Author: skateitwearit

Hey there fellow skaters! I am sad to announce that this will unfortunately be my final post. But with every ending comes a new beginning! I would like to thank you all for sticking around and joining me along this journey. With that being said, I would also like to take the time and go over the key moments we’ve shared together. One of the most exciting things I was able to create and share with you all, was my first Screencast video. As you recall in the video, I was able to provide voiceover and show you guys different techniques and websites to efficiently shop for skating gear. It was also my first audio/video content to present to you all and I’m really proud of the outcome. While creating this video, I was not only able to share my knowledge with you guys and girls, but I was also able to learn new things. For example, I was able to learn how to use Screencast and post a video on YouTube, two things I’ve never done before. Before this experience, I was always curious how  YouTubers would post screencasted videos, so when I was able to do it, it was quite satisfying. In the end, I felt like incorporating this video was quite vital, because I was able to keep you guys informed on my thoughts and opinions regarding fashion and skateboarding.

Screencast video:

As for the second most memorable moment I had during this journey was my podcast. The process of creating this podcast consisted of creating an efficient script, looking for a quiet place to record, editing my background music and voice, and then uploading it onto SoundCloud and embedding it on to this website. It was quite of a long process, but I enjoyed giving my honest opinion on the film “Skate Kitchen” and getting your feedback on it. As you all know, I felt like it was important to include this podcast specifically on this film, because it resonated well with the idea of women representation in skateboarding. As I’ve discussed since the beginning of this website I wanted to not only talk about skateboarding, but include a different perspective and that is women who skate. I hope to inspire you all in becoming more curious and open-minded, in regards to such topics I’ve presented throughout this website. Again, thank you all for your support.

Podcast:

Well that’s all I have for today! It’s been a pleasure interacting with you all! I hope I was able to bring some interesting and thoughtful content for you all!

I wish you all a Happy Holidays and a Prosperous New Year! 🙂

Hey there followers! Welcome back to sk8itwearit! This week I will be discussing memes that are pretty relatable in the skateboarding community. The first meme I’ve chosen is of a Disney character, Aladdin, who is essentially emphasizing how important it is to skateboard. The catchphrase “skate or die”seems to also play a significant role in the skateboarding community. It is found on skateboarding apparel, boards, and skaters seem to use it in their daily language as well. But here the catchphrase is incorporated into the meme by acknowledging if you’re not skating, you’re better off dead. While the catchphrase doesn’t literally mean if you’re not skating you’re better off dead, but it instead represents, an exaggeration of what it is like not skating. This meme highly resonates with many skaters, who are passionate and are motivated to skate everyday, all day. It also represents how skateboarding is a life commitment and you either skate or die without it.

As for the second meme, it includes an older man who appears to be a professor and also skateboarding. The caption of the meme reads in bright highlighted letters”No Textbooks, Only Manuals” which I found quite funny and amusing. For those of you, who aren’t completely aware of skateboarding terms, such as the word manual, it’s actually a type of trick where a skater is essentially balancing on his or her front or back wheels while rolling along. The funny thing about this meme is that it uses the word manual making it seem like it’s a book of some sort, but in reality it’s a skateboarding trick. I felt like the meme represents how practicing tricks  is way better than studying a textbook, and by showing a professor skateboarding, it essentially shows how skateboarding is an easily likable sport by anyone, no matter the age or gender. In addition, I also thought the meme is highly relatable for those who are students and skate, and would most likely pick skateboarding over going to class.

Finally, the last meme/gif I felt was quite important to add, given the fact many male or female skateboarders experience pain in their skateboarding career. In this meme/gif, we get to see a skater falling off his board, while bright bold letters appear on the bottom of the image, which essentially expresses what he’s feeling at the moment. Although skateboarding is a beautiful sport, one must endure a lot of pain and sacrifice. This meme shows how there might be constantly falling in skateboarding, but it happens to every skater in order to get better. Any skater can relate to the feeling of being on the ground, like the meme/gif is showing, we’ve all been there, done that.

