Slap MessageBoards
Skateboarding => PHOTOS/VIDEO => Topic started by: Cuban_Lynx on December 10, 2020, 02:38:08 PM
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Trailer up on LotsOfConcerns.com (http://LotsOfConcerns.com) now.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CIolfs7Hb-P/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
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Can’t wait.
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Content overload today.
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I can wait.
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From the website:
"Jim Greco stars in a short skateboard film set in modern day Los Angeles and filmed on location at Fletcher Bowron Square.
Genre: Docufiction / Conceptual Documentary
Short Film
Run Time: 10 Mins 40 Secs
Producer: Lots Of Concerns Inc
Starring: Jim Greco, Skrewball, Daylight Speed Brigaider, and Fastman
Cinematography: Joey Sinko
Director, Editor, Creative Director, Writer, Soundtrack Supervisor: Jim Greco"
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Director, Editor, Creative Director, Writer, Soundtrack Supervisor: Jim Greco"
Jim Greco Films presents, a film by Jim Greco about Jim Greco, starring Jim Greco.
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Trailer didn’t excite me but I really like his other videos so I’m sure this will be good too. Glad his spine isn’t demolished.
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lotsofconcerns lmao
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The true last-minute SOTY push.
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I really like his other videos
Videos?! These are films, you fucking philistine! James Greco is an auteur.
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I really like his other videos
Videos?! These are films, you fucking philistine! James Greco is an auteur.
[/quote
Videos?! Never!
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This will no doubt be amazing, stoked for some cinematic beauty and soundtrack, skating is secondary for me in Jim's films.
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The true last-minute SOTY push.
Gold
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I need it now.
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The true last-minute SOTY push.
ham.mers
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neck tat
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I want to see him skate with Penny again. Seeing them cruise around together in Jobs?, Never! was beautiful.
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I enjoyed the other ones he released, so can't wait
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This is cool... I was under the impression he wasn't skating anymore after his back injury.
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I like watching Jimmy footage at those brick banks in LA- he will, no doubt choose good music and fashion. It is a formula at this point but it will be worth 10 mins of my precious day as I try not think about real world shit. Scorsese Greco is OK with me.
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will he be able to one up porkchop? that's a high bar to clear
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Director, Editor, Creative Director, Writer, Soundtrack Supervisor: Jim Greco"
Jim Greco Films presents, a film by Jim Greco about Jim Greco, starring Jim Greco.
filmed on location in his neighborhood
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shoulda called it Ass Carousel
that would be funny
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fuck ya, all the other stuff's been good. wonder who will make cameos in this one. i'm not sure that first clip fit in with the rest of them as a whole, though, but whatever it's just a trailer. also excited for lotsofcolors.
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From the website:
"Jim Greco stars in a short skateboard film set in modern day Los Angeles and filmed on location at Fletcher Bowron Square.
Genre: Docufiction / Conceptual Documentary
Short Film
Run Time: 10 Mins 40 Secs
Producer: Lots Of Concerns Inc
Starring: Jim Greco, Skrewball, Daylight Speed Brigaider, and Fastman
Cinematography: Joey Sinko
Director, Editor, Creative Director, Writer, Soundtrack Supervisor: Jim Greco"
I like Greco's skating and all but he is so far up his own ass with this kind of shit.
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36 waist lol
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Depressed pizza and a coke was great, pork chop and coffee after a whore's bath in a Vietnamese restaurant bathroom was exquisite, I can't fucking wait for this.
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I like watching Jimmy footage at those brick banks in LA- he will, no doubt choose good music and fashion. It is a formula at this point but it will be worth 10 mins of my precious day as I try not think about real world shit. Scorsese Greco is OK with me.
Vincent Gallo Greco*
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Well, Jimmy’s very unusual
Jimmy doesn’t like misunderstandings
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i would dummy that spot
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36 waist lol
Yo he might just have a big butt.
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Trailer? Boring.
Greco’s wannabe 70s Hollywood vibe? Slightly cringe.
But it doesn’t matter, I actually enjoy watching old man Greco skate way more than I ever liked his young hammer clips. Much more relatable, and always nice to see someone actually push, actually try stuff a few times. Way less ADHD than the usual skate editing, and a much truer representation of “real” skateboarding.
Btw I was on a flight from NY to LA with Greco one time. He was surprisingly short (like so many pros) and dressed like a 70s pimp.
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That underground strip mall by city hall was creepy even during non-COVID times.
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https://youtu.be/R7W0q5jRWYQ
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The filming was really bad.
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(https://i.imgur.com/tNWO9iX.png)
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That was fucking perfect. Shaky filling and all. That felt like 50% of my skate sessions since the pandemic. Just you and people who are trying to survive among the remains of a decaying city. I love Jimmy Gallo. Fuck yeah.
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The filming was really bad.
There was a couple of nicely framed shots (I really liked this one with the railing and the Cadillac), but imagine if the lines were filmed at least somewhat properly.
(https://i.imgur.com/zhLsAgP.png)
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So we're still just filming homeless people for b-roll huh?
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That was fucking perfect. Shaky filling and all. That felt like 50% of my skate sessions since the pandemic. Just you and people who are trying to survive among the remains of a decaying city. I love Jimmy Gallo. Fuck yeah.
same
watched it twice already and will continue to watch many more times. short and sweet.
I like how it wasn't released on thrasher. hopefully Jim adds his past films to his channel in the near future
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Some cool ledge lines.
It just doesn't hit the same without him eating food though.
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fuck it that was awesome
still the king of the back 3
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I kept thinking this is what it would be like if Bukowski skated.
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Some cool ledge lines.
That long pupecki grind caught me off guardfuck it that was awesome
still the king of the back 3
Up there with fowler and dill
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I loved it.
A great addition to the series with The Way Out, Year 13, and Jobs? Never!!
I thought it looked gorgeous. I suppose the cinematography could've been a bit more intentional, considering this was filmed in HD digital (Panasonic AF-100) and then printed to 35mm film, but I didn't go into this expecting normal skate video angles. I also liked the sound a lot. As pretentious as the credits and production company is an all that, I fully am on board with Jim doing something different.
Then again, I went to film school so I might have a higher tolerance for this kind of stuff.
I just wish Jim could toss a couple of tricks to Deathwish and keep a toe in that pond as well. It wouldn't interfere with these projects, and he obviously still has the skate chops.
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https://youtu.be/R7W0q5jRWYQ
this gave me so much anxiety to watch
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front blunt across bricks is like some bucket list shit
i loved it and didnt want it to end
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Damn. Not an easy spot to skate. I wonder how long it took to film all of this. Does he wear the same clothes every day for months to skate or does he bang this out all in one weekend and go back into whatever he does?
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Greco skating to Jazz music is a great combination
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skating was cool but the audio was just terrible
also homeless people shots
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Everything about that screams I want to a film a part like Gonz would. Jazz even. Coincidence. Nah. 270 tailslide at EMB was insane I give him that.
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"we need some b roll to fill some time"
"just film some homeless people smoking crack, the kids loved it in baker 3"
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With all the shit Greco has been through you think he’d be a little more compassionate to people battling addiction
Also shaky cam made this unwatchable I am not sure how everyone else got through this without scrambling their brain
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Thought those homeless clips were to give context to that downtown spot and location. Felt really desolate, consistent throughout. With the audio, him alone in all of the clips, the rattle of the wheels, etc. even the color was colder and more blue.
Really cool skating, glad to see he’s still at it. Nice clips. And still felt skating-covid-relatable with all that being said.
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With all the shit Greco has been through you think he’d be a little more compassionate to people battling addiction
Also shaky cam made this unwatchable I am not sure how everyone else got through this without scrambling their brain
I didn't see those clips as exploitative or distasteful just reality.
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Too many 360 flips but liked it otherwise but not as much as his previous projects. Grinding bricks is amazing skate porn. The homeless filming didn't seem too exploitative - more contextual than gratuitous - but opinions may differ on that.
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He better account for depreciation on those pantalones he's trying to sell.
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Thought those homeless clips were to give context to that downtown spot and location. Felt really desolate, consistent throughout.
Yep.
Too many 360 flips
Noooo! There were only 2 and they were great.
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i feel like filming homeless people, regardless if it’s for “vibe” or not is too played out to be an artistic choice. if you’re trying to show how jacked and desolate the spot is, the shot of the house-like garbage and some shots of the environment would do it. a 30 second clip of someone smoking crack not knowing they’re being filmed just feels callous
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Grecs flowing
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Everything about that screams I want to a film a part like Gonz would. Jazz even. Coincidence. Nah. 270 tailslide at EMB was insane I give him that.
(https://external-preview.redd.it/x2_obnyI-xuEMisQnPW1pJXmIYldsO93two6WFjjdT4.jpg?auto=webp&s=b23a146cef56130036b91922c62ea766f020294c)
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Those tricks were fucking insane. I'm bout to jump on skater xl and duplicate all of this
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Kickflip pivot and backside flip on the tight wall were sick.
As mentioned, the filming was extremely shaky.
Do homeless people smoke crack or meth in LA?
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you'll cowards don't even smoke crack
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He was ripping that's for sure - if anyone's going to film like this - I'm glad it's Jim.
For what it's worth, I feel like the homeless shots were justified by the fact they almost got jumped in one shot, plus it's definitely a reality of the environment they were filming in. I remember walking around that courthouse area of LA as a tourist and being genuinely confronted by the homeless situation.
They were hardly playing it for laughs like in Baker 3...
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That was great. This current Greco is my favorite one. The Stereo A Visual Sound influence was heavy and thick and perfect. I don't know a lot about cinematography but the camerawork was interesting. Kind of attractive and uncomfortable. The brick grind sounds were beautiful. The constant surface sounds worked really well with the music and the impression of the repeated lines/attempts was exciting and exhausting. I never knew he had such a nice 360 flip.
I hope Greco keeps working with Joey Sinko on these films.
I understand that filming homeless people and addicts for one's own art or gain is often inappropriate but for whatever reason I feel that the people featured in Glass Carousel were integrated into the story naturally. The interactions felt authentic or were showcased as sharing the environment with Greco and it added tension. The place and the people seemed as important and nuanced as the skater. I also get why someone would see it as disrespectful.
Way to knock it out of the park, Jimbo <3
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This is the best Greco. Incredible skating. I don't mind the shakiness at all. Filming homeless people is questionable even if it serves as a depiction of reality. Those people are in extremely vulnerable situations and I doubt they asked. Great film though and it's crazy to see him go for it after that back injury.
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Loved this. What do you do when the world is falling apart? You go skate. Greco knows.
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Overall it was good especially the skating, and I liked that it loosely followed the other "films" but didn't repeat itself.
Only bad point was the audio, it seemed like a rookie mistake to me. Maybe it was intentional...
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In so far as this was basically a 10 minute long, slightly awkwardly filmed part from Greco on his home turf, I loved it. He still back tailed that tight quarter like a boss and as everyone said still has the best bs 360s.
The skate sound also went extremely well with Bitches Brew and especially Pharao's dance. I'd sort of been waiting for someone to use that era of Miles in skate videos, that was just awesome to listen to.
As far as the whole "I'm an artist" thing goes, I'm more than willing to accept it as long as it keeps him producing footage. Can we somehow convince Rickk, Carrol or Gino to become "cinematic artists" as well?
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Everything about that screams I want to a film a part like Gonz would. Jazz even. Coincidence. Nah. 270 tailslide at EMB was insane I give him that.
Greco is way cooler than that adult baby.
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That was greco.
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Everything about that screams I want to a film a part like Gonz would. Jazz even. Coincidence. Nah. 270 tailslide at EMB was insane I give him that.
(https://external-preview.redd.it/x2_obnyI-xuEMisQnPW1pJXmIYldsO93two6WFjjdT4.jpg?auto=webp&s=b23a146cef56130036b91922c62ea766f020294c)
muddy
Must have saw tall ledge and red ground and mistaken it. Sick regardless.
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I loved it. I'm not saying it was executed terribly well as a "film", or even a skate vid, but it felt haphazard and thrown together in a way that feels genuine to his personality, and like others have said, it felt authentic to going skating by yourself in COVIDays
But really, it's mainly that his skating is just so damn good. 42 years old, arguably more stylish than ever. I could give a shit if it's 100% low impact, this is the kinda shit i like to watch, and I will gladly suffer the nausea from shaky cam that comes with it
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I thought it was excellent. I have enjoyed all of his films but this was my favorite. I felt like that was showcasing the homeless situation in reality vs some AH style exploitation with Gerwer kickflipping over someone against their wishes. Greco rips and am glad to see him back after a back injury. Trick selection was outstanding.
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Absolutely fucked shit up in this, plus he looks cool. He's the best of old Baker dudes, kinda don't think it's even close.
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I enjoyed the skating.
Do not feel like he wears waist 36. I wear 34 and I need to lose some quarantine weight
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At first with the long scene and shaky filming (only time I noticed it) up the stairs. I was like man come on. But after that it was like non stop amazing skating. The 270 tail?! I need to rewatch the whole thing to really digest everything. I personally didn’t take the homeless shots as distasteful. But this is the environment. Low impact but maybe still dangerous kind of vibe.
Also what is a pupecki grind?
Edit: I googled.
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I enjoyed the skating.
Do not feel like he wears waist 36. I wear 34 and I need to lose some quarantine weight
Most of those polyester Sta-Prest pants have shrunk by 30% since 1978 and they’re also from the time when companies didn’t do vanity sizing so guys could feel good about wearing the same size since high school.
That said, Jim’s in his early 40s so boredom-eating Office Dad could be the next evolution.
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This was most excellent. I really like Greco and his interpretation of skating, it’s super refreshing and so clear how much he loves the act of skating itself, super inspiring. As numerous others have said, none of that footage felt exploitative to me; they’re just skating gnarly spots in gnarly environments. Life is very raw, especially right now. Plus it’s a nice juxtaposition with his sobriety which was explored in his previous films. Those decks look dope too.
