Girl/Chocolate DVD Boxset Collection ‘93 - ‘99
July 10, 2007
What Is It? - In case you somehow managed to avoid the barrage of video geek questions that were thrown at Aaron Meza on these pages this time last month, I’ll run it past you again. This is the long awaited, overdue and heavily anticipated DVD Boxset from the Girl Films camp, featuring the first four Girl and Chocolate videos (Goldfish, Las Nueve Vidas De Paco, Mouse and The Chocolate Tour) all accompanied by spades of unused footage. The set also comes with an hour-long bonus disc crammed full with a whole host of unseen delights. Drooling yet?
Who’s On It? - Tony Ferguson, Jeron Wilson, Guy Mariano, Rudy Johnson, Jovontae Turner, Sean Sheffey, Eric Koston, Tim Gavin, Mike Carroll, Rick Howard, Chico Brenes, Daniel Castillo, Paulo Diaz, Keenan Milton, Richard Mulder, Shamil Randle, Gabriel Rodriguez, Ben Sanchez, Mike York, Scott Johnston, Gino Iannucci, Stevie Williams, Colin McKay and Robbie McKinley.
Highlights? - Bearing in mind that the most important points were handled last month, I’ll try keep this short and to the point. Between the five discs there’s so much good stuff that it’s virtually impossible to pick a starting point. The bonus disc holds so much rare footage it’s unbelievable. Adverts, trade show promos, unused skits, tour edits and the much sought after promo “The Matinee”, which is rather like an odd afternoon at Girl Films cinema. This is seriously like giving the ultimate video geek free reign over Aaron Meza’s hard-drive for a few hours and telling him to produce a DVD of his findings. The first two DVDs, Goldfish and Paco, have some shocking unseen footage of the older end of the Girl/Choco family, namely Jovontae, Sheffey, Ben Sanchez and Tim Gavin. Gino has some pure gold nuggets dotted about the Chocolate Tour extras, whilst Koston, Carroll and Howard unsurprisingly have plenty of unused footage on every DVD. Aside from the separate bonus disc, where this boxset really comes into its own has to be the Mouse DVD. The extra footage clocks in at just shy of fifteen minutes with daft amounts of Koston, Howard, Chico etc, a full part of unused Keenan and a full part of unused Mariano. And it’s every bit as good as you could have ever hoped for. It’s only fitting that if Mouse was the pinnacle of mid-to-late 90s street skating, the stuff that was left out at the time would still be mind blowing today, 11 years later. Unlike the other three videos, Mouse also includes an optional audio commentary by the key individuals involved. Listening to Spike Jonze, Mike Carroll, Rick Howard, Eric Koston and Guy Mariano wax lyrical about the filming process, the skits, accidental tricks, hat collections and general overall views on the video makes for some pretty compelling viewing/ listening.
Overall? - Take it from me, this review is merely scratching the surface and should only really serve as an introduction to what delights this box-set holds. Trying to fully do justice to a body of work this influential without breaking into a 12,000-word essay is nigh on impossible. I couldn’t make this any clearer: Buy these DVDs now. This collection of celluloid majesty contains some of the most innovative skateboarding from the 1990s and, as a result, demands your utmost respect and is more than deserving of your finest £50. Get your mitts on one before they sell out.
Send this article to a friend
Page 1 of 1 pages
