Here’s a shot of Mark Partain that I took at some event that I was at. Can’t seem to remember what it was called, or when it was. All I can remember is someone saying the crowd smells like beer. Enlarge-o-rama.

Season four of Home Improvement. There’s a Gator board conspicuously placed on the set, looking spotless and unused. ESPN magazine has some sort of feature planned on Vision and Vision Street Wear. They are hitting up the old school bloggers for photos. Paying even. I was going to dig through my archives, but I decided to pass on the basis that I don’t want to contribute to anything that glorifies a company still trying to make money off of a notorious murderer, and one that wishes they would give the royalties away at that. Check out Home Improvement on YouTube until it get’s pulled. It’s from season four, an episode titled “The eyes don’t have it,” circa 1995. The skateboard makes an appearance around the 3:42 mark, but it just sits there, so…. Hold on, that episode is mid 90’s, bso that means that board was sitting around in props for a good 5 years or so before they used it. – Thanks to Jimmy Pills for the tip.

This is some guy from Texas. I was watching him further down in the pipe and it looked like he had the height a few times, but he wasn’t going anywhere near the door. Then all of the sudden he went for it and surprised the hell out everyone. That’s clearance, Clarence!

Opening today at selected theaters and running for a week is XGames 3D the movie. Freestyle motocross, vert BMX, skateboarding, snowboarding and Rally Car driving are featured and there is plenty of gnarly action. There are featured personalities and highlights from last year’s events as well as memorable moments from previous events. Jake Brown and Danny Way’s mega ramp slams are crazy to see on the big screen.

I have not seen any of the recent crop of 3D movies. XGames 3D The Movie is a large scale application of the 3D effect but after a while I forgot about it. I probably would have enjoyed it just as much as a normal big screen experience, although you do get a good sense of the scale of the MegaRamp.

It was great to see some of the Danny Way milestones, as well as Matt Hoffman’s BMX backflip and the first moto double backflip in competition, presented at that scale. I was quite moved by the Megaramp finale – with Danny Way continuing to compete after a bad slam – even though I had watched the thing whole thing on YouTube a year ago.

I’ll rate it better than Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince but not as good as District 9 or the latest Star Trek even with the 3D and I will partially agree with Slash that it was f***ing Amazing!

Kilwag’s review after the jump.

The Editor weighs in.

Yeah, I’m pretty busy, so here’s a shot of Chris Russell nose grinding through the corner at Pier Park. I think Chris is two years old, give or take 10-12 years. Enlarge-o-rama. I think I’m so behind that this may retroactively become a Shot of the Week.

Yes, well, Tony Hawk did spandex demos in the parking lot of Six Flags, but now he has a whole ride named after him. What about the lessor known skaters. I can’t remember how I found this, but its both hard to watch and very funny. It’s a demo sponsored by Welches Grape soda, complete with BMX, a guy dressed like Dick Tracy, and a 90’s soundtrack… It takes two!

It’s old news, but it’s good news. Tony Hawk was in South Africa skating with the locals, and I mean the Zulu locals, which was coincidentally an early name for the Ramp Locals in a working version of the Thrashin’ script. Tony was there in conjunction with Laureus World Sports Academy in order to attend a launch for an Indigo Youth Movement project, whose goal is to “to help young people in rural communities develop life skills and confidence through skateboarding.” Who started the IYM? Why, our old friend Dallas Oberholzer. This isn’t Tony’s first involvement with youth skateboarding in Africa. Birdhouse and the Tony Hawk Foundation have sent boxes of product to the Uganda Skateboard Union, including skateboards and shoes. It’s true. I’ve seen the pictures on the Interwebs™. I just can’t find them.

[Photo: Patrick Royal for Laureus]

It goes inside the skateable architecture, right? This image is from the Formica web site showing examples of what you can do with Formica. Turns out Formica is a brand name , like Kleenex and Xerox. That’s neither here nor there. Nice transition.

L-U-V this picture. Ladies, what’s happening? Well let me tell you. Skate Like A Girl Portland’s next GIRLS ONLY skate skate session is: Sunday August 30th from 11am to 1pm at the Department of Skateboarding. All ages, all abilities. They’ve even got some spare boards and helmets. What else? There’s an organization called the Poseidon Foundation which is sort of like SLAG, but for all action sports. The Poseiden gals will be traveling the coast of California, August 26th? September 2nd with female professional skaters in conjunction with the Girl Riders Organization. It’s not just fun and games, the skaters will be going to “lower socio-economic areas where they will be interacting with the youth and teaching the public that skateboarding can be used as a tool of self-expression and build the confidence in adolescents that are at-risk and come from low?income families.” I’d say check out the web site for details, but I couldn’t find any there. I imagine they will remedy that soon.

– Thanks to Nathaa Nobile for the tip.

[Photo: SLAG tour 2009]

Yet another news story about people past their 30’s who are still skating. And hey, another private indoor skate spot with a key club. (Remember P.I.S.S.?) All in all, not so noteworthy, except some readers might remember Midwest skater Eric Froland, who is one of the members. Somewhere I’ve got a couple shots of Eric skating the vert ramp at Milwaukee’s Summerfest, circa… I don’t remember exactly, but Freaky Styley was playing over the loudspeakers. I don’t think that’s Eric in the shot above. Check out The Hiawatha: Secret skatepark of local board legends on Citypages.

– Thanks to Bob Mechtly for the tip.