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He was ripping that's for sure - if anyone's going to film like this - I'm glad it's Jim.
For what it's worth, I feel like the homeless shots were justified by the fact they almost got jumped in one shot, plus it's definitely a reality of the environment they were filming in. I remember walking around that courthouse area of LA as a tourist and being genuinely confronted by the homeless situation.
They were hardly playing it for laughs like in Baker 3...
It's not really a chicken or the egg thing here; they were bothering someone who was having a tough time and he reacted. I liked the video fine but putting stuff like that in is tasteless and indefensible. Not to mention played out as fuck if we're really gonna get into the artistic integrity of it.
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what is this spot? I thought it was LA City Hall but google is telling me different
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Wasn't bothered with the shots of homeless people, it's not like he's punching down, he's just pushing around.
And I guess it fit well with the empty mall in the beginning.
Love how high he can pop a back 3, and those back 180 fakie 5s were the cat's meow
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That was fucking perfect. Shaky filling and all. That felt like 50% of my skate sessions since the pandemic. Just you and people who are trying to survive among the remains of a decaying city. I love Jimmy Gallo. Fuck yeah.
watched it twice already and will continue to watch many more times. short and sweet.
I like how it wasn't released on thrasher. hopefully Jim adds his past films to his channel in the near future
Weird how I will be re-watching this multiple times while most peoples parts ill watch once....been on a heavy miles davis kick lately loved how it was the background music
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He was ripping that's for sure - if anyone's going to film like this - I'm glad it's Jim.
For what it's worth, I feel like the homeless shots were justified by the fact they almost got jumped in one shot, plus it's definitely a reality of the environment they were filming in. I remember walking around that courthouse area of LA as a tourist and being genuinely confronted by the homeless situation.
They were hardly playing it for laughs like in Baker 3...
It's not really a chicken or the egg thing here; they were bothering someone who was having a tough time and he reacted. I liked the video fine but putting stuff like that in is tasteless and indefensible. Not to mention played out as fuck if we're really gonna get into the artistic integrity of it.
This. I really liked the skate footage but it personally bothers me to see the camera invading the lives of others who are less fortunate. Doesn’t make me stoked on Greco’s companies or products.
I was surprised to see all those small brick natty quarts though, of course I’ve seen the bigger ones but never those smaller ones lining the street. They look fun, probably very hard to skate.
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It’s not tasteless y’all. It’s worse to be skating spots like that and completely ignore the surroundings as if no one is suffering right now; literally the entire planet is fucked. It’s like a gross whitewash/visual gentrification to pretend people aren’t camped out there smoking rock in the middle of the day when that’s the stone cold reality. Skateboarding is a part of street culture, just like graffiti, and yes homelessness. Street skating videos are just that, a documentation of street culture. He’s providing visibility to the social underbelly everyone chooses to disregard like trash, and in turn sparking a conversation about how fucked it all is. It’s good that these images upset you, they should be upsetting, but it’s shortsighted to say it’s tasteless or indefensible. I also want to be explicitly clear that it is extremely easy to completely exploit homelessness in skate videos and it happens regularly, but this ain’t it. Go scold GX for vollies instead.
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Like others said. His style is better now than ever.
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It’s not tasteless y’all. It’s worse to be skating spots like that and completely ignore the surroundings as if no one is suffering right now; literally the entire planet is fucked. It’s like a gross whitewash/visual gentrification to pretend people aren’t camped out there smoking rock in the middle of the day when that’s the stone cold reality. Skateboarding is a part of street culture, just like graffiti, and yes homelessness. Street skating videos are just that, a documentation of street culture. He’s providing visibility to the social underbelly everyone chooses to disregard like trash, and in turn sparking a conversation about how fucked it all is. It’s good that these images upset you, they should be upsetting, but it’s shortsighted to say it’s tasteless or indefensible. I also want to be explicitly clear that it is extremely easy to completely exploit homelessness in skate videos and it happens regularly, but this ain’t it. Go scold GX for vollies instead.
Yes, it is.
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that clip was somehow everything at once and even though some shit bugged me, those 11 minutes flew by like nothing
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Some of the skating was good. Wasn't a fan of the shaky filming, the powell magic, and filming the homeless. This was just ego masquerading as art.
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It’s not tasteless y’all. It’s worse to be skating spots like that and completely ignore the surroundings as if no one is suffering right now; literally the entire planet is fucked. It’s like a gross whitewash/visual gentrification to pretend people aren’t camped out there smoking rock in the middle of the day when that’s the stone cold reality. Skateboarding is a part of street culture, just like graffiti, and yes homelessness. Street skating videos are just that, a documentation of street culture. He’s providing visibility to the social underbelly everyone chooses to disregard like trash, and in turn sparking a conversation about how fucked it all is. It’s good that these images upset you, they should be upsetting, but it’s shortsighted to say it’s tasteless or indefensible. I also want to be explicitly clear that it is extremely easy to completely exploit homelessness in skate videos and it happens regularly, but this ain’t it. Go scold GX for vollies instead.
How?
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It’s not tasteless y’all. It’s worse to be skating spots like that and completely ignore the surroundings as if no one is suffering right now; literally the entire planet is fucked. It’s like a gross whitewash/visual gentrification to pretend people aren’t camped out there smoking rock in the middle of the day when that’s the stone cold reality. Skateboarding is a part of street culture, just like graffiti, and yes homelessness. Street skating videos are just that, a documentation of street culture. He’s providing visibility to the social underbelly everyone chooses to disregard like trash, and in turn sparking a conversation about how fucked it all is. It’s good that these images upset you, they should be upsetting, but it’s shortsighted to say it’s tasteless or indefensible. I also want to be explicitly clear that it is extremely easy to completely exploit homelessness in skate videos and it happens regularly, but this ain’t it. Go scold GX for vollies instead.
How?
Better question: how is it not?
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It’s not tasteless y’all. It’s worse to be skating spots like that and completely ignore the surroundings as if no one is suffering right now; literally the entire planet is fucked. It’s like a gross whitewash/visual gentrification to pretend people aren’t camped out there smoking rock in the middle of the day when that’s the stone cold reality. Skateboarding is a part of street culture, just like graffiti, and yes homelessness. Street skating videos are just that, a documentation of street culture. He’s providing visibility to the social underbelly everyone chooses to disregard like trash, and in turn sparking a conversation about how fucked it all is. It’s good that these images upset you, they should be upsetting, but it’s shortsighted to say it’s tasteless or indefensible. I also want to be explicitly clear that it is extremely easy to completely exploit homelessness in skate videos and it happens regularly, but this ain’t it. Go scold GX for vollies instead.
How?
"Stop filming me"
*keeps filming them*
c'mon.
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It’s not tasteless y’all. It’s worse to be skating spots like that and completely ignore the surroundings as if no one is suffering right now; literally the entire planet is fucked. It’s like a gross whitewash/visual gentrification to pretend people aren’t camped out there smoking rock in the middle of the day when that’s the stone cold reality. Skateboarding is a part of street culture, just like graffiti, and yes homelessness. Street skating videos are just that, a documentation of street culture. He’s providing visibility to the social underbelly everyone chooses to disregard like trash, and in turn sparking a conversation about how fucked it all is. It’s good that these images upset you, they should be upsetting, but it’s shortsighted to say it’s tasteless or indefensible. I also want to be explicitly clear that it is extremely easy to completely exploit homelessness in skate videos and it happens regularly, but this ain’t it. Go scold GX for vollies instead.
How?
I literally answered that in the post you quoted. So better question, dont deflect and explain how this is exploitative. And yes I’m aware we have had this exact debate already years ago and you took an L. People do it all the time in videos but this is not an example of it.
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It’s not tasteless y’all. It’s worse to be skating spots like that and completely ignore the surroundings as if no one is suffering right now; literally the entire planet is fucked. It’s like a gross whitewash/visual gentrification to pretend people aren’t camped out there smoking rock in the middle of the day when that’s the stone cold reality. Skateboarding is a part of street culture, just like graffiti, and yes homelessness. Street skating videos are just that, a documentation of street culture. He’s providing visibility to the social underbelly everyone chooses to disregard like trash, and in turn sparking a conversation about how fucked it all is. It’s good that these images upset you, they should be upsetting, but it’s shortsighted to say it’s tasteless or indefensible. I also want to be explicitly clear that it is extremely easy to completely exploit homelessness in skate videos and it happens regularly, but this ain’t it. Go scold GX for vollies instead.
How?
You literally did not. You just explained why you think it's so filming homelessness is so integral for a skate video, as if there's no other way to convey "the world is fucked and some people have it rough" than putting a human being's lowest moments on blast without their consent, then you said it's bad when some videos do it poorly, and then said this isn't it. You didn't explain what makes Jim Greco's video so overwhelmingly different, nor did you explain how these shots are not exploitative of the people being filmed.
Now, please explain why the exploitation of people without homes and people dealing with addiction is good when Jim Greco does it in this video, but why others who exploit these people with more or less the same tactics in other videos is bad. While you're at it, please explain what the overarching "message" of this video is that couldn't be properly conveyed without individual, identifying shots of homeless people shot without their consent.
I remember our conversation in the past and while I don't remember an outcome (because I'm not a nine year old who qualifies discussions as "Ws" or "Ls"), I see you certainly still think of yourself as the smartest person in the room at all times.
Edit: while we're at it, feel free to respond to @pizzafliptofakie's point as well.
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I'm backing Gonzgreco.
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Super subjective. I don't think there is really a way to convince each other whether this was homeless exploitation or not. Depends on your experience, comfort levels and interpretation. I don't think this is an argument that can be 'won.'
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Super subjective. I don't think there is really a way to convince each other whether this was homeless exploitation or not. Depends on your experience, comfort levels and interpretation. I don't think this is an argument that can be 'won.'
They were literally antagonizing a guy to the point where he had to chase them away. In what universe is that not exploitation?
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(https://i.imgur.com/glDltZE.gif)
There's something very decisive about the body language with the little lighter toss to thigh mount.
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It’s not tasteless y’all. It’s worse to be skating spots like that and completely ignore the surroundings as if no one is suffering right now; literally the entire planet is fucked. It’s like a gross whitewash/visual gentrification to pretend people aren’t camped out there smoking rock in the middle of the day when that’s the stone cold reality. Skateboarding is a part of street culture, just like graffiti, and yes homelessness. Street skating videos are just that, a documentation of street culture. He’s providing visibility to the social underbelly everyone chooses to disregard like trash, and in turn sparking a conversation about how fucked it all is. It’s good that these images upset you, they should be upsetting, but it’s shortsighted to say it’s tasteless or indefensible. I also want to be explicitly clear that it is extremely easy to completely exploit homelessness in skate videos and it happens regularly, but this ain’t it. Go scold GX for vollies instead.
How?
Now, please explain why the exploitation of people without homes and people dealing with addiction is good when Jim Greco does it in this video, but why others who exploit these people with more or less the same tactics in other videos is bad. While you're at it, please explain what the overarching "message" of this video is that couldn't be properly conveyed without individual, identifying shots of homeless people shot without their consent.
I remember our conversation in the past and while I don't remember an outcome (because I'm not a nine year old who qualifies discussions as "Ws" or "Ls"), I see you certainly still think of yourself as the smartest person in the room at all times.
Edit: while we're at it, feel free to respond to @pizzafliptofakie's point as well.
I absolutely don't think it's integral to film homeless people for a skate video and never said that. I have continually reiterated that most people do this very poorly but that does not mean that every single instance is shitty as you seem to think. There are numerous positive (as well as negative) examples of interacting with street people in almost every Sabotage and GX video for instance. Being out on the street and filming your surroundings and the general culture of the street isn't inherently exploitative. It's good it makes you uncomfortable, it should.
I am definitely not the smartest guy in the room but since you need someone to hold your hand through our pal Jimmy's oeuvre: in his fourth film well known recovering addict Jim Greco is skating a now abandoned mall due to the effects of a global pandemic and the failure of capitalism. Like his other flicks, the area he is skating is utterly fucking desolate coupled with the theme of addiction. I don't live in LA but I'd wager a guess since its a fucking mall on Main St in downtown surrounded by large buildings wheres CEO's commute to work in helicopters, this was once a bustling mecca of capital, but now its utterly overrun by homeless people, trash, addiction, mental health issues, disease, and likely more--he is skating a single spot and giving us a glimpse into the reality of that space, which is fucking BLEAK. Everything about this film is extremely jarring and in stark contrast what life in LA is presented to us through other forms of culture. It's far more offensive to not include that, it would whitewash the reality of existing in LA in 2020; a straight up visual gentrification. This is a skate video (documentary, really) about a specific spot in a very specific time and he's showing us what it looks like, which is important. Just the fact that I live in the woods of Massachusetts but have now spent over an hour watching and writing about homelessness on a skate forum is proving my point--he's sparking dialogue about how harsh reality is right now which is not something to be ignored. I'm not trying to be a smartass but it's also shallow/naive when people think every instance of documented homelessness in a skate video is negative, and also annoying to have to reiterate these same points years later.
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Super subjective. I don't think there is really a way to convince each other whether this was homeless exploitation or not. Depends on your experience, comfort levels and interpretation. I don't think this is an argument that can be 'won.'
They were literally antagonizing a guy to the point where he had to chase them away. In what universe is that not exploitation?
That's an assumption.
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Super subjective. I don't think there is really a way to convince each other whether this was homeless exploitation or not. Depends on your experience, comfort levels and interpretation. I don't think this is an argument that can be 'won.'
They were literally antagonizing a guy to the point where he had to chase them away. In what universe is that not exploitation?
No question thats the most (only, imo) questionable clip in the video. Dude says if you keep filming me I'll fucking kill you and then proceeds to try to attack them, but we also don't know what happened off camera. I didn't pick up on Greco or Sinko antagonizing him, kind of seemed like the opposite tbh, though I am not about to blame the dude. It's certainly not clear how that confrontation manifested, and I don't think it's exploitative to include an encounter with someone trying to assault you.
