PAST ENTRY
WE DECIDED TO RETIRE FRIENDSTER FRIDAY FOR NOW SO FROM NOW ON THIS DAY OF THE WEEK WILL BE KNOWN AS "THE DAY THAT USED TO BE FRIENDSTER FRIDAY" BUT MAYBE ONE DAY WE'LL BRING IT BACK AND THAT DAY WILL BE CALLED "THE DAY THAT WAS, THEN WASN'T, BUT IS NOW AGAIN AND WILL FOREVER BE FRIENDSTER FRIDAY", JANUARY 30, 2004

>> Smyth is still backing his new camera no matter how much shit we have to say about the photos it takes. So just to be clear on this one: we, the assholes who write the Randoms, think Smyth's camera is trife. Smyth loves his new camera and hasn't said one bad thing about it. Sorry, Sam, we're just not backing it.


SF IS COOL
(A Thursday night in the city with Spike n' company)

1 - Brian Anderson with a cool building in the background.
2 - Brian again with a cool board in the foreground.
3 - A couple o' cool f/s boardslides by Staba and BA.
4 - These guys are cool with the occasional group hug.
5 - Brad got a little out of control on the dance floor so Spike had to tell him to cool it.
6 - MJ didn't feel so hot... I mean cool... at the end of the night.

>> Out of the microwave and onto the wire, it's Raymond's Traveling Shoes Episode #2 (the final episode?)!

>> MORE REAL SKATE NEWS!:
1. The Hot Chocolate Video is showing tomorrow at Active in San Dimas! Get there, son.
2. The Lakai team is still going over to Spain in the next week to film for their video. Bird gave a call over here so we could give a shout out to let everybody who rides for any of the Girl/Chocolate companies (including Diamond) that he's renting out a loft similar to Andy Warhol's "Factory" so that the twenty or so extra people who are already claiming they're staying at the Lakai apartment there will all have a comfortable place to sleep. Okay, okay... he said "This is fuckin' ridiculous" and "if you're not on the Lakai team list you're sleeping on the streets".

>> We got our first entry for Girl's HOW'S MY FACE? contest! It was sent in by a young lad named Emmet Jenkins of San Pedro, California. So far Emmet is winning the contest! See the pages of some skateboarding magazines for details on how to enter. We're not sure what you're supposed to win yet but ENTER TO WIN ANYWAY!


We would like to extend a warm welcome to Diamond Nick who recently joined the "Sleep Off Your Hangover Under Your Desk At Girl During Working Hours" club! So far the only members are Nick and Bob K but we're working on recruiting more nappers so please stay tuned.


TY'S SELF PORTRAITS #23:
Prescription Lee, Shannon and Ty. Ask Lee which logo we photoshopped off of his t-shirt.

 

 

PAST ENTRY
THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2004

>> Okay, we finally got Sam's photos that he took the night of the Hot Chocolate Video screening but we're going to have to apologize in advance for the shitty quality of them. We're not sure what kind of second rate, bargain basement operation Smyth picked up his camera from but the shit is trife. Oh well, you can make out the people's faces and if you can't we've included these handy captions:

1 - Sam and Spike. Why is Sam all over exposed but Spike came out a little bit blurry but otherwise fine?
2 - Nate Sherwood and Brian Lotti. Where are those little flares of light coming from?
3 - Scooch and Mikey. Super soft focus.
4 - Staba, Lori D and Bob K. Blurry and blown out.
5 - Ty, MJ and Chris Roberts. Why is the left hand side of some of these photos way lighter than the right?
6 - Is that Jovantae with York? And why are they both glowing?
7 - Brian Anderson, Rickk, Frosty's girl and Frosty. You don't have to know squat about photography to realize how bad the quality of this photo is.

Once again, our sincerest apologies for the quality of those photos. Hopefully Sam will get a halfway decent camera by the time the next video premiere rolls around.

>> Cucumbers and deep fried cheese on a stick, coming soon to Crail Tap. Next week we'll reveal what all of this means and you're gonna be so stoked that you'll probably run straight to the food fair at your local mall for a snack.

>> Are we really going to retire Friendster Friday? We know that you'll be super bummed and the mere mention of retiring Friendster Friday makes you want to jump off of a bridge but we're gonna Ask Mikey what he thinks and we'll get back to you.

>> Ask Rick Raymond about all of the crap that we have to delete from his entries the next time you see him.

>> Remember how Diamond Nick ate a bucket full of mixed nuts a few days back? Well he brought a package of Lunchables in for lunch today and we were going to say something about it but yesterday he showed us his gut and told us that he gained 25 pounds back after losing 20 a few months ago so we thought he might be a little self conscious about it so we're not gonna say anything about it.

Diamond Nick doesn't read Crail Tap by the way.

>> Speaking of diets, Meza is on a "partial Atkins". Not quite sure what it is but we'll let you know if he ever returns our phone calls.

>> HERE'S SOME REAL LIFE SKATE NEWS:
The Lakai team is gearing up for a trip to Spain to film for the video. They leave next week and they're gonna be over there for a couple of months and, yes, we're going to miss them.

>> Oh, wait... a Nick's lunch update. He must have ate his Lunchables for a mid-morning snack because we just watched him eat two burgers for lunch.

