Writing in 2019, when “cherry” snagged the top spot in QS Readers Poll results for best videos of the 2010s (voting for this year’s opens soon!), Boil the Ocean remarked “that it is easy to forget the gamble that “cherry” represented roughly one eternity ago.” The gamble clearly worked, and “BLESSED” felt like a result of the creative blank check a film studio gives out when someone’s first feature breaks expectations.
If you’re a longtime QS reader, there’s a decent chance that the ~2014-2020 run of Johnny Wilson videos have saved up enough repeat viewings for a penthouse apartment in your heart. And within that sweet-spot of unbridled productivity that went down from 2014 to 2016, “rack” always felt like something of a crown jewel. There were Cyrus’ night lines, Hjalte and Brass interchanging clips before they were Polar teammates, and Antonio throwing a switch tre down D7 in the middle of a web edit — all soundtracked to Moodymann, when #skatevideohouse was at its peak.
Which is also the reason we’re talking about “rack” today. Johnny just dropped a Chicago edit with the Supreme dudes to commemorate the opening of their new store out there, and a Moodymann reprise was naturally in order. Except this time, it’s Nik Stain, Kris Brown and Kalis trading granite cathedral lines, Caleb with 10/10 switch heel form, and Tyshawn doing Tyshawn shit.
Had to check into the office real quick on a weekend because last night, Ryan Mettz dropped an edit for Skate Jawn that ticks every one of the QS boxes, and tugs at all of our heartstrings.
“Mettz Quest 2” is a peek behind many of the sessions that shaped John’s Vid, Paul Coots’ HIT Video, and Limosine’s Paymaster. Includes appearances from Cyrus, Karim, Max and them, plus video evidence of the Andrew Wilson back tail behind the Home Depot in Gowanus — the trajectory / physics of which make far less sense IRL than on video, perhaps even less-so now that the building chiseled out the quick-crete job on the barrier. Had trouble explaining that trick to a car of people scoping the spot out once.
Thanks Mettz! New Skate Jawn photo issue out now.
Everyone have a fabulous weekend ❤️
A colleague remarked that months ago, he had driven past the red Navy Yard Philly step, saw a disconfigured piece of wood up to it, and knew that it had to be a Max Palmer concoction — despite there being no skaters in sight. (That spot is also the headline image for the first Max part QS ever posted in 2011.) He was right.
The Hit Video is the year-plus in the making project by Paul Coots, a principal architect behind the BSA videos. At the premiere on Saturday night, drunkards [remembered this was actually Max Hull’s quote and he wasn’t that buzzed ♥] lovingly dubbed it “basically Max Palmer’s Wonderful horrible life.” It feels like a warm VX throwback to the sideyard era of Johnny Wilson videos, with cameos from Cyrus, DREEWWWWWWW, Conor (!) and even John Choi (!!!) along the way.
Congratulations to John Gardner on the pro board ♥ There are few skaters as contagiously fun to watch as John, and if getting people hyped to skate is the principal purpose of why we have pro skateboarders to begin with, John should’ve been pro ages ago :) Creature dropped a remix of his footy from the past few years to illustrate that exact point. Photo by Nik Stain.
Can’t think of a recent skate commercial that was this good. Philly Santosuosso and a friend pay homage to Spike and Mike’s “Is it the shoes?” Jordan ad on the occasion of Philly’s new Venture truck. The execution is just so, so good, right down to every little detail. Give everyone involved a raise.
