2013 is here and just want to send out Happy New Year wishes to everybody, Hauoli Makahiki Hou to all my Hawaiian peeps and あけまして おめでとう ございます to all my Nihonjin ninjas out there and for everybody else I'll let Eddie tell it:
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Penny Skateboards Boardshop Challenge Shenanigans
First of all, want to congratulate MIA Skateshop from Miami, Florida for winning the Penny Skateboards Boardshop Challenge video contest which ended on Monday.
Rad video, I thought there's was one of the best from the moment the contest first started about a month ago and I actually believed then that it would be one of the videos that made it to the finals, and it did.
If you haven't seen the video, here it is:
MIA (Miami, FL) from Penny Skateboards on Vimeo.
As you probably know, the other video that made it to the finals of this contest was made by Honolulu, Hawaii's own A'ala Park Boardshop, and in the event that you haven't seen this video, here it is as well:
APB (Hawaii) from Penny Skateboards on Vimeo.
Okay, that's that, there's the two videos, and they were both filmed and edited extremely well and both had a very good chance of winning.
It could have gone either way.
Or couldn't it?
First of all, I want to say that I know that I am not alone in thinking that this whole contest format was extremely flawed from the beginning, and that's on Penny Skateboards themselves.
They should have never allowed this contest to be judged via social media, period.
They should have had a judging panel of their own watch all of these videos and narrow them down accordingly and then ultimately choose the winner.
Themselves.
That would have been the best way to award first prize, which by the way was 5000 dollars, and definitely the most fair way to judge it, as the whole social media angle is far too easy to exploit and take advantage of.
People who wished to vote in this contest could only do so if they were logged in through Facebook, so first of all, if you're not on Facebook to begin with (like me) you were shit out of luck and weren't allowed to vote.
Also, since Penny did such a shitty job of advertising this contest or even bothering to mention it at all outside of their own website, it was up to the shops themselves to blast the word out via countless Facebook posts, updates, Twitter tweets, Instagram posts, and whatever other forms of social media were at their disposal.
Now there's nothing wrong with using these forms of communication to spread the word when you want to get the word out to a lot of people in a short amount of time, and I'm pretty sure every shop in the contest had a whole fleet of Tweeters, Instagrammers, Facebook friends, and blog blatherers that were constantly urging people to view their videos and vote for them in the hopes that they would make it to the final round and a shot at the 5000 bucks.
Now this is where the shenanigans come into play.
Shenanigans?
Now whatever do you mean by that?
If you're not familiar with what shenanigans are, read the definition right here or watch this.
So the contest started on Monday December 3rd, and of course being from Hawaii and down with APB from waaaaay back I was keeping tabs on the voting results throughout the contest several times a day and for the first few days it was really close but as of early Thursday afternoon into the evening APB held a tiny lead that was fluctuating up and down to the tune of around 20 votes.
Then quite suddenly things changed and MIA received a huge spike in votes that happened extremely fast. In fact they went from being down 20 votes to being ahead by 120 votes in a matter of around 10 minutes. How did this massive shift occur so quickly when from the beginning of the contest the voting was consistently so slow and steady?
Well, two words can pretty much sum it up.
Chaz Ortiz.
Well if you didn't know, Chaz Ortiz is on Zoo York, the same team that Forrest Kirby, the star of the MIA video rides for.
Anyway, Chaz Ortiz got on Twitter and told all 80,000 or so of his followers that he would follow them back if they voted for MIA, took a screenshot of their vote being counted to prove it, and then posted it.
He tweeted this message that promised follows on Twitter for votes no less than 18 times from Thursday through the whole weekend until Monday when the contest ended, and here are examples of it directly from his official Twitter page:
Okay, now it's really not a problem to have friends in high places reaching out to help out the little guy but this is completely ridiculous.
In comparison, social media skate heavyweights and friends of APB Eric Koston and Atiba Jefferson both posted messages via Twitter and Instagram that shouted out APB and urged people to vote for them but both of these guys had enough class and common sense to send out that message exactly ONE TIME and ONE TIME ONLY and both of them never promised anything in return for a vote.