>> The Randoms is pretty much all about food today.


TY'S SELF PORTRAITS #22:
This one's of Ty with Gabe Morford right after he slapped him in the face for talking shit about his visor/cap.

>> QUOTES OF THE DAY:

"I look like a crackhead" - Nate

"What's new on Tha Tap?" - Diamond Nick

Mike Carroll said something that might have been quotable today but we're not sure if we heard him correctly so it didn't make the quotes of the day

 

 

PAST ENTRY
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2004

>> Okay, the reasons why Los Angeles is totally cool thing? Over it. Sorry. Or... you're welcome.

Do you remember how bent out of shape people got when we said something bad about SF? It wasn't even that bad, in fact I think it was actually good but I don't remember. Anyway, SF is totally cool too. Like Los Angeles cool only a little different.

You probably think we're making some sort of inside joke or some shit, right? We're not. SF is actually cool.

Carly Simon is also cool.

That concludes our Cool List for today

>> Man, we're still on that Miami booty bass party mailing list. Got an e-mail today about a party with dollar shots in Pompano Beach, Florida. Not cool.

>> Remember the Bob's Traveling Camera updates that Rick Raymond did in his column a little while back? Well Raymond forgot a pair of shoes in Smyth's office last week so we're proud to present Raymond's Traveling Shoes episode #1.

>> You still have time to enter Bird's Love For Poetry contest and win ten pairs of Lakais! There's a couple of standouts so far but nothing that's blown the back doors off so if you can write a wicked poem then get wicked and send it to us and if your peom is the most wicked then you get the shoes:

Bird's Love For Poetry
c/ THA TAP
22500 S Vermont
Torrance CA
90502


TY'S SELF PORTRAITS:
Rob Welsh, a Corona and Ty. Who's taking this photo? Is it really a self portrait? Welsh and Ty might bring that secret to their graves.

>> That's all. Sorry but we're filing today. Not filing taxes, just filing.

 

 

PAST ENTRY
TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2004

>> It's Nate's review of the Hot Chocolate Video that Nate's been... I mean... that you've all been waiting for! It's a long one (one and a half pages) so get comfy:


PAGE 1


PAGE 2

>> If you're ever at Girl and you're trying to buzz Smyth on the phone but he's out in the warehouse just stay on the line because he always has the radio on and you can listen to the radio while you wait for him to get back into his office. When you hear him settle back into his chair yell something like HEY FUCKER! and see how he reacts. This only works if you're at Girl though because if you're calling from an outside line it doesn't automatically go through and he could block you by sending you straight to voice mail.

>> We put HEY FUCKER! in that last paragraph just to keep the quota of swear words that we've been averaging up. If you wanted to yell HEY SAM! that would probably be equally as frightening for him. Just as long as you say it really loud there's probably no real need to cuss.

>> The reason why we were trying to get ahold of Sam was so that we could run his Hot Chocolate Video premiere photos along with these ones that Spike took, but the dude is MIA and he's tuned into some boring talk radio program so we ran out of patience. We'll bring you his photos tomorow. Here are a few of Spike's from the lobby of the theatre place:

1 - Gino and Ty
2 - Kenny, Kenny's girl who we feel bad because we don't remember her name and Steve Berra who showed up with a new boot and track pants
3 - Spike and Koston. The obvious caption for this one would be "Separated at birth!" but we're gonna go with something way more clever: "Twins!"
4 - MJ, Rickk and Brad Staba. Marc's index finger kinda looks like a mushroom in this photo.
5 - "Ty didn't sleep for three days and he was acting real weird" [this photo wasn't taken in the lobby]
6 - Atiba has no idea how close he is to being banned in this photo

>> Active out in San Dimas is having their own showing of the Chocolate Video this weekend. Go watch it.

>> I know I've told you this before but every time I hear San Dimas I always think about Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and how they went to that high school out there and the one part where they bring Napoleon to the bowling alley and how he eats the huge sundae pops into my head. Oops, I slipped into "I" again for a second there. I meant we. WE always think about Bill and Ted when we hear San Dimas.

>> The new Ruby site/store got pushed until Valentines Day so hold your horses and maybe write Bird a poem in the meantime because that's also the deadline for his contest.

>> Do you ever come up with an idea for your column and then think about it the next day and realize that the Ringer already sorta did it in their column? Us too, but we're moving forward with the Reasons Why Los Angeles Is Totally Cool thing anyway because we think Los Angeles is totally cool.

Another reason why Los Angeles is totally cool is because you never have to look very far if you want to buy flowers for somebody. There's lots of people selling flowers here.


TY'S SELF PORTRAITS #20:
The name of this file that Ty sent us was NOSEYBITCH.JPG. It's Ty, on a plane, with some nosey bitch in the background. I hope that's not your mom, dude. If it is we sincerely apologize for calling her a bitch. Ty was actually the one who called her a bitch, we're just passing on information.

 

 

PAST ENTRY
MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2004

>> There were a whole bunch of Girl and Chocolate dudes performing wild stunts in the Girl skatepark today. Usually there's a few of them performing wild stunts in there but today there were more of them than usual. Most of your favorite dudes were in there except for Mike Carroll because he had to go to court for writing a rubber check.

