Proactiv Launches Face Tattoo Removal Product Line & Team

Professional Skateboarders Antwuan Dixon, Jereme Rogers and Braydon Szafranski to Become the Newest Faces of Proactiv Solution.

We are please to announce on the 31st of March that Antwuan Dixon, Jereme Rogers and Braydon Szafranski famed skateboarders, hip hop impresario's and bad boys of the new skate lifestyle counter culture television star, have been chosen as the newest face of America's newest face tattoo removal solution, Proactiv Ink-X.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Press Release) – March 31st, 2009 – On the 31st of March that Antwuan Dixon, Jereme Rogers and Braydon Szafranski famed skateboarders and hip hop artists, have been chosen as the newest face of America's latest face tattoo removal treatment, Proactiv Ink -X. Known for its wide range of celebrity supporters, Proactiv will feature the three new members of the skate world in the brand's 11th national television program, which began airing nationwide in America during peak face tattoo season. The new cycle will serve as a unique platform for the skaters to share his experience of what a face tattoo has done to their position in society/

As an athlete and celebrity, the skaters are constantly under scrutiny for their "coreti-tude" and credit Proactiv for giving them a tattoo removal option outside of costly and public laser treatments. Rogers aid "Proactiv started working for me in the first day after I got this ink at the Tampa Pro, now I use Proactiv everyday. When you put it on your face, you can feel it actually getting the ink out. It feels like you have a brand new face. I might get a face tattoo of a dolphin sitting in a recliner hitting a bong like my friend Jimmy got in Cabo on spring break. I mean shit, it ain't nothin' Ink-X can't get out."


Vegas native and Hollywood transplant Braydon Szafranski remains a fan of the product line because of the consistent and effective results that it provides. "As a skater, I'll always take chances, but I don't take chances with my skinny jeans or my skin. That's why I'm down with Proactiv."

"Celebrities and devoted users alike continue to speak out about Proactiv Ink X because of the amazing, life-changing results it provides," said a Bob Blahblah, VP of North American Marketing Solutions and skateboard division for Proactiv Inx X. "We are very excited to work with Antwuan, Jereme and Braydon because they relate specifically to our easily impressed demographic, many of whom are often too easily persuaded by trends. While skateboarding used to be about having an identity it's simply become another corporate vehicle and damn right we are going to take advantage of it while we can. I mean, we believe their actions will inspire them to take action which will lead to a whole new action paradigm."

Proactiv Products are the culmination of five years of hands-on research by two leading Stanford-trained dermatologists, Dr. Katie Rodan and Dr. Kathy Fields. Proactiv Solution was launched in 1995. In addition to the value packs, Proactiv Solution has a complete line of products including moisturisers, sunscreens and body washes to compliment the core three products. With the introduction of Ink X Proactiv will reshape how the world and youth approaches face tattoos

Honored in 2003 for Allure's Best of Beauty Award-Editors Choice for Best tattoo cover up Product and Women's Health 2007 Best small of back or chick tattoo Treatment in First Annual Beauty Awards, Proactiv In X remains an esteemed Face tattoo Removal treatment in the beauty and skin industry. Additionally, the productions have been recognized by the Electronic Retailing Association's ERA Awards for the past eight years.

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Happy April Fools Day. Now Go Skate

2010 Burton Preview: Jussi Board and Jussi Anorak

686 x New Balance Catalogue Pictures

Doing a little re-blogging this Monday morning courtesy of my buddy's over at Alpine Ski Shop. The Alpine guys have been running with 686 for quite some time now and this season several weeks back it sounded like they had a strong sell through. Take note reps: when you show up, hype up the product and the staff gets behind it that equals sell through. I'm sure you all know this but hey why don't we just keep saying it until everybody does it.

