dedleg.com

Imagine, if you will, a subculture, like skateboarding, where instead of revering energy drinks, money, and good decision-making, the industry gods promoted substance abuse problems, a cavalier attitude regarding sexual intercourse, and a criminal record. Indeed, it wouldn’t be all that different from skateboarding, really. Nonetheless, in this subculture, there isn’t a cherished Skater of the Year trophy to be won, instead, there is Drunk Skater of the Year. Ultimately, it’s a better award if you think about it, because impressive feats of skateboarding are that much harder under the influence of extreme dehydration.

In any case, when one considers what names might have won that great golden statue of a guy on a skateboard, falling in a gutter with a beer in hand, some immediately come to mind: Andrew Reynolds… Jim Greco… pretty much everybody that was ever on Baker actually… well, anyway, the point is, Marc Johnson is not a name you would typically associate with that species of skater.

Nonetheless, in his recent Crail Couch interview he revealed that he was, apparently, a blacked-out skateboarding savant during the filming of Fully Flared.

He was, quite possibly, the world’s greatest drunk skater. Now he’s just a sober skater who’s still one of the greatest skaters anyway, but still, that’s not nearly as wholesome for the kids. Wait… was it wholesome or excitingly self-destructive? I always mix those up.

There are a few tricks in there that are just… you know… completely sober.

A most epic 3-song ender to the most epicly epic skateboarding video ever… and the dude was drunk the whole time.

I stumbled upon this interview for Active he did with Tim Gavin a couple years ago thanks to those geniuses YouTube hires to come up with the recommended videos. The brunt of the clip is fairly boring because Marc seems to be having an angry drunk moment, but it’s illuminating regardless as he specifically says that he was somewhere on the spectrum of buzzed to drunk for 95% of his part. Which seems impossible considering I can barely ollie without eating shit when I’m skateboarding under the influence, but hey, I guess that’s reason enough for him to win SOTY that year.

Mike Burnett’s Burnout is probably my favorite column on Thrasher’s Internet Abode, not only because I immediately relate regardless of content due to the fact that I, too, am a burnout. The real reason, of course, is that it’s piled full of photos of sassy skater bois, and let’s be real, that’s why we all get into skateboarding in the first place.

Anyway, I peeped this shot in today’s post and pretty much peeped my pants. So, while there’s still time to film for the new Girl/Chocolate magnum opus, I challenge you, Raven Tershay, to film the first all-barefoot skate part. Actually, don’t, because I’d prefer it if you still had a career after the filming wraps, not to mention, like, skin on your feet. This is sick, though. Sick in the head, but also just sick the way sassy skater bois say, “yo bro, that was so totally sick.”

I would be remiss if I failed to jump on board the Whitney Houston pity party, so let me just say, you were right, girl. Crack is whack. No, seriously though, you were right: the children are the future, and Raven Tershay is the fucking proof.

Check out this latest appearance by a young man from Virginia, who’s currently rising to the top of my list of favorite up-and-comers: Gilbert Crockett. It’s your average-style homey clip, but it’s above-average due to its inclusion of Mr. Crockett himself, who quite obviously (as you’ll see in the video) has a seriously above-average kickflip.

That last spot pretty much looks like the most fun place ever. I wonder what the bust factor is though… considering there are expensive sport utility vehicles parked pretty much everywhere, and the fact that skateboards are magnetically attracted to cars, you gotta imagine local law enforcement’s going to get prettay prettay nervous about this kind of activity. Now, just imagine building one in your backyard. Just wanted to share that thought with you guys, since I thought of it, and it made me really happy when I did.

Don’t know who took this or who this even is… but really, who the fuck cares? The important part is that we absorb this… to what end, I do not know, but I do know that it is - it must be - important.

Yowza. There’s a reason why this trick is called a “disaster,” but never has it been more clear.

Check out this still frame from Soulja Boy’s latest video, “Clueless,” uh, I mean, “50/13″. Tell me these aren’t the stupidest-looking bunch of kooks you’ve ever seen.

Soulja Boy makes Lil Wayne look like Eric Koston. — Willy Staley

Naturally, I love the fat kid holding a board that doesn’t even have trucks or griptape on it. What, did he just buy that from Pac Sun and they’re celebrating in the parking lot of the mall? Worse than him though is probably the dude on the right, who I guess is really going for that hipster-irony thing with his “I am swag” t-shirt, which is so obviously incorrect.