>> Holy skate poetry! If you're one of the 4 people who hasn't yet entered Bird's Love For Poetry contest scroll down for info.

>> The Gav left us 15 voicemails this weekend. Again with the crying, laughing and then yelling. Even though he still has a solid sandal sponsor the dude is pretty much totally shattered.

>> Competing with the Gav for the Most Messages Sent Regarding One Single Topic In The Span Of 48 Hours title is Nate Sherwood who has sent 8 e-mails, 4 voice mails and 2 text messages regarding his review of the Hot Chocolate Video that you will be reading soon. It hasn't arrived in the mail yet but Nate has gone out of his way to assure us (14 times) that it's on it's way and that it'll be here soon and that it's the best review he's ever done. Stay tuned.

>> Imagine if you were Nate's girlfriend and you got in a big fight and you weren't picking up the phone. How many times do you think he'd call and leave crazy messages saying "I know you're there [your name here]. Pick up the goddamned phone [your name here]! Jesus, I know you're there! Pick up! PICK UP!!! JUST PICK UP THE FUCKING PHONE!!!!" before you either ripped the phone out of the wall or he came over and tried to murder you? That'd be pretty sketchy. If I was you I'd probably move away or at least buy a dog or a knife or something.

>> Los Angeles is totally cool because it never ever snows. In the coming days we'll be bringing you more reasons why Los Angeles is totally cool.

>> Oops! Correction on the Nate vs Gav message thing. Nate just tied the Gav by sending another e-mail regarding the review. If he sends another one by the time we're done typing the Randoms we'll let you know.


TY'S SELF PORTRAITS #19:
Did we already show you this one of Ty frowning in a car with Gino smiling behind him?

 

 

PAST ENTRY
SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2004

>> Don't you love it when we boast about how rad our projects are? The Hot Chocolate Video is totally fuckin' rad.

>> And the countdown clock is definitely working now. DVD out soon.

>> Ever randomly ran into Gangster Nick on a Friendster Friday date at a fancy sushi restaurant in LA? Yep.

>> QUOTES OF THE DAY:

"Board sales, bro" - The Gregulator

 

 

PAST ENTRY
EVEN THOUGH YOU MIGHT NOT BE ON FRIENDSTER THAT DOESN'T CHANGE THE SIMPLE FACT THAT IT'S FRIENDSTER FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2004


For those of you who can't make it to the invitation-only Hot Chocolate Video screening tonight, we have a special video presentation for you! It's...
THE HARSH
CHINO BARGE!

The video is a real life documentary of a day trip to the Chino, California skatepark and it mixes gripping real life drama with cutting edge action clips. Filmed by Bob K and edited by Clive Noctchaw on the finest audio video equipment that money can buy, the feature stars Rick Howard, Anthony Van Engelen, Scott Johnston, Smyth, Reda, Chico Brenes, Marc Johnson, Rudy Johnson and Mike Carroll. It's chock full of special effects and a bunch of other totally rad shit making it obvious that Crail Tap is muscling it's way into the Extreme Sports film biz and effectively muscling Ty and Spike out. Sorry guys, but sometimes Tha Tap's got to do what's best for Tha Tap.

>> I'm going to write in the first person for the next couple of paragraphs just to see how it turns out. I know, it's totally wild and crazy but bear with me here. Or is it "bare" with me? I'm never sure about that one.

>> The Gav left me a voice mail this morning where he was crying and then laughing and then yelling and I just felt so bad for him now that he's off Team Crail Tap. But he's still off the team. Sorry Tim.

>> Okay, I'm going back to using "we" instead of "I" now. That first person thing didn't really work out for "us".

>> Man, there was some kind of weird mixup at the post office this week. The dude that wrote the review of Yeah Right! for the LA Weekly yesterday? We think he meant to send his words to Bird and his poetry contest but they somehow ended up in the newspaper. We also think Rich McCrank and Brian Eldridge might have had somethig to do with it but we could be wrong.

>> A new Ruby web site is coming very soon complete with an online store. Next week?

>> Remember that scene in Reservoir Dogs where the dude breaks the window of a car and drags the driver out by their hair? Do you ever think about doing that on those days when there are tons of bad drivers on the road? Neither do we.

>> QUOTES OF THE DAY:

"Chill out" - Bird

"Pipe down, pooch" - Bird

"Let the games begin" - Smyth

"No water you wimps" - Megan

 

 

PAST ENTRY
THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
We are proud to announce that we're letting Tim Gavin go from the official Team Crail Tap roster. He's had a great run over the past couple of years as one of our forefront professional team riders but the above magazine cover pretty much speaks for itself. We would like to offer Tim the best of luck in the future. And Tim, don't worry about the PT Cruiser that we gave you as a signing bonus. It's all yours.

>> A private Hot Chocolate Video screening will be happening tomorrow night at an undisclosed 120 persons capacity theatre in Los Angeles. The guest list was filled up two weeks ago so if you don't already know about it then sorry about that. If it makes you feel any better the fact that we're showing the video means that the DVD will be out real soon. Lickety split.

>> Who made up the term "lickety split"? That's kindof a weird saying.

