Life Is Skate Talk - (the LIST Podcast)

Spoiler alert: it's not. But with so much having changed in skateboarding since the days we took that first push, we thought it might be an interesting question to explore.

The crew shares a few video recommendations and some thoughts on what makes them special.

We have a pretty bad workflow. This episode was actually inspired by Nyjah Huston's announcement of his "revolutionary" brand, Disorder; needless to say, some time has passed since then. Nevertheless, here we go: the three of us share some thoughts on skate brands - the good, the bad, and the ugly.

We've all heard people talk about how skateboarding is all about ”personal progression” - but what does that actually mean? Is there a certain point we're all trying to progress towards on our own timelines, or is there really no measuring stick when it comes to progress in skating? What does progress look like when you get older or have obligations outside of skateboarding? Would you rather skate only frontside or only backside? Why does Sawyer get better faster as he ages? All of these mysteries are explored (with little resolution) in our latest episode. Tune in to hear us old guys equivocate as we explore our personal growth as skaters.

Ask any skater, and they'll tell you: skateboarding runs deep. It gets inside you. It settles in your bones. Once you become a skater, you're changed - and usually for the better. Skateboarding filters into our lives in many ways, some of which have little to do with the act of skating itself: it changes the way we understand our relationship to our community, it opens our eyes to worlds of art and thinking previously unknown, and it colours the ways in which we see the world. I'll be honest - when we first talked about starting a podcast, this was the episode I envisioned. A chance to talk about some of the deep and meaningful ways that skateboarding has changed us and our worldviews. We open up and get pretty vulnerable in this one (and have some fun, too!). I hope it resonates with you all in some way, big or small.

Skaters are aesthetes. We dedicate as much thought and energy to the craft of dress as we do the craft of skateboarding - no other subculture works so hard to look like they care so little about what they look like. There's a massive intersection between fashion and skateboarding, and although we skaters love to claim that everyone else bites our style, the truth of the relationship is probably more one of mutual influence. So here we have it: three non-experts talk like they know stuff they probably don't. Grab a blank t-shirt, spend 36 minutes cuffing your Dickies just so, and tune in. It's good fun!

A lot of our preferences in skateboarding come down to "style" - something we seemingly arbitrarily attribute to whatever skating we find personally engaging. So what does style even mean in skateboarding? In this episode, we have a look at some of the things that make for stylish skateboarding - in our completely subjective opinions, of course. Topics of interest include white privilege, high school skate clubs, and cheater tricks - enjoy!

With 2021 in the bag and Mark Suciu awarded Thrasher's Skater of the Year, we thought we'd jump in with a bit of an alternative take. Not that we don't back the Suciu win - he crushed skateboarding in 2021 and deserves the award and all the accolades that come with it - but we wanted to celebrate some skaters who were on our radars and getting us pumped up to skate throughout the year that might not have made it into the SOTY conversation. It also seemed like the perfect time for Sawyer to assert his Pokemon dominance. Tune in to listen to some not-so-hot takes on Cariumas, John's undying love for DC, and a celebration of the skaters who fire us up to keep playing skateboards.

So what do three aging street skaters think of skateparks in the 2020s? Tune in to find out! Jin, John, and Sawyer are finally back at it, sharing their thoughts on skatepark etiquette and the potential cultural ramifications of the proliferation of skateparks. Meet up spot, or trap? Perfect place to hone your craft, or justification for the vilification of street skating? We're guessing you already know where we land on these things. And ya - these episodes were recorded close to a year ago, so there might be a few dated references to things that "just" came out. Deal with it. Enjoy!

You know that thing, where three working parents get together and try to do something creative, and then it takes a lot of work and time, and you have to satisfy your familial and professional obligations, and then the weather gets nice and you can either sit in a dark room editing audio files or go out and skate, and then finally you start editing the file, and you accidentally edit the wrong one? Ya. We do, too. Anyway... we're ending Season 1 on a high note: injury talk! Tune in for amateur tips on staying positive, healing, rehab, and all things related to getting hurt while playing with a child's toy.

Special guest Drops lends some expertise and credibility to our armchair analysis of skateboarding, breaking, and the Olympics. We also spend a little time exploring the skating and breaking hat games. Listen in for a discussion of the ways in which elements of skating - physical, aesthetic, and mental - relate not only to breaking, but also to other areas of our lives. Topics of interest include the cultural impact of the Olympics on non-traditional sports, judging subjective activities, and the relationships and intersections between culture, community, and industry in our scenes. And just to set the record straight from last episode: John's brother actually first mentioned the parallels between figure skating and skateboarding. John totally stole that one.

From Dogtown to Street League, skateboarding has occupied vastly different spaces in our cultural landscape throughout the course of its development. Is it a sport? Is it an art? In episode 8, we ask the big question: what is skateboarding? In the end, we almost find an answer, too! Listen in for some expert pseudo-philosophy and some important suggestions for the Olympic Committee and its plan for skateboarding. This is a fun one (to us, anyway).

For round 2 of our gear chat, we pop the hood and have a look at the not-so-glamorous, yet essential, parts of our skateboards. What it really comes down to is that we've tried some stuff, some of which we've liked, and some of which we haven't. Potential skate/life hacks covered: using spare bearings to get in with the locals, scratching the potential hate crimes off your trucks, and basing your gear selection on hearsay and rumours. Enjoy!

Aside from the actual act of skateboarding itself, there's not much better than a good skate video. But the nature of the skate video has undergone drastic changes as it has evolved over time, and online media has accelerated those changes. From mythical objects possessed by the knowing few and passed through tight social circles for a little skeducation, to the ubiquitous and often forgettable microposts of every skater's Instagram stories, the skate video remains an object of beauty and cultural significance. So where do we, three somewhat curmudgeonly older skaters, stand on the skate video as it is today? What are the videos that shaped us and our skateboarding? Listen in to find out!

We wanted to spend an episode talking about our skate gear preferences - somehow, we spent an hour just talking about decks. Listen in for all of our not-so-expert claims about woodshops, shovel noses, the importance (or lack thereof) of a 1/16" difference in width, and how not being able to skate opens you up to explore different shapes. So grab a fresh stick, some grip, and lend us your ears while you start setting up for spring... it's coming, right?

2020 was a dogshit year in almost every way imaginable. We're glad to see it go. That said, we want to be thankful for the things we have to be thankful for. Listen in as we celebrate some of the nicer things going on in our own skating and skating at large. And ya, we're nearly a month late. We're skaters - what did you expect?

For a community that has always claimed to be inclusive, skateboarding has a whole lotta rules about who belongs and who doesn't. In this episode, we discuss the ongoing debate about whether or not non-skate brands have a place in skateboarding. Sometimes, the more you talk about an issue, the less convinced you are that either side really has it right - or maybe they both do. If nobody's wrong, can anyone be right?

This time around, we talk about the ever-changing ways in which skateboarding fits into our lives - even as adults. Topics of intrigue include lacklustre research skills, realizing that you're just not good enough to be pro, and respectfully destroying the urban environment. Oh - we also introduce the (supposedly) Weekly Stoke segment - enjoy!

Welcome to the LIST podcast. In our first episode, we take some time to introduce ourselves. We discuss the factors that led us to skateboarding and the longboards, rollerblades, and scooters lost along the way. Listen for a window into our misfit, skate-karma-hindered lives. Bonus points if you know how to spell Petipco (because we don't).

Just a quick “what's up?” From Jin, John, and Sawyer. Thanks for checking us out - this is what we're about. Hope you stick around for the ride.