I know, this is SUPER late. I probably tried finishing this about 10 times until tonight. A combination of several factors kept me from finishing it though, including SD4, cracking my collarbone and entering into a sedentary depression caused by not being able to ride, and just my own procrastination. But mainly it was my procrastination, which leads me to ask myself, am I a writer with a procrastination problem, or a procrastinator with a writing problem? Either way, I hate writing when I’m not feeling it, forcing words onto the paper (or screen in this case) is just no good.
There weren’t a whole lot of videos in December, but most that were released were amazing. Three Inward riders (Josh Kish, Matt Ogle, and myself) released some amazing stuff, Josh’s including a few trick firsts, and Matt pushing the levels of originality. The Aussies left their mark again, with Coedie releasing his first footage in ages for Maddgear, and Brendon Smith releasing a long-awaited edit. And then the Europeans. Benjamin Friant, the Swiss shredder, released one of the most epic videos I can think of in recent memory. French ID dropped a video showcasing their new-look team. All of these videos made it a VERY hard choice for me to choose the order of the top 5…so hard that I actually didn’t order them this time. So, here are my top 5 videos of December, in NO order. Enjoy.
(Click the pictures to see the video)
It took a full 12 months (from Matt being picked to be on the team in January to releasing the video in December) for Matt to finish this video. He definitely tries to take his time to make his videos the best they can possibly be, and while I know he wasn’t happy with this one, it shows in his Promo. This is easily the most original and creative riding I have ever seen. That being said, you WILL miss a lot of things the first time you watch. I’ll admit I wasn’t too impressed with it at first, considering how much I love his other videos; but like his Final Sponsor Video, the more I watched this one, the more I liked it. With tricks like switch barspin a 10 stair, to switch TAILwhip sexchange a gap, to the Mattplant, Matt definitely proves his status as one of the most versatile riders in the sport. I hear he’s started riding a legit 13 foot vert pipe too…so watch out for that.
WOW. That is all I had to say after watching this video for the first time. BenJ started 2009 off with a bang with his “Season is Yours” snow scooter video…and ends it with a boom in this video. Whip catch finger, whip indy whip air, 180 flip whip to fakie, are just a few of the amazing combos in here. BenJ goes huge while doing amazing tech combos….one of the world’s best riders, easily.
Matt Ogle, one of the elite few who can say they’ve had a video in the Top 5, said this video, “was probably the best video i have seen since Terrys video and Coedies DCS footy.” Those two videos, in my opinion, are probably the best two minivideos of all time, considering how insane they were at the time. To match that is no easy feat. Yet Brendon somehow does it easily, with clips like a 360 backflip, to an inward bri in. He does banger after banger after banger, not just single clips but in RUNS. There is perhaps no match for him when it comes to briflip combos. His flair combos (flair tripple, whip to bar, to handplant, and to manual 180) also are among the most advanced in the sport. The level of progression this kid shows is something else. I cannot imagine where he’ll be in a year.
French ID Video
The French ID team underwent a big change this year, as several of its riders quit to join the Addict team. Thus, team spots were open, and some new blood was added to the lineup. One might have been worried that the new team wouldn’t live up to the French ID name: however, after seeing this video, all doubts had subsided. Some never before seen street combos were featured in this video, including 360 bar bar, doublewhip to bar, and bar to double all over a set. The riding definitely didn’t disappoint, and the filming and editing was on par with the usual French standards. I know I can’t wait for the next FID video to drop.
Prior to this video, it had been a LONG time since Coedie last dropped some footage. So long, in fact, that people were beginning to question whether that still rode. Well, I suppose there are people that think riders have quit if they stop posting on SR, but still. We all knew that he had been put on the MaddGear team, but there was no footage of him in the Team MGP edit that had been released the previous month. So when this finally was put out, everyone was stoked. Coedie showed no signs of slowing down, blasting huge airs, doing longgg runs without stopping, and frontflipping out of banks. Coedie’s raw riding ability as well as Nickeh’s filming and editing gave this video a spot on the Top 5 Videos of December.
Coedies mgp edit should be the top video. Matt ogles video was good, but not better then any of these videos.. My 2 cents
ReplyDeleteIf you read the post...you would see that Jordan said that these were in "no order". Meaning he didn't put them in a "Best to Worst" or anything.
ReplyDeleteexcelent job with the top videos, i probably would have picked the same ones if i was creating the lineup.
ReplyDeletenice
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