Hold the phone. Last night at the Oakley Headquarters in Lake Forest, CA, minds were undoubtedly blown and worlds were majorly rocked. The People Crew's video "Good Look" premiered and Bryan Fox's and Scotty Wittlake's film "The Rascals"opened up the show.

Bold statement but "The Rascals" - in many people's opinion - showed up the main act. Not that "Good Look" wasn't amazing but no one saw the opening film coming.

Wittlake and Fox's video follows a season with all their closest buddies at Mt. Baker and described it as "a bunch of old guys trying to stay young". "The Rascals" cuts right to the core, the roots, and the meaning of snowboarding to all of us. No bullshit. No heli shots, HD film, or slow motion clips, it's emphasis is on why we all keep riding year in and year out. The days in the trees under dumping skies, soft buttery lines, gigantic powder slashes, landing waist-deep and being surrounded by all your friends. The crowd in the theater was hooting, hollering, and going off in response to the feeling "The Rascals" exuded. Jake Blauvelt, Mark Landvik, Pat McCarthy, Temple Cummins, Forrest Burki, Shaun McKay and more bring the video to life as they turn and burn all over Baker. With tree runs you thought you only dreamt about, fun pillow drops, and windlips galore, this flick and unique perspective brought us all back to our home mountains and amazing days riding with homies. Words of advice: get "The Rascals" in your life immediately.

Moving on to "Good Look". With the vibe of the previous film still buzzing throughout the theater, you could sense the anticipation for another video that would generate the same reaction and natural high. Not to worry, Pierre Minhondo, Justin Eeles, and Sam Hiltner's latest project did just that and then some. Following suit, "Good Look" reminded us of why we got into snowboarding in the first place and gave us that warm fuzzy feeling all over again. They didn't skip on one bit of riding - showing us all aspects and styles with an all star cast. JP Walker, Eero Niemela, Eric Jackson, Joe Sexton, Simon Chamberlain, Shaun McKay, Lauri Heiskari, Heikki Sorsa, Aaron Biittner, Torstein Horgmo, and friends to put it simply, sent it. This mixture of talent, personality, and friendship provides for a super successful and impressive movie.

Lauri Heiskari claimed the opener and got it started off right. Backcountry chutes and cornices to burly rail transfers and gaps, Lauri covered all his bases with a f-ing bang. The rest of the crew kept the level and energy up, slaying pretty much everything you could imagine. The street shredding was impeccable alongside insane...and I mean insane, big mountain riding that got the whole crowd out of their seats ready to run for their shred stick to find the nearest snow possible. It was all there with flare.

Enter Eric Jackson as the closer. No one saw this coming and people pretty much passed out from excitement. To say E-Jack outdid himself would just be stupid and unencompassing. Eric's part sealed the deal for most people that this movie might be the best one of the year. Yeah, I said it. This dude is straight up out of his mind, loony tunes, amazing at snowboarding. With a larger than life personality to match - this part made me laugh, shout "holy shit" and "oh my god" on multiple occasions, and get up for a standing ovation. The tricks E-Jack was pulling and features he was sending off of in the backcountry were progressive, ballsy, and bad-ass. Pure beast. That's the only way to describe it.

Other highlight of the night: Austin Smith's wizard staff.

There you have it. Claiming one of the top movies of the year (knowing that there still are a few to be seen) and yes, we know that "Art of Flight" exists. Big ups to all who were involved in both films, you lit a fire underneath everyone's ass to get out, shred, and keep the dream alive.

Photos: Janos Palko