This week’s installment. Going to finish out the remainder of the list next week. Previous editions: #25-21, #20-16.
15. Luis Tolentino Skates on High Things
Though Aldrin Garcia may have set the new highest ollie record in 2011, Luis went his own route and created an alternate, more conceptual category: Highest Average Obstacle in a Skate Part. The average height of every object he skates on or over in his Everywhere We Go Part is estimated to be 40 inches, shattering any previous records (likely held by Darren Harper and Brandon Westgate) by at least half-a-foot. This new record has lead to a variety of bizarre theories from YouTube comments, most notably that Luis has a black person in each leg.
He also started off his part with a trick at a Waffle House, so that’s always a plus.
The Pittsburgh homies from One-Up did a cross country trip this past summer, and have started to upload doc-style clips from it in small pieces. The first installment is for Minneapolis. It’s not too heavy on actual skate footage, but serves as a good reminder that it’s never too early to start planning a summer road trip, even at the onset of winter.
Two newteasers for the Poisonous Products video. The Rob Campbell cameo and abundance of Leo Gutman appearances make this video look real promising. It’s available on DVD for $7.99 over at the Color site, but “Allow 4 weeks for shipping” sounds a bit crazy in this day and age. That’s longer than the iPhone 4S waitlist.
There’s an art installation on 46th Street and Eighth Avenue right now, described as “a massive sculpture that represents suburban over-development and its effect on our natural landscapes.” Given that people skate on cars, in abandoned water parks (that Grant Taylor part in the SB video is insane), and other absurd obstacles nowadays, it wouldn’t be surprising if someone broke in to get a clip on it. (Or arrested.) Overhead view here.
Quartersnacks shot/edited Black Dave’s newest music video for his song “One Take.” He’s in skateboarder form, rather than his Black Donald Trump alter-ego, but B.D.T. is set to make a comeback sooner than later.
If you don’t personally know the G Man, and have only been able to gather a composite of his character based on his skating and endless Quote of the Week appearances, watching his latest Flip Cam clip is the best way to get to know him without actually having a conversation. A lot of ditch footage, piglets, flowers, llamas getting shaved, strippers, and a Future/Travis Porter/French Montana soundtrack that encompasses 90% of the music that matters in 2011.
YouTube redesigned its channel pages and made them slightly less cluttered. So, subscribe to Quartersnacks on YouTube if you have yet to do so, and browse through some of the oldies.
As “the endless amount of footage expands to the point where there is more skateboarding online than pornography,” it becomes necessary to apply extra discretion when subscribing to the overabundance of skateboard-based YouTube channels. The last full-on channel that we recommended was Bill Strobeck’s, and it unfortunately has not seen any new episodes since the date of that recommendation (whether or not that is due to progress on a full-length video remains to be seen.)
This year, you should subscribe to Krispy Du-rag, a Queens-based channel whose locations rarely reach beyond Maloof, Flushing, or the Astoria Park. It may not have Bill’s black-and-white penchant for haircuts and hair-dye, but it does have footage of Luis Tolentino somehow making the Maloof Park actually look interesting, homie cam clips of many Flipmode affiliates, and may possibly be sponsored by Maybach Music. If “Diamond Days” clips (new one here) are newsreels for 12th & A, “Krispy Durags” are the Queens alternative.
So, Waka Flocka released a video for “Lil’ Debbie.” The video and the song are disappointing from the perspective of this website, because the visuals / lyrics do little to live up to the title. In fact, the only mention of the snack cakes that the site is named after is “I get stupid cake, you can call me Lil’ Debbie.” One can only hope that a Lil’ Debbie diamond chain will eventually surface alongside the Fozzie bear one.
We are looking for a television network interested in adopting our idea for “Snack League” — a Tompkins Square Park based skateboard competition where New York’s greatest athletes (drunkenly) compete on three obstacles (a box, a trashcan, a yellow flatrail), with commentary from the nearby row of benches. The final round will be in the middle of the District Attorney office’s weekly softball game. Fuel TV, Fox Sports Net, ESPN, Turner Classic Movies, Oxygen Network, etc…you know where to find me.
