We're All Just People

Sweet 16. So important MTV has a show for the parties and another show to comment on them. On said show, over-privileged and out-of-touch adolescent girls (and even some guys) basically do their best impression of Scrooge swimming in money. They spend thousands on clothes and tens of thousands on bands. They cry when daddy doesn't buy them the Land Rover or mommy takes away the credit card. All in the name of an exclusive sweet 16 birthday party. This world doesn't exist in my reality. The closest I've come is a party with free snowboard movies and some snacks. Let me recount to you this lavish soirée.

Exit exterior.

Portland skate/snow shop Exit Real World turns 16 this year and to celebrate they're throwing three parties. How's that for sweet? Party number one was at their Bridgeport Village location. On the docket was the People Creative's new offering, Nice Try. But what's this? A surprise late entry from Foreground productions entitled Rotate. Good to see the local kids getting together and laying down a bro movie. Exit also wheeled out (pun intended) their new skate video teaser. Add some free energy drinks, candy, popcorn, what-have-you and the assembled masses were ready for blood.

Bloodthirsty suburban teens.

What do you want from a snowboard movie? Rails, powder, park, backcountry freestyle, big lines? Gimme a break, videos are getting more diverse every year. Last year's "stunningly well-rounded" is this year's "complete, yet lacking creativity." We need more. Double corks? I hear the Chinese are already on to double corks. Next thing you know kids in North Dakota will be doing them. What else? Sketchy avalanche saves? Yawn. How about handplant to cliff drop? Do I have your attention now? Boy literally destroys rail? Snowmobile catches fire and melts into a different sort of watery grave while bewildered riders attempt to salvage gear? That sound like your kind of movie? Then give Nice Try a try. People Creative's navy sets to the frozen waves like the Spanish shred-Armada, plundering all powder and pillaging every park. Casualties are experienced in gnarly fashion, but in the end victory is claimed.

In the interest of full disclosure, Yobeat's Brooke Geery also gave me the DVD.

Marben starts it out by throwing methods in every possible circumstance. Yes, including urban. Robbie Walker demonstrates stylish slow rotations and double corks. Curtis Cizek, Louie Fountain, Bryan Fox, Jonas Carlson and Josh Mills get together on a pow bro fest or is it a bro pow fest? Hell of a fun section anyway with dudes slashing laybacks, dropping cliffs and otherwise making the flakes fly. Made me want to joint them. Shaun McKay, well, he's got a hell of a story for an insurance adjuster.

Featured riders: Wille Yli-Luoma, Seth Huot, Robbie Walker, Eiki Helgason, Lucas Debari, Zac Marben, Shaun Mckay, Will Tuddenham, Jon Kooley, Curtis Ciszek, Bryan Fox, Louie Fountain, Josh Mills, Jonas Carlson, Ricky Tucker, and Max Baillargeon

How the Northwest Was One

Another day, another original movie with the Northwest front and center. This time it's got a sub-story of lawlessness and bounty filming complete with guns and horses. At least the snowmobiles are dubbed to sound like horses... The Seattle premier went down at a fire code disregarding Evo. The place was so packed I was picking out the nearest emergency exit (keeping in mind that the nearest exit may be behind me, it wasn't). The vibe was intense enough for the show that most of the dialogue between parts was lost for the crowd's excitement. That probably just helped sell more DVDs. It didn't hurt my choice. Afterward, music by The Senate Arcade, art showing by Spacecraft, beer by rogues entering through the windows. Then, I drive three hours home. Bitchin'. Now, howza 'bout I tell you about the movie?

Yup, 360 degrees of that.

Nick Ennen sets the pace that doesn't let up, except for the mini skits. Severe backcountry action is the name of the game: big gaps, heavy cliffs and a pillow field big enough to run a hundred person Chinese downhill. Blatant Holy Oly and Mt. Baker shots. Jibs in this movie are generally made of wood. Andy Bergin-Sperry tweaks and pokes more than a dude whose girl just got a boob job. Camera dwarfing powder tsunamis roll in from every other part. Manuel Diaz and Joe Bosler are each on the double cork stagecoach. Is that just a given anymore? Seems like every movie's got at least one. Shaun McKay has one of the funnier mini skits and one of the better parts.

Clocking just over half an hour of video, this flick keeps the hits rolling. The storyline is funny and helps to break up the action. Maybe some of the shots could have been tighter or crisper, but in the end, it was good enough to make me daydream about hitting some of the soft stuff myself. It was also good enough for me to put my money on the table and walk out with a copy.

