After the opening scene of Cory rolling a looooong juggler combo the video starts out with a section from 16 year old powerhouse Travis Collier. This kid has only been riding a couple of years and is alrady blowing minds with his G Turn hikers and super smooth 360 squeaker bar flips among many other sick combos.
Next up is the master of smoothness and control, Cory Stratychuk. Cory can roll like no other. He rarely kicks the tire and his momentum never seems to end. His no handed spinning hiker has to be seen to be believed. Even after pulling a mind blowing combo, Cory is always prepared to throw down some raditude as he rides out. You just know he owns his tricks when he can finish them off like that.
Following Cory is the brakeless wonder Jeff Desroche. Jeff is still young, hasn't been riding long but is already doing some tricks that should be impossible without brakes. He rides quick so you will wear out your slow mo button during Jeff's sections just to figure out how he does his hang five to tomahawk on the frame combo for example. Look out for Jeff, he is really just getting started and is really going to blow up in the next couple of years.
Did you know Australia has their own X Games? Maybe you knew that, maybe not but the Aussie X Games Pro Flat winner Simon O'Brien spent some time in the US and Canada this summer and thus scored a part on this video. Simon's boomerang to kick the tire to forward nose wheelie to g turn to spinning no handed hang five is still one of the sickest combos I have ever saw. And that combo is just the beginning of what Simon brings to this video.
Rounding out the video is Steve Fong. Steve has a cool style where he hits a hard trick and quickly rides out. No long combos for him but nothing easy as well. Just hard tricks and they look good.
Along with the great riding on this video comes a great soundtrack. Every track seems to match the rider perfectly and you get a variety of techno, hip hop and punk. This is a point that many videos miss but Paved Paradise did not.
All in all this video is a great freshman editing effort for Shane Neville. Shane is paying royalties to all the riders in the video which is something that is rarely done with bmx videos. Flatland is full of starving artists and Shane's royalties are going to help some pros keep riding and progressing. Support Shane and the riders in this video.
Cory Stratychuck on his new bright yellow Ares and inspired by is mum, throws down some really nice rolling turbining type lines. A no handed spinning hitchiker (he wedges the pedal behind his leg) and a bad ass whiplash line. All to some funky fresh hiphop.
Steve Fong with a crazy sketchy style, moves to some strange music, but pumps out lots of walking round the bike halfhiker pulling the bar out to swfoot blender and jumping to the pedals stuff. Even one where he lands on the pedals facing backward which I though was particularly nice. Jeff Desroche, busting out to some heavier music kicks out a collection of brakeless flip moves including a nuts jumpflip from steamroller through the frame to halfpacker and and another one with a bunnyhop thrown in for good measure from crackpacker to swfoot elephant glide.
Simon Obrien, for those of you who havn't seen this Australian before, you're in for a treat. He rips in to links with a boomerang to pedal nose wheelie to a load of 360 flips to tomohawks straight and also switched. Spining mega top (2 footed pedal time machine) to pedal caboose and a load of other Aussie magic. some really nice sections there with as much variety in styles as can be seen today. After the vid there is a trailer for another Canadian feature, "innovation" made by Jeff Desroche but sadly that project went under, Jeff has now got a new vid out called "Rotation" which is the first in a line of flatland video magazines he will be making. Then another trailer this time not for a vid but for the website www.bmxtrix.com, and I have to say that this clip is really well put together, it is called "do you remember" it really has to be seen and is truly inspiring. Then there is all so a little section from the AFL comp in ohio, which features "self proclaimed 3rd best" Scott Powell's upside down decade, Gabe Cadmere, Aaron Frost, Brendon Fenton and Brian Ryback. All in all the vid gave out a really good vibe with refreshing tunes to get u pumped for that rainy session in the car park, so check out www.backlashbmx.com for info and ordering.
Content:
- Art Thomason Interview.
- Toronto La Revolution Comp.
- Anaheim BS Comp.
- Houston, TX Scene Report.
- Chris Day (IFL) busting out with a great old school style Interview.
- Pinky Squeak and Whiplash How-to.
Kieran Chapman, www.ewirezine.com: With flatland progressing faster than any other aspect of riding, it's hard to keep up with it all, especially with the limited coverage flatland gets in the media. This has inspired a lot of flatland-only contests, videos and websites, and now a flatland-only videozine: Flatland Manifesto ("The evolution will now be televised").
I was a little skeptical at first: how good would the quality be? For no good reason (other than my normal pessimism) I was expecting something of questionable quality, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well-done issue 1 was. The content is what you'd expect from a videozine: contest coverage, interviews, a scene report, and how-to's.
