John Choi | Quartersnacks

Ghosts of Christmas Clips Past

Daily News December 26th, 2017 · 2:59 pm · 2

This past year, nobody else incited as many smiles and reminders of the glorious escapism that skateboarding provides. Thank you Jamal Smith, 2017’s Q.S.S.O.T.Y., for inspiring us to enjoy the world on a skateboard. Sadly, we can’t fly you to Canary Islands like Thrasher can (…not yet), but just wanted to say thanks :)

Iron Claw’s new 11-min video, Not Not a Video, is now online. Shout out Colombia.

Even as an institution that often gets chastised for Rihanna songs in skate clips and bad filming, we gotta chime in here: wtf is with the choppy frame-rate, wtf is up with the darkass clips, and wtf is up with that Morrissey song in Antonio’s new Berrics part? The skating though…is absolutely F U C K E D.

Oddly enjoyed this way more than expected, probably because they skate a bunch of weird shit that nobody bothers with, e.g. they got two clips at the Gristedes on 96th Street — a Weed Maps “Summer Trip to New York” clip with Jaws, Tommy Sandoval and Boo Johnson. I think we ran into Jaws at a rave when he was filming this.

Rolling Stone has a great mini-doc with Josh Stewart about making independent skate videos in 2017, via the lens of Traffic’s Look Left.

Jenkem has a “Day in the Life”-ish feature with The BX’s Public Housing Skate Team.

Style god Jimmy Chung is featured in the new teaser for Chris Mulhern’s upcoming Love Park documentary, 15th & JFK. Anyone know a release date?

“Mean Streets” volume 10 from LurkNYC with more weirdness at Chase.

Boil the Ocean is on entry #6 of its annual “Top 10 Parts of the Year” wrap-up, and Slam City’s blog has some words on the year’s best videos.

…aaannndddd Village Psychic made a “Best of 2017” mix of the year’s ACTUAL S.O.T.Y., regardless of what the yellow t-shirts may have told you.

“Belgrade is the best city I’ve ever been to in my life.” The Rios Crew continues to inspire skateboard travel dreams far outside the conventional Euro destinations with each new clip. “Dunja,” their latest, hits Serbia’s capital, Montenegro and Croatia.

“Platano” is the new montage from our friends down at Andrew Skate Shop in Miami.

Jason Lee’s Video Days part was a starting point for a $3.6 billion crossroad.

Vol. 4 of Elkin raw files. You think Thrasher is gonna give us a Louie “West End” one?

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: It’ll never not be funny that Kyrie was just like “nah, I don’t wanna play with this dude anymore.” He lost yesterday, but this was sick.

Quote of the Week: “You should just make Q.S.S.O.T.Y. ‘The Max Palmer Award.'” — John Choi

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Official 2017 end credits song ♥

Thankful For John

Video & Remixes November 22nd, 2017 · 10:35 am · 3

Photo by Max Hull

Last year, on the eve of America’s day of thanks, we paid tribute to our dear friend Keith Denley. We realized that this day of gratefulness is not about what parts Keith didn’t film after years of claims, but about friends.

As the year comes to a close, it is important to celebrate those who keep us smiling with their skateboarding and their laughs. This year, we would like to commemorate John Choi, a man kept sane only by the boys and hucking.

Like most things in skateboarding, footage falls short of communicating John’s total brilliance. You have to be there to see him huck, fall in six different ways that would make any other human break their board and go home, land it perfectly, and then decide he might as well try a switch varial flip down a ten stair because he’s already rolling switch on the rollaway and it just so happens to be fifteen feet away.

A few winters ago, at a time of night focused on decadent beverages rather than skateboarding, John found himself with a dilemma: he needed to get home. Uninterested in a $25 Uber, disgusted with the thought of dealing with a late-night J train, and realizing Max Hull was headed the same way, only on a bike, John came up with a solution.

“I’ll just run with you over the bridge,” he told him. We laughed and forgot, knowing that no sane human was going to run to Bed-Stuy at 2 A.M. in the winter.

The next morning, a text arrived. “Did you watch Max Hull’s Insta story?”

On it, was John, diligently jogging uphill behind Max’s bike, under the icy red beams of a February Williamsburg Bridge.

Thanks John. We love you ♥

Edited by Jesse Alba. Filmed by Johnny Wilson, Aaron Chilen, Max Hull, Sean Dahlberg and Jesse Alba.

Previously: Thankful For Keith

Mad Luv

Daily News May 8th, 2017 · 3:06 pm

abduction

Illustration by Mark Hall-Patch

The QS webstore is now live with spring merch. Quantities are thinning out a bit, so grab something while you can :) Available in U.S., Canadian and Japanese shops now. Those stockists can be found here. Arriving in Europe this week, but we need to update the list of Euro and Japanese shops. Hold tight. Thanks everyone for your support in helping us continue to do what we do (e.g. compile John Choi quotes.)

Please support Civil Skateshop & the Adrian Hall Plaza spot in Providence, R.I.

I’d be perfectly fine with watching a full part of T.J. skating Columbus Park ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

iPhone video of Cyrus’ cover photo, via Communipaw Ave legend, Tyler Tufty.

Big surprise, Bobshirt compiled another amazing interview, this time with Rob Pluhowski. He runs through the full history of Habitat without any hints of entitlement or bitterness that seem to color some others’ recollections of the era. Gracious interview from a guy who graciously bowed out of skateboarding.