OK, moving on ... 686 has done some interesting collabs over the past few years form Dragon, to Levis to Famous Stars and Straps. Their collaboration with New Balance is going to be one of the more interesting ones. I still haven't seen or held the product much less tried it out but if the boots manage to retain the simple ethos of New Balance and combine the technical features and eye for detail that 686 has it could be in very high demand next year. In the meantime enjoy the boot and sneaker collab pics.

Dear Vert Skating, What the Hell?

Not to long ago ESPN made waves in the skating world that hey were going to phase out vert skating and move on to bigger and better things. The world of transition skating at the X games would wave bye-bye to the longstanding u-ramp comps and now be encompassed in the realm of Super park and mega Ramp. I know, add in the words "defies the rabbit robot" and it sounds less like skating and more like a Flaming Lips Album. At the time I wrote a little letter explaining it to the X Games how they were blowing it. Should you have been one of the 12 people who read that, thanks. If not it was pretty simple and upfront rant on well...nothing, I mean it was a rant. So after my little letter and then plenty of teeth gnashing, foot stomping, hand shaking fist pounds and long walks on the beach X games put vert skating back in. All in all it was sideshow but it was there. So, the pros were happy. ESPN was admonished for saying vert is dead and we all sailed off happily into the future skating world. Well, not really.

In reading the recap from last weeks Tampa Pro I was kinda of shocked by one simple fact. No, not that they choose to put Felix's face on the big checks. The fact was that out of all the big name pros, who came to compete for all the money in the Tampa Pro Vert comp ... pretty much nobody showed up. That's right the $25,000 prize purse wasn't enough to get the rokstars to Florida. To their credit PLG, Danny Mayer, Lincoln Ueada and Chris gentry rolled into town. Now, it pains me to write this because do you know how much mileage a blogger can get out of Chris Gentry? Just watch the video below starting at 4:26 (or maybe earlier) and you'll know what i mean. I actually feel like I have to walk around the guy for being stand up. Maybe it was scheduling conflicts, maybe it was the economy hell maybe it was a plague of locusts but this seems like the type of event all pro skaters not just street skaters should be supporting.



The soap box I'm standing on here isn't "save vert" skating. Vert isn't alive or dead it just ... is. Vert will never grow to the size of or be as accessible as street skating. Fact. A vert ramp is hard to come by and it take s a level of commitment that is easier to access at your local ledge, rail or skate park. There's nothing wrong with that it's just the plain truth. No, the soap box here is that while I believe in payday I believe more in skating. You can got to the Dew Tour, the X Games or whatever big event will pay you the most dollars but they will cease to exist eventually. The prize money may shrink, the dollars may eventually go away or they might just cancel the event all together. If I recall correctly, yep that almost happened last year. So why not support the contest and the crew putting it on who are here for skating. Sure, Skate Park of Tampa is a business but the Tampa Pro and Tampa Am are institutions run by skaters. That should count for much more than it currently does.

I've been lucky. I've had the opportunity to sit down and talk or be around some of the best skaters in the world. To their credit they do give back to skating in their own way. Bucky Lasek has camps through Vans skate parks which are amazing, The Tony Hawk foundation has helped countless skate parks get off the ground. But, I can't believe the pool of competitive vert skating has grown so small that only a handful or recognizable pros can make it out to these events. Vert skaters and industry folk alike should pull their collective heads out of their asses and think about where skating is heading. Do we want to steer it's course or is all now a made for TV event? Leave the moronic words like "amplitude" behind, don't worry if your energy drink logo is visible on your helmet and set a course for what really matters: skating.

Monument Blog - Wish You Were Here

Read the whole blog here

Repost: MSP's Statement - R.I.P Shan McConkey

Yes, it's been rainy and gloomy here in D.C. the past 48 hours. I can blame the weather but I won't. The overall good vibe has been put on mute for a few days due to the untimely passing of Shane McConkey. If you are reading this site you might be wondering why I'm mourning the loss of a skier. Simply put, Skier, snowboarder or skater - Shane shared the same passions, thrills and joys that all of us find from pursuing our activity. He joy from skiing was infectious. He was one of the pioneers who along with the Match Stick Production crew behind the lens made skiing look fun again after the eternal ice age of boring Warren Miller films that kept skiing locked in the churning world of mediocrity.

