Almost every major city has a stereotyped flaw(s). New Yorkers are rude and always in a hurry. London has crap weather and food. Seattle is always rainy and depressed. Las Vegas is nothing but debauchery. Los Angeles traffic sucks. Regardless of the truth, these are the generally held negative perceptions of these cities.
Well, the truth is LA traffic blows and it is related to a lot of other problems that visitors and Angelenos should be familiar with. Smog, lack of a central “downtown”, no mass transit, and needing a car to get around. All of these are connected issues, but progress is being made.
The Expo line Phase 1 is planned to run from Downtown Los Angeles, through USC, to Culver City is being built and has a 2011 completion date. The 7th street and Metro downtown station will be the transfer point for the expo, blue, red, purple, and silver lines. My local station, Venice/Robertson station, is already under construction. It is located between Robertson and Exposition just a bit East of Downtown Culver City. Finally, a direct connect between Tender Greens and Seven Grand!
If that isn’t enough, the Phase 2 Expo Line is being planned to connect all the way to the Santa Monica Pier. What?! I’ll believe it when I see it, but I’m hoping it happens. Don’t hold your breath though since Phase 1 has already been delayed once. I bet 2015 for Phase 2’s completion. Any takers?
Assuming it happens, connecting the coast to downtown (with numerous stops in between) is a big step towards liberating Angelenos from their cars and will hopefully reduce traffic. Then all we need is a football team.
I really can’t believe this site is still up. Not only still up, but gaining in popularity against the heavyweight, Pandora. Coming from a loyal Pandora fan, Grooveshark has still got to be the best online music option in the United States (Euro has Spotify). Grooveshark offers both on-demand songs from an ultra-comprehensive music library and they also have a Radio option which boasts pandora-like song suggestions based on your feedback.
The only problem is that they are obviously distributing copyrighted music and don’t have permission from major record companies to do so. So either they run the clock out and wait to get sued/shut down for the illegal distribution OR they sign deals to pay the record companies in exchange for distribution rights. The latter option hasn’t proven an easy model to crack. Check this Techcrunch Teardown on Pandora. Pandora made some big sacrifices in the listening experience to pay the record company’s royalty of .097 cents per song played (even a partial play). Grooveshark’s current “freemium” model won’t generate enough revenue alone so they may also limit their Radio option in a similar manner to Pandora: more banner ads, less song switching, and commercials every few tracks. In addition, Grooveshark may be forced to severely limit the on-demand music feature. Still, they may be up to the challenge of going legitimate since they recently signed a deal with EMI to license their music catalog.
To highlight their legal issues even more, recently Grooveshark’s iPhone app was rejected from the App Store (you can still get it on your jailbroken phone). Don’t get me wrong…I love Grooveshark. I am listening to some obscure hipster/emo rock on it right now (Bright Eyes, anyone?). However, I predict that they fade away in popularity as they try to overcome the same challenges that Pandora is currently dealing with.
So what? It took 3 years more to create than originally slated. It started as one thing and ended as something completely different. It pushed skaters to the point where skating wasn’t fun anymore. So What!?
An instantly classic skate video and behind the scenes documentary, came from Lakai’s uber-anticipated Final Flare video. Here is Guy Mariano’s award winning part which blends smooth lines and single trick bangers so well…not to mention 2 aptly chosen Band of Horses melodies. Also, check the Finally Flared documentary further below with the Guy Mariano comeback piece, which feels like a storytale. The Phelper said it best, “He’s the only guy that we’ve been waiting for”
Take it away
Here is the 6 part documentary called Finally Flared which recaps the whole process behind putting together the video which arguably boasts the the best skateboarders in the world: Eric Koston (the legend), Guy Mariano (killer comeback), Marc Johnson (footage workhorse/SOTY), Brandon Biebel (motivates), Mike “Mo” Capaldi (Battle of Berrics Champ), Cairo Foster (the Reason) and a bunch of other rippers.
The US Open of Surfing is the biggest surf contest in the mainland United States and typically it is a circus of bikinis, music, and action sports despite the measly Southern California summer waves. This summer, the surf was anything but measly. The waves were so big that the contest organizers decided to provide jet skis to tow surfers into the line up rather than let them waste time and energy paddling against the 10 foot plus waves. I suppose the record breaking $100K prize for 1st place also helped make this the most memorable US Open in history.
