The Daily Herald from Arlington Heights, Illinois has a thoughtful piece titled Once a skater, always a skater and closer to (our) home, The Columbian has another not so thoughtful article titled Just About Everybody Can Go Extreme. These articles are a dime a dozen lately, but there are a couple of items of interest here.

From the Express-Times in Hellertown, New Jersey: Top cop wants fines reduced Maximum of $600 too high for skateboarding in restricted areas, Hellertown chief tells council. The police chief on Monday night told council the $600 maximum fine for skateboarding or biking in areas where it’s not allowed is too steep. Chief Robert Balum said he wants his officers to use more discretion when ticketing for such offenses. The remarks came in response to an ongoing debate targeting skateboarders. Proving once again that you don’t have to be a dick to enforce the law, Joey Williams.

Google maps has a new feature called Streetview. Dave Tobin tipped me that it was live today. Coverage is pretty good in Portland. Go to google maps, pick streetview and drag the little man to the spot you want to look at. Holly Farm is right by the road so you can see a couple of folks hanging out and one guy skating. I can’t wait for Google flyover.

Nike Skateboarding Nothing but the Truth Premiere The NikeSB movie has been premiering in various cities, I attended the Portland premiere last Thursday at the Crystal ballroom. Everyone there was either invited or one of Screamin’ Steve’s contest winners. I’m guessing there were 200-300 people there. I wasn’t a VIP so I didn’t get free beer but I did enjoy the outing. It was a big skateboarding related event, a scene, and I saw a bunch of people I knew there. Thanks to Kevin Imamura for getting me on the list.

I can’t stop watching this video of a Primo slide to back flip. Ok, it’s very light on the slide, in fact, I think it’s just called a rail stand? Freestylers help me out here. Freestylers? I don’t know who this shorty character is but he reminds me of the high school wrestling team. Check it out after the jump. [Source: Wiskate via the Skateboard Mag]

Everybody sing! Who can take a sunrise Sprinkle it in dew Cover it in chocolate and a miracle or two? The candyman Handstand man! The Handstand man can The Handstand man can cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good! I’m not going to begrudge anyone from trying to make an extra buck off of a web site, but the Handstand Man is really, uh, pushing it. He’s got one claim to fame, and it’s a burly one to be sure, he’s ridden a handstand down the infamous Signal Hill. That’s gnarly, but he won’t show it to you unless you pay $14 for the DVD. He has some still photos for sale, but has graciously provided a few “free” pics for downloading as well as a couple of video clips you can watch for free, as if that is some kind of rarity. Let’s see, anything else? Most of the pics don’t show his face and he performs most of his stunts in track pants, sometimes even white sweatpants! The whole site is a trip: “The ballsiest skateboarding action sequence I have ever filmed!!” As quoted by James, the video cameraman who filmed the stunt.…

Aside from the wedding ceremony of one of Portland’s most beloved skateboarders (Yes, I said “most beloved” and I meant it!) the other very interesting thing that happens this weekend is the premier of the Steve Rocco documentary The Man Who Souled the World. October 5 is the date for showings in the following cities: Angeles, Santa Monica, New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Orange County California, Santa Barbara, Portland, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Reno. Check the official site for more info. After Z-Boys, there was a glut of documentaries for while. The Man Who Souled the World is the one that really needed to be made, and if done well, should serve as the bookend to Peralta’s Dogtown flick. I’m really looking forward to this movie. So far the reviews from gay hollywood gossip sites are positive, so that’s encouraging. You’ll need to scroll down past the Spice Girls coverage if you follow that link. Let’s hope we don’t see a dramatized adaptation like the Lords of Dogtown. Although now that I think about it, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Joaquin Phoenix as a young Steve Rocco.

The December January 2007 issue of Dwell had two separate skateboard related features. The first one was for an insane conceptual skatepark in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It turns out they actually tried to figure out if they could build it. The second more down to earth feature was in Dwell’s Nice Modernist column, and it was about Rob Dyrdek’s radical (no pun intended!) new approach to skatepark design, the skate plaza. Aside from the Kettering Skate Plaza, the article mentions his recent Shreveport, Louisiana venture which according to some people involved in the project, did not go as well as planned.

Eww.. gross. Get your mind out of the gutter. Joining Blake Nelson’s Paranoid Park is Nick Hornby’s Slam. You might recognize Nick Hornby as the writer whose books get made into good movies like High Fidelity. Slam’s protagonist is skateboarding obsessed and regularly holds imaginary conversations with Tony Hawk who answers in not always relevant quotations from his autobiography. Sounds like an amusing premise actually, if it weren’t written for young adults. Actually, if you can enjoy Harry Potter, why not Slam?. It’s interesting to note (OK, maybe not) that Tony Hawk is so pervasive that his status as a cultural icon can now be a bit supporting character in books much like Elvis was in the movie True Romance. Hornby’s had a few of his books made into successful movies, so maybe we’ll see a Tony Hawk cameo that’s a little better than what he did in Thrashin. While it’s unclear whether or not royalties were paid to the old 80’s wrist guard company of the same name (Haw!), it is clear that skateboarding is a hot topic for those trying to sell to the young adult market. Speaking of being in the market for young adults (what is…

No, this isn’t the start of a recurring feature, just a reference to the fact that we had a similar post last friday. Adult film stars are kind of like pro wrestlers sometimes, they need to have a gimmick to distinguish themselves from the rest of the competitors. Keeani Lei lists skateboarding and surfing among her other uhm, talents. I first got, err, turned on to her via a Sleestak post, but they got it from the NSFW Slap Magazine forums. Come to think of it, Slap sounds like some sort of a fetish magazine. In any case, Keeani does indeed skate and appears to enjoy it. She’s into flyouts, women, Jason Jesse re-issues and you know… other things. I like the shot where she’s pretending to drink OJ’s out of a juice pitcher, a visual pun that would be lost on anyone who didn’t skate. Reminds me of some of the 80’s skateboard advertising. She’s really going for the niche market. There’s safe for work video after the jump.