Video of the Week: Antihero welcomes Grant Taylor

There were a few videos this week I was considering for Video of the Week. Chewy Cannon released his Transmission part over at TWS, coming through once again with awesome London footage and skating fast with a fun, loose style. I've been a fan ever since his Diagonal part with those thrashing switch front boards, and he has plenty of his true switch stance skating in this new part. It's cool to see a full new Chewy part, even after the footage in the Cinematographer Project, which TWS also released through Torsten Frank's section this week as well. Along with that, Ewan Bowman uncovered a bunch of lost footage from Bastien Salabanzi, delivering a full part of unseen footage. Right from the time period when Bastien left Flip, this 6+ minute new/old part stands the test of time and is still pretty incredible today. Ordinarily, when a guy repeats a trick at multiple spots it gets a tad boring and mundane, but Bastien's caballerial kickflip is one of those tricks you can watch all day. It helps that he flicks and spins them out super fast and at some of the sickest spots too. And to think that Bastien came out with a legit cab flip front board down a handrail 10 years ago is phenomenal, especially when Nyjah's version was close to ending one of the heaviest video parts of all time.
But even with those two stand out video parts from this week, Grant Taylor's "cruising" welcome video for Antihero - a pretty big skate news announcement in itself as I'm still hoping AWS keeps it together - was my pick for this week. Normally I don't find tranny skating that entertaining (possibly because it always looks way too flowy and easy) but there's something about Grant Taylor that defies the laws of motion. He has a raw natural ability to boost higher, grind longer, and pump faster than just about every other skater I've seen. This intro video to Antihero looked as if he could pull it together with just some chill sessions with the squad, yet the footage is super gnarly. He glides around bowls like nothing and strings lines of tricks together because he has so many good ones down pat. Watching him skate and witnessing his ease and control with the board is certainly a pleasure.

In other news...
-Even though I'm skeptical about the legitimacy of everything being first try despite what my friend Pat says, Shane O'Neill's tricks at the Berrics for New Years are insane, park footage or not. Only Shane...and I cannot wait for his upcoming Thrasher part!!
-Though it'll be taken down soon, Tom Karangelov impresses everyone with his first full length legit part from Cold War. Great style, great eye for spots, and pulling off the Heath look certainly helps too.
-I don't normally post year-end montages but when I do, they are super gnarly and get you psyched to skate like no other montage. It's been a Hell of a Year over at Thrasher.
-Anton Myhrvold comes through with a really smooth part through Globe and Kingpin with some pretty incredible switch skating.
-A bunch of teams put out montages every month or so but they usually feel like filler, throwaway, or just more decent footage that adds to the entropy of the internet. But there's something about the crew at Stereo that stands out - editing, style, I'm not sure exactly - and they came through with a tight edit from some of their riders.
-The underratedly stacked team at DVS mixed with the beautiful East Coast spots in NYC? A combination worth a few view for sure with DVS's Trippin through The Big Apple.

UPDATE: Also forgot to point out that DGK's full length video Parental Advisory is now out online, for all those that weren't able to catch it around Christmas last year.

Video of the Week: Zero's Cold War

Even though I know Zero has one of the gnarliest crews in skateboarding and has built upon their legacy over the years, I wasn't ready for Cold War. Based on the 5 parts shown on Thrasher, the video takes gnarly skating to whole new levels. I said earlier in the SOTY posts that Dane Burman and Tommy Sandoval had some crazy clips in Road Less Traveled but would need outstanding parts in Cold War to be considered for SOTY. That is exactly what happened here. I won't even begin to explain their parts because I would diminish their gnarliness, but they are most definitely at the top of the contenders for SOTY 2013 after this. And it's crazy because Brockman, Cole, and Jamie all had super sick parts too, but they were just overshadowed by Dane and Tommy's inhuman destruction. These 5 parts alone are enough for an epic video but what's even better is that there's still Tom Karangelov, Ben Hatchell, Nick Boserio, and Tony Cervantes in the full video!(and possibly parts from John Rattray and Josiah Gatlyn?) So as soon as Cold War comes out on DVD I will be getting it for quite possibly one of the gnarliest and rawest videos of the year.

Besides that, Chad Tim Tim's Transmission part at Transworld was also super steezy and fun to watch; the switch back smith 360 ender was pretty ridiculous. Eniz Fazliov came out with a sick part in a video called Rabies with his Finnish homies with some really cool, crusty spots. John Dilorenzo is on an absolute tear for what I'd call the hungriest flow dude of the year. After dropping two heavy parts in Florida Daze 2 and Against the Clock, he is now being introduced to Split Clothing with this third great part of the year. I've been feeling Rowan Zorilla ever since his part in Footage Party, and this 14-minute clip of raw footage is just so entertaining to watch. Seeing some pretty sick tricks go down after some work while having a blast with the homies is what every skater should live for. And lastly, Anton Myhrvold comes through with a sweet minute and a half of stylish, well-flicked tricks for his intro to Small Wheels.

UPDATE: This was also some major news. It just fits perfectly too.