Nick writes:
The checkered grip–amazingly–has held up almost perfectly. I lost one or two of the half-squares on the edge, but otherwise, it’s all there! I am actually known for some ridiculously intricate grip tape art. Since I only weigh like 140 and don’t really skate street anyways, I tend to have boards forever, so I figure it’s worth it. I’ll attach a photo of my last board which had my favorite grip job to date.

Remember the Experiments in backyard maximilism? I misread Tim’s email and it turns out the bowl was in Orlando after all, which is the perfect excuse to bring up two more videos. One is classic local news crew coverage talking about a secret skateboarding society (I kid you not!) and the other is a collage of sessions that starts with Tim Kulas narrating the story of the ramp over Super 8 film footage. In true D.I.Y. fashion, both the Super 8 footage and the news coverage is captured by pointing a video camera at the projected wall and the TV respectively. Watch the videos after the jump, and don’t forget to check out Bowl Surgeon for progress on the new bowl. I’m sure Tim could use some manpower. [Source: Beer City]

Earth Patrol Media has some pleasant shots of the Prosser Washington park that MC talked about in his roadtrip to Irrigon post. It shows the park from different angles and gives you a better feel for the overall layout. Enjoy!

In spite of the fact that it was pissing down with rain in Portland Saturday morning; MC, Rich Burton and Shawn Reinert hit the road for the Irrigon Skatepark Grand Opening. Smay was right behind us with Lance Leisher and Brogan Robinson and Chris Stevens. The new Grindline creation was packed, 200 people or more watching and skating. The park was as unique as we had hoped but just crazy crowded. The grass hasn’t grown back yet so the crowd tracked a lot of sand into the park and everything was smaller and tighter than I expected but it’s a really fun skatepark.

Tim Kulas is a man of few words. At least on the Interweb™ he is. He built a large wooden bowl (I’m sure he had help) in the back yard of a house he was renting in Orlando Florida, completely out of scrap wood. Renting, you say? Sure, why not. It’s the old fish pond argument we’ve seen before. A landlord would have to be very hands-off, absentee, or just plain naive to fall for that one. The bowl even has had some cement coping custom fitted (see pic above) and poured in long sections. Then there’s the save a tree ride. That’s Tim saving a tree in the shot above, left. There are a bunch of pictures and videos on the Bowl Surgeon blog. The only words you’ll find are the post titles, which are always to the point, as in “More Skateboarding in yard.” or “clicky dippy hippy fo viddy…” Don’t go looking for this spot because it’s already been torn down. Tim is moving to other parts of Florida and has already started documenting the next project. The tag line at the bottom of the page says it all: “Thanks for checkin’ it, now go find a dumpster with some wood in it and build something!”

Update: I decided to embed Mac’s video link. Check it out after the jump.