Steve Howell actually thanked us for correcting him, but I suspect he’s a lot more polite than we are. He’s updated the skateboard dictionary entry for the term “Indy” on About.com. The Indy can be a sticky trick to name – a lot of skaters use the term Indy for any grab where the back hand is holding the board between the toes, but technically, this is only true in snowboarding. In skateboarding, traditionally the term Indy refers to the same grab, but it implies it is backside. No matter what snowboarders may call it, the move was invented skateboarding, and has a specific definition. Technically, it’s a backside air, trailing hand grab between your legs. Frontside and backside are the same on both boards. It shouldn’t matter what you are riding. Then again, rollerbladers have all kinds of goofy names for their moves too. OK. It’s not perfect but we’ll take it. We’re making a difference here at Skate and Annoy.

Sheesh! What does it take to get some culture around here? Sure, we had a mini ramp outside of City Hall for a couple of hours, but nothing like this. In Liverpool England there is a nonprofit group called A Foundation whose purpose is to “to support the development, production and exhibition of contemporary visual art and, in particular, to focus on the enrichment and regeneration of Liverpool through culture and the arts.” How are they doing it? By hiring Simparch to install the Free Basin as well as a yet unnamed 40 foot wooden full pipe, which is rare, to say the least. I think there is one at Skatopia, but that may be it. Made using a similar construction method with a complex layering of multiple wooden spines and ribs, the full pipe’s impressive structure echoes a hull in dry dock. Hey, whatever you have to tell them to get it paid for… The best part is, the structure will be open for free public skating during gallery hours, from October 19th 2007 to April 20th, 2008. Details and consent forms can be found at A Foundation’s Drum ‘n Basin Greenland Street programme page. Hey UK readers.. let’s…

Danimal called my attention to an email from Vancouver-Clark Washington Parks & Recreation that I’d been meaning to follow up on. They added a couple of new skate spots in addition to the “Extreme Sports Park” at Pacific Community Park. I meant to go check them out, but Sam over at SkateOregon already has. He’s got site photos, map links, and links to the appropriate Parks & Rec pages with history, construction photos, and other details. No need to repost that stuff here, so head on over to SkateOregon. Vancouver Washington has three “skate spots” now. The one at the top is at Tenny Creek, and looks the most promising. It’s simple but has a lot to offer. I think we may be approaching the day where these things get built out of habit instead of as an exception. Screw the good old days – these are the good old days!

No, not Mike Tyson the ear-biting tattoo-faced psychopath, but Tyson the Skateboarding Bulldog. He’s going to be on Oprah on November 6th, and Harpo has posted a schlocky preview of it on YouTube. Oprah’s got a tight lockdown on the way her image is portrayed, right down to denying others the ability to embed the videos, so you’ll have to leave the friendly confines of Skate and Annoy to watch it directly on YouTube. She does have her finger on pulse of popular culture though. After this very timely TV appearance of the popular phenomenon known as Tyson the Skateboarding Bulldog, I hear she’s going to have exclusive animation of that dancing baby from 1997.

Yes, we’ve mentioned Google Maps Street View before, but it’s still good to make a note when various skate spots come online. Here’s a peek at perhaps the world’s most famous skatepark. Burnside never looked so clean. Thanks to Grumpy Joe for the tip.

Eastpack and Red Bull footed the bill for 6 DIY concrete spots in Austria. These aren’t full sized spots, but rather single modifications to existing spots or sometimes creating a new spot by providing an approach to a previously unskateable spot. Nothing earth shaking, but cool nonetheless. There’s a short video clip by Niki Waltl that covers 2 days, 6 spots and more than 1000 kilometres by car. A few of those spots look like left over anti-tank barriers from the war. It is Austria, you know. Download it here. It looks like these guys made it happen.

The big question is why no skateboarding in two seasons of My Name is Earl, especially with all the flashback scenes? Above left is a still from Stereo’s Tincan Folklore which was released in 1996 but has some footage of Jason circa mid to late 80’s. Above right is from Blind’s Video Days, which was released in 1991. You can watch them both after the jump.

ESPN (or EXPN, make up your mind guys) has a short article called Skate Rock Refined that talks about the musical projects of some pro skaters. It leads off with Danny Way and Bob Burnquist’s band Escalera, and eventually gets around to Tommy Guerrero, Ray Barbee, Matt Rodriguez and Chuck Treece. Did you know that Barbee got his first guitar from Stacy Peralta? Check it out. Speaking of rock and roll, Linda Stein was found murdered in her apartment. Who was she? Among other things, a former Ramones manager and ex wife of Seymour Stein, the founder of Sire Records, the Ramones record label for 11 of their 14 full length studio recordings.

So I went to Burnside on Halloween dressed as Space Ghost where I skated poorly for a while before settling down to one location to take a few pictures. The session had just heated up when I had to split to go be Halloween dad with my kid. While there was a lot of good action there, I missed most of it and I made it a point to only shoot people in costume. Enjoy.

The Portland weekly free paper Willamette Week, or W Week as it’s now called, has picked up on the issue of the City of Tigard’s skatepark rule that would seem to be contrary to the U.S. Constitution. This week’s Rogue of the Week is the City of Tigard. Way down at the bottom of the article they mention yours (ours?) truly… At skateandannoy.com, bloggers have posted rants and cartoons mocking the rule, and a plea for $5 donations to make stickers opposing it. Our check’s in the mail. I hate being referred to as a blogger, but if it helps get more donations then that’s OK. Currently we collected $35, which is about a third of what we’d like to be at. And actually, most of the donations are from distant geographical areas, so let’s step it up Oregonians! We’ll let you know if the WWeek follows through on their promise to donate. Thanks to D.T. for the plant and many others for the tip off.