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.  

Return to the Radar #5: Richard Angelides

The first time I saw Richard Angelides was in the Transworld video First Love (above).  I didn't quite know who he was at the time, but I was definitely enjoyed watching him skate.  His ability to skate switch caught me off guard with this part. Since I was not fully developed in my skate video watching capabilities yet, I legitimately couldn't tell which stance he was at the time.  A switch backside 360 did not make any sense to me when I saw this so I was convinced that his trick at 2:13 forced him to be regular. But then I felt more contradictions with his next trick, the cab flip switch manny 180 down the bank he actually has a bunch of tricks on too.  Later looking back on his older parts (as I learned how to tell a guy's stance), I finally grasped that Richard was just a king at skating switch.  His part in Hiatus contains a nice mix of switch and regular skating and that OG mongo push the worked so well with that era of skateboarding as everyone was just having fun with their newfound variety of fliptricks. His part in Expedition One - Alone continued Richard's switch mastery and big bag of tricks.  Without a doubt, Richard Angelides has one of the best switch varial heels in the game; see 0:37 for proof.  I thought that this part was a well thought-out improvement with new clever lines and a mixture of fliptricks and grinds off of his last part. Upgrading from a switch heel at the schoolyard block set to a nollie back heel between the two parts for his respective enders was a nice touch. Not to mention a switch backside flip in First Love that is quite beautiful.  But what officially sold me on this guy was his short but effective few clips in Expedition's Madness.  The first trick alone, nollie front heel fakie manny fakie FS 360 shove out, got me incredibly stoked because I somehow learned fakie frontside 360 shove its and had never seen one (or at least noticed one) in a video before this.  I was sold from this already, especially considering that that is a really sweet manny trick when you think about it, but then he continues with his appealing lanky style.  The nollie bigger flip switch manny at the brick manny pad (that he could probably claim his own by now) was great because that trick is still nuts and I don't think I've seen it outside a game of skate other than here.  And his last trick, the nollie fs big spin 360 over the hip, will always stick out for me because shove-itting and spinning in that direction with a trick like that just seems so awkward. Definitely one of my top under 30 second parts out there.
Even though Richard Angelides skates switch quite a lot, I don't seem to get tired of it.  There's something about his style and trick selection that keeps me wanting more.  So for not coming out with anything since that mini Madness part, I would really like to see another solid collection of clips (if not a full part) from this guy.

Ams that Should be Pro #2: Kelly Hart

It feels like Kelly Hart has been around for quite a while.  And all through that time I always felt that he had a very grown up, professional steeze that would grant him his own deck at some point.  Kelly is easily one of the butteriest skaters out there with his easy-looking but dominantly high pop, flicking and catching tricks, and bending his knees for one of the best landings styles I could imagine.  Kelly can manual like he's in a video game with cheat codes, holding a single pose throughout entire long manuals like nothing.  He's got a mastery of nollie and fakie pop shove its and varial flips (and when I say POP shove it, I mean it), which no one else has as smooth as him. Another thing I doubt many people give him credit for is that with his skills to skate switch as smoothly as he does regular, he is able to film tricks that are mirror images of each other, which is a clever way of making his parts more interesting to watch (nollie pop shove nose manny followed by fakie pop shove fakie manny for example).  One of his first major parts was in It's Official, where I'd say all the tricks from 0:50 - 1:11 perfectly demonstrate his pop shove it abilities, his pop, his manual abilities, and his gorgeous tre flips.  His part in Give Me My Money Chico (above) is also really pleasing to watch, just to see exactly how tricks should be executed.  I love his varial heelflip at 2:18, he has a perfect switch heel over a bump to bar at 2:50, and he displays his craftiness with his last two tricks by mirroring a fs 5-0 kickflip out with a switch one afterwards that looks just as buttery as the first. His Berrics Recruit part once again comes through and shows Kelly's mastery of good-looking flip tricks and perfectly balanced manuals. He comes again with two nice mirrored lines starting at 1:02: a front tail then a beautiful fakie tre over a bench and a switch front tail and nollie tre.  His nollie inward heel over the fire hydrant at 1:57 is just another piece of eye candy. Kelly also has some great clips in the latest Expedition offering Madness with some very speedy and smooth cruising lines, in one of which he approaches a handrail and decides that with a tre flip as good-looking as his, he might as well just tre flip over it instead of worrying about any grind tricks, which I fully back.  Throwing a switch flip in the middle of a switch manny at 2:23 is not even fair because he almost doesn't flinch or waver at all! And the fakie POP shove it at 2:35 may possibly be the best one ever done.
So with a really solid collection of video parts, a proper style that is the perfect amount of butteriness without going overboard, and some of the most correct flip tricks in skateboarding (he has the most Berrics' Trickipedia entries for a reason), it's really a shock that he hasn't gone pro yet.  Even just some talk of turning him pro would be nice, but all I can hope for is that he's working on another attractive video part for his first pro board.