Video of the Week: Dave Bohack - THAT is what I like

I have to give Dave Bohack top honors for Video of the Week. There's something about seeing those East Coast spots (one of which I know is literally a 2 minute skate away for myself) that lets me connect with his skating more so than the countless other videos I merely glaze at through my computer screen. Watching his part felt like watching my friends in person skating spots I'm used to seeing in person, and then even sometimes cranking it up a notch or two in gnarliness. Seeing snow and rain on the ground, especially for that splashing rollaway for his insane ender 50-50, reminded me that there are some gnarly skaters very close by and that the skateboarding community as a whole is not as disconnected as it sometimes may feel.

In other skate news from the week:
Nick Remon kills it for Vans in England with a super enjoyable style and trick selection, shredding through those gritty streets. The line at 2:20 (fakie heel, fakie boardslide fs 270 out) is too good.
Niilo Nikkanen also comes through with an incredible part in GTFBID, proving that there are some "random" Euro skaters out there that are absolutely crushing it.
Jimmy Cao's new part for Sk8mafia and JSLV is super steezy and stands out nicely a midst the loads of footage the 'Mafia puts out regularly.
Jordan Gesko's part for Skate Jawn is raw and pretty awesome. The switch inward heel at 3:44 was a sweet surprise and reminded me a bit of Shuriken's nice inward.
Kevin Terpening turned pro for FA with a short but sweet welcome video, accompanied by one from Huf too.
Speaking of short but sweet, Forrest Edwards' welcome video for Theeve is quite gnarly and worth a few views.
The Flip Canadian Tour at The Skateboard Mag is too good to be written off as just another tour video, but what do you expect from that young crew of rippers.
If Rowan Zorilla's latest part was throwaway, then there's good reason to be excited for Shep Dawgs 4 (as if there weren't enough reasons already)
Tommy Sandoval takes the cake for the greatest barrage of BIG bangers at the Berrics with his Battle Commander, which timed out nicely with Hellaclips edit of Tommy's Road Less Traveled footage into a personalized part for Fallen.
In The Details was filmed and edited by Jeremy McNamara and oh boy did he do a good job.
As is tradition, Emerica dropped Jeremy Leabres' B-Sides from Made and once again comes through with the Gold.
To close things off, Youness Amrani went pro this week for Almost, a move that I'm super stoked on. Even though I said a little more time with the legendary company would be fitting, it's been some time since then and it feels about right, especially after what Youness masterfully pulled off at The Berrics.

2014 Videos #4: LRG Video

It's pretty interesting when a clothing company comes out with a full length video in skateboarding. I can't think of too many instances of this happening. Ambig came out with a solid 15 minutes or so of insane shredding with great editing via Modern Art, but that's definitely a promo as opposed to a full length video. I was super stoked on Ambig since the video and their sick team, but after a few team member cuts I can't back them as much. Anyway, LRG is the other clothing company in my memory that has pulled off the legit full length video just a few years ago. Give Me My Money Chico turned out to be really sick; it combined a pretty versatile and stylish team with editing inter-connectivity to give a consistent vibe throughout the whole video. And everyone's parts were definitely memorable to still be brought up today. A good 35/40 minute video with full parts from everyone is priceless these days in the increasingly viral world of skateboarding.

Since then, the team has changed up a little bit (I still find it funny that almost immediately after GMMMC came out Tommy Guns, Billy Marks, and Tom Asta were added to the team) and has some new heavy hitters now: Felipe Gustavo, Carlos Ribeiro, and Trent McClung. Recently, LRG introduced Miles Silvas to the team (welcome video above), who has been on an absolute rampage this year with coverage and sponsors. With that welcome video I saw that LRG is officially working on its next full length video for 2014. With a lineup that LRG has now, a full length video can be extremely epic. Definitely something to be hyped for this year.

A quick highlight run through of some of LRG's skaters to be ready for their upcoming video:
You know what Billy Marks, Tom Asta, and Carlos Ribeiro are capable of.
Tommy Sandoval - just look at his Cold War part
Miles Silvas - can't wait to see probably the biggest back noseblunt ever!
(And if any of their international dudes have parts too...oh boy!)

