[HN Gopher] Tracking down a mysterious skateboarder from 1979
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Tracking down a mysterious skateboarder from 1979
Author : zdw
Score : 112 points
Date : 2024-11-05 22:00 UTC (59 minutes ago)
(HTM) web link (www.ncrabbithole.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.ncrabbithole.com)
| danudey wrote:
| One of the interesting things about this whole story is that Tony
| Hawk was born the year before Shaunda was, making them both 56
| this year. Interesting that they were (in a way) contemporaries.
| vvpan wrote:
| To reflect on HN trends for a second: people seem to really like
| "uncovered" things. Like some lost song, or archeological piece
| or, as here, identity of a person in a mostly inconsequential
| context.
|
| I also don't seem to recall these kinds of posts hitting front
| page much until recently. What is this? A new wave of nostalgia
| for long lost past on the internet? Hacker News demographic
| change? Discovery of a new marketing vector? Or just me seeing a
| pattern where there is none?
| UncleOxidant wrote:
| Maybe people are tired of the other stuff that's been crowding
| all the information channels (related to an event happening
| today) and are happy for some lighthearted news for a change?
| kelnos wrote:
| [delayed]
| switz wrote:
| I can't speak to the trend, but for me, it's this idea that
| invalidates tastemakers and shows that good ideas inevitably
| stand on their own. Tony Hawk is widely respected, and yet,
| he's enamored with this forgotten photo of a young girl
| skateboarding in the rain. And she's holding an umbrella. We
| all agree-it's a wonderful photo.
|
| Turns out, the girl-in the most respectful way-is just an
| ordinary person, and the photographer asked her to hold an
| umbrella, because he felt it would be a good idea. It was, and
| many years later the creative result has risen to the surface.
|
| It's like when you go to a concert and you see a special moment
| that rocks you, and then years later you find out it has
| millions of views on YouTube. It's democratic validation that
| we are experiencing beautiful moments all the time, and that we
| don't need a Tony Hawk to validate them. You could argue that
| this wouldn't be seen without Tony, or you can reflect upon the
| many moments that aren't validated, and yet are filled with
| beauty.
| bink wrote:
| I can only speak for myself, but the Internet regularly has me
| going down rabbit holes into unsolved mysteries that end with
| no solution. I find articles like this refreshing simply
| because I can close the tab with a smile rather than with more
| questions.
| whaaaaat wrote:
| Is it a mostly inconsequential context? I think it's exactly
| the sort of context that is valuable and human and grounds us
| to events of our past.
|
| That one photo (and the collection of photos from the 70s
| linked in the article) say a _lot_ about culture, about
| identity, about life and how things have evolved (or not
| evolved, or _devolved_ ) since then.
|
| It's a story too about celebrity, and how this picture exists
| in this moment, today, because a celebrity found and shared it.
| It's completely distorted this woman's day to day. While it
| seems like a positive for her, it highlights just how much
| power celebrity has in our mental economies. _Should_ one
| person have the ability to completely blow up someone else 's
| routine like this? I dunno! But social media definitely
| facilitates it!
|
| There's a ton of very interesting topics to cover here, in
| addition to the ones you raise, and I don't think they really
| are that inconsequential!
| renewiltord wrote:
| Oh I love this stuff. I went around searching for the members
| of the team who won the Crystal Maze
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmyoWIGw-kI&list=PLWdGI8jh26...
| (a light and fun reality adventure game show) and it was good
| fun to see.
| Minor49er wrote:
| What a reference. Incidentally, I started watching The
| Crystal Maze for the first time a few months ago after
| finding episodes of it on Archive.org. It's like watching
| adults running through Legends of The Hidden Temple, but with
| more urgency and charm. It's such a fun show
| beeflet wrote:
| It's uncommon in the era of easily accessible information.
| Ditto for ARGs.
| gatane wrote:
| I can only wonder if that board did get rust'ed by the water.
| gurchik wrote:
| > Also, she had to learn what it meant to ride "goofy footed."
| It's when you ride a board with your right foot forward instead
| of your left. "Oh," Shaunda says. "Well, I am left-handed."
|
| I am right handed but would ride a skateboard the same way. I
| never even tried with my left foot forward. Even visualizing it
| feels wrong. I wonder why this is the apparently uncommon stance?
| Some people I think prefer to use their dominant foot to push,
| but it's easier to keep my balance when my dominant foot is on
| the board.
| daggersandscars wrote:
| I skateboard "regular" but snowboard "goofy". Not that I'm
| amazing at either, but that's just what felt natural to me for
| each.
| renewiltord wrote:
| Fine, she doesn't know what skating goofy is, but she has to have
| known not to skate mongo
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPV1dKMZltQ
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