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Dan Pensyl blunts to fakie in a southern globe.

Birds fly south for the winter and, when things get rough in New York and the greater East Coast, so do that area's inhabitants. The 5Boro team is no exception. Take a look at the video of their "Southern Migration, featuring Dan Pensyl, Danny Falla, Joe Tookmanian, Jimmy McDonald and Willy Akers.

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Kalis tosses a switch tailslide out in Rockaway New York back in the day.

Josh Kalis is one of the realest street skaters alive. With a style honed from countless hours at plaza spots including Love Park, MACBA and even EMB, Kalis has a rawness to his style that exudes in every executed trick. While he's put in time at Training Facility spots like the Berrics and the old Alien warehouse in Philly, there'll always be a ruggedness with the way he handles tricks because they were learned on street first and not in parks like so many of the current generation. Kalis has also always been outspoken about the desire to keep skating raw. Though he has an amazing part in "Mind Field," Kalis could do without the three or more year saga it took to get that film made; to him, a video should reflect the skills you can put down on the regular. In keeping with this, Kalis and long-time friend and photographer Ryan Gee logged a ton of bro-cam footage during one of the golden eras of Philadelphia when "The DC Video" was in production and "Photosynthesis" had recently wrapped. Between Philly, Barcelona and even some trips to the Workshop's headquarters in Ohio, Kalis and crew logged tons of clips that might not have made the final cut of major vids but they certainly give you an excellent glimpse into some ill skating from a Dirty Ghetto Kid during a bygone era. Take a look.

The man of unique style also skates uniquely.

The type of skateboarding that Australian Richie Jackson does is as devisive as the clothes he wears. His part in Death Skateboard's video "Escape from Boredom" came out of nowhere, with a lot of polejams, wallrides and no complys. He kept the weirdness alive in "And Now," even showing some of that "traditional" skateboarding we all like. But, the great part of skating is it can include people like Jackson and P-Rod all at the same time. Jackson's uniqueness abounds, however, outside his skating and he has gotten noticed by GQ as a psychadelic style to which to aspire. Read more here

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Courtesy of Adidas

Vince Del Valle and the whole team cuss up the whole Bay area.

Not only does Adidas have a newly designed skate site up starting today, but they have their new line of shoes and a gangster-a** video of the team skating San Francisco (did someone say Tim O'Connor rebirth?). Be the first to see it.

Sometimes I feel like I probably don't get the joke. In fact I know that can be the case. I'm often too literal-minded and sarcasm (especially written, Internet sarcasm without facial expressions) sometimes goes right over my head. So here's what I'm trying to figure out: Does Ernie Torres ride for Ambiguous or not? The whole video joke is just too ambiguous (get it?). It would seem that Ernie would fit on the Ambiguous squad with his penchant for tight black jeans (they make a lot of those) and his Real teammate and homie JT Aultz already repping the squad. I'll say this, the last time Ambiguous made a "Doesn't Ride For Us" video it was of Sean Conover who is now listed as one of their team riders. So maybe Big Ern does ride for Ambiguous now? Time will tell. Either way, this video is pretty tight.

These are only a few of the ams that have been around for long enough to get the nod to turn pro this year. CW from L to R: Grant Taylor for AWS, Justin Brock for Real, Levi Brown for Element, Brandon Westgate for Zoo York and Ben Raybourn for 1031.

2009 brought a lot of new dilemmas to skateboarding. But, a lot of good came out of sticky situations. The word "recession" circled around and made pros re-analyize what it meant to be pro. People that hadn't been doing much suddenly appeared, proving why they were pro. Skaters showed up to contests in droves, eager to win. Companies found creative ways to push cool stuff, while holding the thinning industry together. But, most importantly, there was visual proof of a kind of transfer of power from this mythical skate axis we call California to smaller local scenes worldwide. Legends lived, companies cared more, Chris Cole annihilated, new pros arose, Flip dominated, everyone had a Deathwish, Leo Romero went in reverse, some contests got cushy, some got core, girls stepped up, skaters swapped, the world Tilted, we became radioSlaves and "Mindfield" blew minds. Take a look at a photo review of 2009 in 2009 in Review: A Gallery. Enjoy.

