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January 4, 2022

Ryan Myers has been a staunch supporter of Proto parts for years, and with this video his official welcome to the roster is set in stone. I’ve known Ryan since I was little more than a kid, and never once have I seen his interest in, dedication to or enthusiasm for the act and culture of scooter riding waver in the slightest. It’s always rad to see your closest friends succeed in any facet of their lives, but this achievement stands out to me in particular, a long-overdue though nonetheless inevitable recognition of complete and genuine affinity for craft. To me, Ryan is in many ways the purest embodiment of uncompromising passion. He lives and breathes scootering, and it shows not only in the ways in which he approaches spots in person, but in the ways in which his tricks come together as a production. Ryan rides everything and does anything, often in unison. Be it finger-whipping a bump-to-bar, backside noseblunting a picnic table or piecing together a four-trick plaza line, he is perpetually pushing, inseparable from his vehicle of enjoyment. Watching this video one can sense his energy, his positivity, even his intrigue with the surrounding environs. In truth, the video itself feels like a reflection of Ryan’s personality: constantly firing, and boyishly excited by prospects of the novel experiences facilitated by the performance of riding. Earnest and upbeat feelings aside, Ryan is an undeniable talent, the product of over a decade of ambition and commitment. As previously noted, he tackles an array of spots and with a far-reaching repertoire of maneuvers. The briflip, fullwhip and finger-whip combinations always catch my attention especially, in part for how he does them, but also for their seamless integration with the urban/suburban backdrop. Particularly with over-the-head, perhaps more “skatepark-oriented” tricks, I find it rare for scooter riders to incorporate them in a way that compliments the spot without entering the realm of excess. Ryan somehow manages to do this well, though, and strikes a delicate balance between acrobatic versatility and tasteful ideation, ultimately bringing things together in a strikingly cohesive visual-aesthetic experience.  But then, even if the tricks weren’t impressive on their face (as they certainly are), this video would still possess an intangible appeal. A recurring theme is Ryan’s passion for scootering, despite the video’s relatively simplistic structure and lack of explicit reference to the fact. Someway, somehow, Ryan covertly evokes this sensation in his viewers, in turn motivating them too to consider their own experience of scooter riding, and why it is or has become such a wonderful choice of individual activity. Ryan told me once that he didn’t think he could do the best tricks or have the best style, but one thing he was certain of was that he could love scootering more than anyone else in the industry. I told him I thought he did just that—I believe it as much today as I did then. [video video_src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N7vEIzr6Rgc"]

