Snowfall 2012

Looks like there's a love letter to our fair cities coming by the end of the year, titled MN Debris. Count this dude as hyped. Time for dinner.

"Chance of rain, 99%"

May we all get geeky over watching Matt Nordness skateboard. The dude is writing his own rules while I type. That Max Murphy is no slouch either. I just watched that three times in a row.

Here's some foote from the Done Demo at the HQ.

An aside: "When it rains, it pours."

The Future Is Now

Youtube Update

Meyer went ahead and put up, more or less, every section of every video he's ever made on the Plat Youtube channel. Above, you can see the Ghettoplex section from Shitheads Vol. 8, which is, even with all those horrendous jump-cuts one of my favorite days on video. If Gareri had only known that we had a 14-year-old Andrew Rick working the counter for a couple of hours at the Lair that day. Also showing above is the Roots Promo, probably a lesser seen gem from the late '90s, with the sometimes (later on) misunderstood Tony Buckland holding it down hard. Lurk out on the channel and become awash in memories or history.

If you've yet to do it, drop the $12 on North Coast, as I recently did. Saving a full, long review, I'll say the video is a testament to how rad the VX-1000*/death lens combo still is, due to the hard work put in by Chris Burt. The video as a whole has a dreamy, ethereal thing going on, without stoppage, nice 16 mm footage throughout and appropriately, a dreamy, ethereal soundtrack to go along. There're some genuine "Oh shit" moments and body-varial variations that I'd never imagined. Felt like skateboarding. Buy it at the link above. I should be doing homework.

Edit: Looks like Benji added some Youtube flavor on the right, in case you didn't notice. Also, I'm pleased to see the Roots Promo still is of Turkey doing a really rad nollie hardflip.

*Actually, a VX-2000. Still a good, different look than most of what's happening nowadays.

HG goes LA

ZED LIVES.

This was by far the most shared trick on social media tonight. Second angle here. Juri/Nesser's angle here. He lives, indeed.

Sky Nett'in

The above got me looking for Terminator 2 clips. This alternate ending would have been so lame, if only for the fact that skateboard designs totally regress by the 2020's.

Though I'm neither big on baseball nor poetry (as a failed, half-assed-could-never-take-himself-serious poet, though a decent defensive 9-year-old second baseman who was good for a base hit), this poem about opening day had me a bit tingly when they read it aloud on this week's Hang Up and Listen. Call me a sucker for the Americana of it all and the phrase, "the citrus of halter tops," because, goddamnit, that's spot on.

It's strange people are suddenly interested in who owns their favorite little media companies. Here's looking at you kid, @ me if the sky begins to fall, maybe take a picture of it.

Parks and Recreation

There's a demo this Saturday, along with a party and the details a commenter asked for in the previous post. When speaking of parks and rec, it should also be noted that 3rd Lair has some new rates and hours for spring/summer.

I'd known it for a while but now I'm typing it out loud: I'm done with the Timberwolves until this fall. It's nothing personal guys, there've been injuries to key dudes and it was a lot of fun while it lasted. I know I'm not too familiar with a season that starts out with some type of roar and goes out with a wimper (because of large stretches of time with no roars at all), but I'm still a little disappointed. Sports, oh well. See ya next season. Go Jazz?

#familiaHQ

'Grammed by B-Show.

Bookending Hennepin

All the info is there, on a map, the HQ is here.

In Which We Discuss Skate Videos

News that Transworld was essentially remaking their fourth video, Cinematographer, got me fairly geeked for a few good reasons. The multiple filmer/editor format means for all sorts of different stuff in one package and there's always some comfort in anything skateboarding that throws back to the 90's, which I say both sarcastically and whole-heartedly. The Cinematographer Project went available for download Friday morning, and well, I'm still fairly geeked, as are people like Rob Brink (as evidenced by his Twitter feed). Halfway through my first viewing I was starting to feel confident that it was going to be, possibly, the best video of the year. I've dialed that back since that mid-point, but that's not to say that the video isn't really good and almost more interesting, just because of the type of project it is.

The Cinematographer Project is, on purpose or not, a case study in skateboard video making. Even more so than the original, different approaches and cameras and effects are obvious and when you put them all together, the video makes for a nice barometer of what one is looking for in a skateboard video, reinforcing certain biases. Dan Wolfe made a bit of a comeback after the unevenness of Since Day One [though Busenitz can probably do that for anyone (Evan Smith too!), the section raises even more questions about that SOTY snub]. Mike Manzoori is still one of the best in the biz (though I'd have also accepted some Come Together-iness, Jon Miner and Hi-8), and Bill Strobeck can put out a what is essentially one of his Youtube gems with better skating and we'll like it all the same. On the other hand, take away big name dudes from one guy's section and it becomes pretty forgettable, while overdone effects and questionable music choices can torpedo others. Cinematographer 2, then, is a grabbag of a lot of what's happening in skateboarding nowadays. More of the video works than that which does not, and that's a strong enough selling point on a project such as this. Bullet points follow:

-Chewy Cannon and Busenitz should share a part skating the same spots.

-Gonz rollerskates and I'll watch over and over.

-Brennan Conroy? Brennan Conroy films a lot of good dudes.

-In the sequel to a video from the 90's, RB Umali put out the most 90's-est part.

-Jerboi Tom Rohrer has graduated to a TWS vid.

-Those Australian dudes rip and straight forwardness prevails, again.

-The Alien Workshop section has some mind-numbingly great skating while sort of plodding along at the same time. Jake Johnson and Gilbert Crockett have enders and crush it. The question is, when does a certain type of editing and production surpass stylistics, stop evolving and cross into parody? It hasn't yet, but it's worth asking.

-Busenitz should have been SOTY. Buy the video, it's one for the collection/harddrive.

Congrats to Jack Olson who cleaned up rather well at Phoenix Am.