Around, good lord, thirteen years ago some magazine succinctly summed up the primal appeal of PJ Ladd’s genre-shifting ‘Wonderful, Horrible Life’ video part as “a kid skating down the street, flipping his board;” that is basically what occurs in Luan Oliveira’s Thrasher section out earlier this year, except down some crumbly Brazilian hills and in between the odd pedestrian. After getting a good deal of spazzy tech out of his system in Flip’s claymation movie ‘Xtremely Sorry’ Luan Oliveira has migrated into a Brandon Westgate mode in recent years, and with not a lot to most of the spots in this part the focus winds up being heavily on the tricks, which are fast and textbook-sharp without being lifeless — there is a mean switch frontside heelflip here, which Luan Oliveira has had around for a while, a monstrous hardflip, et cetera. For whatever reason the soundtrack to this one doesn’t grate as much as it probably should.
Tags: Brazil, cracked foundations, Flip, futbol, hardflips, hills, Luan Oliveira, Nike, soccer, the Fountainhead, Thrasher
boil the ocean 
December 23, 2014 at 6:42 am |
Skating is wicked but I hate the concept of the video. That’s one thing I’ll be glad to leave behind from 2014: skateboarding’s shite tie-ins with football/soccer because of the World Cup. Fake crowd noises, someone playing keepie up in the background, a token visit to his local team, it all seems like the outcome of a brainstorm by Nike’s mad men.
December 23, 2014 at 3:42 pm |
Or maybe growing up in Brazil meant soccer was a big part of his life
December 29, 2014 at 4:19 am |
I had long written him off as a PBN and had not bothered to see any more of his footy. I found this part worthy of the Westgate comparison and the sound editing & mixing especially well done.
I found the recurring background character amusing. Anyone else ever do that with in their part?
December 30, 2014 at 2:50 am |
I still don’t understand the hype. His skating is too anxious for me. He skates as if he’s constantly on to the next trick or spot before his wheels hit the ground, or like he’s constantly bored which is why he pushes so often or flips his board so many times.
There is definitely a way in which speed and precision look good on a skateboard, but to me this is not it.