I’ve been hearing some rumblings about the new X Games Skateboard Park Course. It supposed to be concrete, and temporary, which are two things that sound like they are at odds. The street course at the Maloof Cup might have been made using prefab elements that can be disassembled and reused elsewhere, but will the same thing work on a bowl complex? The real interesting thing is that I’ve heard rumors that the X Games course will be made from concrete poured over a wood frame and/or styrofoam combo. Styrofoam in a skatepark construction is nothing new – (See here and here) It’s been used in the soon to open (already open?) Seattle SeaSk8 replacement, mainly for it’s lightweight benefits. The new location is on top of some underground elements of Seattle Center. Again, these are rumors, I haven’t been able to corroborate them, but concrete over a wood frame… puzzling. OK readers, who is connected? What’s really going on?

Ok we had a few more entries into the Weirdo Skateboards giveaway, and I’ve narrowed it down to the three finalists. See them all after the jump. Aaron insists that is actually him in the photo above, if so, he doesn’t really need that deck. Damien, the contest was up for 10 days, so there will be no extension. I’m surprised we didn’t get more participation. Free stuff doesn’t have as much draw as it used to.

You’ve got until midnight tonight – (July 12th, 2009). This one is from Ryan. All you need to be entered to win this board is to take a picture of yourself or a friend skating like a weirdo. Define weirdo however you want.

Here’s a few more contenders for the Weirdo Skateboards giveaway, including Frankenberry, dad’s doing handstands and pregnant wives on roller skates. Come on Weirdos, the field is pretty narrow so far, so your chances are good. Get your dork session on before it’s too late!

Here’s a couple of contenders for the Weirdo Skateboard giveaway. Come on people, all you have to do is wander off the beaten path a little bit and send in a picture. On the left, a guy who looks like he’s actually from the Weirdo Comics of yesteryear. On the right, a high jump session over someone who is engaged in the ever lovin’ daffy. Let’s see some more weirdos!

At first I was aloof about the Maloof Money cup… Yes, Thank you. Good night! Don’t forget to tip your bartenders. I’ll be here for the rest of the month…

OK. The idea of a building a concrete street course for one event and then tearing it down seemed absurd and grossly decadent, but it turns out California Skateparks was using mostly Spohn Ranch (I think?) reusable prefab concrete elements. I saw some of last year’s street footage on network TV of all places, and it was enjoyable. The participants fell all over themselves to gush about the event and the prize money, which seemed a little forced in the way the TV program presented it. It was almost like extreme ass kissing to guarantee another event. This year the vert event (was there one last year?) features a crazy ramp with a mini megaramp. I’m not sure how that fits into the judging or whether or not it will be a separate event. The total purse is at $450,000, and Fuel TV will being doing a live HD webcast. To get you in the mood they have a video teaser, and interviews with Bryan Herman, Braydon Szafranski and Joe Maloof one of the egos, I mean wallets behind the event. He says Geoff Rowley designed the street course this year instead of Rob Dyrdek, but I swear they were hyping Paul Rodriguez as last year’s designer.

Maloof Money Cup: Jully 10-12. It’s a shame that this conflicts with the equally as anticipated Kilwag Passing the Cup for Money & Lack of a Job Contest. (I’m not saying it’s fixed, but I am favored to win. )

Thanks to Concretins for the tip.

Colin Walsh (rules) took his camera to the BCSA contest at Harrisburg, Oregon on the 4th of July. Check out the shots. Colin, looks like you’ve got some intermittent problems with the image sensor on your camera. It may be related to shooting into the sun. I know my D-70 gives me some weird green streaks in similar situations sometimes.

I’ve got a Weirdo Skateboards deck to give away. Near as I can tell, it’s either the 8 1/8 inch wide model or the 8 and 1/4 inch wide model, depending on how you measure. It’s got a 14.25 inch wheel base, and was made by P.S. Stix, so you know the quality is there. All you have to do to enter is to send in a picture or (Flickr link, YouTube, whatever) of yourself or a friend being a weirdo on a skateboard. Define Weirdo? I dunno, skateboarding with a prop or costume of some kind, an overabundance of clothes or lack of clothes, wigs, masks, animals, wackyboards… Don’t worry, GVK is disqualified. We’ll be posting entries as we get them, and then I will pick a winner at random, but I reserve the right to chose the winner if there is something/someone that is especially weird. I’m going to say this contest will be open to readers anywhere. I’ll ship the board but the winner will be responsible for any tariffs if they happen to live outside the U.S.. Thanks again to Weirdo Skateboards. Now go let your freak flag fly! Let’s see some killer dork sessions – not the skate zine. Well, sure, I’d like to see that zine again too.

Contest ends Midnight Pacific Standard time on Sunday, July 12th.

The 2009 dates for the 2009 Oregon Trifecta have been up for a while. The big surprise this year is the addition of two extra days of qualifying events, bringing the grand total up to five consecutive days of skateboarding contests. So it’s official, event organizers are definitely trying to kill me! The web site is mum, so I’m not exactly sure why the extra qualifying days have been added. I would have guessed it was to make the big three days shorter, but the schedules posted don’t reflect that. Also very interesting, this year marks a return to Pier Park (!) a fan favorite, and once again it’s an all Oregon event. Qualifiers on August 5th and 6th at West Linn (It’s been a long time…) and Tigard, respectively. The main events are at Lincoln City, Oregon on Friday, August 7th, Tigard, Oregon on Saturday, August 8th and Portland’s Pier Park on Sunday, August 9th.

There’s a little over a month to go, so I’ve rounded up 2008 Trifecta coverage from all points, after the jump. If I missed your coverage, let me know and I’ll add it.

It’s going on right now! Get the details for the contest over at the Department. NOTE: The finals are downtown Portland at Pioneer Square. The whole thing is part of Red Bull’s Manny Mania amateur contest series.

BURNSIDE ART SHOW BENEFIT after the contest. Opening at NEMO (1875 SE Belmont) from 7-11pm. Proceeds from the sales got to Burnside. Artists include, Bryce Kanights, Chet Childress, Rich Burton, JayMeer, Gus Van Sant(!), Rich Charnowski and more. Exhibit will be up from June 26-July 31.