1. Don’t interrupt the guy you’re interviewing.

2. Ask one question at a time.

3. Ask open-ended questions (How did you feel when such and such happened?) not yes/no questions (Wasn’t that great when such and such happened? Answer: Yes, Result = Boring).

4. Take it easy. We all love Matt Hensley, and it’s fun to see that Pat feels the same way about Matt as I do, but I really am more interested in what Matt has to say about Matt than in hearing Pat get so excited about talking about Matt.

5. Watch O’Dell. He does a great job on the interviews.

6. Don’t touch your cell phone when someone’s answering your question.

Good luck Pat, we love you and pray for your success as an interviewer.

Plan B has done a good job releasing clips and promo videos, and the second Plan B promo video is pretty darn amazing. In fact, it wouldn’t have taken too much more work to make it a full-length vid, but whatever.

So click on the video on the right to go to the Plan B site and watch it. And yes, that is Danny Way doing a 360 flip over Burnquists mega ramp. No hands, ma. You’ll flip when you see it. Sheckler’s part is pretty incredible too. No matter what you think of the guy you can’t deny he’s an amazing skater.

For example, the Supra podcast came out in May 2006. Since then, there have been a total of six podcasts released or an average of three per year. The KR3W podcast has done only slightly better, releasing eight podcasts since December of ’06.

Girl/Lakai/Chocolate have been doing a good job of posting regular content, although they just barely started so we’ll see how they hold up. The same goes for The Skateboard Mag podcast. Don’t let me down guys.

There are a few standouts in the crowd. Podium (DVS/Matix), Blackbox (Zero/Fallen/Mystery), Strange Notes, Zoo York, Element, and Blueprint all do a good job of releasing new and unique content. Props go to Zoo and Element for releasing large, high-quality video rather than tiny, fuzzy stuff with frames missing. But my favorite overall is probably Blackbox due to the quality of video and the quality of the content itself. No surprises there, since Jamie is one of the best skater/businessmen in the industry.

Hopefully we’ll see the laggards taking tips from the leaders in this area with more high-def, more frequent posts, and some quality skating.

If you’ve been watching the video clips from the Habitat field log then you already knew good things were on the way but of course the real video is a lot better than the throw away clips you saw there. The video opens with Silas Baxter Neal who is, of course, the new superstar on Habitat and he doesn’t disappoint. The guy has a super solid style and if you’ve read any of his interview you know that he’s just a relaxed guy who doesn’t seem to care all that much about the hype that often surrounds skateboarding, he’s just having a good time, and that’s how he looks when he skates. Except that he’s having a REALLY good time, and he does it with speed. Check the fakie tre flip over the gap at the end. I’d bet good money nobody’s done that trick going that fast.

I remember several years ago when Danny Garcia still wore baggy pants somebody said something about how massive his thighs were. He was known as a “strength” skater because he looked kind of buff and tough. But he looks pretty slim in those tight black jeans and v-necks. Style for days. Anybody know why he left Lakai? His part’s so good though I wonder what footage he would have had in that video.

Ok, some of the other highlights now, because I don’t have all day to write about this. Austyn Gillette is one of the little tykes who is simply amazing. He skates like an established pro…wait, like an established am, which means better than an established pro since everyone knows established pros are about three levels down from a hungry am. This kid has some tricks in his bag that will definitely surprise you and he does them with confidence and style beyond his years.

Guru’s good, Tim’s always good, Ed Selego is always solid but never seems to have very many tricks or very many impressive tricks…not sure what’s up there, I wouldn’t mind seeing about four times the footage. I mean, some of the tricks are great but a lot of his stuff is kind of…well, just ok, but not great.

The big surprise for me was Steve Durante. Maybe I’ve been in a cave, but I’ve never heard of the guy before and his part is amazing. Super good style, amazing pop, and some crazy tricks I’ve never seen before. Where’d this guy come from?

I wish Kerry Getz had more mini ramp footage. I can never get enough of mini footage, and Kerry pulls out a number of tricks that would make Daewon proud.

