Madder, Madder..... Madar?

As promised, young Element Euro rider Madars Apse is appearing in this post as a perfect illustration of my two part should-be-cool and should-not-be-done list. Notice the three shuv (or bad impossible?) down MACBA for example.



Even though it was posted in July, this dude is remarkably worth noting. Dressed like an American and looking like his every trick is done with floppy shoes and a soggy board, the boy pulls off a 9 set no comply along with a Dylan-caliber frontside flip and manages to make every trick memorable somehow. Note the fakie front board.... around a rail? As if that trick isn't awkward enough. The pop out of the dirt on the opening feeble, the pole-jam-like first 5050, the crooks pop over on the inward curved handrail, the front board pop out before the big ass knob at the bottom, the tremendously long round rail 5-0, the nasty kinks on the last 5050, and the ender (a spot I have never seen skated that way, or even assumed possible).... honestly the only clips I don't particularly care for are the 3 shuv/impossible and the switch inward heel. My favorites though have to be the kickflip 5-0 transfer into the bank, and the barrier wallie back 360 launch.

So Mr. Apse aptly demonstrates the ugliness of 3 shuvs while at the same time showing the beauty of the scary as hell no comply 180 down gaps/stairs. I can now start my list.


-----The TRICKS That Should Be COOLER List-----
(TTTSBCL)

1. No comply 180s. Not as a flatland trick. This trick is a primo-king, and it pretty much has to be done right to work down a set or gap. For reference, view Louie Barletta's part in Subject to Change, and anything of Mike Ruscyzk.

2. Boardslide to Hurricane grinds. Jason Adams is the usual king of these, although unfortunately Scott Decenzo pulled out a lovely frontside one in Vamdalism. Like a more risky and potentially awkward footed variation of the boardslide feeble, I don't understand why this trick gets so little use. Just that little powerful nudge into hurricane fits so well with today's passion for 5-0 to switch crooks and the likes. But gnarlier.

3. Slides or Grinds into manual. While not a specific trick, this technique almost always looks good, although some may think it too geeky or combo-like. Joey Brezinski has been doing them for years, and Tyler Bledsoe and even Pete Eldridge had examples of this in Hallelujah. The best, or most eye pleasing, variations I've seen occurred in Luan's part in Extremely Sorry. It's pretty much impossible to go wrong with these types of clips, so why are they not in every video at LEAST once? C'mon. Get creative and show off that fuckin' balance.

4. Nosebonk Pole Jams. Adam Alfaro blasts one of these in his God Save the Label part, if not his Back in Black segment. It's the perfect combination of three tricks. The pole jam, the nosebonk, and the crook(bonk?). The little lift it gives the do-er to jam right at the end is reminiscent of a transition nollie bonk, and since it doesn't require full commitment to the pole, I don't see why they don't appear more often, particularly into banks and across gaps.

5. Late shuvs. Everybody loves a late shuv. Look at the last month of posts for perfect renditions of them by Chris Pfanner and Jordan Hoffart. The problem with these, I think, arises from the ugliness of late flips mixed with late shuvs, although separately both are beautiful tricks. Plus, nothing feels as cool as quick kicking your board and landing back on it. The delayed action of the trick is really cool to watch too, I believe it might have something to do with brain processing time because it seems to fool the vision for a second. Always a good trick to see in any part, particularly with a backside 180 before the shuvit.

6. Halfcab Grinds. As reminded by Taylor Bingaman and also Grant Taylor's part in Mindfield, halfcabs are simple and fun to pop, and look pretty awesome. Toss that bitch into a grind and you couple it with weird timing, making it hard. Yet these types of tricks look much less awkward than nollie front 180 versions, and are much rarer. Assuming everyone has been halfcabbing since their first year of skating, this is yet another maneuver that has no reason for it's all but complete absence in skateboarding footage.

7. 5050 360s. Not much to say about this one. Like tailslide 270s and shit like that, if you can haul at a 5050 and completely rotate a 360 out, it's gonna look sick. Ahem, Vince De Valle and Darrell Stanton (frontsider and backsider).

8. Heelflip lip tricks. Very hard to come by examples, the closest I can think of other than friends of mine in the past is Sean Eaton in The Beginning with his heelflip backside pivot, and Chris Troy in God Save the Label with his blunt backside heelflip. We all know it's easier and more coping friendly to flick kickflips on transition. But considering I grew up seeing a good friend toss Varial Heel rock fakies, nollie front heel tail stalls, heelflip backside pivots and feeble, heelflip nosestalls, and blunt heelflip fakies..... where are they in skating? I know those heelflip pros out there have them stored away somewhere. Hell, even the switch heelers. Where are they at? Show us the footy, boys.