>> NUMBER OF E-MAILS WE'VE RECEIVED FROM NATE SINCE HE GOT HIS E-MAIL BACK 24 HOURS AGO:
17

NUMBER OF NATE'S E-MAILS WE'VE HAD TIME TO RESPOND TO:
1

Please feel free to send Nate an e-mail if you've got a few extra minutes and you want to chat.

>> Did you write a poem for Bird yet? Scroll down and read January 19's Randoms if you want to win ten pairs of shoes.


TY'S SELF PORTRAITS #18:
Is he wearing a shirt in this photo of him with his fridge in the background? It's really anybody's guess.

>> MJ, Mikey, Rickk, Scooch, Smyth and some other dudes are going on a field trip this afternoon. Stay tuned for clips / a clip.

 

 

PAST ENTRY
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2004

>> Tito's been having trouble sleeping.

>> And, yes, it's been confirmed: The Hot Chocolate Video is definitely coming soon.

>> Here's a bunch of photos that Charlene "don't call me the secretary" C took at our open house last week. Click em for the big versions...

A few blurry closeups of Brezinski, Fifer, Ty, Nick T, Cheeks and Eric Anthony:


A couple more of Jovantae Turner with Gangster Nick:

And lastly, a few artsy ones that we're submitting to F-Stop Magazine:

>> In early celebration of his gangster birthday weekend, Gangster Nick ate one half of a left-over-from-the-open-house two and a half pound tub of mixed nuts yesterday. If you're friends with Nick and are celebrating with him, a tub of mixed nuts just might make the perfect birthday gift.

>> Did you try Nate's puking chain mail experiment yet? Bad luck, bad luck!

 

 

PAST ENTRY
TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2004

>> Not much for you today but that's cool because with the time you're going to save reading a long ass Randoms entry you can write a kick ass skate poem and send it to Kelly Bird so you can win ten pairs of Lakais (see yesterdays entry if you have no idea what we're talking about).

>> ASK MIKEY AND THEN ASK SPIKEY.

>> The Hot Chocolate Video is coming.


TY'S SELF PORTRAITS #17:
Remember when Ty asked if it was okay if he wore the "TY WHO?" t-shirt? Three topless self portraits in a row later, the answer is yes.

In case you missed the other topless photos we've already ran, here they are:

>> QUOTES OF THE DAY:

"I can't wait to call and leave Clive a voice mail to tell him I got my e-mail back!" - Nate

 

 

PAST ENTRY
MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 2004

WIN TEN PAIRS OF LAKAI SHOES!

It's no secret that Lakai team manager Kelly Bird is a sensitive man, is it? Lately he's been burying his nose in poetry books penned by Robert Frost, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and many others and has been "totally fuckin' inspired". BUT he's confided in us that the only thing missing from these poems is his other life-long passion: skateboarding. So we've come up with a contest where everybody wins: Bird gets a bunch of poems about skateboarding to publish in a photocopied zine he's making in his spare time and you're entered in a chance to WIN 10 PAIRS OF SIZE 9 LAKAI SAMPLES.
All you have to do is write a poem about skateboarding and make sure that it's at least 8 lines long. Mail your poem to:

Bird's Love For Skate Poetry
c/o Crail Tap
22500 S Vermont Ave
Torrance CA
90502

RULES AND STUFF:
No entries will be accepted via e-mail. Bird's favorite poem wins all 10 pairs. The shoes are all size 9 because they're samples and a lot of them were never even produced to be sold to the public. You can ebay them or sell/give them to your friends if you win and they're not your size. If they ARE your size, you're stoked. The contest ends on February 14th... Valentine's Day! ENTER TODAY!

>> That angry e-mail from Kirk Dianda at ON Video finally came in. He's been in the middle of a move to Philly but found time this past weekend to write a shorter than usual angry e-mail that essentially read "Fuck you guys. I hate you.". We knew he'd pull through.

>> Remember when we used to always censor the "f**king" swear words here? Why did we stop doing that anyway? I don't remember when or why that happened.

>> We think the Hot Chocolate Video countdown clock thing might be working correctly now but we're not sure. We'll let you know in a week or so.


TY'S SELF PORTRAITS #16:
Most of the cast and crew of Chomp On This converged at Girl last week
for a sexy photo shoot during the open house.

>> QUOTES OF THE DAY:

"Just tell them to write a fucking poem" - Bird

 

 

PAST ENTRY
JUST WHEN YOU THINK FRIENDSTER FRIDAY IS DONE AND GONE IT COMES BACK LIKE FREDDY KREUGER AND STICKS IT'S CLAWS IN YOUR ASS, JANUARY 16, 2004

>> I guess you don't have to go to that The Skateboard Mag photo show this weekend to ask Kevin Wilkins what the depressing rumor is because Sanger told you what it was yesterday.

So the new slogan is "The Randoms: Your Feel Good Column". Today only. Oh, and yesterday too.

>> We don't have a TY'S SELF PORTRAIT for you today but there's a photo of him up at the Skateboard Mag's site for some contest they're doing.

>> Too many mentions of that magazine today?
Skateboarder!
Thrasher! Hit Parader!

>> Oh yeah, sorry about the post-it note.

>> That's all.

 

 

PAST ENTRY
THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2004

>> Buy a TY WHO? t-shirt.

