An interview with the Snackman

Quartersnacks.com has been the first site I check of the day for the past five years. The content is quite regular and never lacks in creativity. I've been skateboarding with the creator of Quartersnacks Kosta since I was fourteen years old. When Kosta first started Quartersnacks my friends and I used it as a way to have someone film our skating. We would go out every weekend and on breaks from school, filming skate clips that Kosta would cleverly edit to commercial rap and occasional soul songs. Kosta's way of approaching editing and distributing content was far different than anything else at the time. There were other NYC skate websites at the time that around anymore like Bigapplenyc.com and Flipmodenyc.com, but the way they edited their footage wasn't as stylized as a Quartersnacks clip. Fast forward five years and Kosta has done projects for esteemed clients like Nike and the Queens Museum of Art, and has advertising banners bringing in revenue. All of us who grew up skating with Kosta are very proud of how far he has come. Hopefully this interview can shed some light on what Quartersnacks is about. It has changed from a locally made organic skate website to a highly respected website in the skate world.

When did you start Quartersnacks and how long have you been doing it for?

September of 2005. Been doing it for a little over five years.

What made you start a skateboarding website?

Strictly to have a hobby, I never considered making any money or connections with people off of it when I started it.

Were there many other skateboard related websites at the time you started Quartersnacks?

Yes, but there weren't many New York or Northeast based ones. And the few that were more locally based around those areas were not updated regularly.

If you had to describe your website to someone who knew nothing about it and the culture of the it content revolves around how would you describe it to them?

It's a New York website that is bound together by a common interest/love for skateboarding. Not that it isn't a skateboard website, but the location plays a large role in the direction of the content. There are tons of inside jokes and weird little references that resonate a lot more to people around here than people on the outside looking in.

How has the website changed over the course of the years?

I used to update it whenever I was in the mood to do so, which sometimes wouldn't be for whole weeks at a time. Over the past year, I have began to actually work updates into a schedule. Having a reputation for updating regularly is the way you build your visitors, so I kind of figured if I kept my old routine of only updating 5 or 6 times a month, the amount of visitors would remain stagnant. I've also tried to make the content a bit broader to attract a wider range of visitors, not just people able to understand the content within a hundred mile radius.

How do you go about getting content for the site aside from the skate clips you make and articles you write?

Just general ideas floating around the internet, conversations with friends, etc. Skateboarding is so big now that there is always something going on. It's just a matter of navigating through everything and finding things you can actually write an insightful 300-500 words about.

How many hits do you average per day?

4000-5000.

Have you been approached to do any projects because of Quartersnacks? If so who where they for and what did they involve?

I did a project with Nike that basically involved skating around New York with their sponsored riders to spots that frequently appear in the videos on the website, and then writing daily wrap-up entries with photos and a video of the day to accompany them. That eventually turned into having a colorway of a Nike shoe inspired by the website. I did a project with the Queens Museum of Art that involved consulting a curator on major skate spots throughout New York so she could map them out on Robert Moses' 1964 World's Fair scale model of New York City for a special exhibit. Several smaller magazines have also approached me to do New York centric writing for certain articles as well. Plus, being able to make a website is a good skill in 2011, and a lot of friends have referred me to their friends to make a website since they are impressed with the work I have done with mine.

How do you approach advertising?

I mostly haven't had to do any of the approaching myself. When I first started running banner ads, I talked to a few friends with smaller companies and offered them free ad space since I liked what their companies were doing and knew they could use some help in spreading the word. Once larger companies saw that I had began running ads, they approached me themselves.

Where do you see the website in five years?

I have no clue. I haven't been working full-time or going to school for eight months, so I've had the time to work on the website. If I begin working 40 hours a week, it's going to be tough to keep the same sort of consistency I had, so I'll have to use my time as it pertains to the website more wisely. I also want to expand the content so it appeals to a wider range of people, without really letting it lose it's local feel, so that's the main thing I wish to accomplish in the next year or so.

Quartersnacks does New York Fashion Week

The brutal nature of an East Coast winter will cause most New York City skaters to gravitate toward places of warmth that serve alcohol and have beautiful women. This winter has been no different. With all the blizzards we've had and brutal nights of excruciatingly low temperatures it is safe to say that we've needed to find other ways to occupy ourselves. Starting last week we had New York Fashion Week to immerse ourselves in. Some might ridicule this as being uncharacteristic of skaters but that is simply wrong. With fun parties like the Purple Magazine Party at the Boom Boom Room it is safe to say that the winter has become less painful. I did not go because I was not up to it but as evidenced above on The Cobra Snake the Quartersnacks team was in full effect. From what I hear of it drinks were drank, celebrities were sighted, and good times were had.