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It’s not tasteless y’all. It’s worse to be skating spots like that and completely ignore the surroundings as if no one is suffering right now; literally the entire planet is fucked. It’s like a gross whitewash/visual gentrification to pretend people aren’t camped out there smoking rock in the middle of the day when that’s the stone cold reality. Skateboarding is a part of street culture, just like graffiti, and yes homelessness. Street skating videos are just that, a documentation of street culture. He’s providing visibility to the social underbelly everyone chooses to disregard like trash, and in turn sparking a conversation about how fucked it all is. It’s good that these images upset you, they should be upsetting, but it’s shortsighted to say it’s tasteless or indefensible. I also want to be explicitly clear that it is extremely easy to completely exploit homelessness in skate videos and it happens regularly, but this ain’t it. Go scold GX for vollies instead.
How?
Now, please explain why the exploitation of people without homes and people dealing with addiction is good when Jim Greco does it in this video, but why others who exploit these people with more or less the same tactics in other videos is bad. While you're at it, please explain what the overarching "message" of this video is that couldn't be properly conveyed without individual, identifying shots of homeless people shot without their consent.
I remember our conversation in the past and while I don't remember an outcome (because I'm not a nine year old who qualifies discussions as "Ws" or "Ls"), I see you certainly still think of yourself as the smartest person in the room at all times.
Edit: while we're at it, feel free to respond to @pizzafliptofakie's point as well.
I absolutely don't think it's integral to film homeless people for a skate video and never said that. I have continually reiterated that most people do this very poorly but that does not mean that every single instance is shitty as you seem to think. There are numerous positive (as well as negative) examples of interacting with street people in almost every Sabotage and GX video for instance. Being out on the street and filming your surroundings and the general culture of the street isn't inherently exploitative. It's good it makes you uncomfortable, it should.
I am definitely not the smartest guy in the room but since you need someone to hold your hand through our pal Jimmy's oeuvre: in his fourth film well known recovering addict Jim Greco is skating a now abandoned mall due to the effects of a global pandemic and the failure of capitalism. Like his other flicks, the area he is skating is utterly fucking desolate coupled with the theme of addiction. I don't live in LA but I'd wager a guess since its a fucking mall on Main St in downtown surrounded by large buildings wheres CEO's commute to work in helicopters, this was once a bustling mecca of capital, but now its utterly overrun by homeless people, trash, addiction, mental health issues, disease, and likely more--he is skating a single spot and giving us a glimpse into the reality of that space, which is fucking BLEAK. Everything about this film is extremely jarring and in stark contrast what life in LA is presented to us through other forms of culture. It's far more offensive to not include that, it would whitewash the reality of existing in LA in 2020; a straight up visual gentrification. This is a skate video (documentary, really) about a specific spot in a very specific time and he's showing us what it looks like, which is important. Just the fact that I live in the woods of Massachusetts but have now spent over an hour watching and writing about homelessness on a skate forum is proving my point--he's sparking dialogue about how harsh reality is right now which is not something to be ignored. I'm not trying to be a smartass but it's also shallow/naive when people think every instance of documented homelessness in a skate video is negative, and also annoying to have to reiterate these same points years later.
Congrats, you didn't address any the points raised, but at least you didn't invoke Ocean Howell talking about coexisting with homeless people in these spaces as if coexisting and filming are the same thing. That's a start, I guess.
Also, many thanks for explaining for me that the groundbreaking fucking messages of this video film are "Los Angeles is vapid" and "2020 is bad." Can't believe this is the first time they've been explored in depth, I'm sure the dude smoking crack and the man visibly agitated at being filmed (among others) are thrilled to have their images shared in such revolutionary work.
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It’s not tasteless y’all. It’s worse to be skating spots like that and completely ignore the surroundings as if no one is suffering right now; literally the entire planet is fucked. It’s like a gross whitewash/visual gentrification to pretend people aren’t camped out there smoking rock in the middle of the day when that’s the stone cold reality. Skateboarding is a part of street culture, just like graffiti, and yes homelessness. Street skating videos are just that, a documentation of street culture. He’s providing visibility to the social underbelly everyone chooses to disregard like trash, and in turn sparking a conversation about how fucked it all is. It’s good that these images upset you, they should be upsetting, but it’s shortsighted to say it’s tasteless or indefensible. I also want to be explicitly clear that it is extremely easy to completely exploit homelessness in skate videos and it happens regularly, but this ain’t it. Go scold GX for vollies instead.
How?
Now, please explain why the exploitation of people without homes and people dealing with addiction is good when Jim Greco does it in this video, but why others who exploit these people with more or less the same tactics in other videos is bad. While you're at it, please explain what the overarching "message" of this video is that couldn't be properly conveyed without individual, identifying shots of homeless people shot without their consent.
I remember our conversation in the past and while I don't remember an outcome (because I'm not a nine year old who qualifies discussions as "Ws" or "Ls"), I see you certainly still think of yourself as the smartest person in the room at all times.
Edit: while we're at it, feel free to respond to @pizzafliptofakie's point as well.
I absolutely don't think it's integral to film homeless people for a skate video and never said that. I have continually reiterated that most people do this very poorly but that does not mean that every single instance is shitty as you seem to think. There are numerous positive (as well as negative) examples of interacting with street people in almost every Sabotage and GX video for instance. Being out on the street and filming your surroundings and the general culture of the street isn't inherently exploitative. It's good it makes you uncomfortable, it should.
I am definitely not the smartest guy in the room but since you need someone to hold your hand through our pal Jimmy's oeuvre: in his fourth film well known recovering addict Jim Greco is skating a now abandoned mall due to the effects of a global pandemic and the failure of capitalism. Like his other flicks, the area he is skating is utterly fucking desolate coupled with the theme of addiction. I don't live in LA but I'd wager a guess since its a fucking mall on Main St in downtown surrounded by large buildings wheres CEO's commute to work in helicopters, this was once a bustling mecca of capital, but now its utterly overrun by homeless people, trash, addiction, mental health issues, disease, and likely more--he is skating a single spot and giving us a glimpse into the reality of that space, which is fucking BLEAK. Everything about this film is extremely jarring and in stark contrast what life in LA is presented to us through other forms of culture. It's far more offensive to not include that, it would whitewash the reality of existing in LA in 2020; a straight up visual gentrification. This is a skate video (documentary, really) about a specific spot in a very specific time and he's showing us what it looks like, which is important. Just the fact that I live in the woods of Massachusetts but have now spent over an hour watching and writing about homelessness on a skate forum is proving my point--he's sparking dialogue about how harsh reality is right now which is not something to be ignored. I'm not trying to be a smartass but it's also shallow/naive when people think every instance of documented homelessness in a skate video is negative, and also annoying to have to reiterate these same points years later.
Also, many thanks for explaining for me that the groundbreaking fucking messages of this video film are "Los Angeles is vapid" and "2020 is bad." Can't believe this is the first time they've been explored in depth, I'm sure the dude smoking crack and the man visibly agitated at being filmed (among others) are thrilled to have their images shared in such revolutionary work.
Expert level cop out/deflection, sincerely impressed. Have a gnar heckler.
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I don't think the depictions were insensitive. People need to see that shit. And if you live in a big West Coast city, it is part of the experience if you are out in the streets skateboarding. I've worked with houseless young people for twenty years. Very little annoys me more than lack of compassion and understanding of how and why people are on the streets.
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It’s not tasteless y’all. It’s worse to be skating spots like that and completely ignore the surroundings as if no one is suffering right now; literally the entire planet is fucked. It’s like a gross whitewash/visual gentrification to pretend people aren’t camped out there smoking rock in the middle of the day when that’s the stone cold reality. Skateboarding is a part of street culture, just like graffiti, and yes homelessness. Street skating videos are just that, a documentation of street culture. He’s providing visibility to the social underbelly everyone chooses to disregard like trash, and in turn sparking a conversation about how fucked it all is. It’s good that these images upset you, they should be upsetting, but it’s shortsighted to say it’s tasteless or indefensible. I also want to be explicitly clear that it is extremely easy to completely exploit homelessness in skate videos and it happens regularly, but this ain’t it. Go scold GX for vollies instead.
How?
Now, please explain why the exploitation of people without homes and people dealing with addiction is good when Jim Greco does it in this video, but why others who exploit these people with more or less the same tactics in other videos is bad. While you're at it, please explain what the overarching "message" of this video is that couldn't be properly conveyed without individual, identifying shots of homeless people shot without their consent.
I remember our conversation in the past and while I don't remember an outcome (because I'm not a nine year old who qualifies discussions as "Ws" or "Ls"), I see you certainly still think of yourself as the smartest person in the room at all times.
Edit: while we're at it, feel free to respond to @pizzafliptofakie's point as well.
I absolutely don't think it's integral to film homeless people for a skate video and never said that. I have continually reiterated that most people do this very poorly but that does not mean that every single instance is shitty as you seem to think. There are numerous positive (as well as negative) examples of interacting with street people in almost every Sabotage and GX video for instance. Being out on the street and filming your surroundings and the general culture of the street isn't inherently exploitative. It's good it makes you uncomfortable, it should.
I am definitely not the smartest guy in the room but since you need someone to hold your hand through our pal Jimmy's oeuvre: in his fourth film well known recovering addict Jim Greco is skating a now abandoned mall due to the effects of a global pandemic and the failure of capitalism. Like his other flicks, the area he is skating is utterly fucking desolate coupled with the theme of addiction. I don't live in LA but I'd wager a guess since its a fucking mall on Main St in downtown surrounded by large buildings wheres CEO's commute to work in helicopters, this was once a bustling mecca of capital, but now its utterly overrun by homeless people, trash, addiction, mental health issues, disease, and likely more--he is skating a single spot and giving us a glimpse into the reality of that space, which is fucking BLEAK. Everything about this film is extremely jarring and in stark contrast what life in LA is presented to us through other forms of culture. It's far more offensive to not include that, it would whitewash the reality of existing in LA in 2020; a straight up visual gentrification. This is a skate video (documentary, really) about a specific spot in a very specific time and he's showing us what it looks like, which is important. Just the fact that I live in the woods of Massachusetts but have now spent over an hour watching and writing about homelessness on a skate forum is proving my point--he's sparking dialogue about how harsh reality is right now which is not something to be ignored. I'm not trying to be a smartass but it's also shallow/naive when people think every instance of documented homelessness in a skate video is negative, and also annoying to have to reiterate these same points years later.
Also, many thanks for explaining for me that the groundbreaking fucking messages of this video film are "Los Angeles is vapid" and "2020 is bad." Can't believe this is the first time they've been explored in depth, I'm sure the dude smoking crack and the man visibly agitated at being filmed (among others) are thrilled to have their images shared in such revolutionary work.
Expert level cop out/deflection, sincerely impressed. Have a gnar heckler.
Wow, I just realized you actually think you answered my questions. Wow. Just a heads up: you can convey the message of "this place is fucked up!" and "homelessness is rampant here" without showing an actual homeless person. Did you drop out after Film 101 or something?
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Even if it wasn't a homeless guy we were talking about, filming someone without their consent, being told to stop, and then continuing to do so is 100% antagonistic behavior. I am shocked that anyone would argue otherwise. Either way, I stand by it being a very trite artistic statement. It's been done to death and it isn't any sort of biting commentary on the status quo. And the fact that there is practically a library's worth of other examples of this within skateboarding media alone proves as such. This does nothing different other than put a fancy film filter over it.
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It’s not tasteless y’all. It’s worse to be skating spots like that and completely ignore the surroundings as if no one is suffering right now; literally the entire planet is fucked. It’s like a gross whitewash/visual gentrification to pretend people aren’t camped out there smoking rock in the middle of the day when that’s the stone cold reality. Skateboarding is a part of street culture, just like graffiti, and yes homelessness. Street skating videos are just that, a documentation of street culture. He’s providing visibility to the social underbelly everyone chooses to disregard like trash, and in turn sparking a conversation about how fucked it all is. It’s good that these images upset you, they should be upsetting, but it’s shortsighted to say it’s tasteless or indefensible. I also want to be explicitly clear that it is extremely easy to completely exploit homelessness in skate videos and it happens regularly, but this ain’t it. Go scold GX for vollies instead.
How?
Now, please explain why the exploitation of people without homes and people dealing with addiction is good when Jim Greco does it in this video, but why others who exploit these people with more or less the same tactics in other videos is bad. While you're at it, please explain what the overarching "message" of this video is that couldn't be properly conveyed without individual, identifying shots of homeless people shot without their consent.
I remember our conversation in the past and while I don't remember an outcome (because I'm not a nine year old who qualifies discussions as "Ws" or "Ls"), I see you certainly still think of yourself as the smartest person in the room at all times.
Edit: while we're at it, feel free to respond to @pizzafliptofakie's point as well.
I absolutely don't think it's integral to film homeless people for a skate video and never said that. I have continually reiterated that most people do this very poorly but that does not mean that every single instance is shitty as you seem to think. There are numerous positive (as well as negative) examples of interacting with street people in almost every Sabotage and GX video for instance. Being out on the street and filming your surroundings and the general culture of the street isn't inherently exploitative. It's good it makes you uncomfortable, it should.
I am definitely not the smartest guy in the room but since you need someone to hold your hand through our pal Jimmy's oeuvre: in his fourth film well known recovering addict Jim Greco is skating a now abandoned mall due to the effects of a global pandemic and the failure of capitalism. Like his other flicks, the area he is skating is utterly fucking desolate coupled with the theme of addiction. I don't live in LA but I'd wager a guess since its a fucking mall on Main St in downtown surrounded by large buildings wheres CEO's commute to work in helicopters, this was once a bustling mecca of capital, but now its utterly overrun by homeless people, trash, addiction, mental health issues, disease, and likely more--he is skating a single spot and giving us a glimpse into the reality of that space, which is fucking BLEAK. Everything about this film is extremely jarring and in stark contrast what life in LA is presented to us through other forms of culture. It's far more offensive to not include that, it would whitewash the reality of existing in LA in 2020; a straight up visual gentrification. This is a skate video (documentary, really) about a specific spot in a very specific time and he's showing us what it looks like, which is important. Just the fact that I live in the woods of Massachusetts but have now spent over an hour watching and writing about homelessness on a skate forum is proving my point--he's sparking dialogue about how harsh reality is right now which is not something to be ignored. I'm not trying to be a smartass but it's also shallow/naive when people think every instance of documented homelessness in a skate video is negative, and also annoying to have to reiterate these same points years later.
