Benefit for Above Coping December 3rd at Epic Skate in Portland. benefit and art exhibit…. oh no. I need to make some “art” ASAP.

The Searc for the Miraculous is, believe it or not, a skate video. I’ve seen some of his work (Strongest of the Strange) a long time ago, and what I remember about it was just stoke, so I’m not sure what to expect from this hour long skate video. It’s showing at the Clinton Street Theater in Portland on December 2nd as a fundraiser for Brooklyn Street Skate Spot. If you want to know more about it, you can check out the official web site or watch a video of Pontus talking about it.

This is goofy and fun to watch. If you can’t have fun with skateboarding that falls out of your own personal style then.. oh I give up. I don’t actually, because I’m still posting this. Some interesting cinematography. Bookmarked inside the wacky costumes and tomfoolery is some amazingly technical skating. At times, essentially masterful freestyle moves done on giant oversized boards. I hope you enjoy it, and if not, choke on it. From Loaded Longboards: Of Troglodytes and Men.

Happy technically not-belated birthday (see post date) to Tom Bender. This is not him. This is Ben Campbell, but Tom did take this picture. He sent another one, but poor Ben Novak was headless.

This is a Chicago Trucks advert from an unnamed surfing magazine from the 60’s, although it probably shouldn’t be that hard to figure it out. I can’t imagine there was more than one or two tops. Chicago made it’s name in roller skates of all things, and I’m going to hypothesize that they were one of the first companies to manufacture skateboard specific trucks, outside of full setups. Those are composite wheels… I guess it’s possible they could be early 70’s, but if I had to place money on it, I still say 60’s. Dig the three point mounting hardware. UPDATE: Based on this ad, we know an ad with the same illustrations was run as late as 1975, but it features different ad copy. It’s entirely possible that this was leftover stock from the late 60’s.

Callin on Colin is back! My 33rd interview with Marek Litinsky, a transplanted Czech Republic native living in Oregon. This is the first time i’ve spent any real time with Marek… I recorded it in his garage, both of drinking a beer and standing around shooting the shit. I really like this new formula because i think it helps my guest relax and talk more comfortably. I’m new to my audio stuff using a wireless lapel mic system and my iphone… which obviously failed when someone called me since i didn’t put it in “Airplane mode”… at which point i increased the volume which made it sound much better anyway… we had a good time despite the poor audio quality. At the end of the interview i think i freaked out about how it wasn’t recording correctly that i decided to just cut it off. Thanks to Marek for being such a good sport!

There’s an article about the Brooklyn Street Skate Spot in the Portland Mercury. The picture is old, because phase one is done, right down to the pool coping! Disturbing news though, according to the article, Portland’s light rail is set to impinge on the spot’s footprint as early as 2014. However, I’m not sure if the author did her research, that might just be a reference to the fact that the pedestrian bridge is scheduled to be demolished. The MAX would have to pull eminent domain on all the adjacent buildings and homes too. We’ll see…. There’s also an appearance from the neighborhood sourpuss who again reiterates his displeasure that the whole thing didn’t go through the proper channels. [Photo: David Lansdown]

Ripzu skatepark in Vancouver, Wa is having a contest on Saturday November 20th, 2010 Registration Begins at 10am. Details after the jump.

The Chicago Reader has an article with Dr. Yung Tae, the physicist and skateboarder who allegedly fixed the wonky skateboard controller for the sequel to Tony Hawk Ride called Shred… that’s suppsedly out now? Geez, who knew? It’s a pretty interesting article, but real story is the half hour long video on Dr Tae’s web site titled Building A New Culture Of Teaching And Learning, which asks the question Can skateboarding give us a better model for teaching and learning? I’ll give you a clue, nobody bothers to make a half hour long video if the answer is “No.” It’s clearly labeled as the most important thing on his web site. “Real-life research is more like skateboarding than something manufactured in a school curriculum. The school is the thing that’s artificial and pathological.” That’s a quote from Dr Tae, so you can tell he’s passionate about it. If you’ve got still more time to kill, check out The Physics of Skateboaridng. He’s got three episode previews online. Previews for what? I don’t know yet, I’m still trying to figure out when I’m going to have time to finish the first half hour video. Yes, but as a known scientist it…

More skateboarding jests courtesy of The Onion. Youcan see some past jibes here and here. – Thanks to Colin for the… Wait up. Get off the interwebs and finish your next interview!