austin skate notes

In the tradition of all the other crap websites on the internets, Austin Skate Notes is posting its first annual Holiday Gift Guide. Sure, maybe some corporations will take notice and start sending us products to influence our editorial content. That would be awesome. Unlikely to happen, but awesome nonetheless. So far as yet, this hasn’t happened, so the items listed below are simply things that caught my attention in the past few weeks as potentially good gift ideas. Not just things to get for other people, but perhaps stuff to put on your own wish list. Enjoy!

Freedom: 36″ Bolt Crackers
Harbor Freight tends to rubs me the wrong way in how they sell all these power tools made in China with deceptively American-sounding names like “Chicago.” Nonetheless, I bought something there about a year ago that I’ve found to be unbelievably liberating– a pair of bolt crackers for $12. Thirty-six inchers no less. Strong enough to snip 1/2″ rebar like it’s yarn. Truthfully, I don’t encounter very many situations where I need my bolt crackers, but it’s really nice to know that I’ve got these puppies sitting in my garage ready to get me through whatever might block my forward progress. Pure freedom rarely comes at such a discounted price.

Disposable: A History of Skateboard Art
Several books have come out over the years discussing skateboard-related art and skateboard graphics. There are a lot of different facets of skate-culture art, so there’s a pretty good justification for all these different efforts to document the phenomena. The latest strong offering in this field comes from Sean Cliver. He’s the kid who won a contest that resulted in him getting hired by Powell-Peralta to design board graphics. One of his first was the Ray Barbee deck with the playing cards. I haven’t seen it yet, but it’s creating quite a bit of buzz. There’s a big write-up on it in the new Skateboard Mag and it was on Mikey’s X-mas wish list. Ed Templeton also endorses it, so that’s gotta mean something.

Speaking of the Skateboard Mag, that’s a great gift idea! A subscription only costs $19 bucks and you can get a free DVD produced by Bill Weiss’s company, Digital. The guys over at TSM are putting out some great issues with passion and soul. If there’s a monthly magazine I look forward to, this is it.

For the girl in your life, you might consider a gift card for a haircut at Bradz salon. If you haven’t got a girl in your life, it might be because you failed to give her kickass X-mas presents like a haircut at a nice salon. Regina will do her hair right, so if you’re ordering a gft card online, request Regina in the ’special notes’ section. If you want to turn the gift knob to 11, throw in a massage by Jessie. Regina can also cut mens’ hair, just tell her more rock, less talk and that’s what you’ll get.

iPath Kenny Reed Shoes
I had originally intended to do a full-blown review of these shoes, but hell, this site is getting too review heavy as it is. I won a pair of these through a contest on a cool art website and have been very impressed with them. There was absolutely ZERO break-in period for this pair of shoes. The first session I rode them I was skating dramatically better than I had been for a long time. Apparently my Geof Rowleys had gotten smoother in the sole than I was aware and my footwork was getting very sloppy without me noticing. Prior to skating these Kenny Reeds, I was committed to Rowley Classics. Now I’m all-the-way committed to iPath Kenny Reeds. Don’t let the name fool you, though, these shoes don’t connect you to the internet or play mp3s.

Comedy CD’s
I’ve been getting into a lot of standup comedy lately. There are a lot of people out their beyond Chris Rock and George Carlin, to say the least. The following are lesser-known comics who come strongly recommended from Austin Skate Notes staff.

Jim Florentine- Best known for his work on the TV show Crank Yankers as Special Ed and also the stoner guy. He’s released four CDs full of audio recordings of him torturing the telemarketers who call his house. Here’s a sample. I cry sometimes when I listen to these. He’s also released a DVD of guerilla theater type pranks he’s performed. As an example, he demonstrates the art of an “upper decker“.

Mitch Hedberg- This guy came through and sold out the Paramount Theater with tickets no less than $28 for the balcony. He’s a new force in stand-up. Sort of a consumer-ist Steven Wright, but with more observational humor. His CD, “All Together Now” is very accessible and should find a wide audience of fans. Laugh-your-ass-off-funny. Here’s Mitch’s own website.

Lewis Black- Perhaps best known for his humorous political rants on the Daily Show, Louis Black’s CD, “The End of the Universe,” is a much-needed slap of Bill Hicks’ acerbic wit and social commentary. I made a copy of this CD for Kevin and they’ve been playing it repeatedly up at his work with each new person giving it a well-deserved thumbs-up. One guy, who spends most of his time fabricating knives on the metal-working machines told Kevin today, “They must have to bleep him a lot when he’s on TV.” Yeah, Black uses words like fuck a lot in his comedy. But he’s covering some pretty fuck-worthy topics, so it really works. People who voted for Bush need to stand clear of this, unless they’re looking for leverage in pulling their heads out of their asses.

Todd Barry- This guy is a master of the mono-tone understatement. He’s got two CD’s out, but I’ve only heard his first one, which is the type of funny where if you listen to it before going on a roadtrip, all passengers in the car will be quoting Todd’s jokes for the duration of the trip, guaranteed. No matter how long the road trip is.

SLACKER: The Criterion Collection DVD Release
The Criterion folks have released the seminal Austin movie, Slacker, on DVD this year. What have you released on DVD this year? Nothing?!? Well, then Richard Linklater’s best movie will probably speak to you. Comes with a booklet and all kinds of extra features.

Vice Dos & Don’ts : 10 Years of VICE Magazine’s Street Fashion Critiques
This book is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Addictive to the extent that I know a guy who took this book to his job and read it all afternoon from lunch till quitting time. The format is a bunch of photos each with a clever interpretive passage printed below. It’s a page-turner.

Well, that’s it for now. If you’ve got gift ideas, feel free to post them as a comment with URLs.

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