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 The
Magic Carpet Ride
Skim Online Rating: 8
Things I Liked: There are some really good waves in this video. More riders were featured throughout. Also there were a lot of shots of different things like drowning girls, and the crew in Cabo. Things I Didn't Like: Unfortunately they go overboard with the "other" shots and include way too many marginal waves in the video. The music just about put me to sleep at one point. Many of the segments were all taken in one day, which called for the inclusion of some lackluster skimming. Detailed Reviewer Notes: Here goes.... The video starts off with a bad ass carpet ride and then launches into the first segment set to Steppenwolf's song of the same name. There are a lot of really good tenth street waves in the beginning and this starts off as a pretty good segment. The song then goes into a solo segment which seems to last forever as we watch some okay skimming. Then as soon as the song kicks back in again, they fade it out! This is a precursor of what is to come, lots of good stuff, but lots more bad stuff. Brad Evers leads off with some Florida style shenanigans and some pretty impressive skimming on some pretty small Florida waves. He splits his segment with Mike Nickerson who is also a Florida local and friend of Brad's. Mike has some great waves including some truly impressive paddle takeoffs. Overall the skimming in this segment is good but the waves are not always cooperating. Next we head to Santa Cruz to watch Miles Grobman. Miles gets some really good waves including some awesome shuvits and good size barrels, especially considering what is available in his hometown. The music doesn't keep up with Miles and detracts from the skimming. Next up we get some random washed out wedge footage as well as some footage of Bill Bryan that is marginal at best. Basically they took the camera down to the beach on a crappy day and shot everything Bill did. Although there are three or four really good waves, a testament to Bill's skimming ability, most are boring and began to put me to sleep. Mike Morrissey is up next and demonstrates again is incredible crossover abilities. He is a really good skateboarder and it shows because much of the segment is exactly that, skateboarding. If you like skating though, you will like this. The Cabo segment follows which just about killed me. The song literally put me to sleep. I had to rewind. There is lots of shots of girls and partying which is cool, but its too much. The segment must be like 10 minutes long and the song is really slow. Some good waves are in there if you pay attention though. We get woken up with a segment of Ivan Ashaur killing about 50 waves in a row with huge frontside whacks. Although his ability to kill it is impressive, he does actually ride the waves sometimes and it would be nice if that were included in the video. The Skyline skateboarding downhill is next which is entertaining, if a bit long. Mike Morrissey does battle with a guardrail at the end which resulted in an extended hospital visit. Jeff Gomez's segment is again slowed down by a lame song. The skimming is good though and it is not a total loss. Eric Christensen has a few waves at the end. Todos Santos (North of Cabo) footage is the next treat. Unfortunately we are treated with a bit too much of it (again). Segment twelve included footage from the standing wave in Norway and the surrounding area. Again the song is kind of boring and it takes about 2 minutes of scenery footage before we even see any riding. The riding is very good though. It is good to get some shots of other views of the wave and how it works, but this segment includes too many of them. Overkill. Chris Rudolph is up next charging some Laguna peaks. He is again rapping in his own segment and it works pretty well. Some of his waves are really good and the slow motion on a few of them are worth waiting for. Next we get a segment of George Bryan charging The Wedge, and nothing but. Some really good waves here, but a little variety would be nice. In his defense, he was recovering from knee surgery during the time this video was filmed, so he wasn't skimming all that often. The wipeout section wakes us up a bit with a faster song and some gut wrenching falls. Afterwards we get to watch local skimmers frustrate 10th St bodyboarders, which is always fun. Bill Bryan comes through again with some awesome skimming in the final segment. Unlike many of the previous segments, his is set to a good energetic song. The skimming speaks for itself though and he shows again why he is truly the worlds best skimboarder. One thing that is important to note is that much of the Bryan Bros footage was stolen the spring before this video was released. Apparently, some good stuff was lost. They still had a lot of good skim footage though and you will see it in this video. It is spread around though so you may have to wait. This is still a very good video but it does not have the same kind of energy that many of the previous videos had. It would be a good video to throw on at a party or something, but not to watch before you go skimming. Reviewed By Aaron Peluso If you have seen this video and disagree with some of the things I have said (and I am sure some of you will), contact me and I will post your comments/review on this page. |
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