To read the official letter from Match Stick Productions Click here.

Anecdotaly speaking the first time I ever saw Shane ski was in the MSP film Fetish circa 1996. That may or may have not been his first big piece in a movie. I'm unsure as I don't keep account of all things skiing. What I do remember in being 23 years old and standing with my shop shirt on while selling snowboards at the old Alpine Ski Shop in Oakton, Virginia. Watching Shane and the others ski made skiing look much much more fun than it had appeared in the past 20 years. That was probably his greatest contribution to the world of skiing he helped make it fun again. His passing is our loss. Shane you will be missed. My thoughts go out to his wife, daughter and parents.

Take Action and Support Your Local Skate, Snow, and Surf Shop

All I could say was "Holy shit." Six months ago I was trying on a pair of DC Smith 2.0 sneakers in Active Ride Shops newest San Diego location while in town for ASR. Yesterday I was reading about Active filing for bankruptcy. You can read the gory details of debtors over on Shop-Eat-Surf.com. But to me there is a larger issue at hand and it's pretty much time we talked about it without worrying about hurting feelings or backlash. I have several friends that own shops on the East Coast and I'm always excited when I walk into a skate or snow shop that is going their own non-big box route. These shops are disappearing at an alarming rate. The economy may be down, the discounts online may be deep but as skaters and snowboarders we need to be held accountable for nurturing our own scene. That includes supporting local shops.

I've written quite a bit how online stores are great and how efficient they can be which is great for the consumer. However, now I'm more concerned about the backlash effect. When you go and purchase online it takes money out of the pocket of your local shop. In some areas shop owners aren't all that keen to building the scene and for them it's business. The other side of the same coin is the shop owner who tries to grow skateboarding or snowboarding by putting on events, movie premiers and contests. Sure it's an extension of marketing their business but without growing the audience they won't stay in that business. without the shop the scene loses a vital local touchpoint to sustaining itself. Do you think a dot-com will come down to your local town and lobby for funds to build a skatepark? Maybe you can get all the local business owners together. Best of luck with that. Most likely it's not going to happen. This is where the shop comes into play as local business that is taxed and has a say in community affairs. Your local shop becomes a bridge between you and the powers that be.

Addin insult to injury was the one-two punch of today. This came after finding out about Active in the form of seeing Syndrome Distribution selling decks direct with free shipping and grip for $49.99. For local shop owners this was another kick in the balls from a company that should be working with them in the difficult times. I fully understand that manufacturers need to get rid of product but if we reverse engineer that cost I'm sure there are shops that would buy those Plan B boards at a much deeper discounted price. Overall, pretty disappointing that this was flown under the radar and not even communicated to shop owners. I would not be stocking Plan B decks right now.

So this is where it's time for me to put my money where my mouth is. I'm a big fan of buying things off the interweb for skating and snowboarding because it saves me money. Time for me to be realistic about what I need and what my skate and snowboarding community needs. Yep, time to take responsibility. So I'm returning my latest package back to Brociety.com. No need for me to peruse the shred dog closeouts on Sierra Snowboards. Moving forward I'll only buy what I need and if I purchase online it will be from a site that's foundation still is rooted in a brick and mortar location. Alpine Ski Shop, Skate Park of Tampa, Active, Elite Boardshop, Palace 5ive, and Arrival Boardshop will all be getting my money as needed. if you have to go online to pack up why not reduce the waste, recycle brand new in box kicks or pass along the support by using a product like Broslist.com. Then take that money and reinvest it into your own local economy.