In fact, if How the Northwest Was One doesn't make you want to get out and ride, you're probably the sort of person who prefers to ride icy halfpipes while it rains razor blades and demon heads and Sarah Palin blabs full volume in an unstoppable speaker from above. Maybe you're looking for How the Northeast Wasn't Fun. (If that title ever gets used for anything, I want a dime for every copy sold!) Catch it (the good movie, not the one I just made up) Thursday night (10/8) in Bellingham if you know what's good.

Washington State Represents with Cool Story and As Green As It Gets

In the seen-it-all world of snowboarding, originality is hard to come by. Thank God for Jesse Burtner, Sean Genovese and the Think Thank crew. I'm not talking about adding another 180 to a spin, I'm talking about a new way to tell a snowboarding story. I'm getting a little ahead of myself here, though. Seattle hosted the premier of Think Thank's new video Cool Story and YKWII/Snowboard Connection's As Green As It Gets got the crowd all warmed up.

This can mean only one thing...

As Green As It Gets came out strong with Austen Sweetin showing some range. I've seen Austen at rail jams and the Baker Banked, but in this part he lets us see what else he's got, including some footage from Superpark. Seth Kitzke also brought a stellar part to the table. Just a couple guys showing that the Northwest has a bright future. Also, it was good to see the crowed stoked on some local boys. I didn't take notes and I couldn't win a game of memory if all the tiles were apples, so check out YKWII and Snowboard Connection if you want to know more.

The autograph line was long on both sides.
In there are Blair Habenicht, Austin Hironaka, Matt Edgers, Jesse Burtner, others?

Now, on to the feature presentation of the evening, Cool Story. Starring John Candy as the coach of a ragtag bunch... wait, that's Cool Runnings. Cool Story stars the Think Thank crew and tells the story of their winter. It still follows the standard rider part formula, but breaks with convention in that it moves chronologically through the winter with each rider introducing himself, or someone else, at a specific time and place. The execution is a shred diary full of personality.

Burtner, best face forward. He also hosted the longest product raffle ever.
Thanks to the sponsors: Lib Tech, Snowboy Productions, Spacecraft, others?

Ben Bogart scored the opener and gives us a hustler's perspective on 'this economy.' He proves his worth on street rails and jumps equally. Austin Hironaka's moving up that ladder, watch out for him. Progression, right thar. Burtner shows a blatant disregard for bindings. Andre Spinelli takes it to the Alaskan backcountry and gets all double-corky (and I don't mean retarded). So many parts stand out that I could name them all... and there's a lot of them. This thing just keeps delivering. Rails, backcountry pow booters, resort fun sessions; so all-inclusive it's the Club Med of snowboarding.

This flick is worth a buy on dollars per minute alone, but that's not all, the riding is hair-pullingly great, too. Not to sound like Ron Popeil, but what more do you want than a good long shred vid to get you in that winter state of mind? Go buy a copy, a cold beverage, a snack, maybe a catheter and get ready to experience all that snowboarding has to offer. Except pretentious trick porn. None of that here.

Neverland Portland Premier, Words with MFM

Absinthe always makes great movies and when September finally rolls around, I'm always looking for that premier more than any other. Something about a big mountain and pow-heavy video on the big screen gets me shred ready faster than seeing the first flakes on the mountain webcams. My buddy Colin over at ESPN beat me to the writeup (actually a bunch of people did) and he's a far better writer than I (actually plenty of people are), so you might as well check out his article.

But, before I drop that link on you, here's something to listen to while you read it, an interview I did with Marc Frank Montoya after the show. Unfortunately my camera (yeah, I use a video camera to record audio, it's what I got) ate the first half of the interview, so I'll recount that to you now to the best of my ability. We talked a little about how long he's been filming with Absinthe and agreed it had been a long damn time. He bounced around to Kingpin and KidsKnow for a bit but always came back. Why? Because they have the backcountry (especially Alaska) scene on lockdown. He wasn't actually going to film with them this year because he's doing his own thing (or joint thing with FODT) with another crew. If you haven't heard, it's called Hard to Earn check for it later this fall. One thing that's easy to see if you look below the surface is that Marc's into all kinds of different business ventures. Trying to make money for himself instead of making other people rich, as he says it. Is it hard to keep up the businesses and have time to ride? He said he never really looked at snowboarding as a business, just something he did for the love. He never let the businesses get in the way of snowboarding or his snowboarding get in the way of his business ventures. And that's where the following video picks up. The question posed to him was: Your name is on a lot of products, was there ever anything that you wanted it on that you never got?

Yeah, some kid had Marc sign his smelly shoe.

Now, while you're listening, go over here and read about the video.

Points of emphasis: Dan Brisse comes through (in his Absinthe debut, by the way) with one of the best sections I've ever pointed my retinas at. Evel Kenievel ssized airs, stomping the cityscape like his name was Godzilla, the crowd went bananas and Brisse earned every decibel.

