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Cole Nowicki

@colenowicki.com
727 followers 516 following 1K posts

Wrote some books, publish others. colenowicki.com A weekly newsletter about skateboarding, the internet, and other means of escape: simplemagic.ca

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Reposted by Cole Nowicki
Michelle Cyca @michellecyca.com · 29/09/2026
huge victory for DULF — also a great day to support @defactomedia.ca which has excellent coverage of this case
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José Vadi @vadiparty.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
new for Simple Magic ✨ thanks @colenowicki.com !!
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 25/09/2026
This week: @vadiparty.bsky.social on skateboarding in a world whose climate is changing at a frightening clip, I ask if a skateboarding trick can be patented, propose that Plan B is the Boston Celtics of skateboarding, and more. www.simplemagic.ca/natty-nar/
simplemagic.ca
Natty 'Nar
José Vadi on damp climes, Alexis Lacroix skates cold climes, patently piping it, Plan B = Boston Celtics(?), and more.
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 25/09/2026
I had a nice chat with Lau Willems for the latest issue of Thrasher (Video via Lau on IG: www.instagram.com/p/DdrwfxwFCTD/)
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 23/09/2026
The rare attacked ad
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 23/09/2026
The inaugural issue of SAUCE, "A DIY journal dedicated to the cultural, social, aesthetic, and athletic contributions of skateboarding," is now live. Stoked to work on this with such a talented, smart group of people. www.saucejournal.org/issues/issue...
saucejournal.org
Issue 1: Magical, Realism
Welcome to the inaugural issue of SAUCE, a journal for skate studies. Skate studies is a field of serious academic research that covers the activities, cultures, and institutions of skateboarding, av...
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Erin Fogg says Free Link @criminalerin.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Tired: Manmade child annihilating zipline beyond physics comprehension Wired: Grok maims a man on a halfpipe then gets him fired, patent advice sought
From r/legal advice:

I used AI to invent a new skateboard trick that coworker tried & he got hurt. Can he sue me?

My coworker & I were using Grok to generate new types of skateboard tricks that have never been done and I used Grok AI to discover a new trick called a “Pipe It,” which is kind of like skating down a halfpipe but using the AI to calculate the physics and angles, we can go a lot steeper when dropping in. We watch a lot of skate videos on our phone during breaks, so we decided to do a type of skate video with new tricks. 

Grok made up this skateboard trick & I told it to be very careful and use science/physics to make sure that it was as cool as possible but also realistic. Basically, a Pipe It is taking a long 2x4 and placing it up against a wall (like 7 ft tall) and sliding down the wood board using the skateboard with the wheels on either side of the 2x4, kind of like grinding Tony Hawk video game style, but straight down. Grok said it would be possible to pop off the board at the last minute to land & that this would have been a brand new trick. 

Anyways, my coworker tried it in the parking lot during our lunch break at work but immediately fell face first into the floor and busted his nose. He had already gotten written up before, so he couldn’t leave in the middle of the day to change, so when we tried to go back in with blood everywhere our boss got mad and told him to go home  maybe he could get called back in for another shift). He hasn’t gotten called back so I think he’s fired.

