I’ve always been a big fan of winning stuff, even though I never get anything for my troubles and labor. You could, however, be one of the few people that get to win something for free! Right now you can enter to win a complete set of clothing from Es Footwear, that’s right, you get clothes. Sorry diehard skaters, you don’t win shoes and boards in this contest, but at least you can put on a clean pair of jeans, and a cool hoodie. I for one, could use a new pair of pants, but that’s just me. Click here and you could be the proud owner of the Money Machine, Euro Zip and Eldridge 1.0, that’s right, free stuff from Es Footwear.

With Nine Inch Nails getting rave reviews over the delivery of their latest musical endeavor, it is not a surprise to hear more artists contemplating releasing albums with a mutli-choice way of getting music. Portishead recently drew comparisons to the latest Ghosts album by offering a very limited box set. Somewhere in the range of 1,000 limited edition box sets will be available and you can pick one up at their official site by clicking here.

Included in this limited edition box set is:

USB features the album, and 5 films, Double vinyl album, Etched 12” vinyl of ‘Machine Gun’, Limited edition print from Nick Uff

USB Tracklisting:

1. Silence
2. Hunter
3. Nylon Smile
4. The Rip
5. Plastic
6. We Carry On
7. Deep Water
8. Machine Gun
9. Small
10. Magic Doors
11. Threads

‘ The Truly Spectacular Universal Conference Film’ (film)
‘The Rip at Mr Wolfe’s’ (film)
‘Ade’s House’ (film)
‘Machine Gun’ (film)
‘We Carry On’ (film) LP

(Double Vinyl) Tracklisting:

A1. Silence
A2. Hunter
A3. Nylon Smile
B1. The Rip
B2. Plastic
B3. We Carry On
C1. Deep Water
C2. Machine Gun
C3. Small
D1. Magic Doors
D2. Threads

The box sets will be officially released April 28, 2008, so pre-order now and get yourself a lot of Portishead, before anyone else. I’m not sure why they drew so much comparison, considering that Portishead is not allowing a free option, is not putting this on cd for pre-order, and is limiting the currency somehow too. Whatever the case is, diehard Portishead fans will be glad to see new music coming out sooner than later.

The rights to his journal, the film by Gus Van Sant, the documentary that just hit dvd, the box set of Nirvana b-sides, the best of self-titled album, the best of the box cd, and the rights to his likeness have all been sold off to companies that Kurt Cobain would never sign off on before his untimely death.

We even saw a major concern over some special ad mock ups that showed Cobain on a cloud wearing some boots. The internet and Courtney Love herself was upset over the use of Cobain’s likeness to try to sell boots. I thought it was cool that Doc’s were finally getting some star treatment. But of course, Cobain & Joey Ramone were nixed from that potential campaign after the people that handle the affairs of both of them, weren’t too thrilled with the idea of their passed loved ones getting treated like mascots.

However, all those things were small steps into ruining the name of Cobain. Now we’re going to see a whole new way to sell out for the Nirvana singer. We’re going to see a set of shoes with scribbles from his journal (a best seller), along side his signature, and insoles with his name on them. This is not too unlike a certain Basketball Player who endorses a line of shoes with the swoosh on them.

But money talks a lot more than my counter point in regards to the news of this latest collaboration by Converse and the Cobain estate…especially since Nike seems to be behind the idea of a collaboration. (Nike owns Converse)

The shoes will probably sell millions, because people are like sheep. This is a double standard, and one that has ties to the music world as well as the community at large.

Bad Brains is going to be hitting select dates in a string of shows in South America. This comes in light of recent major publicity and extensive media pushes from the music industry to revitalize the Bad Brains fan base. If you’re in South America, or are on vacation down there, check out Bad Brains, they’re core.

04/09 - Sao Paulo Brasil @ The Clash 04/11 - Recife Brasil @ Abril pro Rock
04/12 - Sao Paulo Brasil @ The Clash
04/13 - Cutiriba Brasil @ Helloch
04/15 - Santiago Chile @ Teatro Novedades
04/16 - Buenos Aires Argentina @ Niceto

The guys in Fall Out Boy have been recently plagued with publicity. Recently, the Simpsons had words with the band over a comic book they were planning to publish. Apparently, the Simpsons own trademarks and copyrights in the realm of comics over the rights to use Fall Out Boy as a name and/or character. So while the band maybe on thin ice over their band name, they can most definitely can not be in the comic book world.

