The Arizona Daily Star has an article and short interview with the two principals of the Underskatement film festival, which is at Volume 4, and damn it, we promoted this and I didn’t even go see it. I wish I’d read the interview first, but it was published after the Portland showing. I guess I would have had to travel forward in time to read it so I could have known I would have liked to see it. If I’m time traveling I guess I could just go back in time and watch it. What’s the point? Oh yeah, if the publicity shot from the paper on the left looks familiar, it might be because you heard about a Beaverton man involved in an assault there.

Hey! It’s Max Schaaf week on Skate and Annoy. Max has a blog called 4Q Conditioning that is mostly One-percenter motorcycle lifestyle fetish, with healthy doses of retro pin up, surf and skate culture. You’ll find a ton of cool pictures without a lot of background detail, but that’s part of the appeal. It’s kind of like a distilled version of all the good parts of Juxtapoz. Check out the lion riding in that sidecar. That’s Max in that pool. The site takes a while to load because it’s all on one page. Wait for it, and then start from the bottom. This material would be perfect for sitting on the head. Max should make a zine. Great visual stimuli over at 4Q Conditioning.

You may have heard that actor Heath Ledger died yesterday of an apparent sleeping pill overdose. Everyone loves to remember him as a gay cowboy, but his portrayal of Skip Engblom was pretty much the highlight of The Lords of Dogtown in the dramatic version of Peralta’s Dogtown documentary. Heath not only played a skater in the movies, but played with skateboards in real life too, as seen in the two shots at the bottom right from Hellomagazine.com. The other shots are production stills from Lords.

Whoah man, did you see that new Vans Finger Fracture skateboarding game for the iPhone? Well it’s not real. Vans has no official or unofficial involvement. It’s a concept only and there are no plans to develop it. One big tip off would be that the game screens are lifted from Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. Some of the gaming and gadget sites are all a buzz about it, but a quick email confirmed it’s just an entertaining idea now. Also entertaining, Borat must be writing the documentation that says “To make an Ollie…” There’s more concept pics after the jump.

Someone at my daughter’s school was trying to sell this flimsy p.o.s. and when there were no takers he gave it to her. She was appalled and brought it home before anyone could see her with it. Cummins Industrial Tools rechristened Tools now will sell you this deathtrap made in China to their high standards for $9.99. I’m guessing that means their standards when they were high on drugs. The shrinkwrap is probably adding significant strength to the deck. Those plastic baseplates are inspired by the old Tracker Ultralights. I am tempted to see which will last longer, the Cummins Bravo or $9.99 worth of beer.

Separated at birth: This photo of my old friend Jay taken circa ’85 in suburban Illinois, and this photo of Mike Blake at the North Vancouver Canadian Nationals in 1980. No, not the skaters or the action by any means, but the graffiti for sure. It even takes the hatred a little longer to filter out to the Midwest. Or at least it did before the Interwebs™! [Photo: Right – Calstreets]

Unlike some people, Max Schaaf is a professional athlete who isn’t afraid to admit to using certain performance enhancers, namely magnets. I’m calling for a full Congressional inquiry. There’s nothing more important going on, right? [Source: DLXSF via Silverfish]

There’s a new trailer for Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park movie. Lots of skateboarding and local Portland shots. Not a bad trailer actually, kind of makes me want to see the movie, no matter what Grover says. I think his badmouthing of Elephant was the reason we were “out of the loop” when the movie was in production. I actually got a call for assistance from Van Sant’s assistant, who it turns out was related to a friend of the family. We talked and everything seemed fine until… nothing. I was puzzled until I realized Grover made fun of Elephant in a GVK that was current at the time. Who knows, they probably just didn’t need anything. – Thanks to G N for the tip.

I been to the edge, and there I stood and looked down. You know I lost a lot of friends there baby, I got no time to mess around. So if you want it got to bleed for it baby. John Aguilar sent in this Jeremy Brown photo of his buddy John Veitch grabbing a frontside edger in the bowl at Bellingham Washington. That’s an edger, not an air. I like to toss the old backside edger into a session on a regular basis, but fronstide edgers are courting disaster and not disasters. This is the largest size file he had, so I can’t show you a close up of the wheel on the coping. Love the edger.

Some time in 2003 Steve Grover was skating by himself at the West Linn skatepark in the middle of the day. Steve Olson showed up out of the blue and took a few runs. Then he got out an old Polaroid camera and asked Steve Grover if he would snap a few shots. Grover said sure, but also suggested that he get to keep a couple. It was a win-win situation. Check out the Shot of the Week, plus a bonus alternate shot after the jump.