Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament fully funded a small skatepark in his childhood home town of Big Sandy, Montana. His heart’s even bigger than his wallet. 40k is a lot to spend just to have a place to skate when you visit your p’s. Check out the Great Falls Tribune for the details, and then head on over to Earth Patrol Media to check out some photos of Jeff enjoying some Canadian maple mid-air. – Thanks to Ashley Mott for the tip.

Tony Hawk was on the cover of the complimentary August 2010 Continental Airlines magazine. There was also a one page interview with him about his role as a businessman. Check it out after the turn. Thanks Gillian.

Kelley Deal from The Breeders and Kristian Svitak sing a jingle for Landshark wheels. There was a cool band in Illinois circa 82-83 called the Breeders. They had (among other things) some really good songs like Zen Punk and Uncool Slamming. You can download mp3’s of their 7″ with the band’s blessing from this article on Maximum Rock and Roll.

July’s eBay Watch is a day later to post because Neil gave it to me on a Sunday, and there is too much good TV on Sunday night. Mad Men, Hung, and True Blood. This is Stephen Moyer, the actor who plays Vampire Bill. He got married to Sookie, I mean Anna Paquin over the weekend, and was spotted the next day on a skateboard. I would have thought he would have been too worn out, but that might explain his big grin. You know, because skateboarding makes you happy. New eBay Watch in about an hour. – Thanks to Mrs Kilwag for the tip. [Source: US Magazine]

Seriously. Joining a semi-pro hockey team and quitting his bread and butter sponsor Element in a few short weeks? His new skateboard company is called By the Sword, No wait, try this one instead. The OC Weekly interviewed him about it. He’s also setting up a skatepark tour where you can buy tickets to hang out with him. I’m sure he’s got another movie or two in the can or in the works. He’s a busy, busy guy who makes some odd decisions. He must be putting the fear of God into his press agent because it seems like I get an email every other day. The image above is a still within a still from the Mike V promo reel. He should have put news footage of his brawl outside the hockey rink. It’s probably not in the best interest of promoting the Mike V franchise, but it would have demonstrated a good sense of humor.

Almost, but not entirely like the episode of the Simpsons where Homer gives Marge a bowling ball with his name on it. At least this Justin Bieber themed Mother’s Day gift came with the receipt. Give it up for Hot topic. Boo Ya! Oh snap. Don’t go there.

Posh Spice spotted on the beach wearing sunglasses and an Indy hat. And you thought she was too cool to shop at the mall. Update: Here she is sporting a Girl Skateboards hat too.

Wheelhouse Media publishes Carlsbad Magazine and Encinitas Magazine, two free publications serving the needs of their respective communities. Communities, it turns out, that have identical needs in some cases. They both published essentially the same feature on Tony Hawk, until you get to the last couple of paragraphs where they explore what Tony loves about Carlsbad, his long time haunt, or Encinitas his relatively new digs. Some cool photos from Grant Brittain, check out that tweaked air. You can read them online or view them in their original layouts. Don’t bother to download the “offline edition.” For some annoying reason they have chosen a proprietary flash reader with assorted clumsy files. Ever heard of a PDF? Also, you”ll need an email address to read the pretty versions. Seriously guys? Could the whole thing be any more intrusive? They don’t even tell you what they are going to do with the email. At least they gave each magazine a separate layout.

Last Tuesday’s episode of the Colbert Report (November 17th) featured the segment Better Know a District, with California’s 12th which encompasses San Francisco and the headquarters of You Tube. At the end of the segment he asks Representative Jackie Speier to make a You Tube video, consisting of some skateboarding through the halls of the office building. I didn’t catch this on TV, so I can’t tell if there’s a stunt double or not, but my immediate judgement tells me Stephen has spent some time on the old stuntwood. Like I said, I didn’t get a chance to record this, but the forward thinking people at Colbert Nation have saved me the trouble of getting kicked off You Tube again by posting copyrighted material. Wathc the licensed vid after the jump, and brace yourself for an onslaught from Daddy Yo. it is San Francisco, the hotbed of left wing commie, pinko, gay… Thrashers. Lets see who can stay on topic the longest. (Tone of voice: Like a parent to his kids saying “Let’s play a game and see who can stay quiet the longest!”) Sadly, the video wasn’t actually posted on You Tube. Stephen, how long have you been skateboarding?…

I don’t know who this Franklin Mint Blog guy thinks he is, but he’s trampled all over about a weeks worth of posts for me in this entry called Skateboard Mania. He’s got the standards like Farrah, Skateboard, the movie, and the Wonder Woman episode. There’s the less known Stacy Peralta on Charlies Angels, and the even more obscure Jodie Foster movie Foxes, that has some skateboarding in it. He’s got the whole Sneakers and Lace Skateboardin’ USA album ripped from vinyl and ready for download. Well Mr. Smartypants, you missed something. Jodie Foster actually released a pseudo disco single where she kind of talks over a backing track. It’s pretty schlocky, but she mentions a skateboard in it. In any case, he did come up with a old picture of Brooke Shields lounging on a skateboard. I tip my hat to you. Excellent post. Be prepared to spend some time at the Franklin Mint Blog.