ShOP stands for Sheffield Online Papers in Social Research (er… SHOPSR?) Sheffield Online Papers in Social Research (ShOP) is an online forum for the publication and distribution of peer-reviewed work in the Social Sciences and related disciplines. Started by the Postgraduate community at Sheffield University, Sheffield Online Papers in Social Research publishes: Articles which provide a detailed, systematic and theoretically based analysis of the phenomena of society Contributions to conceptual, theoretical or methodological debates within the social sciences Studies and articles relating to current social and political issues Back in 2003, ShOP Issue 7 focused on skateboarding. I’ve been know to ramble a bit too much on esoteric skateboarding rants, but ShOP has six papers with a total of 134 pages covering various social aspects of skateboarding from an anthropological and zzzzzzzzz…… [Photo: Background- Ryan Hass]

Skater and Annoy got mentioned in an issue of the German action sports magazine Slack. My German vocabulary is limited to what I picked up from playing the original 2D version of Castle Wolfenstein on my Apple II back in 1982. See post title for demonstration. Dieses News-Portal ist aus einem Skate-Zine aus den 80er-Jahren hervorgegangen, was an manchen Stellen deutlich zu spüren ist. Die exklusiv gestalteten Comics und zum Teil bissigen Kommentare über die Darstellung von Skateboarding in den US-amerikanischen Medien lässt den schnoddrigen DIY-Charakter durchscheinen. „Skate and Annoy“ hat seine Wurzeln in Portland/Oregon und fühlt sich in erster Linie dem Transition Skating verpflichtet. Ihr denkt, ihr seid old school? Dann zieht euch erst mal rein, wie die Jungs aus dem Betonpark-Mekka die weichgespülte Skate-Welt sehen… Let’s see… we’ve got the 80’s, comics, some DIY stuff and Portland Oregon. It also mentions “old school” so that means they think we are a bunch of Barneys. How did they find us? Must be all the Claus Grabke coverage.

Anonymous skater featured in a new magazine from the folks who bring you Portland Monthly

Check out the Travis Bickle looking rugrat in these catalog shots for Knuckleheads Clothing. These guys are also sponsoring that weird skate demo at the motorcycle show. Hey, I’ve got rugrats too. They sure would look good in some of that. Hint. Hint.

Faces of Skateboarding was site of the week at Skate Daily last week. Looks like a good book of black and white photos by Daniel MÃ¥nsson. There are short videos on the website including one of Chris Miller but he pretty much just says he likes the photo. Look at the various sections of the site to get a feel for the book. I watched the slide show and thought it looked just okay and the clips don’t do much more for me but THE BOOK shows some sample spreads and makes me think it might be worth owning.

We’ve covered the one percenters today, so in the interest of being fair and balanced, let’s talk about Boy Scouts. While there is a history of skateboarding and Scouting in the USA, BBC News reports on “a revamp of the scout movement will allow boys and girls to earn badges for skills such as skateboarding, making a fruit salad and racing quad bikes.” The official requirements for the Street Sports merit activity badge requires a six month investment in the activity if you’re a regular scout (ages 10-14), but they actually get easier if you are an Explorer. Looks like you just have to skate for 25 hours and show improvement. Maybe they should make you skate for 25 hours straight, or 25 spots in 25 days. – Thanks to Guy Duncan for the tip.

The Arizona Daily Star has an article and short interview with the two principals of the Underskatement film festival, which is at Volume 4, and damn it, we promoted this and I didn’t even go see it. I wish I’d read the interview first, but it was published after the Portland showing. I guess I would have had to travel forward in time to read it so I could have known I would have liked to see it. If I’m time traveling I guess I could just go back in time and watch it. What’s the point? Oh yeah, if the publicity shot from the paper on the left looks familiar, it might be because you heard about a Beaverton man involved in an assault there.

Hey! It’s Max Schaaf week on Skate and Annoy. Max has a blog called 4Q Conditioning that is mostly One-percenter motorcycle lifestyle fetish, with healthy doses of retro pin up, surf and skate culture. You’ll find a ton of cool pictures without a lot of background detail, but that’s part of the appeal. It’s kind of like a distilled version of all the good parts of Juxtapoz. Check out the lion riding in that sidecar. That’s Max in that pool. The site takes a while to load because it’s all on one page. Wait for it, and then start from the bottom. This material would be perfect for sitting on the head. Max should make a zine. Great visual stimuli over at 4Q Conditioning.

You may have heard that actor Heath Ledger died yesterday of an apparent sleeping pill overdose. Everyone loves to remember him as a gay cowboy, but his portrayal of Skip Engblom was pretty much the highlight of The Lords of Dogtown in the dramatic version of Peralta’s Dogtown documentary. Heath not only played a skater in the movies, but played with skateboards in real life too, as seen in the two shots at the bottom right from Hellomagazine.com. The other shots are production stills from Lords.

Whoah man, did you see that new Vans Finger Fracture skateboarding game for the iPhone? Well it’s not real. Vans has no official or unofficial involvement. It’s a concept only and there are no plans to develop it. One big tip off would be that the game screens are lifted from Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. Some of the gaming and gadget sites are all a buzz about it, but a quick email confirmed it’s just an entertaining idea now. Also entertaining, Borat must be writing the documentation that says “To make an Ollie…” There’s more concept pics after the jump.