January 31, 2012

Masonite Boogz

The one-off, indoor skateboard contest for-the-sake-of-an indoor skateboard contest is a time tested and true, seemingly Middle Western tradition that I hold in high esteem having participated in many myself. The locked in feeling of a day or weekend at the skatepark during the throws of winter holds a hazy, masonite boogery, jittery-legs-type nostalgia for me that harkens back to my first-ever contest in spring of '97. I got second, maybe third, intermediate; they didn't bother with a beginner because no self-respecting 15-year-old (we were the youngest there) would stoop to that (maybe there was a beginner section, I don't know).

Which brings us to the vestigially named Southern Slaughter at the Lair. B-Show gave the finals high marks as a judge and let's not gloss over the fact that the above video features babies doing cute skateboarding, a 39-year-old man nosesliding the handrail and a bunch of teenagers killing it. 3rd Lair features one other "contest for the hell of it," that exists on its own outside of some other run formatted contest series, the more lastingly titled and older Midwest Melee. My pontifications here should be taken with a grain of salt, but with the lead-in here in mind, maybe the "Southern Slaughter" title could be dropped and the contest could be simplified into something older, more cabin fevered, with only a 15-25 and a 25 and up division, an intense masonite dust experience of a single day that gives the teens their due, but might also give the semi-retired and Dan Jackson a chance to come out and relive their other days with some dignity (not that Dan was lacking, I'm thinking of myself).

That's not quite the ode to the local contest I had in mind, but I'm cool. Be sure to take a Pizzy Break and ponder the economics of a trip to Cream City in the waning days of the most mild/best winter ever.

PS: Henkler, ask me sometime about the 411 rule on contest video editing.

January 27, 2012

Charles Barkley Bar Fight

Whether or not B-Show actually came up with the idea for a Kevin Garnett jersey buy-back program for Timberwolves games this season (he was traded a long time ago now, folks), the dude is still fascinating because he's an unvarnished maniac. Here are a couple other magical KG moments. I was also going to type something about how rad it is that the Wolves have a better record than Boston, but alas, after the bar fight last night that's no longer the case.

As for the skate-related video above that you've probably already watched, Quartersnacks most likely improved an already good video part by upping the pacing with a song that provides more than background music. I wasn't a fan of the original James Brown. Ishod Wair rips, good job.

It's pretty rad to see a Supernatural ad in a CBI post.

Happy weekend.

Edit: Why Longboards Suck.

Another edit: Buttery Ass Donovan sets the Internets afire by figuring out exactly which day was a good day.

January 23, 2012

Race To The Bottom

Says fithzx1, "the best skate intro of all the time tho."

Please read Kyle Beachy on Nike SB. There are no easy nor good answers, but he lays it out just how it is. Also, he drops some gems:

"Once sufficient hype had gathered, [Nike] released Nothing But the Truth in 2007, which remains one of the empirically shittiest videos ever produced (I see you, Shorty's Guilty). Bloated, lethargic, and uncomfortably lacking any clear team identity, the video was a shrill caw from that parrot—it reminded us that we were being courted."
Which brings up a much more interesting and answerable question than Nike's place in skateboarding, which is, what is the worst skateboard video of all time? Neither of the videos above lack in the skateboarding department, so that's not part of the criteria here. They're simply difficult/embarrassing/painful to watch. They definitely set the bar high, but are there others out there on par, or worse? Let me know.

January 21, 2012

Mayor of the Lair

-Henkler (absolute worst intern ever)

January 16, 2012

What Is A Ninja?

It's been a while since the last Roll video, so it's a bit of a surprise to see a non-Roll Elijah Collard video part. This part rips and Trees is in true-Trees-form. That multi-block line that was jump-cutted together should be posted in its glorious entirety. Check out the rest of Child, Please on the Youtubes.

There's a benefit for the Dark Arts Blood Bowl coming up. Sounds like the city is trying to make them go legit.

Go Wolves.

January 14, 2012

The Giving Tree

Mark Suciu rips.

