I was unaware, but maybe you’ve heard of this before… Apparently, there is some sort of long standing history of skateboarding in Portland Oregon. Who knew? Someone should commemorate that. Besides building 19 new skateparks, the City of Portland is sponsoring an exhibit called Board of Art: A Historical Perspective of Stumptown Skate on August 2nd from 5:00-8:00pm at City Hall (1221 SW 4th). There will even be a half pipe set up in front of city hall. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a city’s top brass embrace skateboarding so much. Thanks Comissioner Sam! Now why wasn’t I invited to be artsy with my peers? Oh wait. I was, and I dropped the ball. Nice one. [Graphic: Bettina McEntyre]

I had always intended to include video footage with our series of DIY articles on screenprinting skateboards (see bottom pics). Now that I’ve seen the Sistine Chapel of screenprinting videos I can’t see the point of making what will obviously be, an inferior copy of a master’s work. From Aesthetic Apparatus comes this video of the silkscreen process. Although these guys are making posters, it’s essentially the same process used for screen printing skateboards, or screen printing heat transfers. How does this video manage to be educational, annoying, and hilarious at the same time? Watch and find out. [Source: The News]

Somebody is a Jim Phillips (and Jason Jesse) fan in Germany. Either that, or Jim’s been traveling. Graffiti at Rheinaue skatepark in Bonn is a Flickr post uploaded by fraktalisman.

We’re starting a gallery of skateboard tattoos. Send in your pics if you want to be in it. Please include your name, the name of the tattoo artist (if you know it), the tattoo shop (if you know it), and approximately when the tattoo was new. Optionally, you can include a picture of yourself. I’m expecting to get a deluge of Independent and Thrasher tattoos, but don’t be afraid to send in the obscure, like this Natas panther Skate and Annoy hybrid. Skate and Annoy? WTF??? I found this buried an an email from 2005. House of Neil originally sent it to me, with the name “Friend of Wolfgang” attached to it. I’m pretty sure it’s just a coincidence. Friend of Wolfgang, care to chime in? On the right is a Bob Schmelzer graphic taken from his freestyle board. I’ll bet there aren’t to many Schmelzer tattoos out there.

With Sarah expecting, the birth of Tom’s daughter and two completed parks under our belts (my babies: St. John and Glen Haven) Skaters for Portland Skateparks is currently regrouping and trying to figure out the best way serve the Portland skateboarding community.

We continue to advocate for Portland skateparks, keeping track of Portland Parks and Rec’s process on the new parks – getting the word out through various channels – and continuing to push the 19 skatepark system agenda. Citizens have continued to donate to the organization and we are banking that for an upcoming effort. A recent $700 donation recently came to us through the United Way (I’m guessing a workplace donation program).

So Donald has a new paint job and It looks real nice in photos but guess what? It’s slippery again. I think the artists who take it upon themselves to paint the place now and then should stick to canvas.

These skateboard art shows at galleries are now getting to be a dime a dozen. Nobody invites me to exhibit in these shows, but that won’t stop me from mentioning this one that opened today in Chicago at the EXPGallery. There are 40 artists featured in the show, and some money is being raised for Ray Underhill, although the details are slim. Artist reception is June 8th from 6-10. The exhibition runs from June 4th to June 30th, 2007.

I’m preempting another “over it” post. This clip is being passed around the web like what’s his name’s girl that is giving that stuff out to all them graffiti guys. Danimal reviewed the Girl Yeah Right! video (on VHS no less) and now the invisible skateboard sequence is all over the Interweb™ again, so you might as well watch it here too. You can catch the invisible section after the jump, or watch the whole dang video due to the magic of Interweb™ piracy and our friend Chompy.

Skaters in a mural in Portland. Mural also features homeless people.

Apparently we’re in a position to help other people out nowadays. That’s right, you can stop laughing, wipe the smirk off your face and stuff it! We had over 80 thousand page views last month. Not requests for individual files or other inflated BS, this is Interweb™! magic folks! Now that we’re done breaking our arm to pat ourselves on the back, there’s a new online skate, art, lifestyle publication called Mumble Magazine. In their own words:

In plain english: we publish articles that have to do with influential artists, photographers, skateboarders, places, books, shit you can buy, music and whatever as well as some totally random shit that somehow fits into the picture. Headed up by the former editor of Crailtap.com, we’re dedicated to bringing real content back to the internet following the stranglehold that blogs have taken on it. We publish at least two new features every week.

Former editor? Sounds like when I interviewed for a job and said I was laid off from my previous job. I checked it out, It’s got some good stuff there like this feature on J. Grant Brittain and this one on 25 Years of Transworld, plus a lot more for people with a more well-rounded life, kind of like the seemingly defunct Bail Magazine, actually. If Bail isn’t dead, then they are the only skate magazine with a more irregular print schedule than Juice. Ass long as I’m taking the piss, Mumble’s definition of “actual features” is a little lax. Some early features are nothing more than thinly disguised but nicely presented product highlights, such as a bunch of pictures of Nike SB shoes and some free MP3’s. By that definition, we here at Skate and Annoy sometimes publish four or five features a day, even if we use a blog engine to do it. Ok, I’m done busting balls now. It’s actually something I’ve been struggling with here at Skate and Annoy. Our official “Features” posting has dropped dramatically, but a high percentage of our posts are very, very meaty. I’d even say dripping with content. Sure. Otherwise you’re just another monkey recycling links. Check out this skateboarding bulldog. LOL! But seriously folks, have a peek at Mumble Magazine. You’ll recognize some names over there.

(Note: Mumble links removed, original site is gone and appears to be malware now.)