Santa Claus does exist — his name is actually Antonio.
Though a long way from the sprawling epic Christmas Clips of the past, today marks the first time since 2015 that we put up an edit for December 25. Though not the mood piece of night skating in hoodys that it once was, here are some of the easier-on-the-eyes clips from the past four or five months of bringing out the #realcamera. Half the footage is in shorts with leaves on the trees, so there was almost a debate about whether to call it a Christmas Clip at all, but who even has the time anymore ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Features Jesse Alba, Daniel Kim, Antonio Durao, Ben Blundell, Kyota Umeki, Myles Gable, Lurker Lou, Connor Champion, Sully Corimer, Dustin Henry, Etienne Gagne, Stephen Ostrowski, Keith Denley, Emilio Cuilan.
And on a day when the wind-chill brings the temperature down to 12 degrees, we bring you some… good news.
Space 198, the new free, INDOOR Vans park is opening on January 2nd at 198 Randolph Street in Brooklyn. Unlike the belated House of Vans, which was more of an event space inside of a skatepark (and brought out people’s inner savages anytime there was a mid-winter open day there), this park is a community-oriented space built for skateboarding.
It’s going to be open Thursday through Sundays — you just need to to sign up on the website beforehand. And it’s off the Jefferson L stop in Bushwick, making everyone’s life a bit easier than a 20-minute walk through the snow to Greenpoint that we used to do ;)
As they were putting the finishing touches on it, they gave a handful of crews the chance to check out the park last week, and here’s what we came back with. Be nice to Jersey Dave when you see him, because chances are, his phone has not stopped buzzing for the past two weeks.
Filmed by Will Rosenstock, Paul Young, Max Hull, Cristian Berrios & Kyota Umeki.
“Colombia, huh.” Then come the sly smiles. There’s obvs no shortage of shithead Americans going to Colombia to be shitheads, but in all honesty, we weren’t going for shithead-related endeavors. We were trying to get out of the cold. It was three degrees outside the day we left.
Remember that 2012 S.O.T.Y. award? The one after Pretty Sweet? People thought Guy Mariano should’ve had it as the final victory to a tremendous redemption narrative, and for like, laser heelflipping out of a smith grind — for whatever reason he deemed that necessary to perform. A young Colombian man who was Possessed to Skate™ ended up getting it. He was the first Latin American to get it (right?), and the first non-American winner since Arto in 2001.
Why are we talking about S.O.T.Y? Well, when we went to Colombia for the first time in 2016, we went to Gonzalez’ neighborhood park. That guy is a god out there. He passed his possessed-ness off to thousands of Colombian kids, because this time around, it was obvious that skateboarding and its culture had become even bigger in Medellín. That one somewhat random S.O.T.Y. win had a massive impact in spreading skateboarding globally, even if we didn’t feel it in the States.
The plaza gods also blessed Medellín with an incredible plaza a little over a year ago. Parque Chimineas could best be described as if J-Kwon and Sants (had it not been bashed to shit over the years) had a baby, and already fueled its share of progression. That place alone is worth airfare + a five hour flight, and a bit more ~exotic~ than your run-of-the-mill New York winter escape destinations.
Watermelon Alex has been living down there for months, and Dre is seemingly an honorary Colombian. A second visit was much overdue. Can’t think of any other place I’ve traveled to where $200 lasts over a week. Also, that near-equator sun will have you in bed by 11 P.M., asleep deeper than you could’ve ever imagined. Thanks Alejo, Mateo and Alvarez for showing us around ♥
Productivity on a skateboard is known to be partial to a more, ummm, let’s say, “open-ended” schedule. Life obligations and responsibilities do have a well-worn way of interfering with clips. But given too much time on our hands, we start to take it for granted: how many of those slacker days end up spent kicking around Tompkins, L.E.S. or Blue Park? (Obvs the answer is…a lot.)
On the other hand, the guys with actual jobs have a way of making those two free days and two weeks of paid vacation count. Case in point: Josh Velez has been on a half-decadestreakof filminga parta year on his days off for the purposes of, in his words, keeping him sane. Where are the fire parts from the years prior to his foray into gainful employment? Blowing in the wind somewhere…
(Nah jk, we were driving around with Dre looking at bump-to-bars that nobody was going to skate for months on end in those years.) But really, this past year, him and Connor Champion, another full-timer since leaving the Young Money payroll, put together the best one from either of them yet. Maybe there’s more to this “having a job” thing than just a consistent bank account balance ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Filmed and edited by T.J. Marshall. Filmed throughout 2018 in San Francisco, Copenhagen/Malmö, and New York. Guest tricks from Troy Stilwell, Tyler Tufty, Bob Reynolds, and Nolan Benfield. Collective electronic “booooo” from the stands to all those who failed to get requested guest tricks, including but not limited to: Andre Page, myself, Genesis, Meatball, and most egregiously, Kevin Tierney (wtf bro.)
Somehow only catching this one now, but Embassy Skate Shop (Columbus, Ohio) put together one of the best videos of the year thus far. It is tightly-edited, each skater is distinct from the other, and it maintains a tight-knit hometown vibe even though ~half of it is filmed in S.F. Add this and Adam Bos’ “Steel” to your morning rotation.
“With this risk spectrum in mind, when I see a skateboarder do a trick while smoking a cigarette, I can’t help but feel inspired by the sheer audacity involved.” Here is a brief reflection of cigarettes’ role in skateboarding, though it inexcusably writes Mr. Butts out of history. “To young kids, don’t smoke. It’s a horrible habit.”
“Among the improbably growing ranks of skateboard filmers, the thrill of the hunt tends to scale alongside duration.” Since everyone is pissed about our Artforum MasterCard coverage of the Converse video, perhaps you will find Boil the Ocean’s take on Purple less triggering — and maybe laugh at the phrase “something of a freethinking homicidal” as much as I did ;)
Connor Champion ♥ has a new edit for Grand Collection *airhorn*:
Even though Shorty’s has been demolished for nearly a year, the “last days” clips are still coming out. It’s with Freddy and Tommy Cuba, so nobody’s complaining :)
Life before cell phones = keeping a foldable card of every skater you’ve ever skated with’s handwritten number in your wallet.
Can’t say Helly Hansen was at the top of the imaginary list of brands to collab with a skateboard company, but they chose a pretty perfect crew to do the “wear test” video for it. QS Budapest 2019…we out?
QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: This week, the Rap Desk is filling in for the Sports Desk, and giving the P.O.T.W. to to Young Dolph. (Do you think people will ever stop overreacting to Lebron losing a game in a playoff series? This shit happens every year and it is so annoying. Still hating Lebron in 2018 is like not being at terms with Drake in fucking 2018 — like, who has the time to hold onto some stupid 2011 grudge? Just let go and move on in peace ♥)
Quote of the Week: “She’s like the Jamie Foy of lying.” — Charles Rivard
