Luka Karlin is a 15 year old skater from Slovenia whose crew put together a video called Phobia that you can watch on Vimeo. I always like to see skate spots in different parts of the country or world. There’s some cool stuff in Phobia, for example, the ramp in the top two pics has avery nice covered structure on tracks that slides off for skating. I think Phobia is broken into different parts, just click on the related videos that have Phobia in the title. In case you are wondering, Luka is one of the crazy Slovenians.

Lat year we highlighted the Built to Skate video, and now it’s time for another look. 2008’s version is available in two sizes 320×240 and 640×480. In case you don’t remember, the Built to Skate crew in Austria (who are they? I mean, where’s the link?) spends some time pouring guerilla concrete to make found obstacles more skateable, then they go out and document the session. Sounds great, right? It is pretty great. I liked last year’s video better, but maybe that’s because it was the first time I was introduced to the concept. In any case, it’s still a great concept. Check it out. – Thanks to Roman Astleitner for the tip.

Just in case you want your European skate calendars without nudity, you can pick up the new Bailgun Magazine 2009 calendar from their Lulu storefront. The calendar includes images of Jürgen Horrwarth, Chris Miller, Anders Tellen, Sascha Müller, Ben Krahn, Renton Millar and more, as well as still life photos of instruments, amps etc. from the Claus Grabke Recording Studio. That last bit is serious. You know we can’t resist a Claus Grabke reference! UPDATE: It’s actually two separate calendars. One with skate pics and one with shots from Claus Grabke’s studio. Claus must have quite a following.

I guess making a skatepark with foam for the backfill isn’t such a big deal after all. John Kehoe sent in some pictures of a park under a bridge in Holland outside of Amsterdam in a place called Koog a/d Zand. (?) It was built by a Dutch company called Carve in 2005. They cut the foam by passing a current through a wire stretched across wood, like a bow strung with a toaster element. RC geeks use the same method on a smaller scale for cutting wing and fuselage elements out of foam. Although, in a link from the first time we talked about this, some people just use a chainsaw. Pics from John Kehoe after the jump.

Yeah, and I am one because I’m trying to keep SnA out of the content filters. But you get the idea. The OMSA ( Old Men Skateboard Association) writes history again by publishing the first ever Skateboard / Pin up / Porn Calendar. We shot a hot naked Woman who posed in front of some ripping Skaters at the OMSA and the Factory Pool. EVELINE, a Hungarian Porn Star is all naked, blond and shows it all. Not suitable under the age of 18 !!! The calendar is printed on high glossy paper in DIN A 4 Format which is about 210 mm x 0297 mm. It has 14 color pages and is limited to 400 Copies, which makes it highly collectible. Each Calendar is packed in a clear plastic bag. You can order your copy and get more info by writing an e-mail to: omsa1@web.de

If you hear the words “foam” and “skatepark” together, you’d probably think of one of those tick learning pits, not a skatepark construction. I wouldn’t believe it if someone told me about it, but here are the pictures. Apparently, it’s common practice to use styrofoam (or some kind of poly foam) for fill in skateparks in Sweden. I don’t have any details besides these few pics from Placed to Ride, who were applying the theory to a skatepark in Gothenburg, Sweden. The building blocks can be seen here, and the finished result here. I guess it works. If anyone can explain the how and why, I’m all ears.

Europeskate has a relatively new feature called “Beauty of the Month” and they are encouraging “models” to drop by for a photo session. A gal just wrote us and and suggested a “Chicks with Sticks” gallery. I’m not sure if she meant actual skate photos or what, but I can tell you there will be no “dropping by for a photo session” at the Skate and Annoy studios as I’m already unemployed and I don’t need any extra grief on the home front. Check out Europeskate’s Beauty of the Month. [Photo: Matt Ewing]

Stephanie Murdock sent in some pics of La Caverne from back in 2006 before it was what it became. Mostly interesting from a historical standpoint. I don’t know if everyone else appreciates the “in progress” type shots as much as I do, but I’m going to keep posting them anyway. Is it just me, or does this look like a stage set for the next Johnny Rad gig?

“…It was rad as hell, kinked as f#@k, rough as an alcoholic tongue, but it was our spot!” – an anonymous creator of La Caverne In Marseille, France there lies a dark, dingy abandoned warehouse beyond the view of the common people. The telltale graffiti and discarded trash of society’s undesirable class littered this area, and as a result the former site of productivity seemed more like a cave than a building. It is no surprise that skaters, who are often associated with the mantra “Skate and Destroy,” would create a place to express their styles without the regulations of a system that failed to understand them. La Caverne’s beginnings operated in a similar fashion to the Grimm Brothers fairy tale “The Pied Piper of Hamelin;” the rat catcher enticed the rats.  The abandoned warehouse attracted artists from all over France, and a tagger by the name of Nours, who also skated, told his friends about it and the work began.

I get sent a lot of contest results and tour coverage articles from various companies and I usually don’t bother to post about them, but I liked the photography in the examples from this write up of Volcom’s Wild in the Park Sweden stop. Maybe you will too. Maybe I just have a thing for Sweden, but I’ve never been there. John Romo BS Smith, Photo: Fyledal. Check it out.