I was checking out the shots of this house contemplating whether or not to post it, until I saw the entry way gate that sealed the deal. It kind of puts this guy to shame. I found this one over on the Dezeen Magazine web site. The house in Karuizawa, Japan is called Shell, and it was designed by a bloke named Kotaro Ide in a Japanese architecture firm called Artechnic. There’s a lot of clicking to go through on the firm’s site, so I’ve borrowed a few of the highlights after the jump.

Not only are many big name skateboards manufactured in China, now they are going to start making our extreme sports genre films there too. CounterCulture Independent Filmmakers’ Resource, has the following oportunity listed: Wanted Screenplays with a Skateboard Theme to shoot in China Budget is 1.5 million. Investor is a skateboard champion and wants to produce a feature in Shanghai with a skateboard theme. Big question, who is the “skateboard champion?” I accidentally caught a Chinese action film on cable that has big chase scene that takes place on mountain boards. I forget the name of it, but it’s probably at least three years old. – Thanks to Tito Porrata for the tip.

Singapore has something called the Chinese Garden Lantern Festival. This year’s festival had a large Hello Kitty presence, including Hello Kitty and friends riding skateboards. These pictures are from SingaporeSights.com. There’s a couple more after the jump from a forgotten source. If you find any more shots, drop a link in the comments. – Thanks to Jeff Hottle for the tip.

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This is Gou Miyagi’s part in something called “Overground Broadcasting,” a film by The Far East Skate Network. FESN apears to be based out of Japan, but the video has a lot of European and US footage as well. I was hooked on this video in the first 50 seconds. Watching Gou Miyagi immediately brought to mind Natas as well Patrick Melcher and Richie Jackson. Call me shallow, but that’s who I thought of. Although that may be because that list exhausts every street skater that I can claim any knowledge of having a particular style. I especially dug the shove it Natas spin. I suppose if I don’t say “Mark Gonzales,” someone will rant at me in the comments. There’s a lot of show stoppers in the vid, but I don’t want to spoil them. Just watch it, you won’t be disappointed. Great skating, good editing and presentation as well. I need to track down this video. – Thanks to Casey Morrow for the tip.

Wy don’t we cover (fill in your favorite geographic locale) because we aren’t there. But if you are, we’d love to hear from you, as in the case with Davie Freeman who is in Okinawa, Japan. Mr Freeman sent some pics and a short write up. Enjoy.

Two countries that are alike in so many ways… at least if you are mostly going by the fact that I’ve never been to either, but that doesn’t stop me from being vaguely connected to people there through the magic of the Interwebs™. After the jump catch two videos sent to me through various global dealing of Skate and Annoy. We’re huge, you know.

They offered to send me some pictures from the vert event in China, and I said Sure, I’d check them out, and see how they went over on the site. They were kind of stingy. Pierre-Luc Gagnon won the vert event (2nd – Andy Macdonald, 3rd- Adam Taylor) and Sandro Dias’ 900 won the best trick. I don’t know if there was a street event, all they sent was vert info. You can read the canned press and see the pics after the jump. Who knows, maybe you are curious about what Zhou Qiang, President of Xingyi New Media Investment Company has to say.

Talk of Jeff Kendall been in our comments lately so I thought this was a good time to spotlight this Chinese counterfeit Jeff, excuse me, Jess Kendall deck and mention that House of Neil is compiling some more counterfeits as well as working on the April eBay Watch. What’s next? Les Mountain, Bob Roskopp or Jane Lucero? You’ll have to wait and see.

Unbeatable Banzuke is a physical obstacle course Japanese game show (Kinniku Banzuke) that airs in reruns on the G4 network in the US. Apparently the original show was cancelled in 2002 after two contestants suffered serious spinal cord (OK, cervical vertebrae) injuries. The “Skeboarder” episode features a skateboard obstacle course that looks like Grover’s wet dream. An enterprising individual has captured some of it in the time honored fashion of pointing a video camera at the TV. Check it out after the jump. G4’s site has some footage but they don’t do anything to make it easy for you to find out when a particular episode will be on. “TV that’s plugged in?” Hardly. The course looks really fun, actually. One of the contestants has his occupation listed as “Skateboard Salesman.” I wonder if he goes door to door. – Thanks to Rich for the tip.