Also, many thanks for explaining for me that the groundbreaking fucking messages of this video film are "Los Angeles is vapid" and "2020 is bad." Can't believe this is the first time they've been explored in depth, I'm sure the dude smoking crack and the man visibly agitated at being filmed (among others) are thrilled to have their images shared in such revolutionary work.
Expert level cop out/deflection, sincerely impressed. Have a gnar heckler.
Of course you can. Be he didn’t. And it wasn’t exploitative. Are you really being that obtuse right now? Bad day? Would gnar you again if I could buddy; it’s hard out here!
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It’s not tasteless y’all. It’s worse to be skating spots like that and completely ignore the surroundings as if no one is suffering right now; literally the entire planet is fucked. It’s like a gross whitewash/visual gentrification to pretend people aren’t camped out there smoking rock in the middle of the day when that’s the stone cold reality. Skateboarding is a part of street culture, just like graffiti, and yes homelessness. Street skating videos are just that, a documentation of street culture. He’s providing visibility to the social underbelly everyone chooses to disregard like trash, and in turn sparking a conversation about how fucked it all is. It’s good that these images upset you, they should be upsetting, but it’s shortsighted to say it’s tasteless or indefensible. I also want to be explicitly clear that it is extremely easy to completely exploit homelessness in skate videos and it happens regularly, but this ain’t it. Go scold GX for vollies instead.
How?
Now, please explain why the exploitation of people without homes and people dealing with addiction is good when Jim Greco does it in this video, but why others who exploit these people with more or less the same tactics in other videos is bad. While you're at it, please explain what the overarching "message" of this video is that couldn't be properly conveyed without individual, identifying shots of homeless people shot without their consent.
I remember our conversation in the past and while I don't remember an outcome (because I'm not a nine year old who qualifies discussions as "Ws" or "Ls"), I see you certainly still think of yourself as the smartest person in the room at all times.
Edit: while we're at it, feel free to respond to @pizzafliptofakie's point as well.
I absolutely don't think it's integral to film homeless people for a skate video and never said that. I have continually reiterated that most people do this very poorly but that does not mean that every single instance is shitty as you seem to think. There are numerous positive (as well as negative) examples of interacting with street people in almost every Sabotage and GX video for instance. Being out on the street and filming your surroundings and the general culture of the street isn't inherently exploitative. It's good it makes you uncomfortable, it should.
I am definitely not the smartest guy in the room but since you need someone to hold your hand through our pal Jimmy's oeuvre: in his fourth film well known recovering addict Jim Greco is skating a now abandoned mall due to the effects of a global pandemic and the failure of capitalism. Like his other flicks, the area he is skating is utterly fucking desolate coupled with the theme of addiction. I don't live in LA but I'd wager a guess since its a fucking mall on Main St in downtown surrounded by large buildings wheres CEO's commute to work in helicopters, this was once a bustling mecca of capital, but now its utterly overrun by homeless people, trash, addiction, mental health issues, disease, and likely more--he is skating a single spot and giving us a glimpse into the reality of that space, which is fucking BLEAK. Everything about this film is extremely jarring and in stark contrast what life in LA is presented to us through other forms of culture. It's far more offensive to not include that, it would whitewash the reality of existing in LA in 2020; a straight up visual gentrification. This is a skate video (documentary, really) about a specific spot in a very specific time and he's showing us what it looks like, which is important. Just the fact that I live in the woods of Massachusetts but have now spent over an hour watching and writing about homelessness on a skate forum is proving my point--he's sparking dialogue about how harsh reality is right now which is not something to be ignored. I'm not trying to be a smartass but it's also shallow/naive when people think every instance of documented homelessness in a skate video is negative, and also annoying to have to reiterate these same points years later.
Also, many thanks for explaining for me that the groundbreaking fucking messages of this video film are "Los Angeles is vapid" and "2020 is bad." Can't believe this is the first time they've been explored in depth, I'm sure the dude smoking crack and the man visibly agitated at being filmed (among others) are thrilled to have their images shared in such revolutionary work.
Expert level cop out/deflection, sincerely impressed. Have a gnar heckler.
Of course you can. Be he didn’t. And it wasn’t exploitative. Are you really being that obtuse right now? Bad day? Would gnar you again if I could buddy; it’s hard out here!
I'm gonna stop responding because we're back to this point, which you're treating as fact but still haven't explained why it's fact. Maybe try googling "exploitative" first so you know have a better idea of what the word means.
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It’s not tasteless y’all. It’s worse to be skating spots like that and completely ignore the surroundings as if no one is suffering right now; literally the entire planet is fucked. It’s like a gross whitewash/visual gentrification to pretend people aren’t camped out there smoking rock in the middle of the day when that’s the stone cold reality. Skateboarding is a part of street culture, just like graffiti, and yes homelessness. Street skating videos are just that, a documentation of street culture. He’s providing visibility to the social underbelly everyone chooses to disregard like trash, and in turn sparking a conversation about how fucked it all is. It’s good that these images upset you, they should be upsetting, but it’s shortsighted to say it’s tasteless or indefensible. I also want to be explicitly clear that it is extremely easy to completely exploit homelessness in skate videos and it happens regularly, but this ain’t it. Go scold GX for vollies instead.
How?
Now, please explain why the exploitation of people without homes and people dealing with addiction is good when Jim Greco does it in this video, but why others who exploit these people with more or less the same tactics in other videos is bad. While you're at it, please explain what the overarching "message" of this video is that couldn't be properly conveyed without individual, identifying shots of homeless people shot without their consent.
I remember our conversation in the past and while I don't remember an outcome (because I'm not a nine year old who qualifies discussions as "Ws" or "Ls"), I see you certainly still think of yourself as the smartest person in the room at all times.
Edit: while we're at it, feel free to respond to @pizzafliptofakie's point as well.
I absolutely don't think it's integral to film homeless people for a skate video and never said that. I have continually reiterated that most people do this very poorly but that does not mean that every single instance is shitty as you seem to think. There are numerous positive (as well as negative) examples of interacting with street people in almost every Sabotage and GX video for instance. Being out on the street and filming your surroundings and the general culture of the street isn't inherently exploitative. It's good it makes you uncomfortable, it should.
I am definitely not the smartest guy in the room but since you need someone to hold your hand through our pal Jimmy's oeuvre: in his fourth film well known recovering addict Jim Greco is skating a now abandoned mall due to the effects of a global pandemic and the failure of capitalism. Like his other flicks, the area he is skating is utterly fucking desolate coupled with the theme of addiction. I don't live in LA but I'd wager a guess since its a fucking mall on Main St in downtown surrounded by large buildings wheres CEO's commute to work in helicopters, this was once a bustling mecca of capital, but now its utterly overrun by homeless people, trash, addiction, mental health issues, disease, and likely more--he is skating a single spot and giving us a glimpse into the reality of that space, which is fucking BLEAK. Everything about this film is extremely jarring and in stark contrast what life in LA is presented to us through other forms of culture. It's far more offensive to not include that, it would whitewash the reality of existing in LA in 2020; a straight up visual gentrification. This is a skate video (documentary, really) about a specific spot in a very specific time and he's showing us what it looks like, which is important. Just the fact that I live in the woods of Massachusetts but have now spent over an hour watching and writing about homelessness on a skate forum is proving my point--he's sparking dialogue about how harsh reality is right now which is not something to be ignored. I'm not trying to be a smartass but it's also shallow/naive when people think every instance of documented homelessness in a skate video is negative, and also annoying to have to reiterate these same points years later.
Also, many thanks for explaining for me that the groundbreaking fucking messages of this video film are "Los Angeles is vapid" and "2020 is bad." Can't believe this is the first time they've been explored in depth, I'm sure the dude smoking crack and the man visibly agitated at being filmed (among others) are thrilled to have their images shared in such revolutionary work.
Expert level cop out/deflection, sincerely impressed. Have a gnar heckler.
Of course you can. Be he didn’t. And it wasn’t exploitative. Are you really being that obtuse right now? Bad day? Would gnar you again if I could buddy; it’s hard out here!
Just so we are clear you are not trying to make any real points here and decided to engage just to be antagonistic and win an argument.
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I loved it. I'm not saying it was executed terribly well as a "film", or even a skate vid, but it felt haphazard and thrown together in a way that feels genuine to his personality, and like others have said, it felt authentic to going skating by yourself in COVIDays
But really, it's mainly that his skating is just so damn good. 42 years old, arguably more stylish than ever. I could give a shit if it's 100% low impact, this is the kinda shit i like to watch, and I will gladly suffer the nausea from shaky cam that comes with it
What qualifies as low impact? Do you have to skate rails and stairs for it to not be? You could get seriously smoked trying some of these tricks at those spots. Is low impact very literal meaning there are no significant drops or heights involved?
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I mean, if that spot really was surrounded by homeless people smoking crack, it would be dishonest to not show it. I see it as a bit of journalistic integrity and a sign of the times, as I think it's meant to be.
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I swear to fucking god that auteur Greco is the best Greco. This is coming from someone who loved Dickies Greco.
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It’s not tasteless y’all. It’s worse to be skating spots like that and completely ignore the surroundings as if no one is suffering right now; literally the entire planet is fucked. It’s like a gross whitewash/visual gentrification to pretend people aren’t camped out there smoking rock in the middle of the day when that’s the stone cold reality. Skateboarding is a part of street culture, just like graffiti, and yes homelessness. Street skating videos are just that, a documentation of street culture. He’s providing visibility to the social underbelly everyone chooses to disregard like trash, and in turn sparking a conversation about how fucked it all is. It’s good that these images upset you, they should be upsetting, but it’s shortsighted to say it’s tasteless or indefensible. I also want to be explicitly clear that it is extremely easy to completely exploit homelessness in skate videos and it happens regularly, but this ain’t it. Go scold GX for vollies instead.
How?
Now, please explain why the exploitation of people without homes and people dealing with addiction is good when Jim Greco does it in this video, but why others who exploit these people with more or less the same tactics in other videos is bad. While you're at it, please explain what the overarching "message" of this video is that couldn't be properly conveyed without individual, identifying shots of homeless people shot without their consent.
I remember our conversation in the past and while I don't remember an outcome (because I'm not a nine year old who qualifies discussions as "Ws" or "Ls"), I see you certainly still think of yourself as the smartest person in the room at all times.
Edit: while we're at it, feel free to respond to @pizzafliptofakie's point as well.
I absolutely don't think it's integral to film homeless people for a skate video and never said that. I have continually reiterated that most people do this very poorly but that does not mean that every single instance is shitty as you seem to think. There are numerous positive (as well as negative) examples of interacting with street people in almost every Sabotage and GX video for instance. Being out on the street and filming your surroundings and the general culture of the street isn't inherently exploitative. It's good it makes you uncomfortable, it should.
I am definitely not the smartest guy in the room but since you need someone to hold your hand through our pal Jimmy's oeuvre: in his fourth film well known recovering addict Jim Greco is skating a now abandoned mall due to the effects of a global pandemic and the failure of capitalism. Like his other flicks, the area he is skating is utterly fucking desolate coupled with the theme of addiction. I don't live in LA but I'd wager a guess since its a fucking mall on Main St in downtown surrounded by large buildings wheres CEO's commute to work in helicopters, this was once a bustling mecca of capital, but now its utterly overrun by homeless people, trash, addiction, mental health issues, disease, and likely more--he is skating a single spot and giving us a glimpse into the reality of that space, which is fucking BLEAK. Everything about this film is extremely jarring and in stark contrast what life in LA is presented to us through other forms of culture. It's far more offensive to not include that, it would whitewash the reality of existing in LA in 2020; a straight up visual gentrification. This is a skate video (documentary, really) about a specific spot in a very specific time and he's showing us what it looks like, which is important. Just the fact that I live in the woods of Massachusetts but have now spent over an hour watching and writing about homelessness on a skate forum is proving my point--he's sparking dialogue about how harsh reality is right now which is not something to be ignored. I'm not trying to be a smartass but it's also shallow/naive when people think every instance of documented homelessness in a skate video is negative, and also annoying to have to reiterate these same points years later.
Also, many thanks for explaining for me that the groundbreaking fucking messages of this video film are "Los Angeles is vapid" and "2020 is bad." Can't believe this is the first time they've been explored in depth, I'm sure the dude smoking crack and the man visibly agitated at being filmed (among others) are thrilled to have their images shared in such revolutionary work.
Expert level cop out/deflection, sincerely impressed. Have a gnar heckler.
Of course you can. Be he didn’t. And it wasn’t exploitative. Are you really being that obtuse right now? Bad day? Would gnar you again if I could buddy; it’s hard out here!
You’re going to stop responding because you literally can’t explain why you believe this to be exploitative all the while insisting that I’ve not explained why I believe it is in fact not (which I’ve done in multiple posts).
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skating in this one is actually amazing.
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meeh
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Even if it wasn't a homeless guy we were talking about, filming someone without their consent, being told to stop, and then continuing to do so is 100% antagonistic behavior. I am shocked that anyone would argue otherwise. Either way, I stand by it being a very trite artistic statement. It's been done to death and it isn't any sort of biting commentary on the status quo. And the fact that there is practically a library's worth of other examples of this within skateboarding media alone proves as such. This does nothing different other than put a fancy film filter over it.
you would think at this point in grecos career/life he would know better....anyway i enjoyed some of the skate footage
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I'm too amazed that the guy who turned a case of beer into a "zero pack" is now doing stuff like this. Can't even begin to judge the artistic merit of it all.
