Gotta love infotainment graphics. This one is from the Denver Post article on William Spencer. Reminds me of several things. I think a good fake job for a character in a book or movie would be dental animation specialist - or someone who makes a living modeling 3d computer graphics of mouths and teeth for toothpaste and mouthwash commercials. We’ve covered this guy before, but now there’s newer footage. Supposedly, Spencer stunt doubled Orlando Bloom in a Japanese hair care commercial.

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More useless odds and ends. These guys in Massachusetts do touchy-feely performance art called “Zend” on skateboards inspired by stained glass. And speaking of hippies, the Seattle Times wants you to believe that longboarders have a higher calling. Ryan Sheckler gets nominated for a world wide sportmanship award in the action sports category, but loses to Shaun White. I guess there was no category for crying. An interesting note, a guy with the actual name of “Dick Pound” won the “Spirit of Sport” award for his work with the World Anti-Doping Agency. Sounds like spirit alright. According to the North County Times, Andy Macdonald is not a rebel, and he does have a cause. Do you need money? Why not fake getting hit by a car on your skateboard so your buddies can steal a purse while the driver makes sure you are OK? These kids in Vancouver, Washington did. What’s the next Xtreme!™ sport raging in Orange County? Racing Dodge Chargers on electric skateboards. The article “Not Just Any Old Token” does not refer to Dave Chappelle’s race, even if he is the only non-honky in the photo. Some skateboarders in Queens, New York found some humane remains and called 911, further laying to rest the teenage satanic skateboard worshipers theory. Some people don’t need to read a study to know that hurting yourself skateboarding can cost a lot of money, but some do.

There. I’ve wasted enough of my time, so go waste some of yours.

[Assorted tips - Mark Ward, Mike Estes, Poor Richard]

A friend mentioned a Chance Meeting personal ad in the Portland newspaper the Willamette Week Someone was trying to hook up with a Handsome Skater Dad. Since the new issue had already come out, I missed my chance but the website had a couple of similar items. So it’s not all Shecky , the mature skater-man is also in demand.

You’re the one for me, fatty? The Baltimore Sun reports that Extreme™ kids are less likely to be lard asses, in so many words. Actually, the article titled Ramped-up exercise states a Hopkins study finds that kids who skateboard or rollerblade stay fit longer than those who play organized sports. You don’t see too many gargantuan pro skaters, whereas in football and even baseball it’s not uncommon to see massive guts. Actually, there are some large beer guts in our crew, but we’re not pros. The study also says you need to engage the the activities at least four times a week, which explains it more. Further empirical evidence is provided in these screen captures from a Rob & Big episode where Rob puts on a fat suit.

- Thanks to Stephanie Murdock for the tip.

John Aguilar’s sister went to South Africa and all she brought him was a lousy newspaper. There’s an article from the December 1st 2007 edition of the Weekend Argus titled Flying high on the vision of one man. It’s about Dallas Oberholzer’s mission to bring skateboarding to rural South Africa. Our interview with Dallas was published in 2005. Looks like he’s still at it. Unfortunately, you need a subscription to read the article online. It’s a very positive story. You can read the scan after the jump. Hey James… Stuff it!

I think I heard that goat just yell “Draa-aa-aa-aa-aapping in!”

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We’ve covered the one percenters today, so in the interest of being fair and balanced, let’s talk about Boy Scouts. While there is a history of skateboarding and Scouting in the USA, BBC News reports on “a revamp of the scout movement will allow boys and girls to earn badges for skills such as skateboarding, making a fruit salad and racing quad bikes.”

The official requirements for the Street Sports merit activity badge requires a six month investment in the activity if you’re a regular scout (ages 10-14), but they actually get easier if you are an Explorer. Looks like you just have to skate for 25 hours and show improvement. Maybe they should make you skate for 25 hours straight, or 25 spots in 25 days.

- Thanks to Guy Duncan for the tip.

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The Arizona Daily Star has an article and short interview with the two principals of the Underskatement film festival, which is at Volume 4, and damn it, we promoted this and I didn’t even go see it. I wish I’d read the interview first, but it was published after the Portland showing. I guess I would have had to travel forward in time to read it so I could have known I would have liked to see it. If I’m time traveling I guess I could just go back in time and watch it. What’s the point? Oh yeah, if the publicity shot from the paper on the left looks familiar, it might be because you heard about a Beaverton man involved in an assault there.

Ok first off, this is not the best illustration. There is a lot of stock photography with business guys shouting, but not so much of skater dudes shouting. Imagine the megaphone in the skater’s hand instead. Jacksonville Florida city officials held one of those “feedback” public skatepark meetings where they unveiled plans for the city’s new skatepark. The crowd of 50 or so skaters became angered when they realized the city was going to railroad through precast concrete obstacles from a company called Pillar Design Studios out of Tempe Arizona. Pillar looks like it is one of those landscape architecture firms dabbling in skateparks. They appear to have quite a few skateparks under their belts, just don’t look for any actual pictures of them on their web site. I’d find that disconcerting if I was a skateboarder living in a town that was about to hire that firm. They have a few links to external sites with sparing amount of pictures. I followed one at random and it showed a bunch of prefab Woodward metal ramps. Pillar also does motocross and bike only parks(?) as well as “Action Sports Facilities” with go cart tracks!

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Kickbacks? That’s the only thing I can think of that would convince a physical education program to buy Waveboards for PE classes. Let me try a different approach:

In my day we had to push uphill five miles on a dirt road to get to the waveboard track and the U-shaped slide. Kids these days are spoiled in their PE classes with alternative sports. Not working for you?

OK. Seen above, Angela’s friends stage an intervention and try to divert her from her quest to run off and join a very low paying circus for social outcasts. I’m not sure if these are better than the flat boards with caster wheels that they use for crab races on rainy days.

Where did I get these pictures? Why, from the Ledger’s article titled Physical Education Rides the Wave Of New Recreational Technologies. Jealous? You can even buy print copies for yourself!

This was going to be a thread about the trend of municipalities closing down skateparks when they get tagged as an incentive program to stop vandalism. I was going to highlight that a new nearby park in Vancouver Washington is going to experience such closures:

our park maintenance office has decided to handle graffiti removal at the park the same way Battle Ground does at their skate park - by closing the entire park to all users until all the graffiti is removed. Depending on the severity of the graffiti, this could require several days of closure.

I was then going to ramble on about how it was obviously not the real skateboarders doing the vandalism, most likely kids that were on the periphery that might own a skateboard in the same way they would own a bike or a pogo stick if all their friends had one.

Look at the picture above. It seems like a fun place to skate right? It’s sheltered from the elements, and it’s not even illegal. If that was my local spot I’d want to take care of it, but the Creekside Underground locals are pissing it all away.

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