Thursday, February 19, 2015

Jerry Hsu #3.



Internet Famous.

The relaunch of the Skateboard Mag is now three issues deep. As I said before the photos look great, especially the Tony Trujillo feature in Issue #132. The lack of words in the form of editorial content is a bummer. I understand that print media is trying to find ways to stay interactive and draw readers to the website or vice versa, but how hard is to at least write a couple of paragraphs? Most "articles" are about two sentences long and one of those sentences is telling you to check out the video on the website. This doesn't help to interest the somewhat school-phobic audience of young skateboarders in reading. The covers have been a little hit or miss. That can be chalked up to growing pains and figuring out the direction they want to go in. I'm assuming that since former Transworld editor Joel Petersen is involved that Dave Carnie and Chris Nieratko will never be working for the Mag again. The Mag also feels slightly like a catalog with how products are reviewed, more so than other skateboard magazines. I'm basically staying reserved in judgement and seeing where the new format goes because there is still work to be done.

Transworld - October 2010 Volume 28 Number 10

4 comments:

Skately said...

We've been conflicted about The Skateboard Mag direction as well, and echo your sentiment about feeling like a catalog. We appreciate the better paper stock but unfortunately the larger size format doesn't fit our scanner. With that and the fact that subs jumped from $11.95 to $19.95, we probably won't be renewing. Still a great mag though.

Justin said...

I don't want to give up on it completely. At the same time, I'm not feeling it. The old format maybe wasn't the best, but it had its moments. Cold Calls were always good and Carnie's responses to the letter writers were great. I usually only read his replies and not the letters. The interviews were decent most of the time. I think my subscription runs until 2016. Honestly I don't see The Mag lasting that long.

I want a bigger scanner so bad, especially for two page spreads. I hate them things.

Anonymous said...

totally agree with you,
the skateboard mag is boring as f**
great photos, but skatebording is more than tricks, and words in the mags are not useless... a good mag for 15 years old skaters that never read anything ..
There's culture in skateboarding, and mags must be the last hope in this desolated land of dumbness... or maybe I'm just another old skater

G. from Italy

Justin said...

Nope, G. You're 100% right.