Meeting my heroes, and sneaker dreams do come true!

In the previous Fridays I had mentioned that I was a huge sneaker nerd. Collecting sneaker magazines from Japan, and ordering some overstock from the Eastbay catalog to feel like I was a part of the culture. I also talked about my favorite designs at Oakley, and how they started creating some amazing footwear. It was around this time that I seemed to manifest some amazing things while working at college. For example my friends, and I had managed to get into the E3 trade shows in the late ‘90s, and early ‘00s by creating a fake company. We would wear suits, and walk the halls as if we were exhibitors. We got a lot of access, and met some great industry people.

Around that time the demo for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game had come out. I was a big fan of skateboarding. I figured that there was a chance that Tony might be at the E3, so I took some skateboards with me, and scored an autograph. Mind you that he still wasn’t at the peak of his popularity, so you could absolutely surprise him if you recognized him at a non-skate event. This started a trend where I would bring him a present, and birthday card at each E3. He'd be happy to sign some decks if I asked. He, and the team at Neversoft started to recognize me at the shows, and welcomed some short interviews because I started writing as the west coast correspondent to Planet Tony Hawk. Tony was always happy to mug for the camera if I asked.

After the THPS game became a hit I figured that there would be more pro skaters showing up at the following E3. This was almost guaranteed as a sequel had been announced by Activision, and many other studios said that they were making skating games as well. The next year I walked the hall with a stack of decks, and even a poster just in case I ran into the other pros. Sure enough I stumbled across a bunch of them as they were getting ready to put on a demo at the Infogrames booth. Nobody else at the show knew who they were. I recognized Colin McKay, Bob Burnquist, Bucky Lasek, and Rune Glifberg. Sadly I did not recognize Jason Ellis, well actually I thought he was Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit fame. I didn’t know why Fred was there, but I thought he was just a celeb hanging out. I apologized to Jason a couple years later about the accidental disrespect, and he laughed. He said that it was all good, his friends actually called him Fred Durst because they dressed so much alike.

Anyhow Bob Burnquist was one of my skateboard heroes along with Tony. The Brazilian had made a name for himself, first at Anti-Hero, then Flip, and the Firm. Since he could skate regular, and switch (opposite foot forward) with ease he ended up progressing vert skateboarding faster than any other person at the time. He was also one of the pros that was sponsored by Oakley. He had appeared on a massive billboard on the 405 freeway in Carson. Not too far from where I lived. Long before the E3 I got my hands on a huge poster of that same billboard. My gamble of taking it to the expo that day paid off. I went away with a collection of autographed decks, and a personalized poster. Bob asked for my name, and signed it to Noáh instead of Noe. I was too nervous to give him the spelling of my name when I showed him the poster. My brother asked why he wrote it that way later on, and I said “oh he did the Portuguese spelling of Noe, instead of the Spanish spelling.” He bought the answer. I got the poster framed not long after, and it had been sitting in the garage for decades. I finally had cleared enough room to bring it indoors.

It turned out that meeting Tony, Bob, and the other pros was not the only amazing thing that I would manifest in the early 2000’s. Managing to meet the AND1 basketball players, and even getting to design a couple of tour posters was a story for a future Friday. I enjoyed my Nike basketball sneakers, but I longed for anything that was different. I heard that Oakley had gotten into basketball sneakers, and even sponsored a few pro players. Michael Jordan, and Dennis Rodman were often seen sporting their shades. I assumed that their basketball line also stopped as size 14, like their other shoes. Sadly I found out too little too late that they had actually made that line of shoes up to size 18. The problem for me was that the sneakers were not available in retail stores. You could only find them in the dedicated Oakley shops. The nearest one to me was in Irvine, about 30 miles from Long Beach. It wasn’t like I could just check whenever I wanted. Worse yet, they only made them for a season or two before discontinuing the line. I was heartbroken. I had heard that Oakley had a few outlet stores, and perhaps I might be able to track down any remaining stock.

