Skatepunk

http://www.thevine.com.au/life/art/skateboarding-101-the-art-part/

"Skateboarding 101 - The Art Part"
by Alyx Gorman
The Vine, Australia

The first thing you need to know about skateboarding is that it is not meant to be consumed in the moment. Unlike your typical sport, the most transcendent aspects of skate do not emerge from a second of play watched in person or broadcast live. The best way to appreciate virtuosity is not at a park, or on a street corner; it is in your living room.

As much a performance as a sport, skateboarding is perfect for video. Truly great skate films, the kind watched repeatedly and obsessively by fans of the genre from Brisbane to Vladivostok, come together over weeks of skating, months of travel and hours editing. People will wait years for releases from their favourite teams, and then ponder the minutia of every trick and stack.

Eric Koston paid a visit to the Dew Tour in Boston, which is cool but a bit unusual. He went to the first one five years ago, swore "never again" and didn't go for four years... the course, the way everyone was treated, not listening to the skaters-- all reasons he wasn't into it. They've been bugging him to come, saying everything was different, would be better... He wasn't buying it after Boston. Went out, cruised his way through a comedy run, and got last. Not good for anyone. The people here just don't get it...

Eric Koston is not only "the best," or one of the best skateboarders who ever stepped on a skateboard, but he is one of the nicest, most considerate people I've ever known. And so of course, now that he's signed on with Nike, I'm conflicted. I want Eric to do well -- if anyone in skateboarding deserves it, it's him. But having Eric riding for the single biggest non-skater-owned parasite in skateboarding sucks.

éS Footwear is holding a national Game of SKATE series. Pretty cool idea. Check their info here: éS Game of SKATE.