Skating Through Valhalla

Valhalla was the home of Wotan, greatest of all the gods, built by two giants in exchange for Wotan's sister-in-law and eventually a golden ring that the giants ended up fighting to the death over. As goes the great Norse mythology and the basis for Wagner's DAS REINGHOLD.

As such, any great quest through the old Norselands can be seen as a journey for Valhalla, the land of viking power and grand stone walls and big fireplaces with marble lions the size of a Mercedes troop-transport.

As such, it only holds that a skate video made by Globe shoes, produced by the Wotan of street-skating, Rodney Mullen, and running through Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Oslo, old Norse country as it were, would be ancient-god epic. And one of the skaters, Chris Haslam, looks very much like a fierce viking of old.

These guys slay their enemies, namely gravity and human limitation, everywhere from packed indoor arenas to graffiti-colored concrete parks to statue-filled Norwegian banks, busting out ridiculous fliptricks and huge airs while navigating old cobblestone streets, tour-bus-to-jet transfers, and occasional punker chicks.

Oh yeah, and the soundtrack's sure to give you a little kick. So travel to Valhalla without leaving your desk, slay old Norse dragons with nothing but your skateboard and a couple pairs of Globe shoes, and finish it all feeling like god Wotan himself.

- Ryan