A Routine Reminder That Daewon is the Best

calvin hobbes daewon

If you spend any time on the skateboard-internet, you likely saw VII or Die’s Calvin & Hobbes parody that made the rounds last week. It’s genuinely funny and well-done, and that can’t often be said about a lot of skateboard “jokes,” especially in the meme-ified world of today.

You know how there are those stories about celebrities getting bored with having limitless access to almost any woman on earth, so they get into really weird sex stuff? Always figured Daewon was sort of the skate version of that: he’s so gifted with the ability to do absolutely anything on a skateboard, that he just opts to skate the most insane, out-of-left field shit imaginable. He’s not “weird for the sake of being weird,” as we often joke when discussing northeastern skateboarders with fine arts degrees — he’s just talented to the point that he couldn’t be bothered by any normal conceptions of spots.

Clearly, Calvin is referencing the majority of Daewon’s post-Skate More output (which, by the way, is as awesome of a technical skate part as there is, and perhaps has the tamest spot selection of any of his semi-recent parts.) Him and Hobbes incited a bit of a YouTube binge, which lead to last year’s 5-Incher part, and then ended up at his Chromeball interview. Somehow, it flew under the radar in light of rare interview subjects, Pretty Sweet gossip, and cellar door talk. It answers a lot of the questions about the aforementioned spot oddities, confirms that the majority of his footage has been filmed near his house, and reveals how he got disappointed to learn he became “the picnic table guy” in the Deca years. Yeah, it’s odd to plug a three-month-old interview, but it seems like it didn’t get as much shine as the others when it ran. Either way, dude’s the best.

On skating rocks:

“I want to skate a rock, to actually push through and grind it. It’s so hard because those things just grab your trucks. I wanted to prove to myself that a kickflip front crooks on a rock is possible. On a bench, it grinds right through. You’re on and you’re off. There’s no real sense of accomplishment. But a rock is a whole nother thing. I didn’t think that would ever grind. I remember sitting there just begging for it to please let me go! Please let me have this!”

On skating trees:

“Like when I was skating trees in 5-Incher, people would tell me about this great ledge spot they knew and I wanted nothing to do with it. Why would I want to go to a perfect ledge spot? I am on the hunt! I don’t need your perfect ledge! I’m looking for a tree that got knocked down or possibly hit by a car. The funny thing now is that I don’t want to skate that stuff anymore and I have all these people coming up to tell me about this ‘sick tree spot’ they found. No thanks. I’m just not into that anymore but it’s what I felt at the moment. I hate that stuff now but I couldn’t get enough of that stuff at the time.”

On generally odd spots: “I wanted to prove that there are no structures that we have to build or that have to exist on this planet for us to go out there and have fun on our skateboards.”

Okay, not going to plagiarize anymore. Just read the interview if you already haven’t and re-watch the 5 Incher video part while you’re at it.

13 Comments

  1. it was weird that marc johnson had such a gigantic fan following but daewon comparitively flew under the radar so much. they are pretty similar but somehow mj gets way more cred. not that he’s not sick or anything just that i tend to think daewon is a bit underrated for all the crazy shit hes done. i dont think any other human could do more than one of the tricks in that almost part

    ok anyway end of rant bye

  2. I CANT ROCK WITH DIS HE ON DAT TREE JK WAS HOPING FOR SOME STACKED BENCHES OVER ROOF GAPS JU HEARD. DAEWON VS TRESS ROUND 2

  3. daewon = prob one of the top 3 skaters to ever exist purely skillwise along with prob koston and mariano

    puleo = a dude who was sick in the mid 90s but realized he couldnt keep up with the rate skating was progressing at so he just skatered skating weirder shit to differentiate himself from the pack and was very successful at it

    your comment = dont ever put them two in the same sentence. both are sick but in very very different ways.

  4. As tech as Dae Won is it is kinda bugged that he doesnt skate switch. Should do an all world bball fantasy draft, with a sixth man. Guy Henry Dae Won Kareem Koston, Shiloh as 6th man.

  5. Daewon has always been high among my personal favorites and I’ve always thought he wasn’t appreciated, despite being among the top two or three skaters around, in part because of the music selection accompanying most of his parts.

  6. geetoz rambling about skating? makes sense. and yall need to get off d rose dick. he’s one poorly forced drive to the lane from a second knee surgery and a life as a club promoter

  7. geetoz, fool. im talking about the way daewon just put together a part full of cutty ass nature spots and made it all look amazing, thats something puleo did in static 2 and that made him really famous. most new yorkers try filming at non spot spots but daewon blows everyone out of the water. theyre worth comparing because basically im saying if daewon came to new york he would probably shit on every skater in terms of spots AND tricks, hes amazing.

  8. Dang this the first link I seen on here this year that didnt have poop brown highwater dickies in it. I invested 20 bucks in the shit hued dickies game last year and now im a millionair. If you show ur ankles in pants you got the wrong size nikkah. thank you. #nosocksshowing


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