It may actually take decades to respond to reader mail, a Jim Gray can attest. I recently found an envelope from the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, mailed to Skate and Annoy sometime in 1988, only to be fully examined in an entirely different millennium. Do I regret not reading this letter from Darko Kolesar, AKA “Gricko” from Zehun, Yogoslavia? Do I lament the lost opportunity to create a cross-cultured, transcontinental friendship, let alone the chance to establish an outpost behind the Iron Curtain? Would I have loved to have a copy of the Yugoslavian skate zine Body & Soul in my collection? Do I wonder what Yugoslavian skate rock sounded like in the 80’s? Do fell like a dick? Yes.

UPDATE: A response from Gricko! Thanks to everyone who helped track him down. Read the Darko chronicle appended to the post!

Although it may look like Kentucky, Ken Henning, took these pictures at the zoo (Tiergarten) in Nuremberg, Germany in 1968. Pictured are American GIs from California enjoying a downhill session. Ken says this was the first time he ever saw anyone on a skateboard. The guys in these photos eventually shipped out to Vietnam, and Ken doesn’t know what became of them. Additional photo after the jump.

– Thanks to David Brosch for the photos.

Europe’s largest vert ramp allegedly in Copenhagen, but no specs listed, so how big is it? I was going to try and count the plys, but some of the construction photos make it look like we’re dealing with some Euro standards and not the typical North American 4″x 8″ sheets. It does appear to be rather large. Check it out on Ramp Riders. (Yes, this is a year old.)

That’s Skreech on the cover of the latest Confusion zine. Apparently he’s turning over a new leaf after evaluating his life via Dragonslayer, so he’s going by Joshua instead of Josh. He didn’t ditch the “Skreech” moniker though. He’s no dummy when it comes to marketing. In addition to the Skreech interview, this shot of Elias Assmuth on a skateboard made out of a fingerboarding ramp got my attention. Radness! Those guys at Blackriver Ramps take their skateboarding every bit as seriously as their fingerboarding, or vice versa.

This is a model named Kate Kondas, who I guess is a thing. She was photographed for the August 2013 issue of Elle Magazine Hungary in a partially finished, partially ghetto looking skatepark somewhere. I’ve never seen a concrete park with asphalt on the top deck. The photographer (and possible anime villain) is named Zoltan Tombor.

[Source: Fashion Gone Rogue] – Thanks to the spawn of MC for the tip.

Lays Deep Ridge potato chips has a commercial running in the Netherlands featuring an ant dropping into some spud vert, attempting some sort of body varial (it’s hard to see exactly what’s going on) and then bailing with a parachute à la Bob Burnquist in the Grand Canyon. (Should that be “à le” for a masculine Bob Burnquist?)

– Thanks to Matthijs for the tip. (He says he still can’t get S&A to come up where he lives… Anyone in the Netherlands reading this?)

Be sure to have some extra Euros with you when skating in the wrong places in Barcelona, Spain.

When Burger restaurants try to teach you how to skateboard …

seen in France

Recycled skateboards used to make a birdhouse. Add a truck and you’ve got a bird feeder. Skate and Aviary. Check out Skate:bîrd, by Florian Dohrmann. See also: Facebook. I like the bird house. Maybe I’ll make one this weekend.

[Source: Skateboard Mag on Tumblr via Selekkt] – Thanks to Matthijs for the tip.

On this edition of counterfeit skateboards we have a completely generic looking Gator rip off found all the way over in Belgium, complete with a Tony Hawk Skategear sticker that definitely looks like it’s an 80’s vintage, but I’m wondering if it (sticker) is of a later vintage, because it doesn’t look familiar to me.

– Thanks to David Maes for the tip.