Salty Wounds

Saw this clip yesterday of Montreal skater Chris St-Cyr shredding the icy and salty streets during a sick winter sesh.

This is what being a skater in the east in Canada unfortunately comes to, if you're actually motivated enough get out there in the grime and slush.. Super tight and makes me feel like a pussy.


Chris St-Cyr from Frenchie Eyeshootmore on Vimeo.

One in a Million or a Dime a Dozen?

It's 4 episodes into Slap's One in a Million 2012 NYC reality show/ sponsor hook up contest and it's a bummer to say so far it's a huge let down compared to last year's Forest Edwards scowl infused rendition of the show. That guy was something else, T.V. gold and trick getting machine, at the end of the day I'm actually pretty surprised that we haven't seen more of him in the last year. The internet has talked enough about young Forest though, and this season is missing any form of embodiment of the dickishness that skateboarding's Spencer Pratt made such a hot button topic this time last year.

This year the setting is switched up, and the young one in a millioners are traversed to the laisse faire, supreme hat filled streets of NYC in the hopes of impressing Rodney Torres, Billy Rohan, Lurker Lou and John Cardiel (thank God for Cards!) for the chance of a full company hook up.

There might not be any Forest Edwards this season but there is definitely a bunch of kids who are really really really good at skateboarding. It seems that not a day goes by in recent times where I'm not reminded by some form of internet media content how fucking ridiculous kids are at skating these days. It's seriously pretty crazy, and the little fuckers on OIAM are just further proof that I indeed suck at skating and a reminder to myself that I spend time watching these 15 years old skate, because somehow it allows me to vicariously live in a world where I am as gnarly and quick footed as these dudes.

The first episode of these kind of these are always pretty interesting. The intros are funny, we get a brief glimpse into the personalities of these skaters, where they come from and see a bit of the footage that got them to the House of Vans in the first place.  Some the kids seemed mellow and some seemed kooky, which I'm sure is the balance Slap set out to achieve, as a whole show of kooks would be fucking annoying as shit, and a whole show of skating would be equally as boring. Oh yea and what the fuck is up with Adam Simoni? Dude looks like a guy that used to walk around my high school back in the day trying to sell magic cards.

In the second episode the guys set out for their first day of skating and some gnarly shit goes to at the Astoria Park. Matt Militano's front lip tre flip on the broken boards was super impressive and he made it actually look pretty tight. Kennedy Cantrell, the baby faced wonder, who is probably my personal favorite to win this thing, also did a fucking beaut of a kickflip over the gap. Super steeze.They also head to the Con-Ed banks in this episode. This spot seems burly as shit. The ground looks insanely rough and the bricks of the banks themselves are super shredded and look like they could double as a nice cheese grater at any moment. None the less these kids still went for it and some were able to produce some tasty shit on this sketchy spot. Adam Simoni's tailslide revert was super sick and the more they show of this guy the more I like him. He obviously kills it on the board and he seems to have a super sick attitude, which I'm sure will go far with the judges. I thought it was real cool that Mikey Haywood, even after admittingly never have skated many banks before, still going for the fs noseblunt, which he eventually landed complete with the roll away self congratulatory hand clap. This dude fucking rips and is shaping up to be a definite front runner in all this nonsense. Matt Militano and Kennedy Cantrell (this dude is awesome) both also killed the banks, Cantrell's line was tiiight.

In the fourth episode, the judges (an array of NY's finest, Lurker Lou, Billy Rohan and Rodney Torres) hold a high ollie contest. This whole thing is pretty lame in my opinion. Who wants to watch a bunch of random dudes ollie a fucking bar, definitely not me. It's like a grade school track and field day high jump contest. The only real talking point about this episode is the fact that the last dude to ollie the bar and the first dude to get eliminated is hands down one of the best, most exciting to watch and all around well rounded skaters of the bunch, Matt Militano. How the fuck did this kid go first? That's why you don't base the whole thing on a high ollie contest. I'd rather watch this dude skate then the majority of these other kids any day. But when all is said and done, Militano has to head home well before the boys get to make their first important stop of their trip in NYC; Max Fish.

In the fourth episode the skaters head to Tribeca Park and a bunch of cool shit goes down. As I'm writing this I'm realizing that this show really is pretty boring, fuck. I'm almost done now so I might as well finish. At Tribeca, John Finucan, the blonde haired cartoon character with a Sheckleresque last name back tat, threw down a dirty nollie hardflip down the four block and once again Mikey Haywood straight laced it. They move on to the streets where one dude gets broke the fuck off on a flat bar front board and busts his leg open. The episode ends at the black hubba, which guest pro Jake Johnson destroys and Mikey comes through on again with a tight gap to front 5-0.

As there's only one dude eliminated thus far, this season has a long way to go. The show is short on laughs and entertainment, but does have some awesome skating and cool cameos so I know I'll keep watching, whether I like it or not.

Life Extension

Lots of talk floating around about the new board company "Life Extension" that is coming out soon.
Sinner breaks down the background and history of the company here: http://poweredgemagazine.com/?videos=pat-pasquale
It's hard to say what the whole company will be about, but one thing is for sure, with these three dudes as the brainchildren, their vids will have some seriously heavy footage. Looking forward to all the future developments in the pipeline.

Beat A Dead Horse To Death

I know this part has been talked about till no end as of late, but it really really is fucking craze. Dude kills it in every way possible. End of story.

 

Koty Brown Kills the Loft