I don’t know what the regular cadence is for these anymore, but I saw some cool video parts this month and wanted to call them out, so the video roundup is back once again. This also seems like a good place to call out that we put out a full-length video about a month ago, so maybe go watch that as well!
Header image: Stan Byrne doing his best impression of Peter Parker on Birmingham hallowed ground. Photo: Michael K Wright
Skating Dirt, Grass and Rocks with Donnie Mortensen
Starting things off with something a little wild, Jenkem posted this rad part with Donnie Mortensen this month. I make a lot of jokes about skating stuff that is literally impossible to skate on The Terrible Company Instagram, but Donnie looked at spots of the more off-road variety and rather than laugh and say “WHO GOT DIS?” – he actually figured out a way to skate them.
He achieved this with some huge, rubber all terrain wheels and some intense risers, lifting his board high off the ground, eliminating the fear of hitting a pebble, and unlocking access to the sort of obstacles skateboarders wouldn’t even consider skating. The only downside was the board he used for this part weighs 20 pounds. Wallriding up trees, 360 flipping over rural campfires, and carving around grass verges: this part sums up the kind of weird creativity that we all expect from skateboarding.
Ronnie Sandoval’s “Home Again” Dickies Part
Krooked’s Ronnie Sandoval has long been a powerhouse of transition skating on the same level as Grant Taylor, Lizzie Armanto, Darren Navarette, Ishod Wair or any other pro skater who is infinitely entertaining to watch skate a ramp. This latest part put out by his sponsors at Dickies via the Thrasher YouTube is proof that Ronnie skates DIY transitions as easy as a duck takes to water.
Filmed entirely at the newly reopened Chanel DIY Park, Sandoval hits unconventional lines, finds unusual gaps and cruises around in the kind of way you would expect from someone who skates for a company run by The Gonz. There are some cameos from other Dickies riders here including a surprise Jamie Foy transition trick (a pleasant surprise considering Foy is largely known as a handrail dancing wizard), and the ender from Ronnie is the kind of heart in mouth mental transition trick that pushes what is possible with a skateboard.
skate: The Boardroom Ep. 2
Calming things down a touch after Ronnie Sandoval and his relentless concrete cruising, here’s a video game thing. The new skate game currently in development at EA’s Full Circle studio appears to be shaping up nicely, and the team have been extremely transparent with its development process. Case in point: the latest episode of their “boardroom” updates popped up earlier this month, where we got to hear the devs talk about the game’s city San Vansterdam and some of the cool stuff they discovered from the recent playtests.
If you aren’t interested in video games you might not get much out of this, but I did think it was cool and promising that everyone involved reiterates that this game aims to represent the way skateboarders see the world, whilst also ensuring an engaging, fun experience that anyone can pick up and play. Listen, regardless of who I work for (spoiler alert: it’s EA), I’m genuinely super stoked to hear their attitude towards this project. Given my recent grumblings about skateboarding games maybe becoming too hard for their own good, the latest episode of The Boardroom made me really hopeful for the future of this genre.
Axel & Lizzie’s “Till Death Do Us” Part
Have you ever gone round to another couple’s house and watched their holiday videos? I think that might be something that my parents’ generation did. Anyway, this part is maybe the closest thing that skateboarders will get to that sort of thing. Axel Cruysbergh and Lizzie Armanto took a bunch of holiday trips out to various locations with amazing skateparks, and this part is the result. Part tour video, part double section, and consisting purely of burly transition footage, it’s being touted as the first “husband and wife” duo part.
There’s not many surprises from Lizzie here – she’s a natural on transition and there are her normal array of quick footed tricky ramp tricks, attacking ramps from all directions and pulling out her signature vast array of handplants and footplants. Even with little in the way of surprise from her, Armanto is always fun to watch skate a bowl and is clearly having fun just throwing out chill lines. Axel steps up his game here in a big way as a bit of a fish out of water, bringing his more street focused expertise to some interesting transition moves. He throws down flip tricks into lip tricks, and attacks skateparks with a bit more of a “street skater” mentality, hitting barrier railings and unusual gaps.
“Black Mass” Competition
Growing up and becoming a dad who is not in the skateboarding industry has really stopped me from getting out to all the rad events I used to frequent in my younger years. Luckily for me The Skateboarder’s Companion have done a fantastic job of covering the goings on in the UK skate scene via YouTube, so people like me can catch up on events like the amazing “Black Mass” that went down this month at Birmingham’s infamous Fastlands. Long held up as a legit unofficial skate plaza by Brum locals, Sabbath Wheels, Heathen Skateboards, Slap Ramps and a host of other local skate companies put on one hell of a gathering at the spot.
The sheer madness of seeing sights like Marcus Taylor throwing himself down the formidable Fasty’s double set, or Ben Plumb pulling an alarming escape from a wallride sums up why I love events in this country. Pure, unadulterated madness on the sort of rough, crusty, horrible terrain that only the UK can offer. The thing I enjoy the most is seeing friends of the blog like Stan Byrne, Jord Lightowler or Shaun Boyle shredding and getting stuck in on the session, and I got to give a shout out to long-time Terribleco homie Forde Brookfield who joined veteran UK Skateboarding Master of Ceremonies Bob Sanderson on announcer duties.
The Terrible Company 