It’s Christmas time, and for most of you bitch ass 14 year olds, that means you made a long list for your Mom of shit you wanted, and you’ll probably get most of it under the tree tomorrow morning. But me? I’m thinking bigger than that. I decided to put together a list of some of the things I want over the next 12 months, and if I don’t get this shit by next year, I’m going to be mad!
1) I want some new videos, and I want them to be good. There’s a lot of great videos scheduled to drop this year. The Animal video is definitely coming out, and there’s no doubt in my mind that’ll be great. United have been working on their next project for a while and there’s no reason that shouldn’t be good. Anthem 2 will be amazing. Subrosa might drop in 2010 and with Miles Rogoish involved, I’m excited for that one. Garrett Reynolds’ part alone should make Deadline unreal. I’m sure I’m forgetting about a lot of videos that are in the works too.
2) I want some new bike companies, and I want them to be good. Let’s face it there’s a lot of gay ass companies out there, but there’s new bike companies popping up at a rapid rate, and I think that for the most part, the new companies are doper than a lot of old companies. I’m excited to see what Cult and Stranger in particular come out with.
3) I want y’all to stop posting on bitch ass messageboards. Come on now, The Come Up Board is the truth!
4) I want the hot tricks of 2009 to get retired. If I can see drastically less Luc-e grinds (obvious exceptions: Corey Martinez, Jake Seeley and anyone else who does them in interesting ways and in a non-yuk-e fashion) and shit no handers, I’ll be satisfied. Less “long nose manual on a curb” clips would be nice too.
5) I don’t want any magazines to go under. No shots. But some of those things are looking thin. Scary thin. No Mirraco, Subrosa, Shadow or DC ads in the new Ride? It seems like Dig and Ride UK are doing a little better, but still getting smaller and smaller. Nobody has ever understood how BMX Plus paid the bills, so they’re apparently invincible. Let’s just hope 2010 isn’t the year that a magazine bites the bullet.
6) That being said, I want the magazines and websites to stop sucking. Have some fucking balls. Write something cool, stop pandering to the advertisers you have left and do something interesting. There’s a reason people still talk about Faction… they made a magazine everyone looked forward to every month. There are reasons people don’t buy magazines anymore (and it’s not just this website), and one of them is because most of them haven’t done anything creative in years. I know you are at an all time low in distribution, budget and pages to work with, but part of the reason companies don’t want to advertise is because they think your magazine stinks. Trust me, they tell me so. Go buy some Big Brother back issues and try to at least absorb a little bit of the creativity that they had. Most of the websites suck too and I don’t even know what advice to give them really. Stop re-posting the videos TCU has already posted and do something people actually want to see.
7) I want companies to stop being so scared to spend a dollar. Seriously. Buy some ads. On a website, in a magazine, just do something to support the media in some way. I know times are hard but that shit can only help your brand and really, where would we be without any magazines or websites? Quit being so scared to cut your riders a half decent check while you’re at it.
8) I want Surfing Beans to blow up. Selfish, I know, but I think it’s got potential and I hope that I stick with it and can build a solid audience for it.
9) I want to put out a classic DVD. I’ve already got one closed to finished that I really believe gets the job done, and we’ve been shooting back and forth ideas for a Come Up roadtrip DVD soon too. I’ll brag all day about how dope my website is, but when it comees to video projects I keep my mouth shut and just let the product speak for itself, so stay tuned.
10) I hope nobody gets hurt! Of course people will always get hurt in BMX. But if we don’t have any Mike Aitken’s, Stephen Murray’s or any other serious head trauma’s, I’ll be happy. Stay safe, and when in doubt, wear a helmet. Merry Christmas.