Raymond Molinar is spot on, and then of course Stefan has the ender and deserves it. The guy is one of the few pros who is truly innovating these days. His lazy style makes tricks look a lot easier than they really are. Check the switch backside 180 over the driveway gap. He looks all lazy and slow but once his board touches the ground and grips it you can tell all of a sudden that he’s haulin’.

I’m not going to spoil it for you, and I don’t think I can overhype how amazing the opening credits are. I had no idea something like that was coming, and I have no idea how they did it all without everyone getting killed. I’ll just give you one word–explosions.

As I was saying, Mike Mo is amazing. I mean seriously amazing. I don’t remember the last time I felt this way about a video part. It was mind boggling. After that people could do amazing tricks and all I could think was “Yeah, there’s a part of my brain that is saying that this is amazing too, but it’s not Mo-amazing.”

The disappointments for me were:

- Koston’s part seemed short to me, but hey, he hasn’t been on the team all that long. Still, I think he could have produced some more footy.

- Welsh, Johnston, and Lenoce…c’mon guys, I mean, what are you saving your footage for, or do you just not have any? The last full part Welsh had that I know of was a few years ago in that Transworld video, Johnston hasn’t had a full part since he was on Mad Circle, and Lenoce has never had a full part that I know of. We know you guys are good–it’s not that we’re doubting it, we just want to see what you’re doing.

I have to admit I actually haven’t seen the end of the video yet, meaning the end of Mariano’s part and Marc Johnson’s part, let alone the extras. I loaned it to a friend because I’ve got too much work to do right now anyway. But if this video had nothing else on it but Mike Mo’s part it’d be worth $50, easy.

The only problem is half the tricks I’ve never seen before, and they’re getting harder and harder to describe. Nollie heelflip bigspin to backside noseblunt to backside revert in? Switch 540 bigspin? Switch manual to switch laser-flip out? Ok, that one wasn’t that bad, but then there’s the nollie 540 heelflip bigspin? Ugh. Trust me, I’m not even giving away 10% of the crazy tricks he does.

And then there are the other parts. Shane Cross, Jake Duncombe, Appleyard, and others all have some killer footage. Look at the size of the rail little Mister Gonzalez 50-50s.

Definitely worth the price, and then some.

Can anyone say Carlsbad gap double-flip? Dang, dang.

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Ok, I’ve had a chance to watch some more of it, and it doesn’t disappoint. Well, I wish the Lopez/Durrant/James part was a little longer, especially Durrant. That guy has styles for miles. But then bang! Who’s this Crockett kid? Man, that guy is simply amazing. Incredible pop, style, and dang, some good tricks.

I’ve been a bit worried about Ryan Smith lately, you know, wondering how he’s doing, cause I just haven’t seen much from him for a while, and while his part didn’t blow me away the way Crockett or Carlin’s did, it was still nothing to sneeze at. He does the longest switch front board on a rail I’ve ever seen.

This video represents Lindsay Robertson’s first part without a single heelflip in it. Just kidding, he does a bunch, including a really big one for his ender.

Dan Murphy has been one of my favorites for the last year or so ever since I saw the Mystery promo and he’s got some incredible stuff. It’s great how his dog cheers him after he lands a huge switch front flip. Murphy has a weird yet stylish way of doing some of his tricks that makes him look regular footed even though he’s goofy. For example, his nollie 180 down a set of stairs looks like a half-cab, his nollie flip down another set looks like a fakie flip, etc.

Oh, and yes, the entire vid is in black and white. And all the music is oldies, at least if you include ODB as being oldies.

Buy it at Unicron.net.

Now if you’re going to ask why, it’s just that the first time I watched it I kept thinking “Haven’t I already seen this footage?” Trust me, I don’t even watch a ton of videos…well ok, I guess I do, but my point is that if a new video comes out and I’ve already seen half the footy, what’s the point of buying it?

Sure, Silas, Dan Murphy, and Tommy Sandoval have back to back parts that are quite nice, albeit short, but the rest of it is tour footage, and we all know that tour footage is generally sub-par, which is why it ends up in 411vm or on free DVDs that come in The Skateboard Mag.

Worth watching once or twice at a friend’s house? Sure, but let your rich friend’s parents buy it.

That said, I love Krux. Don’t hate me guys. I just was expecting more from the video.