I said it up above and I'll say it again. My money is going to shops that support skating and snowboarding in my city and region. I hope you'll do the same. I'm not telling you to not shop online. If you have need and budget do what you need to do but think about this: who is going to host a rail jam at your mountain or best a trick contest at a local ledge. Think about who is part of your community and who is taking your money. You aren't without options ask about price matching ask about that free sheet of grip most shop owners will work with you. So as skaters, as snowboarders we are all in this together. There will be no bailout for us. Once these shops are gone they will not return and it's up to all of us to make sure the scene stays alive. Remember that next time you're about to click "buy."

Patrick Melcher Joins Index Ink

Let me tell you why I like this: Chad is a former shop kid I worked with that's just making it happen. Plus Melcher is fun as hell to watch skate. I'm going to try and link up with the Chadderbox and Melch here for some quicky questions soon. In the meantime enjoy the press release first posted over on Alpinedrops.com.

Index Ink Welcomes Patrick Melcher to the Family
"Uniting Creative Minds!"
LAGUNA HILLS, CA - March 24, 2009 - The Index Ink brand has many personalities with no intentions of exhibiting the norm through their eclectic channels of influence. Index Ink proudly welcomes Patrick Melcher to the Family. Patrick fits the part, exemplifying his undeniable creative style of skate, which reflects who he is, not only as skateboarder, but as an artist.

"Working with Index is rad, it's refreshing to not feel held back by a thoroughfare bureaucracy and checks-and-balances. I feel like the central element of an art based company needs to remain creative and promote that same creativity out into the world. That's just what Index does." -Patrick Melcher
Patrick Melcher is originally from Rockford, Illinois and currently tears the streets of Los Angeles, California. Since discovering the likes of skateboarding in the late 80's, he has progressed into the ranks as one of the many influential Pro's in the game. Patrick's style is unique and fresh. He seeks out to find interesting obstacles and new ways to do old tricks, which highly represents his interests and passions. Combining timeless classics with refreshing innovations at a high-speed aggression!

" Joining up with Patrick is the perfect mashup. He skates the way I paint, out of the box. The Boundaries, Borders and Stereotypes get checked at the door with us. Our goal to unite creative minds around the world is well on it's way. Ink the world."
-Chad Carothers(Index Owner/Artsit)

About Index Ink-

Deeply rooted through Art, Skating, Music, Riding, Pop Culture and connected with those who see and share our vision. Most importantly, united by creativity for life. INK THE WORLD.

2010 Burton Outerwear Preview: 2010 Burton AK Hover and Stagger

Nike SB April 2009 Drops

Epicly Good Webcasting: Tampa Pro 2009

I would ordinarily tune in to the US Open of snowbroing live from Stratton Vermont but after going to Go211.com and suffering through the dreck I had to flip away. Out of curiosity I checked out Tampa Pro presented by Skate Park of Tampa and Nike SB, Fuel TV (my former blog employers) had it broadcasting in HD on their website. I've seen plenty of bad webcasts in my days at AOL and lots of really good ones. On the skate side it's really hard to execute this well. I always chalk this up to the minutiae of skating. The subtle movements and they rapid fire execution of tricks is really hard to follow is a small 3x3 screen. But, with the HD broadcast on full screen Fuel TV did a solid job and I have to say have the SPoT guys commentating really rounded it out.

Now this could be a simple case of HD tech rising to meet the expectations and demands of viewers. In this instance I play the role of the viewer for those of you playing along at home. But really it's the full production. Cutting away to a relevant Nike SB commercial of Justin Brock from their new series? Very smart. Having Fuel TV reporter, pro vert skater and Southofthenorth.com reader Neil Hendrix outside the comp doing stand up interviews with skaters? Brilliant. Those little things actually give you a perspective that you are at the Tampa Pro that you do have a front row seat to the action and you get all of this without suffering through the moat race. Well done SPoT Nike SB and Fuel. It's nice to see somebody get it for a change. Tune in at Fuel.tv