January 4, 2022

“OMEN” is SoCal up-and-comer Nathan Treloar’s latest self-described “passion project.” Nathan’s ascension in recognition within the scooter community seems to be a relatively recent happening, but is nonetheless fully merited given his advanced abilities and prolific degree of outgoing coverage.  In this video especially, Nathan’s 50-50/5-0 game shines above most else. Frontside 5-0 gap to frontside 5-0, fakie to fakie 50 on street transition, front 50 gap to front 5-0 a circle rail. Each of these tricks pushes this niche frontier that much further, and in a way which demonstrates a commitment to progression without falling victim to excess. The rest of the tricks in the video were certainly fun to watch as well, as Nathan displays a range of trick and obstacle comfortability, sending it down stairs, up rails and even throwing an extended super-man grab into the mix. As enjoyable as each of these tricks were, one among them is particularly worthy of discussion. With as many people doing 50-50s/5-0s as there are (largely thanks to decks being steadily manufactured wider and wider), it speaks volumes to a rider’s creativity when they offer something truly original in this dimension. For me, what stood out was the fakie to fakie frontside 5-0 to backside half-cab out over the stairs. Fakie 5-0s are already a rarity in scootering, but to slide one as far as he did—and to pop up and out as strongly and smoothly as he did—was entrancing. It’s trick progression like this which should really be regarded as the benchmark of success in an activity like scootering. This maneuver doesn’t take something of old and add aimlessly; rather, it actively engages with the technological advancements and progressive subcultural influences of contemporary scooter locales, piecing them together into something wholly and uniquely anew. This is, in other words, a structured, scrupulous approach to pushing the boundaries of what is possible. It adopts a reflective yet simultaneously intuitive means of going above and beyond what has previously been done, and in a manner which does not simply “one-up” or pile on. As scootering continues to attract new actors, and, with that, new conceptions of what constitutes progression in a given trick domain, this approach, I believe, will stand the test of time. This form adds in a way which allows for habitual and reflexive reinvention, and does not merely begin a race to the bottom insofar as what further tricks can be done in or out, perhaps even in between. And therein lies its value: this trick—or indeed, this style of trick—does not seek to be all that it possibly can be, but simply to be what it is. It doesn’t do the most; it does what it needs to do. It engages the viewer and inspires the subsequently inspired actor to adopt and reinvent even further, not just to take what is and add more and more and more. This approach to progression functions, in short, to provide the present array of scooter trick availability and arrangement with a fresh canvas to be perpetually expanded upon as additional technologies and subcultural influences take root. I hope more individuals within our community can recognize how truly significant this means of approach really is, and latch on to it more in the future. Digressing from tricks and the nature of progression more generally, I lastly wish to comment on the more thematic constructions of this video. Whether we engage with this reality or not, the act of scootering is at least to some extent a reflection of who we are—our real or imagined thoughts, experiences, families and communities. Our riding takes influence from the minutiae which make up our lives and repurposes and represents them in expressively kinetic fashion. Unfortunately, videos in scootering seldom make emphasis, either directly or indirectly, on this inextricable relationship. Nathan’s video, on the other hand, does, and is even explicitly clarified in the final titles section. True, not every video part need offer explication of why a song, title or trick was selected or not, but doing so inspires a degree of engagement and consideration in viewers that cannot be said of other productions. Reading Nathan’s unabashed self-commentary, reckoning with the bi-directional influence of his life and his expressive outlets undeniably humanized him and intrigued me in a way that wouldn’t otherwise have been possible. I enjoy—and I imagine others do, too—learning about who scooter riders are as much as what they can do, and this video gave me an opportunity to do just that. I appreciate him taking a chance to convey this deeper layer of himself in this manner, and hope others might in turn be inspired to follow suit.  [video video_src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/F8LyTsOEZVs"]

