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Are there any serious contenders out there who want to try to best my current champion for “coolest thing I’ve ever seen”?

I mean really, “holy fucking shit” is the only thing that applies here.

Last week’s Chrome Ball post on Mike Maldonado, the proverbial East Coast powerhouse, led me to this old clip from 411 issue 13.4. For those who don’t know — before the days of YouTube and skate blogs, the best way we could get recent footage from our favorite pros in between video parts was by having a subscription (or a friend with one and a lot of blank tapes) to a video magazine. That’s right folks, VHS + the printed word — it’s an archeologist’s dream find!

Anyway, this is probably one of the best shared parts I can think of. It features the aforementioned Mike Maldonado and his partner in running from the Philly police, Pete Eldridge — both East Coast icons who eventually fell through the cracks a bit. These dudes should have had a skateboarding-buddy-comedy television spot way before Rob & Big got the job. Pete’s frontside heel up the Love Park five alone is a resume you’d be a fool to say no to. That shit’s not made of vegetable oil, kids, it’s straight butter.

So yeah, looks like Daewon Song put out the best video part of the year and it’s only March… oh yeah, and the video was released for free online and it was just a bunch of skate park clips.

The thing is… “just a bunch of skate park clips” is a wholly offensive way of describing this footage of everybody’s favorite skateboarding alien. I don’t even know why I’m impressed, honestly. Daewon has never not blown my shit away. It’s his singular calling in life, to make everybody else in skateboarding feel like the inadequate guy you always see at the beginning of Viagra commercials, rolling over in bed so his back is to his disappointed lover.

I lost count of how many times I said “what the fuck” in the two minutes I spent watching this.

The dude is on another level… a level that resides even farther into outer space than I originally anticipated. He’s been sponsored for nearly twenty years, spending much of that time being innovative in ways that are unfathomable, even for an activity that prides itself on always pushing the envelope of what is “possible.” And today, when skateboarding is witnessing the offspring of his mind-boggling technical progression in the form of a veritable legion of 17-year-old triple-flipping wunderkinds, the grandfather comes out with this. It’s a giant, rotating middle finger to the reason we had to stop calling tre flips 360 flips (because kids actually started doing kickflips while spinning 360 degrees simultaneously with ridiculous regularity).

I apologize — my run-on sentences are longer than Daewon’s nose manuals. The point is, he’s still better than everyone. He’ll probably always be better than everyone, even when he’s retired to a life of solitude somewhere far removed, content to spend his days defying physics in a secluded monastery tucked into some Tibetan cliff side. Ambitious amateurs will then climb those perilous cliffs, hoping to earn his tutelage… but of course, they never will.

Shaun White - photos by Terry Richardson

Nobody told me Carrot Top won a gold medal at the Winter Olympics… I didn’t even know he was competing!

Definitely gotta cop some of those American flag jeans though, shit’s fyre.

This is a pretty awesome little video I found floating anonymously through the Internets. It’s a short history of skateboarding in New York City called The New York Skate Movie and it features a ton of old footage and interviews. Deathbowl to Downtown may have stolen its thunder just a little bit (actually, a lotta bit), but it’s still an interesting view into NYC skateboarding’s glory days. Basically, before it was just 16-year-olds in front of Union Square who care more about what shoes they’re wearing than if they can actually kickflip in them.

You know, skating might have been born in California, but it was when kids in Connecticut, and New Jersey, and New York got a hold of it and actualized it in their own environment, that it really came to life. 

Given that it’s coming an East Coast skater like Mike Vallely, that quote might come across as a bit biased, but I think there’s a good amount of truth in there regardless. Skateboarding has always benefited from an influx of different viewpoints and perspectives. Whether you prefer a backyard pool session to an afternoon of ledge dancing is besides the point — without a constant surge of originality, without new ideas, skateboarding will get boring. Which is exactly what happened to competition vert. Look at it this way, without new ideas, we’d all still be wearing huge jeans, and that alone should be enough proof of evolution for all the creationists out there. Go to hell, you bunch of goddies.

