Marc Johnson commercial
Lakai’s creatives once again tinkle over 99% of US television ad creatives and demonstrate what the word “creative” means.
—Chris Noble, 09 August 2012
Austyn Gillette’s Quik tour of LA
You wait ages for a bus…
Austyn Gillette’s very nice little Quik/Quiksilver × The Berrics × Los Angeles video by Colin Kennedy.
—Chris Noble, 16 July 2012
The Art Dump by Havoc TV
Andys Mueller and Jenkins talk a little about The Art Dump, the collection of artists at Girl Skateboards.
—Chris Noble, 16 July 2012
Globe ad: artful smut
Globe get all retro with their film work for their top-notch retro boards. Reminds me of bombing hills on a green Variflex, aged twelve—minus the loose-bearing noise and plus classically Californian girls in delightful daywear. (They didn’t make those in Bournemouth.)
We don’t want to get too Monster Childreny here; this is a good looking ad even without the arses and such. Right?
—Chris Noble, 25 May 2012
goodstuff 041
sportproduct
Old School for the Next School
Being somewhat fussy about these things—actually, about everything—I found looking for a bike for my then-soon-to-be-six-year-old son Leif to be less than fruitful. At my moment of despair, having seen numerous overbuilt and predictably ugly offerings from other mainstream BMX brands, I stumbled across SE Bikes’ 16” Lil’ Ripper. I owned both the PK Ripper and 24” Floval Flyer back in my BMX days, so I had to have it. I mean, he had to have it.
The bike’s big daddy, the PK Ripper, is the most legendary of BMX frames. Named after Perry Kramer, a famed pro BMX racer of the late-70s, the PK stood out with its aluminium construction, flat/oval (or “floval”) maintubes and looptail
—Chris Noble, 18 October 2011
I have—sorry—he has the 2011 model; the 2012 has changed little—street tyres (which look a bit odd on what was never a “street” bike) and new colors. MSRP: $329
BTW, FYI, no kid ever needs stabilizers/training wheels: start them out on a scoot-along bike around 18 months and you’re golden
SHARE: FACEBOOK TWITTER LINKEDIN STUMBLEUPON G+
goodstuff 040
productart
Andy Jenkins on Bend 20
Andy Jenkins should need little introduction to the Level reader. His ‘Glimpses’ pages were a regular highlight of this magazine’s print incarnation and a fair proportion of you will know him formerly as Art Director/Master Cluster member at Wizard Publications “back in the day” and/or currently as Art Director and virtually founding member of Girl Skateboards.
In addition, his artistic endeavors will be familiar to many through his gallery shows across the globe, published works (such as his illustrations currently gracing the pages of The Skateboard Mag) and his less-credited artwork for a few good Hollywood movies.
Jenkins has a stubborn bent for print publications, having cut his teeth living and breathing them under Bob Osborn’s encouraging gaze, and his self-made, self-published
—Chris Noble, 28 July 2011
Find Bend 20 and more from Andy on his Bend Press web mechanism
Being an irregular contributor to this website, you can read what Andy has to say about himself right here
SHARE: FACEBOOK TWITTER LINKEDIN STUMBLEUPON G+
Lakai, definitely in control
Perhaps it’s diesel pollution from the nearby Long Beach shipping port, but whatever it is, there must be something in the water in Torrance because Lakai have done it again with more outstanding-in-their-field video creativity. This one, an ad for Girl Skateboards part-owner and pro skater Mike Carroll’s fifth signature shoe, is a creation of Lakai video veteran Johannes Gamble and team manager Federico Vitetta.
—Chris Noble, 09 May 2011
Sunshine to moonshine?
Italian fashion shooters are like busses: even when you’re not waiting for one, two come along at once. Photographer Joseph Del Duca (call him Jos) is based in Florence, Italy and is into keepin’ it real. This time, I was sold by the natural sunlight and that good ol’ American dreamy summer look. (After this shoot, I reckon the girls finished off their latest batch of moonshine and went alligator rustling.)
—Chris Noble, 22 April 2011
Bring the smize
Max Margheri is an Milan-based fashion photographer who has seen pay-days from Italian Vogue and the like. The 31-year-old was born in Italy but grew up in the USA until he was 12.
He approached levelmag.com saying he loves to “collaborate w/ magazine no conventional” with an offer of doing a photo shoot, and being intrigued, I agreed. The results are linked below. It’s high fashion like Level has never seen before… but an agreement is an agreement… and I like a gorgeous model as much as the next chap.
—Chris Noble, 19 April 2011
Draplin’s Show and Tell
Aaron Draplin is an iconic fixture of Portland, Oregon’s busy graphic design scene. Having made a name for himself with stand-out work for snowboarding companies and their like, he’s now courting more mainstream clients.
Draplin has a fetish for the greater design decisions of thirty-odd-plus years ago, especially the sort of stuff that enclosed a wingnut for your whatnot. It’s an influence that constantly shows in his work, and we don’t think you should be expecting that to change with his new paymasters.
While on a mission to video-document the designer for snowboard website Yobeat, Jared Souney had a guided peak into the big man’s drawers of dirty delights for Level mag dot com.
—Chris Noble, 07 April 2011

older

contents