2010 Burton Snowboard Binding Preview: Malavita EST

2010 Burton Snowboard Preview: Burton T6

Burton 2010 Sneak Preview: Burton Method

Interestingly enough the previews keep on coming. This time round we are going to get into some first looks and some specs . As you all know the buying season has begun and every shop or dealer is out there placing orders. make it easy for them and voice your opinion in the comments below. You the buying public are the true R& D machine of the snowboard industry.

lets not waste anybodies time and make crap that nobody will ride and we'll have ti suffer through closeout web prices. Are you going to pay top dollar for gear like this. Now's your chance to let people know what you think. New drops forthcoming daily from the gear lockers of several notable dealers.

First up Burton's new top o' the line board...the Method.

Nike SB Stefan Janoski

Uh, something...

7 Springs Homecoming: A Candid Look Back at the Fun You Missed

So, oddly enough it seems that there was a small migration of several points west to the East Coast this weekend. Todd Richards hung his hat in Killington (maybe drinking 40's), riders began migrating towards all things U.S. Open and down in South Western PA a small contingent of some of the best free skiers and snowboarders descended on 7 Springs. Yes, 7 Springs, Pennsylvania. Why is this noteworthy? Well, lets just say 7 Springs doesn't carry that much cache but what it does have to offer is being the home turf og Ms. Kristi Leskinen. While I don't write about, cover or ski I do think it's an amazing thing to watch still. I get it. So lets take a look at what appears to be a good old fashioned homecoming in the quiet hills of PA.

These aren't in any date or order. You can just see what fun you missed... Now, so you don't get bent all out of shape lets make sure we are pointing out what went down here and get us all on the same page. A world class freeskier (never mind she's a woman, she rips harder on her worst day than you do on your best) managed to get more world class skiers and snowbaorders to follow her to small resort in PA for a weekend of fun and games. Hmmmm, now that sounds like something that's incredibly cool. Well done Kristi. I wish more people would do fun stuff. Top notch also for everybody who showed up to PA. You ladies kick ass.

If anybody has action photos...send them my way so we can continue to highlight how great this was. While SOTN can be sarcastic at times what I love to see is the growth and broad exposure of all snowboarding at all levels to the masses. If in anyway this event can inspire any type of rider to try and take things to the next level....it's well worth it.







Credits: Amy K Stanton

New Richie Jackson Footage from Ipath

Hippie jump central but entertaining as always...

EESA Sneak Peek: The Arcade Series

You can argue that every single piece of soft goods, hard goods and outerwear makes up the perfect recipe when you are shredding. Something may be slightly off and sure enough it ruins the whole process. Now I'm not saying it's catastrophic disaster of Ben Affleck movie or MTV reality series proportions but it has a unique set of challenges. That's why when a little guy emerges and is doing things right it's important to take note.

Eesa emerged not to long ago and as the focus in 2010 shifts even more so to the wonderful world of socks. I got excited. They are doing some really fun stuff. No collabs but in this instance they are doing the whole "whey lets grow smaller thing" yeah, grow and small two words you don't ordinarily hear but in this particular instance it means finding the few things they do exceptionally well and blowing the hell out of it. I hear from more and more people that the Eesa socks are insanely comfortable and I'm looking forward to actually sliding my paws into a pair or two next year. Keep your eyes peeled because this is only the tip of their iceberg. Heh, I said tip.

Buy Your Gear Now: Alpine Stimulus Package

Raise your hand if your are nervously looking at your bank account these days? OK, not just me? Sweet. Yeah, this brutal pounding of the economy has even got world class blargers like me running scared for what may be hunkering down and deciding "do I really need that fourth pair of Burton AK pants?" Obviously that was a joke and in moderate bad taste. The reality is though while the economy has gone shooting down so has a chunk of the snowsports industry and if that isn't strange enough ... this is a good thing for you the consumer.