9. Sugarcanes. Hard, very hard. To do right, at least. But even a basher, like Dylan's in the pool in his Gravis promo, is a delight to the eye. Lets not forget Patrick Melcher's transition rips, and Sammy Baca's handrail usages. This trick looks awesome, end of story. Levels above hurricanes, for sure.

10. Bonelesses. I'll put on the bulletproof vest for this one. Watch the Slave video, and see even Matt Mumford cracking the hell out of them. Or Grant Taylor's massive one in Debacle. Better yet, lets take a look at Danny Dicola in Slave's Radio/Television:



Bottom line is, these aren't the bonelesses all the lame kids that couldn't kickflip used to do around the skatepark on flat. Learn to properly snap a boneless and launch them, and you've got yourself a legit, spread out booster of a ramp trick. Or even a gap trick, as Kerry Getz so riskily reminded us in Skate More. Go boneless.

Also when watching Danny's clip, notice the blunt body varial grab and keep that in mind for the ROUGH premiere tonight in Norfolk. Come out and check it!

Hoffart.... One Step Beyond?

Adio, once creators of the technologically magnificent One Step Beyond (and also ball-droppers as far as skill and noteworthiness in that video), have since been non-existent on the video-front. Unfortunate considering their hold over Kenny Anderson in previous years prevented him from having a significant showing since about 2003, and their sponsorship of notables Sean Eaton and Jeremy Wray and Anthony Schultz among other talents have also deprived these dudes of proper or recent coverage. Hopefully their trendy internet series in the wake of Trio and Skateboarding Is Forever will remedy this flaw. By the looks of Jordan Hoffart's ridiculous shoulda-been-a-dvd-ender part, they're trying.



I suppose the beginning is supposed to be some kind of dream-state about aliens and perfect front lips down steep handrails on narrow stairsets. But I don't really care for the bullshit-heavy intro near so much as the actual part. The first few clips are boring, with awkward landings and lacking the now-trademark Hoffart charge-speed. But after a beauty of a varial heel(never saw that coming, right?) and an ever beautiful fs flip late shuv, everything is how it should be. I believe Hoffart is one of the unsung yet more talented individuals of this generation of skateboarding, and his relationship to the late front shuv is similar to that of Chris Pfanner with the back 180 late shuv. Big gaps, proper slides, and variety along with oversized Bones tees litter the part, with too many highlights to mention (front 180 front foot impossible, roll in gap to 5050, street gap kickflip....). Expect lots of pop, big hubbas, handrail tech, and some stuff that feels like throwaway but looks cool as shit. Oh, and beware, Kircharts street gap gets two NBDs across it, and his heelflip late shuv over the fence is one of the best single tricks I've seen in years due to the size of the fence, the cleanliness of the landing, and the rarity of the trick (except in previous Hoffart footage). Adio pulled off one damn good segment, albeit with help from Jordan's talent, and not withstanding some poorly done ramped slowmo's and some aggravating double angles at the end. Can they do nearly as well with the rest of the series? I hope so, but my hopes are not yet raised.

Too Much to Manage

All of a sudden videos are coming out left and right. I'll try to keep up. The Tricks-That-Should-Be-Done-More-Often list will come soon.

First order of business, from the apparently Maryland-based "Something Wild" video, we have a nice lil' tre flip and a big ol' bigspin down a gap you should recognize, or else you need to leave the page:



It's no Chris Cole switch fs flip, but damn. And they're only shop riders, hopefully flow somewhere. Ian Smith does the bigspin and Eric Kunmann performs the tre flop.

Now the main show. Gravis produced one of, if not it's first, full part for any of their riders, featuring the ever-skinnier, ever-highwater-ier Dylan Reider. Good songs, ridiculous impossible over the bench (and proper, at that), massive pop, and a proper kickflip shifty.

Untitled from vincent on Vimeo.

Unfortunately, it's off of youtube so you have to copy that link until I figure out how to embed vimeo properly. Hell, or even embed a link right.

Things I like:

Simply, his tricks. Good selection, execution, speed, and steez. Plus pop equals good formula.

Things I don't:

-V-neck shirts that are too small
-Rolled up pants that are too small
-Giants

Yet somehow his skating is still thoroughly enjoyable. Trends are indeed changing. Another video from the Element Europe project I'll be posting soon has more proof of this, and perfectly demonstrates both an ugly 3 shuv from my "don't list", and a beautiful rarity from my "do list". All in the same part, PLUS trend-relevancy? I about came my pants.