Eli Reed admits he's part of the problem in his recent Venture ad and talks about his hometown, Phelps' trash-talking abilities, JR, PJ, NYC, McTwists, Boston legends, "Wicked" and other things. Have a Venture read (Reed?) from Zoo York's newest pro.

Jack Spanbauer powers a 5-0 through down through the kink and then gets chopped in half.

This is a review of Meta skateboard's newest Zombie movie-slash-skate video epic "Turd Merchants of Death," but before I start I want to make it clear: Local videos are a whole different bag of worms ("PJ Ladd's Wonderful Horrible Life" and a few others exempted). I know this, because while skateboarding on the large industrial scale likes to show only the best-est people in the most prettiest format at the greatest-est spots, local videos are a little more endemic—they might not suit all the criteria of your Internet skate nerd. Local videos are made for people in

Pete Eldridge celebrates his B-day at a spot just outside his current home, Denver, CO.

Whether you're back at work and just waiting for the New Year to come, so you can enjoy another holiday, or you're just sitting around until school gets back in session, you'll need a little something to fill the rest of your break with. So, here you go...

Kincade #31 explores Austin Stephens' lil' DIY skatepark. A Fourstar "Few Hours in the Life" of Brian Anderson has some smooth shredding from the Gentle Giant. The Etnies crew have some fun at Joe Red's local park here. Pete Eldridge has been staying busy in Colorado and gets a line on a spot I used to shred. Gotta love this guy. Happy birthday, Pete! Oh yeah and Mike Mo gets Firsthand-ed.

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These are only a few of the ams that have been around for long enough to get the nod to turn pro this year. CW from L to R: Grant Taylor for AWS, Justin Brock for Real, Levi Brown for Element, Brandon Westgate for Zoo York and Ben Raybourn for 1031.

 

2009 brought a lot of new dilemmas to skateboarding. But, a lot of good came out of sticky situations. The word "recession" circled around and made pros re-analyize what it meant to be pro. People that hadn't been doing much suddenly appeared, proving why they were pro. Skaters showed up to contests in droves, eager to win. Companies found creative ways to push cool stuff, while holding the thinning industry together. But, most importantly, there was visual proof of a kind of transfer of power from this mythical skate axis we call California to smaller local scenes worldwide. Legends lived, companies cared more, Chris Cole annihilated, new pros arose, Flip dominated, everyone had a Deathwish, Leo Romero went in reverse, some contests got cushy, some got core, girls stepped up, skaters swapped, the world Tilted, we became radioSlaves and "Mindfield" blew minds. Take a look at a photo review of 2009 in 2009 in Review: A Gallery. Enjoy.

HAPPY NEW YEAR SINGAPORE. HAPPY SKATEBOARDING.

HAPPY NEW YEAR SINGAPORE. HAPPY SKATEBOARDING.

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Elemental Awareness, the non-profit organization that puts on contests, teaches wilderness skills, and helps send kids to skate camp, will start its annual contest series on January 9th in Peoria, Arizona. The overall winner of each contest stop receives a free trip to Element's YMCA Skate Camp and the chance to compete for sponsorship by Element. Team riders will be guest judging several of the contest stops. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that Levi Brown will be judging the Arizona stop; he's got a lot of AZ pride.

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Courtesy of éS

An overview of Mr. McCrank's latest ad.

As a young kid, I'd always look at ads and wonder what my favorite pro skateboarders did that day. What lengths did they go to in order to get their trick? Did they slam a bunch? Where was the spot? If somewhere exotic, I wanted to know what it was like around those parts. Years later, éS's master of content, Mr. Brink, has taken that approach with Rick McCrank's latest ad. Read the interview here about frontside 50-50 backside 180ing out of massive ledges, McCrank's ankles, his propensity for Le Dome in France, naked statues and more about The Great éScape Tour. Bon appétit!

