Punk Voter’s first goal is to convince rock fans to not vote for George W. Bush. There are many reasons to be angry with Bush the Younger. One could list off a number of domestic issues, but it is sufficient to mention the 448 dead American souls (as of 12/12/2003), the 11,000 maimed American servicemen, and the uncounted number of dead and mutilated, yet liberated, Iraqis (tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, it is difficult to know) that have resulted from an invasion originally advertised by the Bush Administration as necessary to protect Americans against Iraq’s WMDs. If, on March 19, 2003, the American democracy in fact unleashed its massively destructive weapons on another nation, Iraq, that did not possess any weapons of mass destruction (as her foreign ministers had protested profusely for months in advance), was this invasion & conquest really necessary to protect Americans? For further details go to:Punkvoter

you like the photo collections of glen e. friedman? then check out this nice photobook by jeff winterberg. it documents the american underground music scene between 1991-2003. take a look here…

i tend to preach that skateboarding is so much of a mind thing. not only trickwise but because it puts yourself in a completely different context of your environment. just find your way to capture your viewpoint and maybe someone may decide to call it art. who cares, just have fun doing it. besides the fact that nowadays everybody and his mother wants to be this artsy bohemian, there is still excellent artistic output made by skateboarders.
a nice overview might be the exhibition “beautiful losers”.
and here some true words:
McGinness tries to explain the attraction of the skateboard scene to artists: “I think it ties into this Do-It-Yourself mentality,” he says.” “It wasn’t the industry it is now,” he says. “It was the outsiders who skated and designed and hand painted their own shirts and made their own zines and shared their own zines.”
unfortunately ohio is to far away for me 🙁
BeautifulLosers

ever wanted to know how to print your own boards? the typical method for this is silkscreening and with all the board-concave it’s not that easy. this brave guy shows you how:
screen it the d20 way!

like transworld, 411 got purchased a while ago. it seems that there ain’t no independent skateboarding industry anymore. one after the other they got eaten by the mainstream.
“The transition of 411 Productions from a fledgling idea to the dominant global producer of action sports content has been an exciting ride over the past 11 years. Since day one 411 has been committed to supporting and growing the sports we cover by providing authentic coverage to the widest audience possible”.
haha, thanks, but i don’t need your crap anyway.
there are still great mags out there. i always liked slap, europe got featured in my favorite mag kingpin and here in germany we have the respectable boardstein.
support your local magazine or make one yourself!

many of us grew up skating in vans or chucks. as a brand vans was a true symbol of skateboarding. a few decades ago they stumbled into the scene, did some things right and eventually grow to the industry giant we know today. nowadays they only live of their image like everone else do. trying to keep the “alternative” image while outsourcing production from the united states to the third world like the major players do. they had the chance to do something more and stand out but instead choose the opposite.
well, at least the shareholders will be happy…
“We are making growth happen, and we’re doing it with a powerful brand that resonates strongly with its core teen consumer base.”
watch out, someday the “core teen consumer base” may give you a major kick in the ass.