FLiP. They are sorry. Extremely sorry in fact. For what, I'm not really sure. Apologizing in advance for taking nearly 7 years to release their 3rd video installment perhaps? Apologizing for roster changes resulting in the loss of much good footage to a permanent home in the circular file, or rubbish tip if you prefer? Apologizing for deafening the audience at the world premiere? Who cares? My hearing is shot already. I would hope they are apologizing for showing the murder of a magnificent animal. That's what I want an apology for, that last bit. FLiP need not apologize for anything other than that, certainly not the skating contained in the video. But man, treeing and killing that mountain lion was just lame. I don't care about the circumstance or justification. And as far as one-upping other companies by showing the killing of a mountain lion, it would be a lot more impressive if it was hunted down with a bowie knife and your bare hands. That shit was extremely weak. Was it for shock value? Like the shock of Rodrigo TX's tech insanity isn't enough? But I'm sure we all know where this is going. It's going where I end up apologizing. Sounds stupid I know. Just trust that I'm not going to apologize to whom you would expect.
Cheech and Chong or some semblance/parody thereof might have appeared graphically on a FLiP deck at some point in their history. I can't really apologize for that either. So fuck extremeness and fuck apologies. Fuck claymation too. Fuck Geoff Rowley's part for his madness, along with a random gnar kid or 2 thrown in for effect. Fuck over amplification of board smack and rail bang, Luan DiOlivera's hammers are loud enough already. Fuck Tom Penny too. Nobody knows when Tom's stuff was shot and nobody fucking cares. Gosh, it really is so much easier to just say fuck everything than it is to apologize. I think I'll keep it up for a bit. Fuck Bob and his 16 foot switch ollies. Also, fuck his ability to stay upright when the laws physics, gravity and logic dictate that he should be slamming. Fuck Mark Appleyard for teaching new tricks to old spots, even the briefly un-knobbed hubba hideout in SF. Fuck Louie Lopez and Curren Caples for being too damned good, too damned young. Fuck Rune Glifberg and his ability to attack monoliths of concrete and roll away victorious. Fuck Ali Boulala's reckless pirate-style barging. Fuck David Gonzales for being punk-as-fuck, destroying everything in his path and showing us all just how far we are going to have to push ourselves to even come close to his level. And finally, especially, fuck Lance Mountain for having the best part in this video. Lance's part had everything I wanted, and nothing I didn't, it was organic and as true to the game as anything I've ever seen. It almost made me forget that mountain lion shit.
Classic dudes at the premiere.
So by now, you know not much more than you did before this rant began. I'm not going to expose all of the details of FLiP's Extremely Sorry video, it would just take too long. Lastly, fuck death, for taking Shane Cross from us far too soon. The memorial intro to this video truly captures the insane amount of talent this young man took with him when he left. Fuck. At any rate, Extremely Sorry is loaded with amazing skating, and when you look at the FLiP roster, that's not surprising in any way. If you're going to ask me if it lived up to 7 years of hype, my answer would simply be: "What ever does? Nothing." Check the FLiP site for updates and details for when you might buy a copy, or find a peta-pirated youtube version, complete with animal-rights commentary.
Billy Marks hanging with Mr. Kurt Hayashi. Kurt shot and edited Lance's part and has unquestionable talent and skill, you'll see.
