Virtual Reality.

In the last month or three, I've noticed a proliferation of artificial intelligence bots generating skateboard content on the slowly burning trashcan fire that is Facebook. The first one that seemed suspicious was the Shredder News. Their content walked a bleary line of regurgitating press releases with just enough writing to make it seem possible a human could have cut and pasted together an article. Cole Nowicki of Simple Magic had been wondering the same thing about the site. I eventually concluded they are fake based upon this collection of words about the return of Steve Rocco to skateboarding.

No human could write something that poorly.

The next one I noticed was the Dern Brothers. There are some real Dern brothers out in the skateboard world, but this isn't them. The address for the Facebook page is a park in Dallas, Texas, that may or may not have a skatepark in it. Dern Brothers would post somewhat obscure and well captioned skateboard photos, mostly from 2016. Strange, but reasonable. Then they dropped this gem. Either they willfully ignored Mike's sordid sponsorship history out of politeness or they were a clueless machine. They're probably the later.

Then yesterday this post came up. As Clyde Singleton commented, "AI bot crashed out."

This stuff is somewhat harmless and entertaining for now, but there are serious drawbacks to this type of content. The second worst part of all this is that people are treating these entities as real. The worst part is that people are going to be learning an approximation of skateboarding history from a machine that doesn't pick up important details.

As the endless quest to churn out content goes on, the artificial creatures are even starting to duplicate themselves.

I'm so stoked to be living in the dumbest timeline imaginable that is only going to get dumber as time moves forward.

We're getting rec'd on Monday. For real, no computer generated content here.

Jim Thiebaud #8.

Realest of the Real.

Jim writes about San Francisco and tour life for Strange Notes in 1990. He's got a unique trick selection with a fakie manual on a sidewalk and a handplant of some type at Studio 43. By the end of the year, Jim would start Real Skateboards with Tommy Guerrero out of Deluxe, the home of Thunder and Spitfire.

The Chrome Ball Incident has a couple of newish and awesome interviews with Mike Frazier and Niko Achtipes.

I started skateboarding in a new pair of shoes last night and that was way easier to deal with than my ongoing 56mm wheel crisis.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, June 3rd.

Have a good weekend. Everything is generally going well. I've been in the process of getting caught up from the last couple months and I figure it would be easier to take another week off instead of throwing together something quick for a short week. I'm going to try to get things organized and plan out future posts a bit over the holiday break.

The photographs were taken by Luke Ogden.

Strange Notes - July 1990

Jaya Bonderov #8.

Full Pads.

A well protected Jaya takes flight on a mini ramp. Skateboarding's transition from parks to streets in the early 1990s resulted in some retrospectively strange gear and fashion choices/requirements. It made sense at the time if you were following along, but to have to explain things at this point would be an awkward conversation.

I also think it is amusing how there is a current fascination with egg shaped boards. The eggs of today are a slightly invented nostalgia based on some deck designs from about 2015 that were influenced by shapes from 1992 or 1993. A modern egg is not a throwback to what was being ridden in the early 1990s, it is its own different entity. Of all the sellers of ovals, Black Label probably gets boards the closest to the what the shapes were actually like in the olden days. I don't know why this topic bugs me since I only ride popsicles, but that's how skateboarding goes.

I'm not sure if I'm cut out for life on 56mm wheels again. I'm not skating too terribly for me, but ollies and nollies feel a tad off at times. I also need to start a new pair of shoes so I'm thinking that might be part of the problem. I keep telling myself I did all my best skating on 56s and that it will be fine. However, the results aren't there. If things don't get better shortly, I'm dropping down to 55s.

Chris Kardas was the photographer.

Strange Notes - late 92/early 1993

Darren Navarrette #17.

The Street Navs makes another appearance with a kinked banister 50-50. For a vert guy, Darren has had a fair amount of handrail photos over the years.

It's either a Lance Dalgart or Jeff Kendall photo. My guess would be Lance.

Strange Notes - December 1996

Oli Buergin #3.

Swiss Air.

I figured I'd mark the 16 year anniversary of this thing with a poorly printed photo of one of my favorite skaters. Strange Notes had horrid photo quality, which I'm assuming was caused by printing the 'zines for cheap. They got better once they switched over to full color, but the photos were always on the dark side for the BW issues. You could also see how they were learning how to make a magazine in terms of design and printing.

The photo is by Jeff Kendall.

Strange Notes - February 1997

Claus Grabke #4.

Zeitnehmer.

Claus takes flight over a field. He is from Germany and was pro for Santa Cruz. He's also a musician and has a band called Eight Dayz. Claus is vegetarian and turned down the offer to have the first pro model shoe from Etnies on account of the design using leather and suede. As was often the case with pros from the 1980s, he had a thematic series of board graphics with variations on clocks and time.

I scanned some stuff form assorted issues of Strange Notes, the 'zine/catalog that Santa Cruz would mail out back before the internet ruined the world.

The photo is by Ulrich Niewöhner.

Strange Notes - October 1989

Peter Hewitt #19.