I wrote a heartfelt letter to Oakley headquarters, and told them about how hard it was finding shoes in my size. One of their designers nicknamed “Joker” wrote back, and said he understood how hard it was. He asked for my address. I assumed that he might send a tee shirt, or give me a list of shops to check. Instead a couple weeks later while I was working in the college computer lab when I got a call from the mailroom. They said two massive boxes had come in for me, and asked if I could pick them up. Normally the mailroom had computers delivered directly to us, so I thought this was odd. It turned out that the giant boxes weren’t addressed to my computer lab, they were addressed to me personally. More than that, they had come from Oakley HQ. I got them in my lab, and my boss, and brother were there as I unwrapped them. Seven brand new shoes, and sandals were sent to me, along with a nice note from Joker. I remained humbled by this generosity almost 20 years later.

I wore one pair of sandals every day for years until they fell apart. I promised that I would work even harder to preserve the remaining gifts. I still wear the second set of sandals every day. They are worn, and dirty, but still good. I also only wore one pair of black sneakers. I would only wear them to special occasions like weddings, or four times a year when I performed for my orchestra concerts. I often wore black sneakers instead of dress shoes whenever I played because formal shoes were so uncomfortable to me. Sadly the heels on them were starting to break, so I had to retire them. But rather than throw them away like I did with my old sandals, I glued the soles back on, and kept them in my lineup because they meant so much to me.

I never wore any of the other shoes because they were so rare. Instead I kept them boxed up in the garage for decades. Even to this day I had yet to find a special occasion to wear any of them to. So they remained in boxes. I wouldn’t guess how much they were worth on the market. I'm sure a basketball player might make me an offer but they were priceless to me. I had friends, and coworkers with collections much greater than mine, but even they had never been gifted shoes by a manufacturer. I was blessed in this regard, and remember that blessing every time I looked at my shoe rack.

I wrote a massive thank you note to Joker, and the team at Oakley for their generosity. I felt like one of those Make-a-wish kids with the outpouring of love. I was praying that I didn’t have cancer, and my mom had reached out to them on my behalf. When I originally got the box I felt like it was some sort of prank, or worse, a huge mistake. I expected that they would be sending me the bill for all those sneakers separately. I even started saving my paychecks in case the bill came in, but that never happened. There wasn’t much I could say or do for the team at Oakley. They were sitting on top of the world, there was nothing that I could have gifted them in return. As a budding illustrator I printed a poster for Joker, and sent it along with my thank you letter.

A few months later I managed to get over to Oakley for a factory tour not unlike the one from the Global Cycling Network. I don’t think they offer tours these days. Sadly Joker wasn’t working that day, so I never got a chance to meet him, and thank him in person. The company was everything I could have imagined. It was like getting a tour of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. We got to see everything except the designers at work. They were locked behind some massive industrial doors. The tour guide said that very few people in the company were allowed to go into that room, even after working there for a few years she had never even been allowed in. We saw the full size NBA court for the employees. We saw some of the machines that created their new frames, and patented technology. Of course we weren’t allowed to take pictures of any of that stuff.

I told my family how amazing the factory was. I did my best to recall everything that I saw. How they had different machines to test the strength, and resiliency of their lenses, and frames during quality control. How they had insanely high tolerances when creating their patented lenses. How their rejects would get shredded, and the plastics could be melted, and reused. For the integrity of the product they wouldn’t accept the microscopic defects on future lenses, but they would sell the shredded plastics of their defects to their competition. I saw equipment that allowed them to bond materials in zero atmosphere. It was tech that none of their competitors had access to. It was part design house, and part science lab. They were working on the coolest products on the planet. Lastly I told my family that it would be a dream job to work there. That wasn’t in the cards for me, but I was glad to have taken that trip. It gave me tremendous perspective on the future, and what could be.

