Did you catch this on the Huffington post? He’s the right age for vert skater. Turns out he is not an active skateboarder according to the Wall Street Journal. I need to hit up Skate Daily before I get all involved making a funny graphic.

This week’s Shot of the Week in snot really as old as it looks. It’s a shot of longtime Florida rider David Bonnell at the Nort Port, Florida skatepark, taken in 2000 or 2001. He’s rocking re-issue gear from the late 70’s, although those pads might be vintage 80’s. Combined that with a roll a film that had “stored” in the trunk of my car for several months, and you get something that looks a period piece. David is one of those guys that never put the board away and always stuck with it. I met him when his wife bought a board from me over eBay. I was going to Florida and sent him an email asking where the skateparks were. Turns out he didn’t live far from where I was visiting. I think he lives in Texas now, and might even be building swimming pools. Check out this weeks Shot of the Week. I’ve also got a feature on the trip that I posted in 2004. So much has changed since then.

So my old friend Dr. Krohn has a birthday, the day after this video premiers. His age will remain a mystery, much like the type under ware he wears. I have known this guy for a while and I can’t believe he made it this far. (Many of my friends quit skating) With all the money in the world, (he rivals some of the Sheiks in Dubai as far as wealth is concerned,) you would think he would have his own Sno-Cone machine. He keeps it real though by cruising a cold war stick and a vanagon 91-carat “polar3”. Happy birthday, “WOLFSBLOOD”.

P.S. Concentrate on landing more.

The December 2008 issue of Wired magazine has a spread on the new Oslo Opera House and how many of it’s features seem to have been designed with skateboarders in mind. They quote Alejandro Zaera-Polo of London’s Foreign Office Architects, “We have this fascination with buildings becoming topography, and skateboarders have that physical experience.”

And by “skate spots” I mean the small skate areas installed by a Parks department, not some naturally occurring skate spot. This year Vancouver, Washington added three new skate spots to the three that already existed, with one more to begin construction in a “couple months.” On top of that, they’ve got two skateparks, granted one of them is a pre turn of the millennium P.O.S.. They’ve even got a web page that lists them all.

Sure, these spots all kind of have a generic look to them, possibly due to the fact that they mostly made from prefab concrete elements, but still, they are probably fun spots to session. A network of many small spots can be achieved gradually as money permits instead having to wait for extended period with nothing until a more substantial amount of money can be raised. A town saturated with skate spots could be one way to go, as long as they didn’t start repeating the same prefab elements.

Ohio has a few renegade skateboard companies, including one called Sleezy Skates. In their own words:

homemade spray painted planks from the heart of southern ohio. skatopia lurkers. doin it fer the kids in the sticks!

These are a few of my favorites at the top. Although really crude, they have a large “body of work” that has definitely has an outsider art appeal. What more would you expect from the land of Skatopia and Devo? Check out Sleezy Skates.

Took a few snaps of the Ed Benedict miniramp today, Check them out over at the Skaters for Portland Skateparks site

UPDATE: Reader video after the jump, including the jump!

This shot looks weird to me. I know the shoe is undersized, but the yellow and black object under the trucks looks like a parking block. Throw in the associated depth of field focus and you’ve got an interesting photo, thanks to Carl Warren. Check out the full frame version, this week’s Shot of the Week.

I don’t know what the heck they are building out in Hood River, but the more I see the better it gets. Carl Warren sent these pics of some expansion work. They are labeled “Mouse Trap” which calls to mind Pier Park, but the images don’t make it obvious. Whatever it is, I can’t wait till it’s done.

I almost let this one slip by. L’Oréal Paris has a Women of Worth award. They donate money to the nominee’s causes. In addition, the annual winner will receive a donation of $25,000 to the cause of their choice. In the running this year is Seattle’s Nancy Chang, who is one of the Co-directors of the Skate Like a Girl. So let’s stack the deck and become Nancy-boys. It’s time to vote for Nancy! Voting ends on November 24th.

– Thanks to Bobcat for the tip.