The rich kid pursuit of snowboarding continues to be as expensive as it always was: gear, lift tickets, and 411.50 bowls of reheated chili are always going to be exceeding the reasonable margins of your personal economic threshold. More than once I've looked at a piece of gear wondering "If I purchase this ... Yes, I will need a bailout." That's where companies like Brociety have come into play and are providing the shred community with deals galore on all things snowboarding. It's just absolutely nothing I care to buy with maybe only a handful of snowboarding days left. So who is goign to benefit the most?

Local shops, that's who but they need to have their heads focused on the right objective: close the loop. I could better describe this as "make it easy for the customer". Chris from Alpine here in VA hit me up with how he's serving the right customer at the right time. Apparently, he had his shop bombarded with package deals he set up through Northwave &Drake. With board boot and binding packages on this front ranging from $399 to $459 it's an interesting strategy to go after one of the biggest customer groups of his local audience: the entry to mid level rider.

Lest we forget this is Virginia as displayed by my own riding skills ... nobody is going to the X Games soon but we do need gear that works. If the option comes down to a $900 K2 or Burton set up or a $450 Northwave/drake set up .... in these harsh economic times where are you going to go? Alpine has provided a solid package that blends function and style vs. the popular name brand. I expect we'll be seeing more of this. Now if only resorts would get back to the $30 lift ticket I'd be happy.

For more info on the Alpine end of season package check out AlpineDrops.com or call 703.444.7845 and ask for Chris or Tyler.

Does your shop have a recession beater package? Let me know so we can call out your local efforts to keep riders on the hill.

Support your local skate and snowboard shops!

Seriously Let's Talk About Action Sports and Cinema

While surfing with my good friend the interweb I stumbled on the link to the Street Dreams website which had posted a teaser trailer. This cinematic portrayal of skating features: Rob Dydek, Paul Rodriguez, Ryan Dunn, Terry Kennedy, and Ryan Sheckler. While watching the trailer there were a few distinct shots that made me smile. They were mostly skate related though. The hardest thing this movie will have to overcome is the simple fact that skaters are so well known for their actions on a board anything outside of that is going to seem foregone. More power to the producers for actually getting real skater and people involved with the lifestyle.

However, I have a feeling this is going to come up short and by short I mean miss the mark by a mile. Indy films are a tough beast to tame. Finding the right blend of actors, producers, writers, crew, editors and the ever important plotline is crucial. I mean this in a when you don't have a studio system yo greenlight your big budget items you need to be ever resourceful. Not that the street teams wasn't there's just nothing from the trailer that looks like it will be something to get excited over. Still, checking it out will be worthwhile. Form your own opinion.

The large number of action sports themed movies is pretty comical. Compared to the number of sports movies out there they are few and far between. My generation had the full spectrum from Aspen Extreme to North Shore to RAD and I'm sure there were others. The sad part is at the end of the day more money was spent on those inevitable failures than any number of legitimate movies out there. Christ, now don't forget in Gods hands and Thrashin. This list could go on. See you at the Theater ... likely note






Find more videos like this on Street Dreams Movie

Snowshoe On Snow

Hey guess who isn't riding at the on snow this week? Yeah, work is a beast my friends. So 2010 boards will continue to be surfaced and that's all she wrote. For everybody going ... enjoy the slush.

Burton W48 Review Or the Burton Warranty Test

The noise was unmistakable: my high back had just snapped a post. Quickly picking myself up from the ground I realized my size XXL ass had landed weird on my high back and snapped it into a few more pieces than required. Turns out that after four days in Utah of taking some really weird falls and hauling ass down the hills the way to finish up my trip was breaking a binder in the most rookie way possible. I slipped and fell on it. Adding insult to injury was a chairlift chair was looming down on me. I quickly popped to my feet and said to the Josh "Yep, something broke." Sure enough my left Burton Co2 suffered a fate most likely reserved for team riders and Brighton locals who actually put bindings through their paces: a break.