Now my coworker is saying that the Pipe-It is my fault & he’s going to sue me. Can he do that? even if he can, it’s not my fault because I told Grok to be as safe as possible and to make sure that the Pipe-It was realistic. Basically, he did the trick wrong and is mad that he couldn't do it and that he lost his job. Can I get in trouble? Also, sorry if I can't combine questions, but can I patent the Pipe It so Grok or he can't steal it now that we're fighting?
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 22/09/2026
Trying out an audio edition of the newsletter. You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify (might still be processing), and wherever else you listen to stuff. rss.com/podcasts/sim...
rss.com
Simple Magic Audio Companion | Podcast on RSS.com
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 19/09/2026
Also, this month marks five years of writing this newsletter each week. Sincere thanks to everyone who reads, subscribes, shares, contributes to, and supports Simple Magic. Means a lot.
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Jeremy Appel 🍉 @readtheorchard.org · 18/09/2026
NEW: For @macleans.bsky.social, I wrote about how Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is fusing corporate and state power to help build what I call the New Authoritarianism. macleans.ca/politics/dan...
macleans.ca
Danielle Smith Is Putting Alberta Up for Sale - Macleans.ca
The corporate lobbyist-turned-premier is letting the private sector run the government
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 18/09/2026
A supersized newsletter: Grant Yansura on the new WKND video that premieres tonight, in person and for $5 online in The Den, and the challenge of changing consumer habits. Carter Spinks chats about his latest full-length project, Tactics now sells MTG, and more. www.simplemagic.ca/uncs-jits-og...
simplemagic.ca
UNCs, JITs, OGs, and Young Fellas
Grant Yansura talks WKND Skateboards' "UNC" and their premiere approach, Carter Spinks on his latest, "OG and Young Fella," plus, can you get free grip at Tactics Card Shop, an anniversary, and more.
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 11/09/2026
This week, the guillotine sits patient and poised above Converse CONS, people are being weird about the new Nora video part, I deliver some high-potency whinging about Things These Days, and more. www.simplemagic.ca/fate-as-a-fi...
simplemagic.ca
Fate as a fixture
Converse CONS feels the sharp edge of "restructuring," Nora Vasconcellos' "Gilda," a dissolution of the Social Volume Contract, and more.
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 11/09/2026
This week, the guillotine sits patient and poised above Converse CONS, people are being weird about the new Nora video part, I deliver some high-potency whinging about Things These Days, and more. www.simplemagic.ca/fate-as-a-fi...
simplemagic.ca
Fate as a fixture
Converse CONS feels the sharp edge of "restructuring," Nora Vasconcellos' "Gilda," a dissolution of the Social Volume Contract, and more.
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 06/09/2026
Sunny Sunday + sunflowers
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 05/09/2026
Reposting for those who are also curious if it's an ethics violation for the mayor of a mid-sized American city to use their status as a public servant to promote their private interest, three-day, $10k business course
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 04/09/2026
This week: I attended Mikey Taylor's "free training session" for business "operators," plus some reminiscing about jump ramps and some appreciation of the incredible Asahi Kaihara. www.simplemagic.ca/ramped-up/
simplemagic.ca
Ramped up
The magic of a homemade jump ramp, it's just $9,997 to use Mikey Taylor's Exit Ramp, Asahi Kaihara's ramp magic, and more.
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José Vadi @vadiparty.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
new blog on Balam Acab, anxiety at shows, and the Etnies video ::: josevadi.com/02-balam-aca... big thanks @colenowicki.com for the editorial support ✨
josevadi.com
Balam Acab in “PROMO” by Etnies
Blog 02 – August 31, 2026I saw Balam Acab, the musical identity of Alec Jeffrey Koone, live in San Francisco at the height of the so-called witch-house movement, on December 17, 2011, at Publ…
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Mostly Skateboarding @mostlyskate.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
The etnies promo and Cole Nowicki’s Simple Magic are this week’s topics on the Mostly Skateboarding Podcast with @mmunzenrider.bsky.social, Templeton, and @colenowicki.com. Listen on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or at the link below. www.mostlyskateboarding.net/2026/08/etni...
mostlyskateboarding.net
etnies Promo and Simple Magic With Cole Nowicki. August 30, 2026. Mostly Skateboarding Podcast.
This week, Templeton Elliott, and Mike Minzenrider are joined by Cole Nowicki to talk about the etnies Promo and Cole's newsletter, Simple...
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 28/08/2026
This week, Etnies is switching things up at 40 years old, I go shopping at my locally owned Home Hardware franchise, a spell of Remembering Some Guys, thoughts on going Double Tables, and more. www.simplemagic.ca/fantasy-appr...
simplemagic.ca
Fantasy approaches reality
Etnies PROMOtes themselves well, I'm in love with my local hardware store, the raw pleasures of the feed, Jake Hayes goes Double Tables, and more.
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 25/08/2026
Verdict: that’s gonna have to do
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 21/08/2026
For those who prefer to read their morning newsletters in the afternoon
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Reposted by Cole Nowicki
Ian Boudreau @ianboudreau.com · 21/08/2026
A default Sim right before I tell him to go swimming and delete the pool ladder after he gets in
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 21/08/2026
This week: people are confused and lusting after an AI skateboarder, Leo Romero has been focused and grinding big rails for a quarter century, DVS looks backwards to its future, the Skate Board Association stalls, and more. www.simplemagic.ca/tunnel-visio...
simplemagic.ca
Tunnel visions
Leo Romero, you beautiful bastard. Also, checking in on the Skate Board Association, some thoughts on moving house, moving backwards in time, and being moved by AI.
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 20/08/2026
I was firing on all cylinders with this guy
Childhood sketch of a weird little guy
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 20/08/2026
Flipping through a sketchbook I had as kid. Concerning but also pretty awesome
Childhood sketch of a hand with wounds and a little knife sticking out of it titled “My left nitmer hand.”Childhood sketch of a bloody battle(?) happening at the North Pole
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 14/08/2026
This week, @farrangolding.bsky.social reports on the potential of a big ol' beautiful slab of concrete www.simplemagic.ca/a-great-leve...
simplemagic.ca
A great leveller
Farran Golding on reconsidering the skatepark, changing your approach, and embracing the MUSKA.
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 09/08/2026
I love the idea of Ryan Sheckler being such a fan of how "convenient" LegacyCasino is that he just had to team up with them and post this AI-generated ad
Close-up shot of Ryan Sheckler's sketchy online casino Instagram ad with stilted text that explains how much he likes playing the casino gamesCloser-up shot of Ryan Sheckler's AI-generated face in his sketchy online casino Instagram ad
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 09/08/2026
The people are united in their hatred for sketchy online casinos and the bozos who promote them
Ryan Sheckler promoting a sketchy online casino on Instagram with fans in the comments criticizing him heavily.Chris Joslin promoting a sketchy online casino on Instagram with fans in the comments criticizing him heavily.Nyjah Huston promoting a sketchy online casino on Instagram with fans in the comments criticizing him heavily.
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Mike Costello @buffplankchest.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
The Google Maps reviews of this prefab piece of shit park is filled with pictures of dudes demonstrating how uneven and jank the obstacles are, and it's probably the funniest skateboard-related thing I've ever seen. 😂
Skaters pretending to slam to demonstrate how bad and uneven the obstacles are in a poorly made early 2000's skatepark in Hooksett, New Hampshire.A skater pretending to be completely folded by a shitty prefab skatepark ramp. He explains in his review: "The transitions are awful, no roll up for anything, nowhere good to skate flatground"
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John Saward @rbuas.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Wrote about James Gandolfini for The Small Bow www.thesmallbow.com/p/eulogy-jam...
thesmallbow.com
Eulogy: James Gandolfini
“He’s drinking more, not just some rowdy nights but something closer to gone, way out there, disappearing for longer and longer.”
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 07/08/2026
Pleased to be in Hell World today with an essay that also features some photos I took that have been sitting on a hard drive since 2009
A colleague wearing a cardboard mask we found in the pile on his head
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 07/08/2026
It takes about the same amount of time to grind a 300' flatbar as it does to read this newsletter (I assume, I've never done the former)
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 07/08/2026
This week, rails lost, rails long, jobs kept, and jobs promoted. www.simplemagic.ca/here-lies-an...
simplemagic.ca
Here lies another, much longer rail
Winnipeg mourns the Woodsworth rail, a race for the longest 50-50 on a round rail, Lakai and/or die, Toby Ryan is PRO, and more.
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 07/08/2026
Pleased to be in Hell World today with an essay that also features some photos I took that have been sitting on a hard drive since 2009
A colleague wearing a cardboard mask we found in the pile on his head
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Reposted by Cole Nowicki
Luke O'Neil @lukeoneil47.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
"A few weeks back I scrolled past a 'technical writer' job at Raytheon on LinkedIn and found it refreshing to come across a straightforwardly evil company, one upfront in its designs." www.welcometohellworld.com/i-felt-clean...
In the months since, I’ve been back to freelancing with an eye on the job market. The latter is not looking great. If a copywriting or “content marketing” role happens to advertise a living wage in prohibitively expensive Vancouver, it’s a rarity for it not to demand “fluency in AI,” whatever the fuck that actually means. I’ve clicked on dozens of “writer” roles at legitimate businesses that were actually gigs to handhold LLMs toward some semblance of humanity. 