>> We're gonna have a copy of the Antisocial video at our open house and Smyth has a VCR in his office so when you come here for the open house (with your invitation) ask Smyth if you can sit on that fancy couch of his and watch it with him. It'll be like Lalapalooza or the Ozzfest with the Hot Chocolate Video teaser thing playing on the main stage and Antisocial in one of those circus tents right next to the big aluminum motocross jump and the henna tattoo booth.

>> Our friend Kevin Wilikins from The Skateboard Mag told us a rumor today but we're not telling you what it is because we don't want to be the ones to bum you out. But The Skateboard Mag is having a photo show in SD this weekend and Kevin says if you go to it he'll tell you what the rumor is. It's actually not really a rumor, it's hot skate news fresh off the press.

>> Could somebody please tell us how we got on the mailing list for a Miami booty bass club thing called BASS WARS? Just wanted to know who to thank for that one.

>> Tito's holla'in some cryptic shit today.


TY'S SELF PORTRAITS #15:
The topless photos don't get any less disturbing, especially when Ty's holding things like tubs of cholesterol free butter in them.

>> In other Evans related news, Ty has been spotted kickin' it with Skatemaster Tate lately. He hasn't given us any self portraits of the two of them together yet but expect one in the very near future.

>> QUOTES OF THE DAY:

"Are you actually confusing 'Stand By Me' for a Cory movie?" - Smyth

 

 

PAST ENTRY
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2004

DAILY 5's
Today we bring you Tony Ferguson's top 5 Canadian beers:

1. Scokany Gold
2. Kootenay
3. Kokanee
4. Vanderhoof Cream Ale
5. Poco Pale Ale

>> Did you ever see that Corey Feldman and Corey Haim movie where the one kid is telling the story about the pie eating contest where the big fat guy eats a ton of pie and for some reason he drinks castor oil or something and then he pukes and it starts a chain reaction and everybody who was watching the pie eating contest pukes too? Well, here's a sequence of Nate Sherwood puking twice in a row really fast. If you puke easily or are grossed out easily, please don't click on the link and view the sequence because you're definitely gonna puke. Or wait, maybe you should click on the link and then if you puke just let us know so we can tell everybody that it actually works. If you could invite Seu Trinh over to take a sequence of you puking after looking at the sequence that he shot of Nate puking then that would be even better. You could start a chain mail puking and everybody who looks at the photo of you puking after looking at Nate puking could puke too and so on and so on down the line until it gets back to Nate and he pukes again.

If you don't forward our idea about puking to 20 of your friends in the next 30 minutes then you're going to have bad luck for the next 10 years. If you DO forward it within 30 minutes then your wish will come true by tomorrow!

>> Have you ever been to a pie eating contest? Who organizes the pie eating contest? If you know of a pie eating contest that takes place in the LA area, please let us know. We're in the process of planning a bunch of field trips.


TY'S SELF PORTRAITS #14:
"Is it ok for me to wear the "TY WHO?" shirt? I kinda feel like Mcgill when he used to cut his shirt up and wear his skull and snake graphic backwards"

>> Don't forget to buy one of those TY WHO? t-shirts. They're only available in the Crailshop.

>> QUOTES OF THE DAY:

"I have no style" - Mueller

 

 

PAST ENTRY
TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2004

>> John Cardiel is doing better but he's still posted up in a hospital bed in Australia and from the looks of things he's gonna be there for a few months of rehabilitation.

If you were posted up in a hospital bed with a broken back wouldn't you be stoked if people sent you cards and letters and get well wishes? Yeah you would. So here's what you should do:
You should send John something in the mail, and if you send it to Deluxe in SF they've promised us that they'll personally deliver it to Cardiel in Australia. Maybe you're a skater or an industry dude or an artist or somebody who doesn't even skate. Regardless, you know that John rules and that you should send well wishes to:

Cards For Cards
c/o Deluxe
1775 Egbert Ave
San Francisco CA USA
94124

>> We were going to write another gripe about allergies putting a damper on this column and then we thought for a second about Cards being posted up in a hospital bed in Australia with a broken back and it kinda put things in perspective and made us realize how lame we are. These allergies aren't so bad.

That's the last time we'll get all deep on you (today, anyway).


TY'S SELF PORTRAITS #13:
This is what Ty looked like at Meza's wedding with a rosy cheeked Gabe Morford. No, Gabe didn't just polish off a whip-it, that's one of those musical shaker things that he's holding.

>> The Girl open house is coming up really soon so warm up those invitations and keep your eyes open for the huge bouncer at the door.

Is it still considered an open house if it's not really "open" and we threaten people who we didn't invite?

>> Nate's movie review #11:
Ninja Scroll!

 

 

PAST ENTRY
MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2004

>> Holy allergies. No apologies, this column is totally going to suck today.

>> Nate is going to the offices of that big skate mag tonight where the long distance phone calls are free... and he wants to prank call you so send him your phone number right now.

>> Kirk from ON Video never sent us that e-mail that we were expecting. Maybe he's on the road or something.


TY'S SELF PORTRAITS #12:
ATIBA, WELSH AND TY AT ONE OF THOSE EVENTS WHERE YOU ALWAYS SEE SAL BARBIER.

