Nike have released a new Koston Lunarlon commercial called ‘Mr. Control it all’ featuring Sean Malto, Justin Brock and Koston. It’s pretty amazing – some great skating in it… I’m guessing that the cheesy, slightly awkward acting is deliberate. Anyone confirm that? Worth a watch – check it out below!

Kate Upton is on a mission in action sports at the moment. After last weeks appearance in this banned commercial for Zoo York, this week Skullcandy announced that she is the first signing to their supermodel crew. “I’m looking forward to working with the R&D team on developing some really amazing new and innovative technologies. I’ve got some ideas around some closed back designs to assist with noise attenuation – it’s not something I’ve seen …

This commercial for Zoo York was apparently banned… Not sure if it was a language or sexy-content issue, but it features model Kate Upton as well as the voices of Giovanni Reda and Felix Arguelles. I actually think this is pretty rad.

Fantasy Factory is coming back for season five and they’ve released a trailer. Looks like it’s going to be pretty funny – has anyone been watching this? Thoughts?

I have a couple of friends involved in this project and I wanted to post it up so you can all check it out… Corona are launching a project called La Casa. It is basically an artist residency program and will feature the likes of Art vs Science, Emma Louise, Washington, Krash and Donavon Frankenreiter. Taylor Steele is going to be shooting the content and posting it up on lacasa.net.au. Check the promo clip below.

Billabong has rejected an increased take over offer from private equity firm, TPG. The company increased the offer to $3.30 a share despite a partial sale of Nixon but key shareholders said that they weren’t interested for anything under $4 a share. The new offer valued Billabong at $841.8 million which is a long way from highs of 2007 when it was worth more like $3.84 billion. We’ve covered …

Mambo held a party with the beautiful Erin McNaught who featured in issue 18 of the magazine. Lifewithoutandy were there to capture the evening for us – check a few shots from the night above!

Billabong put its shares into a trading halt yesterday based on an upcoming announcement from a strategic review they had been doing. That announcement has just happened and according to Business Spectator, the company plans to sell just below half of Nixon to a private equity firm, close between 100 and 150 stores worldwide and lay off 400 staff (around 80 in Australia) beginning in 2013. Billabong shares were …

Skullcandy held one hell of a party the other night and the good guys at Lifewithoutandy were there to capture the night for us. Check out a tonne of shots from the night above!

Is Billabong about to be sold? The Business Spectator is reporting this morning the private equity firm TPG has made a $3 a share bid (nearly a 70% premium on the current price) for the company which values it at $766 million. The company has $600 million in debt and has seen its share price drop 78% in the last 12 months due to …

Our friend Jana Bartolo who managed the fashion shoots for the magazine has opened Pennyworth. It’s described as “an online platform for customers to purchase one off vintage, rare, limited run and custom made clothing and accessories.” It’s for guys …

Nike have released a new commercial for the P.Rod V which features the Lunarlon tech. The ad showcases P.Rod wearing the Black/Volt colorway and is pretty damn cool. Check it out!

Australian Seafolly (and Billabong? Anyone confirm that?) model Jess Hart has hooked up with Me In My Place in NYC to shoot a little feature for Esquire. The shoot came up great and it looks like she’s housing a couple of mint PK Rippers in the living room there. Check some shots from the shoot above and head over here for more and a video.

The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting rumors that the Billabong CEO could be in a bit of trouble… They are quoting sources close to the company who say that Mr. O’Neill’s troubles stem from “declining sales and rising debt.” Which of course is a completely unique situation that no one else in business is facing at the moment (read with sarcastic tone). The company is denying the rumors at this stage. He has been with the company for over 20 years …

Holden Outerwear have teamed up with Tanner Goods to produce these rad, hand stitched leather camera cases. According to the release, they are made with, “vegetable tanned English bridle leather selected locally from American sources” which will “age beautifully with character gaining color and distinguished marks over use.” They are designed to hold the SX-70 Polaroid camera which we mentioned back here. Check out a few more images above.

Holden has got an awesome collab happening – I’m sketchy on the exact details but they did create this amazing SX-70 camera. According to the release, “The SX-70 delivers lovely shallow depth of field instant photos and is known for it’s collapsible design, even compact enough to be pocketable (a mere 1” thickness to be exact).  The SX-70 features 116mm f8- f22 aperture lens, manual …

A new accessories label called Oricle has launched. The release from the guys says that the brand aims to take “classic styling from days gone by and infuse it with contemporary production, design and functionality using premium materials.” The team behind the label has a long history in streetwear and definitely know what’s up. Keep an eye out for it instore and check a few images of the product above.

Hey Guys! Pop will be in Holiday Mode (ie. nothing happening) for the next few days. I’m getting married on Saturday and I’m outta here for a week. We will resume normal service on Monday January 30th. In the mean time, enjoy this epic new clip Taylor Steele created for Corona. Amazing!

