We first met Ruben on a QS family trip to Italy back in 2016. Milan has a tight-knit and friendly skate scene — it feels like a lot of it revolves around Milano Centrale and the Chef Family crew. He and his friends were kind enough to show us around their city when we summoned the willpower to leave an absolutely perfect plaza spot. When a spot is that good, you willfully forget that the whole “exploring the city”-thing is a big part of skate trips. (Colleagues echo our sentiments.)
We visited Milan again a year later. On the train-ride into Centrale (yes, the train from the airport drops you off at Italy’s best skate spot), I remembered out loud, “Oh, I should probably DM Ruben and let him know we’re coming.”
“Don’t worry, he’ll already be there,” a mutual friend replied.
The Homies Video is the first full-length by Homies Network, featuring a ton of upcoming skaters you’ll recognize if you spend any time pushing around downtown, or lurking by Labor. Filmed + edited by Kei Tsuruta.
We have an interview we did with Kei and a few of the guys, but a lot of it was in reference to stuff that actually happens in the video — so we figured we’d give this one a day to marinate and post it up tomorrow ;) There’s a lot in their first full-length to get hyped on and reassure yourself that the future is in good, enthusiastic and creative hands.
We’re not in the habit of posting surf footage, but there’s a first time for everything! City schools get out in the coming week, real summer is almost here, and everyone ends up scheming on how to bum a ride to Rockaway. In honor of that, we threw together a greatest hits remix from the past ~year of footage from prolific back noseblunter, #top10 staple, and also the QS office’s unanimous favorite surfer, Shin Sanbongi.
Footage is pulled from Shin’s Instagram + Tao’s awesome Marseilles vid for Carhartt WIP, which is worth a rewatch since it feels like it flew a bit under the radar + a couple loose Adidas clip / Polar video bits.
Brian Delaney invites you to take a sip (maybe a shot if you’re bold) each time you see a backside tailslide in “Twice Around,” a somewhat new, somewhat recycled, somewhat not Eggs, somewhat mostly Eggs part from him, Alltimers and Lee Madden. A couple highlights are pulled from Lee’s past two projects, but given the speed at which everything moves through a feed these days, who’s really counting, we’re all friends here ;)
“Colombia, huh.” Then come the sly smiles. There’s obvs no shortage of shithead Americans going to Colombia to be shitheads, but in all honesty, we weren’t going for shithead-related endeavors. We were trying to get out of the cold. It was three degrees outside the day we left.
Remember that 2012 S.O.T.Y. award? The one after Pretty Sweet? People thought Guy Mariano should’ve had it as the final victory to a tremendous redemption narrative, and for like, laser heelflipping out of a smith grind — for whatever reason he deemed that necessary to perform. A young Colombian man who was Possessed to Skate™ ended up getting it. He was the first Latin American to get it (right?), and the first non-American winner since Arto in 2001.
Why are we talking about S.O.T.Y? Well, when we went to Colombia for the first time in 2016, we went to Gonzalez’ neighborhood park. That guy is a god out there. He passed his possessed-ness off to thousands of Colombian kids, because this time around, it was obvious that skateboarding and its culture had become even bigger in Medellín. That one somewhat random S.O.T.Y. win had a massive impact in spreading skateboarding globally, even if we didn’t feel it in the States.
The plaza gods also blessed Medellín with an incredible plaza a little over a year ago. Parque Chimineas could best be described as if J-Kwon and Sants (had it not been bashed to shit over the years) had a baby, and already fueled its share of progression. That place alone is worth airfare + a five hour flight, and a bit more ~exotic~ than your run-of-the-mill New York winter escape destinations.
Watermelon Alex has been living down there for months, and Dre is seemingly an honorary Colombian. A second visit was much overdue. Can’t think of any other place I’ve traveled to where $200 lasts over a week. Also, that near-equator sun will have you in bed by 11 P.M., asleep deeper than you could’ve ever imagined. Thanks Alejo, Mateo and Alvarez for showing us around ♥
