Last Saturday there were two events coincidentally planned for the same day at Portland’s Pier Park. One was a neighborhood cleanup championed by Mark Conahan and the other was some sort of Pier Park locals appreciation event organized by Chris Nukala. There was a short speech and some short spot-driven contests with plenty of giveaways. I arrived late to the cleanup and and had to leave early and in a hurry, due to, well, you know. I didn’t get any decent shots, but Michael from The Skateboard Archives was there snapping away, so I’ll link if he posts anything. Also, GVK cameras were on the scene for a little while. Otherwise, this is what you get. UPDATE: More cleanup coverage on EPM. UPDATE: More coverage on The Skateboad Archives.

What’s wrong with this picture, besides the fact that you can’t figure out why it’s here?

I got a short email from a guy telling me how much he enjoyed Skate and Annoy. His signature included his own web site, DIY Skate. Was it just a cheap ploy to get me to feature his site here? I don’t know and I don’t care, because DIY Skate is pretty impressive. DIY Skate has a healthy amount of detailed ramp and obstacle plans, with more on the way. There are plans for making board presses and even board molds, with alternate methods. These plans are uniformly illustrated with the help of CAD-type renders. Terminology is explained and resources have been collected. Need glue, veneer, or a jack to build a board press? DIY Skate has the links and sometimes even knows what the minimum orders are. Projects feature a difficulty rating, average cost, materials list and tools list. Right now the resources of DIY Skate are concentrated on wooden skate terrain and skateboard construction. What’s missing is concrete terrain and some of the more artsy-fartsy stuff like screenprinting and zine making, but fortunately you can get some of that right here! The design of DIY Skate is no nonsense, and has minimal, non-intrusive advertising. Check out DIY Skate…

Check out this video titled Skaterpede from Wall of Gray. Yes, it’s Wall of Gray week on Skate and Annoy. He’s got a different take on skate videos, and a nice break from the usual.

I’ve been half heartedly trying to spark some interest in a skateboard print magazine based in the Northwest, something like For the Krew does out of Florida. It would be fun idea, lord knows we have the spots and the talent in this region. Nobody wants to bite on this idea, because print is a pain in ass, and it seems like Concussion is 2/3 Northwest coverage lately anyway. That being said, this week’s Shot of the Week was recently in Concussion as a half page advert for Merde Skateboards, a merdvertisment, if you will. It’s Chris Nukala in his back yard, shot by Michael Goetz of The Skateboard Archives. Way to go Nukala, you’re looking like a star! It’s been pretty amazing to see the local talent in Oregon and Washington come of age since the first good parks were built. Check out the Shot of the Week or see the Merde advert after the jump.

Main I’ve been remiss with this one because it happened before Christmas! Big news! We have a new champion! The $6,000 Hawk is no longer the high price champ! On December 18 2007 a Caster Chris Strople was won at auction for $6,099. It’s a flat deck with 2 layers of fiberglass between the plies. It’s been set up and ridden, and has a Woody space plate on the tail.

Here’s what the ad in the March Transworld Business says: From the undisputed leader… The X Games™ creators of the most high profile action sports competition on the planet, has teamed up with NSS™ to introduce a line of footwear truly worthy of a podium sweep. If the quality of the X Games skateboards are anything to judge by, you can be sure these shoes will be top notch. You can get a closer look at the 14, X-F1 and Allyoop after the jump. Push for gold!

There’s enough Bart Simpson skateboarding merchandise out there to choke a horse, not to mention bore it to death, but this motorized Doodle Double Dare set is amusing when dissected. Quick, what’s the first you imagine when you think of a naked dude and twin sisters? I’m kind of surprised this one got made. Since we actually got to see Bart’s “doodle” in the scene from the Simpsons movie recreated by this toy, why bother to put the leaf on? It’s still pretty funny, all things considered. Not funny enough to warrant the $25 price tag, no matter how fast he skates around in a circle. Still, if you’ve ever wanted to see a cartoon character skateboarding naked (Jackass crew excluded) now is your chance.

Here’s an interesting short video about concrete skateparks as an art form, from the perspective of a concrete worker. It’s a podcast put together by Concrete Decor Magazine, and mainly features Michael Dahl talking about hte work he and others did/do with Airspeed Skateparks [Source: Wall of Gray]

I tried to stoke House Of Neil to write this one, since it falls in his area of expertise, but he’s not typing another word until he gets eBay Watch stickers and T-shirts. In the late 80’s and early 90’s there was a group of tag team wrestlers called the Dynamic Dudes. The Dynamic Dudes wore a lot of neon, made the hang loose hand sign and carried skateboards as props. Progressive Boink voted them the 9th Gayest Tag Team in their top 20 Gayest. I don’t think PB was taking into account the Lucha Libra Exoticos. Of the two guys in the team, the only one anyone seems to care about anymore is Shane Douglas. We’ve got a few pics as well as an incredibly blurry video of the Dynamic Dudes picking out skateboards at a skateshop after the jump. [Source: Relient K]