The contests covered were the Toronto La Revolution and Anahiem BS. Between them, there was some good footage of Jeff Desroche (crazy pedal steamroller/circle-K combos), Aaron Behnke, Hiro Morisaki, Yammer Yamamoto (really original stuff!), Trevor Meyer on a circus bike doing Quicksilver tricks, Dan Rigby, Alex Jumelin, and Martti Kuoppa (absolutely mind-blowing) ... among many othe riders. It gives a good overview of what's going on with flatland these days.
There were interviews with IFL organizer and old-school flatlander Chris Day, and rider Art Thomason (find out how an autographed photo almost got him busted with an underage runaway). There was also an Houston, Texas scene report (just two flatlanders in Houston?), and a couple how-to's (pinky squeaks and whiplashes).
Nathan Penonzec on the cover.
Released in september 2001
Riders: Matt St. Gelais, Akira Okamura, Travis Collier, Hiro Morisaki, Aaron Frost, Takashi Ito, Nathan Penonzek, Genyo Ninomya, Hara Shinichiro, Brian Tunney, Adam Pintek, Stephan Cerra, Edward Benoil, Takahiro Enoki, Akio Kotani, Dave McDaniel, Kataro Tanaka, Yammer Yamamoto, Yuki, Osamu, Masataka, Kazuma, York Uno, Kenji Horikawa, Kappa, Yuuji, Yasushi Tanabe, Cory Fester, James White, Andrew Faris, James Kennedy, Matt Wilhelm, Jeff DesRoche, Steve Fong, Steve Mulder, Anthony Durbano, Alexis Desolneux, Michael Sommer, Jamie MacIntosh, Ulrich Kitel, Cory Stratychuk, Adam Degoede, Matti Rose, Scott Powell, Michael Steingrabber, Scott Powell, Michael Steingrabber, Stephan Royer, Dan Rigby, Hide, Effraim Catlow, Aaron Behnke, Chad Degroot, Viki Gomez, Martti Kouppa, Phil Dolan, Gabe Kadmiri.
Running Time: 45 min.
Content:
- Effraim Catlow Interview
- Bristol X-Trials Comp
- Perris CFB Comp
- Japan - King Of Ground rd 2
- Dave McDaniel Interview
- Hitchhiker How-to [Backwards, Forwards and Spinning]
- 4 Sessions: [Woodward CFB, Vancouver, Coquitlam, Cologne]
www.bmx-test.com: This issue begins with a little bit of comp coverage from the Perris CFB comp. After seeing a small glimpse of riding, it is tough to determine who won. So many bombs were dropped I would have hated to be a judge there. One rider who's riding is still in thought is Akira Okamura. His hops to back wheel tricks are beyond words; they are something that HAVE to be seen. Have you ever seen Japanese riders in their home environment? I have, thanks to F.M. What can I say? They rip--they rip harder at home than they do at US contests. One highlight trick was a cross-handed megaspin on the frame. To say the least it was sick. Other tricks were no less from extraordinary. The interviews with Dave McDaniel and Effraim Catlow were awesome as well. Dave's interview consisted of Dave's riding in the background with a fancy graphic with Dave's mug on the foreground. It was an interesting editing technique that flowed well with Dave McDaniel's incredible style. Effraim's interview included riding cut back and forth with Effraim's life story. There was some older footage of him as well as some really recent stuff. He will always be on the cutting age of flatland. The follow up to the interviews was some footage from worldwide jams: Woodward, Western Canadian Flatland Jam, Snow Jam, Cologne Germany Jam. All of these jams were cut and pasted together showing the highlights of the riders at each jam. Incredible links were a common occurrence and the jam format didn't hold anyone back. Mike Sommer even managed to land a huge barflip (540), which has to be the first. Stephane Royer's crazy switch style was perfectly captured by Shane at the Canadian Flat Jam. Jamie MacIntosh even managed to pull two triple decades back to back. To make a long story short, Flatland Manifesto will be putting out high quality videos for a long time to come. In my opinion, issue #2 is worth it's weight in gold. With crystal clear footage, smooth edits and a whopping amount of riding; Flatland Manifesto is best bang for your buck. My only warning to you is to have your Depends on—these vids will make you shit your pants.
Jon Dudzinski , www.zerosweep.netfirms.com: Being his third video, NEV has come a long way since Paved Paradise. With this video, he proved that he has what it takes to be one of the top video producers.