The easy comparison between Nyjah Huston and his San Mateo-not-that-much-similar-counterpart (Element made it easier by buying the ad before the video for 11.11.11 on the Thrasher site, at least for bit) was seen and noticed by many an internet commentaire. The general vibe was "Fuck Nyjah" because two dudes at once can or cannot kickflip backside nosebluntslide a handrail at the same time and somehow commenters and otherwise anonymous folks needed to find an underdog for their skateboard dreams. Sure, Suciu is vibey and instead of "Top 40 Rap" he skates to some songs that do nothing for the part. Everyone is ok.

What's telling is that Suciu apparently harbors no brutal feelings towards skateboarding, he's a fan of going fast and not finishing with the expected punchline. He's knock-kneed to the extent that I'm not sure about his style, but the extant switch 180 off the block deters most of the unneeded criticism. He seems to be studied, versed, etc., in the ways that not always doing the hardest shit still delivers the best results. Yet he does plenty of hard shit, thrown in without pageantry to the part.

Through numerous discussions with people I trust, in their skate decisions and otherwise (mostly, I guess), what I want out of Mark Suciu are some years. We have young men doing amazing feats while they're still young men. I don't know how old Suciu is, but the trend is under-20 and I want to see what this dude can do at 25, or 27, and so on. Same goes for Nyjah. If hearts are broken because I think skateboarders look better as "grown-ass-men" (see Gary Collins or Andrew Reynolds or anybody else), I offer no apologies and it'd be incredible for them to keep it up (Nyjah more so than Suciu).

Gary Collins was said to have added his two cents as a "grown-ass-man" while trying to skate a quarter-pipe at Tampa Am, some years passed. I have no idea how old he was. I just turned 30. I'm biased.

January 4, 2012

Drinking Buddies

If you were at the Skate Related 2* show last week but didn't make it into the movie theater for fear of having to stop drinking, or another reason, here it is, MOGAZELLE, possibly subtitled, "Dudes I see at the bar but never skate with." It's a good watch; Aaron Christiansen has as full a part as one can, and Patrick Voller follows up 1998's Prototype quite well (unless he had a part in 1999's Get Money, I can't remember).

Anybody looking for a "1999 Chevy 1 ton lifted 454 Pussy Magnet with plow"? Joe's got your back.

Wiskate has a new video up featuring slappy crooked grinds on ledges and other such awesome. It's their 80th vid too.

*I originally wrote "Made For Skate." Sorry I blew it the first time.

January 3, 2012

The Ball Dropped

If you put this part together with his Adeline part which came out only some four months ago, Nesser did some heavy lifting on the board, as well in the straight to web department. Together they're four minutes of goodness. Happy New Year.

I would fire myself if I were remiss to mention the MOTHERFUCKING MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES. Sure, they're 2-3, but SportsCenter seems to be 'bout it (them), the Target Center is the electric place of which I haven't seen since 2004 and for the first time ever, we've got a point-ass-point-guard in the form of the 30-year-old woman shiver-inducing Ricky Rubio. On that note, congrats to jerboi David Fink, who was recently named head videographer for the Wolves, who recently tweeted pictures like this to prove he's just really killing it. Congrats man. The real winner in all of this is Kevin Love, our sometimes maligned former-baby-fat power forward, who, no matter what the Catalonian heartthrob does is the true anchor of this team, and a legitimate MVP type player come the end of the season.

I get skate-like-vibes from Rubio (trust me) and I need to dress up like Fink to steal his job. Again, Happy New Year.

January 1, 2012

Mike Munzenrider's Work

Two Cannons Make a 'Double Barrel,' as seen in The Journal.

The Bonus Skills You Learn From Skateboarding, a listicle for The Ride Channel.

An American Original: Louie Barletta, as seen on ESPN.

Mark Suciu Interview, as seen on Red Bull Skateboarding.

The Chrome Ball Interview, as seen on ESPN.

Minneapolis: Skateboarding's Best Kept Secret, as seen on Red Bull Skateboarding.

Found: A '67 Caddy in Langton Lake, as seen in The Roseville Review.