What with the standalone physical-release full-length video production gradually scaling back to the more occasional “event” that they were up til the late 1990s, we’ve got some of these one-off web parts taking on a bigger profile and developing their own little hype cycles — the Dylan Rieder “Laterds” coinciding with his landmark statement of purpose for Gravis, Nyjah Huston’s biographical/career turning point as promotional peg for his Element clip last fall, Thrasher handing its website over to Plan B and Torrey Pudwill over the summer in the run-up to his midyear footage dump, and so on. Drama and promotion seem to be part of the effort to rise above the Youtue/Hellaclips/message-board footage din, which makes it notable in a different kind of a way when Mark Suciu and his Atlas store buddies show up and run the WWW table for a three-day weekend with very little fanfare or notice ahead of time.
It’s hard to overstate how good this part is but we’ll try here. Gone is the five-panel hat, but otherwise Mark Suciu and his collaborator Miguel Valle strip away the floppy hair, overwrought ledge combos and assorted other little kidisms from the already-good “Origin” section and double down on stuff like the rail ollie to backside lipslide on the block, and all those flip tricks atop the narrow curb. These dudes seem to work like a good musician/producer combo and are smart about how they put hard tricks in the frame here, like the backside noseblunt up against the wall or the backside tailslide pop-out at Pulaski Park in Washington DC which seems like the type of trick that’s been crying out to be done by somebody. No egregious slow-mo, or even any slow-mo. And some of these tricks and runs are way out of hand.
But past all that you get the feeling that this dude almost is working with a kind of plan. Jake Johnson talked a while back about messages. Not knowing a lot about what he was going for with this section, or Mark Suciu in general except that he comes out of the Bay Area and he’s a fan of vintage Pappalardo and he heeds advice from Brennan Conroy as to footage gathering, it lets you project or theorize a little bit as you oooohh/aaaahh through this footage for the eleventh time. A blurb in Transworld not long ago put him in Philadelphia on some for-the-fuck-of-it road trip that apparently netted the switch feeble grind and probably a lot of the other local stuff as well as the Occupy clip. Looking at the way he’s skating now and the places him and his friends choose to hit, you can put together some picture of a kid who’s getting a chance to put his own spin on a “Photosynthesis”/”Ryde or Die Vol. 1″/”Element World Tour”/”EST” — carving his initials into spots next to Anthony* Pappalardo, Josh Kalis, Fred Gall, Ricky Oyola, Tim O’Connor, Kevin Taylor, John Igei, etc.
People are out there talking about this part in the same fashion as PJ Ladd’s debut, and there’s one similarity as far as how the heaviness of the tricks and lines here** are balanced out by a general low-key approach. No costumes, the whole time you’re basically watching a dude in a t-shirt flipping his board down the street, neither him nor the dude with the camera tripping too much on the angle of the sun in the picture or a little blurry footage or a wayward backpack. Also the fakie b/s nosegrind shove-it in that last line gave this mid-90s torch-bearer goosebumps.
*Possibly my favorite Pappalardo photo of all-time, so it was awesome to see Mark Suciu flip the script at the same spot
**Did he seriously do all those tricks in SF on the same night..
Tags: Aesthetics, Atlas, Dr. MLK Jr., Habitat, John Igei, Kevin Taylor, libraries, Mark Suciu, Miguel Valle, Philadelphia, rap battles, road tripping, Ryders, switch backside noseblunt, the world wide web, Webb Trucks, West Coast v East Coast, Yay Area
January 17, 2012 at 5:15 am |
“It’s hard to overstate how good this part is”. Being a big fan of your awesomely literate blog, I hate to nitpick, but shouldn’t it be hard not to overstate? Otherwise, brilliant as usual.
January 17, 2012 at 8:42 am |
The way BTO has it means the part is really good. The way you put it means the part is overhyped. I think…
Didn’t make the pappalardo b/s nbs connection. It strikes fear into me in terms of the lack of a barrier between dream and reality with this kid.
January 17, 2012 at 11:07 am |
i initially dismissed this part off hand after the first viewing and took a hard line that i didn’t like it. your post made me re-watch and i still take that stance. sure, there is definitely some cool shit in it*, and it’s nice to see all those spots from my favorite era of skateboarding, but this kid comes off as completely derivative. i see very little new and/or unique about him. even the pappalardo comparison is off, in my opinion. pappalardo came out as a skinny, shy wunderkid, sure, but he brought something fresh to the table. suciu takes your so-cal strip mall ledge tech and tries to pass it off as east coast shredding. i’ll pass, thanks.
*particularly liked the bump to bar to fs crook to fakie on the metal CURB.**
**if i may steal your denotation stylings.
January 18, 2012 at 4:29 am |
….so…..no switch stance….
January 19, 2012 at 1:06 pm
what do you mean? i don’t mind switch tricks, if that’s what you’re referring to.
January 22, 2012 at 8:03 am
Switch bs noseblunt?
January 17, 2012 at 2:25 pm |
Even though his talent and style are undeniably good, I fully understand intheknow’s position. I’ve re-watched it at least 10 times, with the mindset of trying to like it, especially after all the positive feedback…. but there is something lacking. Who knows, maybe it’s the flooded pants that bug me.