With some changes to my healthcare providers last year my wife, and I were able to see an optometrist for the first time in years. I got her some cute pink Coach frames last fall, and a couple months ago I completed a dream of mine. I was able to purchase some Oakley frames for my prescription glasses. I didn’t think it would take so long to get that off of my checklist, but here we were. Now to see if I could track down a watch so I could complete the look… I never thought that the freak storms of late 2023, and early 2024 would end up doing wonders for my mental health. It would cause me to clean up, and organize the hallway, and hallway closet in the apartment so I could have more room for myself. I fixed cabinets, and helped my kid, and wife organize, but neglected making space for my stuff for years. Now I could bring in the rare Japanese game books, comics, and magazines that I had collected through my time in high school, and college. The little things that I kept that made me happy.

A few weeks into 2024 another major storm rolled through. With that more worries about the leaky garage caused me to clean up more space in the apartment, and dig through the garage once more. This time I would bring in the sneakers that I’d been holding onto for a generation. As well as a few other gems. Doing this helped me reconnect with the things I loved. They brought back a flood of memories, and reminded me that I should do things for myself more frequently. It was not healthy to sacrifice for my family, and friends, but never take time for myself. I would get a chance to appreciate the things that I enjoyed, and recharge my mental, and emotional batteries. 

These changes in my priorities rekindled my imagination. They allowed me to share stories with you, and my family that I hadn’t told before. I’ll be sharing more stories in the near future. I hope that everyone reading this has something they are passionate about. I hope you are making time for your interests, and taking care of yourself. Let me know in the comments section if you were a fan of Oakley, or any other company. Tell me what your favorite products from them were. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Disney, the Italian Legacy, part 1 - A 1UP classic from July 10, 2011

In keeping with the recent Disney themes this next series is going to take a look at the ways in which Europe approaches and develops the classic characters in popular media. To narrow down the scope of the series it would be focusing mostly on how Italy handled the Disney universe through Topolino magazine. Topolino was the name of Mickey Mouse in Italy. I had talked about the toys that came with the books in a previous blog. How Italy handles the Disney name and how they have been pushing to keep it relevant for several generations could teach many things to the parent company in the US.

The Italian word for comic book was fumetti, it literally translated to puff of smoke. This was in regards to how the word bubbles in comic books looked like clouds. Topolino was one of the rare western comics to be published in Italy’s pre WWII era. It had been in publication since 1932. Like most other Disney comic licenses the earliest issues were reprints and collections from the west. As demand for everything Mickey Mouse rose so too did the demand for more comics. Within a short amount of time local artists were emulating the Disney style and developing home grown stories to fill in the issues of Topolino.

The artists and writers working on Topolino managed to incorporate the characters from the various Disney animated shorts just as well as characters that appeared in western comics originally. Through the issues they helped entertain and educate audiences on the library of Disney characters and how they interacted and related with each other. The same thing could not be said of many western Disney fans, especially those that were familiar with the cartoons and parks only.

Unless Disney fans in the USA were exposed to the classic comics and rare cartoon appearance then they might not know that the adventurous Moby Duck and the hapless Fethry Duck were part of canon. Or that Fethry was related to Donald Duck even! Their adventures and appearances did not end abruptly in fumetti as they did in the US in the 1970’s. To audiences in Italy the two ducks were every bit as involved in the universe as any of the more famous Disney mascots.

Topolino helped keep these minor characters relevant and developed their identity and appeal among readers. They did so by incorporating them in stories with the more recognizable characters but also by letting them to grow in their own adventures. The types of stories and adventures that the characters were featured in fumetti were becoming as memorable as those featured in the USA comics.

After more than half a century in publication the audience for Topolino had grown exponentially. It was diverse and not solely limited to children. Many Topolino fans were third and fourth generation readers and collectors. The publishers managed to appeal to every age by offering different things to their audience, from short gag comics to longer serials. Although labeled a fumetti Topolino was not considered a comic book as much as a magazine because of how much content was packed into the publication.

Each issue of Topolino was not only filled with comic stories but also interviews and articles on movies, music and events. There were news stories and interviews with popular celebrities. The issues also featured previews and reviews of toys, videogames and electronic gadgets. Puzzles and games were included to entertain younger readers.

