DVD Review – CHEAP THRILLS
CHEAP THRILLS // Ralph Sanchez
Ralph Sanchez’s long awaited video. Ralph’s been filming for No Friends and now he’s back with his own video, and it’s alllllll good. Feels good to watch a video that really shows how it goes when you’re travelling around the world surfing the most crazy breaks and meeting dozens of well known and lesser known rippers. Ralph and Brandon travelled to South Af., Australia, Cali. and Hawaii and came back with a shitload of cool footage. The video is as rock n roll as it gets, the choice of music and the editing (quite simple – semi arty sometimes) are good. The footage quality is good as well, the only things i didnt like were the titles font but this is minor.
It’s a refreshing video that aint copying the standards of today’s bodyboarding videos which are basically a rip off stoker’s unique style and editing. Ralph came up with his own style and ideas and it’s as fresh as it gets.
Some riders have their own parts : Hubb, Skippy, Brandon Foster how’s gonna show you Dking has a bright future and that some Dkers can use their rails and dont fall all the time. Stewy has his own cool part in the bonus as well. Oh, it’s also in the bonus that you might laugh the most…
Playbord note : Check playbord’s quicktime videos in the MEDIA menu and watch the small CA. Video, you’ll notice that playbord.com filmed one of Will George’ snap, the same as in Cheap Thrills – at seaside reef in September 04. Pretty cool uh ? No ? Nevermind.
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THE JOKER : This is Damian KING’s own video. It’s more than just a biography of the world champ (even if you’ll watch Damian & his buddies surf when they were young). The footage of Damian’s trips around the world and friends are cool, the Phillippines trip is good, the Puerto footage is awesome, Ben Player and Dave Winchester rip every wave appart. There’s another good section with Kingy and Toby riding huge lefts. 
OPTION VIDEO MAG issue 02. Issue 01 was a warm up video i guess and this one is the real shit. Everything issue 01 lacked of, issue 02 has it and much more. This video is absolutly fantastic. The editing, the titles, the footage, the quality of the footage, the diversity of the features : everything rocks. I love the mind blowing intro, it gets you sooo freaking amped on bodyboarding. I dont know how long Luga Podesta spent on his Mac editing this jewel but i bet he spent quite a few days and nights. The music rocks as well, it’s all Rock/Indie/Emo/Pop/Punk stuff and it fits the footage perfectly.
I forgot i had this video to review ! Arrrggg ! It’s such a good one so i gotta say it’s a shame i didnt review this one earlier. It’s never too late though. So here we go : This vid is another Ozzie one, it’s pretty good actually, it’s a lil bit in the vein of a Nofriends/Stoker video. I mean it’s kind of arty, footage-wise and editing-wise. All the riders rip so hard it’s unbelievable : Hardy, the Players bros, Winchester, all the young ozzies, jeez, they all surf as good as it gets. 
This is the latest Rush/Darkstar project and it’s the Vol.1 of 3 Volumes. Yep, we’re talking about a ‘Best of’ Trilogy. The three videos are gonna cover the last 15 years of bodyboarding history : the riders and the events. It’s such a good idea and it’s the first time this is done on video. The vol.1 which i’m reviewing here has a dozen of riders profiles : the most influential riders in the sport past and present. The images are really cool, some old, some new, it is well edited for a Best of video, the music is good and the mini interviews of some of the riders or riders friends are fine. I wish each segment/profile was longer. But the video is quite long, so i c’ant complain. The Botha segment is awesome, the Tamega one as well. You’ll have to watch the video to discover the other segments. The Roach one is way too short but the Vol.2 of the trilogy is an all DK vol. so i guess we’ll see some cool Roach footage in the vol.2
OPTION MAG is a really good mag and i love it. The OVM issue one is another story though. My expectations were high when i first heard of the Video Mag but the first issue was a bit disapointing. The subjects are cool but the editing and the quality of the footage is weird. It’s not really clean and there are a lot of unneeded ’special effects’ in some of the sections. 
This is Oceanic Images newest release, after REFUSE and it’s as good as REFUSE but it’s an all Hawaiian video : the video covers the whole North Shore 03/04 season. They did it really well, with clean footage, good editing and music. If you wanna know what happened on the Rock this past season and learn how to bust like the pros in big waves, this is definitly a must have.
REFUSE isn’t that new but was distributed no long ago in Europe so here’s the review for all you euros out there : On the cover of the video it’s written ‘worldclass riders, worldclass waves’ and it’s exactly what it’s all about in the video. 
This is the first video from SOL Prod. It’s quite short, it’s got lots of diverse footage from all around the globe (Cabo, Cali, Hawaii …). The quality of the footage isn’t that good and the editing either. There are a lot of underground and up and coming rippers in the video though which is cool coz we dont see them very often but they rip.
This is a Tasmanian video, with underground rippers and waves, all tasmanians. The quality of the footage aint that good but the editing and the music (mostly punk stuff) is good. It’s more of an amateur video than a pro thing but it’s all good to discover new waves and riders. Bodyboarding’s not dead. It gets you motivated to charge when you watch this video. Good Dk rider at the end of the video.