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both sides of the argument have merit -- in this instance the spot itself(and its current state during the pandemic) is clearly a co-star of this video
also should note that this spot has been featured as a recurring spot in many of his previous videos so its not as if he specifically went to some random homeless encampment to document the hijinks
also didnt realize there was so much other random stuff to skate there -- he should've hit the Muska curved rail!
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It’s not tasteless y’all. It’s worse to be skating spots like that and completely ignore the surroundings as if no one is suffering right now; literally the entire planet is fucked. It’s like a gross whitewash/visual gentrification to pretend people aren’t camped out there smoking rock in the middle of the day when that’s the stone cold reality. Skateboarding is a part of street culture, just like graffiti, and yes homelessness. Street skating videos are just that, a documentation of street culture. He’s providing visibility to the social underbelly everyone chooses to disregard like trash, and in turn sparking a conversation about how fucked it all is. It’s good that these images upset you, they should be upsetting, but it’s shortsighted to say it’s tasteless or indefensible. I also want to be explicitly clear that it is extremely easy to completely exploit homelessness in skate videos and it happens regularly, but this ain’t it. Go scold GX for vollies instead.
Well okay, here's my response. Respectfully Matt, I don't see street skating (videos) as a documentation of street culture - I see them as a documentation of skateboarding. Yes, skating is part of the streets, it's part of the underground, but that doesn't mean we need to showcase every single other part of what happens in the streets.
And why do we watch skate vids? We watch them for entertainment. To get excited, stoked on skating. To me, it's incongruous to add lots of footage of those less fortunate because I don't believe that a skate video is a compatible medium to spark conversation about the wounded underbelly of a society, unless a clear point is made from the beginning of the video that that is in fact the intended point. And lots of videos do that properly. That's why I'm uncomfortable with the footage - not because I turn my head at the sight of a homeless person.
If we don't have that understanding of what we're watching from the beginning, then it smacks of immaturity and wanting to use footage of the homeless because it's "entertaining." Honestly it reminds me of a small local video I watched many years back where the kids in the video were filming a man with a mental illness for fun, and even though he told them to stop, they continued to film while giggling. Not too far removed.
Also, I'm not against critiquing other videos for their at-times gratuitous footage of the homeless. I wasn't totally comfortable with Gerwer's instagram account years back either, for example. Doesn't mean I can't enjoy other output from GX or Sabotage or whomever, I'll enjoy watching the skating, but yeah - it does turn me off from being really stoked on them. That's how I feel.
And remember in Guy Mariano's Epicly Later'd when O'Dell was filming the homeless in LA as he was driving by in his car, and a guy literally screamed at him "Don't be filming me motherfucker?" Do you think homeless people appreciate being filmed? Like they want the nadir of their existence recorded and put on display? Do you think that man thought for a second that his image and situation was going to be used for a greater purpose and that it was all right? It's not as one-sided as some make it seem.
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Even if it wasn't a homeless guy we were talking about, filming someone without their consent, being told to stop, and then continuing to do so is 100% antagonistic behavior. I am shocked that anyone would argue otherwise. Either way, I stand by it being a very trite artistic statement. It's been done to death and it isn't any sort of biting commentary on the status quo. And the fact that there is practically a library's worth of other examples of this within skateboarding media alone proves as such. This does nothing different other than put a fancy film filter over it.
you would think at this point in grecos career/life he would know better....anyway i enjoyed some of the skate footage
Yeah, you’d think but Jim seems kinda stuck on this current stage, and it’s getting boring. As usual some amazing skating, but this is easily the worst of the “Sober Trilogy”. Time to move on to the next Greco.
And yes, a professional landlord filming homeless people for content for his art is very uncomfortable.
“I’m looking to buy more property—to take all my earnings from skateboarding and buy as much property as possible. I do not want to be rich; I just want to live comfortably...going where I want, when I want and doing what I want without worries and without having to rely on skateboarding at a professional level forever to do so. I feel this is achievable by owning property”(Greco, 2016).
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Even if it wasn't a homeless guy we were talking about, filming someone without their consent, being told to stop, and then continuing to do so is 100% antagonistic behavior. I am shocked that anyone would argue otherwise. Either way, I stand by it being a very trite artistic statement. It's been done to death and it isn't any sort of biting commentary on the status quo. And the fact that there is practically a library's worth of other examples of this within skateboarding media alone proves as such. This does nothing different other than put a fancy film filter over it.
you would think at this point in grecos career/life he would know better....anyway i enjoyed some of the skate footage
Yeah, you’d think but Jim seems kinda stuck on this current stage, and it’s getting boring. As usual some amazing skating, but this is easily the worst of the “Sober Trilogy”. Time to move on to the next Greco.
And yes, a professional landlord filming homeless people for content for his art is very uncomfortable.
“I’m looking to buy more property—to take all my earnings from skateboarding and buy as much property as possible. I do not want to be rich; I just want to live comfortably...going where I want, when I want and doing what I want without worries and without having to rely on skateboarding at a professional level forever to do so. I feel this is achievable by owning property”(Greco, 2016).
Holy shit, Greco has become Vincent Gallo:
“I own, like, $7 million worth of real estate that I don’t live in and I don’t rent it [out],” Gallo said in a 2004 interview with Howard Stern. “It’s sitting there, it’s hanging there. ... I’ve never lost a penny in my life.”
https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/vincent-gallo-selling-la-condo.amp/ (https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/vincent-gallo-selling-la-condo.amp/)
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Just watched this and not gonna lie, I want to go skate right now.
Jim must actually still love skating.
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Very solid, nice to see Greco still has it in him.
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It’s not tasteless y’all. It’s worse to be skating spots like that and completely ignore the surroundings as if no one is suffering right now; literally the entire planet is fucked. It’s like a gross whitewash/visual gentrification to pretend people aren’t camped out there smoking rock in the middle of the day when that’s the stone cold reality. Skateboarding is a part of street culture, just like graffiti, and yes homelessness. Street skating videos are just that, a documentation of street culture. He’s providing visibility to the social underbelly everyone chooses to disregard like trash, and in turn sparking a conversation about how fucked it all is. It’s good that these images upset you, they should be upsetting, but it’s shortsighted to say it’s tasteless or indefensible. I also want to be explicitly clear that it is extremely easy to completely exploit homelessness in skate videos and it happens regularly, but this ain’t it. Go scold GX for vollies instead.
Well okay, here's my response. Respectfully Matt, I don't see street skating (videos) as a documentation of street culture - I see them as a documentation of skateboarding. Yes, skating is part of the streets, it's part of the underground, but that doesn't mean we need to showcase every single other part of what happens in the streets.
And why do we watch skate vids? We watch them for entertainment. To get excited, stoked on skating. To me, it's incongruous to add lots of footage of those less fortunate because I don't believe that a skate video is a compatible medium to spark conversation about the wounded underbelly of a society, unless a clear point is made from the beginning of the video that that is in fact the intended point. And lots of videos do that properly. That's why I'm uncomfortable with the footage - not because I turn my head at the sight of a homeless person.
If we don't have that understanding of what we're watching from the beginning, then it smacks of immaturity and wanting to use footage of the homeless because it's "entertaining." Honestly it reminds me of a small local video I watched many years back where the kids in the video were filming a man with a mental illness for fun, and even though he told them to stop, they continued to film while giggling. Not too far removed.
Also, I'm not against critiquing other videos for their at-times gratuitous footage of the homeless. I wasn't totally comfortable with Gerwer's instagram account years back either, for example. Doesn't mean I can't enjoy other output from GX or Sabotage or whomever, I'll enjoy watching the skating, but yeah - it does turn me off from being really stoked on them. That's how I feel.
And remember in Guy Mariano's Epicly Later'd when O'Dell was filming the homeless in LA as he was driving by in his car, and a guy literally screamed at him "Don't be filming me motherfucker?" Do you think homeless people appreciate being filmed? Like they want the nadir of their existence recorded and put on display? Do you think that man thought for a second that his image and situation was going to be used for a greater purpose and that it was all right? It's not as one-sided as some make it seem.
I think this is very well said, but I also think Matt fell into a trap of trying to defend the filming a homeless person smoking crack for no other reason than ‘street life’. The only thing I will say is that Jim was alone (minus the cameraman) and therefore vulnerable. Filming the homeless and garbage made me feel like Jim could be hurt. This feeling could have achieved with quicker shots of the people in the plaza. We were basically made to stare for 10 sec at a homeless person smoking Crack and staring is rude.
My question to the group is, has anyone ever watched a movie or a program on homelessness that did not have an element of exploitation? It’s hard because the subjects are vulnerable to begin with so can they really agree to participating?
My feeling here is this was an old school style skate video like Video Days and I enjoy all of Jim’s films.
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It’s not tasteless y’all. It’s worse to be skating spots like that and completely ignore the surroundings as if no one is suffering right now; literally the entire planet is fucked. It’s like a gross whitewash/visual gentrification to pretend people aren’t camped out there smoking rock in the middle of the day when that’s the stone cold reality. Skateboarding is a part of street culture, just like graffiti, and yes homelessness. Street skating videos are just that, a documentation of street culture. He’s providing visibility to the social underbelly everyone chooses to disregard like trash, and in turn sparking a conversation about how fucked it all is. It’s good that these images upset you, they should be upsetting, but it’s shortsighted to say it’s tasteless or indefensible. I also want to be explicitly clear that it is extremely easy to completely exploit homelessness in skate videos and it happens regularly, but this ain’t it. Go scold GX for vollies instead.
Well okay, here's my response. Respectfully Matt, I don't see street skating (videos) as a documentation of street culture - I see them as a documentation of skateboarding. Yes, skating is part of the streets, it's part of the underground, but that doesn't mean we need to showcase every single other part of what happens in the streets.
And why do we watch skate vids? We watch them for entertainment. To get excited, stoked on skating. To me, it's incongruous to add lots of footage of those less fortunate because I don't believe that a skate video is a compatible medium to spark conversation about the wounded underbelly of a society, unless a clear point is made from the beginning of the video that that is in fact the intended point. And lots of videos do that properly. That's why I'm uncomfortable with the footage - not because I turn my head at the sight of a homeless person.
If we don't have that understanding of what we're watching from the beginning, then it smacks of immaturity and wanting to use footage of the homeless because it's "entertaining." Honestly it reminds me of a small local video I watched many years back where the kids in the video were filming a man with a mental illness for fun, and even though he told them to stop, they continued to film while giggling. Not too far removed.
Also, I'm not against critiquing other videos for their at-times gratuitous footage of the homeless. I wasn't totally comfortable with Gerwer's instagram account years back either, for example. Doesn't mean I can't enjoy other output from GX or Sabotage or whomever, I'll enjoy watching the skating, but yeah - it does turn me off from being really stoked on them. That's how I feel.
And remember in Guy Mariano's Epicly Later'd when O'Dell was filming the homeless in LA as he was driving by in his car, and a guy literally screamed at him "Don't be filming me motherfucker?" Do you think homeless people appreciate being filmed? Like they want the nadir of their existence recorded and put on display? Do you think that man thought for a second that his image and situation was going to be used for a greater purpose and that it was all right? It's not as one-sided as some make it seem.
I think this is very well said, but I also think Matt fell into a trap of trying to defend the filming a homeless person smoking crack for no other reason than ‘street life’. The only thing I will say is that Jim was alone (minus the cameraman) and therefore vulnerable. Filming the homeless and garbage made me feel like Jim could be hurt. This feeling could have achieved with quicker shots of the people in the plaza. We were basically made to stare for 10 sec at a homeless person smoking Crack and staring is rude.
My question to the group is, has anyone ever watched a movie or a program on homelessness that did not have an element of exploitation? It’s hard because the subjects are vulnerable to begin with so can they really agree to participating?
My feeling here is this was an old school style skate video like Video Days and I enjoy all of Jim’s films.
I kind of thought the film "Dark Days" (which is on youtube somewhere) did it respectfully to share the stories of people who build makeshift houses in the subway tunnels while capturing the living conditions that they were able to adapt to.
That said, I am all for documenting the conditions and elements in the surrounding area when trying to get a trick, but I feel like just filming homeless people for the sake of b-roll is completely exploitative. Especially if you are a $2.1 Billion dollar company trying to make teenagers think you haven't lost your edge to the hypebeasts.
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In Greco’s defense, it is almost impossible to film skateboarding in downtown Los Angeles without getting homeless people in the shot.
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In Greco’s defense, it is almost impossible to film skateboarding in downtown Los Angeles without getting homeless people in the shot.
I live here bro this is not a lie haha. One of the reasons I’m tired of skating alone around here. Homeless are everywhere, even empty parking lots I’m just trying to do flat ground at. I feel bad disturbing them.
I appreciated this film. My friend and I were at this spot over the summer and saw Greco ourselves. This area was always a big homeless hangout. Pandemic just made it worse. This is reality. And he still fucking ripped.
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As a Greco fan I loved watching the skating in this. Really good stuff.
They certainly captured a sense of tension. But it felt like if anything happened to Jim or the filmer it would’ve been their own damn fault. It is a picture of what it’s like right now though. I’ve definitely moved on from a spot after feeling like I’m bugging some people that just want a quiet place to smoke crack or whatever. But they stayed and skated and filmed, so good for them I guess.
Jobs Never was my favorite. Sad Greco dragging the bench and slamming, skating an apartment after some morose lounging with his girl, then meeting up with his fashionable buddies for an evening skate really made me smile.
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If there were homeless people in the shot.....id have no problem....that's not the case though....
C'mon skaters...have you ever been trying to skate and some normie starts filming you? Or just watching you waiting for you to take a slam? Fuck off.....right?
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My friend and I were at this spot over the summer and saw Greco ourselves. This area was always a big homeless hangout. Pandemic just made it worse. This is reality. And he still fucking ripped.
went there the other day, it is not looking pretty 9 months into the pandemic.
