Arto Episode 3 and 4

This series is so rad. Every episode makes me like and respect Arto more and more, which I didn't even think was possible. As Arto never rode for Toy, I didn't realize the extent to which he had a relationship with the Tempster, especially during his formative years in the US. I can't really imagine two better and more respectable mentors to have in skateboarding then Ed and Rowley. I think the fact that they wanted to take Arto under their wings and provide him with that support is pretty indicative of not only their characters, but Arto's as well. It's interesting to see how much of an influence some one's physical surrounding has on their subsequent personalities and it seems as though Huntington Beach as a stomping ground was pretty formidable on the person and skater Arto would become. The early footage of him, when he was still fresh to the US and absorbing everything around him, is pretty hilarious. The 411 intro where he is chased by a "big AND gay bear" from Finland to Huntington is amazing. It honestly seems like he had no idea what he was saying or what the skit was even about, which makes it so much better. Him claiming he's going to photoshop himself onto the ledge and that his brain has a virus really illustrates how little knowledge of English he really had, and how far he has come simply by submerging himself in the atmosphere, pretty awesome actually. One thing I really liked about these episodes were the interviews with Alex Moul. This dude is hysterical and cracks me up. I always have a little soft spot for British skaters, as I feel like they can relate to shittier then shit conditions, and I truly wish we saw more of Mouley these days. What ever happened to him as far as a skate career goes? Does Arto not seriously have the most amazing front boards in the history of skateboarding? I'm putting it out there. The footage of him in episode 3 front boarding the 14 or 15 stair rail, the one with the super skinny run up, is insane and beautiful at the same time. I was always a huge fan of the Feedback video, the Philly three part in that video with Bam, Maldonado and Kerry was a personal fave as a kid and I watched that video soooo many times. It was cool to see a bit of behind the scenes footage of the tour some of the dudes took, and it was funny to see an early Arto clicking with a curly haired Dill, two dudes I would love to hang with. I never knew, or if I did, I completely forgot about Arto's heart condition. I think this makes him so much gnarlier in my eyes. The fact that he was committing all this early US destruction while having a bum ticker is nothing short of inspiring. He really is a viking. I got a good laugh from Moul's quote that "He came back from that surgery with a bottle of vodka and a ciggy in his mouth." I can imagine dealing with and overcoming something like that would lead to a much deserved period of celebratory partying. Arto's skating is fucking insane. I would love to have been there the day he back lipped and back feebled the 18 and Ed lipslid it. What a heavy session. And then he proceeds go nollie nose slide the Wilshire 15 the same day. Holy Fuck. With this kind of motivation and productivity it's no surprise he was able to release two absolutely insane video parts in Sorry and Menikmati back to back. Not many people could pull this off, but Arto did, and he did it seamlessly. The kind of skating Arto achieved in those two videos is a kind of skating that most people will never be able to experience or understand. The fact that he literally put himself in life and death situations in some of those clips is incomprehensible to me, and raises his legend status even higher. The slam where he's puking and shit after is probably the gnarliest slam I've ever witnessed on or off film and it is an image that will forever be burned into my brain. Only two weeks later he was at Slam City Jam and ate shit again?? Dude is gnaaaarly. I can't wait for the next episode. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is a 20 + part series.