With little else to do I kept riding through the day and to be honest I felt a little looser cruising through trees, the park and whatever else The Josh directed me towards. Chalk one up for not caring I guess. I wasn't too concerned with another pair of Co2's at home but I thought: "even better, I'll just W48 it. Burton will take care of me." Sure enough I got home the next day and was dialing up the kind folks in Vermont to see when and where I could ship my fractured highback. Curiously I looked over the Burton website for what i could expect before hopping on the phone. It seems Burton has changed their tune as to how long and under what conditions you can return something for W48.

Covered: Binding Baseplate Lifetime Warranty
We're so confident in our baseplate materials and designs, beginning with the 2005 product line, we are offering a lifetime baseplate warranty against structural defects. So, if you crack or break your baseplate during riding, we'll replace it for life.

***SI baseplates are not included in this lifetime warranty***

• Breakage and/or cracking of any parts, not due to misuse, abuse, neglect, impact, or the use of resins and/or solvents.

Immediately I thought no problem I am square and a new high back is coming my way. So I quickly hopped on the phone. The rider services rep on the other end then informed me... oh that binding is over a year old and therefor not covered. My response was simple ... "Huh?" I Must have missed it. So back I tread to the Burton website and clicked about W48:

Burton Snowboards warrants all products sold by Burton to be free of defects in material or workmanship for a period of one (1) year from the date of purchase unless otherwise specified on the product.

Dagger through the thought of my new highback! The rider services rep then went on to tell me a new C02 highback purchased was $100 plus shipping. Double dagger through the heart of my new highback!! Now, the easy thing to do would be to bash Burton but I'm going to give them one more try with the W48 perhaps they'll take pity on me. In the event they don't there's a spare pair of C02's I can mount up. But this got me thinking ... maybe it's time to move on. Sure enough there's a box of something new waiting in the gear locker to test out. Union Forces, it's time to come on out and play. Anybody want to buy 1 1/2 Co2's?

2009 U.S. GOpen of Snowboarding

Dear sweet merciful Christ thankfully somebody in snowboarding still has a sense of humor. Since I won't be attending Shamrocks and Shennanigans I think everybody should try and make this event if you are in the Nor' East.
Official Press Release - EAST LONGMEADOW, MA. March 5th, 2009

MAGICAL GO-GO® and POM POM® present the U.S. GOpen™ of Snowboarding!

GET READY FOR THE ON-SNOW FREAK SHOW! March 14th 2009 will mark the first annual U.S. GOpen™ of Snowboarding at Ski Sundown in New Hartford, CT. The U.S. GOpen™ is an open invitation event that will bend your cranium with original on-snow antics for all. The Laugh-Pipe™ jam will be held in Southern New England’s only mini pipe modeled after the halfpipes of yester-year complete with highway hits and jibs. The Go-Go Limbo™ Championships are the exact opposite of a high ollie contest and will see how low you can go. Putting two connected riders through the slalom course of chaos, The Siamese Slalom™ is the true on-snow translation of historical potato sack races. We’ve all been stuck in the flat spots before and the 30 meter Tic Tac Dash™ will find out who’s the fastest to the finish by hopping, wiggling or waggling to the end. Oh no you didn’t! - The Illegal Grab Exhibition™ will showcase everywhere you should NOT grab your board. Last but not least will be a pit zipper scraping Freedom Carve Contest where contestants will lay it down to the ground in full extension. Prizes will be awarded to the winners of each event as well as the winner of the judged Retro Show™ where a prize will be given for best retro board and outfit. All are encouraged to attend and participate in the funnest event of the century.

For more information visit skisundown.com, magicalgogo.com and iheartpompom.com

The U.S. GOpen™ of Snowboarding is brought to you in conjunction with:
Magical Go-Go®, POM POM®, Fat Trax, Vans, Capita, Coal, Eesa, Pro-Tec, Electric and Ski Sundown

Bob Burnquist Ipath Pro Shoe

Now, having seen this shoe in person I do want to sing it's praises. Ipath has managed to to something I view as a little more unique than drive another Dunk or Half Cab knock off to the market. Oh, don't be coy. You know exactly what I'm talking about. there was a period where mid and high top looked like it came out of the same factory.

