Sport sails allow you to use a shorter board on downhill runs so you don’t, you know, look like a kook. Title quote comes from about 2:40. It was either that or “I’d love to see this in the Olympics.”

– Thanks to Ashley Mott for the tip.

I’ve been sick all week, which is why MC’s comics are piling up. But I’m back. Here’s something else I’m sick of. It’s some random Steven Reeves footage. I’m sick of his general good-nature, well rounded skateboarding and lack of attitude. A nice guy with skills. what a jerk, right? Footage came from some one at Skate One so you’d think it would be a Bones Wheels promo but there’s no branding or anything. It’s literally old footage. Enjoy, and expect regular broadcasting to resume on Monday.

This week’s Shot of the Week is Andy Anderson flying through Brooklyn Street Skate Spot in Portland, Oregon as shot by Micah Breshears. I usually fight the urge to crop and change the aspect ratio of a photograph, but in this case I prefer a different view. Andy Anderson? I once knew a guy whose dad was named Stan S. Stanley, and you know what the “s” stands for.

Win a pair of “Midnight Ravers” courtesy of House of Marley. All you need to do is leave a comment. Winner chosen at random on January 21st. Retail value $69.95, nice.

I subscribe to email news updates from the free 3D modeling app Google SketchUp. Included in the highlights this time were links to the past X Games park in both model form and reality as provided by California Rampworks.

Youtube user Jopomojo has a couple 8mm transfers of late 70’s footage from the old skatepark in Olympia, Washington. It may look familiar to S&A readers who remember a past SOTW from Dan Hughes. (Hi Dan.) These stills have a nice quality to them. Digitized VHS transfers of 8mm film. Top shot look looks like mars. Hook me up with the red planet. I wanna get my hands on it… On the first day I’ll get some atmosphere. Who gets the noprize? Unrelated: For the record, I firmly believe I’m quoting Mr Cobain and not Miss Love in the title of this post.

[Source: Olympia Time]

Charlie Hales want’s to be the next mayor of Portland, but he’s getting no love from some residents of southwest Portland’s Arlington Heights hills neighborhood, who seem to be looking for a scapegoat. Why? They live on a hill that has become a popular downhill run, and Hales led the charge to make skateboarding legal on Portland streets. Trouble has been brewing for a while, and it seems unavoidable that heads would butt. On the one side you have wealthy, freaked out landowners who are are worried about hitting people and of course, property damage… On the other side you have a contingent of mostly responsible skaters as well as some others who may be not so conscious of the precariousness of the entire situation. The sheer number of people hitting the hills and the laws of probability dictate there will be incidents. The Oregonian briefly touch on both sides of the issue. The most level headed quote so far is from Hales himself actually:

“It is not OK for people to bomb down residential streets at high speeds on any conveyance — car, skateboard, whatever,” he said. “We need to address that while still making it legal for people to use skateboards.”

Billy Meiners seems to be somewhat in agreement:

“I’m trying to convince the skaters we need to be responsible,” Meiners said. “But making it illegal isn’t going to change anything. Skaters are used to being outlaws.”

Comments on the article on the Oregonian range from thoughtful to predicable and lame. And as the “voice of reason” on S&A, I’d like to encourage our readers to be smart about how they respond instead of taking the bait. Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.

I have to hand it to my mother in-law, she’s really gotten better with her gifts for the most part. She’s gotten past the part of just getting anything skateboard related, and she’s really thoughtful about it. Still, I totally cracked up when I go this in the mail from her for Christmas. Not only do I already have Disposable, but it happens to be the second edition which has a quote by me on the inside dust jacket! I got an extra giggle because my mother in-law is an author herself. All in all it brought me unexpected joy, which is the purpose of giving a gift in the first place. Sidenote: I just realized the type alternates colors on different editions of the book.

I was sifting through some email looking for something when I stumbled on this one from about 10 years ago. (Yes, vintage email) and I had to chuckle. It’s a snippet from the middle of the conversation thread, so it’s all over the place, but amusing.