Chaz Ortiz however repeatedly promised to follow back any and all of his followers that voted for MIA.
Now this seems to be a bribery of sorts if I'm not mistaken, what do you think?
It's not money but it doesn't have to be money offered in order for it to be bribery, I mean you offer something or reward someone for a vote in any election or contest and I would have to say that constitutes bribery, plain and simple.
Also, look at the other people re-tweeting this to God knows how many people, shit like "Please everybody HELP @steezortiz VOTE, he'll follow you back!"
AS IF this motherfucker is the one they are helping!
Did Chaz really think MIA needed that much help??
Apparently he did because he hit 80,000 people over the head with it 18 times in 4 days.
My personal favorite is the guy that tweeted the link and said "go vote...why?? Cuz @steezortiz said so! Do it!"
Like I said, we noticed it on Thursday and the first tweet gave MIA about 140 votes, and he tweeted 18 times total.
APB ended up losing by a little over a hundred votes.
Did every single vote MIA receive in the finals come as a result of bribery?
Of course not.
Did a lot of them?
Yes.
It's indisputable, its a fucking fact.
We saw it as it was happening.
Sour grapes?
Jealous hater?
Say whatever you want about me, these are the facts and you can't say shit about them.
Penny fucked this contest up from the beginning and social media decided this contest.
It was never about who's video was the best, which would have been awesome, it was about who had a bigger E-cock and more influence over a bunch of sheep on Twitter.
Imagine if Koston or Atiba worded their messages to vote for APB in the exact same fashion that Chaz Ortiz did?
Had they promised to follow everyone who voted for APB can you imagine how ridiculous and shady the results of this contest would have seemed to anyone who was pulling for MIA?
Atiba Jefferson has nearly 25,000 followers on Twitter and a little over 53,000 followers on Instagram.
Eric Koston has 120,000 followers on Twitter and a little over 129,000 followers on Instagram.
Can you say landslide?
It would have been a shitty way to win but APB would have taken it I assume, just like MIA will take it, and did take it, more power to them by the way, 5 grand is 5 grand but it would have been awesome to see the videos judged by a panel of representatives from the company and not decided online by God knows how many people that most likely never even watched either video or ever cared to.
Just because things can go this way in this modern, digitally driven day and age, it doesn't mean that people have to like it and just accept it.
Anyway, it's done and over.
Just wanted people to see the facts and understand the whole situation, you can judge for yourself whether anything immoral or underhanded went down but I needed it to be out there for everyone to absorb, take that however you want I guess.
Obviously I wanted my friends to win, but in the end they came up short and once again I want to offer up congrats to MIA especially Forrest Kirby, who skated in the winning video and Mike Atwood who filmed and edited it.
Rad video, I thought there's was one of the best from the moment the contest first started about a month ago and I actually believed then that it would be one of the videos that made it to the finals, and it did.
If you haven't seen the video, here it is:
MIA (Miami, FL) from Penny Skateboards on Vimeo.
As you probably know, the other video that made it to the finals of this contest was made by Honolulu, Hawaii's own A'ala Park Boardshop, and in the event that you haven't seen this video, here it is as well:
APB (Hawaii) from Penny Skateboards on Vimeo.
Okay, that's that, there's the two videos, and they were both filmed and edited extremely well and both had a very good chance of winning.
It could have gone either way.
Or couldn't it?
First of all, I want to say that I know that I am not alone in thinking that this whole contest format was extremely flawed from the beginning, and that's on Penny Skateboards themselves.
They should have never allowed this contest to be judged via social media, period.
They should have had a judging panel of their own watch all of these videos and narrow them down accordingly and then ultimately choose the winner.
Themselves.
That would have been the best way to award first prize, which by the way was 5000 dollars, and definitely the most fair way to judge it, as the whole social media angle is far too easy to exploit and take advantage of.
People who wished to vote in this contest could only do so if they were logged in through Facebook, so first of all, if you're not on Facebook to begin with (like me) you were shit out of luck and weren't allowed to vote.
Also, since Penny did such a shitty job of advertising this contest or even bothering to mention it at all outside of their own website, it was up to the shops themselves to blast the word out via countless Facebook posts, updates, Twitter tweets, Instagram posts, and whatever other forms of social media were at their disposal.
Now there's nothing wrong with using these forms of communication to spread the word when you want to get the word out to a lot of people in a short amount of time, and I'm pretty sure every shop in the contest had a whole fleet of Tweeters, Instagrammers, Facebook friends, and blog blatherers that were constantly urging people to view their videos and vote for them in the hopes that they would make it to the final round and a shot at the 5000 bucks.
Now this is where the shenanigans come into play.
Shenanigans?
Now whatever do you mean by that?
If you're not familiar with what shenanigans are, read the definition right here or watch this.
So the contest started on Monday December 3rd, and of course being from Hawaii and down with APB from waaaaay back I was keeping tabs on the voting results throughout the contest several times a day and for the first few days it was really close but as of early Thursday afternoon into the evening APB held a tiny lead that was fluctuating up and down to the tune of around 20 votes.
Then quite suddenly things changed and MIA received a huge spike in votes that happened extremely fast. In fact they went from being down 20 votes to being ahead by 120 votes in a matter of around 10 minutes. How did this massive shift occur so quickly when from the beginning of the contest the voting was consistently so slow and steady?
Well, two words can pretty much sum it up.
Chaz Ortiz.
Well if you didn't know, Chaz Ortiz is on Zoo York, the same team that Forrest Kirby, the star of the MIA video rides for.
Anyway, Chaz Ortiz got on Twitter and told all 80,000 or so of his followers that he would follow them back if they voted for MIA, took a screenshot of their vote being counted to prove it, and then posted it.
He tweeted this message that promised follows on Twitter for votes no less than 18 times from Thursday through the whole weekend until Monday when the contest ended, and here are examples of it directly from his official Twitter page:
Okay, now it's really not a problem to have friends in high places reaching out to help out the little guy but this is completely ridiculous.
In comparison, social media skate heavyweights and friends of APB Eric Koston and Atiba Jefferson both posted messages via Twitter and Instagram that shouted out APB and urged people to vote for them but both of these guys had enough class and common sense to send out that message exactly ONE TIME and ONE TIME ONLY and both of them never promised anything in return for a vote.
Chaz Ortiz however repeatedly promised to follow back any and all of his followers that voted for MIA.
Now this seems to be a bribery of sorts if I'm not mistaken, what do you think?
It's not money but it doesn't have to be money offered in order for it to be bribery, I mean you offer something or reward someone for a vote in any election or contest and I would have to say that constitutes bribery, plain and simple.
Also, look at the other people re-tweeting this to God knows how many people, shit like "Please everybody HELP @steezortiz VOTE, he'll follow you back!"
AS IF this motherfucker is the one they are helping!
Did Chaz really think MIA needed that much help??
Apparently he did because he hit 80,000 people over the head with it 18 times in 4 days.
My personal favorite is the guy that tweeted the link and said "go vote...why?? Cuz @steezortiz said so! Do it!"
Like I said, we noticed it on Thursday and the first tweet gave MIA about 140 votes, and he tweeted 18 times total.
APB ended up losing by a little over a hundred votes.
Did every single vote MIA receive in the finals come as a result of bribery?
Of course not.
Did a lot of them?
Yes.
It's indisputable, its a fucking fact.
We saw it as it was happening.
Sour grapes?
Jealous hater?
Say whatever you want about me, these are the facts and you can't say shit about them.
Penny fucked this contest up from the beginning and social media decided this contest.
It was never about who's video was the best, which would have been awesome, it was about who had a bigger E-cock and more influence over a bunch of sheep on Twitter.
Imagine if Koston or Atiba worded their messages to vote for APB in the exact same fashion that Chaz Ortiz did?
Had they promised to follow everyone who voted for APB can you imagine how ridiculous and shady the results of this contest would have seemed to anyone who was pulling for MIA?
