Enter a world of magic and mystery, in my own head, where surfing and snowboarding are considered real jobs! Amazing feats of daring and skill are performed every day - and that's just getting the footage onto film!
Media anarchist, film guru, surf addict and web video blogger!
Meet the Athertons, Rachel, Dan and Gee. These guys have made quite the name for themselves on the Downhill World Tour, but when they are on downtime, they like to retire to their sleepy Welsh village, where they happen to have some crazy training areas. Check out the mental lines in this quarry...
The man has an ethereal talent for making the simple act of riding a bicycle look magical. He has made trial biking a highly watched internet sensation and continues to blow us away every video release. Danny Macaskill is definitely a legend!
Kurt Sorge supermans on his way to the Red Bull rampage Title for 2012. (Photo: Red Bull Content Pool)
The maddest Freeride event of the year went down in Utah over the weekend, with Kurt Sorge, ending up as Red Bull Rampage champion for 2012. The limits these guys push on this crazy course defy description.
Just when you think they cannot possibly go much bigger with MTB Freeride, along comes the Nine Knights event. The course is absolutely ridiculous and the riders are pushing the boundaries with the size of their tricks.
Watch what happens when professional mountain bike rider's Niki Leitner,
Amir Kabbani, Cam McCaul, Yannick Granieri, Martin Soderstrom, Geoff
Gulevich, Kurt Sorge, Cam Zink, Andreu Lacondeguy and Andi Wittmann
cross paths with a medieval castle style MTB course.
The World's favorite downhill event returns in October for, Red Bull Rampage 2012. To celebrate they have released a bunch of highlight videos of the biggest open mountain riding event on the planet. Today we look at the Top 5 moments from the previous events...
The World's most extreme Freeride event, Red Bull Rampage, returns in October 2012. To celebrate Red Bull have started compiling good old fashioned "Top 5'" videos to get the amp on. We start with the Top 5 crashes over the years and believe me, they are pretty dam big crashes...
Red Bull bring you the most crazy MTB event of all time, the Joyride. Just check out the size of some of the tricks and obstacles. Must be one of the biggest backflips ever done on a bicycle during this event...
Watching the trailer I start thinking that I may need to purchase a downhill rig again soon. These guys are seriously pushing the limits of what is possible in Freeriding. These are not many ridden trails on their local hill, but serious mountains in some remote areas of the planet. I cannot wait to watch the full movie.
Ok peeps, thought I would try something new every Friday. I get sent so many video links through the week and I enjoy almost all of them, but sometimes the timing is not right, or the the video just does not fit into my schedule and bottom line is that it never gets posted. So, from now on, every Friday, I will post the, Friday Mix, an eclectic mix of web videos that I have come across and know you will enjoy.
This week we have Kiting in the Islands (Amazing jibbing on Kites), Bodyboarding a scary shore break in Brazil, BMX Dirt Competition with Red Bull in New Zealand and Freeride Mountain Biking in Indonesia.
If you wanna see loads more local South African footage, head over to theGoodLife
The Wavescape Film Festival kicked off last Friday with their annual films on the beach. It was a tad windy, but nothing to bad and those that sat it out enjoyed 2 great films.
Since then, I have managed to go see the "Africa Project" at the Brass Bell, which was amazing and I have the premier of "Surfers and Sharks" tomorrow evening at the Labia. This is a film I am especially keen to see as it stars my good mate, Roosta, and was co-produced by Chris Mason from Wavescape. Here is the trailer...
Films I have watched so far and highly recommend are:
The Africa Project - The Labia, 20h30, Mon 19th Dec
Jason Hearn has worked on this film for 4 long years, but the wait was worth it. The film takes you on a gorgeous and riveting trip around Africa, showing off the various cultures, beaches and of course waves. The profiles on Franky Oberholzer and Twig are epic and the surfing from Royden Bryson, Jordy and Roosta are of world class quality! If nothing else, this film will inspire you to travel on your own continent for waves!
Splinters - The Labia, 18h15, Sat 17 Dec
I saw the trailer for this a couple of months ago online. It was a heavy thing to watch such a culture in action. The people of these remote villages in Papa New Guinea live on a totally different plane of existence to the one we live on. Woman are treated like possessions and you see some pretty brutal treatment of them through the film. These people live in a totally 3rd world existence, with no money, no infrastructure and no respect for human life! They do have waves though and a culture that has been riding waves for hundreds of years. When an Ozzy pilot leaves his surfboard behind, he begins a story that led to this film being made. It is harsh, it is beautiful and it shows how surfing can change the lives of anyone who gets to try their hand at it. Well worth a watch!
Art of Flight - The Labia, 18h15, Thurs 15th Dec
The movie that will change how Action Sports films are made from now on. Travis Rice and his mad bunch of mates travel the world with all their gear, snowmobiles, helicopters and the best slow-motion cams in the world to create a truly mind blowing cinematic experience. I cannot recommend this one enough! It also shows before the Premier of "Surfing and Sharks".