ROUGH tomorrow

Barrier session, minus the good tricks. Songs ABD, tricks suck, smith was a 270 attempt, and both smiths were a different day. But what do you do with tricks that aren't good enough even for a montage? Throw 'em away....



whatever. Premiere tomorrow at 5:30, then again at 6:00 pm at Mike's in Norfolk next saturday. I'd beg for viewers but I'm not that gay. Come out and enjoy?

Could Be, Should Be.

First off, Chris Roberts has learned a new trick. First time since, uh, Hot Chocolate, unless I'm mistaken. Front board nollie back heel ad? Very cool, it's even a trick I haven't seen. Who woulda guessed.

Anyways, I've been watching videos from the '09 that I haven't watched in quite some time, partially spurred by seeing ads and a check-out on Ben Skryzpek, who I'm not even a fan of really. Considering that my first thought on watching God Save The Label last year was that Peter Raffin and good ol' Ben had no future in todays skateboarding. Sketchy styles, boring tricks, goofy all around appearance. Now, Peter Raffin is in TWS and Skryzpek is getting compliments from the industry. Big what the fuck? BIG what the fuck.

Ben's part:


After watching this the other day, I grew to appreciate a sort of Fred Gall/Steve Durante beautiful bruteness in his skating, perhaps caused by his upbringing in Maine. To my knowledge, not much related to skateboarding comes out of, goes into, or has anything to do with that state. I'm actually pretty sure even the news doesn't care about Maine, nor the elections, and possibly not even it's inhabitants. Now regarding Inhabitants, I realized that Ben's style of grimy skating on perfect spots would be far better suited as a member of the Habitat squadron, particularly considering his surprising Mag Minute:



Maybe his board is still a bit small for him, but at least those hideous, obvious-flow-box converse's from his Label part aren't there, and in their place is a beautiful fakie flip fakie manny clip, a boosted fs flip and fs heel, a buttery kickflip back noseblunt, and a downright naughty flyout kickflip. Coupled with some eerily missed fakie mongo (Ryan Decenzeo in Hallelujah brought me to this particular emotion), I have hope for him. Regardless tho, I say he belongs on Habitat, or some kind of Kayo company. He doesn't skate fast enough or grimy enough for Label.

In the same vein of thinking, I've consistently noticed Chet Childress has a bit of a short arm on one side. I wonder why this is, and I can't find anything on it. Clues would be appreciated, if anyone still reads my bullshit. Oh, and while watching his black and white depressing Burnside session of a Label part, I realized he is undoubtedly the master of Back Disaster variations, although perhaps not the base trick itself.

Last random thought involving tranny and moving us to my next point, WHY have I never seen footage of a proper, hell even improper, grinded back smith back 270 on tranny? Seems like a beautiful trick in concept, and the stall variant isn't only mildy cool but also fun as shit. Let the hunt for footage begin.

Finally, I've been watching obviously too many videos lately and I've compiled a little list of tricks that really should just not be done, or should have become obsolete by now. I'll do this in two parts for the sake of uh, readability. Basically because I'm tired of typing and need a cigarette. Perhaps next time I'll include prime examples.

-----The TRICKS that should not be COOL List-----
(TTTSNBCL? Everyone else is using acronyms... reference Blueprint's newest vid)

1. Boardslides/Lipslides over to bluntslide on the opposite side of a ledge. I believe Shuriken Shannon does one well in his Label part, forgive my redundancy. I think the only viable execution of this for anyone else though would be back lip to front blunt, but seriously, anything else doesn't look at all appealing and honestly the idea isn't even that crazy for it's execution to warrant it's ugliness. Evidence: Tyler Bledsoe's Front board over to back noseblunt in Hallelujah. Hated that trick.

2. Nollie Varial Heelflips. This bitch is seriously ugly. Can't scoop a switch varial heel right? WELL THEN, just charge something nollie and flick your back foot back. Every time I see this trick, it isn't even caught, it just drops. Plus, something about the general rotation just looks sloppy, even compared somewhat mysteriously to fakie varial heels, which actually look sick and are considerably rare, even more so than the fakie hardflip. For a good one, check out basically any >30 sec clip of Chico Brenes. Back to the nollie ones, something about African American stair jumpers seems to coincide with this one, and while Antwuan and several others have pulled this trick for parts multiple times, a particularly bad aftertaste exists on Kevin Romar's one down the Sacto triple set in Digital's Smoke and Mirrors. Ew. Good spot though, Don't get me wrong. Oh, and they're still awesome into mannys and grinds. Just not as a flatground or gap trick.