Here is Kelly Slater’s 10 point ride. He said that it was the biggest he had ever seen Huntington Beach.
HB may have been firing record breaking contest waves, but the Wedge in Newport Beach was something entirely different.
A couple months ago the Battle at the Berrics brought together some of the best skaters in the world to compete in a bracket style SKATE tournament. Here is an article which covers some of the action. Well it’s back and the roster is even more impressive. They also added some pre/post game interviews with the competitors.So far it is only in the early stages, but “He-Man” Mike V had a classic match with the accomplished Chris Cole. I’ll let you watch for yourself to see the winner, but this match is unique because they allow Mike V to use his signature old school moves.Here’s the pre game:
The actual match:
See the Berrics site to know more about the action from Battle of the Berrics 2.
Everyone knows that the quickest way to someone’s heart is sending them a picture of a cute baby animal. But it seems like one site isn’t impressed with that approach. F*** You Penguin is a feisty site which has the tagline, “A blog where I tell cute animals what’s what.”
The concept is hilarious despite being little more than a bitter rant. I would think that they would get tired of talking trash to cute animals, but they keep thinking of new ways to call them out. Here are 2 great examples:
Another random cute animal site which is actually responsible for a whole new style of internet slang is icanhascheezburger. This site has pictures of cute animals (mostly cats, which are named Lol Cats) and displays quotes from the animal. At first, the site is only slightly odd, but after you check out a few of these posts and the comments that people leave, the site feels like an Alice in Wonderland-style trip. It is all very strange, but forward a few of these pics to your sweetie and she will forgive you for nearly anything. Trust!
Miranda Priestly from the Devil Wears Prada lives! Maybe not exactly, but many aspects of her character are embodied by Jake Phelps, Editor at Thrasher Magazine.
Based in the heart of the rawest skateboarding city, San Francisco, Thrasher is the most well known skateboarding mag in history. Over the years, the magazine has earned a rep for refusing to compromise its content to appease corporate sponsors. Phelps’s tenure at this institution has put him in a powerful position in skateboarding. Aside from being the Dark Lord at Thrasher, he is a Big Trick Contest Promoter, and a respected authority/historian/archivist for the sport.
His dedication to skating is unrivaled, but he has ruffled a lot of feathers with his blunt style. He tells it like he sees it and is a habitual line stepper, but he is very often correct…and always entertaining. Just don’t get on his bad side. Before youtube pulled it there was a video of Phelps tearing into pro skateboarder Frank Hirata. It may sound harsh, but being omitted from the pages of Thrasher is way harsher.
He has also done a lot for the sport by putting on Big Trick Contests like Bust or Bail. Solid performances by Andrew Reynolds, Ryan Sheckler, and some guy named…Moose?
Here he is with Quicksilver’s Reese Forbes hyping the next contest at the soon to be torn down Wallenberg Gap in SF. “Back to the Berg” is going down on May 30th at Wallenberg High School.
Finally, he has an Epicly Later’d, which is mostly Jake doing what he does best. Talking incessantly about the sport he loves.
“Back to the Berg” is going down on May 30th at Wallenberg High School. Check the Thrasher site for Contest info and more Jake Videos.
Who is the world’s most famous skateboarder? Even more than Tony Hawk, Rob Dyrdek, and Bam Margera, I vote Bart Simpson as the most recognizable skater on the planet. Because of this, it is no shock that he appears on the cover of Skatebook #3. This large hard cover book by Lance Mountain and Salman Agah (follow him on twitter here) is packed with great photos and articles. The book feels like a skate mag without the heavy advertising.
One of the best sections is “Bart Simpson Droppin Hammers!” This 4 fingered mustard yellow kid rips some of the most iconic skate spots in the world like:
The Leap of Faith
…and now some real footage:
Carlsbad Gap
…and now some real footage:
El Toro Rail
…and now some real footage:
Wallenberg Stairs
…and now some real footage:
Hollywood High 16 Stair
…and now some real footage:
Wilshire Rail
Maxin’ with Terry Kennedy
He even wins the Skater of the Century award; further confirming his place as the world’s most famous skateboarder.
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. This large hard cover book by Lance Mountain and Salman Agah (follow him on twitter 
