Now That’s What You Call A Good Morning

carroll emb

It may be back to 25 degrees on Thursday, but at least it gets dark at 7!

When was the last time there was something as unanimously loved by skateboarders from all walks of life as Bobby Worrest’s all-Pulaski part? Has there even been a part predominantly (only?) filmed at a single plaza spot since Stevie in The Reason? Also, here’s Boil the Ocean theorizing on the correlation between the economic downturn and the ability for these sorts of parts to exist. Or something?

Probably listened to DJ Khaled’s McDonald’s commercials 40 times last week. Looks like these guys are equally big fans. (Are they better than Flex’s Western Beef commercials though?) “It’s a recession out there and I love food that’s only for $1!”

Brandon Westgate remixed via #Tumblr-as-an-aesthetic.

A VHS cam throwaway reel from the LurkNYC dudes. There are some cool photos of that crew over here as well.

Mudo Zine interviewed Neil Macdonald of Science Versus Life (which, for those who don’t know, could be considered the Chromeball of exclusively British skateboard magazines) about how skate coverage has changed, but also sorta stayed the same, i.e. energy drink ads have been around since before you started skating.

The perils of posting about Osiris D3s on your website: People Earth’s last remaining population of Gravers will hit you up offering $200 for a pair after a cursory Google search leads them your way.

Skateboarders are a confused bunch, so Kingpin took notice and compiled a #listicle of its most outrageous style switch-ups. Should we do a New York edition?

Transworld interviewed Joeface about working in the skate industry, and posted a bunch of his photos. (ICYMI: Joeface’s Tony Durao “Best of” remix.)

Really enjoyed this Lyon bro cam / party cam clip by French guys who love rap, ledges and beer. (J.B. Gillet cameos included.) Also really wish that Travis Scott beat got given to a better rapper.

R.I.P. Delancey Popeye’s :'(

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Russell Westbrook had a triple double in twenty minutes of play last week, but then the Thunder lost to the Lakers on national television due to a career game from…Jodie Meeks.

Quote of the Week:
Inquisitive Supreme Employee: “Matt, why aren’t you in school right now?”
19-Year-Old High School Sophomore: “It’s a half day.”
Inquisitive Supreme Employee: “It’s 10:30.”

Can this shit pls end? Thx. (BTW new gear available this week.)

SURFBOARD…SURFBOARD

swsanta

#MERRY #CHRISTMAS #TO #ALL

R.I.P. to founding Three 6 Mafia member, Lord Infamous, who died in his mother’s house of unknown causes this past Friday. Carroll was the only dude to skate to Lord Infamous in a major video part with his second section in Fully Flared, but there’s also this old Bryan Herman Pharmarcy part and not-so-old Adrian Vega part.

People in Yemen don’t have a whole lot to do, do they?

Thrasher spoke with Brandon Westgate about his flatground flip tricks, among other things. “It’s a trip when a flatground trick that’s easy gets people stoked more than things I killed myself for.” Relate-ability v.s. Gravity, man.

Theories of Atlantis interviewed all the dudes from The Brodies video.

Boil the Ocean’s “Now That’s What I Call Skateboarding” / Top 10 Parts of 2013 countdown has begun. Miles Silvas @ #10 and Donovan Piscopo @ #9.

Our homie Joe Cups (of Lurkers notoriety) is selling his new project, Stay Away, over on his website. Teaser here. He also has a new commercial for Vans Vault with some familiar faces in it.

A new promo for the Westchester-based PFP3 video.

Adidas in the Pacific Northwest and Norwegian Huf in…Norway.

The best and worst of Montreal skateboarding over on the Dime site. Ritch Homie Swain A.K.A. Lord SMS also put together a Dime mix last week.

Career-long Wu-Tang devotee, Gino Iannucci, talks about Wu-Tang.

We talk about the two respective “Shit” remixes: Despite everyone coming to terms with Drake over the past twelve months (us included), Pastor Troy is on the Atlanta remix. Pastor Troy > Drake, therefore the ATL remix > the regs remix. Last part in the next Baker video should be edited to the original song. E-mail me maybe???