3. Frontside 180 Nosegrinds, Fs 180 out. Seriously. It looks like a more rotated noseslide. Probably feels like one too. Seems like a good way to do something on a hubba if you're scared to go for something more than a boardslide/noseslide motion.

4. Bank Frontside Tailsides. Aren't even hard. Yet they pop up in parts ALL the time. At least go like 10-15 feet. Or do it on a quarterpipe or something steep.

5. Switch crooks on handrails. They never lock in, fall out of place, and look pretty much accidental every time. Hubbas, please. Or Fakie ollie in, at least that way it'll lock in AND look sick.

6. Layback Front Boards. If you can't do it without touching your hands, then don't do it please. Hands are meant for grabbing coping, occasionally pushing away from wallrides, and grabbing boards mid flight. Not touching the hubba. Like.... Ever.

7. 360 backside shuvits. Nobody can tell if you're doing a bad impossible, or a good 3 shuv. Or even what trick you're trying. Plus, they don't really pop and catch that well, unless you're Shane O'Neil.

8. Smith to 5-0s. You don't even have to do anything other than lean back like you're popping out. Looks stupid. I think to actually look cool, a rail combo either has to involve a pop into the second trick, or the board has to transfer onto the other side of the rail. Ie, crook back lip(shut up, I like them), Feeble tailslides (Carroll and Mikey Taylor), Feeble smiths, Feeble lips, smith to boards.

9. Switch backside smiths on ledges. Or anything, really. Rarely are they done on anything long enough to lock in, and doing them off the end of a short ledge looks lazy and ugly. A smith, much like a feeble, isn't truly a smith unless it's locked in. Otherwise you're just angling at the ledge and glancing your back truck on it on your way back to Earth. Sorry, Pete Eldridge, but that one in your Hallelujah part in the line was the reminder for how much I hate this one.

10. Novercrooks. Oh, sorry, overcrooks. I've seen like, three good ones. Two of which were done by Taylor Bingaman (Halfcab overcrook, which I still wonder if it was supposed to be nosegrind, and backside overcrook down Hollywood High 16, again wonder if it was supposed to be nosegrind). Much like salads and suski's, I don't even think it's really possible to control your tweak on nosegrinds and 5-0s down a handrail to the point where you're doing a 'tweaked' version of the trick. Why not just call it a tweaked nosegrind, since it's not truly locked in like a crook should be, so no one will freak out about how awesome it is? Novercrooks for president.

Back and Finished

Soooo the ROUGH video is finished and off to get copied onto more discs than I care to look at, which means several things:

1. Go to one of the premieres.
-Culpeper: 5:30 pm Sunday August 22, 105 East Davis St.
-Hampton Roads: 6:00 pm Saturday August 28, Mike's Sk8 Park Norfolk.
-Fredericksburg: Saturday August 28th some time, more details coming soon.
2. No more desperate all day street missions for a while
3. Time to be on the computer where I don't have to search for songs, get footage sent from North Carolina, download fonts, fuck with images, and edit video parts.

So, before I get off the topic of ROUGH, observe the out of date promo from last year:


Just so you know what kind of pizzazz you're dealing with.

On to blog business, recently Andrew Reynolds showed up with this fascinating little ditty about Stay Gold, which I am currently shitting my pants waiting to see.


-Several things he said that I found fascinating:
---He so confidently proclaims tap-dancing ledge tricks over, right on the heels of such dancers Torey Pudwill and Tyler Bledsoe's parts in Transworld's Hallelujah (to be discussed later) drops. True? not really. Going that way? Yes, I think so.
---In that vein, he labels Wes Kremer, Grant Taylor, and Brandon Westgate as the new thing. Interesting considering only one of them is on Emerica, but then again considering the footage, speed, and grace all three tackle the world with, I'm not too surprised. Kremer particularly has gotten mention on here, and strikes both Tim and myself as a young Busenitz. Support for Westgate's case should be forthcoming in Stay Gold by the looks of that easy monster kickflip, and Grant Taylor's drop-in on the Nike tour from the newest Transworld serves at exhibit C. This makes me wonder his take on such noobies as Cory Kennedy and Shane O'Neil, and their perfect brand of technical wizardry and effortless stair-hopping, as evidenced by both the sequence and the corresponding Hallelujah footage of Nuggets switch flip back-lipping a handrail. Regardless, the Boss made some good picks throwing out those three names.

