A Northern Michigan University student’s urban skiing video has attracted a lot of attention, including from MTV’s “Ridiculousness.”

Mike Kvackay, a junior digital cinema major and videographer, was contacted on Tuesday, Feb. 14 by MTV’s “Ridiculousness,” which is a show that takes clips from the Internet of people doing crazy things, mostly humorous, but sometimes painful or dumb.

“I have talked to an assistant producer and she forwarded my information to her bosses,” Kvackay said.

According to Kvackay, nothing is set in stone and a contract has not been signed.

“If it does air, according to her, it would be sometime during the summer,” Kvackay said. “She also mentioned how much everyone loved the video and how great it would fit in the show.”

The video was shot on Sunday, Jan. 22 and gained a substantial amount of views in the following two days after it was uploaded.

“I shot a video of my buddy, Elliott Karafa, skiing a rail in downtown Marquette,” Kvackay said. “Elliott was trying to spin off of this rail around an old street sign pole.

“Right before he landed on the ground, Elliott’s vest got snagged on the pole and he never touched the ground.”

The video that was originally posted to www.newschoolers.com, an online skiing community website, where it obtained 50,000 views in two days.

It was then uploaded to YouTube, where it gained more than 100,000 hits.

According to Kvackay, the video has been played in 138 countries and there has been a lot on interest in it. Along with MTV, Kvackay was contacted by TruTV’s “World’s Dumbest.”

Originally film making wasn’t something Kvackay took seriously, he said.

“I bought a video camera when I was in high school and started recording any sports that my friends and I would do,” Kvackay said.

According to Kvackay, it wasn’t until he started college and invested in a nice camera that he started to pursue filming.

He films mostly high-action sports such as skiing, snowboarding, long boarding and cliff jumping.
“I shoot skiing and snowboarding more than anything, but also like to shoot longboarding and kite boarding,” Kvackay said. “My friends inspire me most to make my videos.

“I don’t shoot many narrative videos with ‘actors,’ so most of my talent [when it comes to sports] are my good friends. They enjoy being in front of the camera as much as I enjoy being behind it.”

After graduating next spring, Kvackay plans to continue sports filming and move to locations out west that “better suit” his style.

To watch the video go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqkibhktodA.