Quartersnack sat down with Andrew Allen to talk about some of his favorite movies and the references that he’s pulled from them over the years. Board graphics, video part songs, magazine ads, a bunch of stuff that I didn’t realize were references to films I had seen before. I should probably pull things from my favorite films or television shows and see what I can do.
Movies mentioned in the video:
Point Break
The Lost Boys (1987)
Heat
Goodfellas
Terminator 2
Twin Peaks (1990)
Fuck man, every time i’m about to fall asleep I find a piece of internet gold that keeps me up for another few hours. I’ve been typing Max Schaaf’s name into a bunch of search boxes and abusing the infinite scroll. I found a couple of clips!
1. DicE Magazine did a little short on Max.
2. Vans x. 4Q(Max Schaaf) collab on a Sk8 mid. This is their commercial for it. Showing off his shop and the personal touches he did for the collab. I’m definitely going to add this song to my library.
3. Max Schaaf’s Non Fiction Part. In the Lone Skater article I wrote, Max talk about living in Oakland (in the video) and having a bunch of the neighborhood kids come by and just hang out with him at his mom’s place. You get to see some rad clips in this parts of some of the kids doing some fakie ollie on Max’s ramp. They probably had no idea who Max was in the skate world to them, to them he was just the crazy guy with a skatepark in his house across the street.
4. BIG HONGRY! I’ve been seeing Big Hongry on Thrasher and on Instagram, interviewing skaters and making music. Bro can really rap! From what I can piece together he owns and runs a shop in California somewhere. He seems to be plugged into the scene out there. Which is awesome because I haven’t seen many dude like him on the more rugged side of skating in the mix with big profile name. Shoutout to Big Hongry! But tonight I found his sit down with Max Schaaf on his podcast, Break Free. Him and Max talk about growing up with Jake, Phil Sato and bunch other names that do really get the commercial recognition but are legend in their own right. You had to be there to see it but if you didn’t see it people like Max mentioning their names pushes their legacy further into the spot light to get their just due. Max even gives an update on the kids from the last video in a full circle moment.
One of my favorite things about skateboarding, outside of the actual act, are the personalities behind the skaters. A few people are dicks, most people are humble and super cool, and then some people are just loners. People that skate alone and don’t skate for the social interaction of meeting homies at the park or to have a community/family to rely on. These lone skaters don’t skate any different whether the camera is on or off, or wait for the homies to hit them up to hit the park they skate. They skate cause it’s what they do. It’s their therapy, it’s their solace.
I don’t know when I became a lone skater, but most of us start skating alone. When you’re first learning how to skate, it’s a lot of trial and error trying to figure out the basics. Over time you find a crew of friends and you guys usually meet up to skate somewhere, playing games of SKATE (or HORSE, for non-skaters), hang out and try to progress as skateboarders. But if you really want to get better you have to put in your own time outside of those crew sessions. You need to focus, not that you can’t with friends around but there’s a different level of focus when you are alone.
A lot of artists and creatives get lost in the comfort they find alone. With an unrelenting focus they can make their dreams or ideas a reality. One of the unofficial principles of skateboarding if you ask me.
A few weeks ago I watched a clip on Max Schaaf. A lone skater that came up skating a vert ramp in his living room in oakland. He had a long career, successful as a skateboarder and even a videographer. About 20 mins into the video they discuss what being alone did for him and his skateboarding and how it may have looked on the outside looking in. Then later in life what that solitude did for him as he moved into different avenues in his life.
I think you’ll like it, check it out.
A few days ago Thrasher released Miles Silvas’ Rough Cut from his part, City to City. Opening up with him trying switch heel bs tailside to regular on Chipper? This is going to be good! Watch Miles show you that even those at the top of the game have to pay their dues like the rest of us.
Some screengrabs of some of my favorites
Around the 15 minute mark Miles does a crazy kickflip into a bank after a quick kickflip backtail
the insane backside flip off the dock!
Pete Eldridge’s Bootleg 3000 part is one of them. Super underrated, I never hear anyone bring up his name. He does everything hella proper and the way it should be. A couple baker makers but its on brand. If you don’t know how your tricks should look, here’s the perfect example on how to do them.
Ben Kadow has been an anomaly in skateboarding from my perspective. I don’t know where he came from, he doesn’t look like anybody else in skateboarding but one thing for sure is that he’s original. He is punk, and doesn’t have to try. And in a time where the majority of skaters are looking and dressing the same Ben Kadow is a breath of fresh air. Style is everything in skateboarding but it doesn’t always mean landing bolts, fresh clothes, and big shoe deals. It’s the person behind the board that brings an approach or a cadence that bleeds through their skating.
Ben hasn’t done much interviews or video interviews for that matter, I didn’t even know what he sounded like til today, which part of me likes. But what connects me to skateboarders nowadays is the person they are off the board. He’s anxious, he’s self conscious, and he rips. What more do I need to say.
I know Ben probably didn’t want to do this interview but I’m glad he did.
Christiana Means was a guest at Nine Club a few days ago where she spoke about her experience training the Chinese Olympic team for 3 months.
From her experience the Chinese Olympic skate team, “was a totally different approach then what I’d seen skateboarding evolve to.” Christiana says that the Chinese government had pulled 200 kids from all over the province of China from various sports that they thought would translate into “good” skaters. Sports like gymnastics and martial arts or soccer and then ran tests to see which kids were the most adaptable to skateboarding. That number of 200 kids was brought down to 30-50 kids and the remaining 30-50 kids were then put under contract to train for the upcoming Olympic games.
“This is crazy” utter Chris Roberts as he stumbles over his word in disbelief, “Because the parents are getting paid, the kids now… I just su.. because I discovered skateboarding, you discovered skateboarding, we did it because we loved it and we fell in love with it. Now listen, some of these kids may fall in love with it because they’re in that position… they may not.”
Jeron Wilson, to the left of Chris Roberts, put an emphasis on, “may”.
And just a moment later says, “We found skateboarding and it hit us, in a natural way”
Kelly Hart then asks, “So how do you teach them how to skate?” Christiana opens up about the discomfort in having to push or rather force kids to skate. She would have to half-heartedly encourage these kids to try an obstacle and watch a kid get hurt trying something that the new skaters weren’t ready for. As Christiana and the cast of the Nine Club say repeatedly, it was insane. It’s definitely an emotional rollercoaster.
Check out the video for the full story!
Primitive videos never let you down. Paul has assemble a SOLID group of skaters and keeps adding to the roster with phenomenal young talent that keeps pushing the team to greater and greater heights. Wildfire introduces Aimu Yamazuki, a young talent that I came across on IG a few weeks ago. Hella steezy, chucky Es shoes, baggy clothes and the type grace on the board that one can only be born with. Another W for Paul and Primitive. Kyonosuke Yamashita comes back with more footage proving, if he hasn’t already, why Paul choose him. And Trent Mcclung still as sharp as ever. Check it out!
Burning in paradise 