To conclude, although I didn’t address a whole bunch of memes, I think I covered memes that can only apply to those who skate. If someone who doesn’t know anything about skateboarding comes across these, chances are they won’t think much about them. But on the other hand, skaters can relate to these and even share them via text or through social media with their friends or use them as a way of representing how they currently feel about a situation they’re in. For example, Patrick Davison, who analyzes the role of memes in his article, mentions how, “The ideal is that small combinations of recognizable glyphs represent the intent or emotional state of the person transmitting them”. In other words, all three memes found above resonate with different situations every skater seems to face. The memes essentially provide comical relief and represent the state of a mind of a skater.

Well that’s all I have for today! Thanks for visiting sk8itwearit! and Let me know what you think about these memes in the comment section down below 🙂

 

Welcome back fellow skaters! I am super psyched to be sharing with you my first ever podcast, that features a film review on the indie film “Skate Kitchen”! The film essentially focuses on shining a light on female skaters and actually serves as inspiration and motivation to all skaters, both male and females. I thought it was important to incorporate a review of this film on my website given the fact, in the past, I’ve talked about how much skateboarding has progressed in becoming a gender neutral community and how female skaters are being more represented. This film is a great example of that because in the past I’ve watched so many skateboarding films, old or new and none of them seem to ever focus on female skaters, but this film actually changes it all. I think it’s vital as someone apart of the skating community to watch this movie at least once, it provides a new and refreshing perspective. The podcast is essentially broken down in three parts. It will begin with some background information of the film, then it will focus on the main points throughout the film, and in between you will get to hear my perspective and understanding on each take.

Relevant Links:

“Skate Kitchen” on Amazon: www.amazon.com/Skate-Kitchen-Rac…ate+kitchen+movie

“Skate Kitchen” on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxzZpDk0kyE

The Public Service Announcement featured in the beginning is dedicated towards The Foundation For Global Sports Development. More information about the foundation and ways to get involved can be found at www.globalsportsfoundation.org. I would also like to thank the following sites for collaborating with me in promoting the Global Sports Foundation on their blogs! Check them out and spread the word!

Olivia Schaller of Eagles Game Day Guide: https://eaglesgamedayguide.wordpress.com/ 

Christopher Pak of Chris’s Esports Crib: https://chrisesportscrib.wordpress.com/

The background music for this announcement was retrieved from Scott Holmes titled “Corporate Uplifting” which can be found at freemusicarchive.org/music/Scott_Ho…Uplifting_1985

The background music for the rest of the podcast is credited from Jahzzar’s “Siesta” soundtrack which can be found at freemusicarchive.org/music/Jahzzar/…s_Guide/Siesta

Soundcloud Cover Image retrieved from Ignacio Nunez titled “skateboards!” which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/fotomoon/4…54J-6zLkwS-axa4ob

http://https://youtu.be/FuumB4NfJtg

Hiya guys! I’m pretty stoked to share with you wonderful people my first YouTube video!!

Since skate gear tends to be a tad expensive I figured it was only right to create a video for you guys and girls on the best places to get the trendiest, yet most affordable skate gear. The video features a couple of websites where I used to get my skate gear, back when I skated. But don’t get me wrong I occasionally still get my sneakers and apparel on these websites. As you guys may know as skaters it’s vital to have the best quality of boards, bearings, trucks, bushings, and definitely shoes, in order to be able to shred as much as you possibly can. Not to mention skaters also go through many pairs of shoes in their skating career. So if you want to find out more on where to shop for durable sneakers at a cheap cost, this video can definitely give you all the answers. This video was also created using screencast.The websites mentioned in the video include Skate Warehouse, CCS, Tactics, and Proper Gnar. The links are also listed in the description box of the video, if you guys would like to visit them. As you may see the video can be found right here on my blog, but you can also find it on my YouTube channel. The Gifs featured in my video were found through Tenor, a website that allows their users to create and share gifs. Their licensing information can be found here. Some of the gifs included in my video are Futurama, Parks and Recreation, and Looney Tunes.

This video is worth watching just for the simple fact that it’s useful and informative. I also feel like my viewers, guy and girl skaters, will be able to relate to some degree while watching this video. As writer Christine Wolf explains,”For these participants, searching for and watching videos on YouTube is first and foremost an experience of content” meaning while you guys are watching my video you will get to get a taste of some my content. In addition, I remember when I first started skating and looking up YouTube videos on how to do tricks, set up a board, change wheels, etc. But none of them included reviews on places to shop for skate gear. So as a member a part of the skating community, I think it’s important to share tips and advice with one another. Also, if you’re like me who likes to watch and hear information, especially reviews on clothing sites this video is definitely for you! As Wolf mentions, “videos are seen as helpful, even if participants ultimately did not attempt the DIY work depicted”. In other words, even if you guys don’t visit these sites perhaps it may provide some fashion inspiration for your next shopping spree!