-Random Tidbits I've been brewing on:

---Krooked's filmer for their 3D project built his camera himself, with technology he claims is from the 30s. Talk about tremendous use of time. Good thing the cover of The Skateboard Mag 3D issue came out so well, or else he could well be working on a video the world would turn their head to.

---Josh Kalis seems to have started racking up footage after his move to DGK. Is Stevie reunion really that motivating, or is it possible that Alien skaters actually get LESS coverage than the somewhat anti-media DGK? See his no footage switch big heel street gap sequence, his kickflip back noseblunt ad, and pretty much a couple pages out of each skate mag publication for confirmation.

---Brian Wenning is on Jereme Rogers' Selfish skateboards. I can't help but wonder if the fat, selfish, mean, two-faced, cocky, non-progressive dirty motherfucker is actually doing it as a career move, or if him and J-Rog are trying to play a big joke on the industry that has blacklisted them. Either way, the teammates are a fitting couple.

---Lastly, after watching Hallelujah and oddly finding myself enjoying Ryan Decenzo's part on the whole more than any part other than Bingaman's, I realized that, as with most brother pairs, one is simply boring as hell and the other is amazing. Scott's Vamdalism part got somewhat battered by me on this blog, and in retrospect I believe it's because of his baggy pants and completely unremarkable style. Ryan, on the other hand, has those sometimes awkward pushes, the lankiness, and the crazy hands of the likes of Pudwill, Evan Smith, and Ryan Lay. His kickflip crooked, which apparently he did twice, is just amazing. His whole part is pretty balls to the wall, and it strikes me as pretty amazing that a dude that is THAT talented and yet possessing a completely unmarketable style other than his ability to be gnarly can actually make it in the skateboard industry. Thank God.

Things to learn from Hallelujah:
-Bingaman is indeed a young Cardiel, and shreds everything.
-Torey Pudwill still does ubsurd things with his hands, note the lengthy back smith and his TWS cover 2nd try back 5050.
-Eldridge is still doing the same tricks seven years later, but still proper as hell
-Frontside Hurricane fs kickflip rail transfers are actually possible
-That Colorado fool William Spencer does some seriously stupid shit on a skateboard that I find even more embarrassing than freestyle.
-David Reyes RIPS and is shorter than my kitchen table at the same time.

Bootleg

In light of the release of Transworlds newest video, I felt like it would be a good time to look back on 2003 Pete Eldridge and wonder why the world forgot about him. While the opening song has been used in other vids and the end method of fade-slowmo-fade-slowmo with no music is pretty damn annoying, who else was switch noseblunting handrails back then? And better yet, who else can switch front noseslide like that?

Brent, Jart, and madness

Although I enjoy his laid back cruising, I'm tired of seeing Brent Atchley never try.



Other than all the clips including and following his metal halfpipe line, Brent suffers from an acute disease known as frontside-ollieitis, and I'm frankly tired of them. Where are his snappy blunt front 180s? Lightning scooped tres and nollie cabs? what about the nollie front heel disasters and general diversity that Element somehow coaxed out of him once upon a time? Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Brent-hater. But damn son, give us something to watch. You aren't pro just to do the same thing over and over.

Now, in other news related to actually 'trying', we have young Cian Eades for Jart skateboards, which by the way have a pretty impressive sophistication about their website and footage for a brand I know nothing about. In the latest issue of Skateboarder, I noticed what I didn't want to believe was a sequence of a lazer double flip. I checked their website, and saw with my own eyes this:

http://jartskateboards.com/jart.tv/?p=0&v=21

(Please copy and paste, the link thing isn't working and I don't really care since I embed everything else)

I don't know if this is switch, but this looks like one of those tech-nerd tricks done wonderfully right. I'd like to see it in normal speed to fully pass a judgement, but from the looks of it I like it more than tre double flips. Hopefully we won't see it again for a while though, because I don't like how lazer flips are becoming more and more popular. I miss the feeling of 'oh, what?' when they'd pop up.

Lastly, check out this little online ditty I found involving some dudes that post on a forum I used to frequent. Tech-nerd can be applied here as well if you choose, but the results of the video are impressive and damn near jaw-dropping. Particularly considering they're just dealing with one of those lame pre-fab metal parks we've all come to know and hate.



If it doesn't hype you up, at least it's something you don't see every day. I'm trying to build an appreciation for anything that's put together with care, skateboarding/editing/filming/whatever elements that may be. I've got another one stored up too, so put on your Mullen boots and prepare for a circus trick maniac that actually has skill when rolling. Didn't know they existed?

Me either.