Yeah, we’ve got readers in Sweden, but we’ve also go them in Brazil (Excuse me, Brasil) too.

My name is Luciano and I’m one of the people who make skateboarding run here in south of brasil (porto alegre,RS) we maintain a 30 year old skate park named Swell Skate Camp, a skate park located in the very south of Brazil, its cold and it rains a LOT here! Build by skateboardes back in the seventies, in the middle of nowhere, in the heart of a forest, it contains a snake run ended in a gnarly hand made 12ft bowl. Also here a mini ramp, and last week our NEW LOVE has born, a BRAND NEW BOWL due to the help of 25 skateboarders with some cash and an idea. Also theres a mountain board course. Its like a farm, perfect to chill and skate, just 20 miles form the city…

Well, we’ll be hosting an old school to event to celebrate with a INAUGURAL session. The OPENING day will be held on May 31st and June 1st.the event is the Vans Old Is Cool 2008. It’s gonna be the first event on our new pool/bowl whatever u call it and we will celebrate 30 years anniversary of the snake run course.

Guys like Bruno Brown and Cesinha Chaves will participate amongst others… place will be packed with all the oldschool skateboardes who started the sport in brazil.

You can get all the details here, assuming you speak Portuguese. OK, we’re going to load up the SnA staff into my van and see if we can make it down there in time…

Well, I guess not. Here are two recent submissions from opposite ends of the earth and age spectrum. The youngster on the left (Jay Holmstrom) hails from Sweden, while the oldster on the right (Wrex Cook) was shot in Arizona by Old Man Army.

Straight from the comments to the front page. When you think “urban,” the first thing that comes to mind is a bunch of white guys and and Tiki beach culture, right? RIGHT??? If ever there was a company with an identity crisis, it’s got to be Urban Skates. The Skub Brothers make spinner wheels and longboards, although it appears they got their start in rollerskates. They’ve even got a signature model skateboard spinner wheels. Care to hazard a guess?

– thanks to Bailgun for the tip

Gotta love infotainment graphics. This one is from the Denver Post article on William Spencer. Reminds me of several things. I think a good fake job for a character in a book or movie would be dental animation specialist – or someone who makes a living modeling 3d computer graphics of mouths and teeth for toothpaste and mouthwash commercials. We’ve covered this guy before, but now there’s newer footage. Supposedly, Spencer stunt doubled Orlando Bloom in a Japanese hair care commercial.

Both of these are a joke, but one is actually serious. From Instructables, the Jet Powered and Folding skateboards. Yes, that’s a drag chute. Yes, he put rollerblade wheels on his trucks.

Again, from the collection of John Drummond. This time it’s the premier issue of Germany’s Death Zone, dating back to June of 1985. It cost 1,50 dm, however much that was. Interesting to note the address inside the cover, it said Gütersloh West Germany. I never really thought about about skateboarding in a divided Germany. Sure, we all knew about Claus Grabke (…and speaking of) but seeing the word “West” made me sit back and take notice.

If you thought you’d seen enough of Ryan Sheckler before…. Hot off the press release newswire:

MTV Networks Music Group, a division of Viacom’s MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) and NBC Sports, a division of NBC Universal, Inc. today announced a wide ranging, strategic partnership to expand the AST (Action Sports Tour), a global, youth-focused, multimedia, action sports business that includes the AST Dew Tour, the AST Winter Dew Tour and the amateur Free Flow Tour into a global brand that spans MTV and NBC’s multiple screens… …As part of the MTV Networks/NBC Universal alliance around the AST, MTV and MTV2 will provide lifestyle programming, targeted cross-promotion, multi-platform content and distribution, consumer products licensing and merchandising to the joint venture.

With Rob and Big going off the air, I wonder who MTV will push into the spotlight to help them with marketing their new venture. Who knows, maybe they make a big push to bring back the Swatch watches. I have an empty spot in my life right now. I thought it was dissatisfaction with the status of my career, but maybe I’m just devoid of targeted cross-promotion, licensing and merchandising right now. I can hardly wait. Get the details here.

The Federal Trade Commission‘s job is “Protecting America’s Consumers.” We need some sort of commission to protect America’s skateboarders.

Todd Taylor has graciously allowed us to reprint his article from issue #41 of Razorcake Magazine, titled How to fight for a skatepark. The article also appeared in Thrasher Magazine, but they’ve got no monopoly on activism, so the more people that read this the better. There are plenty of other places to get (dry) information on how to get a skatepark in your town, but Todd’s guide reads more like a short story peppered with practical advice and a sense of humor. Even if you’re up to your eyeballs in public skateable terrain, it still makes an entertaining read. Check out How to fight for a skatepark.

As always, we recommend Razorcake Magazine for all grown-ups who enjoy Punk Rock and it’s trappings. And yes, this excludes Enemy Combatant, we know how you feel.

This week’s Shot of the Week is a spot in the Boston area that was known as the Black Hole ditch back in 1986 when the photo was taken. If I recall correctly, the reason it had that name had something to do with the temperature of the asphalt ditch in the hot summer sun. Nothing fancy, just one of those nostalgia shots. This is on my Boston trip negatives, but for all my lack of geographic knowledge of the area and memory loss, this might have been in the outlying burbs. Check it out.

Colin called me last night to go hit the newly remodeled D.O.S. in Portland but I declined. It’s allergy and dog bites season, and I was under the weather. I prefer to skate concrete over wood, but the nice thing about wood at an indoor skatepark is that after a year or so you can tear it out and put in something new. Speaking of remodeling, the Department has been using a new logo for a while (OK it might be older than I realize…) that is kind of cool. It reminds me of something you might have seen in the late 60’s. Check it out on this flyer for a now passed skate camp.

– thanks to Colin and Heath for the tip.