neil (quoting himself) in Wednesday's Hell World:
All I have been saying for the past ten years or so is please please just try to fight. And on top of that make sure everyone knows you are fighting. Even if it's a hopeless battle. People love that shit. People are inspired by that shit. That is one of the singular myths that we have at the foundation of our entire culture. Going into battle despite great odds. Swinging until your last breath.
Luke O’Neil
He's talking about spurring a spineless Democratic party to action, but the sentiment has a universal application. People do love that shit.
Good thing:
Another good thing: Ted Barrow co-curated a rad-looking new exhibition at the San Francisco Public Library if you're around and interested.
A good support-your-local thing: Tomorrow is Skate Shop Day (Skateshop if you're nasty). If you can, show your local some love with your monies.
A good AA thing by FG for QS:
Good thing about bad, exhausting, and stupid things:
Max Read
Good book things:
Sander Hölsgens and Adelina Ong are the editors of Skate/worlds: new pedagogies for skateboarding published by the University of Groningen Press and it looks awesome. Per the synopsis:
Skate/worlds brings together writers, educators, and activists who research skateboarding as a prefigurative learning tool. Can skateboarding be therapeutic? Does it align with efforts to queer and decolonise education? And how to parent as a skater? As the ecology of skateboarding expands and diversifies, the sensation of moving sideways gains socio-political and pedagogical relevance. This edited volume chronicles how we both learn to skate and learn from skateboarding – zooming in on topics including gestalt therapy, care work, motherhood, and grassroots advocacy.
It features work from Åsa Bäckström, Rhianon Bader, John Dahlquist, Jessica Forsyth, Sophie Friedel, Arianna Gil, Sander Hölsgens, Lian Loke, Sanné Mestrom, Douglas Miles, Nadia Odlum, Adelina Ong, Noah Romero, Esther Sayers, and Indigo Willing. You can download a free PDF of the book from the link below and also order a softcover version.
Authors Sander Hölsgens (ed) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8770-8110 Adelina Ong (ed) https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7027-9551
**
Longtime 'sletter friend and author of the Extra Evil newsletter, Dennard Dayle, has a new novel coming out that you can preorder now called How to Dodge a Cannonball. Per the publisher's description:
A cutting, revealing caricature of the American Civil War, told through the eyes of a white teenager who joins an all-Black regiment of soldiers, for fans of Colson Whitehead and James McBride
**
I don't know Megan Greenwell but I look forward to reading her forthcoming book Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream, which you can also preorder now and I imagine has a lot to say about our current moment.
Dey Street Books
A slow but impactful thing: Slow Impact is next week! If you're attending, say hi if you see me. I'll be a part of the "Does Skateboarding Need Journalism?" panel, and sources say... maybe?
A FINALLY thing:
Until next week… sure, the centre cannot hold, but we can hold onto one another. Valentines, desperate but loud, enlivened, alive.
Laser Quit Smoking Massage
NEWEST PRESS
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My new collection of essays is available now. I think you might like it. The Edmonton Journal thinks it's a "local book set to make a mark in 2024." The CBC called it "quirky yet insightful." lol.
Book cover by Hiller Goodspeed.
Right, Down + Circle
ECW PRESS
--------------------------------
I wrote a book about the history and cultural impact of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater that you can find at your local bookshop or order online now. I think you might like this one, too.
Here’s what Michael Christie, Giller Prize-nominated author of the novels Greenwood and If I Fall, If I Die, had to say about the thing.
“With incisive and heartfelt writing, Cole Nowicki unlocks the source code of the massively influential cultural phenomenon that is Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and finds wonderful Easter-eggs of meaning within. Even non-skaters will be wowed by this examination of youth, community, risk, and authenticity and gain a new appreciation of skateboarding’s massive influence upon our larger culture. This is my new favorite book about skateboarding, which isn’t really about skateboarding — it’s about everything.”
Photo via The Palomino.