January 4, 2022

IN OUR NATURE is Native’s latest full-length offering to the scooter community. Featuring sections from nearly everyone on the roster, it should be surprising to no one that this film presents nothing less than top-shelf ripping, and of the variety which will undoubtedly be regarded as canonical within the Australian scene and beyond. The riding in this production is consistently ground-breaking, with each individual depicted offering his own distinct yet equally valid verse to the collective output. The tricks performed are entertaining throughout, and at select points are sheerly mind-blowing, crystallizing the advancements made on new frontiers across the spectrum of available obstacles—handrails, gaps, ledges and the like. I could go on indefinitely about the extent to which so many of those featured in this film embody the top tiers of trick difficulty and the right directions of progression toward which scootering ought to go, but such would, I think, also be to the end of disregarding the more symbolic value videos such as these possess. In truth, what I feel to be the most significant aspect of this film is its presentation as a collective entity; in short, the fact that it is full-length, and a full-length produced by a company. I was enveloped by the scooter community at a time in which full-lengths still represented the pinnacle medium of video creation. Films like Proto’s Catalyst and Armageddon, Addict’s So What? And Tilt’s THE TILT VIDEO comprised the backdrop to my individual progression and in turn inspired my friends and me to make our own full-length productions. Company full-lengths shaped the cultural construction of scootering at large, influencing the tricks that riders did and the ways in which they sought to document and communicate them. However, for a number of reasons—perhaps none the singular culprit—this bi-dimensional influence of company-produced media, specifically the company-produced full-length, has faded dramatically in recent years. Responding largely to underlying shifts in individual attention span, consumer demand and market norms, scooter companies in contemporary contexts rely increasingly on shorter, easily digestible and oftentimes poorly constructed media “bites,” bites which contribute directly to the oversaturation of short-length platforms such as Instagram.  But the issue with these media “bites” isn’t necessarily the shortness of their duration, nor even the styles/modes of scootering they depict, and rather the collectively internalized notions surrounding the nature of their process of creation. These “bites” are short-lived in and of themselves, but they become even more so resultant of the ways in which they are understood and in turn created by those who produce them. Recognizing the inherently ephemeral nature of media “bites,” creators seek to trim the excess and maximize the immediate intrigue of their productions in any ways possible, often to the detriment of more allusive content value. What inevitably remains are relatively minimalistic and overwhelmingly indistinguishable depictions: advanced scootering paired with catchy soundtracks and flashy visual aesthetics, but in ways which appear almost entirely devoid of deeper creative ideation.  This content is in its very essence substanceless, and in turn contributes to an intrinsically static influence on scooter culture. Scooter riding—that is, the individual tricks performed—come to be regarded as the only metric of improvement or achievement, leading to relatively linear and thereby anticipatorily uninteresting advancements in overall “progression.” There is effectively no end other than to perpetually one-up—to add one more tailwhip or one more barspin—and there remains little room for directional derivation; the avenues for novel exploration in this regard have already been discarded, cast to the wayside as difficulty and difficulty alone reigns sovereign. The ensuing creative product is thus thoroughly fragmented; it presents no deeper meaning, no fully-formed symbolism because it need not present such to achieve the intended effect of merely adding, providing an additional sub-verse to a much greater race to the bottom, and never to diverge or offer something markedly new. This approach leads in many respects to an unfortunately widespread conformity, one which pervades the mindsets of individuals and brand-marketing entities alike. Reckoning with the apparent futility of breaking this monotonous stream of depthless creation, individuals and brands alike simply double-down and produce further, perpetuating a positive feedback loop of insubstantial progression and stagnated influence on the community as a whole. And yet, there remains at least some semblance of dissidence to the aforementioned conformity, and such is exactly what videos like IN OUR NATURE represent. Though they in many ways continue the stylistic composition traditionalized by videos-past, they nonetheless communicate a revolutionary agenda, one which emphasizes the collective over the individual, the interwoven over the independent. IN OUR NATURE is a product of communal aspiration, one which links the creative perspectives and intentions of unique individuals into a single cohesive whole. Each part is an achievement on its own, but together it is something undeniably greater, stronger, that much more moving. And as such it communicates an essential clarion call, one for heightened attention to products of completed and lasting creative ideation and not to those which simply conform, fulfill, satiate but do not propel further forward. To offer a full-length in the present context is to make a deliberate and pointed statement on the nature of scooter media in general. In this case, IN OUR NATURE contends that the full-length film remains very much so a formidable source of media influence, one to be viewed, analyzed, and perpetually improved upon in later iterations. It provides a blueprint and lays the preliminary building block for future generations of scooter audio-visual production, insisting that concerted efforts toward the development of full-length videos are not vestiges of the past and are instead presages of the future. By every indication, it affirms that the full-length is still alive, awaiting its next innovative metamorphosis. It will be interesting to see if such affirmations take hold in the community, and indeed manifest in imitations and sites of further reinvention down the line. I hope so. [video video_src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2h7Y1cu5o3k"]

