Steady Robbin'

So today I figured I'd try something new in the world of skate blogs and pirate some classic 90s footage off YouTube. I myself was astonished at my own creativity. Anyway, a couple Huf clips I'd never seen before. As much of a skate nerd as I am, I only started skating in '98 so I still gots a lot of old videos to catch up on. I'm especially stoked on the few 16mm shots in "Non-Fiction." I keep swearing I'll shoot some new 16mm on my little Russian beauty... maybe when I get some Christmas money and/or a job. Oh, and I'm also loving the manual 3-flip out wearing the old DC Howards. In my youth, I hated most DC shoes but looking back lots of them were pretty rad. In truth, there's not a bad clip to speak of. All power, control, style, and speed. Alright, enough words for my imagined blog devotees. Clips!

Bothering Me

60 fps footage played back at normal speed. Hurts my eyes and my mind.

Anybody Out There?

Once again, I realize no one is reading but this seemed too weird to pass up. You know how when Tony Hawk's Pro Skater came out it created a whole bunch of little kids screaming "900!" at any pro skater within ear-shot? How it seemed to heighten all non-skater expectations of what skaters were supposed to do? Well, I'm thinking Ryan Sheckler's new private park is a pretty good testament to that. The only thing I have to compare it to is maybe those custom parks you could build in Pro Skater. Yes, I'm speaking from experience; I did indeed spend much of my thirteen-year-old life building countless custom parks in my borrowed edition of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. But back to the park. Who would want to skate that? I'm not denigrating Ryan Sheckler's skill; he's probably one of the few that can actually skate it. But that's the constant battle in the Shecklebot controversy: it's not that we as skaters don't think he's good -- he certainly is -- but more that he seems to misrepresent skateboarding at every turn. This park footage is jock skating. Sorry if that sounds ignorant, but that's all it is to me.

Hella Bro!

Just got my new Skateboard Mag! So stoked on the Plan B pro wheel team poster! 'Bout to put it up on my wall right now! Tight!

Seriously, who the hell cares?
Luckily there's also an included Elwood DVD. They have a rippin' team. Excited to see it.

My Chocolate Post...

So, just to give some background, I've had about a three-year Chocolate kick. Starting in probably my senior year, Chocolate could seriously do no wrong in my eyes. This was around the time Devine had just gotten on and was blowing up big. They'd also just gotten Pappalardo, which practically blew my skate-nerd brain at the time. Their graphics always seemed impeccable to me, and the whole feel of the company just killed me.

Now, though, I can't help but think how stale everything feels. With the exception of Vincent Alvarez, there's been no real new blood for a few years now. It seems like Justin Eldridge, Chris Roberts, and Devine Calloway all sort of had this crazy coverage that they never really followed up on. Like they were supposed to take a strong position as the team's identity. Sounds a little stupid, I know. But it makes sense. There's no real Chocolate vibe anymore. It's just a bunch of skaters who ride the same boards. Like, Gino is Chocolate. Justin Eldridge isn't, really. Plus, honestly, the latest graphics are pretty fucking boring. I've not followed who's in charge of art direction too closely, but it seems like there's been a lull in creativity. And they really don't have to try very hard to impress me. I still think the Chocolate chunk is one of the best looking skate logos ever.

I guess that, in the end, it doesn't matter too much. The same thing happened with Alien Workshop, who had been the absolute bees' knees to me from the time I saw Photosynthesis as a tiny chittlin until I was about thirteen.. But I do sorta feel like this latest change in opinion is indicative of skating as a whole right now -- there's just too much of everything out there right now, so it's pretty hard to be heard over the fray. For the moment I'm backing Roger, just because it's so small that it almost seems like a forgotten entity. No superstar team, no previous history (really) to bank off of (Plan B, Stereo, what the fuck?), just great graphics and ads that actually represent the true smart-ass spirit of skating.

Oh, and for the record, I still love the fact that Pappalardo's on Chocolate.

Good day so far.

Got up and had a nice little morning sesh at the skatepark. Then I came home to a particularly rad Gino episode on Epicly Later'd. Extra-long, Italy trip with a Pappalardo interview, funny-ass Reda commentary, and Gino's dad. It was also cool hearing Federico talk about Gino. All-around just sick. I'm so glad for what Epicly Later'd has turned into. So sick.

That's Good Marketing

The friendly folks over at Lakai are gonna make me buy the same video twice. I knew this would happen, but after this trailer they don't really have to twist my arm to get me to do it. If nothing else, I'm excited to see an Anthony Pappalardo interview. Anyway, should be a good one. Maybe for Christmas.

Van Wastell R.I.P.

Van Wastell was always so fun to watch skate. Very unique trick selection, good style, just the type of guy you want representing skateboarding. He'll be missed for sure.

