When I started Kranky, what, three years ago I thought it was a simple idea, I liked BMX. I was a fan and occasional rider and I liked writing. For the most part the BMX press and BMX websites were all cheerleaders, but BMX companies were doing many, many things that I thought were *dvmb.* I figured I could take the piss and maybe bring up some intelligent points along the way.
And I did, I think, for a while and I got a little bit of internet fame and I got into arguments with magazine editors and I got advice from people who help run bike companies and it was all good. But then something funny happened, BMX stopped being interesting. I mean, I still like getting up on Sunday mornings and carving bowls (well, not now, it’s damn cold) but the industry stuff, that’s just kinda turned into the same thing over and over and over and I’m just not interested. At some point I realized that every post on my “BMX” blog was about cars or metal videos from You Tube.
What’s worse than a dead blog? A Zombie Blog. I don’t know about where you guys are from, but downs south we kill zombies, or something. Either way, I think it’s time to put this one to rest. I tried putting more non-BMX content on it, but that always felt weird, like I was sullying the brand (such as it is). I tried finding more things that I could put my spin on to make things interesting, but nope. Without more time, energy and money than I have to devote to this place Kranky really was just going to turn into me rehashing the same thoughts over and over again and how lame is that? Possibly more lame than it was anyway.
So, I’m leaving it up for posterity, but Kranky’s dead. I like owning Mysticnegro.com so I’ll figure out something to do with it. Big thanks to everyone who’s read and commented over the past few years (except for that one dude, fuck him). See ya ’round.
The big news last week in BMX was Rob-o was giving his first full interview about Cult and it would show up on The Come Up. And it did and, the question everyone was dying to hear the answer to – why did Robbie run screaming from the S&M World Domination Headquarters and Money Minting Machine – was answered with…
Hold on, let me get this right…
No fucking comment.
Well, that cleared that right up.
Meanwhile Ian Schwartz decided to quit riding and become a farmer. I actually get that. I know it’s hard for some people to understand, but riding bicycles isn’t the most awesomest thing in the world for every body for all of their lives, especially if it’s your job. Who hasn’t want to quit their job and find something more rewarding? I’ll say this to anybody, you should only ride as much and as hard as is fun for you. It always surprises me how many people have a hard time with that.
Of course, the real news of the week is this.
That’s a brand new, Polaroid camera folks. Thanks to the work of The Impossible Project new Polaroid film is coming soon, so Polaroid has decided to get back in the game announcing a new model in either metallic silver or woodgrain at CES. While I realize that you can do much to simulate the look of Polaroids via digital manipulation, you can also masturbate. In both cases it’s not the same. Plus, you want a conversation starter, pull out an instant camera.
Even though I have a Polaroid (I had two, but that’s a whole ‘nuther story involving a social experiment gone terribly wrong) I’m happy to see these. [via Gizmodo]
Aston Martin’s new car, the Cygnet, is a Toyota (soon to be released as a Scion in the US) iQ city car (think a Smart car, only smaller and cheaper) which has an A/M nose and a bespoke interior. For over twice the cost of the donor vehicle Aston hopes to sell 2000 Cygnets to existing customers. Let me restate that, Aston Martin plans to sell 2000 $35,000 cars based on a sub $15,000 car to a group of people who bitched and moaned when they introduced a “bargain priced” $120,000 car.
To convince people that this is not a bad idea, the Brits have released this video which is full of Parkour/Free Running (there is a difference, one is concerned with efficiency, the other includes flourishes think racing v. riding trails). Ok, it’s not full of it, it kinda uses it really poorly and it’s just a really bad ad. I guess there’s always a possibility that when a new sport is being used to sell an old product it will be done wrong. This is pretty high on the “it makes everything look lame” scale.
Still, after seeing Jake Kooser’s Redline strapped to the back of his Smart car, I can’t dismiss this abomination and a bike rack as not a viable mode of BMX transportation.
Still flush with cash from gran’ma? Want to be the Francis Ford Coppola of BMX but don’t really know where to start? Revision 3’s Film Riot reviewed three enthusiast grade HD cameras for ~$1000 and less. Check it out here, and note that their biggest complaint about two of the cameras (lack of external audio input) probably won’t matter much if 90% of your audio is going to be overlaid with music you stole via Bit Torrent. When you’re done you should check out the rest of Film Riot, it’s a good how to resource for the aspiring movie maker on a budget.
Hi, it’s me, George. I’ve been paying attention to you for, what, three, four years now and, uhm, yeah, you’re slacking. Hard. I don’t know, maybe it’s a sign of the times, maybe its just a cyclical downturn. Ok, it’s totally a cyclical downturn, still, I miss the crazy.
You see, for most of the existence of this site I’ve basically been able to poke fun at the easy target that was the truly ridiculous “advancements” of BMX as the freestyle industry marched head first towards making every bike look like an 80’s race machine. But now we’re here and, yeah, I’m bored. I mean, how often can I point out that there is a strength/weight correlation that you can only ignore for so long or make fun of how every bike looks the same or scream “we’re all gonna die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” while posting a picture of some part that’s been machined to within a picometer of its life?
Probably about as many times as I have.
But the thing is, without pushing those limits and making those thoroughly ridiculous parts, you never know where they are and you don’t get better, or you don’t get better faster. Also, I find myself at a loss for content for this site, which makes the two people that read it very, very sad.
So, for me, please bring back the crazy parts that make little sense and bikes that endanger your life just by looking at them and ugly color schemes (thank you GT) and general ridiculousness. I miss it.
