a brief glance issue_59

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Felipe Bartolomé Picture — Clément Le Gall

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FRAGMENTS(FG)

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AN EXPERIENCED MAN(AC) Ale Cesario Interview

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ASEPTIC COVID — 19(AS)

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A CONVERSATION WITH(N&V) Vince Palmer & Nils Matjias

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NOVOROSSIYSK(AN) Absurd Skateboards in the South of Russia

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IT’S A FAMILY AFFAIR(FA) Behind the Scenes of Rave Skateboards' “Family & Friends” video

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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EDITOR & CONCEPT Davide Biondani. davide@abriefglance.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Guido Bendotti. guido@abriefglance.com

ASSISTANT EDITOR Andrew Zolin

TRANSLATIONS Jonathan Levin.

PHOTOGRAPHERS Alexey Lapin Clément Le Gall Reece Leung Davide Biondani

CONTRIBUTORS Kirill Korobkov Mario Torre JP Chapuis Aurelien Mangin Fabio Montagner Mattia Todero

DESIGN Matteo Sorlini GET ALL THE INFO at: info@abriefglance.com

A Brief Glance skateboard mag is a bulletin published by Fake Donkey Skateboard asd. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the permission of the publisher.

COVER

All rights reserved.

Thanks to Canon Italia for the support.

PHOTO

Ale Cesario

Backward Nosegrind

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Davide Biondani

Milan

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NILS

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VINCE PALMER — Kickflip A BRIEF GLANCE

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NILS MATIJAS — Switch Kickflip

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NILS MATIJAS — WALLIE ONE FOOT A BRIEF GLANCE

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→Next page VINCE PALMER Backside Ollie A BRIEF GLANCE

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December isn't really a month when you would expect outdoor skate missions in Russia. But due to the big body of water known as the Black Sea, the South-Western edge of the Russian Federation stays warm all year long. The winter temperature stays in between +5 and +15 degrees Celsius and is mostly dry. Basically, there is a small part of Russia where we can skate throughout the whole winter.

You probably heard of Sochi. It's the most famous Russian city down there.

We've been to Sochi before but for the recent winter escape we chose the second largest city in the part of Russia named Novorossiysk. I doubt whether you have ever heard of it unless you are really into geography. One of the things about Russia is that besides Moscow and Saint Petersburg pretty much no other Russian cities have international fame. But actually, Russia has hundreds and hundreds of different cities that add up to an endless amount of spots that all look fresh and different. By "fresh" I don't mean the physical condition of the structures (as some spots can be 40-50 years old) but the fresh look in footage and photos. Absurd finds it more interesting to search and destroy this way instead of struggling with ABDs at famous Spanish or French plazas.

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Novorossiysk is a big port city. The whole city was built around a harbor and the port facilities and venues. Personally, I love watching ports. For me there is something magical about all those piers, cranes, containers, ships and boats of all sizes moving around. In seeing all those port activities I feel the pulse of our globe.

I like thinking about international commerce, navigation between different countries and continents, and import and export. It gives me a feeling of how big and small our world is at the same time. From one point of view, destinations can be weeks and months away, but on the other hand you can get on a boat in Southern Russia and make it to the Caribbean or Japan in a relatively short amount of time. For me, sea navigation is one of the things that keeps our world together. But let's stop my sea-inspired romance and let's get back to skateboarding.

Let me introduce our crew. We had two brothers, Philipp and Dilip. They are half Russian, and half Nepalese. It's a very interesting combination of nationalities. They are from Moscow. They look weird and that's what we like about them.

People are often confused as to who they are. As I said before, Absurd tries to limit its traveling to Russia and ex-Soviet countries, but one distant country we should visit is Nepal. We are very curious about the Nepalese side of Philipp and Dilip's family.

On this trip Vova Pavlov shared positions as filmer and rider. Vova is from the Kola Peninsula. His home city is above the polar circle close to Finland and Norway. While we were soaking in the sun by the sea, his neighbors back home were busy digging out their cars after some snowstorms. Nikita Sekh is a professional snowboarder and an avid skater. He didn't get a photo in this article so I am not going to talk much about him. He didn't get a photo but he got the last trick for the clip. That was good enough. We also have a guest rider, Sema Konev. Sema doesn't ride for Absurd but he is probably the best skater from Southern Russia, so why wouldn't we invite him to join us? And luckily for us, Russia's finest skate photographer Alexey Lapin was with us as well. If it weren't for him this article wouldn't even make it anywhere.

Philipp Kharel Backside 50—50 Philipp Kharel Taildrop into the bank

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Modern Russian cities are full of architectural eclecticism. It's the craziest mix of traditional pre-Soviet private houses, different Soviet styles ranging from Neoclassicism to Modernism and insane modern architecture. Developers follow no rules, and out of nowhere you can find three 20-storey residential towers sitting right in the middle of the backyard of good old Soviet housing blocks, or creepy-looking shopping malls blocking the waterfront promenade. Money and profit ruin everything around us. I wish people took better care of the city environment. As for the spots, I think these days it's 50/50 between Soviet spots built during the USSR era and spots in modern architectural style. Usually, Soviet spots are monumental and made of marble or granite. For modern construction they use cheaper, lower quality materials that result in fragility.

I am a fan of far away skate scenes. The local skate scene around Novorrossiysk is a good example. Due to farness, skaters are less influenced by major international skate trends which helps them to preserve their diverse and original look. Nowadays, you don't get to see skaters in pairs of D3s or original I-Paths. It makes people more unique and more interesting to watch.

Novorossiysk itself is an industrial city but there are smaller places around it that are popular resort areas. In the winter these small cities and villages are ghost towns. Everything is closed and sometimes you can't even find a supermarket to get a drink. But we all know that in these conditions you can have some of the best skate sessions where normally you would get kicked out in a few seconds.

We've done a few successful missions like this and have celebrated them with wine. By the way, in the South of Russia we have our local wine industry and Russian wines. Some of it is proper wine made from vineyard grapes, but if you go to cheap draft wine places they can sell you booze made from powder that might taste like the fruitiest drink of your life and also provides the sweetest hangovers afterwards. In Novorossiysk this wine made from powder is called shmurdyak.

Vova Pavlov Switch Frontside Boardslide Dilip Kharel Frontside Smith

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We stayed at our friend's place for one week. His name is Vesya.

He is the owner of a local skate shop, an artist and a proper hustler. He spent his childhood in a gang and still has this thug style in his blood. When he enters his local bar everyone hugs him, when he shows up at the spot kids smile, when he goes to the supermarket in the middle of the night they are ready to sell him alcohol even if its sale is banned during the night, and when he makes art he sprays the paint all over the walls of his apartment. Whatever he does he goes all out. The last thing you would expect from his careless and easy-going personality is a successful business project, but somehow his skate shop has been around for more than a decade. This guy is one of the main reasons we keep coming back to Novorossiysk.

I tried to describe this whole Southern Russian vibe to you and what makes it special, but in the end it doesn't matter where we are from, the reason all of us go on trips is always the same: friends, spots and good times.

Vova Pavlov Slappy Tailslide

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Skateboarding is freedom and skate trips are the essence of this freedom. Much love to A Brief Glance for giving recognition to Absurd and Russian skateboarding.

Thanks to Alexey and his Asphalt Magazine for accompanying me and the boys on another mission.

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“FAMILY & FRIENDS” VIDEO

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Okay then, now it’s the ollie of my beloved Edouard Depaz Again, very easy to get. I zoomed in, and saw he wasn’t doing fuzzy things with his feet or trying to sneak the board under the barrier.

Well done Edouaj.

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