New Thirsty Review

Let me preface this review by saying I don't write reviews. I swore off them many years ago for the simple fact that opinions don't matter. My thoughts don't have any effect on the trick that was done, how the clip was edited, and what song was chosen. At the end of the day, skateboarding is what it is and it's interpretation is solely a matter of personal preference. One man's trash is always going to be another man's treasure, so why bother even commenting? I am writing this review because I have been a fan of Justin White's Popills site for over a year now. When he sent an email requesting that we review his latest film on 48 Blocks, I was happy to oblidge.

The second thing I must mention before diving into the particulars of New Thirsty is that I have the attention span of a flea. I blame my attention deficit disorder entirely on the internet. There are thousands of videos that can be watched at literally any given moment, and that's just within skateboarding. When considering web video entertainment options on a whole, the choices are easily in the millions. This sensory overload has a tendancy to dumb down the ability to focus. As soon as one loses the slightest bit of interest, it's off to the next thing. You don't even have to walk to the DVD player or pick up the remote. Just point and click. The sad and ultimate result is that I find myself rarely sitting down to watch videos on the television anymore, especially skate videos. Despite owning the DVD, I am more likely to pull up Guy's Fully Flared part on Youtube than bother popping in the hard copy and scrolling through the menu. I fear that I am not alone and that many a good DVD that is not posted online gets overlooked in this day and age.

The relevence of the previous two paragraphs is this - you are about to read a DVD review written by someone that doesn't write reviews and rarely watches DVD's. If you still want to continue after reading that last statement, my thoughts on Justin's latest effort are contained below.

I was definitely excited when New Thirsty showed up in the mailbox, mostly because of Andy Bautista and German Nieves. Andy is an East Coast powerhouse who we don't get to see enough of, and German is the homie and has an incredible amount of swagger on a skateboard. I already knew I would like these two guy's shared part as much as I do. No big surprise there. Upon popping in the video, the first thing that stood out was the imagery. You get an idea of Justin's style from his site, but he does a great job of weaving shots together and creating an overall vibe. If you're a fan of the East Coast, especially Jersey and New York then you will definitely be feeling the aesthetic of this video. The cast of New Thirsty consists of underground rippers that deliver solid skating. Obviously this isn't the new Workshop flick, but you won't be dissapointed with the level of skill. The soundtrack is balanced and I didn't have to mute the TV once, that's always a plus. The runtime is a little over twenty minutes. That feels just about perfect, seems like videos are getting shorter these days along with attention spans. All in all, New Thirsty gets a thumbs up. If you're looking for a solid underground flick with some good East Coast skating, you might want to check this out.

-LW