Bellroy have release their new Midnight Travel Wallet. It’s basically the same as the cocoa one, but black. For those that haven’t held the goodness that is Bellroy in your hands, you need to know just how good this gear is. Super high quality materials, minimal branding and awesome styling combined with comprehensive functionality. It is the Coal or Holden of wallets. This is one of the only travel wallets around that can fit in a pocket and it also comes with a Japanese…

Two of our favorite brands, Herschel Supply and Holden have got together to create come collab bags. Both have a similar aesthetic shooting for classic, well designed pieces that use premium materials so this should be one to keep an eye out for. There are four bags in the range; a classic school backpack, a duffel bag, a vintage-inspired scouting bag, and a technical backcountry backpack. I’m not sure on …

This is a completely unconfirmed rumor scraped from the Slap boards this morning but someone on there is claiming to have spoken to Dyrdek who is talking about having purchased Alien Workshop from Burton. While I wouldn’t normally post a rumor this vague, it’s Dyrdek which means its entertaining… AWS has seen a bit of a resurgence since Burton took over a few years back and it would be an interesting turn if they chose to sell …

A good friend in Sydney sent this through to me yesterday – the guys at Beach Burrito have done a little arts and crafts with one of our old covers for their tip jar. The model who appeared on the cover and in that issues swim guide definitely looked the goods. Check out some of her other shots from the mag in the gallery above! And if you’re in Sydney, make your next Mexican stop at Beach Burrito.

Want to work with three of the coolest brands around and with some of our favorite people in the industry? Sidelife, the crew behind Mr. Simple, Hershel and Super Awesome are looking for an in house rep. If you think you’ve got the skills, hit up the guys by clicking here.

Here’s the top 10 articles from the last year on Pop as voted by your mouse clicks. There was a few favorites from previous years that I’ve excluded but they deserve a mention – our interview with internet prankster David Thorne was right up there as well as last years swimwear issue. Anyway, here’s the top stories we …

I appears Rob Dyrdek has gone crazy but in a good way not in a J Casanova way.

The media and advertising blog, Mumbrella, has ranked some of the best outdoor ads from the last year and the guys at Evolve got a mention for their rad Ballroom ad. It was part of a series, you can check the others above. Mumbrella said, “A room flipped upside down shows how a skateboarder sees the world – as a playground of ramps, jumps and half pipes. That it’s a ballroom is a playful poke at the snobbery directed towards …

How’s the week leading into Christmas been for you? Something tells me it’s would have been better than it has for the management at Billabong. You might have heard in the news that their stock took a hit… And by hit, I mean it dropped to record lows losing 44% over a couple of days. Wednesday saw a 10% bump as everyone calmed down a little but it has led to questions about Billabong’s strategy. A lot articles have blamed the profit …

It is not a stretch to say that photographers are the backbone of the action sports industry. Not only do skate, surf and snow mags live and die on the strength of their images, none of the athletes would have profiles, and none of the brands would have exposure, without photographers. And none of the rest of us would have anything to put on our bedroom walls.

I hate overly positive reviews – telling people only the good about anything doesn’t help. A real review has to give you the niggling little problems that you’re going to experience once you’ve bought the product, otherwise you haven’t really gained anything from reading it. I mean, no one sets out to make a bad product so you have to assume that 90% of what’s in it is going to be good and then weigh up whether the remaining problems …

It is definitely the party season – Lifewithoutandy hit up East versus North, a get together on Sydney Harbor where two ships sailed to meet each other and party, which then carried on to the Cargo Bar after. Looks like it was an amazing day! Check some of the shots above.

The guys at Lifewithoutandy hit up what looks like a pretty fun night at Bondi’s Buckler’s Canteen. Buckler’s is a nautically themed joint that resides where Hogs Breath used to exist. The palce looks amazing – I can’t wait to hit it up next time I’m in Sydney. Check out some shots from the night above!

General Pants held their Christmas Party the other night and damn, they did it well. Obviously with some kind of musician theme going the crew went to town with the costumes – Kanye, Lady Gaga, John Lennon, Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Marlyn Manson, Victoria Beckham, Freddie Mercury, Weird Al Yankovic (Godamn Weird Al!) and tonnes more. Everyone looked awesome and the night looked epic – check the shots above for more.

Globe have released their version of the Penny, called the Bantam. The guys released the board whith a clip below and while normally this wouldn’t rate as news, you know… bikinis. So, enjoy!

Scarlett Johansson has got together with Neff to create an all natural beanie which will be helping a cancer charity, City of Hope. The guys are giving away up to 5,000 beanies and up to US$20,000 as part of the collab. Pretty awesome. For more on the beanie, head over here and for more of Scarlett, hit the gallery above!

Dragon launched their latest sunglass, the Orbit, at the Backroom in Sydney last week. The night was themed on an acid-house-rave and Owen Wright was along for the night. Check some shots from the event above – looks like it was a fun night!