The relentless push of progress does take its toll, though. Edmund Burke said that “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” however, he was not a skateboarder. Unfortunately, this is not the case in our beloved subculture, and simply knowing of a time when security guards had better things to do than harass skaters is not enough to make that the case once more. Retrospectives like this one are valuable because they can provide a glimpse of a time that we’ll never get to experience for ourselves.

It’s a shame — these days, cities often view skaters as more of a nuisance than the passed-out junkies littering their many delectable stair sets. Which is fair, I guess, since skateboarding is pretty noisy and everybody knows that city-dwellers really value peace and quiet.

Lakai just put out a new commercial featuring some awesome tripped-out editing and Vincent Alvarez, who is a rather bright spot on my radar these days. And if you know the difference between skateboarding and flossing your crack with huge checks from Red Bull, you’re watching out for this dude as well. At the very least, watch this clip and the beautiful full cab over a picnic table contained within. You owe it to yourself, so just do it already… indulge in the luxury of skateboarding.

Cory Kennedy might be the next Mike Mo, who was the next um… whoever was skating like hot flame before him, and so forth. But regardless of who’s flashing their sponsor’s shirts the most at The Berrics right now, Vincent Alvarez is easily one of skateboarding’s most exciting up-and-comers. The dude’s got style, skates fast as hell, and is one of those precious all-terrain rippers.

How long do you think this footage will tide us over for? Hopefully at least a decade, or until the Chocolate video is released… which ever comes first.

Danny Way, mid descent - photo by Grant Brittain

Whenever my mom asks me why I’m still skateboarding at my age, as if it’s equivalent to picking your nose (which I haven’t grown out of either), I wish I could transport this picture into her mind.

A wise (and perhaps autistic) guy I used to skate with once told me, “Skateboarding is the closest we can come to flying.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him that airplanes have been around for over 100 years, plus I liked the point he was making anyway. It only makes sense in a way that somebody who’s really experienced skateboarding could know. The speed and danger and freedom and shit… fuck, it is a little bit like flying, isn’t it?

And I guess, just like anything that goes up in the air… at some point, you must come back down.

This just in: Posh Spice is a poser.

“Built to grind”… psh, yeah, David Beckham maybe, IF YOU KNOW WHAT I’M SAYING

Alright, enough is enough, you guys. If you’re going to do a collaboration, at least do it with Bagel Bites or Mountain Dew… you know, a respectable company that has a legitimate history with skateboarding.

I mean, Jesus Christ, all Lil’ Wayne wears are Skytops and everybody knows you can’t actually skate in those! I dunno, Steve… maybe it’s time for you to re-watch Questionable and think about what that title really means.

Check out this awesome Super 8 film by Dalan McNabola featuring Jesse Hotchkiss skating through San Francisco. This is a vastly different kind of skateboarding video than the type you’re going to find coming out of the industry these days. Frankly, this type of video has been historically rare in skateboarding altogether — it straddles the line between skate flick and art project. But both of those happen to incorporate two of my favorite things.

Something about it touches the core of whatever it is inside me that lusts after the concrete rolling underneath my feet. I suppose because it’s more about the ride, the journey as it were, than anything else skateboarders tend to get distracted by these days. To me, it really captures that sense of joy that’s inherent in just pushing along while getting lost in the pure act of skating. Ol’ Dirty said it best, “oh baby I like it raw,” and raw this is.

One type of skateboarding bowl:

Tony Trujillo, pivot grab - photo via life.com

Another kind entirely:

The definition of craftsmanship - photo via fuckyeahskateboarding.com

Seldom have I been more impressed. Although I gotta say, whoever packed that bowl has probably had more than enough to smoke already. Shit’s looking like the Leaning Tower of Retarded.

Also — apologies for the wealth of drug-related posts recently if you’re one of dedleg’s many puritanical readers. You must understand, we’re in the dead of winter here and I’m going through a bit of a phase… for the past three years or so.