May 28, 2006
etnies Takes Manhattan
Footwear brand's 20-year celebration leaves an impression.
By Rob Brink
TransWorld Business June 2006
Skateboarding moves at a hummingbird's pace…trends come and go, people and companies age in dog years, and twenty years of anything in skateboarding is a hell of a long time. “Longevity confirms ability” is what some say. In this case, twenty years of etnies shoes means two decades of impeccable skateboarding footwear—not to mention team riders, a classic video and respect in the skateboarding and action sports industry, culture and community, because skateboarding will chew you up and spit you out if you aren't legit—and that's a fact.
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May 2, 2006
Ali Boulala
By Rob Brink
etnies.com March 2006
Wrote this one for etnies.com. Throughout the interview, Ali said "I don't know" and "fuck" a lot, but I had to cut that kinda stuff out for the site. Not that many people get the chance to interview a guy as outrageous and elusive as Ali, and, even though this is a basic interview for a younger audience, I'm stoked that I had the opportunity to do it.
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March 29, 2006
Festivus: Tampa Am ‘06
By Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag May 2006
Of all skateboard wordsmiths out there, none have inspired like Dave Carnie. Mentally—never vocally, as to not “fan out” so much—I sometimes equate him to Shakespeare in the sense that, if you look at all the plays ever written since Shakespeare's day, it's nearly impossible not to rip off or be influenced by the works of Old Bill.
So I can't even pretend this Tampa Am contest article won't be influenced by Dave's Goofy vs. Regular article from issue #24, which I read on the plane to Tampa. In fact, my article will be worse and prove that Dave's a far bigger celebrity skateboard journalist than I.
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March 29, 2006
Baker Christmas Demo
By Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag May 2006
Have you ever read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein? It's about two friends—one is a young boy and the other, a tree. The young boy, throughout his life, comes to the tree for various things. The tree, having such unconditional love for the young boy joyfully gives him everything she can—from a place to climb and play as a young child, her apples to sell when he needed money, a place to make out with chicks as a teenage boy, branches to build a home for his family with, the her trunk to build a boat with for him to sail away in, and finally, years later, when nothing is left of the tree but a stump, the boy returns as an old man and he asks the tree for just a place to sit and rest. The tree, overjoyed to see her friend and be of service, gladly offers herself one last time, and she and the old man are happy together once again as the tale ends.
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March 23, 2006
Riding Solo
By Rob Brink
EXPN.com August 2003
Unfortunately, my ESPN magazine story with Rodil Jr. had to be cut down for space in the mag, so EXPN.com decided to run the full-length interview. When it finally hit stands and the web, Dragon contacted me for the original transcripts of the interview because evidently Rodil claimed I left out his sponsors, when, in reality, he was denying having any sponsors at all. The proof is in the first answer below. the result: Rodil got his ass booted from Dragon. Good move buddy. Thanks for trying to throw me under the bus 'cuz your ass is bitter.
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March 5, 2006
Crossovers, Cars and Kids...Lasek Lets Loose
By Rob Brink
EXPN.com, April 2003
In May 2003, a story I did on Bucky Lasek ran in ESPN magazine. The original interview was much longer and ended up getting cut down a ton, so ESPN decided to run the full-length version on EXPN.com. Here's how it went:
The rèsumè of Bucky Lasek lists wins at every major skate comp in his 13 years as a pro. He's also a world traveler. He's funny. Consistent and creative are the words that stick. At home, he's Mr. Mom and right now he's refereeing a wrestling match between daughters Paris, 2 and Devin, 5. He wants to skate. He should be doing chores. He's getting set for the Global Championships. He was happy we called.
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March 3, 2006
Almost Round 3
By Rob Brink
EXPN.com, February 2005
Here's an Almost Round 3 review I did for EXPN.com.
Editor's note: We here at EXPN.com are slowly coming out of our Winter X Games cocoon and know Round 3 has been out for a minute. But damn, if you haven't peeped this vid, then fix your skate-thirsty eyes below for a taste of the tech, then run out to your local shop and brag about the info you scooped on EXPN.com.
Anticipation for Round 3 has been building over the past year, beginning with a first-look at footage on a small television set at the Almost booth during the September 2003 ASR trade show in San Diego. Since then, we, the skateboarders of the world, have been taunted and teased with tentative release dates, promo DVDs, ads listing Rodney and Daewon's video tricks, and a barrage of Almost's riders in the skate mags. But the day has finally come—and it was well worth the wait.
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March 3, 2006
What If?
By Rob Brink
EXPN.com, April 2005
For a few months in early 2005, I was doing long-form skateboard DVD reviews for EXPN.com. This review of Blind's What If? was one of them.
For Blind, a modern-day skateboard company, 13 years is a long time to go without making a video (okay, 11 years if you count 1993's nine-minute promo Tim and Henry's Pack of Lies). And living up to the kind of hype following their 1991 benchmark Video Days is a tough task.
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March 1, 2006
Tale of Two Canadian Cities
By Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag, April 2005
This is my first piece for The Skateboard Mag. More to come.
Toronto and Vancouver. Vancouver and Toronto. Two large, major Canadian cities. Two metropolises where skateboarding is quite popular. The difference is that I seem to know a lot more about Vancouver skateboarding than Toronto skateboarding. Why is this? I dunno. You would think, since I've been skating for sixteen years and grew up on the East Coast of the United States, that I might have acquired some knowledge of Toronto over time. But no. The shit is a skateboarding mystery to a Yankee like me. Even torontoskateboarding.com hasn't been updated since June! How am I supposed to know anything? What kind of representation is that?
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February 18, 2006
Kyle at ASR with a broken foot.
Did this quick Kyle Leeper interview not too long ago for his etnies.com team page.
Southern California native Kyle Leeper has kept himself plenty busy skating and traveling with the etnies team for the last couple months. Tours, demos, shooting photos, filming—you name it. The simple fact is, Kyle is a skate machine. Anytime, anywhere, anyhow—he gets the job done.
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