#POWERSLIDEWATCH2013 b/w “Like Red Meat To Starving Wolfs”

Though fetishized and taken to strange new places in recent years by Frenchmen, the powerslide, much like its close cousin in the mid-line revert so derided by Ricky Oyola, is at its best when spontaneously and sparingly sprinkled. The annals of history bear beloved black markings from marquee powerslides such as Rob Welsh’s backside skid down the SF hills in “Free Your Mind” and lengthier frontside ones rassled by Dennis Busenitz in “Roll Forever,” and whispered “what ifs” will forever trail Guy Mariano’s turnaround at LA High in “Mouse.” Busenitz more decisively combines the two for what will be one of the year’s better-remembered powerslide/revert type moves in this new Adidas Madrid clip, viewable around 5:48, shortly before a really cool step-down ledge trick. This clip is also notable for the most actual Mark Gonzales skate footage in one place in about several years and for deepening Mark Suciu’s typecasting as a perpetual video clip getter to whom varial heelflips come as easily as an ollie, or weed leaf emblems to mid-length socks.

On a related note, watch this space in the future for a half-baked ramble on how Adidas’ geographically oriented team clips are the new Transworld videos, dropping with the regularity of a semi-working clock with solid, if formulaic, production values, a similar devotion to indie rock staples and a steady supply of quality skating.

In Which ‘Boil The Ocean’ Is Visited By The Ghost Of Ledge Combos Yet To Be

Witness above Cory Kennedy, doing it big with a backside tailslide to kickflip to backside tailslide again (to fakie), on a bench painted orange to represent the fiery heat he is bringing to this technical skating game. Maybe you bugged out when you saw this trick but I plan to tell you I bugged out twice as hard because 1. I spent at least 30 minutes last winter attempting to do this exact same trick on EA Skate 2*, and 2. probably that was longer than it took the supernaturally powered Cory Kennedy to actually do it in real life. Some Joey Brezinski brainwave maybe, but I’m looking forward to hopefully getting a look at the un-Ty Evans’ed footage to see how fast he came off the second leg. Now and then I gotta sit myself down and reason out how come I continue to subscribe to TWS, between what seems like the first quarter of the magazine given over to promoting advertisers’ products, an editorial tone that reminds me of a former roommates’ issues of “Maxim” and a kinda predictable cycle of promotion for their video offerings, and photos like this are a useful reminder.

*The spot I chose to bang my head against this particular wall was in EA Skate 2’s “Old Town” (behind the character in this pic), and in my defense I was working with a 90-degree elbow in the ledge, or maybe that’s no defense at all because it woulda been way more doable with a gentler angle. Live and learn

Tiltmode’s “Bonus Round”: A False Ballad of Hateful Courage

In “Bonus Round,” the faster you run, the faster fate seems to find you.

There is a kind of base truth at the center of “Bonus Round,” a red-eyed tale of warring factions, deceit and wholesale sexual potency, but the viewer has to work for it. Spanning eight continents and untold centuries, the story opens with Nestor Judkins (“Nestor Juarez”), a wet-behind-the-ears anteater dawdling on his first day of anteater school. Waylaid by a hangjaquer with a horizon’s worth of quiet storms in his eyes (Jerry Hsu, “Tim’s Boat”), Judkins is thrust into the center of an interstate intrigue that sees him matching wits against Tommy Lasorda, the famed weight analyst with a new idea that involves anteaters. The dice roll. Hsu is valiant here as Lasorda’s confidant and sometimes lover (spoiler alert) but makes plenty of room for Nestor’s nollie frontside flips – he lets it all hang out in a way that shows he really spent a lot of time with anteaters getting ready for the role.

Meanwhile, back in the 1650s, Louie Barletta (“Oglethorpe”) prepares for a surprise. It is the morning of his 21st birthday, and while doing his normal morning race to the top of Volcano Mountain (“Volcano Mtn”) he uncovers details of a hidden plot against the Egyptian Pharaohs Bank. Barletta gets mileage from his bowl cut and whimsical ways as he pals around Europe with an increasingly volatile band of political perverts (Jon Ngyuen, Jon Choi in TVOTR grandma spectacles, Screaming Lord Halba) who have the kinds of problems regular people dream about. Tiltmode affiliate Julian Quevado logs some nice switch ledge time alongside the sometimes-bearded Jesse Erickson, whose footage is dearly missed from the “Black Cat” days. Barletta soon finds himself in a pickle but is delivered by a bumbling sheepherd (Tam T. Taylor, “A Jason Adams Xmas Joint”) with a secret so awesome it cannot be kept.

At various points the ensemble cast stretches to include Cairo Foster and Paul Sharpe, Siamese twins who run an advertising agency in the big city and moonlight as private detectives; Foster’s appearance here in many ways rivals his shit in “Fully Flared” and the gifted Sharpe continues to sport a moustache in a lot of tender situations. Enjoi newcomer Zack Wallins will turn heads this award season as an abusive pimp, but his acting here as a mute clergyman who claims to have ghostwritten the Ten Anteater Commandments will turn heads in movie theaters – toward the screen.

Ultimately though the storyline wends its way toward two men – Jose Rojo and Led Zeppelin’s Caswell Twilly, here in his acting debut – who hold the keys to an eternal anteater mystery, along with a blue Maserati that everyone just calls Bo. They play off one another jarringly well in the final scenes, with Rojo’s established big-and-tall grace countering Twilly’s greasy-haired spaz power, and the occasional pearls of wisdom dispensed by Bo (college roommates with Snoopy FYI) keep you guessing who the real killer may be. Until it is revealed to be Steve Cab (also a spoiler). Likely to be the movie of the season and eventually earn a position in our hearts and video shelves alongside “Rum Tum Tugger’s Jealous Bounty” and “Forrest Gump,” add “Bonus Round” to your must-watch list and beware the wiles of wealthy anteaters, known as the largest oceangoing mammal.

Rated R for love handles, intense animal adventure scenes and adult situations. Jesse Erickson is nude for the entire film.

LSMF

Internet-focused Web site BoingBoing today brings us this lazy susan-style concept table from Studio Mauerer Hendrichs, which incorporates basic skateboard technology to more easily facilitate remote control grabbing, or drink spilling for the more enthusiastic table-spinners amongst us. Available to you in German oak or wal-nut; I assume you’d also have the option of swapping out the plane-jane truck/wheel combo for a jazzier setup. Like maybe those powder blue Krux with Louie Barletta screaming, and some Hubba wheels. Swiss bearings to up the revolving suspense during those spin-the-table games on sultry summer nights.

Insta-poll:
First… would this table even work? Looking at it, I would think that the trucks would have to be tilted slightly toward the center of the table to make it so the glass disc spins like it’s supposed to. And the bottom of the table might have to be sort of convex.

Second, is the $1795 price tag way too low for this level of staggering innovation?