WHAT IS BEING SAID IN CYBERSPACE
The lack of "playfulness" was the point of Daehlie's implied criticism of the American xc scene in the Silent Sports article I gave the link to a couple days ago. The aspect of playfulness is also one reason I think the XCZone tapes are so entertaining and sell so well. In person most xc skiers are a pretty happy lot, at least when they're on skis and on snow. But viewed as a group by the non xc world the general impression is that we are a grim, driven, somewhat masochistic bunch. We shouldn't be surprised that more people aren't drawn to the sport. - Geo.C.
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OK, I'm really enjoying the "High Velocity" video of the thrill, cool moves, action side of XC ski racing. Usually, in XC there is only race video and training video. This seems to be the same situation in the sport cycling world (road). But now XC has a couple cool "action" videos. (The XC Zone people have made two so far.) Are there any "action" oriented videos for cycling?
Ya know, there was no helmet cam in "High Velocity"---that woulda been a nice touch. I think I've seen helmet cam in cycling. Is cycling conducive to action photography? --Hey, that's the director's job, not mine. I think that ANYTHING can be made to look good!! : )
I can picture a great way to present the action---and variety---of cycling. "The Wild World of Cycling." Sheesh, kind of a lame title compared to "High Velocity" but what the heck, it's a start....
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Man, I just bought this video and it ROCKS! Yeee-haw! Sign me up! Dang! Ya know, I just knew this sport had some kinda neat action to it...but shucks I just hadn't seen any IMAGE of that, especially on video, in, like, decades...so...WHEW! I'm glad this new movie just came out! FINALLY! Can we say FINALLY? Man, is it RIGHT ON. Finally some of our sport hits the big screen done right. Finally! Hot dog! This movie is about an hour of fully stoked up XC action. It has it all. (Can I say FINALLY again?) It even has a super-cranking soundtrack.
What I really liked was all the downhill bombin on those long long twisty pitch-changing runs. Where do they find trails like that! I want em! Now I know why I liked skiing so much. Criminy. And here I sit making my own trails in my backyard. Or skiing hacked up, chopped up, deerhunter trails out here in nowheresville. Dang, this movie has some PROPER SKI TRAILS in it!!! Down, down, down we go! ...And it has some great skiing. Did I say I liked the downhill action? There is some very fine cornering going on here. I just love bustin some angulation to keep on course at 30mph. Don't you? Man, I do remember some downhills like these. I always say that I love climbing the most, but, man, with a PROPER downhill one can really have some fun, show off, and MAKE SOME TIME.
This video is set up pretty much like 6 or so minimovies. Very fast-paced. So we have a minimovie about biathlon. Then crazy ski blastin'. Then coverage of the Pre-Olys World Cup. Great footage of Soldier's Hollow! Some more great long series of jamming---with low ski-mounted camera, pointing front, back, every which way. Heck, there's even chopper-cam. Then there's some nice old footage. Each sequence goes along with a great hard-rockin' or surf-beat song, with full MTV video-style credits. There's quite a bit of variety in the energetic music. No talking. Lots of great looking skiers! And gals!
There's about 10% of biathlon. Most is gunless action. In the Pre-Olys footage, I thought I saw Muehlegg (bib 1?) leading and looking like the unstoppable Monster there for awhile, but then we didn't see him again...maybe he wasn't skiing with anyone shortly thereafter and that wasn't so cinematic. : ) Man, the steep uphill herringbone footage from the side was really cool, with the great full-blast body postures of animals just tearing up that hill.
OK, there is a tiny bit of an amateur feel that makes an appearance, but no more than a, say, 3% corn-factor, so fergitaboutit. Sometimes captions only last .5 sec. Sometimes there's a trying-too-hard feel of not letting the sport do the talkin'. (I think this comes from some unfortunate defensiveness about XC---like the one caption near the halfway point that says something about "forget everything you think about XC..." like we thought it might be boring, like alpine skiing.
Obviously, boredom about *any* topic would be strictly the fault of the moviemaker involved.) The semi-corny stuff is at the start, with a "cute" bit having our biathletes be leather-clad secret agents in a Subaru ad. But I didn't like the crosshairs-on-skiers device. It's interesting how OFF-putting I bet it is for anyone who's an actual marksman. I had an visceral reaction against it. I kid all the time, but that just isn't funny. It simply goes against the "prime directive" for gun people of ANY stripe. But whatever. It was just part of their "high pressure" action packed multi-faceted take on XC. It was the only slightly weak part of the movie. The rest is just gogogo great XC video!
It's so much better than a race or technique video. Editing is everything, right? These folks are showing us the feel and impact of highspeed XC. The speed, the air, the nice dyno-skid turns, the carved parallels.
There are a couple great "bonus" tracks as well. There's about 10 minutes of great Nokie crashes! And a neat overview of the Birkie.
It really gave me the feel again for why I liked racing so much. It's "purity of essence," man, as Mandrake said. : ) It's just so cool to get fully dialed in and then let it all hang out on a GREAT race course! ...And have a bunch of spectators be there to see you at your peak moments...to watch where everyone is struggling the max and making their move...or jamming the max and making their move. It made me think about the best racing I ever saw in person---the Coors Classic bike races. You have your great scenery and a bunch of real fans waiting at, say, this
really steep uphill corner after the racers had already been climbing in the sun for an hour....then you see your heroes blast on by, stokin', doing their thing. It's great to watch it. AND IT'S GREAT TO DO IT! Dang, if I start now....
- Jeff Potter
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Sounds like two thumbs up ! - John Wilke
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"On Snow" is like a first love. "High Velocity" is very good but has Lise Meloche sharing time with other skiers. I bought the DVD version of "High Velocity" and find the Sea to Sea clip which features "On Snow" segments one of my favorites.
The "Tao of Skiing" is interesting but not a beginner CD. Tao spends more time on skating than classical and Canadian's do not V-1 and V-2. In spite of its limitations, it is a good collection for a club library. The Tao also has some interesting segments including a "Behind the scenes" making of On Snow segment.
- Edgar
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If you want to see "exciting", show your friend the "High Velocity" DVD from xczone. If that doesn't stir their juices, they should take up a ball & stick sport.
- Tim
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I got mine this week and it is amazing!!! Everyone should buy this DVD. I got mine through Greg Christie SkiWorks. Well worth the money. - Peter
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