You can’t skate in the Aurora Illinois grade school unless you are a Guinea pig, and I don’t mean the figurative kind. Hall Elementary School has a class pet that is a Guinea pig, and for some reason the teachers allow an d encourage children to drag the Guinea pig through the halls on a skateboard. Yes, they used the “teacher’s pet” joke. Yes, Aurora is a neighboring suburb to Naperville. Yes, this is a weak post. Yes, you can read more at theBeacon News.

An ad agency called EyeWonder has created some crazy banner ads for web pages that unfold and let interested parties fool around and learn about Tony Hawk’s Project 8 game without having to leave the page. You can do things like use your cursor to scrub through the super slow motion “Nail the Trick” sequences and view trailers and screen captures. It’s very well thought out use of web technology to draw in the viewer. The average game console graphics engine must not be up to snuff when it comes to skinning the character’s shoes, otherwise I can’t believe they would pass up the extra product tie-in opportunity with the accompanying kick-back. Check out a demo of the ad here, and no, they didn’t pay to be included here, It just happens that it’s interesting enough to warrant a post here. Free advertising… Bastards! [Source: Eywonder]

Hot Wheels Skate Freaks is a collection of skateboard toys that looks like it was designed in the 80’s. The figures appear to based on some Sizzler type technology they resurrected in some time around 2000 for skateboard toys. Watch this commercial with an Extreme™ voiceover and more Skate Freaks action after the jump.

More Arizona action from Old Man Army. Doubles. Nice shot, huh? You have to see it to believe it. Update: Added an alternate shot.

A group called The Side Effects of Urethane working in conjunction with the U.K. skate rag Kingpin have designed and mostly built a skateplaza in some unused tunnels in London. These guys are the Dreamland of street parks, I’m declaring it. Make it so. They even followed the D.I.Y. ethic of funding and making it themselves on unused public property. Unlike London’s tradition of squatting however, they managed to get permission first. More London Skateplaza action after the jump. [Source: Sleestak]

Web site… languishing. No time for computer. Must skate. Still made post today. Sort of.

The setting: The Riverwalk in Naperville Illinois. The time: About 1984. How many times can you say “I was the first person to ever skate this?” Now everyone skates, that’s getting harder and harder to say. I go back to Naperville to visit family every other year or so. Now they’ve got a crappy prefab skatepark, but back then there was not much of a scene. I have to assume Naperville’s current park is crappy because I’ve only looked at it from the car. That town has money to burn but somehow they got suckered into a bunch of wooden ramps on a concrete slab. Larger versions and a little more about the new skate park after the jump.

Andy Jenkins of Mel Bend fame among other things has a vinyl figure of Wrench Pilot character Lettus Bee taking faceplant. Limited to 500 pieces and costing $100 (!??), I suppose people would be upset if you called it a “plastic toy.” It’s pretty cool actually, but not a hundred bucks cool. Too rich for my blood. MOre pics after the jump. [Source: Sublimited]

From WLTX News in South Carolina: Officer Who Shoved Skateboarder Gets Suspension CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP, WLTX) — The Charleston police officer seen on Internet video pushing a skateboarder over a bush at a city park has been suspended for ten days. Police Chief Greg Mullen says 49-year-old officer Willie Simmons used an unnecessary level of force. The 19-year-old skateboarder declined to file assault charges against Simmons. The officer was taped pushing a skateboarder off his board at the Waterpark in downtown. The officer defended herself by saying that that skateboarding is illegal in Charleston. As a result, the 19-year-old injured his lower back and ankle. Fascinating. Now watch it again.

Listen. Read the title of on the masthead. If anyone is qualified to judge the most annoying skate video, it’s us. Sorry YouTube user eatshit508, but I don’t think your video is the most annoying by far. Sure, some of the kids need to take a couple steps out of their sequences and maybe speed things up a bit. However I think the director approaches this video with the appropriate amount of levity. Watch the video after the jump, plus a bonus clip of what might actually be the most annoying skateboard video. How did this end up in the “Skate” category instead of “Annoy?”