The QS Year in Review Countdown: 5-1

Photo by Mike Heikkila

Last post of the year. Be safe out there tonight. Previously: 10-6, 15-11, 20-16, 25-21.

5. The Year of Columbus Park

For a spot that has been around for so long, Columbus Park didn’t become the main only place people go if they leave L.E.S. Park until recently. There was Puleo’s INFMS line, A.V.E’s ollie over 5050, and the seminal 2002 “Ja$onwear Day” clip that may have been the second time the kinked ledge ever got waxed — but besides routine 2000s video appearances of the ledge, the spot was never a bustling nexus until now. In 2015, it clocked two major video enders, one magazine cover, a newly established A.B.D. docket of tricks done up the two block, and is the place you are most likely to see a group of semi-motivated skateboarders pointing iPhones at each other.

4. Max Palmer: The Video

There was an entire corner of Thrasher S.O.T.Y-debating public that vied for an Ishod two-peat. Considering Horny dropped just several weeks after 2014 Q.S.S.O.T.Y. was awarded, and six months later, Sure revealed itself to be a Max Palmer Finals MVP highlight reel, the case for doubling up for this website’s less-coveted and less-debated year-end award was equally sound.

3. The Bronze Anthology

Flipmode 3: The First Flipmode Video A.K.A. Suck My Flipmode, Trife, Sognar, Caviar (turned five just the other day! Shout out Phil Rodriguez), 56k, Solo Jazz, Enron, Trust, and Paramount. Nine videos in nine years. There’s no skateboard institution — maybe in history — that comes even close to Bronze in prolifically avoiding the “video out later this year” for eight years trappings that engulf so many skateboard companies and crews. This is all while keeping a stream of side projects flowing, producing masterpieces of post-modern art a la the “It’s the Zoo York” challenge, and staying interesting while more than a handful of people out there are biting their shit.

2. Q.S.S.O.T.Y.

Even though he’s been on everyone’s “most fun to watch” list for years (that “Boroughs to Bayous” thing still rips, and Enron was rad but short and sweet), Jordan never really had the part. This year, there was the 360 Flip of the Year-containing Trust part, the Autobahn section, the Village Psychic remix that combined the two and was more-or-less the only time we willingly played “Hotline Bling” (not like you had to walk more than two feet out your door to hear it), and the incredible 5BNY ender, which much of the world has yet to even see (video is available here btw.) Pretty airtight case for a place on anybody’s favorite skater list.

1. The T.F. is Outsourced

21 weeks ago in Instagram years, an unnamed tattooed man wearing a Gwar shirt dragged a mundane object away from its home at 37th Street and 2nd Avenue. It was a plastic jersey barrier, something adored by 8th grade skateboarders in driveways everywhere. Except he didn’t bring it to the expected destination of East 9th Street and Avenue A, where many similar scraps that punctuate the city have been stolen by green suit bandits year after year. He brought it to Houston and 6th Avenue, where it enjoyed a fruitful life for the remainder of the year.

In 2015, a T.F. is no longer a necessity. It’s a novelty, and allegiance to one caged-in baseball diamond is antiquated and bourgeois. 9th and A’s draw is still resonant, but the signal has been weakened by the skatepark-ification of our society. Thus we are able to see the forrest for the trees. Maybe we go waste away at those two bumps in Gramercy? Maybe we only go back to Tompkins to re-group after dark? Maybe we go to T.F. West instead? The girls around are better looking, the real estate is more desirable, and holy shit, maybe an obstacle there will last more than one night.

#WHATSBEEF #preWORKout ⚰⚰⚰⚰⚰ @diamond_nyc_ @diamondsupplyco @diamond.fairfax @diamond.sf @akiramowatt @amaircline @danny_supa 📹: @_kevintierney

A video posted by Maybe Its Made With Lean (@connorchampion1) on Dec 11, 2015 at 9:24am PST

"NYC now."🌆 @tronmanjenkins @enwhytj @notclady @troystills @mike_liotti @shawnbriggs @seylom @inkwellcommons @mr.marshall.mov @chhandyy

A video posted by William Strobeck (@williamstrobeck) on Aug 2, 2015 at 4:40pm PDT

QS Reader’s Choice Winners:

I.G.S.O.T.Y: Lucas Puig [33%]
Columbus Park Rail Trick of the Year: A.V.E. – Switch Back 5-0 [44%]
Noseslide of the Year: Hjalte – Inside Planter Pop-Over in TWS Part [53%]
Ollie of the Year: Andrew Wilson – Manhattan Bridge Cobblestones [28%]
Album of the Year: 56 Nights [48%]
People’s Champ Award: Jamal Smith – Sabotage 4 [28%]
Hottest Move in a QS Clip: Antonio Durao – Downhill Nollie Heel Attempt [39%]
Remix of the Year: Jordan Trahan – Village Psychic Remix [34%]
Interview of the Year: Bobshirt Interview With Puleo Where He’s Not Pissed [36%]
The “Ugh” Award: The McCarren Black Ledge [28%]
Hottest Move of the Year: 7 Year Old Girl in Fairy Costume – Heelflip Three Stairs [24%]

Let’s end the year with 2015’s most unexpectedly prolific bit of #TM101-level motivational speaking. Then go watch Tom Knox’s Vase part. Then grab a drink ;)