Ohio is an amazingly lush state. Within hours you could be snowboarding or surfing, the wooded areas are prime for Bmxing and skate spots abound especially in cities like Cincinnati and Columbus. To the outside observer, mostly those from coastal towns, Ohio seems bland, with very little to do and being stuck there seems like a nightmare. That's how the locals like it; it keeps people out of their spots. Because anyone who is from Ohio or spent a long stretch there knows there's no place else they'd rather be stuck.

No one knows it better than the Stuck In Ohio Crew who love all sides of action sports, as you'll see in their video, but focuses mainly on skateboarding. The crew is centered around two brothers, Ken and Dan Mizicko. As their profile explains, "For this contest, we decided to bring it back home and shoot exclusively at the house where it all started. Pavement is scarce, but we learned a long time ago that wheels will roll on more than just concrete. Shredding is more of an effort in our neck of the woods, but we can hardly call it work when it is this much fun."

It's these kind of videos that really stand out and exemplify The Chosen Crew mantra of not just showing great skating but also giving the world a look into where your crew is from and what makes them tick. You can't help but watch these guys do their thing in the middle of nowhere and think, "These guys are great; I'm feeling their vibe."

Bear Attack is a sick last minute entry from Redding, California made up of Johnny Scribner, Chase Childs, Marshall Van Leuven and Zach Wiegand. These are some young guns but they already have a really great trick selection (smith stall kickflip out!), a good work ethic as displayed by the cleaning of a really fun looking ditch spot and a flare for great editing (We really want to know how they got the survellience camera footage of the ollie down ten!). Thanks for submitting this video guys. It was rad to watch. We'll be looking for more from these four guys in years to come.

The auteur award for creative filmmaking in Nike's Chosen contest probably goes to Matt Payne, who's exactly one fourth of the Dirty Harry & The Bandits crew. The 20-year-old Matt has been schooled as a film intern at Globe (maker of such classics as New Emissions of Light and Sound, Secret Machine, and the forthcoming Year Zero), and it shows in the charmingly raw little edit he put together for the Bandits. Here Matt explains the non-surf inspiration for his clip, the Bandits' laissez-faire approach to the Chosen contest, and the state of the modern surf film.

Matt Payne:

"I kind of look toward those guys who make timeless pieces [for inspiration] -- like Kubrick in general is pretty rad, and I just saw 8 ½ by Fellini, that was cool. I was super psyched on this movie Gummo by Harmony Korine. And then I love the Dirty Harry series. That was the idea with Jason [Harris] -- people call him "Harry" all the time, so with our crew we wanted to use that to resonate with people and also tip the hat to Clint Eastwood because he's such a badass."

"Like, you saw that little cut-scene we did with the guys? Kind of this raw Super 8 vibe combined with that whole Eastwood style. Just point-and-shoot, looking wherever, not really calculated shots, using different shooting speeds. I really liked how that was done. I wanted it to feel like you were with them, just hanging out."

"We're not trying to win or anything, we're just looking for it to get out there and get eyes on it. Those other guys trying to make a push...it's rad, it's a cool vibe to see East Coast and Hawaii and all these little crews, but for us I think it's cooler to just be that little indie jam that's out there and that people kind of discover. If they're into it and it fits their taste, that's cool; if not, no worries. Just let it get out there and speak for itself."

"Surf films nowadays, the whole surf porn thing can get a little annoying and stale. You almost feel like you can stamp and date them. I think there's a lot of avenues you could take with little storylines; nothing too in-your-face, but little subtle stuff to where it has a direction and you can be engaged. It's really inspiring to see that more timeless stuff -- things you can always come back to and it's still rotating through your collection."

Check out Matt's handiwork on his crew's Chosen page, as well as in the full-length Dirty Harry series he's produced with crew member Jason Harris.

Soon we the fans will be voting to cut Nike's nine Chosen semifinalists into the three last crews standing. But how well do we really know these ruffians? It seemed only prudent to hit the top surf crews with a penetrating questionnaire.

Today's answers come from Kyle Thiermann, Matt Myers, Austin Smith-Ford and Kyle Buthman of the Get Rad! crew.



Q: Who's the smartest member of your crew?

Matt: Buthman is a caveman, but somehow he's a genius on Final Cut Pro. He's producing Quiksilver's next movie.

