Video of the Week: GX1000 Medellin

I already described my love for the Adidas team tour edits with that incredibly talented and eclectic group of skaters mixed with aesthetically beautiful editing. But at the same time, the utter rawness of the GX1000 edits are untouchable. "Raw" may be used quite often here but it's the perfect word for everything GX1000 puts out, from the street skating to the citites and spots skated to the fun and entertaining encounters the crew finds in their environment. The latest edit takes place in Medellin, Colombia, which can almost be compared to SF (at least with a few of those downhill-driveway spots), though more vibrant and colorful with its surroundings and much grittier as well. The city lends itself to an appealing edit (also because Medellin isn't too popular or overused with skate trips...knock on wood), but the crew of raw rippers works its magic. Some new Jake Johnson clips are always appreciated and Stevie Perez shreds so hard in the whole video, reminding me a little of Ishod with his total comfort on the board. Yonnie Cruz always comes through with a sick interpretation of the streets, as evidenced by his repeated ollies leading to a 50-50 and almost powersliding into a car at 1:16, as well as his synchronization at 4:43. Josh Velez surprised me at 2:32 with potentially one of the longest back lips and then officially seals the deal with a good two-story ollie or so at 2:57. The final bump into the older gentleman at the end sort of sums up how great the trip must've been, with locals as friendly as that. 

Also released were the B-Sides from Leo Romero's part in Made. Leo skated some crazy rails and put in loads of work into his part, which is given the necessary recognition with these clips. I would argue that Emerica is one of the best, if not THE best, at producing videos in general. The B-Sides are no different and often just about as exciting as the video part itself. The Berrics puts it best, calling Emerica's B-Sides as a "modern classic". While Leo deserves the credit once again for his sick part in Made, Emerica deserves the credit for continuing to put out the best skate videos.

Christian Vannella just came out with a part at the DC Embassy. I'm just going to say that the hardflip late flip and the hardflip backside nosegrind to manual 360 flip out were NOT the craziest tricks I saw (at least in my opinion). So take the time to witness Christian's craziness and remember his name.

In other skate video news:

Anton Arratia displays some super techincal ledge skating in his Mag Minute, along with other great tricks.

Shaun Gregoire released a new part via Pyramid County with some of his awesome style.

Stan Karbine's part in $14 The Hard Way was released and showcases his great use of pop.

Erick and Mikey Winkowski share a part filled with brotherly love...and some gnarly tricks as well.

Living in Newark, NJ and seeing this Ironbound edit from NJ Scum made my day.

Tony Hawk gets a Krooked guest deck and still shreds the halfpipe as well as any other guy out there today, showing why he's such a legend.

Video of the Week: Fletcher Renegar - TWS Video Check Out

It was a tough choice for Video of the Week this week between Mike Davis' Independent Raw Ams part and Fletcher Renegar's Video Check Out at Transworld (above). Mike Davis absolutely killed it with a really sick style and some rather incredible tricks. I was beyond pumped to see his big heel noseblunt be taken to a street spot and slid a bit as well at 2:28. Then there was the Suciu-esque back noseblunt front 270 out on an out-ledge (2:40), the large switch big flip (3:03), and the switch frontside 540 shove it (2:55). Honestly one of the sickest parts of 2014 so far and it makes me so hopeful for a full length Birdhouse video with their underratedly amazing crew.
But I have to give video of the week to Mr. Renegar. His trick selection is so varied that the whole part felt very refreshing, mixing some common tricks with clean execution to some tricks that jumped out (like the body varial at 2:06 or the nose manual at 1:54). The flick on the nollie tre at 2:32 looked rather flimsy but it's those little nuances that make clips like that memorable. And then there's his switch handrail skating, which was pretty spectacular if you ask me. The ender back lip 3 shove takes a relatively common (using that term loosely) trick to a whole new platform, with the bumpy knob just adding to the gnarliness. Definitely looking out for more footage from Fletcher in the future.

Birdhouse has another sick rider in John Hill, whose latest video part with Split and Birdhouse shows his very tight switch skating to compliment his regular tricks. Dylan Williams also had a Raw Ams part this week with some really nice tech skating edited to a song I enjoy a lot with skate videos. Jon Sciano was introduced to Lakai with this feature for the Fura as he flies through the streets with raw clips. Mike Krok had a Mag Minute with some stylish tricks and cool handrail tricks.