The extra content did not end with some puzzles. To help educate younger readers there was often a look at popular careers. For example a few characters from the comic would visit an actual television station and try to find out how the news was put together. Artists would incorporate photographs and create caricatures of real world people to interact with the cartoon icons. They would help explain their careers to audiences. These brief entries in the book gave many artists a chance to showcase their talents in ways that traditional comic formats did not always allow.

The biggest lesson that the fumetti could teach US comic publishers was in how the creators were granted artistic license to explore the Disney universe and present it in a diversity of formats. This liberty to explore and expand on the canon was rarely seen in the USA. Part of the reason was because in the USA comic books, and especially Disney comics, were meant to appeal to children. US comics had to be geared, developed and marketed to children, limiting the scope of stories and characters that could be developed. Fumetti were open to all-ages and could be enjoyed by just about any reader. Similarly in Japan there were manga titles written for adults just as there are for teens and children. Countries like Italy, Brazil and Japan did not have a stigma attached to the medium. They also did not use the business model attached to the Disney comics that the US did.

Characters that had only made a few appearances in US comics had taken starring roles in fumetti. Entirely new characters and canon were explored without Disney fans and purists calling for a boycott to the changes.

For example if a writer for Topolino wanted to feature a young Scrooge McDuck in a flashback story about calcio (Italian for soccer) then they could do just that. He would be running around in a kilt playing against kids in shorts in a neighborhood yard. In the US it would be hard for fans of the Carl Barks canon to accept the visual changes to the character, or to see him cavorting with neighborhood children instead of being dressed shabbily and working towards his first dime.

Each artist working in fumetti was free to explore a style of presentation and cartooning. Some artists had a distinct 2-dimensional style while others featured more convincing 3D forms and shapes. Some were great at the classic style of character art, making figures that looked exactly like those featured in USA comics from the 40’s and 50’s. Others had a more impressionistic stance, with flat and stylized versions if the icons that were definitely not based on the US model sheets.

If Italy were to be ranked globally in the art of comic cartooning based on Topolino and its fumetti offshoots then they would arguably at the top with the US well behind them. The sole publisher of the Disney comic book license in the USA was Kaboom studios, the offshoot of Boom Studios. They had assumed sole ownership of the license from Gladstone and Gemstone publishing. Often times Kaboom and Boom were reprinting older Disney material from the US and Europe and only developing new material from recent Pixar films. The books from Kaboom were marketed mostly to kids but also to the older fans of the Disney Afternoon television series. Some of their best artists like James Silvani and Amy Mebberson were sometimes overlooked by the community simply because of the titles they were working on.

In Italy standout artists like Giuseppe Dalla Santa, Valerio Held, Emilio Urbano and Francesco Guerrini had their own distinct style of cartooning, grounded in the lessons from the US masters. They would develop a stronger following without being labeled as children’s artists. Hints of the Disney animators and cartoonists like Floyd Gottfredson, Ward Kimball and Milt Kahl were present in the styles of the fumetti artists. These artists and subsequent generations developed under a program known as the Disney Academy, founded in Milan in 1993. Aspiring artists were trained in the art of cartooning by senior illustrators and animators. They had a chance to work not only on comics and animation, but also on product design, packaging and advertising as well.

The lessons from the masters of US animation and comic arts were taught at the Academy, their techniques and insights had been dissected, challenged and expanded upon within the pages of Topolino and its sister publications. There was not anything remotely similar in the US comic industry. Western comic book creators were recognized and celebrated in the community for their own contribution to the comic arts but rarely were the Topolino artists acknowledged for their contribution to cartooning. If an artist from the USA were interested in seeing how the cartooning had evolved then they would be better served by going through Topolino than watching the flat Flash-based animation appearing on western television.

