Sure, the skateboarding community at large doesn’t have any respect for longboarders, for whatever short-sighted reason, but the longboarders are probably ambivalent to the rest of us right? It’s all good, and karma bro, right? Check out Five Reasons Why Skateboards Stink and Longboards Rock over at New Zealand’s Skurfboards.com. Really? In New Zealand? Is there a big enough scene down there where they can afford to discriminate against each other? People, please try to refrain yourselves from neanderthal comments on this, either here or that site. I don’t care what size board you ride anymore than I care what shoes you prefer, unless you wear Keds™, cause then you’re a complete kook and I don’t want you reading this web site. And to think I used your photo as our 5th ever Shot of the Week, and this is how you repay me? I have no one-time email acquaintance in New Zealand, you’re dead to me! Speaking of New Zealand, you should watch Flight of the Conchords on HBO.

Dear Sir, We surf on your web site and find out you sell the skateboard and skateboard accessory. Our company also export these product over the world for more than 12 years. We can provide the best product and service to your company. I can offer the best price to you. You also can surf our web site. There are many product on our web site. Yes there are, and if I ever need a Foldable Sledge I’ll know where to look.

Jason Jesse has a few choice things to say about the “documentary” on his life (Pray for Me) and David from Shitbird who made it. First off, I don’t get the cult of Jason Jesse, but I don’t begrudge anyone of their right to identify with him. Jesse comes off as a bit unstable at times in this video appearances (come to think of it, maybe I’m just thinking about a trailer I saw for Pray for me…) Also, I’ve only had very minimal interaction with Dave, but I’ve heard some questionable stories and read a lot of unsubstantiated crap about him on the Interwebs™ – all hearsay, mind you. The video is made by some Japanese cats, and it’s basically Jason Jesse on camera stirring up a shit(bird) storm about Pray for Me and Dave Shitbird, who he accuses of admitting to being an informant for the FBI and in general just being a lying scumbag. Take this video with a grain of salt, and watch it for some pretty amusing quotes from Jesse as the interview gets going. He maintains that Shitbird has gotten some sort of revenge on Jesse just by infecting his life. Jesse has resigned…

Odd timing that I came across this news item immediately after posting the the Cool Girls story. It’s 10 days old but I’d still like to mention it. When you think 70’s skateboards, you’ll most likely envision a plastic banana board and some sort of fiberglass deck. The Logan Earth Ski has got to be near the top of iconic 70’s skateboards that weren’t merely toys. Never being more than casually aware of 70’s skateboarding history, I always assumed that the brand and company was completely the handiwork of 70’s skater Bruce Logan. It turns out his whole family was involved, and mother Barbara and brother Brian were the ones that mostly ran the company. Barbara recently passed away after battling breast cancer at the age of 79. She was apparently well liked in the industry. You can read the death notice that includes a little bit of history in the North County Times. Gravity also makes a board that is more of a tribute to the original Logan Earth Ski as opposed to a straight re-issue.

The Los Angeles Times has an article on the company Cool Girls Skateboards titled No coasting for this skateboard firm. I’ve seen Cool Girls advertised in some magazines and it’s come up on other web sites. I was willing to cut them some slack on their somewhat cheesy and unoriginal graphics that look like they were designed by somebody trying to figure out how to sell stuff to little girls at Target. Why was I cutting them slack? because I assumed they were owned by women who were trying cut out a niche for themselves in a male dominated industry. The web site sure makes it seem that way. Turns out I was pretty much dead wrong. The owner, Frank Davern got into the business by accident from a side venture where he had women reporting on music and trends. I find it kind of creepy, pretending to be a bunch of women in order to sell skateboards to girls, but it’s just business right? It’s not so much unlike when other skateboard companies launch a brand that pretends to be a separate entity. Davern is selling a lot of boards online, but can’t figure out why his boards aren’t…

A little bird told me that all three of Portland’s locations of The Office just closed their doors abruptly, but not before carting out all the merchandise in boxes. The Office is/was a skate and snowboard shop that catered to the artsy fartsy crowd with art openings and even Euro spray paint for sale. All this after the 82nd street location recently installed a reportedly very impressive indoor skate facility. When asked for comments, the little bird said “They’re all snowboarders anyway, so what do you expect?” Their MySapce presence says “business as usual” but hasn’t been updated recently. Can anyone confirm whether the The Office is actually shut down? Update: Added a video of Ed Helms (Daily Show and currently on The Office) “interviewing” Tony Hawk.

While I was chasing off a Chinese bandwidth thief I came across a link to a three page photo set from ASR. It’s in Chinese, so I don’t know what the scoop is. Here are two of the most interesting ones. The first is what appears to be a very ornate six wheeled skateboard and the second is some band playing at the House of Blues with a giant Thrasher logo in the light show. Does anyone know what the scoop is on either of these two items? Also, not shown is the children of the corn. [Source: Kicker Club]

I hesitated to post this because I didn’t want it to come off like we were pushing something off that was paid advertising in reality. (Hey check out Active’s dope new ad, it’s effing insert latest slang here!) Of course, if you are listening Acitve Mail Order, there’s room for you in our banner ad rotation if you you want to buy it. OK, so Active had an open call to show up for an ad shoot for Erik Ellington. His fans showed up, they shot the ad and documented the process as well. I don’t know jack about Erik Ellington, but he comes off well in the short video, even taking the time to shake every extra’s hand and thank them personally. I imagine if you were a fan of his and got to meet him informally and be in one of his adverts you’d be age appropriately stoked. The ad is slick, but the reality is mundane. If you’ve ever wondered how these things go, spend a few minutes behind the scenes. Note to Active: You have a dead link to the casting call. All those social networking links are nice, but it would have been a lot…

Nike Skateboarding Nothing but the Truth Premiere The NikeSB movie has been premiering in various cities, I attended the Portland premiere last Thursday at the Crystal ballroom. Everyone there was either invited or one of Screamin’ Steve’s contest winners. I’m guessing there were 200-300 people there. I wasn’t a VIP so I didn’t get free beer but I did enjoy the outing. It was a big skateboarding related event, a scene, and I saw a bunch of people I knew there. Thanks to Kevin Imamura for getting me on the list.

Aside from the wedding ceremony of one of Portland’s most beloved skateboarders (Yes, I said “most beloved” and I meant it!) the other very interesting thing that happens this weekend is the premier of the Steve Rocco documentary The Man Who Souled the World. October 5 is the date for showings in the following cities: Angeles, Santa Monica, New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Orange County California, Santa Barbara, Portland, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Reno. Check the official site for more info. After Z-Boys, there was a glut of documentaries for while. The Man Who Souled the World is the one that really needed to be made, and if done well, should serve as the bookend to Peralta’s Dogtown flick. I’m really looking forward to this movie. So far the reviews from gay hollywood gossip sites are positive, so that’s encouraging. You’ll need to scroll down past the Spice Girls coverage if you follow that link. Let’s hope we don’t see a dramatized adaptation like the Lords of Dogtown. Although now that I think about it, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Joaquin Phoenix as a young Steve Rocco.