What’s there to say about this one… hot on the heels of the “shit [some demographic] say” Internet wildfire, “Shit Pro Skaters Say” with Chris Roberts pretty much says it all.

Check back next week when I promise I’ll put together some content that isn’t just shit you already saw on Crailtap mixed in with the occasional overwrought, run-on-sentence excuse.

Bridges are wonderful structures — they connect areas that would otherwise be divided by a natural border, and their undersides make a fine place to build an illegal DIY skatepark!

Feelin’ this Crailtap clip of the day with Rick McCrank, and not just because he’s a super guy. Tucked somewhere in Vancouver, Leeside looks like a fun little skate cave if I ever saw one, and I’ve begun to crave spots like this what with my age and complete inability to do anything good on a ledge. The best part about Leeside however, which Rick somehow didn’t consider, is the fact that it’s shielded from the elements by an impenetrable concrete shell.

Anyway, more later. Crazy week over here — I’m quite literally working for the weekend right now, only with less half-naked Chris Farley and much more swearing under my breath.

I found this on Quartersnacks today, and I don’t have a clue where they found it, or if they’ve actually been so blessed as to have seen this floating castle with their own eyes. One imagines it might have similar effect as looking upon the face of god — only blindness and abject fear can come of it. Nonetheless, I was morally compelled to post it as I have spent considerable time in the past decade participating in a widely-regarded juvenile past time which is currently systematically destroying the inner workings of my Skeletomuscular system and will surely never land me a well-paying job, like, anywhere.

Come with me where you’ll never, never have to worry about grown up things again…

Indeed, a full-blown case of skateboard-obsession is a disease, as obviously only a mental condition of the most severe order could result in somebody actually building a half pipe tree house. Don’t get me wrong, I understand this mental illness, because I share it. In fact, I can say with a fair degree of certainty that this is the coolest thing I have ever seen. Cooler than anything I’ve ever posted on this blog and considered cool before. Cooler than the Ninja Turtles when I was five years old. Yes, that cool. The only way this could possibly be cooler, is if it was a fully-featured bowl complex, but I don’t even want to know what kind of complex it would take for somebody to actually try to accomplish such a thing.

There’s a lot of sickness to be contained in a mere 3 minutes, 52 seconds here. Gilbert Crockett and his friends in Richmond, Virginia are working on a new homie-video called Cellout, which based on this promo, is going to be pretty fucking great:

Awesome spots in there too. Imagine if the BQE Lot was as developed as that bridge spot at the beginning… fuck me.

Also, am I the only one who thinks if I could only have one spot for the rest of my life, that bank at about 1:00 in would be enough to keep you happy? I mean, sure, you could do better, but how much do you really need?

Gilbert Crockett is, in my opinion, a very exciting up-and-comer and I find myself liking pretty much everything he puts out. There’s something kind of unique about him which I can’t quite put a finger on, but I do know I really like his kickflips and that ninja-pop thing he always does. I also like the fact that even though he’s, technically speaking, a “baller” now, with major league sponsorships from Alien Workshop and Vans, he’s still putting out local videos, just for, quite apparently, the fun of it.

Man, there are people out there doing some incredibly sick shit.

Had to post this… HUF just partnered with Japanese artist Haroshi, known for making sculptures out of skateboard decks, and Bay Area-based all-things-skateboarding operation DLX for a unique collaboration including clothing, sneakers, hard goods, and some incredible artwork by Haroshi, which, as a bit of a fartist myself, is of particular interest to me.

Haroshi did an actual sculpture of this, which was later screenprinted onto a Zip Zinger deck, which is particularly awesome for me, as I’ve basically made my Zip Zinger my day-to-day skateboard now. Only 400 of these bad boys were made, so if you’d like the opportunity to focus one after a long and meaningful relationship, you’d better get on it.

Available at HUF’s online store amongst other fine skate shops, including DQM, if you happen to live in New York.

It’s a shame something so beautiful is ultimately meant for destruction, but such is the way of skateboarding, indeed, you might even say it is the heart of it.

Now, on to the real bangers…

Ramondetta’s Arm

Fire Hydrant

In case you missed it, all of these sculptures are made out of stacks of used decks, essentially repurposing destruction and making something beautiful out of it all over again. It’s the circle of art!

Spitfire Classic

Actual Spitfire Classics as bearings… fuckin’ A… “A” for amazing detail. I’m just shitting over this stuff, you guys. Just gotta get it out, you know?

Really digging this old clip from Rob Harris, for, uh, obvious reasons.

Skateboarding and herb, two of the finest things in life.