Cringing Countdown #4

Lane Knaack - Smell the Glove

 Lanky Lane, die hard devotee of Satin Daggers and the star of probably the only actually funny skit in the vid, this part never fails to stir a desire in me to strap in instantly after it ends. Any snowboard video part with a Bad Brains song is fucking bad ass and this one is no exception. I always enjoyed the early punk infused Grenade videos and Smell the Glove definitely has some gnarly riding, but my favorite part hands down goes to Mr. Knaack. I used to rewind the fs tail press in the blue basketball jersey over and over, that clip is full of style and I love the sw fs 5050 bs 180 out on the cement hubba thing, that trick always does it for me. Lane looks like a total joker in the few lifestyle shots in the part, I love it it makes it even more rad. This part still all makes me feel the same way I did when I started getting super psyched on riding and I'll be watching it all season.

Cringing Countdown #3

Nate Bozung - True Life

Here's another video I can't count how many times I've watched. One of the first videos I ever purchased before I had any idea what was really going on, this one was on repeat for a while. Who would've thunk Bozung's career would have turned out how it has, face tats and all (good to see the new web edit of him shredding at Brighton, killing it!) but back then he was just the young kid on the squad and I thought he was super sick. I still think the phone call at the start is so funny "Is Jessica home...do you know when she'll be home from school?" Classic, and the Method Man song always got me super hyped. The opening straight ollie over the double set is so burly and reminds me a lot of a skate clip and the 50-50 down the triple kinker with the red shirt on...soooo steezy. The gap to back board the other triple kinker is insane.

Cringing Countdown #2

Nick Visconti - Stack Footy

Haters gon hate. Lots of people like this dude lots of people hate this dude. I am definitely a member of the former group, as I think he has crazy skills, is super creative and makes snowboarding look really fun, all contributing ingredients in any awesome part. The song "The Rocketeer" by Foxy Shazam is so hi jinx and the riding is pretty weird but I dig it. This part gets a permanent thumbs up in my book.

Cringing Countdown

I'm seriously starting to get a bit itchy and antsy over here in Ontario as it really looks like snow is nowhere on the horizon. I been able to keep pretty mellow about the whole thing due to the fact that the weather has actually been pretty rad and I've been able to skate up until yesterday, the 27th of November, which is pretty rare. This all came to a crashing halt today when an intense rain storm hit Toronto and skating went straight out the window. Enough is enough, it's time to ride and I can't hold out much longer. In the wake of my acceptance of the fact that the reality of making it to the hills in the immediate future might not be too feasible I'm going to start a countdown of the 10 video parts that are helping me get through these last days and increasing my stoke for the winter!
 ** I am by no way saying these are in any way "the best" video parts of all time or whatever. Just some that I enjoy watching and get me excited about snowboarding.

1. Devun Walsh - The Resistance

I have hands down watched Resistance more then any other snowboard video and this part more then any other part in the video. It's no secret I'm a huge Devun Walsh fan and although the dude has a ton of parts to choose from, the one always make it to the top of my favorite lists. It's short and sweet and the fact that he filmed it in 6 years always blew my mind and made me feel super lazy. Some people don't like the disclaimer at the start of the part but who cares? I think it's pretty rad that all of that was filmed in 6 days and who wouldn't want people to know that? Plus D Walsh is OG as shit so he can do whatever he wants. The sw bs 180 at 1:18 is tiiiight.

Winter Vacay

The mixed bag crew of Canadians and Finns residing in Whistler have just released another stellar video that`s available online for free.

8mile Vacay full movie

8 mile, the brainchild of Mikey Rencz, Johnny Lyall and Eero Niemala, conceived in their basement sweet in Whistler after many a long day on the hill and even longer nights at the bar has been reppin snowboarding in the name of fun for quite some time now. Their newest release, Vacay is definitely no exception and clocking in at less then half an hour is on the top of the pile of flicks for me to put on repeat in my process of getting hyped for the quickly approaching season.

This vid aside from having amazing snowboarding, which it does, everyone in it fucking rips, more then anything is a solid representation of how fun snowboarding is and why we all do it. I could delve into the increasingly popular hot conversation topic of the current state of snowboarding with it`s predominance of big league contests and corporate sponsorships and blah blah blah but what would be the point? That dead horse has beaten to death. What I can say is that 8 mile is not any of that, they are the antithesis of that. Sure some of these dudes ride for big companies and yea some of them are contest killers, but that's not what Vacay or any of the other 8 mile videos are about. They're about getting out with the homeys for the day, getting gnarly for hours and then soaking it all in in whatever fashion you choose, at the end of the night. That's what snowboarding is and always has been to me,and plenty of other people out there. As I can imagine it does for a lot of other people, watching these movie reminds me of all the good times I've had snowboarding with my homeys, and it's always motivating and entertaining to be reminded of that, and that's why Vacay kills it in my eyes.
And the snowboarding is REALLY good. With such an eclectic crew there is all kinds of riding in there for any snowboarder regardless of what you're interested in. Everyone in it straight kills it, Eero Niemela, Mikey Rencz, Johnny Lyall all have super tight parts fucking around in the back country throwing down some for real hammers. Ikka Backstrom is straight gnar. Charles White, Todd Malus, and Dustin Craven share a part with lots of funny lifestyle footy and plenty of good riding. Benji Ritchie slays the back country to a Stevie Wonder song, instant approval in this blog. I don't even have to write this sentence, everyone knows it but; Devun Walsh is fucking triple OG and still killing it harder then most people out there, dude is straight inspiring. My favorite parts in the video, not necessarily based on straight riding but their whole vibe all together, were Kale Stephens, who's hilarious, always looks like he's having a ton of fun and also is a fuckin beast, has an amazing part with good riding and an even better song

G code Kale Stephens

Hands down the most re watchable parts have to be from the dudes repping the Gypsy Mob contingent of 8 Mile, Kevin Griffin, Jody Wachniak and Andrew Geeves. Although every part in the video rips, these guys are unstoppable.Showing crazy versatility and rounded riding they kill it on the mountains, they kill it on the streets, all the while looking like they're having a blast. Kevin Griffin's line with the bs noseslide the ten stair rail and then switch backside 180 the fence to drop is all kinds of steeze and probably my favorite clip in the video. Wachniak brings the San Fransisco skate vibe to his part with the Andre Nickatina song and his bs 180 on the building pillar bs 180 over the bench line I re winded like 5 times. Andrew Geeves destroys both back country and street spots with equal amounts of power and style (fs 180 sw tail press bs 180 out on the huge curved structure and gap front lip the kinked green rail were both amazing) and I have a feeling we'll be a seeing a lot more of this dude in the future

Geeves

If you want to be psyched to go snowboarding and and even more to ride with the homeys, if you like good riding and really like good times check out Vacay, you won't be disappointed.

Official Countdown to Shred Season is On

whooooooweeeeee....shouldn't be long now!!

Rider Rundown with Mikey Rencz