Skate from Dubai to Israel.

Boards, bikinis, bombs and boneheads is the working title for this post, but I don’t want people to get the wrong idea. I’ve got a mish mash of skateboarding action from Dubai and Israel. Some of it has more serious overtones, and some of it is stupidity. The rest falls in between.

Middle East skateboarding round up.

First we’ll start with a bit of seriousness.

Sour – A Skate Documentary 4 Peace in the Middle East
“A film about doing the things you love with people you’re not supposed to like.” Sour was filmed during the Lebanon/Israel War of 2006 with nine skaters from Jordan and Israel who got to skate together for the first time. The film’s press is fond of the tag line “What does an instrument of peace look like?” The trailer can be found linked from the Sour crew web site. It’s pretty good apart from the cheesy dramatic voiceover. The project has some backing from Element, and a part of the proceeds from sales will go to unnamed charities in the Middle East to promote tolerance and peace. The project even has an Oregon connection. The director and executive producer is Oregon resident Nathan Gray who must not be an SnA reader, because he never hit us up for press. I actually found this while investigating That’s Super Dope, an affiliate of Wooden Cotton who asked for a plug. (Consider that your plug.)

That was fast. And now on to more frivolous items.

Bikinis lead to skateboarding

Here’s an article in the Dubai tabloid XPRESS about the skate scene in Dubai titled Skatetown: Let the good ones roll. Apparently the scene started in 1996 when a bikini shop decided to stock a few skateboards in the back, and now they’ve go their own Extreme™! sports association.

Dubai’s Top Five Skate Spots

Dubai’s Top Five Skate Spots, found on Lonely Planet.

Hayya! Springs Skatepark (Dubai) – Roll on out to the ‘burbs’ for a taste of the opulent ‘skatebrat’ lifestyle. Grinding along curved ledges under desert palms, take in the futuristic cityscape of Dubai while poppin’ airs off the half-pipe. Afterwards, dip a sweaty toe in the pool and soak your aching bones in the Jacuzzi, smoothie in hand – All for 15 Dirham.

I’ve never been to Dubai so I can’t tell if this is a put on or not, but it all reads like tourists guidebook. The web site caters to traveling and selling travel related books under the guise of a Web 2.0 community.

Skating outside a mosque

Really? I never would have thought this was a good idea, but then again, I had similar doubts about Yad Kennedy in Israel. This video is titled “Evan Collisson Skates Al-Ain Mosque UAE”

Burj Dubai: World’s tallest building.

FIRST! Some kid wanted to get a crappy cell phone video of the first person to skate at the world’s tallest building, Burj Dubai, and he did just that.

More crappy cellphone video
Don’t they import video cameras into the United Arab Emirates?

Future Ryan Sheckler awardee in Dubai
This kid will go far. He’s already got a killer attitude.

Finally, some real skating.
Lest you think they are all kooks, here’s some real skateboard action from Dubai.