DC Mountain Lab: DVD Review

As you know, I'm heading out to Deux Alpes at the end of the month. I'm meeting up with my sister who's already out in France, relaxing in the sun. Damn lucky - and she's getting to the glacier a week before me!

So I'm at home trying to sort out the final arrangements for where we're all staying and I get a call:

Don't forget to bring the DC Mountain Lab DVD...

It's a cheek I tell you!

But she's got a point. I shouldn't forget the MTN.LAB DVD - it's a great snowboarding film. I've watched it a few times within the last month so now is probably a good time to do a review...

MTN.LAB
Where to start? Well, I'll hold on all the stuff about it being a film uncovering the delights of DC's mountain lab, you've probably heard that before. Instead I'll say this: if you like the feel of the Robot Food films (afterbang, lame and afterlame) - you're probably going to like this. That shouldn't come as a surprise as I believe they got the Robot Food filmmaker to help them out. Good start.

Favourite Section
For me, this is the "Road Trips" section. It really does show how much fun snowbaording is. It's one of those video sections that always makes you want to go and ride. I'm watching it with Ciara and she says: Man, I should just quit my job and go do a season. That's what it's like when you're watching this part. It typifies why we all snowboard. I like the tune, which really helps, and one of Simon Chamberlain's jibbs is the sickest thing I've ever seen :-)

Other Good Parts
Well, I actually think that the whole DVD is good, but I'll mention here some of the parts that stand out to me.

• Simon Chamberlain. He's got some really nice moves on rails and boxes - impressive. Super smooth, super styled.
• Eddie Wall. Man I really like Eddie Wall. I think if there was one pro I could go riding with, it would be Eddie Wall. His section has loads of cool jibbing - which he just makes look easy. I can appreciate other riders' style and would probably say that some are more distinctive - but Eddie Wall is bang on for me. Cool track as well.
• Travis Parker. He never dissapoints, at least not in my opinion. I'm not going to mention style again - check out his nose to tail grab, sweet!

Todd Richards
Todd Richards being in the DVD was a big bonus for me. I've read his biography and really enjoyed it. His attitude towards snowboarding is one that I respect. It also made me think hmm, I wonder what his riding is like these days? With DC MTN.LAB you get to find out: there's plenty of his riding and you get a little insight of his personality.

Extras
There are quite a lot of extras on the DVD, including trick tips. Here are the ones I like the most:

• Snowboarders on Skateboards. Some nice footage of the DC riders on their skateboards. Good skills.
• Eddie Wall - 270s. Eddie talks about his approach to 270'ing onto rails.
• Olympic Training. Well funny. The riders are "practicing" at an Olympic training facility: a bunch of kickers with a swimmiing pool for a landing...
• Pic Nic. Short and sweet, Travis Rice pulls a sick one-footed move.

Any Downsides?
Hmm, maybe one, the length. I think the main feature runs for about 30 minutes, which is quite short. However, once you've built up a handful of snowboarding DVDs you start to look for something different, something with a new angle, more interesting. MTN.LAB definitely has this. In my opinion the quality more than makes up for the short running time. Plus there are some cool extras...

If you haven't seen it, go buy it!

DC Mountain Lab Soundtrack
If you're interested and you can't be bothered to read the credits, here's a list of the songs:

• "Let Go" - by Frou Frou
• "Paranoiattack" - by The Faint
• "Sister Surround" - by The Soundtrack Of Our Lives
• "Cha Love" - by Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra
• "Hit" - by The Wannadies
• "Million Young" - by American Analog Set
• "If You Must" - by Del Tha Funky Homosapien
• "In a Big Country" - by Big Country
• "Music; Response" - by Chemical Brothers
• "Driving" - by Renee Renee
• "Dead Disco" - by Metric
• "Move This" - by Technotronic