Seeing as much powder as Nicolas and Wolle rode is the sort of thing that almost had me looking for plane tickets to New Zealand. I'm counting down the days now.

Cale Zima flat out destroys himself. When he's 40 and can't get out of the recliner anymore at least he'll have some of these handrail hammers to look back on. The dancing is hilarious also.

Travis Rice. Yeah, forget about him? Going huge as always.

The list goes on. Just buy the movie. Reviewing Absinthe videos should just come down to that from here on out. You didn't need me to tell you that. Just go buy it. You'll never regret it.

Absinthe's Flipside Out Now on iTunes

All the dudes over at Absinthe Films have been doing a TV show about the making of their films for the last three years. The most recent season, which covers the making of Ready is out now on iTunes for 9 bucks. That's for six, 20-minute episodes. Drop another $6 and you can get Ready, too. Make it an Absinthe marathon and watch everything in one night while polishing off a bottle of their namesake beverage. Now there's an idea... Problem is, I'm already two episodes in and the liquor stores are closed.

I'll catch you on the flipside whenever you're ready...

The show is really good insight into what those guys go through to make a snowboard film. All kinds of craziness in different countries, resorts, backcountry, down days, urban spots, you think it up they've lived it. Last year, Wolle got buried in an avalanche and Brusti gashed his arm punching through a window. How could they possibly compete this year? For less than a Hamilton, you can find out. Bump it up to a Jackson and you can find out, watch the finished product and have enough left over to deliver some economic stimulus to the 7-11 for some snacks...

Video Review: Actionhorse Films' Pony Tale

Anytime you can get free shred porn, you should snatch it up. No matter how bad it looks. Anytime you can get free shred porn with names like Per-Hampus Stålhandske (filmmaker), Jakob Wilhelmson and Hampus Mosesson attached, you should download it and watch it immediately (not forget about it for two months like I did).

Jakob and Hampus are joined by a slew of talented riders from around the world. Names include Eiki and Halldór Helgason, Eero Ettala, Knut Eliassen, Marku Koski, Pat Moore and Austin Smith, just to throw some out there.

The first thing you will notice about this film is it's lack of a standard rider-part layout. Instead the video moves chronologically through the winter and from place to place, similar to From __, with Love from a couple years ago. This really gives a feel of tagging along with a group of guys throughout a winter. I would have liked to see a little more 'lifestyle' to add to this, but as it stands it flowed better than most.

The next thing you will notice is just how well put together this movie is. The shots are on-point and the editing couldn't be better. The whole package works with the music to create an amazing production. Per-Hamus is a guy who knows when to use a twerky transition and when to let the riding speak for itself. He is definitely someone I want to see more from in the future.

What about the guys in front of the lens? Yeah, they were on it, too. Nordic cityscapes fell to the likes of the Helgason brothers, Wasatch pow was slashed by Knut and Oregon even had a section featuring Austin Smith among others. The two constants were the stars of the show, Jakob Wilhelmson and Hampus Mosesson. They dabbled in the city scene. They buttoned up their pow skirts and got crazy in the backcountry. They definitely ripped the park. In short, these two snow-cial butterflies showed all the young debutantes how it's done. (Gnarly AK lines notwithstanding)

Any downfalls? Well, some of the music was a little, umm... Euro? If that's the only complaint I can think of, then I guess they did it about perfectly.

This movie is super fun to watch from the intro (which brought me back to The Name of the Game) to the out-takes. Some riders just have brief 'cameos' while others have bigger roles. Just like some friends you ride with all the time and others you just never get to see enough. The riding and filmmaking are both first-rate. Oh yeah and it's free. Like you needed another reason to pick it up. Now get over to the Actionhorse website and watch it for yourself. While you're at it, peep their blog and donate a couple bucks to the cause. Quality videos are worth supporting, especially in these tough times...

Video Review: Car Danchi 3

A while back I checked out the US premier of Car Danchi 3 up in Seattle and wrote about it for snowboardermag.com. You can see that piece here. Honestly, I don't have much to add to that story, so this write-up will be short. I gotta say that Car Danchi 3 is probably among my top 2 favorite movies this year (the other being That's It, That's All). The video was just really compelling. It made me want to shred, it made me want to step my game up on multiple fronts and it made me want to go turn my Subaru into a car danchi and roam the mountains of the northwest in search of the best snow.