January 4, 2022

Pol Roman’s “Signature deck promo” commemorates the Spanish tech-savant’s years of persistence, dedication and mind-bending maneuvers in artfully inspired fashion. Pol is, in so many ways, on a frontier of his own creation within urban street scooter riding, and I’m stoked to see his efforts be recognized with a signature deck. Technical prowess to the degree that Pol displays in this video is an anomaly in scootering already. Few are putting the pieces together in the way that he is, both in terms of the difficulty of tricks themselves and the ways in which they fit congruently with the spots on which he performs them. A point of particular emphasis for me, in regard to specific tricks, was the incorporation of various “pretzels/back-breakers” throughout. Appropriately named, “back-breakers” involve the acting individual spinning one way in, and the opposite way out (ie. backside in, frontside out), an action which requires profound individual flexibility and an even greater degree of bodily control. These tricks are so rare in scootering for the reason that they are difficult in and of themselves, but also because they are nearly impossible to do well, making the visual experience of seeing them performed as such all the more captivating. Pol’s back 180 fakie wallride front 180, back 180 fakie manual front 180 and backside half-cab nose manual front 180 all require significant poise, precision and controlled bodily contortion, yet were somehow performed smoothly all the same. Pol communicates a level of calm and collectedness when he engages even the most difficult of such back-breaking tricks, a direct affront to the physical and, surely, mental challenges that they entail. He paradoxically appears to be in perfect unison with though also in unyielding command of his scooter, assuredly, confidently guiding it even as it resists the micro-level corrections and re-corrections he makes with each undertaking. It all eventually comes together in an entrancingly clear-cut depiction of nuanced complexity, a variety of riding which resonates deeply with the viewer and in turn inspires one’s own internal reflection upon the intrigue of the technical realm.  Arguably as noteworthy as the tricks showcased in this video, though, was the interactive experience communicated by the way in which Pol made use of his environment in doing them. In so many videos do scooter riders appear mere passive observers, using spots for tricks in a way that indicates relatively little, if any, thoughtful engagement. Spots are diminutively regarded as spaces enabling particular actions, and seldom as locales for earnest and deliberate expression. In Pol’s case, however, the spots he rides and the tricks he does on them seem bi-directionally influential—the spots he has at his disposal shape the tricks he performs and vice versa. It’s not ostentatiously premeditated, but simply reflects a deeper comprehension of the cities and spaces he inhabits, as if he truly seeks to understand and receive input from the architecture enveloping him, and eventually to meld it into the modes of self-expression he offers us as viewers. What this effectively creates is a cohesive and full-circle narrative, suggestive of the way in which scootering possesses the capacity to direct our lives beyond the physical manifestations of our riding alone. Using our surrounding environment in this fashion embodies the connections between our own creative ideations and the pervasive influence of contextual factors. How we ride, and, in turn, who we are as scooter riders is profoundly impacted by our existence and experience beyond the acts of scootering alone, and videos like this convey that. They make use of the intangible relations connecting the various facets of ourselves and present them in an intelligible way. It isn’t, strictly speaking, overtly necessary for a scooter film to make such efforts, but they invariably add an additional dimension to what those films represent in their creative outputs. I’d like to see more scooter riders take inspiration from this approach in the future, and in turn to offer more self-aware productions ideally representative of their lived experience as both scooter riders and not. This, I think, will only make the fruits of scooter media more enjoyable, and likewise more insightfully telling of those who produce them. [video video_src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G364hBY2vnw"]

