We tell stories of the greatest gap ever jumped all the time. Was it the Gonzollie? Frankie hill’s playground hammer? Jamie Thomas at Remac arena? Half the stuff Cardiel did?

Here’s the latest fish story with video to back it up of Aaron “JAWS” Homoki carving his name in the history books.

In the wake of the massive earthquake in New Zealand, the skaters there have some ready made natural terrain to get down on. Here is a great clip of some of the possibilities.

I’ll be keeping an eye on Status Kobe for clips from Japan in the aftermath of the tragedy there.

Leave it to skaters to find hope and beauty amongst so much pain.

Watching this clip I am reminded of the old Bones Brigade days when the most important part of a session was having fun. The focus on progression in the last ten years has taken some of the fun out.

Enjoy:

This is awesome. Mongo Foot Disorder is sweeping the nation. I’m seeing more and more infected kids at the skatepark every week.

HT // Skateboard Mag

There’s a good chance you’ve seen this video…or some of the hits in it.

Sometime you just want to quit when you see guys dropping tre flips over gaps you couldn’t ollie if you were towed into it.

But alas…you just let it stoke you.

I had a weird experience the other day. I was skating for a film crew of non-skaters and it was weird. I’m pretty sure it was the first time I was being intentionally filmed by outsiders.

It was weird.

When you’re being filmed by a skater then you trust that they understand what a good trick looks like and what doesn’t. I can’t say the same for the people that were shooting me last week.

I don’t have anything profound to say about the experience other than to say that it was awkward and maybe next time I’ll be prepared and I will skate better.

The first two days of a hipper don’t look as cool as when the bruising starts to surface at four days.

I’ve had my fair share of slams from the ‘I’m just tooling around in the drive way and hit a pebble’ to the epic ‘everyone watching holds their breath and reaches for their cell phone’ …and everything in between.

My best piece of work was the broken elbow that required a couple surgeries and some metal. Thanks Dr. Tradonsky!

But what has to be my favorite skateboard injury is the hipper. You know, when you slam onto flat ground on your hip. Usually from a frontside grind of some kind that just got hung up and you were totally committed and WHAM! Hip meets concrete.

First Degree Hipper

Solid slam from …say… the 12″ flat bar at your local park. It gives you a good sting and it takes a second to catch your breath. Within minutes you are back at it and skating as if nothing is wrong. You wake up the next day to a stiff hip and a little pain that you walk off in the first couple hours of the day. No worries.

Second Degree Hipper

Now we’re talking about a pretty legit slam. Probably from hanging up on a hand rail and getting sent to the ground and crumpled up like a rag doll. No sliding to spread out the energy of the fall. The other place you get these is on the hip or pyramid at your skatepark. You go huge and case it on the top and at the same second get the nastiest wheel bite and get sent straight to the flat. Depending on how hot the concrete/asphalt is, you will lay on the ground and try not to cry for as long as your crew will let you. If you’re in the way of an epic rail session, drag your ass out of the way so your boys can get on with the session before you kill the vibe. You’re probably done for the day…unless you’re Chris Cole.

The result of a second degree hipper is at least one night of bad sleep because every time you roll over on the bad hip you wake up from a nightmare that involves secret CIA hip torture techniques. There is a formula for age here: in your teens you will have one bad night; in your twenties you will have two; thirties three and so on.

Third Degree Hipper

Rarely does a third degree hipper happen on a perfectly uninjured hip. This bad boy is the result of taking a hipper on an existing hipper. Unless you are lubricated by some chemicals it will probably bring some tears to your eyes. Even two first degree hippers will add up to a third degree.

The first thing that happens is muscle cramps in the other leg from limping around like an idiot for a week. Every time you try and leave a store, you’re going to get tackled by security because it looks like your’re smuggling stuff in your pants next to your hip. Sitting on the toilet hurts for about a week. The worst part is that your wife (substitute significant other or parents depending on your situation) will have all the juice she needs to make her case for the fact that you should quit skating and get on with more age appropriate activities.

Hippers suck…i speak from experience because not two hours ago I acquired a third degree hipper and it looks like someone stuck a breast implant under my skin.

This sucks.

They way I see it there are three schools of style in skateboarding and all other styles are merely derivatives of these. I don’t really have names for them so I name them after the skater who I think best fits it. I’ll try not to pick too old of skaters nor too young so as to keep it some what timeless.

Tom Penny
Clean. This style is clearly the favorite of the up and coming skaters I see on the streets today. Tom seems to not care that he is skating. Almost a; “this is too easy” vibe. (See also: Paul Rodriguez, Deawon Song,  Eric Koston)

Tom Penny Flip Extremely Sorry from redecobox on Vimeo.

Mark Gonzales
Art. It’s almost as if every turn and trick is a brush stroke in the mind of the rider and nobody did it better than the Gonz. (see also: Tony Alva, Tony Trujillo)

Jamie Thomas
Aggressive.  Cats that lean toward this style almost appear mad at the terrain and they want to punish it and dominate it. Brutal and rough. (see also: Pat Duffy, Mike Vallely)

This is sick. Steve Berra and some cats from Mexico skate all over Mexico City while on fire. When we lit things and ourselves on fire and tried to skate as kids, it didn’t look this beautiful. The short was made for Burn Energy drink from what I can tell.