I’ve recently gotten two emails promoting different skate spot maps on the web. The idea is that you sign up and add spots in your area, and if you are traveling you can find spots on the way. I suppose the idea is useful for the casual skate tourist. Say you’re in a town on business or with family. If you got a break you could use these services to see if there is anything nearby. Of course you’re limited to what are probably the most blown out spots in the area, but it’s better than nothing if your are without a guide and don’t have a lot of time to explore. One service is a very slick one called New Breeders that’s pretty fancy, but has a some interface problems once you dig down. Also, it’s not limited to skate spots. The promo vid show surfing and bmx, so who knows what else is in there. Oh wait, I do. It’s got everything extreme!™. The second is from a web site called SubPublic, and it’s got much less eye candy, but it’s strictly skateboard related. SupPublic doesn’t require a login, but New Breeders does. What do you get for…

This week’s Shot of the Week is Trevor Osterholt, AKA Roadkill, at a spot in Kansas City Missouri. It was taken back in October of 2008, by photographer Ryan Young, who is currently in Iraq serving as a Marine photo journalist. What a cool looking “natural” spot. Now if only he was six inches tall he could hit that full pipe too. Speaking of size, does anyone else think I should start making the SOTW larger in the gallery? Check out the full size Shot of the Week.

Mandy and Dandy Dude are the official mascots of the Duda foods Dandy brand of oranges. One one side of this bag of clementine oranges, Dandy Dude is taking green skateboard technologies to another level. Unfortunately, Mandy isn’t skating on the other side. When are we finally going to see parity (not pear-ity?) for female mascots in world of extreme food marketing? A tip of the hat to my wife for picking these up at the grocery store.

He’s been at it for 25 years an he’s got something to show for it. Bryce Kanights’ Renegades & Role Models show opens at The Department. on Friday, January 30th, from 7pm – 10pm. Nothing up on the D.O.S. site as of this posting, but you can view the flyer after the jump. See, I told you he was a local!

I found this on Dan Hughes’ Northwest Skater site. There’s a guy who had what looked to be a really nice miniramp in his garage. Not one to remain satisfied, he decided to tear it out and build some roundwall instead. I don’t know the owner, or where he lives, so don’t ask. Instead, just enjoy some pictures and videos, and think of what you can do for yourself. Thanks to Dan for letting me cop these.

The Benton County Skateboarding Alliance, Inc (BCSA) is putting on the 2nd annual Art & Music Benefit 2009 in March at the Odd Fellows Hall. The BCSA needs art for the show (sale/silent auction). This event is a fundraiser for the new skate bowl addition to the Eric Scott McKinley skatepark in Corvallis. Artists must donate at least 51% of art sales to the skatepark fund. For further information, email the BCSA at bcskateboardingalliance@gmail.com or call 541-829-9005. That bowl in the upper right hand corner is a new one that Dreamland is going to add to the existing Corvallis skatepark, that is as soon as they raise the money. We’re also adding BCSA to our rotating Public Service ad spots in the side bar.

And good luck on your new job. I’m sure some hysterical nut is already falsely reporting that our new President is flashing gang signs, but he’s just showing some love to his Alma Mater’s high school marching band from Hawaii during the inauguration parade, just minutes ago. UPDATE: I’m a self confessed kook. Should have labeled the post Shaka.

I don’t have a fondness or any sense of nostalgia for freestyle skateboarding, but I grudgingly watched one of these vids, and ended up enjoying them. People have posted some vids of Cristobal Bahamonde under the title “Rodney Mullen’s son?” something that Cristobal has countered by posting the same vid under the tittle “I’m not Rodney Mullen’s son.” Those freestyle contests of the 80’s might have been more entertaining if Cristobal had been around to give Rodney some competition. The web link in the video was dead when I posted this. I’m not sure what language that is, and I don’t know where Cristobal is from. The videos have some straight up freestyle and some hybrid street skating. I’ve never seen Mullen kickflip into a pogo like Bahamonde can. Maybe Rodney’s done it before though, like I said, I don’t follow his history. Regardless, Cristobal Bahamonde has some chops. Watch them after the jump. – Thanks to John Aguilar for the tip.

We don’t have an ASR correspondent this year. Bummer. The skateboard-centric cancer fighting, Grind For Life organization has two events at the ASR show, another installment of the winner take all high ollie contest and the potentially more interesting new event, the Hosoi Jump Ramp Jam. Surprisingly, the GFL-ASR web site has nothing on it but the date and time of the events. I’d like to see a good jump ramp jam for old times’ sake. I sure broke enough boards flailing around on them.

Time Warp is a whole show on the Discovery Network based on the premise that a couple of guys have a really expensive ultra high speed video camera, and they shoot processes and show them as you’ve never seen them. So basically, it’s all kind of silly that they make such big deal out of it now that you can basically buy a point and shoot camera for under a grand that does the same thing. The camera man even makes a big deal about it being “ready for high speed” as if it’s some giant apparatus out of a Frankenstein movie that has to be charged by lightning. There’s the obligatory “host wipes out trying to skateboard” scene, as well as some very flowery descriptions of the act of skateboarding: The urban art of skateboarding is just that: An art. It combines the athleticism of gymnastics with the choreography of ice skating, with all of the in-your-face aggression of a street fight. Err… right. Greg Lutzka’ is the pro that skates for them. He seems like a likable guy on camera. They spend way too much time dissecting an ollie, and not enough time showing more complicated derivatives that…