A Great Use Of Your Time — EC Melodi’s “Wasting Time” Video

EC Melodi, the half-New York / half-Atlanta outfit that originally started putting out routine full-lengths back in 2019, was always good for at least one sizable project a year. Then, a hiatus began after Break Your Legs over two years ago — even if the secondhand pain of that boardslide sack on the bench remained seared into the imagination (see #16.)

You can always tell the difference when a crew locks in for the video. There is a subtle shift in the end goal: it transforms from “the video comes out when we have enough clips” to “the video comes out when it feels done.” Think the multi-year hiatus away from full-lengths before Bronze’s It’s Time, or the long crumb-trail of Insta edits before John’s Vid.

Wasting Time feels like that new arrival video for Melodi.

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QS x Adidas Lonnnnnggg Ledge Jam @ Tompkins Recap

Way back when, we were reporting on a new skatepark across the Atlantic opening and someone left a now-immortal comment.

“I’ve always wondered what skatepark builders have against STRAIGHT FUCKING LEDGES. I live in CO and there’s a skatepark in every town with A 20 foot cradle but not a STRAIGHT FUCKING LEDGE at any of em. What are the kids gonna do with a 20 FOOT CRADLE?!?! Just build us a STRAIGHT FUCKING LEDGE and be done with it!”

In the twelve years since, anytime we have reported on a built-for-skateboarding structure, we simply had to commentate on whether or not the park, plaza, et al. included a …Straight Fucking Ledge™.

Today, more New York City skateparks have Straight Fucking Ledges™, though probably not in the abundance that a Straight Fucking Ledge™-enthusiast would want.

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Midtown 4Ever — Tanner Diamond’s ‘OTIS’ Video

The bountiful approaches to riding a skateboard in New York — from digging for an untapped morsel of crust and rub-bricking it, to never leaving Blue Park — will ebb and flow in popularity as time wears on. A few laid off security guards or a mere propped tile are capable of creating a sea change in the culture.

But through all those changes, there has been one constant, and that’s midtown footage. Dig as far back as the 1980s, and you’ll see people skating down that very same 47th Street hill beside the FedEx building that the dudes in Tanner Diamond‘s great new “OTIS” montage are.

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