To placate our massive Dunedin Florida reader base, here’s a link to an amusing video of Tampa Bay’s 10 News coverage of the Stirling skatepark. It’s the complete package. There’s a before and after advertising spot for senior citizens choosing medicare coverage (It is Florida), and an over earnest reporter who makes Bob Burbank sound understated. He also gets on the old stunt wood for the first time (Liar!) since 1989. My personal favorite, when they quote the town council as saying the half a million dollars was money well spent as the camera pans to reveals a skatepark devoid of life except for the reporter and one skater. Good stuff. – Thanks to Tito for the tip.

I caught Ryan Sheckler’s episode of Firsthand on Fuel TV the other night. If you haven’t seen the series, it’s basically an hour long ride along with one Extreme!™ sports personality per episode. I’ve seen a few of the skateboarding episodes and they are generally worth checking out, even if you aren’t familiar with the skater in question. They offer a little more insight into personality without all the hype of a typical skateboard video setting, and of course they actually talk. Take Sheckler’s episode, it was shot when he was 15 and originally aired in 2005. His backyard skatepark is kind of ghetto compared to his new digs, and the hype hasn’t reached the level it is at today. In particular, one good scene catches him having a dork session at a local skatepark with one of his friends. There’s no front of attitude or image. He’s a surprisingly level headed and generally likable kid who doesn’t cry when he places lower than first. Sure, he’s got a meathead father, but at this point in his young life, he comes off like just a hard-skating successful teenager without an overblown ego. If you already like Sheckler it’s a no…

This commercial for Babybel Cheese has a lot of incidental skating in the background, designed to make you think the location is a skatepark. In the enlarged stills it’s very apparent that it’s just a public plaza with a few ramps thrown in to enhance the illusion. The dead giveaway is the full loop track at the top of the steps.

Really, this still image of Mr Orange (?) is about all you need to see from the M&M’s commercial that is still airing, unless you are wondering what Paul Weller would look like if he was a candy coated chocolate that came to life. And it’s vintage The The in the soundtrack. Speaking of the Jam, did you know Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler are touring without Weller as the appropriately titled From the Jam? Now that’s brutal honesty for you! I don’t know where/what/when Weller replacement Russell Hastings is from, but he looks the part and the reviews are good. Coming to North America and Japan in 2008.

Jake Brown was on the Today Show (yesterday) and the unholy corporate alliance of NBC and Microsoft has a transcript and a video excerpt on the official Today web site. Why was he on mainstream TV again? Because he recently returned to competition (at the X Games in Dubai – No, really!) again after taking the world’s most famous slam, which of course gave them a good excuse to show it again. In the video clip you can hear Meredith Vieira’s uncomfortable noises as she watches the slam, and afterwards, for a brief few sentences Matt Lauer asks Jake if he’s OK, but the tone of his voice is like mine after my two year old takes a particularly hard spill. It’s kind of creepy. Jake returned to competition on the vert ramp, but decided to avoid the mega ramp for his maiden voyage. Wise man. Check it out. Got a Mac? The video still works even though they redirect you to a page that says your browser is unsupported. You have to click through a few extra times. I wonder why Microsoft would do that?

You might recall seeing Mive V inked on TV for the reality show LA Ink. Well, for some reason, reality dictated setting up a mini ramp inside the tattoo parlor so that Vallely, Bam, and Muska could perform a demo. Element has still photos from the event which was filmed for next season’s LA ink. [Source: Skate Daily]

Apparently, the Discovery Channel did a short feature on the downhill longboard scene in Canada, more specifically, the Rayne Longboards team and operation. I tried to find out some information on the context of the piece (what show was it on?) but the web site was mum. But they do sell a pintail longboard for some reason. That and those twisty boards. They would also like to recommend a jumping skateboard, or a Flowboard alternative skateboard. Turns out they’ll sell you anything but an actual, regulation length skateboard. Sorry, I got distracted. Watch the video for Discovery Channel’s take on downhill, including some extended Coleman slide action in the rain. Cliff needs to work on that web site. – Oh yeah, thanks to Skategeezer for the tip.

Clearing off the hard drive here. Tony Hawk was on MTV’s TRL (OMG Totally AWESOME!) where they interviewed him afterwards. Apparently “The Birdman bigged it up to Ryan Sheckler…” Err… yeah. Then he Gave Ryan some advice (stop crying when you don’t win?) on the Life of Ryan. Fat BMX reports that Rick Thorne interviews Tony Hawk for another social networking great white hype TRIG.com, except they don’t provide a link. However, Mr Thorne assures the readers that you should sign up for Trig.com because “it’s smokin’ My Space and I think It’s good 2 keep U wit tha times.” I’m sure he’s not getting anything from them. Let’s see… Some kids interviewed Tony Hawk at a Toys R Us store but Courant.com wants you to pay to read it now that it’s more than 30 days old. I wonder if those download fees are offsetting the loss in ad revenue? A couple weeks ago the gaming sites were a buzz about the possibility that Tony might be considering a balance board type controller for use in a skateboarding game on the Wii platform. I guess you need to keep the “I”‘s lowercase when typing in Wii or else it…

Since most of our readers are likely stuffing thier faces today, here’s a Stouffer Pizza Bread commercial circa 2002 that features a fresh faced young man who likes to walk around his kitchen fully padded up. The producers probably made sure the kid was wearing full safety gear for liability purposes or at least to set a good example. I guess they overlooked the part about skating down the middle of the street while trying to balance and eat a giant wad of pizza bread. Anybody know who this kid is?

Alyssa Milano and Colin McKay for 1 800 Collect circa 2002, captured on glorious VHS (how barbaric!) and transferred to mini DV. Now it’s on YouTube, the VHS equivalent… Who is the other guy? Shouldn’t be too hard to figure out, I mean how many black vert skaters are out there? Memorable quote: “You could remember that doing a goofy footed double fakie ollie grind.” Also features the obligatory I’m trying something crazy and I’m going to wipe out. Oh well, beats Carrot Top any day.