I’m not a fan of the photo sequence in skateboarding. I prefer Henri Cartier-Bresson’s decisive moment approach, which means I miss a lot of shots. I was following Gizmodo with some interest for news of a new camera from Casio called the EXILIM Pro EX-F1. It’s a high resolution (six megapixel) camera that has a burst rate of 60 frames per second at full resolution. In case you don’t know your megapixels, 6mp is good enough for any skate magazines cover without a crop. Basically, it’s got a buffer for 60 frames, you can cram them all into a one second burst of 60fps or spread them out as far as 12 seconds, or 5 frames per second. You’ve probably seen the strobe light flashes of a still photographer in real life or at the very least in skate video. I believe those huys are usually shooting around 8fps, or maybe a few more. Here’s another interesting thing about this camera, it’s got a feature called pre-record that buffers a few frames before you even hit the shutter button, just in case you are still a little slow predicting the action. Ever seen a video grab printed in a magazine? Sounds absurd, but it’s been done before. The It’s also got a high speed movie recording option at 300 fps, 600 fps or 1,200 fps, although at lower resolutions. Surely this camera has a sky high price to match it’s impressive technological capabilities, right? Wrong. It should be available later this year for a MSRP of $999. The fact that there are hordes of skate photographers out there has not been lost on Casio. They’ve got video and still skateboarding on the product web site.

A generic sports and healthy lifestyle website called Realbuzz.com has their Top 5 greatest (defining) moments in skateboarding listed as

1. Rodney Mullen flat-ground ‘ollie’ – 1982

2. Bob Burnquist’s 98.0 ‘perfect run’ – 2001

3. Danny Way jumps the Great Wall of China – 2005

4. Tony Hawk’s 900 -1999

5. Shaun White enters summer X Games – 2005

Really? Shaun White? He’s a talented mofo for sure but creating one of the defining moments of the sport just by deciding to compete? Absurd! You can head on over to Realbuzz.com for their long winded justifications if you want. The only one I can kind of agree on in the list is number one. However, if you put in number one, you have to trace it back to the obvious precursor, which was Alan Gelfand inventing the damn “Ollie” in the first place. Did the Mutt actually do it on flat ground first? I guess it wouldn’t surprise me. As for Bob Burnquist’s 98.0 perfect run, nothing against Bob, but who cares? Tony Hawk’s 900? Ok, I can cut them some slack there, but I think the more accurate description would have been more encompassing. Check out my top 5 defining moments after the jump.

[Photo: Skateboard trophy on far left is 60’s vintage for the “International Skateboard Championships” as found on Hawaiian Surf Auction]

This ‘n That from Andy Evans, circa 2007. This video focuses on the UK skateboarding scene, but has skaters from all over Europe and the US.

Censorship is Weak as F##k: A Skateboard Art Retrospective:

Censorship is Weak as F##k is a collaborative retrospective featuring over 40 skateboard graphics designed by Marc McKee and Sean Cliver. The show features work the two have done for World Industries and its subsidiary brands from the formation of the company in the late 1980s to its mid-90s rise to industry dominance. The collection of original skateboards demonstrates, literally in graphic detail, how World Industries set itself apart from its competitors by using a totally uncensored approach in its graphic program, relentlessly featuring one controversial subject after another, covering issues such as religion, pornography, gun control, sex, profanity, racism, drug use and violation of copyright law, all on the bottoms of its skateboards.

Trying to pass off that entire period of World Industries as a battle against censorship is a bit of a stretch, but they certainly were infamous, and they certainly did shake up the industry. Besides, with the way these things sell on eBay, this may be your only chance to see some of these decks in person. I’ll tell you what’s weak as F##k… There’s nothing like having to register and log into a bullshit corporate site like MySpace just to be able look at a few pictures. Surely there is a better way. Looks like an art show I’d like to see though.

