By John Stouffer

September 7, 2001

With standout performances from Mikey Leblanc and Chad Otterstrom, the premiere of Brainstorm�the latest snowboard film from Whitey McConnaughy and Kingpin Productions�got the San Diego, California crowd pumped for the coming snowboard season.

Can you say movie stars? J2 and Mikey Leblanc. Photo: Stouffer

Made up of a who�s who of the snowboard industry, the audience at the Spreckels Theatre in downtown SD last night witnessed the first showing of the new snowboard film from the same guys who made last year�s Destroyer.

Although the newest venture didn�t match Destroyer for its skits and pros-trying-to-act entertainment value, the riding consisted of top-notch rail sliding, park jumping, and backcountry-kicker flipping at its finest. With the likes of Scotty Wittlake, Andrew Crawford, Lukas Huffman, David Carrier Porcheron, Joel Mahaffey, Josh Dirksen, Ali Goulet, and Jason McAlister, the action was non-stop. Gigi Ruf took the newcomer award, while J2 showed everyone that you could be around for years and still rule the rails like nobody else.

Vivian Price, TransWorld's Joel Muzzey, Lukas Huffman, and Craig Ballentine. Photo: Stouffer

But Otterstrom started things off with a bang, and Leblanc pretty much climaxed the show toward the end with insane combinations of rails and jibs. The movie was quick and to the point, without a lot of filler. It also used a minimum of repeat locations, which kept the riding exciting and fresh as well.

The stormed and the stormer. Josh Dirksen and Whitey. crane�photo

After the show, the amped crowd had to be ushered out to the street and away from the theater, but the mix of pros and industry types wanted to bask in the moment a little bit longer.

With tonight�s double-feature premiere of the new Standard and Mack Dawg films (Optigrab and Stand And Deliver), everyone will get more snowboard performances to talk about this weekend. And transworldsnowboarding.com will have complete coverage of those events as well. So stay tuned.