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.

Skating the Unskateable #2: Daewon Song

Trying to describe how Daewon Song has manipulated skateboarding's view of spots and what is skateable can go two different ways: an extremely long analysis of his video part history with regards to branching off into new spots over time, or a brief overview of the same material. I am choosing the latter to keep things simple. As Quartersnacks put perfectly after the spot-on Calvin and Hobbes meme, "he's just talented to the point that he couldn't be bothered by any normal conceptions of spots." Once you reach that skill level of almost literally being able to do anything on a skateboard, you need to branch out some more (pun somewhat intended considering he skates tree branches...) For example, Daewon recently reached out to his Instagram followers to suggest tricks for him because he's done just about everything else possible! Peep the trouble flip nose manny (tre + double flip = trouble flip) and the 360 shove blot slapper done as suggested by fans. People think of progressing in their skating usually by improving all of their tricks and learning new ones, but asking fans for new tricks can only go so far. So Daewon's video history is a better way of showcasing how he has progressed his skating in a different fashion. After getting creative with benches and ledges inside a warehouse in Deca's 2nd to None, Daewon came out in Skate More with the rock-solid blunt kickflip fakie at 5:09 and the famous waterfall tailslide at 5:45. Cue Colin Kennedy's voice, "This dude is waxing a waterfall." (Also worth mentioning that he rock fakied on a polejam at 5:37 that in no way looked skateable.) Since skating waterfalls and rock variations wasn't enough, Daewon took it to the trees and rocks in 5-Incher (above). The opening tree segment at 0:27 sums up Daewon's attitude towards progression in skating. Filmer: "That's not gonna work." Daewon: "Yeah it will." And while every trick in the part really captures the spirit of skating things that no one else would think of, here are a few of my favorites on spots unimaginable to the standard skater:

Kickflip back 50 the most rugged rock you could think of at 1:14

Ridiculous pipe drop in ollie at 1:23

Three clips back to back to back of shocking firecracker variations starting at 1:52

Lamppost session at 2:33

Amazing full blown tree session at 3:00

Skating rocks like skatepark banks and ledges from 3:16

And finally, revisiting the waterfall terrain at 4:02 for one of the most entertaining enders of all time.  

Manny Maniacs #2: Daewon Song

A writeup about manuals in skateboarding would not be complete without mentioning Daewon Song. I don't need to mention what kind of manuals or tricks he does because he does them all.  Daewon's creativity surpasses any need of spot searching, making a single curb or a warehouse suitable for an infinite amount of manual trick combinations. If I went into any specifics about his video game like manual combos on the crustiest of spots, I wouldn't finish this post. So I'll highlight some of my favorite video parts from Daewon with his best, and a good portion of skateboarding's best, manual moments.
In one of his earlier parts (without neglecting to acknowledge his Round 1 or 2 parts with Rodney and his Love Child part) for Deca, Daewon skates a bench on a rooftop with a manual nonetheless at 1:12, strings a few awesome manuals combo tricks with just a concrete bench and a curb from 0:13 to 0:37, and undoubtedly destroys a warehouse with combinations of tricks upon tricks where the video-game-like manual combos can be seen from 3:51 - 4:36.
In his Almost Round 3 part (above), he has really too many great manual tricks to list, but he works in a wide array of fliptricks into and out of his manuals (as well as in the middle of them) while balancing across a diverse mix of banks and pads and curbs. In particular, his triple fakie manual at 3:02 shows just how controlled and entertaining Daewon is with his board and from 4:40 to the end of the part, he comes through with unbelievable manual tricks that are bound to stay ingrained in your memory.
In DVS Skate More, Daewon continues his extremely impressive and creative use of manuals to coincide with his other really great footage at appealing spots.  A couple tricks that stick out to me: at 3:36, he kickflips into a manual and then basically manuals into a two-wheeled powerslide for a moment, turns it all the way around to a fakie manual and then flips out. Godly control once again. And for his last trick at 5:52, he holds a super long switch nose manual going very fast and along a reasonably steep bank as well. The following speedy fakie big heel and Colin Kennedy's laugh as the picture fades is the perfect reaction to watching Daewon's skating: you just can't help but laugh at how ridiculously good at skateboarding he is.
New Year's Dae, a promo part of sorts, is a very refreshing take on the warehouse/back alley curb kind of skating that was in Daewon's Deca part. Obviously new and improved, Daewon still has all of the skills and style that he had back then.  New Year's Dae comes out with plenty more NBDs and innovative tricks as well as a few newfound bank tricks where he spins 720/900 or so in manuals.  I still can't believe that at 2:57 he actually films two separate clips of his nollie backside flip fakie manual fakie big flip out.
Finally, with Daewon's latest part in Almost's 5-Incher, you really can't explain the feeling you get when watching someone use rocks and tree stumps with his tricks, especially when manuals are involved. A whole new realm has been opened and Daewon's masterful creativity is to thank for that.

Return to the Radar #2: Kenny Hoyle

You can never get too much Kenny Hoyle.  As much as I've probably praised styles beforehand, Kenny's style is undeniably fun to watch and really never gets old.  I could watch him switch heel or kickflip all day, but what's great is that he has such a large bag of tricks that there is no chance of getting bored of his skating. Kenny's put out some great video parts the past 5 years or so, all starting back to his standout part in It's Official.  The Jesus Walks instrumental in the background works perfectly with every trick he stomps.  The switch backside flip along the sidewalk grass gap early in the part at 0:34 is just so buttery, and the tini dirt-hop rollaway and strobe effects really get me psyched up every time I watch the part.  From the varial heel at 0:57 to the nollie inward heel at 1:06, and then 7 back to back flip tricks down some gaps starting at 1:16, his gap-tricks are utter perfection.  To top it off, he's got great pop, a tight ledge game, and even hits some handrails too.  Also, from 2:00 to the end of the part, Kenny goes back to an all-out stairset and gap flip trick frenzy with tricks popped and caught like they were done on flat.

Definitely one of my favorite all around full length videos, And Now couples great music selection to great skating and Kenny's part (above) is an instant standout.  Just like the strobe effect at the start of his It's Official part, the little nollie taps at 0:09 after the nollie crook and tre flip add to the anticipation and excitement for the skating to come.  I always remember the varial heelflip at 1:37 from an Expedition ad and because it once again cannot look any better like most of Kenny's stair tricks.  The nollie big flip to finish the downhill line at 2:01 seems like the trickiest (for lack of a better word) idea to try there but he pulls it off with impressive ease.  And again, he ends the part with a beauty of a hardflip at 3:40.

While I could pick apart more and more of Kenny's part and his skating, I will leave it to these two parts because they are what made me an everlasting fan and what still stick out in my head today.  But I do have to mention a seriously ripping series of clips from DVS's Dudes Dudes Dudes, once again another terrific part for turning pro in Madness by Expedition, followed up by more superior quality Bonus Madness (Mike Mo's Pretty Sweet song!), and most recently his Detention at Da Playground (end trick is pure awesomeness!).  

Now Kenny's been pro for a good 2/3 years and has had a few small clips here and there, such as the Detention clip.  But with a natural talent like that and the ability to make all of his tricks look easy and appealing, I would really like to see some new footage from Kenny.  Like I said before, you can never get too much Kenny Hoyle.