Downhill race in the Portland area on Sunday, part of the Switchback Challenge series from the folks at PDX Downhill. As of the time this posting went live, there is no date or location listed, but it is Sunday, March 17th at SW Madison Street and Court in Portland. Contact Rip City Skates for more info.

You won’t learn anything new about the Big Boys here, but it’s noteworthy that NPR picked up on the re-release of Industry Standard.

Helicopter cams are going to be the defining videography technique of skate videos in this decade, just like fisheye adapters were in.. when was that? The 90’s? Anyway. Rich over at EPM is developing an RC helicopter platform for the masses called Hooperfly. Rich shot some test footage at Pier Park yesterday, and well, here it is.

Phase one of Gold Hill, Oregon’s new skatepark in memory of Tom Fish, has been completed. It’s a Dreamland project. It looks fully rideable now, but of course the grand opening is set for April 2nd. [Source: ABC KDRV ]

On this edition of counterfeit skateboards we have a completely generic looking Gator rip off found all the way over in Belgium, complete with a Tony Hawk Skategear sticker that definitely looks like it’s an 80’s vintage, but I’m wondering if it (sticker) is of a later vintage, because it doesn’t look familiar to me. – Thanks to David Maes for the tip.

Guido Sty Rizzone made edited footage and photos to show the history of skateboarding in 2 minutes, and did a good job. Go ahead, you’ve only got 2 minutes to lose. – Thanks to Matthijs for a tip.

This week’s Shot of the Week is from John Aguilar. Not much to say about it but, you know, just look at it. Cool.

Spotted on a bike ride over the weekend. Pretty good unintentional driveway spot. Another view after the jump.

These are garment hang tags for Maple XO, made out of skateboard veneers that have been etched and cut with a laser. Pretty damned cool. Hang tags are a little bit too high brow for the stuff I hawk, but damn, I wish I thought of it myself. [Source: Oregon Screen Impressions]