Instead, Ipath has a created a streamlined shoe that feels like a skate shoe and not a re purposed basketball shoe from one of Nike's old factories in the Xiu Shang province of China. What I like even more is the lck of bells and whistles. A straight up high top that is built for skating. Supportive and slim. I know it sounds like a Weight Watchers ad but do what ya got with what ya have , right? After years of getting the hippy label I wonder if the path is going to break free. Certainly they are doing a good job of thinking it through and factoring in what will work for them rather than following the heard. Nicely done Ipath, Nicely done indeed.

Coming In March ...

Ah, so March is here and you'll have to forgive the recent lacks of posting. First up I was recovering from a shred trip to Utah. Now, I certainly wish I could say 'holy shit it was epic and I blew the fucking roof off the Beehive state!" But, then I would be lying my ass of. Truth be told: it was epic. However, there is nothing more humbling than going from your little piece of shit hill that's an hour and half drive each way to shred 900 vertical feet once a week and then strapping on a beacon hiking and dropping in on a bowl. The two don't even really compare. Humbled? Fuck yes I was humbled but the crew I was riding with a the type of crew you wish for in that situation. Relentless with the "that's what she said jokes" and making sure it all stayed in the concept of good fun. I do want to thank the whole crew for riding with me out there you guys were great, thanks for the fun times. Also thanks to my buddy Josh who took his rest day to show me around Brighton on my final day out there. Josh dialed it back to about 10% and was still whipping my ass all over the hill. So I know a few things that need to be resolved before I head west again but I'm certainly looking forward to it. Thanks again everybody.

So later this month there will be more product previews rolling out. As you can see by the stats from last month it's generated a good chuck of interest. More sneak peeks will be sliding out for sure. Also, I'll be puling out a new set of bindings this week and new board to demo/review. I've been saving this for a post Utah trip and now is about the right time to set it up. Stay tuned and of course keep riding until your legs give out.

Nerdin' Out: February Stats

So the shortest month of the year has come and gone. You may or may not have noticed but I really downshifted and spent more time surfacing information than creating 0riginal content. There was the occasional longer post or editorial piece but between work and life you know how it goes. Figuring it was a slow and short month this was a good way to play around with a few things on the SEO and content distribution front. Funny the effect that has on your traffic. SouthoftheNorth.com February stats include

Visits - 27,983
Page Views - 141,786
Page Views Per UV - 5.08

Now, lets be honest about what drove traffic: SEO, increased distribution, better tagging and oh yeah 2010 snowboard product updates. God Bless SIA for this one at least. The interesting thing is I bet any number of other sites are more likely far exceeding my paltry numbers. I'll be honest I spend 15 minutes a day on South of the North and that is about all the time that should be focused over a 24 hour period if you are surfacing rather than creating. Wrapping a pretty little bow on this I'm doing more with information than with content. I certainly think info can be content but not the way I'm treating it right now. There are others who do it cleaner and better than for sure.

However, when you have legitimate content creators questioning the future of their endeavors it raises an eyebrow as to how the future of content quality will pan out. Sites like Skate Daily and Boardistan and informative but like Guy Kawasaki said there's only one of everything. I have yet to see anything along the Lines of You Will Soon or Boil The Ocean appear in the Snow and Surf realm but to be honest I'm not looking that hard. What's it all mean? I don't know I'm sure my traffic will dip by 30% this month now that shred kids have their fill of the 2010 Lib Tech catalog and I'm sure skate sites will see an increase now that spring is on the way. At the end of the day this little blarg is still chugging away and it's fun to do what I do. The blog ends up falling into the the same category of skating and snowboarding ... nobody I know is getting rich we just do it because it's fun as hell