Who Takes The Place Of The Ace?
Arron Green disappears from orlando expo, 1/10/11 – without a trace!
Thus, leaving John Glisson currently a one man team and the question remaining- who will take the place of the ace?……
The Origin of #37
Yeah, sure, so maybe you’ve seen the movie a few times, or you know the film’s all-star cast, or you’ve heard the basic one liners that made Cool Hand Luke infamous and legendary…
If you know about the #37, then you are a true believer in the Luke ideology. Or maybe you’re just a little fanatical about overarching metaphors. But, if it’s a mystery- go to the nearest entertainment facility, buy the film Cool Hand Luke, watch, learn, and find out: “why the #37?”
“THEY JUST SMELLIN’ NEW MEAT NOW BOSS…”"
I. BETRAYED
…while the American Bliss Series from Nobyl Skateboards dealt with those con men and condi rice’s of our recent past…this is something new…
II. ARRESTED
….while some of Nobyl’s founders rap sheets expanded…so did their love of the streets and unleashing a new series on based on prisoner 37…
III. TRIED
In 1972 a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn’t commit…shit wrong backstory…
IV. EXECUTED
Designer Brooxz has resurrected Nobyl Skateboards with the Cool Hand Luke Series…
V. REBIRTH
With the launch of this new series we are reminded of those who are restless, those who are searching for something more, and those who are looking to be Nobyl…
“I know I’m a pretty evil fellow… killed people in the war and got drunk… and chewed up municipal property and the like.” – CHL
the Nobyl Art of getting things done.
THE OFFICIAL P.R. RELEASE
Certain influential and unprepossessing individuals have already received an official document in the mail from Nobyl’s secret new propaganda branch. If you are one of these people, you know who you are. (If you’re not one of these people, hopefully you still know who you are… but that’s a topic for another day.) This official document was crafted by members of the elusive Rural Infiltration and it contains coded information — like pictures of our new boards and cryptic promotional text. If you want one, shoot us an email.
Shit, More Like the “Skateboards That Simply Would Not Conform.”
Shit, More Like the “Skateboards That Simply Would Not Conform.”
Chapter 1. In the Beginning.
The 1967 tagline for the feature film “Cool Hand Luke” read a dark undertone: “The Movie That Simply Would Not Conform!”
Cut to many years and some 7 months later: personally CHL has felt more like the documentary Lost In La Mancha, with Paul Newman becoming my own personal Don Quioxte.
But that’s just my handle on reality, or something of the sorts….In actuality, this series began well before 7 months ago. In fact, the CHL series was poised next in line as the new series before Nobyl’s hiatus on December 1, 2008.
Ultimately, the CHL graphics were the outcome of Nobyl’s previous “How Too” series (see The Vault). The screen-printing process and production became much more involved than the traditional 3 color digi sprayed layers to create an illustration. The photos were instead digitally transferred onto heat transfer films- of course, the learning curve for everyone aboard might’ve had a little more bend than anyone could have anticipated…
Chapter 2. Dying on Christmas Day.
It must’ve been early fall 2008, I was swimming from one Jamison fountain to another and can recall but 3 things: being piss broke, the Rural Infiltration distribution of “Pioneer Day” by the Len Brown Society, and Jack calling me up to tell me Nobyl was entering a dark period.
“Well shit,” I slurred “ What about the ideas you just sent over? Cool Hand, Jack! Luke! Man, you know what I’m sayin’? Look, you’re fuckin’ with me, right”?
“Man, I sent those ideas months ago, Brooxz.” Jack joked back. “Wish I was kidding you, but it’s just what’s got to happen for now. Maybe later down the road, it’ll start it up again. Who knows”?
Despite the lack of food, there was still something in me that refused this news of Nobyl’s possible death. And, after spending Christmas 2008 sinking like a hot coal into mounds of snow, I came to, dried out, and took a walk to the video store.
Chapter 3. Resurrection with a side of 50 Eggs.
I thought Jack’s idea as a whole was dead on in the initial drafts. In fact, “50 Eggs”, remained untouched-only the logo font, which was the first to hit the cutting floor for all of the boards, was modified.
The font required for the series was an original, something hand drawn for the film and its promo purposes-something we’d have to make on our own.
There was only one person whom I could call upon- El Capitan. The Rural Infiltrations primary illustrator, the man behind Nobyl’s “American Bliss” series. Despite his craftwork in endless demand, he somehow made the time to create the Nobyl logo in CHL font as it is today. And usually once I’ve involved El Capitan on a project, he can’t resist staying till the end. This is a man who lives for the cause- and the rest of you all would be smart to soon be taking notes…
With the logo for the CHL series completed and the different frames with time codes from the CHL film sent to Jack, I needed to return the video rental. There was, shocker, a $22.00 late fee- surely one cannot be expected to formulate and devise a P.R. plan between all the pausing and playing to find the proper frames needed to enhance the artistry that is the very chemistry of the boards under the restraints of only 4 nights of viewing pleasure?!!
So I kept the copy, never paid the late fee, and later realized my contract with the store was under a credit card I had long ago shredded. By then it was June 2009. Nobyl was still in a hiatus, I was still broke and had Ty Brown living with me. Jack had the new images with logo-but what was really ahead of us?