>> Stay tuned tomorrow when we bring you GUESS WHO'S RIMS, a small feature/contest concerning a bunch of the crazy rims that roll through this place. Okay, maybe not.

>> Don't say we didn't warn you. Maybe read the Ring Ring Ring or go back and check out the interview with Gino if you want something interesting to read today.

 

 

PAST ENTRY
DON'T PRETEND LIKE YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT DAY IT IS

>> THA TAP IS PLEASED TO BRING YOU OUR FEATURE INTERVIEW WITH GINO IANNUCCI!
The interview was conducted by Smyth and the photos were taken by Oliver Barton.

>> Tha Tap's Antisocial video review:
TOTALLY F'N RAD.

We did a huge video premier for the Antisocial video at Crail HQ today. Red carpet and everybody wore tuxedos and pulled up in limos and shit. Here's some quotes that we got on favorite parts as people left the screening headed for the after party:

Rickk: "Crankers, for sure. Didn't he just have a video part?"
Rudy Johnson: "That one dude, bro. Keegan."
Smyth: "That dude with the red hair shreds. Quinn?"
Jenkins: "McCrank, as always."
Bob K: "Dylan Doubt's beard stole the show."
Nick Tershay: "The one guy that did the... uh that one thing where he jumped up on that bar thing on the mini ramp. That was tight, fool."

>> "Dear BackFromDaDead (Aka Chomp),

Your Friendster account has been suspended, because it violates Friendster's Terms of Service. If you have reviewed the Terms of Service, and do not believe your account is in violation, please reply to custservice@friendster.com, and include the following information:
First name: Backfromdadead
Last name: Aka chomp
We will review your account, and re-instate it if it has been inappropriately suspended.
Thank you,
Friendster Customer Service"

>> If you got an invitation for our open house in the mail recently you might have noticed that it says 2003 on it. It's actually this year so if you got invited please come to our open house this year. 2004. If you weren't invited, please don't come or you'll most likely get beat the hell up by security.


TY'S SELF PORTRAITS #11:
PLACE YOUR BETS ON WHETHER OR NOT KIRK FROM ON VIDEO WILL SEND US A PISSED OFF YET HIGHLY ARTICULATE, QUESTIONABLY SARCASTIC, ESSAY-LIKE E-MAIL AFTER WE POST THIS PHOTO OF HIM ALONG WITH A CAPTION THAT SAYS SOMETHING ABOUT HIS PHILLIES SWEATBAND.

 

 

PAST ENTRY
THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2004

>> That Girl open house thing that you won't be coming to unless you were invited happens next Friday and Eti, head of security and also the warehouse sherriff, has been training his crew behind the building for the past couple of days. Greg Carroll gave Eti a crash course on proper headbutt technique and then told him that if the whole crew didn't have it down by next Friday, heads would roll.

>> Every couple of days we pop into Nick Tershay's office and say "Got any news for the Tap?" and he usually tells us about some skate gossip that we can't/don't want to put up but sometimes he has actual news. The actual news Nick has for you today is that he got hammered last night.

>> We tried to get a Real World report on the first half of the episode that Smyth Tivo'd but he still hasn't watched it yet. He's been busy playing Medal Of Honor for Nintendo or whatever that hot new video game platform is.

>> We should be getting a copy of the Antisocial video soon.

>> Oh man! Marilyn Manson turned 35 a couple of days ago and we totally forgot to mention it. Sorry about that. We're slippin'.


TY'S SELF PORTRAITS #10:
HANGIN' WITH TWO MORE CHOMP FANS! SOON AFTER TY TOOK THIS PHOTO THE KID IN THE RED SHIRT WIPED THE ARMPIT SWEAT OFF OF HIS NECK.

THE CAPTION FOR YESTERDAY'S PHOTO WAS WAY BETTER. MAYBE GO BACK AND READ THAT ONE AGAIN.

>> QUOTES OF THE DAY:

"Do you want to see the most asshole thing ever?" - Bird

"Can you tell?" - Nick regarding his visible hangover

 

 

PAST ENTRY
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2004

>> We were going to write something like "Some days there's just not much to say" in the Randoms today and then we thought of a ouple things to say and we thought that you probably wanted to know that we were going to tell you that there's not much to say some days because some days there really isn't much to say. Today, however, turned out not to be one of those days.

>> We're still trying to figure out if it's weird that we say "we" in this column all of the time when it's probably fairly obvious that there's usually only one person writing this crap and that that one person might not neccesarily always speak for everyone when that person talks about some crap. We're still gonna say "we" though.

>> Did you even read those first two paragraphs?

>> Sanger didn't forward "us" (that's another way to say "we") any of your e-mails in support of keeping Rick Raymond's column alive. Either you forgot to send one in or Sanger's bummed that we got you to e-mail him instead of "us". Hm.

>> So the latest on Raymond is that he's threatening to "Pull a Tito". Will this news ignite an internal feud amongst Crail Tap columnists? Stay tuned.

>> Smyth only got to watch the second half of the Real World last night but he said that the new season "Looks pretty sick so far. Everybody got shit hammered and one girl puked and then started making out with some dude in the hot tub".