In addition to the LRG video, I should probably mention the upcoming video from Gold Wheels: Gold Goons. I just saw the trailer this week, so I didn't plan on posting about it. But just looking at the lineup in the info underneath the trailer, there are so many tight dudes on the team that even semi-full parts from some of them would be satisfactory. I'm not too sure which ones have been stacking clips for Gold Goons specifically, but a lineup like that leaves plenty possibilities for a full length video.

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.

Next Week: SOTY 2013 Contenders

It's always hard to think of there being only one single Skater of the Year, but Thrasher has kept up with the task every year since 1990 of honoring one awesome ripper with the title. Now that we're in the last quarter of 2013, it's an appropriate time to take a look at some of this years top contenders for SOTY. This week will be my personal top 5 picks for who I think could take the title.
It's always tricky with the politics in the skate industry because the award for SOTY can almost be considered a universal title, yet it's exclusively given out by Thrasher Magazine. So whoever decides the winner in the end has to have some preference towards skaters with loads of coverage in Thrasher specifically, as opposed to other magazines. This does shift my Top 5 somewhat, but regardless, here are a bunch of guys that could definitely be deserving of such a title but that I don't think will ultimately win the award:

Dudes like Tommy Sandoval and Dane Burman skated the gnarliest (to say the least) spots in Road Less Traveled, and are likely going to have standout parts in Cold War, assuming it still comes out before the end of the year. Unless those parts are seriously groundbreaking, their not-technically-full-parts-but-more-like-montage-clips from RLT probably won't put them at the SOTY level this year, in my opinion. Same goes for Chris Cole, who has been on the contest circuit this year. You can never count him out for dropping a legendary part in Cold War, yet I think it's going to have to be just that in order for him to come close for SOTY.
Guys like Walker Ryan and Julian Davidson (who dropped most of his footage while still am...would that make a difference towards SOTY?) came out with loads of really great footage this year. Both had amazing parts in Perpetual Motion, which coming from Transworld may not help them in the SOTY race. Walker had a really awesome part in Organika's Grow With Us as well as a sweet Mag Minute for the Skateboard Mag (again probably not helpful for Thrasher's SOTY). Julian had sweet footage in his Element Pro Part including that wonderful Bercy frontside flip, as well as a nice clip for getting on Etnies. Despite both of these dudes killing it this year, I feel like their lack of Thrasher coverage goes against them with respect to getting SOTY.
Then there were guys like Jim Greco and Bob Burnquist who each dropped a single part, but a single part that was insane in both instances. Greco even came out with probably the most memorable commercial ever (for me anyway) for Supra that I'd consider for his year of awesome skating. For these two guys, despite dropping epic video parts, I just have a gut feeling like they're missing something for the SOTY running.
David Gravette came out with a nutty part in CSFU and backed it up with his just as crazy Real Street part. Again, David could totally deserve SOTY this year after these ridiculous parts but I just don't personally see him winning this year.
Daryl Angel is sort of an underrated guy for me but with the potential to still make a really strong run for SOTY this year. He had a memorable couple of tricks in Austyn Gillette's part in Cosmic Vomit 2 and still has a part coming out in Chronicles Vol. 2 as well as some clips if not a part in Habitat's Search the Horizon (assuming that's released before the end of the year). I'd say his more simplistic take on his tricks together with his smooth and speedy style combine for the potential for a pretty awesome part in the Nike video, something worth mentioning with this SOTY talk.
Also, there are guys like Shane O'Neill and Luan Oliveira that likely will have outstanding parts in Chronicles Vol. 2, but much like Chris Cole with Cold War, those parts will surely have to be outstanding to be considered in line for SOTY 2013.
And finally, considering that the Plan B video is not going to drop before the year ends, that takes away a good number of other skaters that could easily be in the run for SOTY. 2014 better watch out for this though...