Of all the Italian artists, the one who has had the biggest influence on the Italian cartoon style and the one who was most emulated was Giorgio Cavazzano. He was and is very much considered a living legend among cartoonists, to be admired alongside such greats as Carl Barks and Don Rosa. Giorgio got his start in comics at the age of 14 by inking the pages of the original Italian legend Romano Scarpa. He was still in high demand as a cartoonist, only now his work also hung in museums. Many of the current Topolino artists and product designers still borrowed a lot from Mr. Cavazzano's style.

Subscribers of Topolino were treated to collectables and toys in many of the issues. Smaller collectables like puzzles, cards, stamps and coins would come packaged with the fumetti and larger toys would be distributed over several issues. The larger toys would have to be assembled by the readers, which for most young fans was a treat in and of itself.

Many of the larger toys had some sort of battery activated feature. The space ship pictured above for example had working lights and sound effects. It could be separated into three components, a satellite rover, a ship and a command module.

These items or “gadgets” as they were known in Italy did not have to be part of a story. Many were just be based on any part of Disney history. The printed gadgets featured images from the Disney legacy, others were actual figures and models. Some were even crossover designs from multiple Disney sources such as Tron Mickey on a wind up light cycle or Donald Duck in Herbie the Love Bug.

Disney followers in Italy had probably a greater breadth of knowledge of animated characters, comic book creations and classic films because of how often they were referenced in fumetti and via the gadgets.

Italy helped introduce diverse timelines into Disney canon as well. Donald Duck may be seen as secondary to Mickey Mouse in the USA but in Italy he is every bit as important if not more so in the fumetti. Paperino, as Donald was known in Italy had several incarnations. One of the versions of the character, Paperino Paperotto followed the adventures of the young duck and his friends. Very little had ever been written or drawn in the USA on Donald’s childhood. Paperotto had a distinct visual style and even purpose in Disney canon. The character and his adventures were far more than a generic "Disney Babies” series. His hi-jinx stories were very sincere and the artists and writers worked hard to respect Disney continuity and as such they were accepted by fans.

While these whimsical stories were meant for younger audiences they were balanced out by the more adventurous stories of Paperinik, the superhero alter ego of the adult Donald Duck.

Italian fans got tired of seeing Donald treated as a perpetual loser in the translated stories from the US. When the chance arose to create an original story they gave Paperino an alias that was far more heroic and adventurous than even Mickey Mouse. Paperinik was not unlike Batman in that the character relied on his guile and an array of gadgets to defeat a rogues gallery. Paperinik, the Duck Avenger in English-speaking countries and Papernika, the super alter ego of Daisy, had many colorful adventures over the years. The duo and other super-hero retellings of the icons had now been part of Disney comic canon for over 40 years.

Both Paperino Paperotto and Paperinik demonstrated that the Italians were capable of taking classic characters into bold new directions and make them popular with the community. They also showed that the community would not be offended if changes to an iconic character were made, so long as the spirit of the original character were not compromised. Paperotto and Paperinik never crossed the line to make them anything other than Donald in a new form, the personality and temperament of Donald Duck still shown through the artistic facelift. The idea of remaking the Disney icons would be met by a collective groan from US cartoon fans.

It usually meant that a producer with absolutely no artistic background was trying to remake the icons to fit a marketing trend. Characters would be dressed in street wear, try to speak hip and interact as if they were on a sitcom instead of looking or acting like their namesake characters. Worse the adventures or even shorter sincere stories featured in the classic cartoons or comics would be missed entirely. Take for example the Quack Pack cartoon as a “hip” version of DuckTales series. Thankfully the Italian creators did not seem to suffer from the same sense of creative amnesia. The next blog will explore the differences in canon enjoyed by the Italians in the pages of Topolino. Please return for that.

As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Dressing up familiar faces for Halloween - A 1UP classic from October 8, 2010

I’m sure you are getting into the holiday spirit. Halloween is around the corner and all of the stores are putting out the displays and getting people primed on the holiday. I’ve been on a Disney kick this past year and am pleased to share the changes that the park has done for the season. Some of my pictures are posted on JimHillMedia.com, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

It’s unique the approach that the parks in the USA have compared to the parks overseas, in particular the Disney parks in Japan. Each park goes through a makeover on Main Street and a major marketing push as well. Autumnal colors, pumpkins and miscellaneous ghosts and goblins can be found all over the park.

