KATU News reports (Via Associated Press) that the father of a boy who fractured his skull at a skatepark is being charged with child neglect and criminal mistreatment. It seems dad left the six year old boy at the skatepark for a couple of hours. That’s the actual Medford skatepark in the background. We are going to milk this police officer stock photo for all it’s worth. [Medford photo: Troy Sliter]

Black and Blue Vol. 1 from Vox Footwear. Vox was formed by Ed Dominick, Dr. Chen (Osiris Shoes) and Nathan Peacher in 2005. This is what it says in their “About Me” on their Myspace page:

Im either made out of canvas or suede, ive got a lace that ties me together and keeps me on your feet, weigh a few oz. I come in various colors and styles. Can be found ONLY in skateshops. I like to go and hang out in skateparks, rails, pools, legdes, ditches, parking curbs, gaps, hills, concrete, wood,…Basically anything skateable, im there.

With all the recent skatepark construction in the greater Portland area and beyond, it’s hard to believe PIer Park is only a year old. It seems like an institution already. This past weekend saw some great Indian Summer weather in Portland, and although the pictures might not show it, there was a healthy, festive crowd at Pier Park on both days. More pics after the jump.

While I was chasing off a Chinese bandwidth thief I came across a link to a three page photo set from ASR. It’s in Chinese, so I don’t know what the scoop is. Here are two of the most interesting ones. The first is what appears to be a very ornate six wheeled skateboard and the second is some band playing at the House of Blues with a giant Thrasher logo in the light show. Does anyone know what the scoop is on either of these two items? Also, not shown is the children of the corn.

[Source: Kicker Club]

Ooops! Forgot to switch over the week. I’d feel bad except it seems to keep happening, so everyone still gets about a full week. This week’s shot comes courtesy of Bryce Kanights, who had this to say:

From the early 90s and beyond John Cardiel blew many minds and raised
skateboarding’s gnar level up several notches. In 1992 he leapt over Ft.
Miley’s tall turnbuckle setting yet another benchmark.

Check out the full size version of this week’s Shot of the Week.

This appropriately named spot is called the Bubble Banks. A reader named Mark W. pointed out that it was near the mystery spot that we found through the Disciplinary Architecture Anti-Sit Archives post. The Bubble Banks photos are from Quartersnacks.com, a NYC-centric web site that even has an online guide to various spots, complete with location, occasional direction, bust factor and visual aids. I guess in a city as big as New York it’s not a big deal to spell out all the details on spots because they are all probably blown out already. It’s not like posting an online map to something as fragile as a pool ecosystem. Check out Quartersnacks.com, named after those Little Debbie snacks you can buy for a quarter, I guess. There’s a lot of content and it looks like they put some effort into the design and concept.

Everyone has their favorite scenes from the Bones Brigade Video Show. For me, one of the standouts was always the downhill slide sequence featuring Cliff Coleman I believe. Just typing this subliminally triggers the opening wild animal sound effects in my head. If you can imagine that sequence amped up on today’s equipment, sounds and video technology you might get the trailer for the movie project Drift. Drift was actually supposed to be released on October 10th, but it has been delayed, perhaps indefinitely. The film is being made by a few key members of and with help from the downhill scene in Montreal, Canada. Watch the whole thing and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. The camera work and editing are sharp, and the music fits well. Even in today’s polarized climate of what is and isn’t cool, I’ll feel sorry for you if don’t get stoked by Drift. – Thanks to Jace Samikov for the tip.

UPDATE: In the wake of the passing of Steve Schneer some 7 years after this post was written, I feel it’s important to point out the title of this post is a reference to his famous Ho Ho plants and how these magnet embedded skateboards would make it so much easier for kids to do this trick. There’s no disrespect intended towards Steve, and in fact in meeting him a few times in my capacity as editor at S&A he was always very friendly and never mentioned it. 

My kid plays with these little toy figures that have magnets in their feet that stick to small skateboards. They are called Tech Deck Dudes and there are something like 60 of them now. They are fun to play with for both of us, although I can’t figure out why some of the guys have weapons too. They obviously call to mind the old Sky Hooks, which you can still actually buy from no less than three (Count ’em. 1, 2, 3.) manufacturers. Apparently there’s no current official trademark holder. But Sky Hooks are so 70’s, and magnets make for a more up to date dork session. Besides, you could just change shoes if you didn’t want to engage them on your regular board. There was a company that actually manufactured these things under the name Magnatron a few years back, but they disappeared quickly. Apparently one of the guys involved with that company (as a skateboarding advisor) is carrying on. For $60 he’ll retrofit your deck and shoes and turn it into a Magnet Skate. No word on whether it will cause creepy, unexplained flesh colored blurs to appear over your face like they do on his web site.

The real skateboard world may never be ready for what could be conceived as a gimmick in skateboarding since it’s altering it and doing it in a different way. But never the less with or without magnets, kids will still be trying things like we did. Duct taping their feet to the board, using inner tubes from bikes and lifting their boards with them etc.

That about sums it up. More pictures and video after the jump. Thanks to Bob Mechtly for the tip.

I hesitated to post this because I didn’t want it to come off like we were pushing something off that was paid advertising in reality. (Hey check out Active’s dope new ad, it’s effing insert latest slang here!) Of course, if you are listening Acitve Mail Order, there’s room for you in our banner ad rotation if you you want to buy it.

OK, so Active had an open call to show up for an ad shoot for Erik Ellington. His fans showed up, they shot the ad and documented the process as well. I don’t know jack about Erik Ellington, but he comes off well in the short video, even taking the time to shake every extra’s hand and thank them personally. I imagine if you were a fan of his and got to meet him informally and be in one of his adverts you’d be age appropriately stoked. The ad is slick, but the reality is mundane. If you’ve ever wondered how these things go, spend a few minutes behind the scenes.

Note to Active: You have a dead link to the casting call. All those social networking links are nice, but it would have been a lot nicer if you’d let others embed the video directly.

Nestled in the pictures from yesterday’s post about the Anti-Sit Archives is this mystery spot allegedly somewhere in New York City. This picture shows the banks deserted at lunch time, but don’t ask the author where it is because he’s not flowing. I’m sure it’s not a mystery to the locals. Is it possible to blow out a spot like this, never having been there, not even knowing where it is? Oops! Surely this has appeared in a magazine before. Looks fun.

Update: Quartersnacks comes through with the 411