This video tour of the Dwindle wood shop narrated by Rodney Mullen is fascinating on several levels. I’ll start with the elephant in the room, the factory location. Sure, the wood comes from Canada, but the labor appears to mostly be comprised of girls just old enough to compete on the Chinese gymnastics team. Next, there’s the joyless, dry narration by Rodney himself. In the first few minutes of the video it’s hard to tell if this is going to be a parody of corporate industrial films or a bona fide video. Lastly, there’s the technological innovation in board manufacturing. These guys have figured out how to make boards seemingly identical to one another. A big part of that would be the fact that only one board gets pressed in one mold at a time, although the molds are stacked on top of each other. To hear Rodney talk, they have a bunch of prima donnas really picky pros who would reject up to 80% of decks from a run because they weren’t up to their critical standards. I know people who are hyper aware of the physical characteristics of the deck they are riding, but most of us can…

Oh the drama. Remember the brouhaha over Jim Phillips and the cease and desist from NHS over his continuing use of the screaming hand logo? Well it looks like they must have worked it out because Santa Cruz is having a book signing with Phillips at their ASR celebration of 35 years of the Santa Cruz brand. It looks like there will be quite a few “celebs” in attendance.

I guess this is old, but it was new to me, so here we are. It’s a pretty funny video spoof on corporate orientation videos done by Girl Skateboards. It gets a bit slow and sometimes they get off theme, but overall it’s pretty well done. The “orientation” takes you through a bunch of differnt aspects of the operation. Noticeably absent is the wood shop, so draw your own conclusions. The host is reminiscent of Chris Farley at times. [Source: Dept of Skateboarding]

Here’s what the ad in the March Transworld Business says: From the undisputed leader… The X Games™ creators of the most high profile action sports competition on the planet, has teamed up with NSS™ to introduce a line of footwear truly worthy of a podium sweep. If the quality of the X Games skateboards are anything to judge by, you can be sure these shoes will be top notch. You can get a closer look at the 14, X-F1 and Allyoop after the jump. Push for gold!

Colin Bane over at Fuel TV has an argument against putting professional vert skating on life support. In his post titled Vert. Alive and thriving? Colin compiles some upcoming professional events and media exposure highlighting vert skating. I wouldn’t mention this, except I don’t want want to let anyone down, seeing as how we can’t shake the image that Skate and Annoy is for old men who like vert. Also, Colin has a shout out to Conahan and his H.O.M.O.S. comics. Hey, does MC know those guys over at Antigravity Press are ripping off his content and passing it off as their own? Image on top is from DC’s backside smith how-to video with Colin McKay.

Earlier there was some discussion about whether or not anything good ever comes from the X Games. I brought up the fact that they sometimes leave their ramps behind, and John Aguilar pointed out that such is the case in Mexico City. Mexican skate rag ReSkate reports that last year’s X Games vert and street ramps are being set up as a public skatepark in a few weeks. I can’t read Spanish, so I’ll have to take his word for that. And speaking of countries battling US skateboard manufacturers and extreme sports, the AST Dew Tour is opening in China this month as well. I guess there’s already a lot of skateboards there, so why not? Along with the usual contenders, Chinese athletes will be allowed to compete as well. How Extreme!™ is China? This 2005 article in the Christian Science Monitor (!?) talks about how Chinese officials promote certain cultural imports from Western countries, but most fade from popularity after the propaganda stops. That was three years ago, so maybe it’s not a fad in China. It probably helps that so many American companies are having skateboards made in China. I wonder if the top Chinese skaters ride skateboards…

Flying out to Florida to meet my family. Visiting the in-laws on the red-eye is such a chore. Opening the inflight mag and what do I see? World Industries makes water toys. Well, so much for “core.” Man am I funny. Seriously though, several months ago when World was sold, there was an article in Transworld Biz quoting how World Industries was going to try to recapture part of the “core” skateboarding market that they lost with all the little kids crap. The same catalog also had World Industries wake boards, but that’s not even in the same ballpark as a glorified innertube.

A first glance at the web site for Penn State Industries makes it look like the company exists solely to supply a burgeoning cottage industry of making wooden pens. No, I’m not kidding! Hidden among the woodworking projects are two skateboard kits. Skateboard Project Kit. Here’s a chance for you to make “awesome” custom skateboards. Cut our formed, quality, 7 ply hardwood deck to shape, decorate and install a pair of trucks with wheels and they’re ready to skate. The deck comes with the truck holes pre-drilled, a laminated sandpaper top and a pattern to cut the form. Truck assemblies are made out of lightweight aluminum and include quality bearings and durable quality polyurethane wheels. Unlike some people, they have the decency to call griptape as it is. The “woodworking” aspects of this project seem pretty meager. Cut out the supplied outline and sand the edges. Must be a beginner project. Oh well, at least it’s not the Alan Parson’s Project. $50 for a complete (quality parts!) or $15 for just the deck at Penn State Industries. Why are we featuring this? This would have been highly unlikely ten years ago, and it’s pen-making supplies from a company based in…

CBSC does not embroil itself in the China vs. USA or Europe manufacturing debate. Simply we are American Skaters living in China, for almost a decade, that have pain-stakingly established quality manufacturing supply channels that allow us to 100% always control quality on-site. From the regular stream of business opportunities that come to our inbox. Cali Board Sports sure sounds and looks like an American operation, down to the soundtrack on the website. Draw your own conclusions. Skateboard quality? Who knows, but they make great babies. Congrats to occasional SnA contributor Egbert on his extremely recent adoption from the mainland, Mercy.

From the Burton web site: DNA Distribution, which includes skateboarding brands Alien Workshop, Habitat and Reflex, today announced that the company has been acquired by Burton… “We are very excited to bring the DNA family of brands to Burton – a company that we truly respect,” says Chris Carter, Chief Executive Officer for DNA Distribution. “Burton clearly leads their market in terms of team, innovation, marketing and values. Joe, Mike and I look forward to leveraging Burton’s strengths to reach the full potential for the DNA brands: Alien Workshop, Habitat and Reflex.” Blah, blah blah…