Both parks have a distinct take on the Halloween themes. If you think about it a moment, how do the Japanese view the western holiday? It’s changed a tremendous amount in the West since the Christian and Celtic traditions of All Hollow’s Eve became a candy and costume cash-cow for retailers. It’s easy to see that Japan is adapting the popular concept of Halloween for their parks rather than observing any ancient traditions. Popular characters are now presented in costumes, not so much with the Universal monsters that are recognized here (Frankenstein’s monster, the Wolf Man and Dracula) but instead shades of orange and purple in a Victorian tuxedo and top coat with a slight twinge of the mysterious.

Tokyo Disney Resort over the holidays has many of the same things featured in the parks in the USA. Such as trick-or-treating for families, where guests can show up in costume, as well as parades and events set in the holiday theme on top of changes made to certain attractions. The visual style that Japan has in contrast to the Halloween Time at Disney in the USA becomes apparent the more you go over the web sites and art direction posted in both sites.

As if the differences between Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland weren’t distinct enough, there is another layer of originality with the visual style of the holiday at Tokyo’s Disney Sea park. At that park the characters are popular characters are presented with the theme of a Victorian (almost Romantic-era) Masquerade Ball. Mickey Mouse for example is not the vampire that he is presented in the USA during the holiday nor is he dapper Halloween gentleman from Tokyo Disneyland. Instead he is a masked brother-at-arms, looking quite dashing with his cape and tri-corner hat.

The other characters are also themed accordingly, with the masquerade ball costuming being added to them, sharing nothing in common with the other Tokyo park or Disneyland and Disney World in the USA, while still respecting the legacy and design of the classic characters.

As an artist and designer I have fun taking a look at and learning from the differences between the parks and the aesthetics that they have with the familiar characters. Of course the goal is to someday be able to take the family to the various parks to experience the holidays in person (and to get some unique items as well!) and not spend so much time writing and wishing about it.

What do you enjoy best about Halloween? Are you already planning a costume choice or decorating for a haunted house or party? Tell us about it and have a great weekend. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

The wildest designers in the west worked at Oakley

The previous Friday I talked about how much I loved sneakers, even though I didn’t really own too many pairs. This was mostly because they were difficult to find in my size. To me sneakers represented more than culture, or fashion. They were literally a part of my identity. They greatly influenced my art, sense of color, and design. Having the money, and ability to order pairs for myself while in college was liberating. A lifetime ago it wasn’t the only thing that really set my imagination on fire. In the ‘90s there was one company that I was obsessed with even though I never owned any of their products. Oakley was the only California business that I thought could outdo Apple in the design department. Apple was, and remains one of the best ever, but back in the day Oakley was designing products for aliens, not humans. For example take a look at the Medusa, and the Over the Top sunglasses.

Oakley had no problem challenging the status quo in the late ‘90s. They were not counter-culture, they were inventing their own culture. There was a reason to their madness. They were one of the few companies that supported action sports athletes before the X-Games made them household names. They were making products for racers, BMX, skiers, skaters, motocross, and other action pioneers before the major brands jumped on the bandwagon. This was because the company was founded by making grips for dirt bikes in the mid ‘70s. They understood that not every athlete practiced traditional sports. They needed functional products that matched their sometimes outrageous personalities. With the case of the Medusa, and Over the Top they wanted the industry to know that nobody had the creative freedom that they did. This wild headgear actually had a story.

A number of the most radical inventions from Oakley in the late ‘90s / early ‘00s was more than form over function. For example the Medusa started off as the head gear for a pro drag racer named Scotty Cannon. It was designed in part to look like the old leather skull caps there were worn by pilots during World War I. The added tentacles made it far more menacing, not unlike the braids worn by the alien Predators from the Schwarzenegger movie. The retail version was, and remains one of the most expensive products in their catalog. A complete set, skullcap plus goggles could run you over $2,000 today. This was not however the original look of the Medusa. In fact the material that the studio used wasn’t leather the first time around. The skullcap, and goggles were made of flame resistant fabric, and the lenses were integrated. They could not be removed. You might ask yourself what type of person would wear something that outlandish?