Cliche, De Ja Vu

Wow, what a disappointment. I know it's just a free remix video, but I always enjoy Cliche productions. Maybe I expected too much, but I thought it would be at least watchable. How did all those editors manage to make watching that rad team so boring? A lot of it seemed pretty half-assed. I did enjoy Andrew Brophy's part. Ty Evans' edit of Lucas Puig was ridiculous and makes me fear for the future. After a minute-and-a-half of hoping for an end to the slow-mo, I stopped the video and actually said out loud, "Wow, Ty Evans sucks." Never thought I'd say that. I realize the video has to feel a little jumpy because there are different editing styles throughout, but there are many amateur editors out there that could have done MUCH better. Weird, I guess. What a turd. By the way, who the heck am I writing to anyway? I think this is the lowest of internet lows. Skate nerd enraged at a free online video vents on blog. Awesome. Anyway, something to cheer me up.

Roger That!

Good title, right? I'm excited for Roger Skateboards. It sort of reminds me of old World Industries stuff just in that it's not afraid to make fun of skateboarding as a whole. I never really got to be around for the Rocco era, so I guess I'm just making assumptions here, but nevertheless it's something new and funny. Check out the website to see their ads. Also, the sticker team idea is fucking great! Michael Sieben's definitely put his time in as a skate nerd and it shines through in his ideas and artwork. Good job, I just wish I could get my hands on one of their decks. Here's the website as well as a cool Slap interview with Michael Sieben.

Roger Skateboards
Slap Interview

Addendum to "HD Worries"

I really hope Ty doesn't fuck around with Popps' footage on the Chocolate video, too. Pappalardo's too good a skater and too perfect a fit on Chocolate to not get the respect he deserves for a second time. It's also worth mentioning that I have great admiration for Ty Evans' work ethic and it's obvious how influential he has been in the skate video arena; I just think his videos need to work for the skaters and not the other way around. On another Chocolate sidenote, I'm really liking Vincent Alvarez. His whole style reminds me of the Girl and Chocolate dudes in the "Mouse" days. Really fast, smooth, and loose. Here's his first official Chocolate footage.

First Music Post!

Because skating has informed and shaped most of my musical knowledge for the last ten years, I figured it was about time to make a little post tying the two together. I'm going to give a sorta-kinda list of some of my favorite video parts because of the song and the skater.


1. Heath Kirchart, Sight Unseen: Skate culture has since logged this as one of the stand-out parts of the last decade, and for good reason. The skating is essential Kirchart: powerful, clean, efficient, and straight-up gnarly. Not too many guys could pull off Moody Blues, but the song's dramatic nature fits Heath's quiet storm of annihilation pretty wonderfully and brings a new dimension to the part.

2. Anthony Pappalardo, Mosaic: This list wouldn't be complete without the mention of Dinosaur Jr. and Alien Workshop. Although I feel the graphics of Alien have deteriorated since I fell in love with them when I was a little grommet, their video sense remains intact. Not only does "Forget the Swan" fit Popps' skating wonderfully, but the second segment of his part features easily my favorite cut of skate video history: Anthony Pappalardo's switch ollie off the handicap ramp just as J Mascis' guitar kicks in. Every time I watch that clip I'm instantly reminded of why I love skateboarding. If that sounds weird, whatever. It's true.

3. Rob Welsh, Ryde Or Die Vol. 1: Let me start this off by saying I'm still pissed that Aesthetics got shitcanned. Not sure what exactly happened, but it sucks how poorly a few of those skaters were treated by Zoo York afterward. Anyway, this was probably the first Rob Welsh footage I'd ever seen and I was blown away by his style and finesse. On top of this, the song, "I Declare War" by Shyheim, was a huge dose of gangster-ass hip-hop at a time when the only hip-hop album I owned was probably Dilated Peoples. Still a perennial favorite of mine.

Alright, that's all I got for now. There are tons more, but I think this thing is running a little long as it is. Thanks if you actually read this.

HD Worries

So my first official post will be about something that's been bothering me recently in skate video trends. I'm not too sure how I feel about this whole "HD revolution" going on right now. I'm not saying I don't want better video quality, but it seems like at the moment the depth-of-field and framerate capabilities of these cameras are taking over and turning fairly simple skate shots into long, drawn-out ordeals that sort of overdramatize the whole thing. Take "Fully Flared" for example. As much as I was impressed by the whole thing, I was sort of disappointed by one of the parts that I was personally most excited for: Anthony Pappalardo's. I always thought Popps was a great fit for Lakai, and I wasn't so much disappointed by the skating itself but more by how poorly it seemed to fit into the video. I've heard that a lot of his footage never made it into the vid, which would explain his departure from Lakai quickly after the video's release. It just seems like Ty Evans chose this whole uber-BIG aesthetic for the video, and in this case chose the aesthetic over the skater. I know the video had to be big, but if you're the editor you gotta make room for a skater who's been with the squad since pretty much day one. As far as HD itself, I think it's also just that time where all these guys have gone out and gotten this new equipment and don't quite know what to do with it, so they just keep doing the same boring slow-mo dolly shots over and over. I guess that's OK, but for now I'd rather watch 8mm and 16mm art footage, or, fuck it, digi-cam footage! I'll end this post with some bonus Bill Strobeck footage that I'm sure everyone's seen already, but it's still got a few Popps tricks that shoulda made it into the video.

Put it in yer brain.

Uhh, yeah, I think I'm interesting enough to have a blog. Don't you?