Ryan Hass hipped us to these shots, dude. They were taken in Rio at a pedestrian underpass south of the Flamingo Park. You can see full frame enalarged versions at Ramp Locals Only. Brasil – Brazil… Next thing you know we’ll have to start calling it Myanmar instead of Burma. I mean, George W doesn’t bother, why should we? (Warning! You have just experienced sarcasm.)

Our friend Tom Miller writes: Just back from a work trip to Curitiba, Brasil. Conahan asked to shoot photos of anything interesting skate-related. Just when I was thinking I wasn’t going to see anything of note, we arrived at the Oscar Niemeyer Museum. The museum structure is novel, but skaters are going to be more interested in the walkway. I couldn’t help but think if you call it “art” the dollars come running at you. If you call it “50 feet of mini ramp at Ed Benedict Park” suddenly the budget doesn’t allow for it until the mythological “phase 2.” We don’t need any more skateparks. We need public art that coincidentally accommodates skateboarding. Nuff said.

I hope Biker got his royalty money advanced up front from Tech Deck when he signed off on Biker Sherlock’s Extreme Challenge. Do you remember back in 1999 when luge was all the rage on the Extreme!™ sports circuit? I think the “extreme challenge” in this toy was trying to justify the $35 purchase price. I don’t think they had many production runs of these.

This week’s Shot of the Week is a 1986 picture of Rob Washburn at the Cito ramp, taken by Doug Pennsinger. Check it out.

Good news for all you breeders and friends of breeders out there. Now your little tykes can learn to skate on miniature re-issues of Jason Jesse and Rob Roskopp Santa Cruz decks from the 80’s. These two boards come in at just 26 inches long and are designed for kids 7 and younger. Not scaled down, however, is the purchase price of $135 for a complete, which seems is steep. With the way re-issues (Jason Jesse, too) have been selling on eBay, I guess you could always look at it as an investment. Not shown on Little Rulers but rumored to be available, the Slasher model. Keith Meek’s slasher? I dunno. – Thanks to Judi Oyama for the tip.

Wow, that was fast. No sooner do I post about not finding any new skateboard-themed Christmas ornaments this year, then Paige sends me three links. There are nine ornaments after the jump, plus a ton from last year as well.

In the U.S. we don’t seem to get our fair share of skateable art installations like they do in the U.K. with The Side Effects of Urethane or with Drum and Basin. Well we got another one finally, but it’s still European at it’s roots. Team Pain sent in this shot of the installation they built for an event called Art Basel Miami. Art Basel Miami is the U.S. leg of what amounts to a massive art fair of sorts for the serious art buying world, and not the arts & crafts you might normally associate with U.S. outdoor arts festivals. The main event originated and still takes place in in Basel Switzerland. Miami’s satellite this year includes the “Concrete Waves: Homage to Skate Culture” installation. According to the Miami Sun Post: There was a time in the late ’70s and early ’80s with all the skaters and artists doing graffiti, and we wanted to do this again in Miami Beach,” Art Basel spokesman Peter Vetsch said. “At the beginning, graffiti and skate culture weren’t art, but the art scene adopted them. Sure, it’s a bit odd that an installation titled Concrete Waves (No relation) is made out of wood,…

You might recall seeing Mive V inked on TV for the reality show LA Ink. Well, for some reason, reality dictated setting up a mini ramp inside the tattoo parlor so that Vallely, Bam, and Muska could perform a demo. Element has still photos from the event which was filmed for next season’s LA ink. [Source: Skate Daily]

…great for collectors, or sports bars don’t miss this one NOS or not, $75 (shipping included) is too much for a plastic skateboard. Especially if you are just going to bolt to the wall of the local TGI Fridays knockoff. Still, it looks an awful lot like the first skateboard I ever set foot on. The listing says it’s a Marco Polo brand. That’s a new (old) one to me. I swear there must have been one mold for these yellow boards that a hundred different companies copied outright and made a slight modification for a different brand name.

OK, top picture first. Garage Manufacturing, the makers of Soft Trucks, also makes a wire rack that hangs over a door and holds several boards horizontally, plus one “go-to” board vertically. Not noteworthy except I liked the picture they used in the “natural environment” setting. With those Kiss and Farrah Fawcett posters there ought to be fiberglass GT boards in that quiver intead of modern popsicles. Look closely and you can see Farrah on a skateboard. Lastly, aside from serving as a location to shoot Bratz commercials, Skatepark franchise Skatelab has teamed up with an artist called ZAZ (never heard of him/her/it) to sell skateboard bookshelves, pictureframes and the like at Target. under the name Skatelab Furniture. I’m not sure how they talked Target into it, considering they used to sell unbranded skateboard curios. Even Pottery Barn Kids used to do it. It’s not like Skatelab has huge brand recognition outside of their two locations and Concrete Disciples. There was a “news item” about it on Kids Today, turns out Skatelab has a few other licensing deals too. Psst! Hey kid. Wanna see a titillating picture of Farrah Fawcett?