If you poll a graduating film school class, chances are, someone ended up there from a childhood of watching and making skate videos. Not only a document of skateboarding in action, skate videos can lead to the development of an artistic voice that transcends the genre itself, sometimes even to filmmaking’s highest stage. Bing Liu — whose Oscar-nominated 2018 documentary, Minding the Gap — is just such a skater (and a Peabody Award winner, too.) Here’s a look into five parts that influenced his work.
The Stingwater video is on the way. Pretty excited because Daniel has a way of capturing Antonio’s magic unlike anyone else.
Obvs no shade to anyone else out there pointing lenses at Antonio intended! “Vue” by Stephen Spilker is a rad L.A. montage that also has a good bit of clips from 2018’s GRoER of the Year. Shout out to everyone out there creating plain, old fashioned montages. Should probably start working on a QS one right about now…
Gang Corp put out a sick five-minute summer edit. (The one line into the parking garage got me thinking about if anyone would ever do an all-parking garage montage, kinda how there was the all-subway one from Spirit Quest. So many insane spots in those.)
Thanks to everyone that picked up something from the webstore last week ♥ We caught up on shipping all of last week’s orders by Friday, so if you are worried something went awry, feel free to hit us up. Still some stuff left on there, and it’s supposed to almost hit 90 today, so perhaps you could use a new pair of shorts? ;)
DC, Skate Jawn and Village Psychic brought two pieces of plywood to Borough Hall, made a hip at the bottoms of the steps, and threw a skate jam last weekend. Has no one ollied the set yet?
“But I look at it this way. If it makes us happy, it has value. If we love it, it is as real as that love. And with some love and happiness in our hearts, we might just solve climate change and cure cancer too.” Jenkem has a nice feature with Mackenzie Eisenhower that covers sixteen pieces of advice that he’d give after sixteen years of writing about skateboarding for a living. (#17: one of the greatest hacks to writing about skateboarding is not writing about skateboarding.)
“A disc jockey, prison guard and a lumberjack walk into a vape lounge. A lounge team member looks up and says: ‘I know you folks. You must be coming from Human Resources Online’s list of the worst professions in 2018, ranked in terms of average salary and advancement opportunities, right?’ Before they can answer, a pro skateboarder wanders in behind them.” — Boil the Ocean explores the dynamics of skateboarding’s shrinking middle class as we approach the 2020s.
Dudes skating Everson between piles of snow: “…Or Get Off The Pot” is a new Syracuse edit from Lukas Reed.
Village Psychic had a couple nice pieces on their site recently. First, they caught up with contributors to Transworld, old and new, to get some recollections on the mag, and they also got Tony Hawk on the horn about where he (as someone who has had the widest range of endorsement deals in existence) draws the line on corporate sponsors.
Even a bunch of dudes from Germany who haven’t grown tired of skating the same downtown spots summer after summer aren’t resistant to T.F. West’s magnetic pull. “Transit Ride” is a half New York / half L.A. mini video by Paul Herrman. (And also confirms that you aren’t really dating yourself by pointing out Gang Starr in the most oft-skated to rap artist conversation.)
Yet another reminder to watch Minding The Gap if you still haven’t summoned the nerve to type in your card # for that free Hulu trial… Free interviewed the film’s director, Bing Liu. They were slow to get to it at first too, but became instant fans once they watched the film.
Ricardo Napoli’s video, Ciao, is premiering at The Woods in Williamsburg (48 S 4th Street) tonight at 7 P.M. You can watch his last video, Making It Happen, here.
Spot Updates — 1) The ledges on 110th and Central Park West had chunks taken out of all of them by the city. 2) Haven’t seen footage of it in a bit, but recently received an email tip that Queens’ Broadway Park is currently fenced off for construction.
QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Haven’t had Russ on here in a minute.
Quote of the Week: “You know what, his style isn’t fake. He’s just ugly.” — Stafhon
“Jake Phelps surely embodied worlds in decline: Old San Francisco, famously non-PC, MJ1s on his feet until whatever deadstock tap ran dry, proofing a decades-old print publication with a snarling discontent any seasoned editor would recognize and respect. An artifact arguing and cussing every day for a place in a world moving some other way.” Unfortunate to link their way two weeks in a row for obituary purposes, but Boil Ocean has a way with them words.
“Though I would sometimes cross the street to avoid him, I can remember so much of what he said to me.” Patrick O’Dell also wrote a thing about Phelps over on Vice.
And here is a re-link to Willy Staley’s California Sunday profile of Phelps that originally ran in 2016, A.K.A. what BTO labeled as “secular-press skate piece top five.” Would be *so* open to a conversation about what the other four are ;)
Munchies has a mini doc on the institution that has sustained New York skateboarding like none other throughout the 2010s — of course, we’re talking about 2 Bros. They also bring up a terrifying reality re: the ten-year leases that got signed at the start of the decade ending (e.g. when everyone was still reeling from the recession), and the dollar slice soon becoming a thing of the past.
“I think the mainstream American skateboarding culture is kidding itself. They’re really dismissive of emotions in a way that is hurting itself. It’s becoming more and more inline with traditional athleticism, but also what is acceptable as a skateboarder is so narrow – you have to be cool, not talk about your feelings.” If you’re one of those idiots like me who put off watching Minding the Gap for months, here’s another motivator: Skateism put their interview with director Bing Liu online. Yeah, you need to enter your card details, but a Hulu trial to watch it is free, and you can cancel the second you finish the movie — provided you’re not destroyed for the rest of the day.
