Frank Kunert builds and photographs amazing little scenes worthy of the Far Side like Tennis Halfpipe, and that’s all there is to it.

– Do I need to credit tips from MC?

It’s been a while since we’ve had a new wackyboard™, but don’t worry. There’s no end in site. You can blame CAD and rapid prototyping for the products from Aris Sport. The ARIS stands for “Advanced Research in Sport,” so that would make their whole name Advanced Research in Sport Sport. It’s a surprisingly sophisticated variation of the paint roller-type truck configuration. The conical wheels aren’t a new development. I can’t find the picture right now (actually, here’s one) but there are already a few paint-roller type truck assemblies with a similar wheel profile. The way they managed to work the truck design in there looks nice. Not nice for skateboarding, mind you, but nice from an industrial design standpoint! They are heavy on the futuristic renderings where the boards look like plexiglass, but the actual prototypes look conventional. The Bladerunner series promisee to be “street carving redesigned.” Redesigned for what? From the looks of the renders, they are redesigned for the Bonneville salt flats. What’s with all the renders anyway? Well they aren’t being mass produced yet. If you feel like making it happen, you can check out their kickstarter page. I’m surprised that their prototypes are so polished. The marketing however, is cliche 101. Brace yourself for “We’ve reinvented the wheel,” “This changes everything,” “Join the revolution,” and (stifling gag reflex…) the phonetic spelling of carving complete with a dictionary definition.

– Thanks to Boy Ipoh for the tip.

There’s a Tony Hawk-branded series of books for young teens (or tweens?) called Tony Hawk’s 900 Revolution. There’s no mission statement about the series being designed to engage kids in reading other than a tagline on the front page that says “Join the reading revolution.” You can read sample chapters and find out about characters like Omar, who is “aggressive and inventive, and often likened to Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.” The premise of the series:

At the dawn of the new millennium, Tony Hawk landed the first-ever 900, finally capturing the Holy Grail of skateboarding. At that moment in time, everything changed. A mysterious force shattered his board and scattered the pieces across the globe. Today, a talented group of teens unite in an eternal quest to bring the board – and its power – back together again. Adventure, action sports, and sci-fi rolled into one super-hot series!

Your kid (or you with a cleverly disguised entry) can win a chance to appear as a character in a future book. They look a little bit like comic books don’t they? They aren’t but they do have a 16 page graphic novel insert. Extreme!™

I couldn’t remember “sacripant” from my high school French, but I’ve been told it means scoundrel or rogue, which seems pretty harsh. Maybe it’s meant in a Dennis the Menace sort of way. I found this picture on Sa ka roulé, but a quick Google to do a little research also led me to Mandible Claw.

So only one person caught it last week when I re-ran a post on the Onion, and that person wash’t even me. Two things about this side splitter: I wish I had a digital media job, and I will ride a longboard to that job if you give it to me. Actually, I ate it once skating back from Starbucks from a break. For the love of Hosoi, don’t let an intern be your photo editor. As lousy as that poorly cropped photo is, the rest of the Onion story makes up for it.

– Thanks to Josh and Greg for the tip.

Because this is picture of an indoor mountain bike park opening up in Portland called Lumberyard. By Kent Dahlgren knows a guy who built it. I’m sure he had help, but kent helped himself to a session and some photos. In some ways so similar to what you expect to see, but in others definitely skewed. Very interesting. I’d love to see some of these interactions between planes in a concrete skatepark.

If you’re a model or a regular gal posing for a photographer’s portfolio, it’s only a matter of time before someone sticks a skateboard in you hands. Hey, you’re casual, radical, and fashionable. These photos were both brought to my attention by MC, so you can guess what his web surfing habits are like… Up top: Valerie Van Der Graaf photographed by? These pictures are i a few places on the Interwebs™, but I can’t find a credit for them so here’s a random link. Bottom: From the portfolio of Shannon Lee Miller, as seen on White Zine.

Skate Bench #1 on sale for $255(!) Which is $75 off! Originally part of a kickstarter campaign. Looks pretty cool, but the price is hard to swallow. Videos after the jump. Fancy pics at Kem Studio.

From the Onion, truly America’s greatest news source. I heard a piece about the Onion on NPR’s This American Life. As interesting as it was, it kind of sucked the joy out of it a little. Reminded me of a science fiction story I read where scientists analyzed humor and discovered the actual cause of what made people laugh, at which point nothing was funny to anyone, anywhere, anymore. What was the name of that story? Anyone?

[Source: Westway]

I was checking out a 7″ cover of the 720 soundtrack released by a band called Metronome the City, trying to track down an original that wasn’t on eBay, and of course I stumbled on a bunch of other time wasting distractions. Ahh… Interwebs™. Let me count the ways that I love you.