P. S: MAKE SURE TO HEAD OVER TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL & SUBSCRIBE! 🙂

For my header I wanted my it’s image to capture the art of skateboarding as well as fashion. By providing a skateboarder pushing and riding on his board it easily captured the motion of a typical skater. I also added a colorful mural to express the freedom and joy skating brings to people. The reason I also added the mural was to satisfy the concept of fashion in skateboarding. I thought it brought an edge and urban type of style. Fashion in skateboarding tends to be trendy and edgy so I felt like my choices of images were a good combination of that. I also felt like anyone who skates or would like to know more about it would be easily intrigued to explore my website.

I found one of my source images on Flickr. While the other image (the background) was found via Google, which then took me to Flickr. I knew I was allowed to reuse them because I made sure I chose the “noncommercial reuse” option in the settings box before choosing any image. As for Flickr I also made sure it was covered under the creative commons rights.

My production process consisted of taking two images and converting them into one new image. I wanted my final image to look different from how both images first started and to also reflect my website’s theme. In Manovich’s article he talks about image editing and using multiple layers. He describes using multiple layers as a way of changing a designer or illustrator’s feelings about images (Manovich 11). For instance, I felt like both image had potential and were good but I wanted to make them better in my own way. Something that stood out to me was when he explained how a designer “can play with these elements, deleting, creating, importing, and modifying them, until she (designer) is satisfied with the final composition” (Manovich 11). While editing my images on Photoshop, that’s exactly what I did, I deleted things I didn’t want from the original photos, imported the picture onto the other one, and modified everything until I felt like it was ready to be used as my website’s header.

In the Davison article, he describes a bitmap as “a two-dimensional presentation of the bits in a computer’s memory” (Davison 278). He also talks about the simplicity behind single-layer bitmap images, unlike Photoshop’s multi-layer images. The difference between my process was I incorporated many editing features like blur, multi-layer, crop, color enhancement, and so on.  Meanwhile a single-layer bitmap image tends to be less advanced and basic. A single-layer bitmap also doesn’t provide editing features so it’s quite different than Photoshop. An example Davison provided were poor drawn memes consisting of MS paint. These images seemed to use less pixels than my images. For instance, my background image was a high resolution picture. It used more pixels which means it’s sharper and crispier than single-layer bitmap images.

Hiya everyone! This is skate it wear it, a place where you’ll learn everything you need to know about skateboarding and fashion. I started skating roughly about six years ago and at the time there wasn’t a lot female skateboarders to look up to. There also wasn’t any skating apparel for women, which meant it was hard to find skate shoes and apparel in my size. I remember always buying from the boys section and hated the fact there wasn’t any women representation. Skateboarding has mainly been a male dominated sport until now. Over the years skateboarding has progressed by becoming a gender neutral sport, while also making a huge impact in today’s fashion industry. I’m making this site to inform and entertain others skate enthusiasts on the progress skateboarding has made so far.

You may ask yourself why do I want to give a history class on skateboarding and fashion? Well a lot of people tend to not give skateboarding the recognition it deserves. Skateboarding has evolved so much and has opened so many doors to people whether they skate or not. In this site I will essentially take my audience step by step in skateboarding’s accomplishments, such as fashion and breaking the gender norm. I also welcome any kind of comments, feedback, concerns, and questions. This site will be an open minded and respectful site. Like in the words mentioned by legal scholar Lawrence Lessig:

“In the process of learning how to write, we at least learn respect for just how hard this kind of creativity is, and that respect is itself its own value.” (Lessig 2009, p. 157)   

In other words, it’s important to respect other’s ideas and opinions, because after all it isn’t to come with something creative. It’s time to step back and appreciate the work of others. This implies skateboarding’s progress in today’s society, we must continue to learn and grow.

Want to get involved? Awesome! stay tune for the next few posts, there’s so much to come!