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If there were homeless people in the shot.....id have no problem....that's not the case though....
C'mon skaters...have you ever been trying to skate and some normie starts filming you? Or just watching you waiting for you to take a slam? Fuck off.....right?
This.
I agree that the issue of deciding what's exploitation and what is not can be a tricky one, but I can't help but feel that the idea that skateboarding somehow necessarily and organically belongs in the middle of all this misery that is 'the streets' in a place like that spot is somewhat phony. (This is not necessarily the case in any situation of course: when skaters actually spend much of their life at a spot as was the case with Love or EMB, it's obviously different). But as far as I can see most skaters live in circumstances stable enough to buy relatively expensive equipment, shoes etc to be able to skate and go (pros: drive) to spots because there is stuff that can be skated there, not because they have no other place to go.
And if all this is supposed to be essentially metaphorical (and the branding of it as 'cinematic art' seems to me to indicate that it is) - the ex-addict Greco skating through the debris that was once his life, too, now passing through these streets an estranged yet still familiar face, gaunt and prematurely lined with his own experience in them, his mood hovering between taciturn endurance and nostalgic reverie - then the shots of actual homeless people are used precisely as a means to the end of creating that metaphor.
That said, I still liked it a lot, but I think it would have been enough to have one or two of the homeless people randomly walking by or sitting in the background during his lines.
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Cassavetes Greco is in his window and it is a glorious thing.
By the way, when you film a person (homeless or not) without their consent and show their face as they engage in addiction related activities and include that in your arty skate film to convey whatever it is you're conveying, that is exploitative. People deserve a certain amount of dignity, and no broll requirements supersede that.
Anyway, his 180s and blunts are sick
(https://i.imgur.com/cVye8on.gif)
(https://i.imgur.com/6lJ4w3F.gif)
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remember when strobeck had that one guy in cherry knowingly being filmed smoking drugs out of a pipe and everyone called it bullshit and hated on it, greco throws someone in unknowingly being filmed smoking drugs out of a pipe and people are giving it a pass because it shows the spot/what goes on there?
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I really enjoyed this like I do with all Greco's stuff. That line he does starting with the back 3 was awesome. Seeing the homeless/users made me sad. But not in a "Wtf why are they filming them!" way more along the lines of "Damn that shits really real for some people out there still". I'm not exposed to much of that anymore so Its easy to forget about over the years. Several different perspectives. Hell I made what I thought was a joke on here talking about shopping on a corner gas station and someone said I was food shaming. I wasn't.. Never even looked at it that way. It did make me aware that some people might not have the options that you or I have. That made me sad. So I can hate on the b-roll footy that much. I've seen a lot worse.
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As a Greco fan I loved watching the skating in this. Really good stuff.
They certainly captured a sense of tension. But it felt like if anything happened to Jim or the filmer it would’ve been their own damn fault. It is a picture of what it’s like right now though. I’ve definitely moved on from a spot after feeling like I’m bugging some people that just want a quiet place to smoke crack or whatever. But they stayed and skated and filmed, so good for them I guess.
Jobs Never was my favorite. Sad Greco dragging the bench and slamming, skating an apartment after some morose lounging with his girl, then meeting up with his fashionable buddies for an evening skate really made me smile.
I dunno man I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect that if you’re smoking crack in public other people might be doing other things around you.
His skating was incredibly enjoyable in this, king of back 3’s for sure
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It’s not tasteless y’all. It’s worse to be skating spots like that and completely ignore the surroundings as if no one is suffering right now; literally the entire planet is fucked. It’s like a gross whitewash/visual gentrification to pretend people aren’t camped out there smoking rock in the middle of the day when that’s the stone cold reality. Skateboarding is a part of street culture, just like graffiti, and yes homelessness. Street skating videos are just that, a documentation of street culture. He’s providing visibility to the social underbelly everyone chooses to disregard like trash, and in turn sparking a conversation about how fucked it all is. It’s good that these images upset you, they should be upsetting, but it’s shortsighted to say it’s tasteless or indefensible. I also want to be explicitly clear that it is extremely easy to completely exploit homelessness in skate videos and it happens regularly, but this ain’t it. Go scold GX for vollies instead.
How?
Now, please explain why the exploitation of people without homes and people dealing with addiction is good when Jim Greco does it in this video, but why others who exploit these people with more or less the same tactics in other videos is bad. While you're at it, please explain what the overarching "message" of this video is that couldn't be properly conveyed without individual, identifying shots of homeless people shot without their consent.
I remember our conversation in the past and while I don't remember an outcome (because I'm not a nine year old who qualifies discussions as "Ws" or "Ls"), I see you certainly still think of yourself as the smartest person in the room at all times.
Edit: while we're at it, feel free to respond to @pizzafliptofakie's point as well.
I absolutely don't think it's integral to film homeless people for a skate video and never said that. I have continually reiterated that most people do this very poorly but that does not mean that every single instance is shitty as you seem to think. There are numerous positive (as well as negative) examples of interacting with street people in almost every Sabotage and GX video for instance. Being out on the street and filming your surroundings and the general culture of the street isn't inherently exploitative. It's good it makes you uncomfortable, it should.
I am definitely not the smartest guy in the room but since you need someone to hold your hand through our pal Jimmy's oeuvre: in his fourth film well known recovering addict Jim Greco is skating a now abandoned mall due to the effects of a global pandemic and the failure of capitalism. Like his other flicks, the area he is skating is utterly fucking desolate coupled with the theme of addiction. I don't live in LA but I'd wager a guess since its a fucking mall on Main St in downtown surrounded by large buildings wheres CEO's commute to work in helicopters, this was once a bustling mecca of capital, but now its utterly overrun by homeless people, trash, addiction, mental health issues, disease, and likely more--he is skating a single spot and giving us a glimpse into the reality of that space, which is fucking BLEAK. Everything about this film is extremely jarring and in stark contrast what life in LA is presented to us through other forms of culture. It's far more offensive to not include that, it would whitewash the reality of existing in LA in 2020; a straight up visual gentrification. This is a skate video (documentary, really) about a specific spot in a very specific time and he's showing us what it looks like, which is important. Just the fact that I live in the woods of Massachusetts but have now spent over an hour watching and writing about homelessness on a skate forum is proving my point--he's sparking dialogue about how harsh reality is right now which is not something to be ignored. I'm not trying to be a smartass but it's also shallow/naive when people think every instance of documented homelessness in a skate video is negative, and also annoying to have to reiterate these same points years later.
Also, many thanks for explaining for me that the groundbreaking fucking messages of this video film are "Los Angeles is vapid" and "2020 is bad." Can't believe this is the first time they've been explored in depth, I'm sure the dude smoking crack and the man visibly agitated at being filmed (among others) are thrilled to have their images shared in such revolutionary work.
Expert level cop out/deflection, sincerely impressed. Have a gnar heckler.
Why don't you just take his point on board and then answer his question @heckler ?
You are the contrarian in chief on here and never miss an opportunity to baste someone.
Why don't you stop deflecting and give your opinion or give in.
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If there were homeless people in the shot.....id have no problem....that's not the case though....
C'mon skaters...have you ever been trying to skate and some normie starts filming you? Or just watching you waiting for you to take a slam? Fuck off.....right?
This.
I agree that the issue of deciding what's exploitation and what is not can be a tricky one, but I can't help but feel that the idea that skateboarding somehow necessarily and organically belongs in the middle of all this misery that is 'the streets' in a place like that spot is somewhat phony. (This is not necessarily the case in any situation of course: when skaters actually spend much of their life at a spot as was the case with Love or EMB, it's obviously different). But as far as I can see most skaters live in circumstances stable enough to buy relatively expensive equipment, shoes etc to be able to skate and go (pros: drive) to spots because there is stuff that can be skated there, not because they have no other place to go.
And if all this is supposed to be essentially metaphorical (and the branding of it as 'cinematic art' seems to me to indicate that it is) - the ex-addict Greco skating through the debris that was once his life, too, now passing through these streets an estranged yet still familiar face, gaunt and prematurely lined with his own experience in them, his mood hovering between taciturn endurance and nostalgic reverie - then the shots of actual homeless people are used precisely as a means to the end of creating that metaphor.
That said, I still liked it a lot, but I think it would have been enough to have one or two of the homeless people randomly walking by or sitting in the background during his lines.
Roary, you should review skate videos. On point.
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i dont think that was all done in 1 day because the cars parked were diffferent in almost every shot. but i bet these tricks were all go to for him + he did them all already before he even filmed them. probably was over hte course of 2-3 days id guess.
its funny cause everyone is like man that spot looks so hard to skate. spot looks amazing to me i would kill for something like that. i had baiscally the equivalent of just 1 of those brick banks , and mine was a lot rougher than that, and i skated it for years until it got bulldozed :(
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Greco's still got it.
And I still don't have the patience for him.
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As a Greco fan I loved watching the skating in this. Really good stuff.
They certainly captured a sense of tension. But it felt like if anything happened to Jim or the filmer it would’ve been their own damn fault. It is a picture of what it’s like right now though. I’ve definitely moved on from a spot after feeling like I’m bugging some people that just want a quiet place to smoke crack or whatever. But they stayed and skated and filmed, so good for them I guess.
Jobs Never was my favorite. Sad Greco dragging the bench and slamming, skating an apartment after some morose lounging with his girl, then meeting up with his fashionable buddies for an evening skate really made me smile.
His skating was incredibly enjoyable in this, king of back 3’s for sure
This is true, but it also stands to reason that if you’re sticking a camera in people’s faces in a park or plaza you might get into some friction, especially if they’re tweaking.
At the end of the day skateboarders play in the streets. It’s fake as hell to act like we have some special POV on real street shit - the sad and ugly stuff that we put in videos to be edgy before smoking blunts with the homies.
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Greco is the most important auteur in skating today.
With respect to the homeless voyeurism, in this context it serves as showing how gnarly the spot is. Avoiding fights and getting jumped is equivalent to a steep drop-off or heavy traffic.
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That was outstanding.
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If there were homeless people in the shot.....id have no problem....that's not the case though....
C'mon skaters...have you ever been trying to skate and some normie starts filming you? Or just watching you waiting for you to take a slam? Fuck off.....right?
This.
I agree that the issue of deciding what's exploitation and what is not can be a tricky one, but I can't help but feel that the idea that skateboarding somehow necessarily and organically belongs in the middle of all this misery that is 'the streets' in a place like that spot is somewhat phony. (This is not necessarily the case in any situation of course: when skaters actually spend much of their life at a spot as was the case with Love or EMB, it's obviously different). But as far as I can see most skaters live in circumstances stable enough to buy relatively expensive equipment, shoes etc to be able to skate and go (pros: drive) to spots because there is stuff that can be skated there, not because they have no other place to go.
And if all this is supposed to be essentially metaphorical (and the branding of it as 'cinematic art' seems to me to indicate that it is) - the ex-addict Greco skating through the debris that was once his life, too, now passing through these streets an estranged yet still familiar face, gaunt and prematurely lined with his own experience in them, his mood hovering between taciturn endurance and nostalgic reverie - then the shots of actual homeless people are used precisely as a means to the end of creating that metaphor.
That said, I still liked it a lot, but I think it would have been enough to have one or two of the homeless people randomly walking by or sitting in the background during his lines.
Got diagnozed with ADHD a month ago after 28 years of trying to keep coherent/functional trains of thoughts. Now with therapy & meds, being able to read/assess multiple perspectives and opinions that are laid out, pertinent and serve to share one's understanding of any given subject/debate is everything. None of that "well I'm obviously right bc ..." bs so that was very proper indeed @RoaryMcTwang
It's hard to ignore that an ex addict's view on the "real world" can be pretty unusual, on or off the streets. I agree that quick surrounding shots would've been enough to make his point. Skating wise, Greco sure didn't disappoint. 42yo fs blunt on a legit rugged street spot is fucking admirable.
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If there were homeless people in the shot.....id have no problem....that's not the case though....
C'mon skaters...have you ever been trying to skate and some normie starts filming you? Or just watching you waiting for you to take a slam? Fuck off.....right?
This.
I agree that the issue of deciding what's exploitation and what is not can be a tricky one, but I can't help but feel that the idea that skateboarding somehow necessarily and organically belongs in the middle of all this misery that is 'the streets' in a place like that spot is somewhat phony. (This is not necessarily the case in any situation of course: when skaters actually spend much of their life at a spot as was the case with Love or EMB, it's obviously different). But as far as I can see most skaters live in circumstances stable enough to buy relatively expensive equipment, shoes etc to be able to skate and go (pros: drive) to spots because there is stuff that can be skated there, not because they have no other place to go.
And if all this is supposed to be essentially metaphorical (and the branding of it as 'cinematic art' seems to me to indicate that it is) - the ex-addict Greco skating through the debris that was once his life, too, now passing through these streets an estranged yet still familiar face, gaunt and prematurely lined with his own experience in them, his mood hovering between taciturn endurance and nostalgic reverie - then the shots of actual homeless people are used precisely as a means to the end of creating that metaphor.
That said, I still liked it a lot, but I think it would have been enough to have one or two of the homeless people randomly walking by or sitting in the background during his lines.
The Miles Davis also, who himself stuggles with Heroine like Greco, now that im an old dude I can see why he choose the music
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If there were homeless people in the shot.....id have no problem....that's not the case though....
C'mon skaters...have you ever been trying to skate and some normie starts filming you? Or just watching you waiting for you to take a slam? Fuck off.....right?
This.
I agree that the issue of deciding what's exploitation and what is not can be a tricky one, but I can't help but feel that the idea that skateboarding somehow necessarily and organically belongs in the middle of all this misery that is 'the streets' in a place like that spot is somewhat phony. (This is not necessarily the case in any situation of course: when skaters actually spend much of their life at a spot as was the case with Love or EMB, it's obviously different). But as far as I can see most skaters live in circumstances stable enough to buy relatively expensive equipment, shoes etc to be able to skate and go (pros: drive) to spots because there is stuff that can be skated there, not because they have no other place to go.
