iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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 · 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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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 25/08/2026

Verdict: that’s gonna have to do

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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 20/08/2026

I was firing on all cylinders with this 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 · 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 games

Closer-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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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 · 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.

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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.

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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 04/07/2026

For the afternoon crowd: there's more to this newsletter than the greatest/worst hero image of all time, there's also the pressing question of what qualifies as a "270 out"

Screengrab of Juni Kang beginning his 270 out of a nollie-backside-270-heelflip-boardslide, with over 180 degrees of that 270 out spent with all four wheels on the ground.

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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 01/07/2026

Content endgame: Guys on a video podcast not knowing the basic facts of their topic of discussion and referencing an AI summary of your work mid-show

Screengrab from a podcast feature guys reading a Google AI summary of various articles, some from Simple Magic

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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 29/06/2026

Sundays are for sloppin around

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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 26/06/2026

Checking in on the job market

LinkedIn screengrab of job post that reads:

Operational Details

• Location: Fully Remote.
• Schedule: On-call 7 days a week (Requires high flexibility to align with real-time product
shipping windows and global engagement surges).
• Payment: All compensation is processed in digital assets (USDC/USDT)

Job post for Technical Writer at Raytheon, lol

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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 10/06/2026

Ethical switch frontside rock

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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 03/06/2026

History doesn’t repeat itself, it looms menacingly

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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 21/05/2026

Tony Hawk is investing in a new MMA league. Sure, why not. www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus...

Is the mixed martial arts world ready for a new global challenger? Former Bellator boss and Strikeforce founder Scott Coker thinks so, and so does a group of strategic investors across sports, media, technology and finance providing $60 million in financial backing. So, TKO Group’s UFC, led by Dana White, and Bellator MMA will want to watch out.

After nearly four decades shaping the global combat sports landscape, Coker is back to lead a new MMA league venture with funding led by investment firm Creator Sports Capital and participation from Griffin Gaming Partners and others. Additional investors include Upper Deck; Steve Kaplan, owner of D.C. United and co-founder of Oaktree Capital; Swimmy Minami, founder of Visional and a limited partner of the New York Yankees; skateboarding legend Tony Hawk; former Fortress Investment Group vice-chairman Dean Dakolias; and others, “including several with ownership stakes in both the NFL and NBA,” according to the founders.

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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 08/05/2026

I mean, just look at this curb.

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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 05/05/2026

Street League has started giving AI-generated YouTube Face to the skateboarders featured in their video thumbnails.

Screen grab of SLS YouTube video thumbnail featuring AI-generated YouTube Face reactions from Aurélien Giraud and Nyjah Huston.

Screen grab of SLS YouTube video thumbnail featuring an AI-generated YouTube Face reaction from Gustavo Ribeiro.

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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 01/05/2026

For the afternoon crowd: Thom's dispatch from London is full of good questions, answers, and celebrity cameos.

The why is the part of skateurbanism that a lot of us are familiar with. The lobbying of the municipality and campaigning for skateboarding to be allowed, preserved, or even designed for, in public spaces. Panellists Gustav Eden and Iain Borden have sat in rooms like this before advocating for skateboarding to councillors, city planners, residents and architects, and they have honed their presentations.

Borden’s central premise is that skateboarding doesn’t provide answers; it asks questions. It is a critique of the passive experience of cities. He flips the question on its head; rather than having to set out the value of skateboarding, skateboarding questions the value of everything else. What is architecture? Who are cities for? What do we even mean by value?

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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 17/04/2026

Reposting for all the new adherents of Worm Theory.

Within each one of us is a worm. Hungry and wriggling, mostly allegorical, it burrows into those lumpy, tender, and coercive parts of the prefrontal cortex that, if nuzzled against, pressed upon, or nibbled in such a way, will drive a person to take things further. Incrementally, and then if given enough leash, to the extreme.

Don't be put off by such a vision. Ambition is a daemon, slimy and segmented. Without the worm, nothing would get done. Scientific breakthroughs, the courage to start a small business or ask your crush out for coffee, Sha'Carri Richardson pushing past the rest of the field for gold, the collective effort required to take a lap around the moon — worm.

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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 10/04/2026

For the afternoon crowd: hot goss

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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 10/04/2026

This week, we're feeling feelings about Antwuan Dixon, space travel, new skateboarding tricks, and more. www.simplemagic.ca/the-setting-...

Photoshopped graphic of the Earth setting behind a giant Spitfire Formula 4 wheel as the Artemis spacecraft floats in front.

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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 04/04/2026

Happy to be back in @thetyee.ca this weekend with a piece about enjoying sports, not enjoying the deleterious effect sports gambling is having on most everything, and really enjoying David Macfarlane’s new book “On Sports.” Thanks to @jackie-wong.bsky.social for the supreme edits, as per usual.

Screengrab of UFC broadcast featuring Danny Silva surrounded by a bet365 ad.

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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 20/03/2026

For the afternoon crowd: a lil blog about how I became cursed by this signed Brady Tkachuk Ottawa Senators jersey.

A signed Brady Tkachuk Ottawa Senators jersey draped over an electrical box.

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Cole Nowicki @colenowicki.com · 13/03/2026

Apparently, the Skate Board Association and its parent company IDM (I Don't Miss, lol) are partnering with the Big Bear, California, tourism bureau to open the "IDM Arena." This is the AI-generated concept art they presented during a local news hit. youtu.be/dtH4nmC77qg?...