It’s not just the baffling job postings; the leaders of some of the largest tech companies in Canada are giddily rushing to the right, Muskism, and its most exploitative tendencies. Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke recently mused about disenfranchising the poor, calling it a “good system” that a greater share of the vote goes to the wealthy. Wealthsimple, a fintech company with an award-winning financial newsletter whose team I once fired off a resume to, just successfully lobbied the Canadian government to approve their own prediction market. A few weeks back I scrolled past a “technical writer” job at Raytheon on LinkedIn and found it refreshing to come across a straightforwardly evil company, one upfront in its designs.
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Luke O'Neil @lukeoneil47.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Today @colenowicki.com writes from Canada on their tech industry's cooperation with ICE, the indignities of working in the digital content dump (and at the literal garbage dump), and how "A.I." is making everyone's job prospects somehow even worse. www.welcometohellworld.com/i-felt-clean...
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Kyle Beachy @kylebeachy.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Heyo! I've got two classes starting this month at Lighthouse Writers Workshop, and both have space. Please share liberally, if you're inclined, thank you.
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José Vadi @vadiparty.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
“Is a crypto-pilled NFL also-ran reality show star-cum-entreprenuer the best person to lead the "future of [action] sport"? One who proudly takes money from predatory grifters and promotes their products?”
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 31/07/2026
I love this quote from the VP of the private equity firm that owns X Games Club New York, who claims they built a proprietary LLM to tell them to draft Ginwoo Onodera, Chloe Covell, and Nyjah Huston.
It started a few months ago when we heard about the opportunity. X Games was moving to a Formula 1–style league format, and teams were up for sale.
 
