Skatepunk

Here's a little further examination of this epic video:

Shane Cross had the first part. As expected, a lot of emotion went around the giant room at the Grove when Geoff Rowley said his final introductory words: "This video is dedicated to Shane Cross." Geoff seemed a little overcome with emotion himself, which only proves he's human. He was great friends with Shane and is great friends with Ali, and I'm sure this was a bittersweet moment for him. Shane's skating is amazing, and the video had a lot of animation throughout his part -- birds flying along with Shane as he crooked grind a ledge, trees burning in the background, flowers brimming with life -- pretty original and cool idea, and a way to bring some levity and joy to the sad part. I did think it was weird and maybe a little sad that they glorified Shane's pot smoking, but that's Flip -- they show things how they are, and they don't sugarcoat anything. Very true to character.

Geoff Rowley's part was next, with an amazing version of "Stand By Me," and his part did not disappoint -- pure Rowley, with amazing progression, and the reminder became clear of just how long they've been working on this video as we watched Geoff's hair evolve from shaved to long to shaggy and everywhere in between. The 30-feet-up impossible roof gap was the capper. Amazing.

Rodrigo's part was great -- this was where I first really noticed the music -- it seemed to be scored to his skating in short sections -- each section matched Rodrigo's skating and the energy. Perhaps my favorite trick of the whole was his closer -- switch hardflip to switch backtail. Again, amazing. His part is definitely one that had people constantly thinking "switch... or regular... what!?"

Ali Boulala had a pretty good part, and the Pink Panther music was perfect. Again a sad reminder that it's been too long since we've seen Ali's face.

Bob's part was next and I can't wait to watch it again. So much chaos on the megaramp it was hard to believe, including should've-been-bails, a 50-foot frontside flip, and enough foot magic that I had one industry insider swear to me that Bob uses magnets. I refuse to believe it. I do wish they had more angles on some of the tricks Bob did.

Luan de Oliviera is the future and like Rodrigo and Bob, is a Brazilian who will get past the Brazilian stigma.

Tom Penny's part was littered with psychedelic images of Tom in a daisy field with an umbrella and sadly wasn't what I was hoping for. Tom still rips by most standards, but the problem is that he is definitely on the downside of his skating ability and there's a whole new generation of skaters who know Tom by reputation only. If he'd had a few amazing Penny tricks, the mystique would still be there... but a subpar part is just going to raise questions -- "what's the deal with Penny?" I only hope they do their research and go back and watch old 411s, TSA videos, Transworld videos -- all the vintage amazing Penny parts.

Lance's part may have been my favorite. Of course, I'm a little biased, but everything, starting with Mofo's vocals on a cover of the Damned's "History of the World, Part 1," was perfect. There were plays on Lance's first video part from more than 20 years ago, some of the best pool skating you will ever see, and that trademark Lance humor that he always asks "Was that funny? Really?" Lance is the best skateboarding dork who ever lived, but he's got the skills to back it up and he's been one of the best for almost thirty years. Unstoppable.

Rune Glifberg? One of the best vert and pool skaters ever, Rune delivers a part that matches his stature.

Curren Caples, Ben Nordberg, Louis Lopez are all vying for that future Flip team spot and they all rip, it's just going to be a question of who can grow and still maintain the interest, the skills, and especially in Curren's case the amazing style.

Mark Appleyard got the next-to-last part and that means that David Gonzales got the last part... Right now I think that maybe Appleyard should've had last part, but perhaps I need to rewatch to get a better perspective. David Gonzales definitely had the goods -- I was pleasantly surprised at his street-killing stuff -- and Appleyard seemed to be in cruise mode in a lot of the skating, but of course, Appleyard in cruise mode is better than almost everyone else.

I think the skaters all had the skateboarding we expected -- they did their part, in one friend's words -- and the music was amazing. Scored by Baron, who is obviously a very gifted musician and songwriter, the music seemed to fit each skater's part perfectly, and in some cases even seemed to hint at recognizable beats and riffs.

But it was the other ingredients -- the inconsistent claymation intros, the lack of second angles on highlighted (or should've been highlighted) tricks, the random muscle car and shooting a lion clips, a misplaced and long Bob section from the Grand Canyon, some less-than-current-standard filming quality, and anti-dramatic editing that made the overall effort an A minus for me.

Don't get me wrong -- this is just a critical, cynical eye -- this video is amazing and will not disappoint. I guess in this day and age, when so much effort is put into a film like this, that the little things that tie everything together just need to come together a little bit better for that perfect flick. Extremely Sorry came extremely close.