Car danchi or grocery getter?
(Taken today in Portland, by the way)

Honestly, almost anyone could do it. Neil Hartmann, the Car Danchi mastermind, started off in a Subaru Legacy wagon. I certainly could if I had the sack. Will I? I'm about 50/50 on it. I have a 15° sleeping bag that I've never been cold in. I tested it a couple weeks ago when I was bored and slept in my car on a night that got down to about 25°. That was comfortable enough to sleep 'til about 10am with cars whipping by and the sun fully up. Seriously. It felt strange, but you gotta start somewhere. That's a long way from sub-zero mountain nights, I know. I'd have to be fully stocked, prepared and committed for that. Maybe I should try it on one of these snowy nights in town. That would be closer to a true test. Even closer would be if I cooked my dinner in the oven of my hot engine compartment. Look at the upside, though, so close to the lift for those first tracks and driving up the night before totally eliminates traffic.

Anyway, all of this speculation may never have happened without the Car Danchi movies. They are truly inspiring. What started out as a three-minute flick in In Short two years ago, has blossomed into an amazing documentary-style, full-length snowboard masterpiece. This one is worth the effort to track down. Search it out at your local shops, failing that check the internets. If you're in Seattle, check out Snowboard Connection, if not maybe drop Neil a line at his blog. May it inspire you to live in your car and/or drive your home.

Video Review: Forum or Against 'Em

Rider List:
Peter Line, Eddie Wall, Joni Malmi, John Jackson, Pat Moore, Jake Blauvelt, Stevie Bell, Nic Sauve, Travis Kennedy, Jake Welch

Opinion:
A well-done, trippy opening sequence (if a bit long), set the tone early. This video has a ton of personality and I actually learned something about the riders as people throughout the each section. How about that!? It isn't the case of personality being the compliment because the riding sucked, either... in fact the riding was on-point, too. That's right, the rare double of being full of bangers while also giving you time to catch your breath. It seemed like every other rider in this flick got broken off hard. Lots of injuries on the Forum team last season and lots of gutsy parts from riders who weren't playing with a full deck, so to speak. By now, you've probably seen that both Pat and Jake were nominated for Transworld Awards. Jake's is not the part you might imagine. Pat's is, and then some. It was great to see Peter Line out there this year with his distinct style yet again. All the parts are really solid in this video. It really doesn't let up throughout. The action is mostly urban with a bit of park and backcountry freestyle and even some big mountain when you least expect it.

My only let down came at the end. Daniel Ek's section (and Greg Bretz's, but I don't know much about him) was limited to 2 shots at the very end. I'm not talking during the credits, I'm talking after the credits. I don't know if he was hurt or what, but fuck that shit! I'm expecting big things from that kid. He's got so much energy and talent it's unreal. Set a Google alert for his name and watch it blow up. You'll see. Anyway, I was talking slops on this video. The only other one was that they recycled some spots. I'll let 'em off the hook this time, but only because they used some shots from Mt. Hood SkiBowl, which is the closest chairlift to my front door. Represent! or something

Overall, Forum or Against 'Em kicked ass and for 6 bucks on iTunes, you can hardly go wrong. Get it, you won't regret it.

Video Review: Standard Films - Aesthetica

Rider list:
Mark Landvik, Eric Jackson, Mads Jonsson, Mathieu Crepel, Chas Guldemond, Torstein Horgmo, Johan Olofsson, Juuso Laivisto, Kazuhiro Kokubo, Xavier Delarue, Dan Migno, Launie Kauk, Keegan Valaika, Sylvain Beauch, Priscilla Levac, Sammy Luebke, JJ Thomas, Mitch Reed

Opinion:
These guys threw down from the press of 'play'. Aesthetica had a quick, well-done intro and got right into the opening section. (I've already seen the trailer, why show it to me again?)I won't give away whose section is where, I think that's part of the fun of watching the video. I will say that guys like Mark Landvik and Eric Jackson went huge in the backcountry and had fun, well-paced parts to show for it. Xavier Delarue survived possibly the gnarliest avalanche ever caught on tape. Torstein Horgmo absolutely owned everything he touched (largely park and urban). Johan and Mads have a rad co-op section where Johan noboards. A couple riders who hit heavy on half parts were Priscilla Levac and Chas Guldemond. 'Cilla started off with a fun stunt and went on to pull off some feats of urban daring. Think long handrails in a single bound type shit. You know Chuck G has the park on lock, what with the 1440 at last years Vail Session (R.I.P.) and any number of high contest finishes. This partial part shows a little more of what he's capable in other areas. I expect big things from him; be it contest or video, he's just fun to watch. Overall, I had to buy this video first because they didn't go on tour with it. I say it was money well-spent. The action is intense and non-stop and it covers big mountain, backcountry freestyle, park and urban action. It's well-paced with lifestyle shots and some comentary, too. Well worth the purchase, I highly recommend it.