I caught this in passing the other day. I thought it was going to be lame, but it was actually fairly decent. It’s about as good as something like this could be from an unconnected third party like Disney. It’s part of a series on kids and sports… I think. I’ve never seen any of the other ones.

We’re now officially in the midst of an annoying trend in which toy commercials are promoting other activities besides skating at skateparks. There have been at least two or three, as well as a cheese commercial with RC cars. This one is for the Yo Be, something that looks like a cross between a frisbee and a yo-yo. Best part is, they shot all the action scenes in front of a green screen so there are lot’s of vertigo inducing physics scenarios where camera angles don’t match up.

Sure, we tease them about their $75 trucks and fingerpants, but deep down we’re still brothers. At first I thought this was an item we’d already posted, but this application of stickers in a sink is not for marketing purposes. It’s just clever for it’s own sake. Now someone just needs to invent fingerskatestoppers. – Thanks to Eric Cherry for the tip. [Source: 9GAG via Flickr User Laser Bread]

Maloof just unveiled the plans for the street course at the NYC leg of the Maloof Money Cup on June 5-6, 2010. The big news? The REALLY big news? The “course” is a permanent facility that will be donated to the city Instead of building a temporary course and dismantling it like they did last time. BRAVO!!!!! Lets hope the X-Games and the rest of the would-be contenders fall in step behind these plans if they know what’s good for them, the skateboarding public and the ecology. Details of the as yet unbuilt skate spot that replicates some NYC hot spots after jump. – Thanks to Danimal for the tip.

Agent Orange is playing Sunday 28th at Slabtown Bar in Portland, along with Grindline, the Band. Meanwhile, John Egertson was converting some old vinyl to mp3’s and pulled out this mail order sheet from Agen’t Orange’s This Is the Voice, their ill-fated 1986 semi-major label debut on Enigma records. I think these guys even had an appearance in a movie around this time. Flyer for Staurday’s show and a chance to go back in time to order guitar picks, t-shirts and skateboards after the jump. – Thanks and happy birthday to Steve Turner for the tip.

Once again, these spin offs have become so numerous that I hardly even consider them skateboard related. It’s like they are riffing on something completely different. Michele Camerlengo cops to borrowing inspiration from snakeboards of all things. It’s only a matter of time before the Obliqo becomes two separate foot items without the “board” connecting them in the middle.

A county fair in Florida is… so special. Where else can you find the ghetto version of Tony Hawk’s Big Spin?

I don’t think California’s Epic Indoor Park lasted a year. This one is in Marseille, France. It’s huuuuuuuuuge. The halfpipe alone is looks formidable. Check out the Palais de la Glisse on the Constructo blog of skatepark architecture. They have some public official looking types at the ribbon cutting ceremony, this might even be a public skatepark. The building looks beautiful, and not just some dusty old warehouse. Actually, it’s truly confusing now. If you scroll through this set of photos, it appears to be built on the site of a hockey rink. Could this in fact be a temporary installation? – Thanks to Doc Murdock for the tip.

This has been making the rounds in the past few days. The city of Sarasota Springs, New York filled in the bowl at their local skatepark, essentially because the coping was damaged and the bowl was covered in graffiti, and they couldn’t afford the upkeep, what with having to pay people to make sure the helmets were strapped. It’s just one big long list of lame excuses. Must not be much of a big scene there, if the locals let that happen. Read all about it in the Saratogian. Kevin Cann pointed me to some video of the bowl, he regularly made the journey there from the Great White North. Looks like it would have been fun.

First off, it’s better off that a skateboard competition circuit be owned and operated by skateboarders. However, this whole business of signing contracts to compete exclusively in one circuit and not another, although it may make sense from a business standpoint, reeks of, of something, well, something very stinky, like say, GVK’s knee pads. Which is appropriate because it is a “street league” to the exclusion of any sort of vert or bowl riding. (You know Grover never washes his pads. he says that would dilute the trick juice.) I’m not a big fan of the logo either. Aside from scrimping on the graphic designer’s fee, It looks vaguely like something NBA or MLB related. If skaters are going to claim skateboarding from the media for themselves, it would be smarter not to emulate the worst aspects of organized sports. Still, I wish Rob Dyrdek luck with Street League Skateboarding, despite the bad name choice. The million dollar purse would seemingly best the Maloof Money Cup (even worse name), but then again Maloof isn’t spread over three events. Why not wrestle all the skaters away from the X-Games and the like? Was it lack of interest in vert/bowl by Dyrdek,…