And if all this is supposed to be essentially metaphorical (and the branding of it as 'cinematic art' seems to me to indicate that it is) - the ex-addict Greco skating through the debris that was once his life, too, now passing through these streets an estranged yet still familiar face, gaunt and prematurely lined with his own experience in them, his mood hovering between taciturn endurance and nostalgic reverie - then the shots of actual homeless people are used precisely as a means to the end of creating that metaphor.
That said, I still liked it a lot, but I think it would have been enough to have one or two of the homeless people randomly walking by or sitting in the background during his lines.
@RoaryMcTwang thanks for eloquently and cohesively explaining it to me. I wrote before that I saw the incorporation of the marginalized people in the film as visceral components of the environment and it added so much tension-like three extra pushes away kind of tension, but I agree that it could've been done differently and I get why it would upset anyone.
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If there were homeless people in the shot.....id have no problem....that's not the case though....
C'mon skaters...have you ever been trying to skate and some normie starts filming you? Or just watching you waiting for you to take a slam? Fuck off.....right?
This.
I agree that the issue of deciding what's exploitation and what is not can be a tricky one, but I can't help but feel that the idea that skateboarding somehow necessarily and organically belongs in the middle of all this misery that is 'the streets' in a place like that spot is somewhat phony. (This is not necessarily the case in any situation of course: when skaters actually spend much of their life at a spot as was the case with Love or EMB, it's obviously different). But as far as I can see most skaters live in circumstances stable enough to buy relatively expensive equipment, shoes etc to be able to skate and go (pros: drive) to spots because there is stuff that can be skated there, not because they have no other place to go.
And if all this is supposed to be essentially metaphorical (and the branding of it as 'cinematic art' seems to me to indicate that it is) - the ex-addict Greco skating through the debris that was once his life, too, now passing through these streets an estranged yet still familiar face, gaunt and prematurely lined with his own experience in them, his mood hovering between taciturn endurance and nostalgic reverie - then the shots of actual homeless people are used precisely as a means to the end of creating that metaphor.
That said, I still liked it a lot, but I think it would have been enough to have one or two of the homeless people randomly walking by or sitting in the background during his lines.
This pretty much summed up my feelings better than I could. Thanks. There were more than enough people around in the background to supply the metaphor without needing to antagonize anyone.
That said. I've really enjoyed Greco's recent films. Are they, maybe, a little pretentious with regard to their presentation? Sure. But even that pretension feels authentically Greco. And, at this point in my life, I enjoy this version of Greco's skating than the after the black hammers.
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That spots amazing wow literally has everything.
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i dont think that was all done in 1 day because the cars parked were diffferent in almost every shot. but i bet these tricks were all go to for him + he did them all already before he even filmed them. probably was over hte course of 2-3 days id guess.
its funny cause everyone is like man that spot looks so hard to skate. spot looks amazing to me i would kill for something like that. i had baiscally the equivalent of just 1 of those brick banks , and mine was a lot rougher than that, and i skated it for years until it got bulldozed :(
I can bet money he worked for a lot of those clips!
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A little late to the party, but have enjoyed reading these comments. A couple thoughts:
Video parts that provoke this much discussion and debate are gifts. At least Greco does not bore us.
The part is easily one of the best of the year in my opinion. Loved every second of it. Love all of his last few projects.
And finally, if people are inspired by this part to do something to help charities / homeless outreach centers
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It's something that has just been going on in skate videos for awhile that's coming to light now....the vid would have been fine on its own or definitely be a bit less intrusive to the people is all....
Not like I've never taken a photo of some wild shit either, but I don't do it anymore.....
Skaters always feel misunderstood at how the outside world sees them....how about these people who clearly have less than we do?
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that was great. props to greco.
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A little late to the party, but have enjoyed reading these comments.
Video parts that provoke this much discussion and debate are gifts. At least Greco does not bore us.
came here to say this exact thing (but in a regular sized font).
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Interesting how they did the colors.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CI8b0njnK81/?igshid=14ztiwnrmwh8m
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i dont think that was all done in 1 day because the cars parked were diffferent in almost every shot. but i bet these tricks were all go to for him + he did them all already before he even filmed them. probably was over hte course of 2-3 days id guess.
its funny cause everyone is like man that spot looks so hard to skate. spot looks amazing to me i would kill for something like that. i had baiscally the equivalent of just 1 of those brick banks , and mine was a lot rougher than that, and i skated it for years until it got bulldozed :(
I can bet money he worked for a lot of those clips!
That spot is really fucking hard to skate.
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i dont think that was all done in 1 day because the cars parked were diffferent in almost every shot. but i bet these tricks were all go to for him + he did them all already before he even filmed them. probably was over hte course of 2-3 days id guess.
its funny cause everyone is like man that spot looks so hard to skate. spot looks amazing to me i would kill for something like that. i had baiscally the equivalent of just 1 of those brick banks , and mine was a lot rougher than that, and i skated it for years until it got bulldozed :(
I can bet money he worked for a lot of those clips!
well maybe they werent 1st try like some of those were pretty nice tricks and slid really well but im just saying was probably fun for him and was probably all stuff he knew he could get, i dont think he was ever thinking like man im never gonna get this front blunt on that shin high ledge im gonna have to come back here like 4 times to get this. dont have to worry about slamming too hard on none of that stuff either. he took some nice bails but like dont have to worry about anything career ending over there other than maybe hittin a bad needle or gettin beat up by a junker
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that was great. props to greco.
Yep that was amazing. Been hating greco forever but he won me over with this one. Wow
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A little late to the party, but have enjoyed reading these comments.
Video parts that provoke this much discussion and debate are gifts. At least Greco does not bore us.
came here to say this exact thing (but in a regular sized font).
I agree
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Well its a sad place for sure, havent been showcased this acurate imo. Amazing spots, but so much misery.
Its easy to talk negative about the specific shots, but once you ve been there you ll know and probaly gives you that feeling your back at the spot, like I do.
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As for exploration.. I mean. Taking pictures of starving children living in famine in Africa is exploitative as well. But when it serves a purpose of creating a debate or paint a picture of a reality to make a change- its not longer exploitation.
As for Grecos film, albeit of course not near the level of Kevin Carters images and alike , maybe the people who gets upset by the painted misery lives close to this and see this daily, thus just see something they feel is nothing more than exploitative images.
But for me, who lives in Sweden where people smoking crack on the streets or homeless people living in tents in the streets is just not something we ever see here, the reaction for me is more of a chock of how shitty the US is and how crazy it is to see this in a open daylight kinda situation when skating. Even if Im the only person with this reaction, it does serves a purpose that transcends the explorative narrative.
As for the skating, what suprised me the most was how easy he got up on the BS tail and 360 BS tail in the beginning on those pretty high ledges. Pretty rad for his age.
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First of all, that was an incredible clip. Loved every second of that. Filming, coloring, even the film grain all are really unique. Never seen this spot skated like that either.
I'm of two minds on the homeless footage.
On one hand, I do agree that tossing in some "street life" footage in a youtube clip to "harden up" your clip is really wack.
On the other hand, I don't think that's quite what's going on here. I almost feel like its dishonest NOT to acknowledge how fucked the homelessness situation is in DTLA. That clip of that person lighting up the pipe at the spot was NOT comfortable or anything like that. It was sad. It was saying more "take 10 seconds to acknowledge your surroundings and how fucked society is", rather than "damn bro look how gritty these spots are".
Was there the same debate when there were all these down and out people getting in fights in Sabotage LOVE park clips? I mean that was a very large part of the image, and to me it didn't feel explotative. It felt like what it is like to Skate at Love, and some sort of statement on Philly.
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that was great. props to greco.
Yep that was amazing. Been hating greco forever but he won me over with this one. Wow
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First of all, that was an incredible clip. Loved every second of that. Filming, coloring, even the film grain all are really unique. Never seen this spot skated like that either.
I'm of two minds on the homeless footage.
On one hand, I do agree that tossing in some "street life" footage in a youtube clip to "harden up" your clip is really wack.
On the other hand, I don't think that's quite what's going on here. I almost feel like its dishonest NOT to acknowledge how fucked the homelessness situation is in DTLA. That clip of that person lighting up the pipe at the spot was NOT comfortable or anything like that. It was sad. It was saying more "take 10 seconds to acknowledge your surroundings and how fucked society is", rather than "damn bro look how gritty these spots are".
Was there the same debate when there were all these down and out people getting in fights in Sabotage LOVE park clips? I mean that was a very large part of the image, and to me it didn't feel explotative. It felt like what it is like to Skate at Love, and some sort of statement on Philly.
If the people gave permission.....no problem. Not sure if I'd like it.....but those people aren't the same as some Karen telling you have to leave or some security guard you high five....
Sure there wasn't much discussion w. Sabotage but I bet they'll reel it in....you know GX will...and for good reason.
There's a good Jenkem article here of a homeless skater that could actually explain shit to us....I think skaters have a lot to learn....I know I do....
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Why don't you just take his point on board and then answer his question @heckler ?
You are the contrarian in chief on here and never miss an opportunity to baste someone.
Why don't you stop deflecting and give your opinion or give in.
I told myself I was gonna stop replying since there isn't anything left to say (as if mattchew said anything of worth to begin with) but dude, what in the actual fuck is wrong with you? Pointing out that brands shouldn't profit off alleged rapists and sticking up for some of the most marginalized members of our society isn't being contrarian, it's having a values system and baseline empathy for your fellow human beings. Are you a sociopath?
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Why don't you just take his point on board and then answer his question @heckler ?
You are the contrarian in chief on here and never miss an opportunity to baste someone.
Why don't you stop deflecting and give your opinion or give in.
Very rude and weird my dude. You seem miserable lately.
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Why don't you just take his point on board and then answer his question @heckler ?
You are the contrarian in chief on here and never miss an opportunity to baste someone.
Why don't you stop deflecting and give your opinion or give in.
Very rude and weird my dude. You seem miserable lately.
Responding to my post within seconds, however, is very normal. Enjoy rubbing shoulders with a rape apologist.
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Yes, browsing SLAP at the same time is very ~*SpoOkY*~ also definitely not rubbing shoulders with anyone, very socially e-distanced.
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Loved it, i felt the shakey cam went well with the meth smoking (I agree it's a bummer though to put addicts on blast without their consent). Loved the concept, spot, skating, and the Miles Davis!
Beauty Cadillac
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Youtube's algorithm just prompted me to rewatch this and I enjoyed it so I'll put it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAkHo-cekzk
Cool to see how the way he skates has evolved since then.
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Personally, I loved the skating, but I don't really have the patience to want to sit through the candid/slice-of-life take that he brought to this. I'm happy that his hairline is holding on, though.
I'm trying to wrap my head around the symbolism of him using "glass carousel" as his title, but... can't. Too much brain power.
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'Glass Barbeque' might have been more apt.
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i dont think that was all done in 1 day because the cars parked were diffferent in almost every shot. but i bet these tricks were all go to for him + he did them all already before he even filmed them. probably was over hte course of 2-3 days id guess.
its funny cause everyone is like man that spot looks so hard to skate. spot looks amazing to me i would kill for something like that. i had baiscally the equivalent of just 1 of those brick banks , and mine was a lot rougher than that, and i skated it for years until it got bulldozed :(
I can bet money he worked for a lot of those clips!
well maybe they werent 1st try like some of those were pretty nice tricks and slid really well but im just saying was probably fun for him and was probably all stuff he knew he could get, i dont think he was ever thinking like man im never gonna get this front blunt on that shin high ledge im gonna have to come back here like 4 times to get this. dont have to worry about slamming too hard on none of that stuff either. he took some nice bails but like dont have to worry about anything career ending over there other than maybe hittin a bad needle or gettin beat up by a junker
You don't really get it do you
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you'll cowards don't even smoke crack
you have to be someone I know, are we on the same bolt company?
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that was great. props to greco.
Yep that was amazing. Been hating greco forever but he won me over with this one. Wow
I never hated him. This definitely is a stand out piece tho
And yes I've smoked 10gs in about 3 weeks. Not my money though
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Older pros should watch this and take notes. This is how you progress in your career when your body is in decay. So many pros hang it up because of their age, mostly because they have the mindset of shock and awe and are incapable of that. There are other avenues.
I can see both sides of the argument re:including footage of homeless people. As said by others, the most defining and talked about element of Downtown LA in 2020 is homelessness. Homeless is a massive issue in all major cities on the West Coast. It is very much apart of Downtown life.
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What a legend. I enjoyed every minute of that and I already can’t wait for his next one.
Pretty weird they cut off that one back tail though.
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i was getting off a long distance bus in DTLA one day and i saw him filming at this spot wearing those clothes. i was like, "that's gotta be greco." just him and a filmer. i watched across the street as he filmed a line on those smaller qp planters that he skates like ledges. he did noseslide, back 3, then something else. i think one of the takes was in the video. anyway, cool to see this pop up months after witnessing that.
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Youtube's algorithm just prompted me to rewatch this and I enjoyed it so I'll put it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAkHo-cekzk
Cool to see how the way he skates has evolved since then.
Haven’t watch that in forever, thanks for the share, so sick.
I think my favourite part has to be The Deathwish video because there’s so many different Greco’s in it. Seriously some multiplicity shit, like a friends section all made up of Greco’s.
https://vimeo.com/65240644
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Youtube's algorithm just prompted me to rewatch this and I enjoyed it so I'll put it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAkHo-cekzk
Cool to see how the way he skates has evolved since then.
Haven’t watch that in forever, thanks for the share, so sick.
I think my favourite part has to be The Deathwish video because there’s so many different Greco’s in it. Seriously some multiplicity shit, like a friends section all made up of Greco’s.
https://vimeo.com/65240644
And cheers to you for sharing that one, hadn't see it in years and didn't remember it was as good as it was either. He nollie bs flipped Carlsbad.
