Was under the impression that Beta Blockers would be A Small Palace Video — maybe because it’s August and the skate media mental calendar often saves the year’s blockbuster releases for the holidays — but no, Beta Blockers is A Big Palace Video spanning the whole team, and at a Palasonic-equivalent runtime. In August! What a world.
7 Ball is the latest full-length from Nike SB and U.K. videographer, Will Miles. It feels like a continuation of the best bits from the Jacob Harris-helmed Trust Fall that dropped back in 2019, grouping the best-fitting riders from the colossus that is the 2023 SB team into a cohesive project. Everyone here feels like they actually enjoy skating with one another, rather than the “showcase” vibe that often happens when companies try to stuff their entire team into one project — to pretty much the detriment of everything. (The plus side of shorter attention spans today: it’s probably a good thing that we’re past the era of Nothing But The Truth and Away Days.)
In our face-paced age of information, it is easy to forget that un-used skate footage is a commodity with an expiration date. Any number of factors — tees featuring logos of sponsors from yesteryear, spots that haven’t been with us for some time, new tats, hair — risk pulling the viewer out of the simulation that the person onscreen didn’t toil for months and years over the product at hand.
Young legend Tor Ström put together a surprise Ville Wester part and dropped it on his YouTube channel this morning. Some of it feels like it was culled from the Polar days before the switch to Palace, likely from the sessions that produced their last video, which Ville obvs had the ender in. Seeing as how “What Now?” feels every bit as — to quote a recent Thrasher caption, “fully formed” — as the part that ended up closing The Polar Video With Endless Name Variations, Ville def had an extra opus worth of footage on ice.
One of the best doing it today.
“Ok, We’re Leaving” is a sick Chicago scene edit by Harald Reynolds that casts a wide net beyond the expected batch of Chase footage, and has a lot of sick clips from Vince Guzaldo, winner of top honors in Boil the Ocean’s “Best of 2022” accolades. Those cut-out ledge tricks at the end are wild.
“I will never take the $17 Panda Bus again.” Heckride interviewed Salomon Cardenas.
Ayoub Tabri dropped a sick new D.C. edit for Skate Jawn featuring Rahzel, Kevin Augustine, and other Pulaski locals.
Jenkem got 2023 predictions and more from a bunch of familiar faces in their latest “Shop Talk” installment from the F.A. store with Father Bop, Efron, and more.
Antonio Durao by Greg Navarro 📷
The union reps at Hit You Off Management shared just under two minutes of footage from Paul Young’s upcoming project, Down By Law.
The Hellraiser Promo out of Atlanta has a bit of New York footage and appearances from Ron Parker, Shareef Grady + others.
Something about the colors in this one… Will Lloyd and some brodies out of Arkansas dropped a “Summer Trip to New York” edit.