We knew X Games was the name synonymous with action sports — but we wanted to make sure we weren't just trusting our own bias. So we ran the research, did the diligence, and built conviction from there.
 
Fast forward, and we've taken that thesis from investment to an inaugural season championship. Roster formation. Proprietary LLMs built to draft the most performance-oriented team on the board. Supercharging an already powerful New York brand.
 
And this is only the beginning.
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 31/07/2026
This week, the CEO of the MoonPay X Games League says that the MoonPay X Games League "proved that action sports can evolve without losing its soul." www.simplemagic.ca/soul-leaves-...
simplemagic.ca
Soul leaves body
A trip to Adjacent, MoonPay X Games League concludes its Summer Season, MoonPay X Games League establishes its vision of the future of sports, and more.
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 24/07/2026
A repost for those in the afternoon
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 24/07/2026
This week, some creatives swings, swings at relevancy, swings of a hammer, and a homer (me for Diego Todd) www.simplemagic.ca/this-carpent...
simplemagic.ca
This Carpenter's Talent Takes a WILD Turn!
Diego Todd plays in traffic; Mystery Skateboards is a, well, mystery; King Skateboards gets sloppy; ManRamp auditions, and more.
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 18/07/2026
For the late afternooners: Pope quotes and tricks that float
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 17/07/2026
The primary theme of this week's skateboarding newsletter: faith www.simplemagic.ca/if-you-get-b...
simplemagic.ca
If you get birdies, you're flying
Jace De Tomasso soars, Ryan Sheckler stars in an anti-child trafficking motion picture, SLS becomes irredeemable, Primitive does GOOD collab, and more.
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 16/07/2026
Old clip Thursday: more drop than two-block. ‘05, maybe ‘06.
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 13/07/2026
Checking in on the job market again
Job post for a "Creative Writing & Content Expert" that reads: 

Do you love to write? At TELUS Digital, we are teaching Al to speak with the heart and nuance of a human. As a Writing Specialist, you are the "Voice" of the Al. Your job is to take robotic text and turn it into something that sounds natural, professional, and culturally relevant.Job post for a Novelist at ChatGPT JobsJob post that reads:

Change.org is searching for a Communications Specialist to expand the Change.org. brand through earned media in French-language and conservative media markets by creating new relationships with French-language and centre-right media outlets and activating petition campaigns that are of interest to francophone and conservative audiences.
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 10/07/2026
For the afternoon crowd: a bit of a freewheeling dispatch
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 10/07/2026
This week, I had a great time watching the new Polar vid, David Reyes does it big for what might be his 7th or 8th board sponsor, the Dern Bros. are on the Zumiez rack, my cousin is on the podium at the Calgary Stampede, and more. www.simplemagic.ca/a-free-assoc...
simplemagic.ca
A free associative review
Let the new Polar video wash over you, David Reyes has been doing this a long time, Dern Bros. merch is now available in select Zumiez stores, is this skateboarding? Vol. 57, and more.
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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 08/07/2026
Tonight I nearly finished this skateboarding-related book proposal I’ve been working on, but got distracted trying to find a skate spot on google maps
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Olivier Jutel 🇵🇸 @ojutel.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Love to be on my pal @colenowicki.com 's blog alongside news of Palace's 313 video www.simplemagic.ca/turns-out-it...
simplemagic.ca
Turns out it's banging
Seven years in Detroit with Palace, Chloe Covell dominates, Juni Kang wows at MoonPay X Games League Monster Energy Men's Skateboard Street Best Trick, Alec Majerus continues, and more.
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