Seeing the style mutations is hilarious, especially when you have all the different Grecos stages from that slap illustration in your head. The first line is textbook "Gnarly Greco"!
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'Glass Barbeque' might have been more apt.
I already said that bro
The skating was good
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'Glass Barbeque' might have been more apt.
I already said that bro
The skating was good
Ok well you didn’t say it in this thread and who the hell has time to scan every other thread before making a joke sheesh cunt lighten up it’s Xmas have a xxxx and chill out like a beer in an esky ya joker
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Youtube's algorithm just prompted me to rewatch this and I enjoyed it so I'll put it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAkHo-cekzk
Cool to see how the way he skates has evolved since then.
Haven’t watch that in forever, thanks for the share, so sick.
I think my favourite part has to be The Deathwish video because there’s so many different Greco’s in it. Seriously some multiplicity shit, like a friends section all made up of Greco’s.
https://vimeo.com/65240644
Very well said. That's all I want for Christmas anyway.
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'Glass Barbeque' might have been more apt.
I already said that bro
The skating was good
Ok well you didn’t say it in this thread and who the hell has time to scan every other thread before making a joke sheesh cunt lighten up it’s Xmas have a xxxx and chill out like a beer in an esky ya joker
You’re good bro, it’s hard to tell tone over text I wasn’t having a mad cry but it may have seemed that way haha
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'Glass Barbeque' might have been more apt.
I already said that bro
The skating was good
Ok well you didn’t say it in this thread and who the hell has time to scan every other thread before making a joke sheesh cunt lighten up it’s Xmas have a xxxx and chill out like a beer in an esky ya joker
You’re good bro, it’s hard to tell tone over text I wasn’t having a mad cry but it may have seemed that way haha
Its cool, sorry i went a bit overboard though. You dont have to have a xxxx bitter, that was rude. Have whatever you'd like.
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Youtube's algorithm just prompted me to rewatch this and I enjoyed it so I'll put it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAkHo-cekzk
Cool to see how the way he skates has evolved since then.
Haven’t watch that in forever, thanks for the share, so sick.
I think my favourite part has to be The Deathwish video because there’s so many different Greco’s in it. Seriously some multiplicity shit, like a friends section all made up of Greco’s.
https://vimeo.com/65240644
Kieth this the greatest
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Even if it wasn't a homeless guy we were talking about, filming someone without their consent, being told to stop, and then continuing to do so is 100% antagonistic behavior. I am shocked that anyone would argue otherwise. Either way, I stand by it being a very trite artistic statement. It's been done to death and it isn't any sort of biting commentary on the status quo. And the fact that there is practically a library's worth of other examples of this within skateboarding media alone proves as such. This does nothing different other than put a fancy film filter over it.
I hope I never have to read another argument about this again after reading this post right here... It is always exploitation for the fact alone that you are using that person's image for whatever statement you are trying to make, and it is beyond played out.
I think some of these interpretations are giving Greco and others guilty of this wayyy too much credit as artists, too. Unless your skate video is dedicated to raising awareness or funds to combat the homelessness problem in this country and includes footage that humanizes homeless people (beyond high fives, stoke, or laughing at/with them), then your artistic statement is just "Woahh look how crazy this homeless person is, that's raw/hilarious." Which, again, is THE most cliche thing to include in a skateboarding video and is undoubtedly lame and harmful.
@madam, I'm Adam already said everything I just did, except he did it much better. Read his post if you are on the fence about this issue.
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Those flustered by some of the contents in this film can go back to living life like this
(https://images.barewalls.com/comp/art-print-poster/bwc15787478/hands-covering-eyes.jpg?units=in&pw=8.0&ph=10.0&fit=False&size=large)
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What a legend. I enjoyed every minute of that and I already can’t wait for his next one.
Pretty weird they cut off that one back tail though.
I thought it was like a homage to gonz’s video days part where they cut a few tricks off right in the middle. In fact quite a few things in that part gave me video days vibes.
Overall, I thought it was a lot better than some of his other parts where there is slo mo footage of him putting his boots on or whatever to show how arty he is; it was just raw skating and I feel he portrayed it well even if he did chuck a bones brigade and wore the same clothes on different occasions to make it seem like it was all one day, again though maybe a homage because he knows his skate cinema well.
Homeless people footage was raw too, but it could have a deeper message and I honestly feel like sometimes Grecs may have ended up like that had he have pursued the junkie path like so many of his heroes. Maybe it’s showing how skating saved him in the end?
Lots of great tricks in there and yes, he’s still got some monster pop especially with that back tail out of nowhere! There’s probaly more homage tricks in there too but I’m going to need a rewatch.
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What a legend. I enjoyed every minute of that and I already can’t wait for his next one.
Pretty weird they cut off that one back tail though.
Overall, I thought it was a lot better than some of his other parts where there is slo mo footage of him putting his boots on or whatever to show how arty he is; it was just raw skating and I feel he portrayed it well even if he did chuck a bones brigade and wore the same clothes on different occasions to make it seem like it was all one day, again though maybe a homage because he knows his skate cinema well.
Homeless people footage was raw too, but it could have a deeper message and I honestly feel like sometimes Grecs may have ended up like that had he have pursued the junkie path like so many of his heroes. Maybe it’s showing how skating saved him in the end?
Lots of great tricks in there and yes, he’s still got some monster pop especially with that back tail out of nowhere! There’s probaly more homage tricks in there too but I’m going to need a rewatch.
That’s a really good point actually. I wasn’t even thinking of that the first time watching. Watching it again I definitely get Gonz and Video Days vibes now.
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it was okay. not even close to as good as Baker3 or Deathwish parts
it’s good if you like Tincan Folklore-style artisanal gluten-free boutique skating for the discerning skateboarder
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it was okay. not even close to as good as Baker3 or Deathwish parts
it’s good if you like Tincan Folklore-style artisanal gluten-free boutique skating for the discerning skateboarder
Apples and Oranges.
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Even if it wasn't a homeless guy we were talking about, filming someone without their consent, being told to stop, and then continuing to do so is 100% antagonistic behavior. I am shocked that anyone would argue otherwise. Either way, I stand by it being a very trite artistic statement. It's been done to death and it isn't any sort of biting commentary on the status quo. And the fact that there is practically a library's worth of other examples of this within skateboarding media alone proves as such. This does nothing different other than put a fancy film filter over it.
I hope I never have to read another argument about this again after reading this post right here... It is always exploitation for the fact alone that you are using that person's image for whatever statement you are trying to make, and it is beyond played out.
I think some of these interpretations are giving Greco and others guilty of this wayyy too much credit as artists, too. Unless your skate video is dedicated to raising awareness or funds to combat the homelessness problem in this country and includes footage that humanizes homeless people (beyond high fives, stoke, or laughing at/with them), then your artistic statement is just "Woahh look how crazy this homeless person is, that's raw/hilarious." Which, again, is THE most cliche thing to include in a skateboarding video and is undoubtedly lame and harmful.
@madam, I'm Adam already said everything I just did, except he did it much better. Read his post if you are on the fence about this issue.
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it’s good if you like Tincan Folklore-style artisanal gluten-free boutique skating for the discerning skateboarder
yes, defs saw the early stereo influence too!
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it’s good if you like Tincan Folklore-style artisanal gluten-free boutique skating for the discerning skateboarder
this is slap, we're all allergic to gluten
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it was okay. not even close to as good as Baker3 or Deathwish parts
it’s good if you like Tincan Folklore-style artisanal gluten-free boutique skating for the discerning skateboarder
Please god let Tincan Folklore boutique skating be the next big thing in 2021.
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that was great! This is how I skate when I close my eyes and imagine......plus the soundtrack was just right.......
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i am pretty sure greco monitors this thread. its the only place for his film to be discussed in dept, so it just makes sense.
Thats why i will take this moment here as an opportunity to express my gratitude to him.
thank you for always doing what you want, still delivering solid output, adding a creative component to the skatevideo world, for sharing your melancholy (that i can relate to) and of course for being one of the best dressed to ever do it!
its inspirational and i hope you will not slow down ever soon.
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dear grecx get a load of this teacher's pet above me
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Cassavettes vibes-- that was great. Loved the whole thing, the repetition, the dreaminess mixed with grittiness. The fs blunt, fs nosegrind, and kickflip pivot fakie on the planter were especially beautiful.
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The filming was really bad.
Jeez Louis, I would have really enjoyed it if "alcohol shakes" wasn't filming.
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I really like these edits where the pro only skates one spot and just destroys everything. Kind of like Bobby Worrest at freedom plaza/Pulaski. Skate every part of the spot. Show every one else the highest caliber to aspire to.
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Good luck skating that spot and not running into 30 homeless, and often aggressive people. Downtown is a massive fucken shithole and I'm glad they filmed all the trash, wouldn't be accurate without it. They probably shouldn't have included the shot where the guy asked not to be filmed. But showing the other clips was a harsh reality check. I worked downtown for years and couldn't even get through the parking garage without walking past people smoking crack/meth. I got chased to my car/almost got robbed multiple times and witnessed homeless people doing just about anything imaginable, from jerking off on the sidewalk at 12pm to someone shitting in front of the Whole Foods on Grand Ave. Place is completely gone
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Good luck skating that spot and not running into 30 homeless, and often aggressive people. Downtown is a massive fucken shithole and I'm glad they filmed all the trash, wouldn't be accurate without it. They probably shouldn't have included the shot where the guy asked not to be filmed. But showing the other clips was a harsh reality check. I worked downtown for years and couldn't even get through the parking garage without walking past people smoking crack/meth. I got chased to my car/almost got robbed multiple times and witnessed homeless people doing just about anything imaginable, from jerking off on the sidewalk at 12pm to someone shitting in front of the Whole Foods on Grand Ave. Place is completely gone
Clearly it's still there, this video just came out
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Good luck skating that spot and not running into 30 homeless, and often aggressive people. Downtown is a massive fucken shithole and I'm glad they filmed all the trash, wouldn't be accurate without it. They probably shouldn't have included the shot where the guy asked not to be filmed. But showing the other clips was a harsh reality check. I worked downtown for years and couldn't even get through the parking garage without walking past people smoking crack/meth. I got chased to my car/almost got robbed multiple times and witnessed homeless people doing just about anything imaginable, from jerking off on the sidewalk at 12pm to someone shitting in front of the Whole Foods on Grand Ave. Place is completely gone
Clearly it's still there, this video just came out
hate to admit that made me laugh
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Good luck skating that spot and not running into 30 homeless, and often aggressive people. Downtown is a massive fucken shithole and I'm glad they filmed all the trash, wouldn't be accurate without it. They probably shouldn't have included the shot where the guy asked not to be filmed. But showing the other clips was a harsh reality check. I worked downtown for years and couldn't even get through the parking garage without walking past people smoking crack/meth. I got chased to my car/almost got robbed multiple times and witnessed homeless people doing just about anything imaginable, from jerking off on the sidewalk at 12pm to someone shitting in front of the Whole Foods on Grand Ave. Place is completely gone
Clearly it's still there, this video just came out
hate to admit that made me laugh
Seriously though, I think you might need to think beyond your personal experiences with people in desperate situations and condemn the systems that let people suffer in the streets
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Good luck skating that spot and not running into 30 homeless, and often aggressive people. Downtown is a massive fucken shithole and I'm glad they filmed all the trash, wouldn't be accurate without it. They probably shouldn't have included the shot where the guy asked not to be filmed. But showing the other clips was a harsh reality check. I worked downtown for years and couldn't even get through the parking garage without walking past people smoking crack/meth. I got chased to my car/almost got robbed multiple times and witnessed homeless people doing just about anything imaginable, from jerking off on the sidewalk at 12pm to someone shitting in front of the Whole Foods on Grand Ave. Place is completely gone
Clearly it's still there, this video just came out
hate to admit that made me laugh
Seriously though, I think you might need to think beyond your personal experiences with people in desperate situations and condemn the systems that let people suffer in the streets
I'll give that a go and let you know how big of a difference it makes in these peoples' lives, thanks! Let me know what progress you've made too, it would be constructive for everyone in this thread!
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I wanna be a Baker
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Good luck skating that spot and not running into 30 homeless, and often aggressive people. Downtown is a massive fucken shithole and I'm glad they filmed all the trash, wouldn't be accurate without it. They probably shouldn't have included the shot where the guy asked not to be filmed. But showing the other clips was a harsh reality check. I worked downtown for years and couldn't even get through the parking garage without walking past people smoking crack/meth. I got chased to my car/almost got robbed multiple times and witnessed homeless people doing just about anything imaginable, from jerking off on the sidewalk at 12pm to someone shitting in front of the Whole Foods on Grand Ave. Place is completely gone
Clearly it's still there, this video just came out
hate to admit that made me laugh
Seriously though, I think you might need to think beyond your personal experiences with people in desperate situations and condemn the systems that let people suffer in the streets
I'll give that a go and let you know how big of a difference it makes in these peoples' lives, thanks! Let me know what progress you've made too, it would be constructive for everyone in this thread!
You are so welcome :)
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This is one of the only skate films I've rerun 3x in one day.
I would like a hard copy.
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I would also like a hard copy of all his films at some point. I wonder if he will ever try something longer, a Grecs feature film.
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I planned on hopping I. Here and being a dick, I had some jokes picked out and then I read comments and was like fuck I have to watch this one before I say mean stuff and then I watched it and thought, I like Jim, what an entertaining career filled with all sorts of wild shit and also seriously heavy ripping skateboarding, no real filler, a unique but genuinely good style on a skateboard, great parts with great music for the most part and never not entertaining. This video surprised me on a few levels, his skating is still gnarly even after embracing his evolution and also I had a IRL LOL moment when they showed the homeless guy that stole Jim’s meth pipe from the camera bag hit it underneath the blanket. Just thinking about how Old Jim would have reacted vs this, I guess he got the footage he wanted and COVID as well? Who knows but ya great video 👍
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rad as fuck
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revitalizing this thread because I just rewatched this video and man I think it's more than just a skate part it's truly an art piece