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Remember when the Knicks drafted Andy Rautins so a bunch of Syracuse alumns could cheer for him in garbage time over Lance Stephenson? Whatever, he’d be playing for Denver right now if they had :(

ON MY SURFBOARD…SURFBOARD…

On Westgate, Nollie Flips, BSOTP12M, etc.

westgate nollie flip

Tween favorites and Leo Gutman aside, Westgate is the only legit Ishod withstanding case you could make for Best Skater of the Past 12 Months. (We’re not saying “SOTY” anymore to avoid any “There’s politics behind it bro!” proclamations from those privy to the obvious. BSOTP12M strives to be as objective as possible.)

His new Emerica part is obviously closer to the Gravity end of things than any plain old video part. However, Westgate’s superhumanness always gets brought back to earth because he does the best looking, most un-Battle of the Berrics-homogenized flip tricks of any young skater today. The terrain he does them on is sorta irrelevant; every part this dude puts out leads to a Kalis comparison, even if the spots they typically skate are nothing alike. Distinct-looking flip tricks are relatable because everyone knows the feeling of “Wow, that was a good one” on a trick they otherwise do a hundred times a day. It does not matter how much lower the bar orange cone may be set in our individual cases. (But maybe it does help that Westgate’s best examples aren’t done down stairs. Speaking of which, are there any #relevant stair skaters besides Reynolds, Herman and Forrest Edwards anymore?)

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The Events That Defined New York City Skateboarding in 2011: 5-1

2011 is over in five hours. Here are the final five. Have fun tonight everyone.

Previous installments: #25-21, #20-16, #15-11, #10-6, The Best Video Part(s) of 2011, The Year in Rap.

5. The Rise of 12th & A Rap

As 12th & A’s stronghold on New York City skateboarding waned, it began to rise as an epicenter for New York City skateboard *rap*. With artists like ASAP Rocky, Odd Future, and Krayshawn getting deals off YouTube videos, the young skaters of 12th & A drew inspiration from their D.I.Y. attitude, and set out to make a name for themselves in perhaps the only professional world more overpopulated than pro skateboarding. Slicky Boy remixed Ice Cube and has been promising a mixtape all year. The Stoned Rollers took Lex Luger out of the trap and the strip clubs, and brought his trademark thump to the skate spot. And Black Dave, perhaps 12th & A rap’s greatest success story, is one-for-two with making it onto WorldStar with his videos.

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2011 ‘Real Street’ Parts AKA The New Zoo York Promo

During last Thursday’s NBA Draft, Quartersnacks, along with those who follow our Twitter account, took upon the task of drawing parallels between skateboarding and professional basketball, mostly by way of pointing out which skaters would be #1 overall picks in their respective draft years. We settled on a variety of conclusions: Guy Mariano in 1991, Eric Koston in 1992, Arto Saari in 1998, Paul Rodriguez in 2000, Mike Mo in 2007, Torey Pudwill in 2008, how skaters would be drafted out of skate shops, how Coliseum would’ve won the NCAA title in 2002, and finally realizing that most of the #1 overall picks somehow go to Girl (Cory Kennedy in 2010) and Chocolate (Raven Tershy in 2011) due to their highly astute front offices. Rick Howard wouldn’t be a bad GM for the Lakers. (That team can go to hell, though.)

If you don’t follow basketball, keep in mind that #1 overall pick does not necessarily equate to the “best” skater, as Larry Bird (#6), Michael Jordan (#3), and Kobe Bryant (#13) were not #1 picks. Manu Ginóbli was #57, and he went on to lead the Spurs to three championships. Then there are obvious draft busts, like Jereme Rogers going #1 in 2003, or Jovante Turner going #1 in 1989, only to have a short lived prime, a la Bernard King.

Someone insisted that Zoo York was overdue for a #1 pick, but sometimes, three top five picks in seven or eight years helps you build a better franchise than one #1 overall, and a bunch of picks above #15 in proceeding years. Look no further than this year’s batch of X-Games “Real Street” videos for evidence of that.

Zered Bassett: Apparently, the kink at the Courthouse Drop is just a regular ledge now. And it’s good to see that the rail they put up at that Washington Heights bump isn’t stopping some people. Zered should’ve won the whole thing last year.

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