With all due respect to Brandon Westgate, this website’s favorite skater with a proficiency for skating up things that go down and absurdly high obstacles is Luis Tolentino. Pause right before the pop on the last 5050, just to ballpark how high the ledge probably is.
Did you know there is a decent sidewalk bump across the street from 12th & A? (Technically on the 11th Street side.) Billy and Shawn Powers knew. They did some ninja stuff over it.
The black marble banks on 48th Street & Park Avenue (or what remained of them) are completely gone as of this weekend. Someone tell the city to give companies tax write-offs for donating marble to 12th & A instead of just hucking it into a dumpster.
Attention all broke skaters: Gray’s Papaya now serves dollar slices. Not only did they price themselves out of the “Broke Skater Diet” bracket once the “Recession Special” slowly rose from $2.45 to $5.00, but they sold out by offering pizza slices cheaper than their hot dog specialties. If the mafia controls cheese prices, thus contributing to the rise in cost of pizza, does it control the hot dog market too? Or do they just melt Polly-O string cheese on dollar slices, and circumvent the mafia entirely?
Not really sure if the Fish is still “relevant” in skateboarding, but the NYPD shut it down for “illegal sale of alcoholic beverages.” (That probably means it was open after 4 A.M.) Naturally, people started a petition to get it open again.
Quote of the Week: “I went to see Paul Muni in Times Square and got blackout drunk…the only thing I remember is someone punching the Cookie Monster.” — Sweet Waste
Not really mad at Scottie Pippen’s playoff predictions, save the second round favor of Miami. Definitely backing the call on Oklahoma. (Basketball is going to be a bigger topic than usual on here for the next few weeks, deal with it. We’ll be avoiding all the infuriating aspects of yesterday’s game though.)
Following up with that bit about Skatebook getting sued for those Simpsons illustrations by 20th Century Fox, it was definitely wise to scoop up a copy a few weeks back, as the going price for it now is an upwards of $300 for a used copy on Amazon. There were copies going for $30-$40 the week of that initial post in late March.
Alternate edit of Kyle Iles part in Rich Mahogany, set to the sounds of Project Pat, which Kyle evidently disapproved of. There is not much a difference in terms of how the part is put together from the original, but you never need an excuse to revisit Kyle’s finest work. (He might be living in exile far away from New York now.)
This is probably the most intense / advanced game of S.K.A.T.E. to hit the internet in a while. Featuring Quartersnacks favorite, Youness Amrani, and his ability to do switch backside lipslides down handrails on call.
While Luis Tolentino received widespread accolades for his Berrics’ part and proficiency for skating up things that go down, he still functions best in his natural habitat of Queens, New York. This short clip of outtakes from Flushing and AT&T proves that point. Did New York pioneer the act of setting up a trashcan before a set of stairs or was that invented elsewhere? (He channeled this in the Berrics part by placing the Los Angeles equivalent of a trashcan, a flatbar, in front of a set of stairs, and fakie heelflipping over it.)
A rare (and short) Van Wastell part from Consolidated’s 1999 Is What It Is video.
Keeping along with rare web finds, 48 Blocks recently posted a Girl / Chocolate promo that looks like it was released just before The Chocolate Tour (a lot of the footage in it later appeared in that video…Guy’s fakie frontside flip crook to fakie at Lockwood is still nuts.) Features Rick Howard courtside sightings at Lakers’ games, Sheffy taking on the Wu-Tang, and a behind the scenes look at one of the best commercials ever.
Everyone already proclaimed Dennis Busenitz as the to-be Skater of the Year. Well, Lil’ Chris (from 2nd Nature’s Eclectic video, and who appeared in the past two Watermelon videos dating all the way back to 2006) is Quartersnacks’ early contender for Skater of the Year. The realest thirteen-year-old on a board today.
R.I.P. Flip Cameras. Probably a smart longterm move. They were immensely popular, but didn’t accomplish much that your average smartphone couldn’t already do. (Infinitely better in low-light situations than the iPhone 4 though.)
Quote of the Week: “Bro, the fucking Knicks lost and I feel like smacking my girlfriend, but she’s a Jew broad and wouldn’t understand.” — Guy on cell phone at the bar