With over 50 flatlanders in this video, it is one of the biggest videos when it comes to variety of riders. Matt St. Gelais busted out some short but sweet links. Akira Okamura does a really cool barflip where his hand comes off the bar mid-flip. Travis Collier has some stuff that I have never seen before such as a hang-5 link where he twist's himself into a switch handed steamroller. Hiro Morisaki was doing some great stuff like a double footed hand-5 where he's holding the seat, as he goes in circles he does barflips, lands back in the hang-5 and does it again. Aaron Frost hits some brakeless links. Takashi Ito has a few new tricks up his sleeve like a spastic half-hiker where he jumps around the bars while he's spinning. Nathan Penonzek is his usual self doing a lot of different front and back wheel tricks. Hara Shinichiro was going of with really fast pinky squeaks and turbined wheel chairs. Adam Pintek hits stuff on his crankless GT. Stephan Cerra really ripped in this video. Awesome turbines and spins. Dave McDaniel has an interview in this video, very cool guy. Yammer Yamamoto was doing his twisted links where he throws in a 360 barflip out of nowhere. York Uno, who is now brakeless, was going off more than ever with some of the best stuff in the video. Kenji Horikawa hits some mccircle links. Canadian rider, Cory Fester had some really great stuff to show off. Andrew Faris had some stuff like his 360 barflip into a half-packer. James Kennedy is really good. He had some stuff like a hang-5 switched into an inside circle-k on the opposite pedal. Matt Wilhelm was spinning like mad. Jeff DesRoche is dialing in those steamrollers on the pedal and throwing them in his links. Steve Fong is awesome. He does some of the coolest links and lands them straight to the pedals. Steve Mulder does his bike-flip. Full Circle rider, Anthony Durbano was going off with some great links. Michael Sommer hit's a 540 barflip into a steamroller and does some kickflip links too. Jamie MacIntosh was riding very aggresive and did a triple decade and a few other cool back wheel links. Cory Stratychuk did his regualr smooth links. Adam Degoede did a cross footed wheel chair glide and a scuffing wheel chair standing on the bars. Matti Rose is hauling in this video with some of the most awesome tricks ever like a backward time machine on the pedal. Stephan Royer had one really cool link where he switched all over the place and rode out. Dan Rigby did his usual spastic steamroller links. Effraim Catlow's interview was very cool as he talked about the old days of flatland. Viki Gomez was going off with some of the longest and smoothest links I have seen. Martti Kuoppa defended his kickflipping with some half-packer kickflips, he'd better watch out though, rumer has it that Akira Okamura hits a half-hiker 360 kickflip in Flatland Manifesto #3.
The quality of the footage in this video is astronomical. Very clear shots and awesome angles make this one of the highest quality footage videos out today. Dave McDaniel's interview was done so you could see his face as he talked and see him ride at the same time, very clever idea if you ask me.
The soundtrack in Flatland Manifesto is very diverse, ranging from hip-hop to oldies. When I first heard the soundtrack, I didn't like it. After a while though, it grew on me.
- Travis Collier (on the cover) Interview || New England Scene
- Japan King of Ground Finals
- North America Sessions: [LA Barrio, Flatlord Jam, IFL Athens]
- Euro Sessions: [Palavas, Kford Jam, FlattimeKing, Level Vibes]
- Hang 5 How-to [Regular and many variations]
- Sessions: Nashville, Vancouver, Athens
- Florida CFB
- New Orleans Scene Report: Terry Adams, Eugene Collins, Mickey Gaidos, Scott O'Brien, Carrey Matthews
- Toronto La Revolution
- Steamroller Flip How-to
Reviews : Cream #17
Le flat à enfin la place qu'il mérite dans les médias.
- Sessions (Ham Jam, CFB II, CFB III + More)
- Texas EXPN Invitational
- Atlanta/Athens Scene Report
- Nathan Penonzek Interview
- Atlanta EXPN Invitational
www.agoride.com: Meilleurs moments: Scott Powell en megaspin back to decade en upside wheelie to megaspin back sans faire toucher la selle ! Et l'incroyable Akira: on arrête de respirer à chacun de ses passages.
Pour qui est cette vidéo: Pour tous ceux qui aiment le flat, du débutant au pro qui s'en prend plein la gueule.
Note: 8 sur 10
Notre avis: Shane nous montre le flat qu'on veut voir. Ce qui compte le plus c'est le tricks, qu'il soit rentré ou non et notre ami canadien l'a bien compris en nous montrant le principal même si parfois le links n'est pas rentré net sur la pédale en sautant. Le Bêtisier de fin vaut le prix de la casette à lui tout seul: Terry Adams imitant Trevor sur son propre bike, Nathan qui parle espagnol, Morisake qui danse en half packer et encore plein d'autres délires dans ce genre. Durée: 45 mn environ
Prix: 28 euros
Dispo en: VHS uniquement
Distribution: Artz1
Au menu, FISE de Palavas, Circle Cow, King of Paca en France, Flatground en Hollande, Backyard Jam à Hastings, european X-Games de Barcelone et les World Championships de Cologne.
Manu Massabova, www.agoride.com, janvier 2003: L'été passé, Shane Neville a quitté temporairement son Canada natal pour venir goûter les bonnes bières européennes. Il n'avait pas pour autant oublié son caméscope...