Not until Dec. 2009 did it all come together, when Jack found me at the Charleston airport, no longer broke and feeling free to roam the land. My most memorable times down south have been the moments of hangin’ out with friends and making art of some kind. And so why not crack open the CHL file on Jack’s computer for fun, “smokin’ an drinkin’ on a Tuesday night”? By 4am, we were placing the completed CHL designs side by side on the 30” monitor and I was sold. Envisioning how it could all work, I opened up two more beers from the cooler for Jack and I, starting my next sentence something like this, “What if Nobyl resurrected, restructured”?
Perhaps it was sleep deprivation, or maybe a lack of stimulus of the mind, but Jack agreed to the plan. A few things graphically remained unclear- Jack loved the monologue of Karr the floorwalker as well as Luke’s inmate number #37 and insisted both had to remain involved somewhere, somehow. Originally, both Karr’s monologue and the number 37 were on the “Plastic Jesus” layout. And I hated the idea of both. But, once again, I knew Jack was on to something. So before passing out at 5:15am, while contemplating the layout of the P.R. release, I said, “How about we make a Nobyl sticker with the number 37 that comes with the board? And the CHL P.R. release to the shops can be the image on the screen here and the other side we can have the monologue in script format?” (See official P.R. release in news section) Jack, at this point agreed to any and all ramblings of mine, as long as I let him go to sleep. For me the day had only begun….
Chapter 4. 7 months.
Breakfast, shower, shave, quick nap, cigarette – by then the west would be awake.
I sent the files to El Capitan for his review and approval to get press ready. His first move was the conversion of R.G.B. stills into C.M.Y.K. format for digital printing. El Capitan sent files to the skateboard manufacturer, along with a request for a color key showing the actual CMYK percentage values as represented by the printer. I would say this moment, the learning curve sharpened a little further…
“The manufacturer was the first one to see what the printer had made… and it wasn’t good! They had the good sense to send print samples to us before they adhered them to boards. Everything was dark. Crazy muddy dark. Like you couldn’t even see what it was a picture of. Obviously the printer had some problems they should have warned us about. It looked to me like a dot gain issue that was making everything plug up. And I could tell by studying the print sample that they’d done some color manipulation to the files we’d sent before they ran them (looked like Curves or Levels) — so they KNEW there was a prepress issue, they just decided not to tell us! I ended up spending a good week working up a remote prepress solution: basically brightening everything and touching up some problematic areas. Hopefully the printer can learn from this and work a bit more up front with the manufacturer to send drawdowns or CMYK calibration because in the end they were very cool and everything worked out great.” (El Capitain).
Chapter 5. Gods, Limbo and the Rebirth.
By May 12th- stickers had been completed, P.R. release had been enveloped, and the website had nearly reached completion. After waiting 5 weeks for the revised board prints, my finger was on the trigger, so close I could smell the smoke-but then the call came – Five out of six were a go. The logo design, being the looser due to the profile lines/orange zigzag’s at the nose not matching those on the Plastic Jesus. Despite being told from many sides that this was acceptable, a passing grade, i would remind my colleagues, ” No matter what the outcome or the cost- the main goal is for all six boards to look and feel consistent on any shelve in any skate shop.”
And so the five went into print and the logo board….banished back to where it had come. The printers, whom I believe had grown tired of my neurosis, assured us of a quick turnaround. The following three weeks was like lifetime in limbo on rollerskates. When then the call finally came that the logo boards had finally reached completion, Nobyl was launched from limbo into reality and onto a UPS truck. The remaining 50 boards arrived to the boss in proper manner, packaged nicely into the box.
Nobyl’s Resurrection via Newman’s Inspiration
Nobyl’s Resurrection via Newman’s Inspiration.
Often described as, “ The man that every man wants to be and the man every woman wants” throughout his career, Paul Newman was one bad motherfucker and a true American patriot.
Minutes, it seemed, after word of his passing on September 26, 2008 at the age of 83, articles appeared in abundance about the man, referencing anything from his admirable onscreen career to his various beyond the screen charity donations that totaled millions.
But, within these numerous articles there was a paragraph that struck a chord with me and said it all, short and sweet:
“The Newman hero acknowledged society as a rigged game, but the world was rigged, not the man. They had a loneliness of the survivor, of the man building his own ethics system out of the few things he could trust, independent of polite society.”
This was exactly the sort ethical and independent virtue that turned me on to skateboarding 20 years ago. I felt I could finally be for certain- I was not the only odd man out. The only thing that really was odd: no one outside skateboarding understood what a sub culture was, let alone what the skating subculture could possibly be, or could even become…
But I could parallel quite a few things between Nobyl and the Newman hero: the resurrection of Nobyl to the time of Luke’s release from the box, which in turn lead to the escape that gave life to the prison camp; the endless slogan, “skateboarding is not a crime” to the Newman hero’s constant struggle with authority; Nobyl’s existence solely relying on the purpose of exposing the talents of the SouthEast in skateboarding, art and film to Newman’s role as an organic food icon, that has provided numerous charities with over 220 million dollars, simultaneously inspiring the organic movement to new forefronts….the comparisons are endless, but the bottom line, officially, is this: the goal of Nobyl Skateboards, like the idea of Newman’s hero, is to provide a view beyond the laws of the status quo, the laws built for spending time on losing time, in a life that, according to this law, ends in only one way- 6feet down, into the box.
THE SCHWAG BAG
Every new Nobyl board comes with some of our brand new vinyl stickers. We actually made a different sticker for each board, plus a whole bunch of “37″ stickers (so you’ll get one of those too).
So if you want a sticker to cover up the hole in your soul,you need to go right now to our Shop page and buy a board.