January 17, 2012 at 2:54 pm |
it’s the song?
January 17, 2012 at 7:23 pm |
Flood pants? Did you watch the part? He wears t shirts and normal fitting pants the entire time. Best thing about him is he isn’t gimmicky. He just skates really really well.
January 17, 2012 at 2:30 pm |
enjoyed the concept more than the skating.
January 19, 2012 at 3:05 pm |
but enjoyed.
the skating.
all.
the same.
just to be clear.
er.
January 17, 2012 at 2:54 pm |
nailed it: “carving his initials into spots next to Anthony* Pappalardo, Josh Kalis, Fred Gall, Ricky Oyola, Tim O’Connor, Kevin Taylor, John Igei, etc.”
January 17, 2012 at 5:18 pm |
How about that line at 4:55??
January 17, 2012 at 7:31 pm |
the section is dope as fuck.i thought the intro was good ( 2:05mins in) enough as a top notch skateshop video part.
on my first watch i was thinking that this is how pappalardo would kinda have skated now if he hadn’t switched up his approach to skating so much after the, “mosaic”, part.
i also think the section would have made a great opening section in a new, “habitat” vid.
January 17, 2012 at 9:43 pm |
If you don’t like this section, I’m not sure what you’re waiting for. You may be hopelessly waiting for something that cannot exist.
Rose-coloured glasses, my friends.
January 17, 2012 at 10:43 pm |
you may be partially right. what i do know is this: when i watch dudes like grant, raven, austyn gillette, and ben skrzypek (etc), i get the same feelings i did as a kid watching skateboarding. there are a chosen few out there that really seem to still showcase what’s rad about skating (which is, GASP, not just doing NBDs or really hard tricks) and what can be rad about video parts.
i get absolutely NONE of that from this kid. this whole part comes across as contrived, derivative, and in a word, forgettable.
January 18, 2012 at 6:07 pm
Yes thanks you! OVERRATED gimme a break – first off, the music is terrible. Also he is skater x. A prime example of how skills don’t matter, he could be any local hero. The bench to boardslide was sick though . But seriously, you guys are letting nostalgia cloud your vision. This dude normal tricks, with a knock knee style. He’s no Dylan.
January 17, 2012 at 9:48 pm |
Despite the fact that Suciu is a young buck, “knock kneed”, and unfortunately has to endorse the absurd/completely unnecessarily produced Habitat Footwear, I am fully backing this part. The speed at which Suciu skates and the various/extended lines showcased within the part makes it enjoyable to watch and re watch (at least 7 times thus far).
January 18, 2012 at 8:01 pm |
If this is disappointing, then what could possibly get you stoked?
The NBDs are there, as are weaving lines that alternate between casual and push-push-push determination. He’s cranking out tricksy maneuvers mid-line and skating spots a lot of us recognize but don’t necessarily see frequently any more.
I think if there’s any sense of “contrivance” to this, it’s that Suciu gave a good deal of thought to what he was doing.
January 19, 2012 at 1:03 pm |
i wouldn’t call it disappointing, i would call it forgettable. things like not doing fs reverts out of fs crooked grinds would make me more stoked. “a good deal of thought” is, um, wow, generous. if he really did put a good deal of thought into this part, it sure didn’t come across. it came across as cheap and mildly ignorant.
January 18, 2012 at 10:42 pm |
Dylan’s part got me stoked, I still watch it, he has flavour.
I feel this guy is a tech dog who found a “cool” way to skate. His last trick is most telling, he’s a young Kerry Getz.
January 18, 2012 at 11:55 pm |
Agree with you on the Kerry comparison, I think it is spot on. Additionally Suciu’s annihilation of Love Park, despite the skate “proofing” Philly attempted makes me enjoy this part even more.
January 22, 2012 at 8:08 am |
Low key excellence, you’re not going to notice if you’re n
January 22, 2012 at 8:10 am |
It’s low key excellence, you’re not going to notice if you’re not paying attention
January 23, 2012 at 11:45 am |
I’m unsure what his backing (endorsing) Habitat footwear has to do with one’s enjoyment of the part… also Habitat’s shoes are some of the least offensive on the market lately. A happy medium between Supra and Vans… I don’t work for them, but I don’t understand the gripe in reference to Mark Suciu’s destroying America (Hook Ups reference?)
Didn’t we all enjoy the Element “Trio” video without enjoying any Element hardwoods for years?
January 25, 2012 at 1:29 pm |
good point on trio.
well, maybe except the music in darrell stanton’s part.
February 14, 2012 at 11:59 am |
site flip, site flipping, website flip, website flipping…
[…]Mark Suciu Pens “Photosythesis” Fan Fiction, Has Hudson News On Smash « boil the ocean[…]…
September 29, 2012 at 9:46 am |
his trick selection is amazing. his style is effortless. his bangers are banging. six minutes of raw footage with no slowmo and people are hating? he perfectly blends tech and alleyoop shit with flowing lines and switch nbds..
September 6, 2020 at 10:57 am |
[…] Suciu, who may be viewed as a spiritual predecessor to Niels Bennett, embedded similar themes into his ‘Cross Continental’ part in, wow, 2012. But in addition to a vicious and strategically placed fakie ollie and the incredible […]