Monthly Archives: September 2009

I just stumbled upon some never-before-seen, unpublished photographs from Seu Trinh’s shoot for the current issue of The Hundreds Magazine:

photography by Seu Trinh
by bobbyhundreds

Not too long ago, we rallied up our skate team for a sesh, and brought professional skateboarding photographer Seu Trinh along to document the day for our The Hundreds Magazine Fall 2009 spread.

…and here’s how it looked from Seu’s camera:

Check out the remainder of the photo shoot in the Fall/Winter issue of The Hundreds Magazine.  In a The Hundreds retailer near you and ONLINE now.

by bobbyhundreds with additional photography by Seu Trinh

Adis from the Netherlands got a little carried away…

Kevin Prudencio’s new art piece:

The good fellas of See Spot flossing TH on tour in Japan.

Jacob Hanna is awesome…

by bobbyhundreds

The Hundreds Fall 2009 Delivery 2 debuts tomorrow morning at both The Hundreds LA and The Hundreds SF.  Here’s a peek at just SOME of the range, but remember, there’s much more, along with alternate colorways of everything you see featured here.  And remember, you love it all, you love it so much that you are going to buy all of it. Remember.

by bobbyhundreds

I know this sounds crazy, but I went to the store and bought a CD today. Actually, TWO CDs. Whoooa, extra crazy.

Yes, fellow swashbucklin’, bootlegging pirates, we’ve all had both of these albums since last month, but Jay-Z’s “The Blueprint 3” officially hit shelves last week, and Kid Cudi’s “Man on the Moon” today. And you know what, after all the countless hours of enjoyment that these 2 works have offered me over the weeks… I figured that both of these albums were so incredibly well-made, such solid enjoyable respectable music, that the least I could do to repay both artists was forego another botched chop at Supercuts and shell out 20 measly bucks to say Thank You.

Thank you for working hard on albums that critics may frown upon for not being _______ enough, but make your friends and fans smile.  Thank you for making albums that everyone will hate on the first time they hear it (but will eventually come around once they realize everyone else secretly likes it too).. And thank you for staying true to your sound but taking risks to push music forward.

I know I’m not alone, so if you appreciated what Jay and Cudi have done for you, then let ‘em know at the register.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ll continue to download mediocre albums all day long for free, but if I have to skip another bad haircut to support a good hardworking artist, I figure that’s a win for everybody.

P.S. Speaking of supporting artists, you can now buy Alexander Spit’s debut album “OPEN 24 HOURS” on iTunes, as well as in our Online Shop.  And vote for him in this year’s SF Weekly Music Awards.

this has been a public service announcement by bobbyhundreds

This is so cool, guys.  Can’t believe Michael Lau made a figure for us. Really, an honor, much respect.

For the 10th anniversary of Gardener, vinyl figure godfather Michael Lau has teamed up with MINDstyle to release 4 new figures at his first stateside exhibition, taking place at De La Barracuda here in L.A.  This is the woodgrain version of our figure, but there are also 2 new colorways that will be offered. One through Lau and one exclusively through The Hundreds.  Stay tuned for more coverage and information, but for now, you can read all about the project on High Snobiety, Hypebeast, and the Gardener 10th website.

by bobbyhundreds

Donna Fenn’s new book, Upstarts, focuses on the the young burgeoning entrepreneurs of our generation, their stories, trials, tribulations, and ultimate success.  Thanks to the Internet, collaboration, and new school approach to business, the 150 featured CEOs are turning industries on their head.  I love this book because it spits in the face of all parents, teachers, and old people in general who said we’d never amount to anything.  Oh yeah? I don’t see Donna Fenn writing a book about YOU, Mrs. Collins.

Anyways the author dedicates a section to The Hundreds, and how Ben and I built this business over the years.  Strangely, she didn’t touch on all the black magic, animal sacrifice, and sorcery involved in growing our brand.  Hmph, guess it just wasn’t important.

Buy the book HERE.

by bobbyhundreds

So Bryan Greenberg‘s in the premiere issue of The Hundreds Magazine as well.  You may know Bryan from movies like “Prime” and “Bride Wars,” or television series like “October Road” and “One Tree Hill.”  Or not.  Regardless, most of you who read this blog will be targeted early next year by a new HBO show that Bryan stars in called “How to Make it in America.”

In what’s being deemed a grittier East Coast version of “Entourage,” Bryan leads opposite Luis Guzman, Shannyn Sossamon, and even Kid Cudi as a budding clothing designer on that New York hustle.  You’ll be seeing a lot of other characters from our little world playing integral roles in this show, along with familiar grinds.  Like the fact that Bryan’s character Ben is a sneakerhead. Which is funny because I caught this candid moment while we were chillin’ at his house, and he was shuffling around in some beat-up sandals.  Ben wouldn’t approve of that.

