The Tron sequel opened this weekend, and somewhere in Australia they got the idea to match motion tracking with an overhead display, but this time instead of on the floor of an airport, casino or children’s museum they projected onto a miniramp. People keep asking what skateboarding has to do with Tron, and the answer is nothing, just as most skateboard demos at Seaworld, Six Flags, or halftime displays at professional football games. Looks fun, although, I’d probably eat it trying watch my own display. I’d probably eat it anyway… There are two separate videos from different sources after the jump. So nothing to do with skateboarding, but it did it’s job because we’re talking about Tron. Loved that arcade game. GVK saw the movie. He said it pretty good. I can’t believe he went to se it on opening weekend. – Thanks to… Brian Martinez, JF, and Tom Bender for the tip.

You can tell by the infrequency of the SOTW updates that it’s not a high priority. So it’s by that token that the same photographer has the shot two “weeks” in a row, more like a month. When I saw this shot of Alex Schuurmans hitting nose sliding the banister inside of Rip City I had to jump on it. It’s another Dabe Alan shot. Alex Schuurman is supposed to be on the flow team at Merde. What’s the holdup Egbert? Move this kid up to the next level or someone else will, like maybe the company who makes those nice looking boards immediately on the other side of the stairs. Check out this week’s Shot of the Week.

Check out the video for “Steve Don’t Party No More” from Portland’s Mean Jeans. Buy their CD titled “Are you Serious” from the always entertaining Dirtnap Records. – Thanks to Heath and Rick for the tip.

Things get back to normal this month. Bargain Section? Check. Assorted Crap? Check. 5,000 words? Check. Lots of great looking decks and some surprises? Checkmate. But before we get to the meat I want to look at a couple of things that left me amazed and disgusted in November.

Ride the Giant is a big downhill event in Alberta, Canada that looks pretty fun except for the ICP soundtrack. PDXDownhill went to the event and put together a nice video, with the exception of the juggalo soundtrack. Did I mention how much I loathe ICP, even in an ironic context? – Thanks to JP for the tip.

The Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark are trying to raise money for a free public skatepark. One of the things they’ve organized is an entry into the Pepsi Refresh project, a very clever public relations scheme that still ultimately does do a lot of good for the public. Thing is, they don’t just give it away to anyone, they put it to a vote. What I want you to do is visit the project page and vote, it won’t cost you a nickel, and they’ve got a real chance to win. They’re ranked 16th right now. Andy MacDonald hailed from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and he graciously appeared in the projects YouTube video. Those other guys look familiar too… Check it out after the jump., but don’t forget to vote! I think you can vote once a day in December. (That being said, 30k to finalize a skatepark design? You guys need to find a good design/build firm to comp that design fee. Our readers can recommend a few…

Sure, you may be the Cara Beth Burnside of fingerboarding, but you still can’t get anyone to pay attention to anything besides your tits. I’m sorry. I tried to think of a more delicate way to put this, but I just couldn’t.

I ran into Egbert on the way out of Epic on Saturday. He was carrying a big cooler in through the front door. I asked him what it was for and he said “we’re gonna make sandwiches” like it was something everybody does at a skatepark. In reality, he had some sort of skit planned for this X-mas video, but Thomas NIchols had a freak accident and ended up breaking his arm after a flat bar mishap. Grover keeps trying to get me to ride that thing too. I’m glad I ignored him. Watch the Merde-ee Christmas vid after the jump, plus bonus footage of Nichols’ part in another vid for Auviq.

This is from a February, 1980 National Geographic article on the Apache Indian Reserve. Genius. Simple, yet effective. Pure. Enlarge-o-rama. – Thanks to Ryan Mann for the tip.

This installment of Time Lapse Theater is from the Bennett Project, courtesy of Conspiracy Skateboards and featuring the Team Pain crew. – Thanks to G.J. for the tip.