Sure, the skateboarding community at large doesn’t have any respect for longboarders, for whatever short-sighted reason, but the longboarders are probably ambivalent to the rest of us right? It’s all good, and karma bro, right? Check out Five Reasons Why Skateboards Stink and Longboards Rock over at New Zealand’s Skurfboards.com. Really? In New Zealand? Is there a big enough scene down there where they can afford to discriminate against each other? People, please try to refrain yourselves from neanderthal comments on this, either here or that site. I don’t care what size board you ride anymore than I care what shoes you prefer, unless you wear Keds™, cause then you’re a complete kook and I don’t want you reading this web site. And to think I used your photo as our 5th ever Shot of the Week, and this is how you repay me? I have no one-time email acquaintance in New Zealand, you’re dead to me! Speaking of New Zealand, you should watch Flight of the Conchords on HBO.

It’s time to throw out your 2007 calendars. Sure, you could buy a skateboard calendar, but unless you got one from your grandmother for Christmas, you might as well head on over to Bailgun Magazine and download their 2008 calendar in PDF format, available in English or German. It’s one of those calendars that has a huge picture and then all the numbered days for that month, so it’s not useful for writing down important dates like “TODAY! Ryan Sheckler signing autographs at the mall!” The red numbers are Sundays, and the action is all tranny, but it’s not to be confused with this all-tranny calendar.

Yes folks, it’s the same people that bring you modern day cannibals, a woman who had 69 babies and the 200 pound tumor. The 9th wonder of the world appears to be something known as the “Urban Jib Park.” Witness the wonder and the horror of The Ripley’s Urban Rail Park – an urban rider’s dream, according to the folks at Polson Pier in Toronto, where it is located. Although open since December 21st, pictures of the actual park appear to be as rare as ostrich-footed Africans. Apparently, they built some rails at the bottom of a pile of snow for the snowboarders and put up a big heated tent with some ramps for the skaters. Things must be bleak in Toronto, because you can even buy a season pass for all this awesomeness: 20ft wide 4 foot mini-ramp 4 stair with hand rail 60 ft wide bank with grind box at the top 5 ft ¼ pipe 6 ft ¼ pipe Fun box with rail They will have unspecified rock concerts, pro demos and contests. I predict that this park sucks – BELIEVE IT OR NOT!! [Source: PR-Inside]

Yes, this is old news, thank you. Because the media portrayal of skateboarding it’s not enough of a zoo already, pro (?) skateboarder Chad Knight is supposed to be appearing on the January 6th premier of the revamped version American Gladiators on NBC. I have that question mark in there because I don’t know anything about Chad. His official web site is blocked by the content filter where I work (?! – Hey, I’m on my break!) but according to this outdated (and not dated) interview with Chad in Skateboarder, Chad turned pro in 1997 an had a model on the now defunct INC. skateboards brand by Syndrome. Currently he’s on 1031, which is ether a shop or a clothing line or who knows what since the mailing address is in California but you have to buy everything from Beer City in Milwaukee. Kristian Svitak seems to be the main perpetrator. Hell, I don’t know. Wow, it’s hosted by Laila Ali and Hulk Hogan. Why isn’t Mike V. on this? [Source: BuddyTV]

This spot is called Yad Lebanim, and it’s in Jerusalem, Israel. It’s a memorial for soldiers killed in the IDF, or Israeli Defense Force. Something tells me that any skateboarding on the premises would be met with a swift response. Something more forceful than what happens when dipshits in the U.S. decide to skate on war memorials, no matter where they might have gotten the inspiration. Seth Levy sent in these pictures after seeing the Yad Kennedy spot check. I guess “yad” means “memorial” in Hebrew then.

A 17 year old girl scout named Kaitlin Fabich is leading a push to get a skatepark built in her town. Unfortunately, this isn’t going to be about how more young girls are getting into skateboarding. You see, Kaitlin doesn’t skate, she’s just using the process to qualify for a Gold Award in Girl Scouting. It makes me doubt her long term commitment to the project, but if it helps in any way then it’s further proof that skateboarding has saturated popular culture. Aaack! Do we need more proof? I guess not. Boy Scouts have ranks, the highest being an Eagle Scout. One of the things you have to do to get that rank is to organize a community service project and log X amount of hours, as well as get X amount of volunteer hours from your peers. Girls Scouts don’t have ranks I guess, they just have awards. At 17, I think Kaitlin needs to get her ass in gear before she gets the boot for being to old. Of course, reading that she was 17 made me think of going a different direction with the post graphic, but I decided on a wholesome approach. The “Scouting” and…

Warren Ray is 42 year old musician and songwriter who decided to give up smoking after his father was diagnosed with lung cancer. Instead of the patch, he decided to try to replace his addiction to cigarettes by rekindling his addiction to skateboarding, which he gave up in his 20’s due to poor health, and a general lameness. A friend of his made a short film about it which has it’s moments, but needs help in the audio mixing department. It’s in a few indy film festivals. Another episode of Old guys who started skating again, but with a twist. And hey, it completes the hat trick of Skate or Die posts. Check it out. [Source: The Courier Journal – Louisville KY]

1987’s Skate or Die spawned an NES only sequel in 1990 that was imaginatively titled Skate or Die 2. No word yet on whether Nike has plans for a shoe based on Skate or Die 2. I don’t remember this game at all, but there’s probably a lot of info to sift through. Apparently, you accidentally run over the mayor’s wife’s dog on you skateboard, causing the mayor to ban skateboarding. Then you have to skate through the ghetto avoiding thugs and dragons, etc.. you know, normal skateboarding stuff. Unlike the other skateboard “simulators,” Skate or Die 2 looks more like a regular walking adventure game with skateboards pasted onto the feet of the characters. In some of the frames of the sprite animations (old 2D gaming terminology) the skateboard almost disappears. Oh yeah, you get to carry a gun too. Actually, it’s getting more and more realistic as time marches on. One thing that is worth checking out is the theme song, or at least the first 30 seconds of it. It’s got a very heavy Devo vibe. Check it out after the jump.

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There’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance of Burnside in the trailer for an upcoming movie called Untraceable. It happens slightly over half way through the trailer, and looks like a short spot for cell phone service. The movie looks like it is supposed to take place in Portland, so the shot a bunch of location shots, including Burnside. Hey does Gus Van Sant know this is going on? When is Paranoid Park coming out over here anyway? It’s just like Ash said when she contributed this bit of news, “Why not put Burnside in a movie??? Haha, PDX is blown out!” Portland is hot for murders on the big screen right now. So will Untraceable be unwatchable? The last one they did here (The Hunter) with Benicio Del Toro and Tommy Lee Jones was a major dud, but the local weeklies sure loved to talk up the Benicio sightings. Diane Lane wasn’t as interesting apparently, or maybe they shot all her outdoor stuff in Vancouver BC. So who was there when they filmed this, and did Burnside get it’s customary appearance fee in the form of a donation made for park maintenance?