Guest of a Guest covered the event here. The post is primarily picture heavy but based upon the scarcity of text and choice of photographic subjects it is safe to say that the fashion of the party attendees was the focus. The overall attitude of guest a guest it seems is to let the reader feel as if they have attended a party themselves. Between recounts of the night from friends and photos on Purple Diary and Guest of a Guest, it feels like I was there. Guest of a guest does a good job at covering parties by using photographs as a way of conveying the general mood of the evening. In some cases the provocative nature of the photos may lead you to believe that you missed a night of debauchery, the photos of the Purple Magazine party seemed relatively tame.

The Angriest New Yorker Alive

Oh Bobby, just when we thought you were gone you posted an interview on your site that had every skater derailing you in message boards, defending you in car rides to skateparks, and questioning your sanity over beers at our local pubs. Bobby Puleo for those who do not know him is something of a cult skater, a skater's skater if you will. His parts in videos like Static 2, La Luz, and Infamous were a cause for a mass migration of "artistically inclined" skaters to move New York City and attend SVA in hopes to recreate some of the magic in his video parts. Puleo's selective spot choices are what make him the legend he is, not his skating. Dont get me wron Puleo is very a talented skater but what make his parts so rewatchable is that you wish you knew where half the spots are. Compare the aesthetics of a Puleo part to that of a less creative skater like Mikey Taylor and it becomes clear his vision is unique.

The recent interview that surfaced on Puleo's website opened up the public's eyes to some of his ideas on the state of the skate world today. The first thing to notice is that it is an interview being conducted by a friend for Puleo's own website. The ethics involved in this kind of journalism are questionable at best. Aside from this misstep the interview is highly informative as to the workings of this angry man's brain. Because he no longer makes money from skating Puleo has become quite embittered with the state of things in the skate world. "I basically make no money from skateboarding these days. Isn't that insane?" To Puleo I ask, when is enough enough? He has made  money in skating certainly and whether or not he saved enough from the checks from the big companies he rode for like Enjoi and Ipath is his concern, not the public's. People these days tend to think that because they have a talent they should be compensated for it, what if that talent isn't unique anymore? Ten years ago Bobby Puleo was the only skater skating the way he did. Now there are plenty skaters that are younger than Puleo like Jack Sabback, Anthony Pappalardo, and Jake Johnson emulating his technique and pushing it to further limits.

Puleo seems upset at the recent mass migrations of skaters to New York City. Ten years ago when he was more relevant, this wasn't much of an issue because there was not much skateboard media coverage of New York. "You also have this new trend of fully established California types that are moving to and coming to NY and filming on shit here that has just been through the goddamn ringer as far as one uppers and spot rapers and they think that that style of doing things makes them legitimate. That shit is corny. Go find your own shit in your own city." This statement has some truth to it as well as some misplaced hate. It's wrong to be angry at people for coming to skate in New York, but it is not wrong to be angry at skaters coming here going through the same old spots and unloading their bag of tricks like its something new. To come New York and skate as tourist is fine, that shouldn't be discouraged, but come here with no appreciation for the people skating here 365 days of the year and you'll get no respect.

We should not put Puleo in to the grave for this hate filled interview, we should await some new footage from him that will hopefully remind us why we came to love him and defend his insanity. Puleo will for every be remembered as the man who made New York City his playground and scoured every inch of the five boroughs to bring the world spots it had never seen. His vision is that of a genius and it will never be forgotten.

Thrasher Magazine's King of the Road 2010

 Nike King of The Road 2010
There are some who would argue that skateboarding is a sport, but if you ever become a dedicated skater you'll know it's a creative art form. Thrasher Magazine's King of The Road competition is all about creativity. Sure, there are challenges you have to complete in order to win the competition, but King of the Road is unlike any other competition you will find.  Episodes are released on Thrasher Magazines website several times a week, updating you on the teams progress. In a regular "team sport" the challenge might be to pass a baton or score a bucket. In this competition teams drive across America completing challenges in different cities. Some of the challenges this year are three skaters ollieng a triple set of stairs, recording a rap record in Houston, Texas , and getting a makeover to look like Corey Duffel, a skater known for his punk rock attire.

The teams this year are Nike Sb, Converse, Circa, and Etnies. Each of the teams are packed to the brim with talented skaters like Eric Koston, Ryan Sheckler, and David Gravette to name a few. The current episode of King of The Road 2010 has the Nike Sb team skating in Colorado Springs. In one of the challenges the team is to form a drum circle and find their spirit animal. Obscure challenges like these give this competition a fun feeling you find on skate trips with friends. After the challenge the team goes on to do hard skate tricks like ollieing over the chain in to the famous Broadmoor ditch. The next episode is Converse in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It should be interesting to see what Angel Ramirez has to offer all their unique spots.