[Source: Juxtapoz]

I’ve got a son that’s just over two years old. Since he could walk he’s been climbing all over the skateboards that I leave lying around the house. He’s got fingerboards that he likes to play with like other kids play with toy cars, which he has too. I just started taking him to the Saturday morning 14 and under time slot at our local indoor spot, the Department. I get odd looks when I bring him there, but I’m not pushing him to be the next Tony Hawk. He likes playing around on skateboards, and he likes watching kids skate. If we are there for an hour, he’ll maybe spend 10 minutes max actually trying to skate on his own. It’s mostly a way to get him out of the house and give his mom a little break once a week. Why am I telling you this? I found this discussion about stage dads in skateboarding, AKA skate dads. It was instigated by a sponsor me video, or more accurately, a sponsor-him video for a 10 year old kid supposedly put together by a friend of the kid’s dad. It’s pretty funny because it’s got all this aggro heavy music with swearing as a soundtrack for a little kid’s video. I guess that’s what happens when you get a guy who calls himself Skull Crusher to do your video. And just to prove that no matter how young you start them, someone will always be starting younger: there’s another video of a one year old kid monkeying around on a skateboard. Yeah, he’s hanging 10 on the nose, hardwood floors and not eating it.

Kickbacks? That’s the only thing I can think of that would convince a physical education program to buy Waveboards for PE classes. Let me try a different approach:

In my day we had to push uphill five miles on a dirt road to get to the waveboard track and the U-shaped slide. Kids these days are spoiled in their PE classes with alternative sports. Not working for you?

OK. Seen above, Angela’s friends stage an intervention and try to divert her from her quest to run off and join a very low paying circus for social outcasts. I’m not sure if these are better than the flat boards with caster wheels that they use for crab races on rainy days.

Where did I get these pictures? Why, from the Ledger’s article titled Physical Education Rides the Wave Of New Recreational Technologies. Jealous? You can even buy print copies for yourself!

Whatever your stance on Nike’s presence in the skateboarding industry, you’ve got to hand it to them for the commercials they made and actually aired on broadcast TV the first time around. They are great from a skating and an advertising perspective. I’ve been trying to get ahold of these and post them, but someone else has already done all the work, so why reinvent the wheel? My personal favorite is the running one because it brings back the times when people literally thought you were a freak if you were over 12 and still skateboarding on a public sidewalk. Of course now you’re a freak if you are over 30 and the hassle often comes the skaters instead of the non-skating public. So you can still be a rebel and participate in one of the world’s most popular sports.

[Source: Transworld beat me to it.]

The Death video parts that pop up on the Interwebs seem to get people talking. This Patrick Melcher spot is no exception. I thought he was on Black Label but apparently he chose Death, no matter how angry that makes Wham! (80’s time warp again, bad kind.) This video has something for everyone unless you are a humorless twat. Street, tranny, break dancing, rails and even slalom… I wish all video parts were like this one. I included the Richie Jackson spot at the end as well, just to jog your memory.

– Thanks to JF for the tip.

Mad Magazine is too highbrow for little kids, so they rolled out Mad Kids for the youngsters. I checked out the PDF preview, figuring it would be all Spongebob-y, and it is, but the cartoon ladies that Don Martin draws still have impossibly large gravity defying breasts. Tony Hawk is on the cover #9, where they gave him the Photoshop bug-out treatment. What is that move anyway? He’s also got an interview inside. OK maybe he’s not mad at kids, but mad for the kids! (And not in a creepy NAMBLA way…)

– Thanks to Danimal for the tip.

Hell, I think this is Art Steve Art. I can tell them apart now but back then… This was from an NSA sanctioned vert and street contest held outdoors in Indianapolis Indiana. It was either 1988 0r 1989, I can’t remember. The Godoys had a reputation for being trouble makers, so I thought it would be funny to pose a shot of Art getting choked by a security guard, who was only too happy to oblige. The effect is kind of ruined by the huge grin on the security guy’s face. Art didn’t seem to be into it, but agreed to play along, I think mostly to thank us for printing a long Godoy interview in a print issue. We were one of the few zines that wanted anything to do with them. Now I’m thinking this might have been Steve actually. Only one of the brothers was there. You know who was there though? Rich from EPM, although I didn’t find this out until last year some time. Anyway, any comedic/editorial brilliance on my part was wasted as I never used this shot for anything until now. Check it out.