Video of the Week: Chronicles Vol. 2

Lots of great stuff from this past week, but what clearly takes the cake is the latest Nike video: Chronicles Vol. 2. Awesome to see new parts from all the dudes and there was definitely some top notch skating. Donovan Piscopo comes out swinging with the first part I've ever seen from him with speed, style, and power. Theotis Beasley seems to pack in loads of fliptricks and those good vibes you feel watching him skate, only to have you realize just how skilled he really is when you think of what he's doing. Daryl Angel also comes through with smooth, powerful skating and a really fresh approach; no one's coming close to his ender no matter how relatively basic it may seem. Luan Oliveira shows his ninja flick with some great moves, though I must say I felt a tad disappointed with his part, I was expecting something more... Justin Brock skates the roughest spots and shows his all-terrain destruction. Shane O'Neill unveils some shocking ledge NBD's while reminding everyone of his near perfect style. And Ishod Wair somehow pulls out another huge load of footage, topping  his other footage this year in a laid-back yet super gnarly part. Congrats to all these dudes on a sick video!
You can see Ishod's part here, with the 4 other remaining SOTY contenders. At this point, with the amount of quality footage Ishod has produced this year, he better win SOTY. I'm a big proponent of awarding SOTY to someone with more than just a single outstanding part; nothing against Westgate or Nyjah whatsoever as I'd be perfectly satisfied with either of them winning too, but Ishod has been simply relentless. Which is why I wish Thrasher didn't cut down the SOTY contenders to 5 so soon, when Mark Suciu has his first pro part coming out in just a couple weeks or so, still in 2013 too! Anyway, my vote is now with Ishod!
Now Nike, why can't you just create a physical DVD of this video? You definitely have the money to satisfy the appreciative skate nerds out there and at least hold on to some sense of skateboarding's documented history. I'd say to everyone to go buy the video but when Nike's feeding the insatiable appetite of the internet mongers by forcing them to buy it online, I'd suggest just finding some way around it for now.

And with that, my ranting is over.

In other news from this past week's videos:
-Riley Hawk is now pro for Baker! No video for now but there's no doubt a footage machine like him will have something gnarly out in no time.
-Nick Matthews came out with a Mag Minute filled with a sweet trick selection and stylish skating.
-Daniel Lebron shows that he's got one of the best heelflips in the game with this feel-good part.
-Powell-Peralta welcomes Brendon Villanueva with some gnarly clips in his intro part.
-This clip of Antoine Asselin shows two things: that skateboarding is fun and that he is very very good.
-Jurgen Horrwarth released a part combining some serious skill with vert and on the streets.
-Vagrant Skateboards definitely seals their name on the map with this raw promo.
-Nick Boserio's part from Cold War was released via Thrasher.
-Congrats to Peter Raffin for joining the Creature fiends and still skating super well.
-It may be just a single [totally awesome] trick, but any Tyler Bledsoe footage is great.
-Unreleased Dane Vaughn footage is always great; I've been enjoying his skating a lot since Parental Advisory.
-Gou Miyagi redefines creative skateboarding with this part from Heroin's Video Nasty.
-Can't overlook totally naked girls skating and pumping through the corners of a bowl. Well done Playboy, well done.
-And finally, the prequel to the destruction in Chronicles 2 from Ishod Wair. The quality of this part alone says something about just how good Ishod really is.

Video of the Week: GX1000 Montreal

There were way too many good videos this week, so here's a "brief" rundown.
I'd almost completely forgotten about Dennis Durrant but was so stoked that he's still been skating with that same smooth technical style. Glad to see his latest video part for Adidas International at the beginning of this week with some stupid-tech fakie flip variations into handrails.
Then Ishod Wair came out with Wair N Tear. His style never ceases to amaze me in that nothing he does looks remotely challenging, yet he comes up with some pretty stacked lines. It's almost too easy to overlook his switch front big spin down the LOVE gap because of how smooth it was. (Footage machine alert! Ishod just dropped this and still has what should be a standout part for Chronicles 2)
Through Christopher Middlebrook I came along to this Modus Bearings Portfolio montage, which was great in numerous ways. Footage of Lewis [RIP] that I don't think I've seen before was absolutely priceless, the filming was on point in every clip, John Rattray's nose manual slalom was pure awesomeness, and the assortment of skaters' nationalities from English to Australian coupled with really great clips combined for a very much appreciated 6 minutes of skateboarding.
I hadn't heard of Rowan Zorilla before, but with a standout part in Footage Party I surely won't forget him now. His carefree style and loose trucks with a seriously diverse selection of spots and terrain make for a kind of part that never gets old. Not to mention some pretty gnarly clips in there done in superb fashion.
Magenta turned Koichiro Uehara (who I also hadn't heard of before) pro by dropping this mixtape of his skating on Thursday. Man oh man does he have quick feet! It takes a good amount of skill and practice to be able to ollie as quickly as he does in this mixtape and the couple minutes of street shredding are quite refreshing.
Also, Chris Gregson came out with a super sick part that demonstrates skills of a true tranny ripper. His frontside flips a thing of beauty and his lanky style works very well with all of his ripping. You really have to stop and realize just how fast he's flying around the bowls in some clips because his nonchalance doesn't show it.
Then yesterday, Jordan Hoffart took his much deserved Day Hoff from skating. He's always been one of the guys I love seeing footage from ever since his part in Fun. From hairy out-rails/out-ledges to some of the longest street gaps I've seen (I keep thinking back to his enormous ollie in New Ground), Jordan continues his raw and impressive skating.

Despite all of this rip-tastic parts, I must give the video of the week to the GX1000 crew shredding in Montreal. For one, the vibes of the GX1000 videos are unmatchable. Straight up, raw street skating with the homies in the way all skaters dream about. Any videos the crew puts out are pure gold, and it helps that every guy in the crew totally kills it. One of my favorite things to watch from them is shown right at the start: barging indoor/underground spots with security with legit tricks as opposed to squeezing in an ollie just to run away when the guard peaks his head around the corner. Yonnie Cruz shows everyone how to get the best clips just like this.
Probably the key reason why I love this video is because I've taken a couple of weekend trips to Montreal and have skated around a few of the very same spots from the video. Seeing Antoine Asselin varial flip from the basically the street out and over a post and into a downhill road at 2:09 is ridiculous from watching it. But to have experienced actually bombing the hill after it and knowing the width of those sidewalks makes the trick that much gnarlier. Just like the tricks at the Olympic Stadium: from Yonnie Cruz's switch backside wallride at 0:56 along the very crusty surface to Charles Rivaro's Stadium rooftop miniramp line at 3:14 followed by his super long downramp manual to 50-50. Knowing what the spots are like in person makes the footage exponentially more impressive and exciting to watch. And though I haven't even heard of Charles before, I will know him now from his sick clips and his ender which is too awesome for words.

Finally, I need to shoutout Jake Johnson because I was already pumped for his double glass wallrides at 1:43, but after seeing his latest Alien Workshop ad from this very trip to Montreal, I am utterly astounded. Jake's already shown his sweet wallriding skills in Mind Field, but this wallride takes skateboarding to completely new levels. I've seen Wes Kremer and Silas Baxter-Neal do some pretty long and tall wallrides, and lately I've been digging T-Funk's wallride from his new part, but again I doubt they come close to Jake's latest wallride. The crazy thing is that I've actually skated around that very same plaza in downtown Montreal and never did it occur to me that a wallride could even be done down that entire double set wall. There are plenty of wallriding opportunities in that area, but Jake's seems simply impossible. Let's just say that I am rather eager to see Jake's next video part, whatever it may be.