January 4, 2022

A genuine feeling of surprise isn’t something I often find myself experiencing when watching a scooter video, this one being the particularly noteworthy exception. Jacob Kloes is an all-terrain talent from the American Pacific Northwest, and this video officially welcomes him to the Wise roster. Given the level of ability it depicts—and the fact that such ability was captured over the course of just two filming days—he is very much deserving of the recognition, and will undoubtedly continue to impress us all in the future. As I said, this video is chock full of unexpected surprises—in the best possible way—the first of which takes place in the opening trick sequence. At a familiar PNW butter-bench to butter-bench spot, Jacob front 50s the first bench, gapping out and across to back noseblunt the second. At least for me, this was such a far cry from anything I would ever have anticipated. The front 50 made intuitive sense, but gapping to the back noseblunt somehow didn’t compute with what I imagined, and perhaps even what I wanted to imagine as being possible. As such, seeing the trick go down as it did was all the more enticing. This trick evaded even my faintest creative conception of what could or should be done on the obstacle at hand, adding a layer of complexity and compelling shock value to the mix. This isn’t shock value in the sense that it jars the viewer, leaving them momentarily speechless but altogether unmoved, and rather is of the sort which creates a formative and inviting experience for the one watching. This kind of sequence offers a novel and valid alternative; it opens up new avenues of observation without stacking on with what was theoretically achievable but only just now achieved. It prompts the viewer to reassess his/her understanding of spots and tricks, often both simultaneously, in turn facilitating a viable progression in how the viewer consumes scootering, and not just in how the actor performs it. A similar experience can be had around the 0:49 mark, at which Jacob performs three consecutive tricks on the same rail: barspin to front board, tailwhip to front board, tailwhip to front 5-0. Though the first two tricks are certainly difficult, it’s their structural organization and incongruently progressive presentation which creates the sequence’s greatest allure. As is to be expected, the tailwhip to front board follows the barspin to front board, a natural progression in which the successive trick’s difficulty deliberately outshines the previous, though only to a relative extent. Conversely, the tailwhip to front 5-0 takes several leaps up the ladder of difficulty when juxtaposed with the tailwhip to front board, again shocking the viewer in a most unconventional and unexpected manner. The typical observer might simply expect to see an additional angle of the whip to front board, and at most perhaps a one-upped trick in or out, a visual expectation which is overwhelmingly superseded by what actually comes next. There is a sudden and deliberate breakage in the sequential progression, urging the viewer to reassess his/her assumptions about the nature of the trick itself and the shock value innate to its portrayal. The viewer is left almost bewildered, and thus has no choice but to consider further. The final surprise takes its form in the video’s ender: a frontside lipslide on a gap to rail followed by a fingerwhip to frontside lipslide on the same gap to rail. Similar to the above sequence, this sequential presentation offers an abrupt and substantial leap in expected difficulty. The viewer does not expect such an undeniably difficult though also markedly straightforward trick as a frontside lipslide to be immediately followed up by that with a fingerwhip in. There is no foreseeing or predicting it, thereby assuring that the visual imprint of the trick sits with the viewer for that much longer, encouraging a reflective contemplation of what has been witnessed. These tricks shock, surprise, freeze and even confuse all in one sweeping moment, ultimately giving rise to a more active viewer, and a commitment in that same viewer to understand the acts and subsequent depictions of scootering in a consciously different light. This attention to detail of presentation is what, in many ways, separates this video from its contemporaries and contributes to a timeless significance. Though it represents a relatively unexplored take thus far in scootering, I hope to see a similar approach taken and expanded upon by others in the near future. [video video_src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6Z2n3TTTwSU"]

January 4, 2022

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January 4, 2022

Preface: VOLK is an apparel company and crew from Southern California composed of Wyatt Soto, Dom Dimatteo, Devin Pelphrey, Sam Hetherington, and Austin McCaine. The majority of the riders live in the Long Beach area and can often be found riding El Dorado skatepark when not out in the streets or experiencing the many parks that So Cal offers. Living in Long Beach myself for a few years and riding since the late 2000’s with Dom, Devin, and Sam; I am hyped to watch what these foos put together for their first - hopefully not last - full length.  VOLK may not have crossed your path yet but with a premier at the Affinity warehouse and streaming on the industry respected, Trendkill Collective’s, youtube  -  y’ardy know this crew is going to keep the heat coming. Before we get to the video I reached out to Wyatt and Dom to get a little more insight on the project. “Volk started with me [Wyatt] and Andy [Peterson] in 2018. We made a batch of shirts and some stickers to start. Then me and Andy kinda had different visions for what we wanted to do and I just sorta took over. The crew decided we wanted to film a legit video and try to get Volk’s name out there. We really started filming in like March of 2020 and everything just started shutting down due to Covid. It was slow for the first couple of months but once everyone had more free time, we were going out consistently with not just the crew but all the homies. We wanted originally to try and release everything right after the new year but looking back, glad we didn’t. We still had a lot of work to do. A lot of the clips that made it into the final video were filmed this year. Taking those extra months allowed us to put out something that we were more into and proud of. Dom can vouch for the editing and everything, it was crazy. Thousands of clips and files loaded up onto his computer. It was hard to keep track of everything and even after all this, there were a few clips that slipped through the cracks and didn't make it in. For the most part, Dom killed it all around. It wouldn’t have been possible without him.” - Wyatt Soto “I would like to give thanks to Wyatt and Dev for having the vision to start making videos with the boys. None of this would have happened without them. Wyatt hit me up to film and edit and I was down right off the bat. A lot of long days of riding and long nights capping footage. The whole process was as crazy as Wyatt said. Thankfully, Devin and Jacob Bokelman did a sh*t load of filming separately and it came in so clutch. Dev was playing catchup clip wise in the beginning but by the end he had a ton. Steeze took us to a bunch of south county spots which was also crucial, a lot of good stuff came out of those sessions. But yeah I don’t even know what else to say lmao.” - Dom Dimatteo Peep the video in its entirety below or scroll down to read the review and notes as I was watching for the first time.  [video video_src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j7n2RgDJ2cw"]