Year Zero - The Labia, 20h30, Sat 17 Dec
The first of the "Traditional" style surf movies, its actually quite different from the norm. Globe have taken their rather impressive surf team and created a "Mad Max" style world for them to travel around in and surf. The level uf surfing is amazing, especially from the likes of CJ Hobgood and Taj Burrows. Look out for the mutant right tube they surf, it is simply mental! The best part of the film though, was the music! Black Mountain, who I had never heard of before, did the entire soundtrack and its a winner!
Come Hell or High Water - The Labia, 20h30, Sun 18 Dec
As a surfer it is important to know your roots. We all started in the water, without a board, just catching waves and body surfing. This film takes you into the world of those who kept body surfing, instead of moving on like the rest of us. It is beautifully shot and some of the wave riding is truly inspiring. Look out for the monster Wedge section for a little pain and laughter. I felt really good after watching this movie and pretty amped to don my fins again and go charge some shore break!
Life Cycles - The Labia, 18h15, Fri 16th Dec
So no, this is not a surf film, but I still highly recommend you go and see it. This is truly one of the most amazing cinematic films shot in the Action Sport genre and to be able to watch it on the big screen will be amazing! It has become a cult movie in mountain biking for a reason. using new cable tracking systems, super slow-motion and great on board footage, this movie a surreal look into the world of the MTB rider.
For more information on the Wavescape Film festival, go HERE
I love events that go out there to be different and innovative. The Nine Knights mountain bike concept is exactly that!
Suzuki Nine Knights MTB 2011 - Highlight Video. Thanks Peoplegrapher for this stunning Highlight Clip of six days Nine Knight sessions on a big air line and
freeride trail at Urlaubs-Arena Wildkogel / SalzburgerLand / Austria. All infos on www.nineknights.com and watch Kurt Sorge, Geoff Gulevich, Martin Söderström, John Alm Högmann, Yannick Granieri, Pierre Eduard Ferry, Andi Wittmann, Amir Kabbani, Linus Sjoholm, Bienvenido Alba, Niki Leitner, Andi Brewi and other riders shredding.
Music:
Brummer - Red Hands
www.facebook.com/BrummerOFFICIAL
This guy just gets better and better. Every time I see one of Danny Macaskill's short videos I think to myself, surely he cannot improve on this one? But inevitably he does and here is the very latest offering...
Industrial Revolutions is the amazing new film from street trials riding star Danny Macaskill. Filmed and edited for Channel 4 's documentary Concrete Circus.
Industrial Revolutions sees Danny take his incredible bike skills into an industrial train yard and some derelict buildings.' Filmed in the beautiful Scottish countryside Danny Macaskill's latest film was directed by Stu Thomson (Cut Media/MTBcut) for Channel 4's documentary Concrete Circus.
I seem to be watching more and more mountain biking these days - helped by the fact that films like "Life Cycles" and "Seasons" are being so well made. So here is the trailer for the new kid on the block, 3 Minute Gaps...
"3 Minute Gaps," a thrilling documentary about incredible mountain bike riders aiming to be the best. "For two years the crew of 3 MINUTE GAPS have followed the world’s best mountain bike racers around the globe documenting them as they trained, prepared, rode, ate, traveled, raced, celebrated, commiserated, and made sacrifices simply because of the weight of ambition to be the fastest. There is no truer, more accurate and intimate depiction of the hallowed worlds of the very best World Cup rider's than 3 MINUTE GAPS." www.3minutegaps.com
WOW! This has got to be the best trailer for an action Sports Film I have seen in quite some time. Truly amazing from the shots, to the edit and even the amazing voice over guy! Pure big screen on little screen magic. Going to have to try get my hands on a copy of the full length movie.
The Frew family of New Zealand love dirt bikes, bot engined and leg powered.They love them so much that they have built dirt bike heaven on their remote farm in New Zealand and every year they host the Farm Jam. Mountain Bikes, BMX and FMX hooligans from NZ and around the world descend on the Frew Farm for a weekend of dirt, jumps and mayhem! You got to love it.
Ok, so watching the crazy antics of some guy riding a mullet event in Chile, inspired me to see what was out there movie wise for Freeriding. This is what I cam across through Red Bull.
So dam pretty! (Photo: Red Bull)
Freeride Entertainment, producers of the New World Disorder series, are pleased to announce the beginnings of a new project taking mountain biking back to the roots of freeriding.
Where the trail ends... is the start of a new feature film based on the natural terrain progression of riding in remote international locations. Freeride is excited about their new project which started deep in the Gobi desert in China earlier this year.
Featured riders from this first expedition were Darren Berrecloth, Kurt Sorge, and James Doerfling.
Seriously, this guy must have balls of iron! My head took 4 views to try and make sense of this gnarly course. WTF I mean check when he is flying along and nearly kills a dog running in front of him, never mind the psycho drop off later in the run. Cape Town could well do one of these!
I can't even say to much about this video, except, these guys are simply off their heads!! This is from 2009, I am searching for the latest stuff as we speak.
WARNING - you may piss your pants if you watch this!