Bryan also participates in our magazine column THE DIRTY DOZEN, listing off the Top 12 DVDs in his home collection:

by bobbyhundreds

Once or twice a year, I make my way back to my parents’ house, and end up digging through the bedroom I grew up in for nostalgic treasures from my childhood.

Like most kids, I collected things.  Like comic books.  Comic books like Garfield, Calvin & Hobbes, and Life in Hell.. and then real comic books like X-Men, anything from Image, Spawn, Eastman and Laird‘s Turtles, and Stan Sakai‘s Usagi Yojimbo.  Here’s my copy of the Superman issue where he dies.  I was never a fan of Superman, so I was really happy that he was dunzo.

“This was the day… that a Superman died.”  It was awesome and put a huge smile on my face!  Unfortunately for me and the rest of the comics universe, it was all just a marketing ploy and DC did this bobo “Juuuuust kidding!” saga where there were like 4 different Supermen that reincarnated… I dunno, it was laaaame.

This is funny and totally something that would never catch on today. So kids, back in the ’80s, it was really cool to have a crazy pencil case to hold your utensils and drug paraphenalia and stickers. They were Transformerish cases that seemed like innocuous boxes from the outside…

…but popped open like Knight Rider in Super Pursuit Mode.  Seems ridiculous by today’s standards, but it was an elementary school status symbol. My case was ghetto, I wasn’t even into Formula racecars, not sure what that was all about. I tried to cover it up with a Frank Viola sticker (???!?!)

M.U.S.C.L.E. men!

Again. Talk about a toy that would baffle the kids of today.  M.U.S.C.L.E. Men were these miniature rubber figures, each character thematically different, that you’d put into a wrestling ring to fight each other.  But it was more about the detail that went into each figure in creating their unique identities.. Something tells me that the kids who were into these grew up to be modern vinyl figure collectors.

And of course, there were Garbage Pail Kids.  (Well, before that, it was all about Wacky Packages, but GPK was a lot more marketable and trademark-infringing and therefore, better).

Here are some of my personal favorites.  And yes, I have an Adam Bomb somewhere around here.

And then I graduated to baseball cards.  Ryne Sandberg was my favorite ballplayer as a youth, that’s his Donruss Rookie Card. That’s Carlton Fisk’s rookie also, I guess I was into him.  Remember when Wally Joyner was supposed to save mankind?  Nothing like having that gold trophy in the corner of your Topps card.

Of course my favorite baseball cards were the error cards.  Sportscard companies would print cards, realize they had made design or type errors, and then re-print corrections.  So the error cards would fetch big dollars amongst collectors because of their rarity.  I always thought it was just a marketing scheme, and it probably was.

Perhaps the most famous of them all was the Billy Ripken ’89 Fleer error card, where he had originally written “FUCK FACE” on the butt of his bat.  Fleer produced several corrections, one with whiteout, another with scribbles (I had a couple of those), and this one, the blackbox.  I remember opening those Fleer packages to find a Ripken error, it felt like Charlie in Willy Wonka when he finds the golden ticket.  It was like opening a bag of Shark Bites to get the Great White… x 1,000.

That was another popular one at the time.  The Gary Sheffield rookie for Upper Deck. The error was subtle, if you notice his designation as shortstop, the “SS” is upside down. SStrange.

Since Al Gore was still tinkering around with his invention called The Internet, the only way you could value your cards’ worth was through monthly price guides, the most popular being Beckett.  I always liked looking up the Honus Wagner to see if it had risen or fallen from its $1 Million mark.

Remember Jim Abbott, the one-handed pitcher?

I snuck into my older brother’s room and found some of his gems.  Barry Bonds looked so skinny back then… hmm interesting…

I hate him for this.  That’s a Michael Jordan Fleer rookie card.  It used to be mine but then he convinced me to trade him for his Ken Griffey Upper Deck rookie when I was 9.  I think I lost, apparently this Michael Jordan character was even inducted into the Hall of Fame.?

What else can I show you?  Although I had all this stuff, at the end of the day, I was always more into creating and making.  I still have stacks of voluminous short stories and poetry I wrote as a kid, my writing style is the same today as it was when I was 8.  It’s pretty bizarre, and not sure if that’s a good thing or bad thing.

Here are some drawings from when I was 11.  I was really into architecture and drafting, but then again at that age I was into everything.  That’s the great part about being 11.  You’re just starting to figure it all out…

by bobbyhundreds