Scotty Cannon was a champion caliber drag racer that competed in the IHRA (International Hot Rod Association), and NHRA (National Hot Rod Association). Racing at over 300mph could be dangerous. The engines capable of generating more than 10,000 horsepower could explode in the middle of a race. Drivers had to wear flame resistant material, and a helmet to stay safe. Even in the pit area most of the crew wore flame resistant masks while working on the cars. Mr. Cannon’s headgear was actually following the vein of safety. The driver himself had a big personality, and was known for being outspoken about racing politics while competing in the NHRA, which was the most popular drag racing league in the USA. Oakley seemed to be a perfect fit for the attention grabbing racer. Mr. Cannon challenged the status quo, especially the most popular drivers at the time. He backed up his words with wins. This meant he was iced out of the NHRA for speaking his mind. Oakley not only designed the radical paint jobs on Scotty’s top fuel funny car, they made sure to kit him in equally radical head gear. Mr. Cannon had been sporting a Mohawk haircut on-and-off for years. The Over the Top sunglasses were designed to fit without putting pressure on the temples, or ears like traditional frames. For Scotty they not only fit over his head, the gap in the middle seemed made just for his Mohawk. They got a lot of attention at the track, and wherever they turned up in athletic stores. I remember seeing the frames while visiting a Foot Locker. They were insanely cool, and quite pricey.

The various sunglasses that put the company on the map were one thing, but then they let their mad scientists loose on other products. Some of their boldest designs were for time pieces. I’m a big fan of industrial design. Looking at the steel, and titanium watches made me think they were created for visitors from another planet, or possibly our future robot overlords. I’m not going to lie, I was insanely jealous of everything coming out of the company. Their design team very much sung to all of my interests. They were unlike any other studio out there. When they went into a product design they went in hard. Even when it came to marketing they were super bold. They were not simply letting some ad company put together their message, they told their own story. For example when other drag racers had cars covered in hundreds of sponsor stickers Oakley stood out with one massive in-your-face paint job on their funny cars. This definitely got people talking.

There were a few downsides to all of these radical designs. The first was the price. Oakley was (at the time) a small company, they not only designed their own products, but they also did their own R&D, marketing, and manufacturing. This ensured an insanely high level of quality control. The cost of this was not cheap, and neither were the prices of their items. This was especially true for their watches, and also for their sunglasses. The other down side for me was that I was very nearsighted. I needed a strong prescription, and couldn’t just buy any sunglasses off the shelf. In later years Oakley would offer frames at the optometrist, but at the peak of their extreme designs I simply couldn’t afford any products. This didn’t stop me from lusting after them. Whenever I needed inspiration I knew that I could go through my sneaker books for ideas, or even better yet could pour over the Oakley ads in various magazines. Then as if the universe was mocking me I saw that the company started making sneakers as well. It felt like my heart had been ripped out.

For the first time in my life I started making decent money, and was buying a few sneakers on sale through the Eastbay catalog. This undid years of self-neglect, and made me feel like I was a regular person. All of a sudden I felt like an outcast again. It was a return to my formative years in middle school when I couldn’t wear the skate shoes I wanted because my feet were too big. Only instead of not being able to find Airwalks in my size, the Oakley sneakers that went even harder were perpetually out of reach. Each new release looked bolder than the last. Even when it came to sandals, and golf shoes the company simply could not miss. As if to add insult to injury my older brother bought a few Oakley watches, and ended up buying a few pair of sneakers because he had an average height, and shoe size. He did tell me that he felt sorry when he bought them because he knew how much I loved their look.