Pete Eldridge celebrates his B-day at a spot just outside his current home, Denver, CO.

Whether you're back at work and just waiting for the New Year to come, so you can enjoy another holiday, or you're just sitting around until school gets back in session, you'll need a little something to fill the rest of your break with. So, here you go...

Kincade #31 explores Austin Stephens' lil' DIY skatepark. A Fourstar "Few Hours in the Life" of Brian Anderson has some smooth shredding from the Gentle Giant. The Etnies crew have some fun at Joe Red's local park here. Pete Eldridge has been staying busy in Colorado and gets a line on a spot I used to shred. Gotta love this guy. Happy birthday, Pete! Oh yeah and Mike Mo gets Firsthand-ed.

Courtesy of Stereo

Josiah Gatlyn brings the joy of Christmas for a little longer.

For those of you feeling the Christmas spirit wane, some still remains in this clip of young Josiah Gatlyn shredding the streets of Miami. I guess it could have been a litte more convincing with a beard and some snow...or a massive belly, but all those things probably make hardflipping much harder than it already is. Keep the spirit alive, at least 1:17 more.

Courtesy of Flip

There's an overall feeling, looking back, that Tom Penny really hasn't done that much since the "Etnies Hi-5" era, but that would be really incorrect. Yes, he definitely went AWOL around 2001, so instead of a part in "Menikmati," he had a hodgepodge of old clips. So, in his absence from stupid amounts of year-round coverage in magazines and whatnot, there was a collective perception that he hasn't been doing anything. But, if you look at his parts in "Sorry, "Really Sorry or the most recent "Extremely Sorry," it's not like he hasn't been doing anything. Granted, it's not as impacting as, say, his mid-90s era 411 nuggets or Hi-5, but it's nothing to be scoffed at. For those of you who haven't seen what he put together for "Extremely Sorry," take a look at his trailer.

Michael Burnett

Rattray rolls in this AZ semi-fullpipe...and he reads.

As one of few professional skateboarders with a college degree, John Rattray tries his best to stay busy in all of his downtime. From a Scottish family that always kept themselves occupied with Aberdeen businesses, he's of the camp that "You can't just go and do nothing" with your life. Between all of the skateboarding, he's packed the holes with books, so we give you Rattray's Reading List as our newest Facetime. Watch the video of Rattray skating and giving his reading recommendations in Facetime: John Rattray.

This painting, by an artist known by the name Crap, was clearly inspired by Insights bus trip "Repeat After Me: I Am Free."

Recently switching to Blackbox distribution and adding Jamie Thomas to it's line-up, it might be easy to forget that Insight clothing has had it's own thing going for quite some time. It's no secret that it's a really artsy clothing company. So, in light of recent news, an art show on their compounds is somewhat of a return to that central philosophy of creativity and self-expression. Two Saturdays ago, they held an art show with various artists—friends, established photographers and well-known painters—as a way to kind of reconnect, it seems. Have a look at the art and photos they featured in the show, which was at least partly inspired by their most recent video, "Repeat After Me: I Am Free."

Two of the prototypes that will be made if the Chief loses in this game of trivia.

Thunder Trucks has posted up their two part trivia game, entitled "Stump the Chief," as a means to put Jamie Thomas on the spot and decide what will be his next truck design. As the Chief gets correct answers, he's able to rule out the silly truck designs. See which tricks are left on the drawing board and vote for which one you want made in a limited run of Thunder trucks. See the whole game here.

Switch crooksing his way in a new Habitat.

Habitat officially announced that their footwear rider, Al Davis, is now on the skate team's am squad. The announcement holds true to the roots of DNA (the umbrella company that makes and distributes Alien and Habitat), which originated in Ohio and continues to be one of the only renouned skate companies run out of the middle of the country. A Cincinnati/Kentucky native, Alex "Buttahs" Davis, had a big part in Anonymous Skateshop's "Streets is Talkin" and is welcomed to the Habitat squad with an entirely new part on their site. Good things to come from this guy.