In other news:
-Nixon took a superb crew of skaters through Sicily
-Ryan Townley ripped and dipped pretty hard
-Yonnie Cruz had a short, sweet, and raw street part for Incognito.
-Filmer/Skater Georgie Tsushima satisfied my love for uncut footage
-French Fred and Javier Mendizabal connect for this beautifully shot piece introducing Javi to Cons
-Steve Forstner and others come through for a nice European part

And lastly, I would like to highlight this short documentary piece called Land of Marble. A skatepark was made entirely out of marble in Pietrasanta, a town along Italy's Western coast. With my own family ties to Italy and the skater's dream of all marble everything, this was pretty cool to watch. And it includes a good dosage of ripping skating as well.

Video of the Week: GX1000 Montreal

There were way too many good videos this week, so here's a "brief" rundown.
I'd almost completely forgotten about Dennis Durrant but was so stoked that he's still been skating with that same smooth technical style. Glad to see his latest video part for Adidas International at the beginning of this week with some stupid-tech fakie flip variations into handrails.
Then Ishod Wair came out with Wair N Tear. His style never ceases to amaze me in that nothing he does looks remotely challenging, yet he comes up with some pretty stacked lines. It's almost too easy to overlook his switch front big spin down the LOVE gap because of how smooth it was. (Footage machine alert! Ishod just dropped this and still has what should be a standout part for Chronicles 2)
Through Christopher Middlebrook I came along to this Modus Bearings Portfolio montage, which was great in numerous ways. Footage of Lewis [RIP] that I don't think I've seen before was absolutely priceless, the filming was on point in every clip, John Rattray's nose manual slalom was pure awesomeness, and the assortment of skaters' nationalities from English to Australian coupled with really great clips combined for a very much appreciated 6 minutes of skateboarding.
I hadn't heard of Rowan Zorilla before, but with a standout part in Footage Party I surely won't forget him now. His carefree style and loose trucks with a seriously diverse selection of spots and terrain make for a kind of part that never gets old. Not to mention some pretty gnarly clips in there done in superb fashion.
Magenta turned Koichiro Uehara (who I also hadn't heard of before) pro by dropping this mixtape of his skating on Thursday. Man oh man does he have quick feet! It takes a good amount of skill and practice to be able to ollie as quickly as he does in this mixtape and the couple minutes of street shredding are quite refreshing.
Also, Chris Gregson came out with a super sick part that demonstrates skills of a true tranny ripper. His frontside flips a thing of beauty and his lanky style works very well with all of his ripping. You really have to stop and realize just how fast he's flying around the bowls in some clips because his nonchalance doesn't show it.
Then yesterday, Jordan Hoffart took his much deserved Day Hoff from skating. He's always been one of the guys I love seeing footage from ever since his part in Fun. From hairy out-rails/out-ledges to some of the longest street gaps I've seen (I keep thinking back to his enormous ollie in New Ground), Jordan continues his raw and impressive skating.

Despite all of this rip-tastic parts, I must give the video of the week to the GX1000 crew shredding in Montreal. For one, the vibes of the GX1000 videos are unmatchable. Straight up, raw street skating with the homies in the way all skaters dream about. Any videos the crew puts out are pure gold, and it helps that every guy in the crew totally kills it. One of my favorite things to watch from them is shown right at the start: barging indoor/underground spots with security with legit tricks as opposed to squeezing in an ollie just to run away when the guard peaks his head around the corner. Yonnie Cruz shows everyone how to get the best clips just like this.
Probably the key reason why I love this video is because I've taken a couple of weekend trips to Montreal and have skated around a few of the very same spots from the video. Seeing Antoine Asselin varial flip from the basically the street out and over a post and into a downhill road at 2:09 is ridiculous from watching it. But to have experienced actually bombing the hill after it and knowing the width of those sidewalks makes the trick that much gnarlier. Just like the tricks at the Olympic Stadium: from Yonnie Cruz's switch backside wallride at 0:56 along the very crusty surface to Charles Rivaro's Stadium rooftop miniramp line at 3:14 followed by his super long downramp manual to 50-50. Knowing what the spots are like in person makes the footage exponentially more impressive and exciting to watch. And though I haven't even heard of Charles before, I will know him now from his sick clips and his ender which is too awesome for words.

Finally, I need to shoutout Jake Johnson because I was already pumped for his double glass wallrides at 1:43, but after seeing his latest Alien Workshop ad from this very trip to Montreal, I am utterly astounded. Jake's already shown his sweet wallriding skills in Mind Field, but this wallride takes skateboarding to completely new levels. I've seen Wes Kremer and Silas Baxter-Neal do some pretty long and tall wallrides, and lately I've been digging T-Funk's wallride from his new part, but again I doubt they come close to Jake's latest wallride. The crazy thing is that I've actually skated around that very same plaza in downtown Montreal and never did it occur to me that a wallride could even be done down that entire double set wall. There are plenty of wallriding opportunities in that area, but Jake's seems simply impossible. Let's just say that I am rather eager to see Jake's next video part, whatever it may be.