Time Capsule | Quartersnacks

Re-Edit of the Year: The Lost Mike Carroll Part in ‘Dog’

Time Capsule March 5th, 2013 · 7:08 am · 7

This is coming nine months shy of list season, but it’s unlikely that any 2013 re-edit will surpass “Dog,” the 40-minute Girl and Chocolate B-sides video from The Tennyson Corporation. Girl should send these guys a sizable check, supply them with a lifetime’s worth of free skateboards, issue a recall on all Pretty Sweet DVDs purchased thus far, and replace those copies with new discs that have this edit as a bonus feature. What crazy person re-dubs 40 minutes worth of skate noises?

Yes, we linked it up last week. Other people did too. Somehow, it only has 15K views, and deserves way more attention considering it compiles loose footage of some dudes who might be done with putting out full parts. Though maybe not as exaggerated as “I’d rather watch Gino go grocery shopping,” the “I’d rather watch a part of Carroll / Rick / Koston / B.A. / etc. messing around than ___” sentiments are pretty common for the older crowd. “Dog” is the antidote for any person who was bummed that their favorite Girl or Chocolate rider over thirty didn’t have a full part in Pretty Sweet. It includes an incredible Koston section, a Devine Calloway semi-part, a surprise “I didn’t know he had this much B-roll” section from Alex Olson, and Mike Carroll’s five-minute ender, embedded below for easy pre-session access. There’s a Rick Howard part before it, so watch the full video here.

Thanks again to the great people who put this together. You deserve an Oscar.

Jordan at 50: Skateboarding Edition

Time Capsule February 14th, 2013 · 7:03 am · 22

sal-jordandunk

Anybody who follows professional sports knows that February is a deadzone. NFL is over, ESPN pretends to care about MLB spring training, 80% of the NBA is in a mid-season slump, and hockey is hockey. So in 2013, sports media decided to fill up February programming slots by giving the most ubiquitous athlete in the history of sports even more attention because of his 50th birthday. There may one day be a better player than Jordan, but there probably won’t be one with better marketing and merchandising. (See: Any Kobe shoe.) If you have been alive for over a decade, you’ve likely owned something with a Jumpman on it; Lebron could fulfill his promise of eight championships, and still wouldn’t make it to that level.

Jordan’s career had been as much about championships as sneakers and advertising. M.J. will forever be “the greatest,” because he existed at a moment when an athlete could revolutionize a sport to a point that his personal brand influences something as distant as skateboarding.

The shoe parallels are obvious: Anybody who saw the Bones Brigade documentary (it’s on Netflix Instant, by the way) remembered that the Dunk/Jordan 1 was a skater favorite long before skate boutiques got SB accounts. The Caballero (before it got cut down to the Half Cab) had a bit of Jordan DNA in its design. The brand would even become indirectly responsible for the unfortunate air bubble craze of the late nineties.

February is a deadzone for skate content too, so here is a look back at some of the skaters who have most visibly been inspired by Jordan, sometimes beyond mere footwear.

Weekend Viewing: Rhythm Skateboards – “Genesis”

Time Capsule January 11th, 2013 · 8:52 am · 10

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On New Year’s Day, Ty Evans announced that Pretty Sweet will be his final video with the Girl family. It is unclear whether he is moving on from skate videos entirely, but it makes sense for a dude who directed a Super Bowl commercial to seek creative opportunities that do not involve chasing 20-year-olds down stair sets.

Despite all the bitching and moaning on behalf of nitpicky skate nerds everywhere, be it about excessive slow motion in the past two projects or just too many high fives, there is no denying that Ty Evans influenced skate videos more than anyone else in the past decade-and-a-half. His work propelled skate videos beyond bro-cam status and gave meaning to the concept of professional skateboard videography. With Evans “venturing out,” we are looking back at Rhythm Skateboards’ Genesis video, one of his earliest projects.

Released in 1997, Genesis was Rhythm’s first and only video. It was a follow-up to an eight-minute Rhythm montage at the end of Silver, the Planet Earth video that Evans made a year earlier. (Does anyone know if Silver was his first video?) Many hallmarks of future Ty Evans projects were already there: synth-heavy music supervision, female vocals, art direction based on staticky nineties technology (which would re-emerge in Transmission 7), and yes, occasionally a good bit of “lifestyle” filler between each trick.

Skateboarding’s Favorite Jazz Song

Time Capsule December 6th, 2012 · 12:18 pm · 8

Jazz legend Dave Brubeck passed away at the age of 91 yesterday. Beyond being fifty years ahead of the curve in wearing what would become standard issue glasses for hip skateboarders with poor eyesight (see above), Brubeck’s most famous work, “Take Five,” is likely the most oft-used jazz song among skate video editors. There is no scientific tally of recurring skate clip music supervision, but jazz songs are generally few and far between. “Take Five” seems like it pops up in a clip at least once a year, and that can’t exactly be said for anything else in the genre as it pertains to skateboarding. For evidence, consult last year’s 5Boro holiday clip, Kevin Macdonald’s part in Shitiots (9 minute mark), or the last part of the Mandible Claw video. Also 95% sure it was in the old Church of Skatan video that Drake Jones had a part in, but his is the only section available online.

As a change of pace, here’s Damian Smith’s Philly-heavy part from the 2001 Santa Cruz video, Uprising, in which he skates to Brubeck’s “Far More Drums.”

Somewhat related to jazz supervision in skateboarding: Jahmal William’s DNA video part and Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things”

Eric Koston NYC Cruiser Footage – Circa 1995

Time Capsule November 23rd, 2012 · 1:34 pm

To wrap up this mildly Girl/Chocolate themed week, here is a quick clip of Koston cruising around downtown circa 1995-ish, via the B-roll tapes from his Epicly Later’d series that came out earlier this year. Not much by way of actual “tricks,” just cruiser footage from the area around C.I.A. Ledge and the road that surrounded the Twin Towers (to the side of where the white stone benches were.) Thanks to Chris and the crew at VBS for sharing this with us. The audio is jacked in a few places, but you can deal with it. Have a good weekend.

Loosely Related (from two years earlier):