Atiba Jefferson has nearly 25,000 followers on Twitter and a little over 53,000 followers on Instagram.
Eric Koston has 120,000 followers on Twitter and a little over 129,000 followers on Instagram.
Can you say landslide?
It would have been a shitty way to win but APB would have taken it I assume, just like MIA will take it, and did take it, more power to them by the way, 5 grand is 5 grand but it would have been awesome to see the videos judged by a panel of representatives from the company and not decided online by God knows how many people that most likely never even watched either video or ever cared to.
Just because things can go this way in this modern, digitally driven day and age, it doesn't mean that people have to like it and just accept it.
Anyway, it's done and over.
Just wanted people to see the facts and understand the whole situation, you can judge for yourself whether anything immoral or underhanded went down but I needed it to be out there for everyone to absorb, take that however you want I guess.
Obviously I wanted my friends to win, but in the end they came up short and once again I want to offer up congrats to MIA especially Forrest Kirby, who skated in the winning video and Mike Atwood who filmed and edited it.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
APB Needs Your Vote AGAIN!!!
So now the Penny Skateboards Boardshop Challenge video contest is down to the final two videos, and Honolulu's own A'ala Park Boardshop is going head to head with MIA from Miami for the title of champion and the five thousand bucks that goes with it.
Hopefully you voted for APB in the previous rounds, and much mahalos to everyone that helped them make it to the finals, but this is crunch time and these braddahs need your assistance once again.
Go there as soon as you can and please vote for APB, both of these videos are actually very entertaining but I'm sure you will find that the original concept that Travis and Conor came up with and the way it is put together will touch your heart in ways that you never thought were possible, I mean this video is the feel good hit of the Christmas season right here, trust me I am not being as biased as it sounds but this video really is the best of all the entrants, I have watched them all and nothing can come close to this shit right here so please go and vote for the local braddahs, they need the money, Forrest Kirby doesn't!
Hopefully you voted for APB in the previous rounds, and much mahalos to everyone that helped them make it to the finals, but this is crunch time and these braddahs need your assistance once again.
Go there as soon as you can and please vote for APB, both of these videos are actually very entertaining but I'm sure you will find that the original concept that Travis and Conor came up with and the way it is put together will touch your heart in ways that you never thought were possible, I mean this video is the feel good hit of the Christmas season right here, trust me I am not being as biased as it sounds but this video really is the best of all the entrants, I have watched them all and nothing can come close to this shit right here so please go and vote for the local braddahs, they need the money, Forrest Kirby doesn't!
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Matt Chaffin at Da Playground
Been checking Hella Clips daily for this one, stoked to see that it's finally online and ready to watch. Local braddah Matt Chaffin was in Atlanta recently filming some shit at Da Playground with his fellow DGK flow bro Ryan Guiso and the shit they dropped is straight up outrageous:
That's some killing spree type shit right there, and keep in mind that both of these guys are flow dudes.
Flow.
So kids, if you think you're out there shredding and ripping hard enough to be sponsored, watch this shit and realize that you most likely need to step it up more than quite a bit before you're even flow worthy.
Super rad to see Matt keep building and working towards making his skate dreams come true, its just a matter of time before he gets called up to the big leagues of full blown am status.
DGK is dropping their newest video release Parental Advisory on December 12th, here's to hoping there's a little flow section or at least a couple of tricks from this Hawaiian thrown somewhere in the mix.
That's some killing spree type shit right there, and keep in mind that both of these guys are flow dudes.
Flow.
So kids, if you think you're out there shredding and ripping hard enough to be sponsored, watch this shit and realize that you most likely need to step it up more than quite a bit before you're even flow worthy.
Super rad to see Matt keep building and working towards making his skate dreams come true, its just a matter of time before he gets called up to the big leagues of full blown am status.
