First off, props to Nic for keeping these things going. It's a very cool idea, but cool ideas don't always work unless there's somebody to organize it and put in the work. That person has been Nic, so big ups. Props to everybody who submitted, I am jealous. I've only seen Sick One so far, but here are some of my thoughts.
Before I start, I also want to say that I would prefer if there was no intro to the video. Seeing people hit nemesis and montage rake etc builds the whole thing up a lot, and then makes entries like blurry drifter seem real passe. Also, I've seen the intro once, and that was enough. I don't need or want to fast forward 20 seconds every month, and for people with dial up, its an even bigger waste. Just my opinion. Onto the entries.
Open Sick One
Alex Urano-Ripstein- Clean ripstein? Very cool. I've gotten so sick of seeing the'd ripsteins these last few years, that seeing a clean one really made my day. Hard trick, hard to executre cleanly, and very cool.
Andrey Egorov-Locomotion- Stepping set was clean, dexes on the motion were also clearly there. Very well executed. Not a super hard trick, but you hit it very very well. A solid entry.
Anssi Sundberg-spinning dbl switch- You know, the frame rate wasn't great, so it was hard to see the dexes clearly. Even so, it looked like it was clean. A very cool trick, and hit well. Props.
Byrin Wylie-Montage- The duck looked very thin, if not "the", and the whirl looked thin/toey. I would rather see a clean whirlwind or a clean maelstrom, than a "the" montage. Based on your recent videos, I know you could have hit an "easier" trick and gotten it clean, and I would have placed that higher.
Chris May-Diving Blender- The dive looked good, and the dex on blender looked good. Very hard and cool move. My only critique (and this goes for your double blender from last time) is that you should turn your head sooner on the blender, or follow through more. It almost ends kinda frigidy, and you don't get any good control out of it. If you whip your head around earlier or sink into the osis more, you would be able to play out of it more easily. Still, this was overall very good.
Dustin Rhodes-PDX Torque-Nice trick, but a bit common. I also agree that you could have rotated more on the torque to make it smoother.
Fletcher Funk-ducking PS mirage- You complete the duck ok, but the set is so high, it's hard to tell if the start of the duck is clean. I'd have to consider it thin at best, but really, we shouldn't have to guess with these things. Set it lower and it looks better and its easier for us to tell how clean it is.
Hiroyuki Morita-pixie double over down- Looked the to me. Good pixie set, you just need to start the double down earlier. A hard move to hit clean, but this one was too thin for me to give credit to.
Jeremy Mirken-full symp crispy whirr- Incredible. Real pretty trick, and it looked clean to me. My only critique is that I would have liked a better seal. But this is a contender for top honors this month. Props.
Jesse Malouf-Maelstrom-great move, and the spinning duck looked sweet, but it couldn't be filmed at a worse angle for us to see the whirl dex. That's the hardest part of the trick, and the key to the move. Since I can't tell from this angle if you dexed the whirl, that would hurt you majorly in the standings. With these contests, you have enough time to hit a move clearly on tape from a good angle.
Jorden Moir- symp flurrying butterfly- This didn't look clean to me. Even the symp barraging looked toe-y to me, and the stall happened before the last dex finished. Watching it again, I think the 2nd and 4th dexes aren't clean, and the other 2 are toey. Props for going big, but I'd rather see something clean and of less adds. For the record, I've seen this move hit cleanly, and so I know it's possible to hit it cleaner than this.
Max Boucoiran-pdx symple whirl- my god that is a hard move. That is sooooo hard.
Big big props on this. The window and timing involved are sooo weird. This is a top candidate as well.
Max Jaeger-Blurry Drifter- looked clean and a cool trick. Well done. Not hard enough to contend really.
Michal Biarda-spinning merkon- Oh yeah! Very cool. I especially liked that you didn't set about your head height, and still managed a very controlled double spin. Excellent, and very hard. great entry.
Nic Bathgate-fairy double pickup- hard to see the double pick up dexes cleanly. That hurts you. Hard trick, but not 100% sure about the cleanliness. Points for originality.
Shota Nakano-fairy ducking osis- I think the fairy was thin, and the osis at the end should have been followed through more on. Good try, but I don't think it was clean enough.
Toby Suggate-reverse swirling pickup- Not a very hard trick, but you executed it super deep, super clean. Original, and clean. Very very nice entry!
Tony Whitney-Spinning Whirl- I think you set this too high. Not a very clear look at the whirl either. I'd have trouble giving this full credit from this angle. You do get points for the stylin headband though.
Cool, I finally finished. I'll take another look tomorrow and maybe change some thoughts or put up a rough ranking, but for now I thought I'd give my impressions after 3 viewings (more in some cases).
Good work gentlemen.
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Ben Adler for the awesome Intermediate Competition Intro!