Escales aux Euro X-games de Barcelone, aux Worlds de Cologne, à la Backyard Jam d'Hastings... Il s'est en plus fait un peu aider pour couvrir des événements tels que le Fise de Palavas ou encore le Circle Cow de Servon.
Résultat: tout le gratin européen est présent: Martti Kuoppa, Viki Gomez, Alex Jumelin, Jimmy Petitet, Effraim Catlow... Il y en a tellement qu'il est impossible de tous les citer.
Pour ceux qui, comme moi, se sont déplacés sur ces événements, c'est un joli film de vacances qui rafraîchit la mémoire et réchauffe ces longues soirées d'hiver. Pour les autres, c'est l'occasion de se rattraper en voyant au mieux ce qui s'est passé cet été en europe. Shane, tu reviens l'an prochain pour la N°2 ?
A noter: sur la jaquette, il est écrit " Frank Lukas Mini-Session " mais inutile de la chercher dans la vidéo ; pour des raisons obscures Shane n'a pu inclure cette session privée et n'a pas prévenu l'imprimeur de la jaquette assez tôt, vous attendrez donc encore un peu pour y avoir droit.
Mike Sommer on the cover.
- Sessions: Windsor, Great Lakes, Japan, Sno-Jam Van.
- Flatland Fury
- Frank Lukas Session
- KOG Round 3
- X Games
- KOG Finals
- How-to: Stretching
Renato, www.fatbmx.com:
Editor: Shane Neville
Shows: Flatland
Music: Punk, punkrock, hiphop, electro
Time: 40 minutes
Rate: *1/2
Number six already of Flatland Manifesto. I have to admit something up front: I'm a FM-fan! Yes, better get it out in the open right away. I've got all the episodes, watched them countless times and can sing along almost all of the songs. Hell, I even ordered cds from bands that are on FM videos, that's how much I like the music sometimes! Punk music rules!
Sessions is up first with a mix of footage from the Winter Jam, Athens Jam, Snow Jam in Vancouver and some Japanese Sessions. Anyone who is into flatland can figure out that footage from the Land of the Rising Sun has got to be the bomb and it is. The footage from all the jams is great, well edited and basically rocks! Dan Rigby is throwing down some insane combos which will make you rewind the tape to see what he is actually doing! Wow! Also cool footage from Erin Donato, American flatland diva, on her Dragonfly Submachine, with some original stuff!
Flatland Fury contest report is shown in a dual-screen format with one screen on the left showing the rider and his combo and a second smaller screen on the right with a close up, slow-mo scene or a rider shoving his face in the camera. A very cool hip-hop track to go with it and you've got a great piece. Lots of footage from Michael Sommer, Terry Adams and the New Orleans Crew and other great riders but no footage of Matti Rose; he won pro class so where is he?
One of the things that makes the FM series so great is the fact that they have a lot of coverage of the King of Ground Contest series. Flatland is really, really big in Japan and when you see a King of Ground Contest you can see it for yourself. Held in the central square of big (and I mean BIG) shopping malls where people are watching who basically just came in for some shopping explains why flatland is big in Japan. "Regular" people get exposed to it this way and get interested in the art, coupled with the fact that Japanese culture is attracted to technical and precise activities makes flatland a very interesting sport for them. Japanese superstars like Akira Okamura, York Uno, Kataro Tanaka, Kappa, Tanabe, Yasushi and Yanmar go all-out but what's more interesting are all those unknown riders ripping it up with enough style and technique to make your mouth water.
Next up is a Frank Lukas rider part which was announced on FM Euro Sessions but didn't make it for some reason, well it's here now. Frank is one of Europe's top pros and one of my favorite riders. He is the ultimate King of Spin! He's ripping it up with his famous spinning combos: megaspins, upside-down megaspins on the pedals, spinning hitchhikers, spinning tomahawks, spinning wheelchairs, you name it, Frank spins it. They don't call him "der Accuschrauber" (German for "the Electric Drill") for nothing. Frank rules. Period!
X-games are up next with all-star flatland action by the likes of Martti Kuoppa, Trevor Meyer, Aaron Behnke, Terry Adams, Viki Gomez, Stephen Cerra and Aaron Frost.
Last part is the King of Ground Finals. Another great contest report which shows not only the Japanese riders but also lots of European, Canadian and American pros. Alex Jumelin is there to break it down French-style and Cory Stratychuk rocks the house but I was totally flabbergasted by the things Terry Adams did. Crazy long combos with cross-footed hitchhikers and Karl cruiser barflips, you have to see him do it, I was amazed by the combos he pulled. He won the KOG Finals so check it out!
Another great issue of FM completed, FM 7 will be out on video and DVD. I can't wait. If you are into flatland, look no further! Flatland Manifesto is a must-see!
Terry Adams on the cover.