Bryan Whalen would normally be given the VOTW honors from me because I haven't seen as enjoyable of a part as that one in a while, especially with as graceful switch skating and fun trick selection as he came through with. But there's no way I can deny Jordan Hoffart finally getting a board sponsor after too long in limbo, especially because he manages to drop yet another gnarly part.
GX1000: Living in the Bay with an incredible crew ripping through the streets Tom Asta Pro Spotlight Chris Cole for DC Cole Lite 2 Ben Raybourn Welcome to Nike Ramshakle: Nick Palmquist, Chad Bartie, Josh Hawkins, Aldrin Garcia Element United Nations at the Berrics Sylvain Tognelli opens up Nozbone's Cafe Clope with a sick part Kurt Hodge Footage Party Brad McClain Mag Minute
Brandon Del Bianco has been "associated" with Element for quite some time it seems. Maybe it's the whole Canadian thing, I don't know, but I know that he deserves some legit recognition by now. For one thing, Brandon's really good. His trick selection is super tight, as you can see by his Bangin at the Berrics alone: a good mix of kickflips, heelflips, different grinds, and all the stances. Brandon's segment from Minor Media's United Nations continues to show his varied and flavorful bag of tricks, with that switch inward heel and fakie ollie switch smith both jumping out of the norm and his ender nollie cab flip off the bump still blowing my mind. You can already see Brandon's super unique and rather clean style from these clips, but one of the first experiences I had was watching his Mag Minute (above). Again, tons of variety with his clips (from huge gaps to tech ledge tricks to handrails to fluid lines), a terrific usage of spots, and a fun style to go along with it. I want to emphasize this because his final switch backside flip, down a considerably big gap, is caught unlike anything I've seen before. His back foot is boned out a bit away from the board and then just swings around with the rest of his rotation to put down the board on the ground. And it's not like that swinging motion results in a heavy stomp on the landing, but Brandon does all this and still lands lighter than a feather. And this was all 3 years ago.
Then there's a few full length parts from Brandon. A straight up solid part in Oskar Material starting at 14:55. The Prodrone Promo continues the expansion of his bag of tricks. The nollie pop shove it nose manual near the end looks like one of the scariest things ever. And Brandon's Slub Bucks part, though somewhat lengthily shared, includes some more heavy bangers and really cool tricks, just like any of his parts really. And his ender nollie cab flip might just be one of the best ones of all time.
This dude is extremely versatile and has a style all to his own. I really don't know why he hasn't blown up yet. I know Element is a decently selective brand, but still, when a guy skates as well as Brandon he deserves some full on sponsorship. So I think, after his fairly consistent output of footage over the past years, 2014 will be a good one for Brandon, assuming he's been stacking more sick footage since his last couple parts. After roughly two years since his last big part (from what I've tracked anyway) it's about that time for his big blow up part with Element.
Everyone knows Levi Brown has a wonderful style, a style that you'd enjoy watching even when he's just pushing. It's funny because in his Trio part above (at 3:42) he front shoves onto a curb and at first appears to just be pushing towards his lengthy front crooks fakie. That's how I first saw this line from Levi when I watched the part. I must've blinked or something because it turns out his first push is actually a shove-it! When you don't see him set up for a trick like this, it catches you completely off guard. In retrospect it's a very small aspect of the line that some might overlook as just messing around, needing to get the nose of the board back in the front, but to me it's the subtleness of the trick that make it extremely memorable. Not only have I not seen this before (NBD for a pushing shove-it sounds a bit dramatic though) but the fact that it is very easily missable if you look away for a split second makes it much more precious. It's definitely not some wild flipping trick that comes up on your radar simply because there's a lot of movement on screen, but more of a blip on the radar that is equally if not more enjoyable. It's great how Levi doesn't even flinch and literally pushes through the shove it, kind of kicking it around a little, as if it were nothing else but a push.
Tricks in the middle of a line are usually expected to be moderately challenging and involve some board rotation whether via spinning or flipping. But that's exactly what makes Kevin Romar and Chad Tim Tim stand out when they come along with two of the most basic tricks imaginable. Kevin Romar pops a quick, comfortable nollie just over a minute crack in one of his lines from Damn, and Chad Tim Tim smoothly elevates a high speed fakie ollie into a curb cut to set up for his next trick at 2:11 in his Trio part above. They both set up with what would be their flicking foot in a position that you can't quite tell what they're about to pull off, but just watching their boards lift off into the air with no spinning is a visual relief that's oh-so refreshing. Sometimes keeping it simple is the best way to go, and these two lines in particular are made much more memorable because of that welcomed simplicity.
Nyjah Huston dominates the skate contests but when he's out skating in the streets, he heads for the steepest, longest, and gnarliest rails out there. It's only natural that he's experienced some hard falls with his territory. One of the craziest bails I've ever seen came from Nyjah's work for his Rise and Shine video part that cemented his status as one of the greats of the generation. Above is his crazy 18-stair back smith bail (primary angle at 5:29 in Rise and Shine) that still jolts me every time I watch it. Twisting body parts always hurt to watch, but there's something about watching Nyjah's body legitimately bounce off the ground after falling from the top of the rail that never leaves your head.
Some other noteworthy bails from Rise and Shine include that opening sack down the long rail at the start (at about 0:14) and his huge 24-stair smith grind bail at 5:16, which also has a behind the scenes look.
Now on the other hand, as Nyjah was getting tech-gnar for his welcome to DC clip, he misses the rail here while trying to lock in before the drop down and gets very twisted. From long falls straight to the ground to big rail sacks to almost scorpioning into the grass, none of these bails looked fun.
