jackassworld

There’s at least a couple people who bemoan the death of Big Brother. Apparently skateboarding needs “something like that.” It’s true, skateboarding can appear to be a bit too serious—a bit too cool, if you will—at times. Which is comical when you think about the skateboard industry as just a bunch of men riding around on a wooden toy. And they’re worried about their image? (more…)

I am a massive Guns N’ Roses fan. Seriously, its almost becoming a problem. I listen to Appetite For Destruction almost every day. It never gets old. I even went as Slash for Halloween, but I got super wasted and lost my top hat. Slash would have been so bummed on me. (Sorry, Slash.) So, when I read Slash’s book, I came across Marc Canter’s book Reckless Road. It’s the best documentation of a band’s early days I have ever seen. Marc grew up with Slash and documented all of his bands until Guns N’ Roses and shot of all their Club Shows in Hollywood and the Sunset Strip in the ’80s. It’s basically the closest you’ll ever get to seeing one of those shows if you weren’t there. There’s even an online part of the book, which you can access once you purchase it, where you can hear audio from the shows and some interviews, too. Not to mention prints of some of the best pictures. (more…)

I’ve been around skateboarding a long time now. Not as long as some, to be sure, but still long enough to have seen a few generations of skaters come and go—like guys who are in their thirties now that I first met when they were knee-high 12-year-olds with flutey-flute voices. This can be somewhat disconcerting at times, if only because I don’t particularly care to be reminded of my present age, but it is interesting to see how some have progressed in life throughout the years. (more…)

So here it is, the third installment of the art review show. I’ve been following Corey Smith’s art for years. I’m always inspired by it and intrigued by his smart and ironic observations on society. It’s like looking at what you’re too chicken-shit to say sometimes (well, for me it is, anyway). It’s funny how when you kind of know somebody, you let your guard down a bit more, and then you fuck up. So, during the interview, I kind of looked like an idiot. There were a few awkward pauses with a lack of intelligent questions, but all in all I think it turned out rad. Needless to say, I’m a big fan, and next time I’ll hopefully be more prepared. Oh, and we also get to feature some rad music by The Deadly Syndrome in this piece (thanks to Crash). Look forward to an artist review on them in the near future. I hear they’re recording soon, so we’re going to go play on the streets of LA and film something. —Lauren Graham

Don’t want no sleep, Up for a week
Yes, I’m a speed freak, speed freak

—Motörhead, “Speed Freak”

When I think of Lemmy, I think of Motörhead. When I think of Motörhead, I think of speed. And when I think of speed, I have to poop. Because every time I did the stuff, I’d have to take a shit. I’m not sure if this is true, but I’ve heard that the meth makes your guts contract, thus forcing your shit down the pipe. But I’d get it just thinking about it. Very Pavlovian, no? It was actually kind of difficult for me to score because as soon as I made contact with the dealer and knew I was gonna get some, my butthole would start rumbling. Making a quick exit from the dealer’s house was partly because I wanted to slam a line up my nose, but mostly because I had to get to a toilet. (more…)

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but this remains to be the one guiding principle I use when selecting a new book to read. For some time now I’ve been on a real McSweeney’s kick based on this factor alone. They put more effort into the packaging of a book than most any other publisher I’ve seen, aside from those wacko monks that used to toil away on illuminated manuscripts for years on end. Sometimes I don’t even read them; I just like to touch, feel, and wonder how to stack another totally disproportionate book on my shelves. Here’s another book I don’t care to read at all, but I’d gladly use it as a decorative fixture on my coffee table. Not that I have a coffee table, because I don’t, but if I did, I could see this paperweight taking front and center. Mainly because it’s just so amazing that after “30,000 years of art” this book’s designer didn’t see anything typographically wrong with butting up the word “of” with “art,” which leads me to believe: a) they have a lazy eye; b) they are of Irish descent and nipped a wee bit o’ the whiskey whilst sleeping on the job; c) Guy Grand is alive, well, and still fucking shit up; or d) Dave Carnie is moonlighting again.

Good job, Phaidon Press (and Johnny Knoxville for bringing this book to my attention)!

The last time I read something by Sean Mortimer, I got hit in the face with a Big Gulp. I was sitting at a pizza joint near the Flynt building, eating a slice and reading the new Tony Hawk biography. I hate to admit it, but I was actually really into it. I was engulfed in my book. Then, out of nowhere, BAM! (more…)

buy the book

I am a published food writer. My friend and former Big Brother contributor, Josh Tyson, is an editor at Dining Out magazine and he occasionally throws an assignment my way. On my latest, Josh wondered if Tania and I would be interested in attending the grand opening of famed chef Charlie Trotter’s latest venture, Restaurant Charlie, at the brand new Palazzo hotel in Las Vegas. (more…)

Dead Child
Attack

Finally, a band name that Susan Smith, Albert Fish, John Wayne Gacy Jr., and Mary Bell can get behind… Picking a band name is a sacred art. People like to say that it just comes to them, or that they randomly flip to a page in the dictionary and serendipity picks it out for them, or it’s the first thing that they read in the bathroom of their favorite bar, or it’s the anagram of their favorite sentence from their favorite verse in their favorite bible. Those are lies. (more…)

Lakai —Fully Flared

We were standing in the darkness amid the tangled wires behind the cameras and the bright lights of the MTV studio. Very little was happening, and when something did happen, it wasn’t very exciting. (more…)