That’s not stopping them though, because it was announced today that they will try to break a world record on March 25th, 2008. The guys are going to try and perform shows in Antarctica, Europe, Asia, Australasia, North and South America and Africa on March 25 to raise money and awareness for environmental and conservation charity Greenpeace. That’s right, all those places in one day.

Can it be done? We’ll have to wait and see.

Radioactive Man was not available for immediate comment.

With a booming population of skateboarders in China, and an endless potential to make money overseas, action sports company are touring the red country to promote skateboarding. Some call it a noble cause, I call it an effort to make money off of the booming Chinese economy, but whatever. RVCA is over there right now, and they just completed their sixth blog update with photos from their Chinese adventures. You can check out all the photos (there’s a ton of them) and the latest ramblings from the RVCA skate team, over at their official blog, here. Who’s next to skate China? It seems like that’s the hot spot for touring right now.

Love him or hate him, Bam Margera has indirectly and directly influenced skateboarding lifestyle in many different ways. Most recently, Element Skateboards updated their website with some footage of Chris Cole, Bam Margera, and friends skateboarding in Bam’s private skateboard asylum. It looks better than Berra’s warehouse featured on Rob & Big, that’s for sure. Then again, maybe Bam’s got deeper pockets. Whatever the case is, here’s some sweet footage of the private indoor skateboard haven, and some pro’s ripping it up!

So basically to sum up what is going on with Kelly Slater right now is… Yes he has made up his mind to compete in the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. See the thing is, Kelly wasn’t going to compete at first and withdrew from the event late last week. As expected, many were bummed on Slater’s decision.

Kelly then got online and noticed how bummed people were and in his own words, he had this to say about the situation, ”A combination of things influenced my decision to come to Bells. I had called ASP Tour Manager Renato Hickel to ask to be officially taken out of the event and that is when he asked me if I had seen the swell forecast.”  

So the swell looks good, Slater is happy, what more could you want? It’s on!

Here are the round 1 matchups:

Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Round 1 Match-Ups:

Heat 1: Bobby Martinez (USA), Luke Munro (AUS), Royden Bryson (ZAF) 

Heat 2: Dean Morrison (AUS), Dayyan Neve (AUS), Travis Logie (ZAF) 

Heat 3: Jeremy Flores (FRA), Bruce Irons (HAW), Tiago Pires (PRT) 

Heat 4: Pancho Sullivan (HAW), Neco Padaratz (BRA), Jihad Khodr (BRA) 

Heat 5: Andy Irons (HAW), Jordy Smith (ZAF), Chris Ward (USA) 

Heat 6: Bede Durbidge (AUS), Tim Reyes (USA), Daniel Ross (AUS) 

Heat 7: Joel Parkinson (AUS), Ben Dunn (AUS), Nic Muscroft (AUS) 

Heat 8: Mick Fanning (AUS), Adrian Buchan (AUS), Stuart Kennedy (AUS) 

Heat 9: Taj Burrow (AUS), Leonardo Neves (BRA), Nathan Hedge (AUS) 

Heat 10: Kelly Slater (USA), Adriano de Souza (BRA), Troy Brooks (AUS) 

Heat 11: C.J. Hobgood (USA), Dane Reynolds (USA), Daniel Wills (AUS) 

Heat 12: Kai Otton (AUS), Jay Thompson (AUS), Ricky Basnett (ZAF) 

Heat 13: Tom Whitaker (AUS), Ben Bourgeois (USA), Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 

Heat 14: Taylor Knox (USA), Michael Campbell (AUS), Mikael Picon (FRA) 

Heat 15: Damien Hobgood (USA), Kieren Perrow (AUS), Heitor Alves (BRA) 

Heat 16: Luke Stedman (AUS), Roy Powers (HAW), Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) 

For more go to aspworldtour.com  

The crew over at Etnies recently took a trip over to the south of France and chimed in on the shoe company’s official site, with a quick recap of what happened. If you’re interested in reading the whole thing, checking out more photos, or simply seeing what’s going on with the Etnies camp, click here, and see what the guys over at Etnies are up to.

The crew over at Darkstar Skateboards took their boards on the road and cameras followed, as is the custom for skateboarding companies. See the recent updated edit from last years summer of mayhem, then get on a board and skate on this nice St. Patrick’s Day!