Really, why do we need a War on Blanks? I mean look at this specimen purchased 5 years ago from a major sports retailer that just recently declared bankruptcy. Man, the owner of this deck sure was pissed when he got ready to ride his brand new deck and found out he had been sold a regular foot board instead of a goofy foot board. He didn’t realize it until he went for his first frontside indy and caught his jib in his heel-side shin guards. Folks, this photo has not been retouched. See it full frame after the jump.

It’s always amusing when an article in the mainstream business press uses the word “dude” in a skateboard-related feature, right? Well, predictable, yes. This is an old piece of news, but I’m cleaning house. This New York Times article titled The business of board sports: It takes hardcore credibility, dude isn’t solely about Jaime Thomas, but he is the focus. It talks about how marketing and brand recognition are different animals for “board sports” companies, and how Nike and others have found it hard to crack. It’s an OK read, but not much your average Skate and Annoy reader doesn’t already know. The dollar figures are pretty impressive though, and there’s a not-so-gratuitous gratuitous Tony Hawk appearance. Because Tony’s quotes are in reference to selling the Hawk brand to Quicksilver, it actually make sense, unlike Rob Dyrdek’s appearance in Forbes. Read It takes hardcore credibility, dude at International Herald Tribune. Look how I got all artsy on that title graphic.

Bamboo is an amazing plant. You can use it to feed pandas, make flooring, furniture, and even bicycles and saxophones. And yes, skateboards too. The crazy thing about bamboo is that it has a stronger strength to weight ratio than maple, but has been know to grow 4 feet in a week’s time! Think about how many boards in a year that a typical street skater goes through. What if you could make a bamboo board that performs as well and lasts as long as a hard maple deck? There are companies making decks containing various percentages (up to 100%) of Bamboo, but they are mostly carving or downhill setups not meant to take the torture of street or bowl riding. Today I received an email and pictures from a Slovakian company with a Chinese manufacturer of 100% bamboo skateboards shaped like a typical popsicle stick. Even that’s nothing new. Check out some bamboo Skateboarding action after the jump.

Steve Caballero has endorsed Powell’s new line of beginners boards (AKA Cheap and Chinese) called Powell Golden Dragon. Tony Hawk does it, Andy MacDonald does it, even Mike McGill does. Why not Cab? The Powell versions ($70) seem to be a notch above Andy’s ($50) and Mike McGill’s (models from $30-$60). I couldn’t find a link for priccing on Hawk’s low end models. Maybe I imagined them. The Golden Dragon trucks even have a bit of interesting detail instead of being completely devoid of character. Let’s see, Cab, Hawk, and McGill. When do Lance and Tommy come out with their own line of cheapo skateboards? What about Per Welinder and Rodney Mullen? Oh wait, they already have crappy boards.

We’ve weighed in on “The War on Blanks” before, but it keeps popping up, and looks like it’s going to be an industry focus in 2007. Personally, I can’t respect hypocrisy, which is what I see when a company says blanks are bad for the industry but Chinese manufacturing is good. It’s all about the profit margins. I think it’s a case where the industry has made it’s own bed and now doesn’t want to sleep in it. What I’d like to see is information on where these blanks coming from and how many different skateboard manufacturers actually exist. The quote coming from George’s mouth above is actually from Andrew Reynolds on the web site called “A World Without Pros.” More hypocrisy and links concerning the War on Blanks and the War on George Bush as expressed on skateboards after the jump.

Time Warner sold off 18 of it’s magazine titles, including the group that was responsible for Transworld Skateboarding. Swedish company The Bonnier Group was the winning bidder. Expect increased Per Welinder and Tony Magnuson coverage in the near future. Yes, this is going in my photoshop resume… Links to some actual legitimate news sources after the jump.

As most of you know I work for DuFFS shoes, and recently I came across this little ditty on the web. I do remember laughing at the ads when they came out, and nothing has changed that vision. Even words like Ads are Sexist, Violent and imply an endorsement of Pedophiles! really don’t bother me when is comes to skateboarding. I mean its not like I’m skating with Michael Jackson at his house or inviting kids over to my house to play Tony Hawk Pro Skater for free shoes. Geez, where’s the humor in skateboarding gone? DuFFS is all about sarcasm and poking fun. Sorry to ‘Ms Media Lady’ who always misses the point of a well-thought out advertising campaign. If you ask me, the first ads they did were genius, it took a wierd turn in the late 90’s, but now its back on point. Go see for yourself on the site.

There’s an article being recycled by different newspapers about how a rap act know as The Pack is helping the worlds of skateboarding and hip hop come together, as if that is something new. The research department only went back a couple of years because completely absent from the article are such bands as the Beastie Boys, Urban Dance Squad and oh, I don’t know, who else but Skatemaster Tate, a guy who based his whole schtick on it back in the late 80’s. That’s Tate above hosting Nickelodeon’s SK8 TV with Mathew Lillard. Bottom right is a shot from a video shoot for The Pack’s new EP Skateboards 2 Scrapers. Early skate-rap connections, video links, a Skatemaster Tate roundup and more after the jump.

Seems like I’ve heard of this Stacy Peralta character before… Skip Engblom never gave Stacy a model on Zephyr, so 31 years later Santa Monica Airlines released a limited edition of 100 Stacy Peralta signature boards, numbered and signed by Stacy and Skip. Each deck comes with a certificate of authenticity, a display case and a price tag of $775! That’s no typo. Check it out at SMA.

From Transworld Business: A momentous IASC meeting leads to a more united front among skate hardgoods manufacturers… …a who’s who meeting of skateboard hardgoods manufacturers met to discuss why blank skateboard decks have become so popular, what that is doing to the heart of the industry, and how the manufacturers could band together to effect change. Check out this quote from Dwindle’s Bod Boyle: If we have a generation of skateboarders who grow accustomed to what a blank-product costs and if they think a blank product is as good as branded product, then we really will open the doors to these huge retailers Hmmmm…. I seem to remember a similar conversation about manufacturing skateboards in China. That’s funny, Dwindle came in on the other side of the argument.