>> Smyth also told us that he's been watching 30 hours of TV a week for the past 20 years of his life and that one of his biggest fears is losing his cable. He fears that if it got turned off one day he might find out that he has an IQ of 200. You can't make this kind of stuff up, people. Okay, maybe you could, but this is all true.

>> More Smyth news but this news has to do with skateboarding:
Smyth has announced that a 10 day England tour with the Girl team is coming up in the next couple/few months. There's only one demo so we'll let you know when we know.

>> Look for another Crail Tap contest in the coming days as well as that interview with that one Chocolate dude that we're still working on.

>> Dear Ed Luschinski,
We sent out your real check today.
Love,
"Us"

>> PHRASE OF THE DAY:
OFF YOUR ROCKER

>> We weren't kidding when we said Ty had countless self portraits and that we're going to show you them all...


TY'S SELF PORTRAITS #9:
HEAVY ON THE VIDEO GAME T-SHIRTS AT AN AUTOGRAPH SIGNING WITH TWO VERY HAPPY CHOMP FANS. SOON AFTER TY TOOK THIS PHOTO HE STRAIGHT UP PUNCHED THE KID IN THE BLUE SHIRT SQUARE IN THE FACE AND SAID "I TOLD YOU I WAS GONNA WIPE THAT STUPID GRIN OFF YOUR FACE, BITCH!". JUST KIDDING.

>> Do you ever laugh at your own jokes for like five minutes? Uh, me neither.

>> QUOTES OF THE DAY:

"We're edgy, we like cocks drawn with chalk" - Rickk

"The gloves are off" - Spike

"I'll fuckin' show up and protest" - Ty, acting like an Albertsons gangsta

"I feel weird when guys like that start talking" - Mikey referring to his CPA

 

 

PAST ENTRY
TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2004

>> A correction on yesterday's post about Ed Luschinski, the winner of our Unicorns Are Special contest for $1000...
He's actually giving half of his winnings to the dude on the left in the photo below because that's the dude who told him about the contest. Would you give half of a thousand bucks to the guy on the left? Me neither but Ed is following the Ringer's lead and has decided to take the high road.

Oh yeah, and the dude on the right is still broke.

>> Did you know that the Mez has a degree in cinematography? He does. You should take a cinematography course. Then you and the Mez could sit around on Saturday afternoons and talk about cinematography.

>> Whatever happened to the Cult of the Mez anyway? No ritual suicides or anything exciting, it kinda just fizzled.

>> We're working on posting an interview with one of the Chocolate dudes that Smyth gave to us a few years, I mean, a few weeks ago. We're not telling you who it is though because... well, just because. Stay tuned blah blah blah.

>> Rick Raymond is actually claiming an end to his column is coming soon. Show your support for Rick by sending Sanger an e-mail.

>> Nate's movie review #10:
Four Rooms!

>> The Girl open house that the Ringer is talking about today is invitation only, meaning that if you don't have an invitation that we sent you, please stay at home or those big dudes that we had as security for the Yeah Right premier and who will be watching the door that day will kick your ass. Badly. Even if you do have an invitation you're probably going to want to have it visible as you pull into the parking lot because Greg Carroll has promised to deliver headbutts to anybody who wasn't invited. Have you ever been headbutted by that dude? It's not your standard, run of the mill headbutt. It's some powerful eastern philosophy kung fu style headbutt shit and it ain't pretty.

>> Just so you know, the big dude that leads the other big dudes who will kick your ass if you come here invitation-less, his name is Eti (pronounced "Eddie") and he wears XXXL shirts that say FUCK ALL RAIDER HATERS on them. The dude does not fuck around.


TY'S SELF PORTRAITS #8:
Wet hair no shirt on the side of the road somewhere (possibly Hawaii but we're not sure)

 

 

PAST ENTRY
MONDAY, JANUARY 5, 2004


ED!
($1000 RICHER FOR DRAWING A UNICORN AND TELLING US WHY UNICORNS ARE SPECIAL)


ED'S FRIEND GREG!
(STILL TOTALLY BROKE BECAUSE HE DIDN'T DRAW US A UNICORN)

>> Oh, man! We just noticed that the countdown clock for the HOT CHOCOLATE VIDEO might be a little bit off. We're gonna bring in a big time programmer guy to try and fix it in the next couple of days so please be patient. Thanks.

>> The new season of the Real World starts tomorrow but you'll have to either watch it yourself or find another site that has a column about it because aside from the Snack Report and press releases, Smyth's decided to hang up his writing shoes. We offered him a lot of money to write about this season but the man can't be swayed in his decisions. Oh well, San Diego kinda sucks anyway. Haha! Just kidding! SD rules.

And Rick Raymond is talking about calling it quits as well but we think that's probably the Raymond biscuits talking... so don't trip.

Also, where's Tito (again)?

We're thinking about starting a column that's dedicated simply to writing about all of the other columns. Okay, maybe not.


TY'S SELF PORTRAITS #7:
Shirtless with Pappalardo

>> QUOTES OF THE DAY:

"I used to buy ones like this" - Rickk on his new moustache

"I was sippin' eggnog" - Smyth

 

 

PAST ENTRY
FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2004

>> OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:
WE ARE PROUD TO WELCOME PJ LADD TO THE SHOCKINGLY DAREDEVILISH LINEUP OF SKILLED PROFESSIONAL SKATEBOARDERS WHO ARE SPONSORED BY AND WHOM ENDORSE FOURSTAR CLOTHING!