Nifty, nifty, Hewitt's fifty.

Long time vert and pool ripper Peter Hewitt hit the 50 year old mark somewhat recently.

When Hewitt and Al Partanen did the loop in Mexico that was set up for Birdhouse's The End, was it ever documented or did they simply do it for the sake of doing it? I assume that somebody would've taken photos. I believe they helped build the loop, too. I know Tony Hawk asked them to keep it a secret until after the video was out, but it seems like enough time has passed to let any footage see the light of day. Although I think I kind of prefer the loop story as a story. It's getting boring how everything is documented these days.

Spitfire: Thrasher - September 2009 Volume 29 Number 9

Anti-Hero: Thrasher - April 2012 Volume 32 Number 4

Nestor Judkins #3.

Nestor recently popped up in the new Jacuzzi Unlimited video with hot shoe am Tony Latham. He's got still got his classic style and tricks, although it was strange seeing him with longer hair. Tony might be the new Mike Plumb. Nestor is running Salad Days of Skateboarding, a nonprofit organization that looks to promote skateboarding in places that could use some support.

Thrasher - September 2009 Volume 29 Number 9

Marisa Dal Santo #3.

Destruction Squirrel.

Silly little things like this are sometimes the best part of skateboarding.

That new Quasi video was something. I dug the skateboard moves and weird chopped up editing. I wasn't really digging the hassles of all the house spots. It's too much needless anxiety over a dumb trick.

The article is by Joe Hammeke.

Thrasher - October 2012 Volume 32 Number 10

Guy Mariano #7.

Guy takes a railslide for a lengthy ride during the Girl, Lakai, and Fourstar days.

Honestly, having a clothing line on Dickies feels like a step down from riding for Fourstar. Although we all know that skateboard clothing is the ficklest of all the fickle aspects of skateboarding business so go with whatever is working for you at the time.

In other Guy news, Palace is running a graphic based on a board he had for Girl in 2001.

Thrasher - October 2012 Volume 32 Number 10

Collin Provost #10.

Swinging party down the line.

A long haired Collin goes the distance for Toy Machine on a lipslide. He recently closed out the new Creature video with a part full of big ollies and ditches that one would expect from him.

In Toy Machine news, they have a new video out soon. I'm stoked to see they turned Georgia Martin pro.

At least one of the photos in the ad is by Joe Hammeke.

Thrasher - April 2012 Volume 32 Number 4

James Hardy #4.

What's your biggest vice, then?

Sweet tea. I drink that stuff like there's no tomorrow.

James was pro for Real and recently passed away. His other sponsors included Fallen and RVCA. He was part of the stellar Real team that stared in the Since Day One video from 2011.

For the quote: Thrasher - January 2011 Volume 31 Number 1

Tailslide: Thrasher - September 2009 Volume 29 Number 9

Handrail: Thrasher - December 2010 Volume 30 Number 12

Tim Brauch #20.

Never Forget.

Tim was pro for Santa Cruz. He initially rode for the New Deal before switching to SMA and then doing the in-house shuffle over to Santa Cruz. Working with Salman Agah, he ran Este Clothing through Sessions for the better part of the 1990s. Tim was sponsored by Etnies and Independent, too. Sadly, he passed away from a congenital heart problem twenty five years ago today. Tim also organized the Beautiful Mens Club with Jason Adams, Salman, and a few other San Jose locals.

RIP Steve Albini.
The photograph is by Jai Tanju.

Transworld - September 2000 Volume 18 Number 9

Dakota Servold #6.

The Road Worrier.

Dakota is a long time F-Trooper who is all about being on the road in the van and looking for spots. The hard work is worth it because his video parts don't look boring and generic. He recently earned a pro model shoe on Emerica.

I set up a new board over the weekend and I put some new wheels on it yesterday. I'm giving 56s a try again after the last few years of 55s and 54s.

Thrasher - October 2012 Volume 32 Number 10

Tony Hawk #15.

Janky Contest Handrails.

The Birdman does a railslide at the Münster Monster Mastership #8. The contest took place from August 3-6, 1989 in Germany. Tony won the vert and finished 2nd in street. Lance Mountain won the street event. Rounding out the top five were Ray Barbee, Lester Kasai, and Pat Ngoho.

Of note is that the Münster contest marked the debut of high flying Brazilian Lincoln Ueda, who placed 4th in vert. His son now rides for Toy Machine. The other top finishers on the big ramp were Tony Magnusson in 2nd, Jeff Kendall in 3rd, and Buck Smith in 5th.

My mom is doing well with recovery from her operation and things are slowly getting back to some version of normal.

The photograph is by Kevin Thatcher.

This ran in the 1991 Thrasher calendar.

Mike Prosenko #2.

Ozean.

Mike played guitar and did graphic design for a short lived shoegaze band from San Jose called Ozean. Numero Group reisued their lone demo tape on vinyl earlier this year. The band played all of one or two shows and recorded three songs in their brief existence.

The photo is by Mark Waters.

Transworld - October 1990 Volume 8 Number 10