Video of the Week: Davis Torgerson's Ticket to Ride - Going Pro Part

I'd been saying for a while that Davis REALly needed to go pro and this week it was finally commemorated! This pro part is exactly what was needed to showcase Davis's awesome style, his comfort when going fast in every clip, his impressive pop (that switch heel!), and his spot creativity. What I mean by that is that Davis utilizes his skills to make spots his own. Examples include that front blunt pop up to front nose at 1:41, the switch pole jam lipslide at 2:03 (who actually hits that spot switch?), the ride-on pole jam 50-50 over the kinks at 2:37 when he even bones an ollie out over the end, and the insane couple of mid-bank ollies - both regs and switch - at 2:50. I was probably more thrilled at display of control for those two dangerous ollies than the actual flip tricks over the hips. Anyway, Davis rips and always comes through with fun-to-watch, quality parts like this. Congrats!

In other skate news:
-Brodie Penrod is extremely talented and makes every session look like a blast.
-The Subway Skating section from Tengu: God of Mischief is an instant classic, especially with the historic subway track ollie.
-Daryl Dominguez's Excursion part through various parts of England is an absolute pleasure to watch.
-Callum Paul is PassPort's first pro and celebrates the occasion with some fun shredding down under.
-Nyjah Huston is really really good. He never stops getting bangers, as seen through his Subject part, his First Tryday is hard not to smile through, and the OG Edit to his last epic part was even dropped for a good reminder.
-Bryan Schaefer is On the Radar with a new part that adds to the UNM spot posts from last week. Check out the sweet line at UNM at 1:25!
-5Boro went to Paris. They have one of the sickest teams and their own entertaining take on skating through Paris. Plus, Jordan Trahan is a boss.
-Sam Beckett, Jake Brown, Pierre-Luc Gagnon, and Alex Perelson skate the Monster Vert Ramp and remind us that vert skating is alive and kicking ferociously.
-The Organika Trail Tour is a jovial take on how Josh Matthews put together his part from last week. I really like how the Organika team is looking so this welcoming trip was nice to see.
-Skate House by Chris Whitaker started off a little questionable for me but once Chris Colbourn, Cody Hale, and Jordan Maxham came on with some great skating, it really becomes a great video overall.
-Fourstar releases an Anthology that shows why it's one of the greatest companies in skateboarding, not just for its unreal team lineup, but because of how much fun they have on every tour.

SOTY 2013 Contender #3: Ishod Wair

Ishod Wair is one smooth dude. He somehow makes skating the grimy, rough East Coast spots look like a stroll through the schoolyard. His talent is beyond comprehension for a lot of people, which makes sense as to why he can put some of the toughest tricks together in lines and make them look so easy. For example, one simply doesn't kickflip the LOVE park gap at the end of a line...except for Ishod in his Sabotage 3 Remix (which was technically released for the full video in 2012 but I'd say still plays a role for SOTY 2013). He just so happens to follow that up with a front shove down the gap, no biggie (pun intended as you'll see later...)
Right now, the main argument for why Ishod should be in contention for SOTY is his very recent and appropriately titled Wair N Tear part (above), as well as some clips of gold in The Philadelphia Experiment.
In Wair N Tear, Ishod nonchalantly shreds the streets in so many ways. From finding tight spots to churning out lines for days, Ishod's relaxed demeanor and relatively relaxed spot selection leaves you in a bewildered state of mind because when you least expect it he'll suddenly be skating a hefty gap or huge handrail with that same ease as if it were a flatground trick or a ledge in a plaza. Some of my favorite moments include the line at 0:38 with a very pleasing nollie heel back tail, the surprisingly tall boardslide (I say that because until you look at the rail by itself you couldn't tell from how Ishod casually gets on top of it) at 1:25 right in the middle of a "marathon" line, both frontside and backside nollie flips done flawlessly down a sweet street gap at 2:59, and then from 3:24 till the end he just throws out breezy hammer after hammer until his switch front biggie closer down the LOVE gap. (If I'm not mistaken, that makes 5 tricks down the famous gap. 3 mentioned through these video parts and also the switch flip (3:47) and heelflip (0:22).)
Also, Ishod had quite a few clips in The Philadelphia Experiment: at 0:54 he has a few clips that show off his diverse skill set, at 3:25 he skates LOVE park with a smooth ledge line and a kickflip back lip comparable to ones by Torey (replacing the tornado arms with probably the most gangster-stylish ones you could find), at 4:21 he does a beauty of a frontside heelflip over the iconic tile bump to garbage can LOVE park is known so well for, and at 7:51 he strings a kickflip back lip and a nollie flip crooks where for each he actually slides/grinds for a long distance, unlike so many quick-tappers today. Like I said before: clips of pure gold.
The footage mentioned here alone is already really great, but what makes Ishod such a great contender for SOTY 2013 is his upcoming part in Chronicles Vol. 2. If the hype is real, which I don't doubt for a second, Ishod's part is going to blow some minds. Watch out for this potential SOTY.

Return to the Radar #1: Tyler Bledsoe

Tyler Bledsoe is probably one of the most overlooked skaters today.  His quiet persona matches his smooth and stealthy spot destruction.  A dizzying array of fliptricks and a spot selection that naturally flows together with any edit also help make Bledsoe footage that much more valuable.  As far as my knowledge goes, he's put out two pivotal full length video parts with TWS's Hallelujah (above) and his part in Mind Field, as well as an artsy piece by Benny Maglinao and a couple of commercials all for Etnies. Not to mention awesome clips in the Gang of Fourstar tour video (front hurricane to switch crooks at 2:29 is amazing in so many ways). Through Etnies, Bledsoe has thoroughly put out stylish footage at unique spots that demonstrates his ability to get tech with ledges without going overboard, come up with tasteful manual tricks, skate different kinds of inclines, and especially throw some tricks down gaps. Watching Tyler skate provides some kind of impalpable sensation that may come close to admiration but mixes in a soothing vibe to it; basically it's just pleasing to watch him shred.  His frontside and backside kickflips both switch and regular look wonderful and I'd say he's got one of the best big spin flips and quite possibly THE best frontside hurricane grind in the game (just take a look at his Hallelujah ender at 3:43 for proof, along with the many other sweet variations.) His gap tricks are done with a flawless style, exemplified in Mind Field with his tweaked hardflip at 1:18 and his big flip ender down Carlsbad at 2:31 (one of my favorite tricks for sure down Carlsbad).  And he keeps ledge skating interesting and fun with creative combos that stray away from the overkill of some ledge dancers.  Just look at the back lip to blunt in Mind Field at 1:39, the nosegrind shove to 5-0 at 0:50 in Hallelujah where he actually sits on the ledge and grinds for quite a bit (you see way to many short grind taps these days, holding the trick out looks much better) as well as the front board over to noseblunt at 2:07 and the back tail pop over to noseblunt at 3:38.
With very little sighting of Tyler over the past 2/3 years, I am getting very anxious as to when new footage will arise out of him.  A beautiful style like his cannot sit around for too long without appeasing the needs of the skateboarding world.