January 4, 2022

As a mode of individual expression, the act of scootering is itself ideally situated to reflect the personalities, insights and eccentricities of its actors. Scootering is what those who perform its pantomime serve to offer through their very performance, an indication of how they interpret their surroundings and, in an even deeper sense, an artful communication of who they are. Yet, this opportunity too often falls markedly underutilized in the standard scooter production, an unfortunately unsurprising testament to entrenched disconnects between actor, audience and performance, of expression and reception. There is a foundational void in the way that scootering, by virtue of its mere existence, begs to be represented, and the way in which it actually has been in the interest of fulfilling demand for familiar, comfortable and, indeed, complicit content ordinarity. For the divergent among us, though, this film represents the unabashed exception. Devin Szydlowski is the iconoclast. This film: a challenge not only to the ways in which scootering is performed, but also the ways in which it is depicted, scrutinized and eventually understood. This video is a subversion of aesthetic conformity to the nth degree: the soundtrack, the trick and spot selection, the clothing—each represent a rebellious angst, a breakage from normative constructions of how, what and where one ought to ride. It is a clear yet thoroughly complex attempt at reinvention, one which offers provokingly conscious commentary on creativity, deliberation and raw ability, and which leads the resistance against the mainstreamization of the presented activity. It is, in short, manifest counterculturalism. To say that Devin’s riding is progressive is to radically undervalue and underplay the formative role it plays in the evolution of modern scooter riding and culture. Frankly, there is no one else doing what he does, as he does and as often as he does it. From the perspective of tricks alone, this video is a triumphant uncovering of new ground. Two-seventy whipping off a storage container into a near-vertical gradient. Front board 270ing the upper edge of a full-sized auto-trailer. Fakie nose manualing hubbas. These tricks aren’t just difficult—they’re avant-garde, aptly descriptive of the new heights to which the contemporary scooter rider may hope to ascend. All this, of course, does not even invite discussions of the fakie wallie fullcab, the bump-to-bar to roof-ride, the components of a line performed separately before eventually being strung together and further expanded upon. Devin’s tricks represent individualism in the most honest usage of such terminology. He does what he himself—and perhaps himself alone—is capable of conceiving of and ushering into existence by virtue of his own unique outlook and substantial personal ability. Tricks aside, this video resists archetypes of scooter productions through its form as well, namely in the way in which it seems to genuinely and intimately interact with the viewer. Though the unorthodox soundtrack creates an unusual, even eerie aura throughout the duration of the video part, the mood changes dramatically around the four-minute mark, in the aftermath of the switch front hurricane down Clipper. This point created for me a kind of visceral experience that fundamentally reoriented how I saw what was playing in front of me. I no longer wanted just to watch, but to be a part of the action. And, in truth, I began to feel like I was. As the music escalates in its pacing and the tricks become progressively gnarlier—at least in their own distinct respects—I felt as a viewer an authentic transformation from passive observer to active participant in the events unfolding on-screen. I wasn’t there, and I hadn’t been there, but somehow I felt inexplicably as if I had. I was struck in an odd trance of perceptual omniscience, as if I really did attend the live performance of these maneuvers, and for that reason knew what was to come next. This didn’t detract from the growing excitement; rather, it amplified it. This continued to build steadily until the recognition of what I somehow knew would be the final spot—Rincon—and the final trick—a 540. I so assuredly knew that the 540 was coming without prior knowledge that it was, and somehow this made it even more special, even more exciting, as if the trick itself had not been spoiled but was a figment of my faintest imagination coming to life in front of me. It was surreal, fantastical, dreamlike, even, something I had certainly never experienced before. The viscerality of this preliminary viewing may not have been shared by you—nor even me in the times that I have watched since—but still it speaks to the difference in creative and evocative intentionality with which this video was created. Whether you were entranced, as I was, or simply supremely entertained, this video offers something different, a separation from the prosaic consistency of old and a contemplation of what can conceivably be created with new. This film should challenge you to reflect upon your ideas, perceptions and preconceived notions concerning the creation of video parts and encourage you to consider the alternative. Counterculturalism invariably spreads.  [video video_src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oCGEFPCgdnU"]

