“It all started because most of the tricks I wanted to film, no filmer got too excited about filming them; the level was not high enough and some tricks didn’t make much sense.” Didn’t see this get posted around nearly as much as it should be: Our boy Ruben Spelta has a new, mostly self-filmed, vignetted, and very awesome part for Magenta that was inspired by Krooked’s Gnar Gnar video.
“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
Bad (obvious?) news out of the way first: Sadly continuing our recent bad habit of no Christmas clip for the year. Blame it on the weather, blame it on life, blame it on Instagram. Rest of the Year in Review countdown up shortly today, and still got a “Best of 2018” montage to upload ♥
I know what you’re thinking! “Oh no, not another podcast!” But but but, the difference here is that it is refreshing to hear a) a woman interview a pro skater, and b) a skateboarder have to dig a bit deeper than “how I came up” and tour stories to relay what they do to a non-skater. Listen to Jerry Hsu on the first episode of the “Dig” podcast.
Not local, but wow is this part great: Shogo Zama for VHS Mag. Japanese skaters have this particular ability to flow in lines that is unlike anything else out there.
“Anomaly” via Skate Jawn is another entry in an already stacked roster of upstate New York vids to come out this year.
Every time I see footage of the Empire State Plaza spot, I feel a lil’ bit dumber for not taking the trip up there at least once this past summer. See it in “Frank & Ted’s 2018,” filmed pretty much all over the northeast and in Barcelona.
“For longtime devotees of the Art Dump, SHT Sound and goldfish-toting retirement home scammers, it’s difficult to separate dudes’ seeming lack of enthusiasm for skating their own boards with the company’s at times painful evolution.” Boil the Oceans looks toward the future of Girl Skateboards on the announcement of their upcoming am-focused video, Doll.
Element did a Keith Harring collaboration and the only reason we’re telling you about it is because the accompanying video for it contains about a minute of new Brandon Westgate footage from the Banks.
Big week for Chief Keef video parts, and a bad week for that antiquated tradition of keeping an unenthused stone face after you land your ender. Here’s another section from the Buffalo-based Jeb video. We have been claiming we’d drive to Albany to skate Empire State Plaza since before the summer, and now’s it’s probably too cold, huh?
“Bryan saw this pool while landscaping at the house next door and somehow charmed the owner into letting us skate for two weekends. How he did this, I have no clue. Must have been just the right mix of 7-11 egg salad, and ’90s skate photos that gave him the confidence.”
Some of you will be triggered by the aesthetics, but the skateboarding in Romain Batard’s “Giddy” series is always unique, albeit in a fried way. Episode #9 is live.
Ignoring the fact that its objectively horrid to look at (not even talking as a skateboarder here…but what the hell is wrong with them renovating these parks in a way that makes it look like their budget was a $200 Home Depot gift card?), there are these weird slappymetal things at the park on Spring and Sixth Avenue now A.K.A. the old marble chessboard park.
Bad news: McNally Jackson is closing. Good news: They’re insisting that they will remain in the neighborhood. So excited for that corner to become a Chase bank :(
QS Spots Desk Play of the Week: The Trae Young game winner seems like it was the most unavoidable highlight of the preseason. Regular season starts Wednesday!
Quote of the Week: “They don’t play Drizzy in pubs man.” — Tiko re: whether he heard the Spanish Drake song in London
If you need affirmation of how incredibly difficult it has been to do these posts over the past two weeks, look no further than the fact that Thrasheris posting astrology content, this girl is still looking for which one of you who spilled coffee on yourself at Herald Square, and apparently, EVERYTHING is “going right” in skateboarding right now…Spring can’t come soon enough.
“I used to be more of a character back in the day and just dive into the river, swimming for the board and making people laugh. I remember Jaime Reyes gagging because I was in there doing backstrokes. They say swimming in that shit helps your immune system.” Village Psychic spoke to Brian Wenning about some of the spots that were instrumental to his skating.
Caddo and Lou gave up on skateparks in 2016. It looks like it has beenworking out.
(Three raw clip links in a row, see what I mean? Springtime hellooo where r u…)
PFP5, the latest installment of Michael Sassano’s now long-running Westchester skate video series, will be premiering up in Peekskill on Saturday the 14th. Teaser here.
The crooked rail at Columbus Park is maybe the last place anyone expected to see a slappy front nose 270 A.K.A. the Explore Page, but there it was in Matthew Martin’s Hombre Hardware part.
“Cyclist stabs skateboarder during street spat.” Ok, the “It’s a fucking bike lane, asshole!”-guys are getting a bit out of hand.
This clip got posted on April 8, 2007 (Marcus Garvey rails were a new spot then…), and dubbed “The Neverending Winter.” Same mood eleven years later (a lot of these spots are still around), though I wish the quality of the upload wasn’t full trash.
