Some boards are so responsive, so intuitive, that the skater can trust their deck to be there on time no matter how many flips or Fakie are on the agenda for each ride up the quarter pipe. When you want to fly on pure Force like a Jedi, perhaps you’ll find that it’s time to fly Blind.

             In many ways, the history of great skate companies is the story of personal disputes among the integral personalities who rose to become the first stars of the sport. It almost wouldn’t be right if cocky Blind Skateboard did not emerge from such divisive origins.

 Mark Gonzales founded Blind Skateboard Company after splitting with Vision Skateboards, choosing the moniker as a backhand slap to to his old label. Blind Skateboards has been  a full-service skate company since 1989, manufacturing premium trucks, bearings, pads and helmets, wheels, decks, clothes and other accessories crucial to the lifestyle of the skater.

 Like many successful independent skateboard ventures, Blind has since been acquired by industry giant Dwindle Distribution, who manages some of the most prominent brands in skating equipment.

 Blind Skateboards, with the death-head logo adorning every board, is particularly favored by the dark skater contingent, especially punks and metalheads. The outfit boasts an impressive roster of both pro and amateur pipe-riders, featuring some of the hottest vert skaters on the circuit, such as Ronnie Creager and Jake Brown. Past riders have included such luminaries as Guy Mariano, Danny Way, and Jason Lee.

 The company has a bizarre sense of humor that plays especially well in a trail from their popular DVD What If? This video features Blind team’s professional skaters escaping from a pair of Keystone Cops on their decks, evading the hapless flatfoots in a hilarious sequence that comes to a gut-busting climax when Jake Brown, receiving a quick payoff of folded cash from Ronnie Creager, tackles the official skateboard-riding cop and breaks off the hot pursuit.

All of these smirking adult delinquents have something to smile about: riding for the outlaw skater who knows that a board is more than just a way to amaze yourself and your friends with defiance of gravity and other laws of physics…it can also be a way to get moving down the road in case your skating offends the enforcers of more local ordinances.

The original 2005 release of What If? contained a treat for those who were on time to pick up the Blind Video: Video Days. Blind’s legendary indie production from back in the day features founder Gonzales, Guy Mariano, Rudy Johnson and Jason Lee, all captured by skate videographer extraordinaire Spike Jonze, co-creator of MTV’s popular show Jackass. The 1991 Video Days production is an essential piece of skating lore, bringing together these classic names for  a truly magnificent parade of old-school talent and lighthearted madness.

 Blind Skateboards is a nihilistic, streetwise label for the urban vert skater who doesn’t need to see where they’re going to know exactly where they want the board to take them.

Since the first video tape recorder was sold in 1951, reality has appeared directly on screens, first in grainy black-and-white, later in color. Today, with digital cameras as common as wristwatches, as websites such as MySpace and YouTube featuring user-contributed and controlled content, just about anyone with a laptop or cell-phone can upload clips from their lives to share with the entire world within minutes.

The art and science of skateboarding was forever revolutionized with the popularity of the home VCR. Released in 1965 “Skater Dater” is thought to be the first movie ever released which focused solely on skaters doing tricks. This revolutionary look at a relatively unknown sport was nominated for an Oscar in 1966 and also won the Golden Palm Award for the Best Short Film category in the same year.

These days it is a standard part of the promotion departments for many skate companies and shops to sponsor skateboarding teams and release skateboard videos of competitions and practice sessions. The availability of these videos represents a quantum leap in the art of skating instruction, making it possible for today’s skater to study directly under the tutelage of the finest athletes in the field. By watching these videos over and again, at different speeds and with the ability to pause those split-second movements, the 21st century skateboarding student can learn in a single afternoon skills which once took months to master.

Notable movie director Spike Jonze, cofounder of Girl Skateboards, has raised the stakes professional skateboard videos. Most well known for his role as co-creator of MTV’s Jackass, his Academy Award nominated film Adaptation, as well as the cult classic Being John Malkovich, Jonze directed Girl’s groundbreaking video Yeah Right! featuring trick skaters doing never-before documented moves captured on film by other skaters.

Famous original Zephyr team member Stacey Peralta has also tried his hand as a director of skateboard videos. Focusing on the history of the movement and evolution of styles more than specific technique tips, his documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys, is one of the more significant entries in the field, covering the inside scoop on skateboarding’s key players and pioneering moments.

Vert skating legend Tony Hawk has risen to the edge of superstardom, flying under the sails (and sales) of his popular Trick Tips videos and Secret Skate Park Tour series. Though subject of controversy and fierce opinions, the world champ is undeniably one of the greatest names in the sport, and his DVD’s continue to be highly coveted as well as fiercely defended from critics.

Making skateboard videos is equally the province of amateurs and professionals, who capture with varying degrees of skill skateboard efforts which are also of different levels of skill. A truly compelling video will combine step-by-step instruction with gravity-defying courage and a little humor.

Skateboard videos are consistently among the most viewed entries on sharing sites such as Blip.tv and Vimeo. And no wonder; for action, drama and pure bellylaughs, few sights captured by camera can offer so much as footage of the skater in his natural habitat.