‘Vacation’ By the Star Team

It was hard not to pine for the “before time” while watching this — when the QS office was blessed with opportunities to do regular Japan trips…

‘Vacation’ by the Star Team is a showcase of all that the Star Team and Kyota Umeki have been up to since filming an entire video on an iPod this past past fall. Crew trips to L.A. are practically a rite of passage for any tight-knit crew entering adulthood, and this one includes a handful of the Homies Network dudes making their way out west to skate New Yorkers’ favorite L.A. spot: the Sand Gaps. You also get to vicariously experience visiting Japan via Kyota’s Japanese passport (us regular U.S. passport holders are still barred from entry), alongside the crew from Prov Skateshop — which has a supernatural ability to have new east coast skate brands in stock before most east coast shops even do.

Kyota also has a bunch of new Star Team merch up on his website

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‘The iPod Video’ By the Star Team

People react to the mention of an iPod the same way they do to — idk, a cassette player now?

The first nod to Kyota Umeki’s video work on QS was when he filmed an entire video on a Nintendo 3DS back in 2017. And now, he siphoned a summer and fall’s worth of skating through a fourth generation iPod touch — the first one to ever include a video camera, released in 2010 — with a fisheye glued onto it.

The iPod Video features a roster of Tompkins locals that you will recognize from Homies 2, and commercials for The Star Team’s new drop of jeans, sneakers (?!), and headphones (?!?!?!) Anyone who still has the energy to debate VX v.s. HD should probably just dig up their old iPod from the LiveMixtapes era, and get a glue gun ;)

Check The Star Team’s new product here.

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Short Trip To Space

Cardiel, 1993. Bryce Kanights on the photo. Science v.s. Life on the scan.

Big Parts Unknown vibes in this: Pocket‘s latest installment of its “Followed” / day-in-the-life-esque series trails the samosa vendor from MACBA for a day. This entire piece is so so good, and really shines a light on how essential these peripheral figures at spots are to skate culture. Can’t wait for more. Shout out the the Flushing empanada lady. Shout out to the Brooklyn Banks Burger King, the Love Park Wawa, at al.

Week late, but on the slim chance that you haven’t seen Tristan Mershon’s Fool’s Gold video, filmed in predominantly non-obvious corners of New York, please do. The last two parts are especially incredible, and the curtain-call filming is brilliant. “What’s your spot-finding method?” “Lurking, really.”

A day in Yonkers with the 2nd Nature boys via Mike Sass.

Hot Potato” is the new edit from Stephan Singh with a lot of gems it (that backside flip!)

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Short Ends

Rest In Peace Brendan Leddy. Some of you might remember Brendan as having the first part in the Long Island video, Short Ends, which premiered alongside Static 3 in 2007, and also featured the first-ever parts from Jake Johnson and Luke Malaney. Brendan would go on to join the Air Force and he became an engineer after serving. He will be buried with a Silver Star. Tell your friends you love them ❤️

From summer trips to Hudson Valley swimming holes to building igloos at Tompkins, Kei Tsuruta’s “Donut Pub Mix” video is a 14-minute iPhone edit that features a lot of what was going on the periphery of them filming for Homies 2.

Not much info on this one, but “Last Straw” is a really sick New York winter edit that ramps up an octave in the last minute or so. That Euro gap to uphill landing kickflip is *wild*.

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