Who's buying ugly shoes in Montana?

Who's buying ugly shoes in Montana?

by Liv | Published on Fri Jul 28, 2006 1:23 am | Life

Imagine a shoe made out of flesh. Imagine a shoe made out of flesh that moves via animatronic robotics. Yes it's a NIKE shoe that twitches, and pulsates. Held together with staplers. It's purpose is to demonstrate America's disconnection with companies such as NIKE that use less than admirable employment methods to produce their shoes.

Is it real? No. However it was made from molds of the artist's own skin. Designed to suddenly move as art observers move in for a closer look, their usual reaction is to jump and scream, according to its artist.

While visiting Santa today, I discovered alot of scary things, one of which is something called shoeskates. Take one child's sneaker and add a embedded wheel into the heel and voila, a shoeskate is born. Kids everywhere can wheel around school, malls, and your kitchen floor while looking like they have normals tennis shoes on.

Now I remember when Coach used to smack people in the back of the head when your ran across his nicely polished basketball court the day of the game, I can't imagine kids will make it past the metal detectors before someone ties their shoelaces together and pushes them down the handicap ramp.

But ShoeSkates arn't what this post is really about. It's about the Saudis.

Your thinking WTF?

No seriously stick with me on this one? Worried about the turmoil in the middle east? Stop... everyone of them are suicidal nut-jobs willing to skate down freeways with nothing but there sandals on. Think about that the next time you complain about teenagers using cell-phones.

Kids have been annoying me with those for over a year. Yet still I do a double take when a kid goes gliding past me with sneakers on. LOL

Oh, and those saudis are crazy. Why does all the cool road video come from Saudi Arabia??

I'm just jealous. We didn't have cool things like that when I was a kid. Even our roller skates were those stupid clamp or tie on things. How long before you can buy Rocksport dress wheelies? (Motorized ones)

Saudi teens are just bored, they need to get serious, pray, go to church ... no, no, just keep on sliding down the highway on your sandals please.

Ok, I'll admit I looked to see if they had adult sizes... I'm telling you there is one niche that could change to landscape of the modern office.

As in the shoes with wheels built into them.

Seems they're dangerous. Who could have dreamed that?? :roll:

Yeah - but they look soooo much fun.

When I was that age all we had were those really crappy strap on roller skates. Which we used without helmets, elbow pads, wrist guards etc. Mind you we also broke arms and wrists (not me personally) but young bones bend and heal quickly.

If I were that age again you'd have to cut them off my cold dead feet (probably after I'd broken my skull on the pavement) before I'd give them up.

I have to force myself not to smack the hell out of every kid I see on those things.

I'm with Person on this one. I'd be the same way.

Sanjuro wrote:I have to force myself not to smack the hell out of every kid I see on those things.

From jealousy?

"Hey Kid, you're not allowed to have that much fun until you get to College"

A Person wrote:
Sanjuro wrote:I have to force myself not to smack the hell out of every kid I see on those things.
From jealousy?

"Hey Kid, you're not allowed to have that much fun until you get to College"

Ha ha, no. Because they are constantly running into people, cutting people off or almost crashing into displays in retail stores.

A Person wrote:
Sanjuro wrote:I have to force myself not to smack the hell out of every kid I see on those things.
From jealousy?

Actually, I've long wondered about these things. I often see kids literally being wheeled through the crowds at malls by their parents, so that they don't even have to exert themselves to walk any more. The whole thing seems supremely dangerous to me. All it takes is for a kid to miss seeing a bump in the sidewalk to take a spill. And if they tumble into my path... I'd have to have a few words with them.

It's the same issue I have with speed demons on the interstate. I don't care a bit if they want to put themselves at risk, but putting me at risk as well -- that's just wrong.

SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:
It's the same issue I have with speed demons on the interstate. I don't care a bit if they want to put themselves at risk, but putting me at risk as well -- that's just wrong.

I'll try to not take offense to that.

We just bought my son a pair in California. $15.00 from the mexican flea market.... He fell the first day and hasn't used the wheels since.

Sanjuro wrote:
SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:
It's the same issue I have with speed demons on the interstate. I don't care a bit if they want to put themselves at risk, but putting me at risk as well -- that's just wrong.

I'll try to not take offense to that.

Oh yeah... I forgot. You haven't sucked my doors off the side of my car in the past month, so it slipped my mind. :lol:

For those in the area who have trouble with shopping for shoes due to wider-than-usual feet, there's bad news. The wide shoe store in Burlington is going out of business. They have much of their inventory on sale for 50% off. If you're thinking of getting shoes any time soon, you might want to get on out there...

So, who is buying ugly shoes in Montana? It's an age old question, I know.. well now it can be answered with Zappo's "Mappos". This is probably a FUN LINK FRIDAY contender.

This thing kept me entertained for WAY longer than it should have. See purchases made realtime around the world (most are in the US though).

http://www.zappos.com/map/#

You can up or down vote items bought and engage 'hotspots'

Awesome seeing people in NY buy boots while Southern Florida are buying sandals. I wish Amazon would do this!!!

That is really, really cool.

I'm always amazed by how vast one's footprint on the web can reach. Zappos of course being huge. I'd love to see our daily demographics for readership on a map like that....

I loved watching the globe spin from US over to Africa... I didn't pay close attention though to see if it was hitting South Africa... Think they can order shoes from District 9???

Yeah, 'dippy just HAD TO bump this. I need to find some new autumn and winter shoes. So while thinking about shoes, I figured I'd hit the map to see who's buying what and where...

Livvy would love new shoes, but I just got some a few months back, and Shanny limits my shoe budget.....

Any tips for breaking in new shoes. Got a blister on the new shoes with only a week to go.... What to do?

Soak them, go for a 3 mile walk and then dry slowly.

I might try that....

I bought some of those heel inserts, and then gel inserts... but it's the weirdest thing. The left heel is rubbing on the back....

I'm going to try some stuff today on my walk... if that doesn't work... I'm trying your idea.

Well I did it. After developing a blister on the other foot now halfway through a 5 mile walk, I jumped in a local creek and got them soaked... We shall see.... I also got some liquid bandages.... I've got about 11 miles on them and they're showing no signs of comfort yet....

They could just be evil shoes.

A Person wrote:They could just be evil shoes.

Perhaps. I've never owned New Balance but I bought them on their reputation and the fact they had dark colored trainers for our trip.

The problem is, in the past I generally broke shoes in over long periods of time. I'd wear athletics maybe once a week when I was working and heels, sandals, etc other days.... but now I'm walking 3+ miles a day for personal health, and I'm realizing the importance of good shoes.

Oddly the right food wasn't bothering me till I wore super thin socks today, so I went out and bought some thick tube socks, and I'm hoping that helps.

If they are crap shoes, I guess I won't be buying from this company again... but I'm not ready to conclusively say it's them quite yet. Part of it is these have a high back heal, like a hiking shoe, and I'm used to low cut running shoes... The good news is I'm taking flip flops as an emergency backup.