The Boardroom in Leicester is proud to announce it’s 5th annual skateboarding competition taking place on Sunday December 5th. Peep the flyer below for all the information you could need then get yourself down there. This one always goes off… don’t miss it.
Mystery have posted the latest section from ‘Color Theory‘ on the Black Box website today and it’s an absolute stonker!
Doubling up as the official welcome video for Vancouver’s Sascha Daley, the section a proper dose of radness to get you through the rest of the week. The colours, the filming, the skating… it’s all super good. And yes… that is a quintuple set in there.
What are you waiting for? Click the picture below and get to watching!
Karim is now officially getting threads from Urban Kreation and to celebrate he’s whacked on their garb and summoned pop from the late 90s to get over huge chunks of grey concrete.
Watch below as Karim gives the block at Southbank a good seeing to.
Relentless Energy challenged filmmakers everywhere this year with Short Stories, a platform to visually define their dedication to whatever creative art they are involved in. Last night, James Gardner’s film ‘Flight of Passage‘, which is centered around Ben Nordberg and Steve Mason of Beta Band, was posted online as the fourth and final short story for all to see.
In a short monologue spoken by Steve Mason about how he is driven to express himself with inspiring advice for those struggling to do the same we are simultaneously watching Ben Nordberg effortlessly perform his chosen method of expression. The stories mirror each other perfectly, and as expected from Gardner it’s superbly shot throughout, massively British and well worth a watch.
See for yourself below. The winner will be announced in December so keep your eyes on the Relentless website.
Earlier this year we were stoked to see Eniz Fazilov kill it in Pontus Alv’s In Search Of The Miraculous and now he makes a welcome return to our screens in this short edit from the Soletech’s amazing training facility.
Have a look below for some slick lines and a nice conclusive push into the sunset of a Californian carpark.
Real Skateboards unleashed a teaser over night featuring Jake Donnelly taking more than one for the team.
This will be one of the most anticipated skateboard videos of 2011 so get hyped for Since Day One coming from the Deluxe crew soon.
Real Skateboards: Since Day One Trailer – Jake Donnelly from dlxsf on Vimeo.
Element’s Get Busy Living film featuring their European Team will be available this Xmas in your local skate shop as a Deluxe Edition DVD.
The production that was neatly put together by the hard working Yves Marchon also features a book with photos from Fluff’s Marcel Veldman, all 5 episodes of Get Busy Living and Quattro, the Trio edits featuring Chad Tim Tim, Darrell Stanton and Levi Brown plus a new section from newly appointed pro, Mark Appleyard.
Look out for it and read our full review of the film here.
Get Busy Living Deluxe trailer from Yves Marchon on Vimeo.
Antiz Skateboards have knighted Samu Karvonen this week as their most recent pro rider. The Finnish ripper joins the rest of the Hobo’s after a repping a year of service for the French brand and was also on their annual tour with Eastpak recently.
Read the full feature and interview from that Hobo tour with Julian Dykmans here and watch Samu and the team in this Hobo Tour video below.
Congrats Samu!
Motive Skateboards are keeping it real this week with a short and sweet edit from Corby’s answer to The Berrics at Adrenaline Alley.
Accompanied by some slick unreleased beats from Simiah, Jack Edwards, Dylan Hughes and Barney Page get down in Corby. See the write-up and footage from this year’s Vans UKSA National Skateboarding Championships to see another angle of that Barney Page ender and click here for our Get Lesta edit from when the skate-only room at Corby first opened.
One thing I’ve always admired about Toy Machine productions is their meticulous attention to detail and maintaining a fluent coherency. When you get past the iconographic desaturated colours of the packaging and press play, you can be guaranteed that no section will be out of place and that there will be enough editing/artistic touches perfectly slotted in to not once tempt you in the direction of the fast forward button. Though I cannot take anything away from Welcome To Hell (which will forever remain a classic by anyone’s standards) I do enjoy how the bloodsucking skateboard company have moved towards making short, fluid visual mixtapes to frequently remain amongst the collective consciousness of the generation of skateboarders most prone to ADHD and short term memory loss. Brainwash is perhaps the closest Toy Machine have come to perfecting this notion, coming in at a Goldilocks-approved jussssst right 20 minutes. Which is – according to a statistic I just made up – the average amount of time it takes for a skateboarder aged between 14-41 to get amped for a session.
Before we jump straight into the action that does not once stop for air we’re treated to an introduction that dares to do something interesting! I know, crazy behaviour in 2010 to steer away from time lapses, montages or similar crap, but this one actually works. The screen divides into a Goldeneye style multiplayer horizontal split (apparently player 2 sucks) with different footage from the same sessions working together to tell seperate stories as a worm crawls across the centre of the screen introducing the film. At first it’s a lot for your eyes to make sense of, but when Templeton is constantly throwing in written captions throughout every Toy Machine video to the point in which 75% of them go unnoticed it makes for a rewarding re-watch. Attention to detail is as spot-on as you’d expect.