January 4, 2022

Mokovel has put out a number of similar “MOKOVEL SESSION” videos over the course of the past year, but this one—for several reasons—stands out in particular. Jonathan Perroni is, to put it mildly, on another level. He represents a new-age transcendence of skatepark and urban-street influence, something which ultimately culminates in a substantial and wide-ranging array of tricks as well as apparent ease approaching a breadth of different obstacles. Jonathan seems effectively to be able to do any trick he wants, and on anything he wishes to perform that trick at that. It can be a bit much in select instances, but on the whole it is more so demonstrative of scootering’s greater progression in general, and a blending of the formerly discrete categories of park and street into a more-or-less seamless union. With specific regard to tricks, one thing especially worthy of consideration was the appeal to symmetry and mirrorism throughout. This is first made apparent in the video’s opening lines: a backside 360 double down heel on flat and backside smith 360 double whip, then the inverse—frontside 360 double downside on flat and frontside smith 360 double heel. Similar mirrored progressions occur several times as the video continues, with notable instances being the double whip to manual fingerwhip (followed by double heel to manual opposite fingerwhip) and the triple whip to smith triple heel (followed by triple heel to smith triple whip).  This aesthetic approach is, at least for myself, intuitively appealing, not just for the diversity of ability it communicates, but for the contemplative and premeditated understanding of how tricks will fit together in the video part that it represents. All too often, scooter films seem like little more than an amalgam of footage thrown together without much regard to how one trick fits with another beyond keeping in time with the soundtrack and selected b-roll shots. Such symmetrical arrangements diverge from this tendency, however, and in doing so reveal a new form of deeply interwoven visuo-spatial representation. The duality of tricks portrayed is just one-side of the coin, as with it also comes also inverted direction of approach, opposing views of the actor and even an opportunity for changes in camera orientation. Reciprocal tricks or lines are thus not mere expressions of difficulty as much as they are an encapsulation of scootering as a whole—a complete and full-circle phenomenon. It isn’t a necessity that scooter videos depict this extent of forethought, but it certainly serves them well all the same. Scooter riding is more than tricks alone, and is indeed the way that said tricks work together in concert, complementing each other to create a cohesive whole. There are many ways of achieving such fluidity, but the mirrorism of this video represents a concerted and well-sculpted effort at doing so. Beyond the tricks themselves, I think this film is also a valid testament to how enjoyable scooter videos can be—and in virtually any context—when documented properly. Anyone who follows WISE is likely already familiar with the film work of Antoine Baldisserri, but his name deserves explicit recognition. High definition video production is largely under-matured in scootering as a whole, but individuals like Antoine are contributing to its steady progression nonetheless. Irrespective of your take on the 4:3 HD aspect ratio debate, there is no denying that this is proper lensmanship, and of the kind that scootering could stand only to benefit from should it become more widespread. Mokovel as a collective seems to be leading the charge in scootering on many fronts these days, and this video is one of the many reasons why. Give it a watch. [video video_src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kwG2uXo0WaA"]

