Top 6 Reasons to Skateboard according to About.com. 1) Skateboard to Try Something New 2) Skateboard for Fitness 3) Skateboard to Make Friends 4) Skateboarding Teaches Stick-To-It-Iveness 5) Skateboard to Build Confidence 6) Skateboard for Fun! Hmm… I don’t see “to meet cute girls” or “because it’s more punk rock than baseball” on that list. Get all the Warm fuzzy details here. Thanks to John Aguilar for finding this.

Yesterday I was checking out Tim Kulas’ new bowl progress at Bowl Surgeon. I noticed Tim had a few computer renders of his work in progress. I was surprised by the high-tech at first, given his philosophy of dumpster diving for the majority of his wood. Then I learned it was done with some free 3D software called Google SketchUp. It inspired me to download it and work out a sketch for an idea I have for some home improvement on my garage. Originally I had dreams (delusions, really) of tearing down my small garage and re-pouring the foundation to make it wider, and adding a second story for a mini ramp. Besides money, the biggest drawback is the massive pine tree (bigger in scale than the picture above) about 5 feet away from the back corner. I couldn’t reliably dig up the sidewalk that separates the garage from the tree. I don’t want to damage the tree. It’s gigantic and I don’t want it falling on my house. It’s already causing the sidewalk to the back alley to buckle up a little. Tim’s approach and free software inspired me to have a look at tearing off the existing roof…

Team Pain Skateparks sent in some pictures of a magnificent looking new skate facility they recently finished for Eastern Skateboard Supply in Wilmington, NC.. Eastern is the largest skateboard distributor on the East coast and is owned and operated by former Walker pro Reggie Barnes. The bowl is probably one of the biggest on the East Coast. The first week the park opened it hosted a demo with the Plan B team along with a handful of other pros. I’m just looking at those pictures and I can smell the birch! More pictures and Reggie Barnes after the jump.

Skateboarding dogs, monkeys and pigs are for the birds. Haw haw! His name is Tony Parakeet. Get it? Get it? Yuck yuck. This small bird does little more than perch on a fingerboard while the owner, dare I say trainer moves the board into position to roll down inclines or rail slide (extreme cave-man style) down a railing. they even set up a few ramps and ledges so the bird naturally maneuvers into a tail slide through sheer gravity. Low impact fun. Hey vid-heads, is this a section from a larger video? Watch it after the jump on embedded LiveVideo. Speaking of embedded video, does anyone else find the new YouTube interface intrusive and annoying? Seems like it kooks up web browser performance too.

Not Blind skateboards, but skateboarding for the blind. In a departure from the usual “how to clean your bearings” type articles, About.com has an article titled Blind Speed – Daredog, blinded as a child, picks up skateboarding at age 20. Pretty interesting stuff. To top it off, Daredog AKA Jennifer Tissot, is a woman, which is no big deal but when combined with being blind and a skateboarder makes her a super-minority. Check it out.

As seen in the May 2007 issue of People Magazine, this advert for the Chevy Cobalt features street skating prominently. Some publicist or team rider over at Powell ought to be getting a fat check for this product placement. Usually company logos are not so readily identifiable. As for the Devil Dogs lyrics to Brand New Chevy… Devil Dogs? Never heard of them, but according to Last.Fm “People who like The Devil Dogs also like New Bomb Turks, Radio Birdman, Supersuckers…” Really? OK, Sounds good, but going against their credibility is the fact that they released the song in 1989, which would not have been an especially noteworthy year in the annals of American car design. Is anyone in this day and age excited by new Chevrolets, Corvettes even? I doubt the Devil Dogs would find the Cobalt that inspiring, but I’m sure the publishing rights inspired their bank accounts. Enlarge the advert after the jump.

The Skateboard Archives has coverage of the Seaside Oregon skatepark grand opening that many thought was rained out. Apparently, nobody told Benji Galloway that the park was wet. I don’t know how those guys ride wet cement without cracking their skulls. What’s the scoop with the strange miniature brass sculpture sitting in the rain on the deck? Go to the The Skateboard Archives for two pages of photos, including some animated sequences. Hey Seaside! look for some of the Skate and Annoy crew and hangers-on at the Seaside skatepark this Father’s day, June 17th. Hopefully some of our new stickers will be done by then.

There were two skateparks grand openings this past weekend, one in Kent Washington and one in Seaside Oregon. We didn’t go to either, but Hughes has some Kent shots on Northwest Skater. Looks like it rained part of the day at least. Gotta love the Pacific Northwest. 176 miles south was the Seaside Oregon park opening. I can’t find any pics from the grand opening, so you’ll have to be content with the conveniently rain-soaked overview shots from the park’s creator Placed to Ride. If you know of any other opening day galleries, leave them in the comments. [Photo: Dan Hughes and Placed to Ride]

No, the guy in the bottom left picture is not a rabid Adam Ant fan going through a Prince Charming phase, it’s Toronto skateboarder Ben Davis after he got hit by a car while skateboarding in the street. A security camera caught the whole thing on tape, and City News reported on it. The street is supposed to be one that gets a lot of foot, bicycle and skateboard traffic. It’s not a major artery, and some residents even want it closed to automobile traffic all together. It’s not shocking that Ben got hit by a car, after all, he was in the middle of the street going against traffic. The interesting bit here (aside from gawking at the carnage) is the fact that the car driver got off scott free and Ben is the one who got the ticket. Check it out. [Source: Altered Skateboarding] Postscript: I had a hard time picking a Prince Charming link to reference, check out this alternative.

The great thing about the new millennium is all the small skateboard companies that are started by guys who aren’t really trying to be the next World Industries, and are more concerned with making something they think is cool. A lot of times the first board is a signature model for someone who used to be quite a bit more popular than they are now. Why are so many non-industry type skaters doing this? Maybe because it’s not that hard to scrape up the money to get a run of boards done. Maybe it’s because once you are older it’s easier to meet these people, especially if the star of their celebrity has faded some. Frequently, these signature board projects end up being something that misses the boat in timeliness by about 10 years or so. I’m not being critical, just honest. Heck, I’ve done the same thing, even twice. No wait, three times. What’s the latest? De La Soul has board out on Signature Skateboards. It’s got artwork from 3 Feet High and Rising and comes in two colorways with a total of 150 boards in production. I like me some punk rock, but I probably would have bought…