It’s certainly not the first gratuitous use of the word “longboard” as a qualifier. It really should be titled a “Downhill Skatepark” shouldn’t it? Does a board length under 3 feet preclude you from using this? Wasn’t this style of riding invented on “short boards?” When is someone going to build a Pigboarding park? You know, a skatepark built specifically for people riding Indy 215’s. Complaints about a stupid name aside, it’s cool concept. Don’t blame Landyachtz for naming it a longboard park, blame the city of Kamloops in British Columbia.

This 1966 film is available for viewing online, legally at the National Film Board of Canada. Actually, they are showing the 1969 version, which is the English language version instead of the original French version. You can even buy a DVD copy if you want. If you haven’t seen it, you should definitely watch this gem. – Thanks to Japakiva for the tip.

Big O is officially “open” for skateboarding again, after a two year absence. What was going on for two years? A new soccer stadium was being built, and the spot was supposed to be demoed with the old stadium. The community saved it by raising the money to have it physically dug up and relocated. It sounds absurd, but it’s true. Check it out on Exposé. – Thanks to Kevin for the tip.

Almost 11 minutes of Stacy Peralta being interviewed by George Stroumboulopoulos. Well, 7 minutes once you get past the intro. Nothing earth shattering or new, for that matter, but not boring actually. Worth it just to watch the brief exchange about the Hollywood and the Lords of Dogtown at around 9:30. BTW, there’s another round of Bones Brigade memorabilia/paraphernalia, most of it is sold out. [Source: Hypebeast]

The cover of Photo News Canada, which should be subtitled “Your source for Canadian photoshopped photography.” Another Seismic sighting. – Thanks to Matthijs for the tip.

Kevin Cann sent in some pictures of his nephew Tristan Rennie who came up from California to skate with his uncle in Quebec. Check him out in some spots in and around Notre Dame de L’ile Perrot, including Kevin’s back yard.

Niche niche niche niche. Skateboarding is dead, so I’m going after the Nietzsche markets. Ba-dum-bump! But seriously folks… I can’t remember how I found Bitter Bushings, literally like 10 minutes ago. I did manually type in the web address so I must have read it somewhere. Then only thing skateboard related within arm’s length of my current location is a copy of Skate Slate (ahem) Longboarder magazine. Something compelled me to check out these bushings that are made for cold weather. Bitter Bushings hail from Canada, which makes sense. Does it seem like snake oil or another pointless “invention?” Owner Clint McLean certainly takes a no-nonsense approach in his demo vid. I doesn’t hurt that he looks like a lumberjack either. He takes two identical setups, popsicle sticks with Indy’s, and put’s them both in a giant freezer to simulate cold weather. One has Bitter Bushings and the other doesn’t. One turns afterwards and the other doesn’t. I’d like get more information on the development process he went through because the lack of detail or background makes it seem like the skateboarding equivalent of cobbler’s elves delivered them in the wee hours of the night. In case, if they actually work,…

It’s been around since 1976, skated heavily since then, and it even has a book dedicated to it. When Big O was in danger of being destroyed an expanding soccer stadium, locals banded together to try and save it. So what happened? Probably the most unlikely outcome, they dug it out, picked it up and set it on a trolley to move it out of harm’s way. That’s got to be a pretty satisfactory resolution, right? Now consider the fact that the relocation has already cost $100,000 (American or Canadian?) and it isn’t even in it’s final resting place. Weigh that $100,000+ against what they could have built with that money instead. They probably could have built two identical Big O’s side by side to the exact same specifications. Still, I can imagine the locals being skeptical of any new “skatepark” built on the location of such a historic spot. Imagine the city of Portland suggesting “We need to tear down Burnside under the bridge, but we’ll build you another spot across the street.” Look at the photo of Big O unearthed. There are no rough edges visible from where the concrete meets the dirt and everything looks completely uniform…

This is no dam relic. This spot somewhere in Canada has been sessioned for 30+ years and is allegedly still a go. I found this picture while trolling Facebook, and the owner coincidentally happened to be a reader. – Thanks to MIlo for the pic.

Nothing to do with religion, Highway Gospel is a documentary on the downhill and slalom race scene that has come of age (again) outside of and in spite of the mainstream skateboard industry. These types of underground skateboarding events harken back to the early years of Thrasher, if not before. Highway Gospel is part of the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto, Canada which runs from April 28 – May 8. From there the film heads west to the DOXA film festival in Vancouver to premiere on May 13th. Trailer after the jump.