Benefit for Skaters for Portland Skateparks this Saturday, June 11th a 8pm. Where? Plan B, located at 1305 Southeast 8th Avenue in Portland, Oregon.

This weekend marked the two year anniversary of Marks bowl pour. Rich Burton was on hand to document the hot, hot action. On the left, Mark’s daughter who has apparently taken up some sort of dangerous new hobby. Check out this week’s Shot of the Week or see the rest of the photos from the session at Earth Patrol Media.

My first summer on a skateboard was spent on a yellow plastic banana board with red urethane wheels. Soon after figuring out how to roll down the driveway and make a turn onto the sidewalk, the second order of business was drawing obstacle courses and imaginary hazards with chalk on the driveway. In the late 70’s the idea of the skateboard pinball course was commercialized as the facilites known as Skate-Ball, which seemed like an idea that was kind of silly, though I’m sure fun, but it doesn’t live up to the full potential of the concept. Enter this crazy ramp funded by Moutain Dew in New Zealand. (?) It cost about 500k (New Zealand) and has computerized sensors and software to activate the lights and notes and somehow, the scoring. The whole thing was used for an invite only contest last Saturday but will be open to the public for three weeks afterwards. Massive waste of money? You bet, but If i lived anywhere near that I’d be in line to ride it. Videos after the jump. If you’re still in the mood for more skateboarding obstacle course action, check out this old 2008 post on the Japanese game…

Bacon road trip hitting Southern Oregon this weekend with Benji Galloway, Mason Huggins, Mike Barnes, Thomas Nichols and Brendan Garcia. Saturday – 11am at Klamath Falls. Sunday – 12pm at Medford, 2pm at Jacksonville, 5pm at Grants Pass (BBQ at Loose Nut.

In this amusing video you can hear the newscasters baffled, scratching their heads trying to figure out why anyone would bother to steal all the parking blocks from a parking lot. Even the business owner is shocked that the more valuable items in the window were left behind. There really is a glaringly obvious reason… It must be a cult. Turns out parking blocks cost about $25 a pop. Somewhere there’s a DIY spot in the greater Kansas City area that just received a nice donation. Check out “Strange Theft Of Parking Stops Confuses Police, Victim” on KMBC.com. [Source: Yahoo News]- Thanks to Jeff Roenning for the tip.

Not only is Bilal on the Afghan national paralympics basketball team, he also enjoys the Skateistan project. He’s looking to connect with other similarly challenged skaters and athletes in hopes of establishing a network for communicating and hopefully scoring some better wheelchairs for the basketball team. Check out the vid after the jump. – Thanks to Sandoric for the tip.

John Monaghan is a teacher whose students hassled him into send in a few pictures of the old-timey days back in Brookhaven, PA, circa 1978 when he was a local at Cherry Hill and down the beach at Rehoboth, DE or Ocean City, MD.. If schools still in session you can let the little brats know you’re a star on S&A and finally command their respect! When I was a kid we had to skate uphill both ways on a gravel road to the…

Group show at Powells in Portland. It stays up through the month of June. Opening reception on Thursday June 2nd, 6-9.

Wavves are a San Diego that depending on who you read, is either a solo project with hired guns, the new sound, or a bunch of noise. Here’s a good place to start. They released the Post Acid single on Green Label Sound, which is a, uhm.. mp3 record label owned by Pepsi via Mountain Dew. Check out the 2010 vid and a 2009 album on Fat Possum with an old-timey looking skate photo on the cover after the jump. – Thanks to Alex I for the tip.

Given the nature of the birth of our sport, it’s no surprise that a Museum of Ocean and Surf might draw inspiration from forms that inspire skaters as well. Seriously, it’s got to be a coincidence that it actually looks like a half pipe. There’s also allegedly a pool of sorts (see middle righr and bottom) but ironically enough, none of the surface of this structure appears to be actually skateable. I mean, that would have been something. See the Museum of Ocean and Surf in Biarritz, France by Steven Holl Architects in collaboration with Solange Fabião. [Source: ArchDaily] – Thanks to Matty B. and Urban Kravos for the tip.