YES, PJ LADD IS ON FOURSTAR.

>> There's a bunch of new news and updates over at the Lakai site and we just asked Bird for some new shoes so please visit the Lakai site and buy Lakai shoes the next time you're at a shop buying shoes because Lakai fucking rules, dude. Also ruling are Lakai's t-shirts and hats and jackets and all of the other stuff that they make that you can check out over at their site right now.

>> It looks like it's time to ask Spikey and then ask Mikey what's up with the Ask Spikey and Then Ask Mikey questions that we sent them a few months ago.

>> Can you believe that Smyth made it an entire year without eating a single Raymond biscuit?

>> CLIVE NOCTCHAW'S GOALS AS A GIRL SKATEBOARD COMPANY EMPLOYEE IN 2004:

- Convince [confidential] to turn pro for [confidential]
- Start work on [confidential]
- Release [confidential]
- Eat healthier lunches so I don't turn into a useless pile
- Take action photos and more portraits of the team
- Install swinging, saloon style doors on my cubicle
- No April Fool's Day jokes on Jenkins
- Design some cool boards and shit
- Be the first to score an Employee Of The Month threepeat
- 2003 revenue in the Crailshop was $[confidential]. Try to get it up to $[confidential] for 2004
- Maybe try to get less people to hate me
- Paint the Crail Tap clubhouse and get somebody to kickflip over it
- Blow the back doors off of this place


TY'S SELF PORTRAITS #6:
Gang signs with Andy Mueller and an inverted classic Ty pose

 

 

PAST ENTRY
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2003

>> In this last Randoms entry of the year 2003, we are proud to bring you...

A COMPREHENSIVE LOOK BACK ON THE HIGHLIGHTS AND LOWLIGHTS OF THE PAST YEAR OF CRAIL TAP!!!

Not.

>> Did you notice how the Girl web site and most of the other company links didn't work over the past couple of days? Pretty cool, huh? Total highlight.

>> Are you enjoying Nate's movie reviews as much as we are? Here's review #9:
Jawbreaker!

>> Did you really think we were giving you Mike Carroll's cell number yesterday? Did you call the number we posted? So did we.

>> PRAYER OF THE DAY:
Just kidding.

>> Are you gonna be bummed if we pull another one of those little "not"s or "just kidding"s? Sorry about those.

Not.

>> Oh! Clive just spent five minutes staring at a little logo/graphic on his bottle of water that says "Thirst Quencher!" on it. That really happened. That's not one of those "not"s. Seriously.

Really.

>> When the Antisocial video comes out next month and there's a teaser video clip on the web site that they're making you're totally going to want to buy it.

That's real, too.

>> The Girl Art Dump's Pedrosideways art show is over but you can buy the stuff from it in the Crailshop right now but you already knew that because we already told you on the way in so what the hell are we doing repeating it over and over again for anyways oh well it's just another one of those run on sentences that we like to run from time to time so don't worry about it bro.

Again: for real.

>> Speaking of bros, Smyth's bros opened a women's shoe store and he wanted us to let you know about this new women's shoe store because he knows how much you love women's shoes. Sanger and his Linktap are both still in Mexico so here's a link to Smyth's Bros' women's shoe store.

You'll have to figure out for yourself whether that one's real or not.


TY'S SELF PORTRAITS #5:
Chillin' wit Beebs and a "half classic Ty pose"

>> So I guess that's it for 2003. Woohoo! Yeehaw! What's on the agenda for the Randoms in 2004?
LESS QUESTIONS AND WAY MORE UNICORNS!

 

THE RANDOMS ARCHIVE:
Randoms 29 : : 12/03 to 01/04
Randoms 28 : : 11/03 to 12/03
Randoms 27 : : 10/03 to 11/03
Randoms 26 : : 09/03 to 10/03
Randoms 25 : : 08/03 to 09/03
Randoms 24 : : 07/03 to 07/03
Randoms 23 : : 06/06 to 06/06
Randoms 22 : : 05/03 to 06/03
Randoms 21 : : 04/03 to 05/03
Randoms 20 : : 04/03 to 04/03
Randoms 19 : : 04/03 to 04/03
Randoms 18 : : 03/03 to 04/03
Randoms 17 : : 02/03 to 03/03
Randoms 16 : : 01/03 to 02/03
Randoms 15 : : 12/02 to 01/03
Randoms 14 : : 11/02 to 12/02
Randoms 13 : : 10/02 to 11/02
Randoms 12 : : 09/02 to 10/02
Randoms 11 : : 08/02 to 09/02
Randoms 10 : : 07/02 to 08/02
Randoms 9 : : 06/02 to 07/02
Randoms 8 : : 05/06 to 06/02
Randoms 7 : : 03/02 to 05/02

Randoms 6 : : 03/02 to 03/02
Randoms 5 : : 01/02 to 02/02
Randoms 4 : : 09/01 to 01/02
Randoms 3 : : 07/01 to 08/01
Randoms 2 : : 05/01 to 06/01
Randoms 1 : : 12/00 to 04/01