January 4, 2022

Dante Hutchinson officially rides for Ethic DTC, and was recently welcomed in this video, a compilation of street and skatepark riding documented across several countries. The riding component of this film is, as one might expect from individuals like Dante, chock-full of next level maneuvers, though ones which, in many ways, diverge from the norms of categorical video part creation. The park-to-street crossover is fundamentally changing the way that scootering is performed and in turn the way it is understood, this video offering adequate evidence to the fact. But, this part seems also in many ways to be an outlier, neither quite here nor completely there in either direction along the skatepark-street continuum.  Calling attention to one clip in particular will, I think, serve to elucidate this classification. At the 0:50 mark, Dante performs a two-trick line in which he bar to fakie feebles a ledge, drops into a bank and then backflips into the successive bank. The two tricks stand as polar opposites to me; the former a relatively simple, though technical and “street-oriented” move, and the latter a display of sheer gymnastic ability, a move wrought with excitement and shock value. And, in some sense, the difference between these two particular tricks represents what is perhaps the fundamental difference between street and park riding overall: the extent to which a trick is intended to shock as opposed to merely fit.  At least from my perspective, the purpose of street riding, and thus the purpose of tricks performed in this setting, is making use of the urban/suburban space in a way that is structurally counterintuitive, but which still to some extent fits cohesively with that space in its entirety. Grinding down a handrail certainly diverges from the broader social expectation in mind when such an object was created, but doing so still appears to be something of a natural progression—it ebbs and flows with the environment, ultimately creating a unified and seamless singular event. It’s an alternate use of space, but one which does not necessarily demand attention beyond the trick’s difficulty as integrated with that space. It fits, it entertains and it may even shock, though its deeper purpose is not so. By contrast, skatepark riding, and thus skatepark tricks (or at least those which have become increasingly popular in recent years), appear largely oriented around said shock value. The intention is seemingly athletic achievement, and for that reason the spatial confinement to one designated area is irrelevant, as the goal is to push progression rather than to create a unified event within a unique or specific spatial context. Such distinctions between riding styles aren’t inherently good or bad, right or wrong, but they exist, and as such they inform the actions and choices—deliberate and not—of individuals who partake in their exercise. Returning to Dante’s part, this would appear to hold true. Dante’s influence—his trick selection, his clothing, even the way he holds and handles his scooter—look to be distinctly defined by a skatepark orientation. And, as such, his riding in urban settings presents something of a schism, a breakage from the norms of presentation in non-traditional spatial settings. The same might also be said of instances in which he performs any number of complex flip or other aerial maneuvers—widely regarded as “park tricks”—within a skatepark, but without a helmet or additional safety gear. Such cases both represent significant separations from the norms, expectations and widespread understandings of how given spaces are supposed to implicitly and explicitly influence what and how scooter riders ride, and in turn how this comes across in the expressed representations that they create. This video, in essence, challenges and conflicts with this subcultural status quo, and in doing so situates itself in its own category of interpretation. None of this is to say, of course, that the tricks showcased in this video lack difficulty, style or even intuitive appeal. Many of those performed in both the skatepark and the street were genuinely intriguing—the backflip at 1:08, the bump to bar at 2:10 and possibly the best double tailwhip to frontboard ever done at 2:38, to name a few. What it is to say, though, is that important shifts are occurring within scootering, and it serves us well to consider their nature as well as what they mean for the future of scootering’s performance. Personally, I am interested in viewing the response to the heightened influence of subversive riding and videos, as this one discussed is in its own way. With any challenge to the existing state of things inevitably comes a formative reaction, and it will be interesting to see how this one in particular manifests. Though I don’t necessarily think it will result in more backflips being taken to the streets, I do believe it will fundamentally change the way that scooter riders approach performing tricks—the ways in which they think about what they intend to do and subsequently the ways in which they actually end up doing it—in all settings available to them. Only time can definitely tell, but videos such as this leave important implications for scootering’s future development, nonetheless. [video video_src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/r4VZKzJXC_A"]