DGK is dropping their newest video release Parental Advisory on December 12th, here's to hoping there's a little flow section or at least a couple of tricks from this Hawaiian thrown somewhere in the mix.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Drinking Beer With 808 Skate
Check out this little video clip that the braddahs from 808 Skate just put together to promote their new T-Shirt Six Pack:
Drinking Beer With 808 Skate from 808 Skate on Vimeo.
Rad video, looks like these guys all had a blast making this.
Not really into the song at all but I guess it works well for this clip, right before I clicked on this for the first time I was imagining the music being something punk rock type shit like this, or even some wild, bugged out hip hop flavor like this.
Regardless, it's put together well and it makes me want to crack open a couple cold ones and shralp with the homies.
Wall-crawler swigger by Kyle Smith.
The most interesting skater in Hawaii checks his phone.
K-Town cruising.
Drinking Beer With 808 Skate from 808 Skate on Vimeo.
Rad video, looks like these guys all had a blast making this.
Not really into the song at all but I guess it works well for this clip, right before I clicked on this for the first time I was imagining the music being something punk rock type shit like this, or even some wild, bugged out hip hop flavor like this.
Regardless, it's put together well and it makes me want to crack open a couple cold ones and shralp with the homies.
Wall-crawler swigger by Kyle Smith.
The most interesting skater in Hawaii checks his phone.
K-Town cruising.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Chris Matayoshi for VHS MAG Japan
First of all, the website for VHS MAG Japan is the first place I go to check out what's going on skateboard-wise in my favorite country in the world.
They always have the latest scoops on all the local Japanese stuff as well as being on top of it every time foreign pros come to visit, which is often.
Super stoked to come home on Thanksgiving night and see coverage of the the Boardchill homie and Treevisions brethren Chris Matayoshi from Okinawa!
They always have the latest scoops on all the local Japanese stuff as well as being on top of it every time foreign pros come to visit, which is often.
Super stoked to come home on Thanksgiving night and see coverage of the the Boardchill homie and Treevisions brethren Chris Matayoshi from Okinawa!
What's going on in this picture?
Click here for the sequence or go visit VHSMAG.COM to check it out and also peruse their fine comprehensive Japanese coverage.
Nice APB sticker by the way, Chris!
Hope you had a rad visit back to Hawaii, it was cool skating with you again.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Vote For APB!
The 2012 elections are all over, and like most sensible people, I am glad that the bodysurfing, basketball playing, weed smoking, shave ice eating guy is gonna be our President for another four years, but now its time to exercise your right to vote once again and this time its to decide a critical non-political battle.
I'm talking about the GoPro Boardshop Challenge from Penny Skateboards, you may have read about it here a few posts ago.
Anyway, the situation there seems like its once again on the right track and our very own A'ala Park Boardshop has made it through to the first semi-final and you can vote for our local braddahs by visiting the Penny website and the current round page.
As you can see, this video runs in many different directions and takes viewers on a magical, mystical voyage that tantalizes the senses and captures the imagination in ways that are pretty much indescribable so just head over there and have your mind blown and then vote for this video because the homies Conor, Chad, and Travis worked really hard on this and the winner of the contest gets 5000 bucks.
Also mahalo to Jarold Webb and his dog Mama for their cameos in this and also Brian Wyland who was fortunate enough to be there to witness Travis Hancock skating Wallows naked.
VOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTE!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm talking about the GoPro Boardshop Challenge from Penny Skateboards, you may have read about it here a few posts ago.
Anyway, the situation there seems like its once again on the right track and our very own A'ala Park Boardshop has made it through to the first semi-final and you can vote for our local braddahs by visiting the Penny website and the current round page.
As you can see, this video runs in many different directions and takes viewers on a magical, mystical voyage that tantalizes the senses and captures the imagination in ways that are pretty much indescribable so just head over there and have your mind blown and then vote for this video because the homies Conor, Chad, and Travis worked really hard on this and the winner of the contest gets 5000 bucks.
Also mahalo to Jarold Webb and his dog Mama for their cameos in this and also Brian Wyland who was fortunate enough to be there to witness Travis Hancock skating Wallows naked.
VOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTE!!!!!!!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
