What they lack in market share, RealPlayer is willing to make up for in nostalgia by being on top of what was popular on the internet about two years ago. They’re still doing skateboarding dogs.

As a kid I always loved Richard Scarry’s books. Something about those chunky little anthropomorphized animals with their stubby arms really appealed to me. It might have been the detailed surroundings of Busytown or the inherent sense of humor in the illustrations. Now I dig reading these to my kids. This panel here is from a board book called “Huckle’s Opposites,” and it features one of my favorite characters, good old Lowly Worm. He’s only got one shoe, yet he still manages to ride a skateboard. He may push mongo, but his skateboard is stylish. Hang on, how does he push at all? Is that a Chuck Taylor? You can investigate the answers yourself by picking up your own copy from the dollar bins at Target.

Sunday the 15th is the San Francisco Skatreboarding Association (SFAskateboarding.org) third annual shindig to raise money for skateparks in San Francisco. The focus of this event is the Waller Street Skatepark. Bands, skate videos, DJ’s, alcohol… sounds like fun.

There’s a rash of new indoor skate facilities in the greater Portland area. You might remember the Toxic Skate pen made from used skateboard decks earlier this year. Toxic Skates in Vancouver, Washington has a new location with a recently completed bowl. Grand opening is this Saturday at 12:00. Some Bacon dudes will be there. A couple bowl pics, the flyer and the trailer for the upcoming Bacon video Unheard, after the jump.

There was another meeting in Eugene Oregon to go over some design revisions. You may recall there were three previous contenders. Apparently Dreamland took a lot of heat for the duck and dinosaur sculptures in the public commentary. Mark Scott read some them aloud, to the enjoyment of everyone attending. I can’t believe that I talk to the guy who does these renders several times a week and still I’m posting scans of printouts handed out at the meeting.

– Thanks to Sarib Khalsa for the tip.

Tony Hawk interviewed on another skateboarding web site? Nope. Try Digg.com‘s Digg Dialogues. He’s still famous. Tony is interviewed with questions from the Digg community by the site’s founder. Conahan once suggested that I forego “Gratuitous Tony Hawk” references for Sheckler, but Tony’s in the media more, still. Watch it after the jump.

This just in from reader John Aguilar who is our Senior Mexico Correspondent, even though he lives in Washington now,

Old Mexico City skate spot behind the Modelo Beer brewery, we always had to sweep or scoop out all the plastic bags with dried up glue inside them that the glue sniffers would leave behind…

Geez. You’d think the glue sniffers could find a skunky beer keg or some other sketchy fluids dribbling out of the brewery. I guess huffing is a completely different escape from reality. Enlarge-o-rama.

Another month has flown by and here we have another installment of Baywatch. There’s lost more goodies this month, and hopefully some that you have never seen before. The longer I do this the less inclined I am to keep on featuring the same decks from the same companies, high ticket items though they might be. There’s only so many ways to describe a Hawk birdclaw without it being repetitive, so I’ll choose something else instead. It might not be as iconic, or go for as much money, but that’s not what this column is about. It’s not a price guide, more a sampling of what I find interesting, and hopefully you do too. So, variety is the key for me at the moment.

Sure, the “Wild Things” movie was the top gross at the box office last weekend, but MC was into it before Spike Jonze. My wife refused to have her face shown in this picture. Get your shirt from Antigravity Press. Noticeably absent from the soundtrack, X and Tone Loc.

Another wackyboard design concept. These things keep getting more and more complicated. You’d think the industrial design tinkerers would push for simpler. Those wheels have a heavy 70’s vibe to them. – Thanks to (drumroll please….) Daddy Yo (!) for the tip.

[Source: Yanko Design]