You haven't lived until something creeps into your life to make you feel truly alive.

I remember skating in the 80's and the amazing feeling of just having fun, skating to the 7-11 for a slurpee and a skate mag. Simple joys. Simple fun. but the kind of fun that makes you take notice... and remember it 25 years later.

Skeightfast Dyphun exudes that feeling!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5cn33srH5g

Check it out this skate comic at www.doomescape.com

Everyone loves something for nothing - aka: FREE. On the other hand it's said that, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." Enter CCS skateboard mail order...

I received an e-mail from them saying they missed me (Awwwww, how fucking sweet). In fact they missed me so much they wanted to offer me free shipping on my next order. "Sweet", I though since shipping is usually around $10. Or so I thought. Getting back to that non-existent "free lunch" I mentioned, apparently there's no such thing as free shipping either. OK, to be fair they did give me free shipping, but then they tacked on $1,50 for "handling". Wtf!

That must cover the cost of the hand-job they gave me to entice me to place another order. Always support your local skate shop!

I don't care if the Flash can run faster than Superman flies or if Batman has better accessories than Iron Man and I wouldn't be caught dead having a heated debate over any of this. Still I love comic books and the camaraderie surrounding their Cons. There's something very cool about holding a book in your hands as an amazing story unfolds in words and artwork. Personally, I'm a fan of aggressively militant femme fatales found in many comic books from Tank Girl and Razor to Abbey Chase and Andrea D.

I was pleasantly surprised to find at least three artists who had taken their comic cover art and applied it to skateboard decks. Some re-worked the art to fit the skateboard's odd artistic aspect ratio and others opted for the mural effect across three decks. These were all one-of-a-kind works and tended to sell for about $100 - a very fair price for any skater/comic-nerd.

I've long thought that skateboard decks make for very unique and amazing artistic canvases. Skateboard graphics have come a long way and gone places no one would expect. From Jim Phillips etching out the early look and feel of Santa Cruz Skateboards to recent comic book artists who want to display their works as sk8 graphics, a multitude of possibilities exist.

Some of the more interesting artistic decks were the "murals" stenciled across 3 or more decks. I had the pleasure of hanging out at the con with Victor Giannini, creator of the skate comic Skeightfast Dyephun, who was also surprised to find skart at the con along with several fans of his art. I'd never been to such a large comic con before so I was soaking up the scene of vendors and attendees dressed in costume. Some folks were damn creative in their get-ups and others where just insanely hot!

I was surprised at the number of female attendees with an avid devotion to comics. Many were in costume and I heard several of them engaged in the former male-only tradition of bickering over super-hero benefits. Victor had an interesting comment that really hit home for me. "Where were all these girls, who dig comics, when I was in 10th grade?"
A bit late, but I'm glad they're here now.

Even if you're not a comic book fanatic, Comic Cons are a lot of fun and quite diverse. Who knew we'd find skate decks there? In fact you never know what you might find. From aging Playboy Bunnies signing autographs to the Duncan Yo Yo booth, its all there!

By far the most innovative idea came from the guys at Drawn By Pain. Using a technique that allows drawing over video, they have created a new form of multi-media entertainment that blurs the line between live action and animation. Check it out - it's wild!

Comic Books That Kicked Ass:
Andrea D by Praxis Comics

Dead Dick - Zombie Detective By: Ross Milhako

Zombies In Love by VLE Comics

Just when you thought you had to go to a middle school to find some really hateful brats, now all you need to do is look 5 feet behind Ryan Sheckler. The amount of shit being doled out to boy-Sheckler is as amazing as it it abundant.

When I heard he had an Mtv reality show, I really had no interest in seeing it. Rob & Big was a cool show because those guys had a lot of charisma and worked well together. Now I'm dying to catch an episode of "Life of Ryan", but my local paper has problems with printing accurate TV listings. Anyway... the hate that has come from this show is astounding especially when you see how much of it comes from skaters. All sorts of skaters - Pros, Ams and random skate punks. Everyone is on the bandwagon of hate.

I know it can be fun to piss all over someone for no good reason, but Sheckler is an amazing skater. Seems to me he's proven himself in that respect. All this hate seems to stem from his "reality" show that sucked and really didn't show the "life" of any sort of respectable skater. On the other hand, when was the last time someone offered to do a show on YOUR life?

I'm fairly certain he made a ton of money off this thing. If they offered me a stack 'o cash to have cameras follow me around... I'd be down and so would you. Here's the problem...

There is no such thing as Reality TV - it's a myth. Reality is boring. Following anyone around with a camera will result in a crappy show. No amount of editing will help. Unfortunately, reality TV is a big marketing gimmick and lots of people think its the greatest thing (I wish all those people would go die in a fire). So, when the show gets too boring, even for moronic television directors, they start to "make it interesting" by adding in shit.

I'm sure Sheckler had no creative control on the project and the way they shoot these shows, you never know how the footage will be portrayed. Anything can be misrepresented or used out of context.

If you really want to hate Ryan Sheckler... check out this fancy little diamond tennis bracelet he wears in those Nixon ads. What's up with that shit?