“It’s not even that he seemed unconcerned what people may think, but that he seems only vaguely aware that such people might even exist, and doesn’t seem much interested in sweating it too much either way.” — Boil the Ocean re: the aforelinked interview, and the rare act of bowing out of skateboarding and never looking back.

While on the topic of level-headed skateboarders, Sammy Winter seems like a fine lad.

Can’t really remember the last time the thought “wow, what a front tailslide heelflip out!” came to mind, but wow, what a front tailslide heelflip out! Via Neil Herrick’s Meadowlands part. Support Jersey-owned businesses and buy the DVD here.

New video from Frog Skateboards with a dope ender.

Riley Hawk and Danny Brady seems like an odd pairing, but ok, why not?

Um, there’s a Muska silhouette deck generator. Sure?

Someone remixed all of Taylor Nawrocki’s footage from John Valenti’s “Valencia Report” video that went live on Transworld about a month ago.

“I once knew someone who wore a thick gold rope and kept it tucked into their shirt, so that the weight of it rested against their bare chest, but the unmistakable thickness of it could be seen around their neck nonetheless, like an opulent snake. It occurred to me that this, perhaps, was truly the way to show off: Keep most of what you have at a whisper, but keep just enough so loud that it won’t be forgotten.” — Reflecting on ten years of Boosie, Foxx and Webbie’s “Wipe Me Down.”

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Is John Wall your favorite player in these playoffs? (Isiah is a fine choice too.) Guess it doesn’t really matter who wins that series because they all know what fate awaits them at the end.

Quote of the Week: “I don’t really start partying until I’m in the meatpacking district.” — John Choi

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Ever, like, not listen to a really good song for a couple months, and then hear it come on shuffle and think, “whoa this is a really good song!?”

Not sure he should be driving a boat on Xanax though…

Out of the Mountain of Despair, a Stone of Hope

Daily News January 16th, 2017 · 11:39 am · 1

kingobamamural

YO, massive shout out to the crew, politicians, shops and community in Providence, Rhode Island, on getting an approval to turn an underused corner of their downtown into a full-on block of a skate plaza. Let this be a precedent for cities across the U.S.

Also congrats to the boy Sean Pablo on going pro ♥

“If they didn’t name me Genesis then my dad would have named me Jubilee, from X-Men, who was a girl. That would’ve been very funny. I’m glad they named me Genesis.” Sex mag (sure) has an interview with Genny re: growing up, DANY, etc.

Zered is on Alltimers, and has a new part out to reassure you of his decade-plus status as the east coast’s most productive pro, and the king of the worst spot in Queens ;)

“It’s still the same if I just don’t let myself become too jaded and reclusive. There are still endless possibilities.” Huck has a feature with Jerry Mraz, who they apparently dubbed “The Batman of Skateboarding.”

The ender of Pat Gallaher’s Insano part is insano. Great part :)

Josh Kalis and Mike Blabac talk about the state of the plaza in 2017 + other things, and The Muska reveals what was in his backpack all those years. Get well soon bud.

Antosh and the Canadians have a new one out on TWS.

“We decided to make the game more fun so that’s why it was never a realistic simulation of skateboarding. That was key to the success of the game.” Ironic that the reason maybe 50% of the people now in their late 20s started skateboarding was something intended to be an unrealistic simulation of skateboarding. Jenkem has the oral history of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.

Keeping a real skate shop open in 2017 is God’s work ♥ Thank you to all who do.

Rodrigo TX skates ~~Three~~ Four Up ~~Three~~ Four Down, T.J. does a bunch of crazy shit, and lol that there’s security standing at the bottom of the bank in every clip ever gotten at the Roosevelt Island Monument in this link to a clip with 54k YouTube views.

Boil the Ocean re: Lil Wayne’s proclamation that skateboarding is a better feeling than sex with an actress while her movie is playing on a screen in the background.

Canal uploaded a 30-min 2016 Year-In-Review compilation of Instagram videos.

A bit of street skating + a Maple tee in Quim and Freddy’s Portland, M.E. visit.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Isaiah is the second funnest player in the NBA.

Quote of the Week: “Only three things are keeping me sane in 2017: cocho, hucking, and the boys.” — John Choi

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Rainy Update – Max Palmer, Cyrus & John Choi in ‘1one1’

Daily News November 29th, 2016 · 2:53 pm · 5

Once a surefire bet for a bi-weekly edit, the always in-demand Johnny Wilson now only emerges from the unregulated cigarette smoke of New York’s hottest nightclubs to drop an edit maybe quarterly. And so, fans of everyone’s favorite skater Max Palmer, everyone’s favorite hucker John Choi, and Johnny’s less nightlife-afflicted and less-prone-to-holding-a-bat brother Andrew have turned to the alternative media for footage of Paych alumni skating knocked over telephone poles.

Sean Dahlberg, whose 2012 video Mama’s Boys brought us the first full-lenth Cyrus part and what was at the time the most comprehensive Max Palmer part in existence, just uploaded an edit with those guys, plus some dope footage of the boys skating the only skatepark in New York that requires helmets + pads, and John Choi doing a bomb switch 360 flip. Do we start a change.org petition for a 2017 John Choi QS part?

Is it weird I’m afraid to watch the Vans video but have watched this three times today?