Austin: Thiermann is pretty smart, he convinced a ton of people to move 340 million dollars out of Bank of America into local banks because BofA funds coal power. BofA doesn't like him very much. They sent him an email saying so.


Kyle Thiermann: Matt's the man! He's a Junior Guard instructor so he's found a way to get paid to bronze at the beach, work out, stare at chicks in bikinis, and hang with cool kids all day.


Kyle Buthman: Austin's super street smart. No matter what our crew gets into, he can always figure a way out. Plus he got straight A's in high school.



Q: Who drives the best car?

Buthman: Well, Thiernann's car looks like a chick car, mine looks like a Mexican field worker's truck, and Austin's is the nicest. But I'm gonna go with Matt 'cause his red van is priceless. It's got a 12-inch subwoofer that bumps the beats and can hold like 20 of our friends!


Q: What's one of your crew's finest moments?

Austin: Last winter the Santa Cruz Harbor mouth was going off. It's a dangerous wave 'cause it breaks over concrete jacks and if you fall you slam! There was a full moon and low tide at 11:00 p.m. Thiermann and I dragged a generator and flood lights out to the jacks in an attempt to score a perfect night sesh with no one around. There was just one little problem: our generator died after five minutes, so we just charged it in the dark. Pretty all time.


Q: What's an embarrassing crew-member story involving a girl?

Thiermann: Oh god, I was kissing this girl a few months ago. All of the sudden I had full on nasal drip. My nose started spewing saltwater all over her face. She freaked out! I saw her the other day and she wouldn't even acknowledge me.


Q: If you guys were a band, who would you be?

Matt: We are in a band. It's an '80s hair metal cover band. We call ourselves Tigers & Unicorns. We're playing at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk next week. Come check us out!


Q: If you had to come up with another name for your crew, what would the backup name be?

Buthman: Tigers and Unicorns, duh!


Q: What's your crew's official drink?

Thiermann: Pabst Blue Ribbon. Liquid courage.



Q: If you could choose your winning surf trip in the Chosen contest, what would it be?

Buthman: We'd travel by boat to J-Bay, but not straight there. The longest route possible, hitting every good wave in between. I don't think that would fly, though... But seriously, we all decided on a Mentawais boat trip on that Young Guns boat, what's it called? The Indies Trader IV?


Q: If your crew could get sponsored by one company, who would it be?

Matt: Jet Blue, so we could fly to the best surf spots in the world, and sky dive in!


Q: What's a good crew-member fight story?

Thiermann: I'm two years younger than my friends, which is a big difference when you're a grom. Austin had his 15th birthday camping trip in Big Sur. I was 13 and the youngest kid there. There was a sketchy dog at the campsite everyone was scared of. Buthman, Matt and Austin thought it would be funny to tie me up in a chair and smear peanut butter on my face and have the dog lick it off. The dog ended up biting me in the ass. I still have a scar.


Q: If you could add a celebrity to your crew, who would you pick and why?

Austin: Charlie Sheen, 'cause we're both winning!

Less than a week until semifinalists are decided in the Nike Chosen contest. This first round of cuts will be made by Nike judges based on crews' demonstrated creativity, camaraderie and progression -- but another factor they'll consider is "how well the crew gets noticed through social hustle." So while creativity is subjective, online buzz is a numbers game. Let's have a look at the scoreboard.

Total surf crews (USA only): 123*

Top crews:

1. The Wild Lyfe
6659 Likes / 2040 comments
13 videos / 26 photos

2. Chomp Proper
4916 Likes / 625 comments
2 videos / 29 photos

3. Get Rad!
1136 Likes / 157 comments
3 videos / 12 photos

4. Raw Jersey Crew
500 Likes / 105 comments
2 videos / 16 photos

5. Defend Montauk
459 Likes / 20 comments
2 videos / 14 photos

6. Dirty Harry & The Bandits
344 Likes / 29 comments
2 videos / 13 photos

*Note: These figures are for the USA only, because Chosen semifinalists are decided independently within each region. There are 430 total global surf crews at present, and six of the top nine crews (as measured by Facebook Likes) are Brazilian. The leading global surf crew is Brazil's Reverse crew, with over 30,000 Likes. Needless to say, the semifinal round -- when crews are whittled down to three by fan votes during US Open week -- is going to be a doozy.