Daniel Lutheran serves as the insta-banger to get this 20 minute mix started, and for good reason; he’s got balls-out 50-50s that are both long and gnarly enough to cause even the most jaded and desensitized viewer to shit their pants. Handrail-wise, he continues the concept that Toy Machine have pioneered since day one: simple but ridiculous. The Albuquerque ripper also boasts a monster nollie/switch heelflip and some bonkers 360 variations that when combined with torn jeans and hands-down style make him a perfect addition to the Machine. Oh and if you hadn’t already, the last 50-50 WILL cause your bowels to do deeply unpleasant things to your underwear… so go sit on a toilet or something the first time you watch this. Oh, and there’s already been at least four speech bubble jokes put in by Templeton. Did you catch them all? Go and watch it again as there will be a pop quiz at the end of this review to ensure you’ve been paying attention (protip: there won’t be, but watch again anyway – go on, get amongst it).
Johnny Layton is up next and it’s a real pleasure to see him extend his trick selection, no matter how awesome street grabs are for those that have been initiated. Expect off-key manouevres from the Long Beach advocate, notably a no-comply bigspin heel and probably more fliptricks than you might expect. Solid section from a true powerhouse. Johnny has mad pop and a frontside flip that’s up there with someone who puts the captial B in The Boss. Then we move from powerhouse to powerstache, as the video makes a smooth transition to the oddball power moves of one Billy Marks. Billy continues to baffle me how his ankles and shins have survived such bait flippery but whatever, I dig it. These two sections also contain the funniest captions so far… which reminds me, have you been paying attention to them? You goddamn better have.
Jordan Taylor has only been out of the flowtrash regiments from a year, but has earned his bloodsucking stripes with quirky quick-footed moves and an interesting approach (that 180 to switch slanted hubba ride is an absolute percy, and don’t get me started on that positively insane lipslide at 3rd and army). He’s someone to keep your eyes on for sure. Austin Stephens is another one I’m sure many of you have kept your eyes on, and the general consensus online is suggesting that his short, sweet, style-heavy parts are rich in marmite texture. Now, I’m the sort of person who actually drinks marmite on the regular, so unsurprisingly I enjoy watching Austin skate… but it’s understandable to see why people are disappointed with this. Since This Is Skateboarding he hasn’t shown any sign of progression but when so many of video watchers are blind and desensitized to progression then why should he strive to satisfy those that forget a section less than an hour after watching it? You cannot argue that Austin Stephens isn’t taking what he wants from skateboarding and giving back something that’s unmistakably his own… and I cannot hate on that one bit.
The extended team montage continues to be worthy of replay as The Butcher takes his feet-on tricks to the next level. Front smith 360 ollie out anyone? Right, so something marvellous has happened this year as more skateboarders than ever are landing stuff I frequently chose to perform in the escapist world video games permitted only five years ago. To see it happen without the addition of slomo and done like it’s nowt is quite the head scratcher. Ed Templeton straight up needs to skate more. He’s still killing it and all legacy aside, those three tricks stood out as some of the best in the montage so get that down yer. Josh Harmony takes his established style up a notch to carry on the montage. I’ve always been a fan of Harmony, particularly how he always skates the most awkward looking rails and ledges while landing stuff as though his arms are erratically paranoid of gravity. Finally we return our gaze to Nick Trapasso, who has come a long way since his breakout part in Suffer The Joy. He still sleepwalks through grinds and is one of the most nonchalant skaters out there right now. His conclusive 50-50 to ‘deal with it’ rollaway will silence even the most stubbornly contrary critics.
Although Collin Provost’s name signifies a return to the full section format, the flow is still that of an extended montage. All this means is that the excitement levels never once drop below AWESOME – a perfect response to the ‘tage era; editors take note. His part in Stay Gold is very much still hot and fresh out the kitchen but here he is serving up piping hot seconds that I’m sure you too are more than willing to get your lips around. Unsurprisingly, it’s another banger; filled to the brim with long lines, sketchy landings and walliebombs as plenty of rough street spots and man-made non-skatepark transitions alike get a thorough seeing to by another ATV to keep your eyes on. Something the filmer takes literally in the last shot, which lingers long enough for the viewer to see Provost overtake and cut-up a fucking bus during a hillbomb rollout. Amazing. A-ma-zing.
For reasons I’m not overly sure of, I’ve always considered Matt Bennett to be a comprehensive personification of all that is Toy Machine. Leftfield trick selection, an uneasy imperfect style, swampy hair and general overpowering radness. This section is a further testament to my uncertain argument and another solid 2-3 minutes of pure Toy Machine goodness. I’m stunned that he’s only just entered the world of professional skateboarding but better late than never I suppose. Have polejams up and down handrails become a trend yet? They will.
So who can play out this mixtape of sketchy, imperfect, balls out and positively pure skateboarding greatness? None other than one of the year’s absolute best of the best, the accomplished Leo Romero. If you hadn’t caught his section in Stay Gold yet then hand in your notice to the landlord of your rock and move the fuck out. Though many would be satisfied with a part as groundbreaking as that, here we see Leo shut down Brainwash with a manic push leading up to one jaw-dropper after the next. Leo has created a style of skating so impossible to imitate that all we can do is sit and watch, but when it’s this good, who cares? If P-Rod’s technical perfection depicted progress to the extreme in that direction then Leo isn’t so much the Anti-P-Rod but a very different reason to be stoked on where skateboarding is going, which, whatever direction you look in, is somewhere awesome.
Stanley
Out of the many Brainwash teasers that kept Toy Machines online omnipresence on godly levels it was Daniel Lutheran’s recent welcome clip that got us the most hyped. Enjoy… Now go buy Brainwash. This was a triumph.