When I say I’m a sneaker head I mean that I even pay attention to the shoes that characters wear in comics. I would often point them out to my brothers. One of the reasons my big brother, and I were both drawn to the Oakley brand was because they looked like something out of a comic book. To be more specific they looked like they were ripped from the pages of a manga; Appleseed by Masamune Shirow. I considered Mr. Shirow to be one of the greatest designers of a generation. His mangas were all fantastic works of art. Appleseed, Orion, Ghost in the Shell, and Dominion: Tank Police were highly influential to me. He was not only a great storyteller, and artist, when it came to design there was nobody that could match him. He was a one man Oakley design department years before they got into fashion. The guns, knives, and armor Mr. Shirow created in the late ‘80s would eventually be copied by actual arms manufacturers a decade later. He understood both form, and function with everything he created. He was simply that damn good at his job.

One of the things I especially loved in his books were the shoes that the characters wore. Can you recall any comic artist that went out of their way to design original shoes? Nobody made footwear that were as brutal as those in Appleseed. Whether the character was an engineer, cop, politician, cyborg, or mercenary, they all had some unique footwear. Every fit matched the personality for the character, especially the ESWAT officers, and stars of the series. The boots worn by Briaeros Hecatonchires, and Deunan Knute were the hardest footwear I’d ever seen. They looked like they could chew through concrete. The footwear that Oakley put together looked like they had been pulled from the pages of Appleseed.

As if I wasn’t already a fan of the company I was absolutely smitten with their new sneakers. The downside was that their biggest sizes at the time (and to this day) were 14 US. That was fine for my younger brother, who was almost as tall as me, and wore size 14 sneakers. I was simping hard for a company that had locked me out. As I said a moment ago, it was jr. high school rejection all over again. I felt like an outsider to a culture that I was obsessed with. Things changed a couple years into the 2000’s. I’ll talk about it more in a future blog. Were you a fan of Oakley, or the designs from any other company? I’d like to read about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Fireball Island meets Drake's Fortune?! - A 1UP classic from September 4, 2008

Heya friends, what's going on over there? Work is work for me. Don't have much down time so I have to keep these blogs short. The theme for the day is what board game do you think would be perfect for a videogame? Or rather, what board game could you adapt into a videogame that isn't as crappy as most board-game-to-console releases. In my book the greatest board game of all-time, Fireball Island, would make for a perfect videogame because it is filled with much awesomeness. What, you've never heard of this game? Have you been living in a cave? 

Those in the know, like my brothers and friends, know how epic a game Milton Bradley's Fireball Island is. X-Entertainment loves the game and for good reason. It follows several traditional board game conventions, follow a path on the board, collect and item and be the first to finish the path. Along the way you can find shortcuts and your rivals can use bonus cards to slow you down. What makes this game far superior to every other board game is the addition of a 3D raised playing field. The paths on the island sloped and curved and allowed for the red marble "fireballs" to bowl players over.

Unfortunately Fireball Island never ranked high on Board Game Geek. I guess their standards were too high, or they were split on the criteria for the board game experience. After all, on a scale of 1-10, no game has ever topped an 8. Board games have been around for centuries and there isn't a 9 or a 10 among them? Please! Fireball Island is a 10 in my book.

At least the good people at RetroJunk ranks it as the #1 board game from the 80's. The themes of being an adventurer on a lost island, looking for the giant ruby of Vul-Kar and making it out before your rivals can steal the jewel is not only great for a board game but defines a good action movie, novel and even videogame.

The game industry settles for licensed adaptations of a board game and they are always slow and boring (think Jenga). I'd bring Fireball Island to life by combining that game with Drake's Fortune. Sure it could make for a great sequel but it could also make for an epic multiplayer adventure. Nathan Drake and his rivals all chasing the same treasure would be all the more intense in an island where enormous fireballs chase them through labyrinths and along narrow cliffs.

Throw in some giant snakes, lost tribes and plenty of booby traps and power ups and Drake's Fireball Island would become a hint! Don't you agree? What about you? Any favorite board games that you'd like to turn into a videogame?

As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!