ADDIKT in Automatic Mag Issue #51

Aryeh charging it again - soon as he recovers from getting served @ the Ohio Rail (broken rib/six stitches in his chin) you'll be seein' more of this guy.................
 
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Another Day in Paradise

"W-E-S-T-S-I-D-E!!" You gotta' love November in the City of Angels - it's been right around 80 degrees for the last seven days straight.....Andrew's is oblivious to SoCal swaying palm trees and the Pacific Blue sky cuz' he's focusing on this frontside blunt slide but that's all right - they'll still be there when he rolls away.....
Photo: Sam Muller
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Ohio Gozaimasu.....

This blog title is a pun of sorts - Ohio is a state in the U.S. but "Ohaiyo Gozaimasu" means good morning in Japanese....it was a good morning when Sam Muller took this photo of Aryeh nose grinding the Ohio rail. Don't try this on a Chinese skateboard....
Photo: Sam Muller

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OH S%#&!! Y MI DECQ NGO POPP....??

Great article on front page of Wall Street Journal on 11/13/06 titled "Clothes Made Abroad Create factory Jobs in L.A. for Mr. Fix-It", in which one Barry Forman discusses his big business in fixing mistakes made by Chinese apparel manufacturers. Turns out a lot of that cheap s*** they make in China is just that - CHEAP. The article pertains to the clothing industry but these quotes bring up some universal issues with Chinese products (which are prevalent in the skate industry today in case you've been in a coma) - for example:

"........And by the time defective goods reach U.S. shores, it isn't feasible to send them back for repairs."
or:
"When I was a manufacturer, I drove a mile to the factory where there was a problem....what the hell do you do when your goods are from 9,000 miles away?"
Then there is my personal favorite:
"In June, employees spent a day digging through 15,000 pairs of pants that had been sitting in a cargo hold partly filled with seawater for several weeks."

So the next time you get a piece of toxic waste that looked like a skateboard when it was on the wall of your local shop but is soggy/has no pop, or is drilled wrong, or delams/snaps in a day or two, I'll bet you a million Yuan I know where its from and why its bad (at least one of the following reasons):
1) Someone used a couple plys of sub-par soft wood cuz' "kid don't know difference."
2) A new brand of glue was on sale that week that "almost like regular brand", but cheaper.
3) The deck didn't get pressed long enough or was not allowed to cure long enough 'cuz the ship was sailing and the container full of junk skateboards had to be on it ASAP.
4) Sometime between when the wood arrived to the local woodshop in China and its 9,000 mile over-water journey to your local skate shop, it got too much exposure to:
a) Rain
b) Humidity
c) Mongolian termites
d) Seawater

So what is the solution you ask? Well you can take all that money you saved buying that piece of s*** deck and use it to buy another one, or:
A) Maybe someone at your local skateshop speaks Mandarin and can call the manufacturer and ask for a replacement deck (or better yet a refund).
B) Get an ADDIKT deck - 100% Canadian Maple - Made in U.S.A. - FEEL THE DIFFERENCE!
www.addiktskateboards.com
SKATER OWNED NOT CORPORATE CLONED

What the F***?

Well it has been rumoured that our long-awaited new website would be up by now but it just hasn't happened - it has been a case of "situation-normal-all-fucked-up" (or snafu for the anacronym-minded) and my A.D.D./skate schedule/drinking problem have all conspired againt this project - keep looking for it but don't hold your breath cuz' I'm not.......in the meantime check this grafitti shot submitted from an ADDIKT in Buenos Aires Argentina....
Photo: Johnny Thunder
www.addiktskateboards.com
SKATER OWNED NOT CORPORATE CLONED

Flock of Seagle's

http://www.twsbiz.com/twbiz/features/article/0,21214,1552757,00.html
Another bold pronouncement:
"Action Sports are here to stay"
And if that wasn't enough :
"The walls between traditional sports and action sports have come down.......no longer are they just skating or only snowboarding. They may surf in the morning, skate after school, and shoot hoops at night with their friends. "
Wow - so true - I can't tell you how many guys I know that rollerblade in the morning, play soccer after work and then hit the park for a session with their skate pals in the evening. Maybe a little softball or roller hockey on the weekends.........I think the so-called "wall between traditional sports and action sports" came down and hit Mr. Bodecker square in the head. Without sounding too patronizing, let me try to explain this in the simplest possible terms. ....
There is a reason for the "wall" - most people on this side of it have no interest in rule books,uniforms,teams,overprotective Type A parents and all the other trappings of quote "traditional" sports. With every other aspect of our lives being increasingly controlled and dictated by teachers,parents,employers, etc., who needs a coach/umpire/referee?

The beautiful thing about skateboarding is that it is everything that the other side of the wall is not - an escape from our everyday, controlled reality. That one part of your life that is yours and yours alone - you do what you want, when you want and with whom you want. You reclaim your identity as a unique individual and your capacity for self-expression, even if that includes drinking PBR while skating naked (it's been known to happen). Do you want to trade that in for a pair of Nike Dunks and a ride in the Seagle, or maybe a pair of cleats and a "team" uniform (complete with swoosh logo like all those cool college football guys have).....??

Moral of the story: DO NOT LET THE TAIL WAG THE DOG. Skateboarding is not defined by Madison Avenue -skateboarding is defined by those of us who skate - and its OK if you have tattoos, artificial limbs (or no limbs for that matter), gold fronts, play in a band, have a drinking problem, are a borderline sociopath,etc. No league commissioner will fine you, no one will subject you to a drug test, no one will bench you for "disciplinary reasons". It's OK to be who you are - in short, its OK to be human. Think about that next time someone tries to tell you the wall is gone - maybe they're just trying to put skateboarding on their side of it...........

http://www.twsbiz.com/twbiz/features/article/0,21214,1552757,00.html

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"SKATER OWNED NOT CORPORATE CLONED"