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Snowboard DVD Review:Snowboarder Magazine's Blacklight

Snowboarder Magazine's Blacklight DVD snowboarding skateboarding video DVD review Three Star skateboard DVD review rating

Director: Tim Manning
Released: 2001
Rating: 3 Stars

Stefan Gimpl, Tom Gilles, Steven Duke, Gian Simmens, JJ Thomas, Joel Mahaffey, Shaun White, Abe Teter, Louie Fountain, Lance Pitman, Brandon Ruff, Travis Rice, Nate Cole, Noah Salaznek, Shin Campos, Adam Short, Windsor James, Robbie Sell, Elan Bushell, Ashlee Call and more...

A 16 mm film by Tim Manning featuring some pretty cool tricks and a mix of back-country, resort and pipe footage. I don't get out to shred the frosty waves as much as I'd like to. It's just not as convenient as grabbing my skate and heading out the door. So, I love to delve into a good snowboard vid and live vicariously through those who will always ride much better than I.

When both your feet are attached to the board, self propulsion is a limited concept. Enter the snowmobile and water-ski tow rope. Now the flat-land snowboarder can attain all the speed he needs to... hit a low-lying roof line and use the structure as a killer jump. There's a great montage of airborne riders silhouetted against a nearby chairlift. They appear to glide in and out amongst the chairs as if they could pass right through them.

So many hand rails, in urban settings, lead right to busy streets that we are very accustomed to the near collision between skater and commuter - SPLAT! Snowboarders have a different perspective on this sort of issue. They prefer to fly high above the road, sailing over any vehicles that may be lumbering along in the ice and snow. There are several classic overpass shots of riders soaring across divided highways and roads. But getting back to the issue of handrails... Why do snowboarders feel compelled to grind hand rails. The metal ones must be murder on the sharpness of their vital edges and with both feet attached to the board, it seems like the skater has the harder trick. I've seen some interesting snowboard hand rail bails, but lets face it - you're not gonna sack yourself on a snowboard. And that is the primary fear of grinding a hand rail - balls!

It seems that no matter how much insane footage goes into a snowboard vid, they always feel compelled to show a scene with a snow-bike. Take your average bicycle and replace the wheels with skis and you get the idea. Now imagine taking air on one of these things and then landing on the seat. Not a pretty picture. So if snow-bikes are so damaging, who's buying them and why are they still being made? I wouldn't put on snow shoes because I want to play basketball in waist deep snow. I put on snowshoes so I can look as cool as the dudes in the LL Bean catalog.

After the credits roll, we have the most renown hiding place for slams. What a surprise.

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