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.

Tim Hubbard sent in a link to more Dunedin opening day pics. Thats Josh Black inverted, and an unknown rider carving over some very chunky stairs. Tim also included a link to Punk On Board which is a mish mash of Florida skateboarding, punk rock and art both past and present. The linka are all over the place, and seem to be in conjunction with another site called Art Gone Bad. It’s not the easiest thing to navigate, but just keep clicking. There are snapshots from a Skateboarder Magazine photo session at a backyard ramp, a weird looking life size paper mache mosh pit circa 82, Mike Weed freestyle action, Monty Nolder at Grigley’s ramp, vintage McGill, backstage at the Warped Tour with Anti Flag and the Buzzcocks, Joan Jett looking tuff as nails and all kinds of good stuff if you dig around for it. If I lived in Florida I’d be hanging out with this guy, provided I was punk enough.

This web comic from The Book of Biff is followed by a tale of woe featuring bike on skate action. There but for watching where I’m going, go I.

Sean Cliver has a short interview over at Cool Hunting that is focused on his book Disposable. At the time he gave the interview he had no idea where and when it would show up. I’ve never really trolled Cool Hunting, but it seems like a site for people suffering from really short attention spans, the really lazy or terminally bored. It’s compilation of completely unrelated things that someone has determined “cool.” Disposable has been re-re-released on Ginko Press with minor cosmetic changes and factual corrections making it different from the last version published by Concrete Wave Editions. But of course, if you are a collector, you’ll need to get this one too. Cliver is working on a follow up to Disposable that he hopes will be released in Spring of 2008. Yes, much to my wife’s good humor, for the past 10 months I’ve been working on another follow-up book of sorts. This one will be more “collector” based, and my main intent is to showcase a big gallery of deck images from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and just a smattering of the 00s. I’ve pillaged/shot a number of heretofore unseen collections and archives, so I promise lots…

Juice magazine has a chunk of an older Jim Murphy interview with Ian McKaye where Ian talks about his skateboarding past. I always thought that Ian was in the Dogtown and Z-Boys documentary because Minor Threat was so important to so many skateboarders but he was idolizing that Dogtown stuff just like we were. Sounds so familiar. He mentions that he and Henry took a bus trip out to California to skate. That’s like, 2600 miles which would be several days on a bus right? Pretty hardcore for a 16 and 17 year-old. I wonder how they got around the release forms. The interview was in issue 50. You might be able to order a back issue from them if you want the rest of the interview. Ian still runs Dischord records and the prices are very reasonable and the service is excellent.

If you are bummed out about skateboarding not making it to the olympics, you can still get your roller-jollies from the the International Federation of Roller Sports. FIRS is planning on holding the first Skateboarding World Championship at an undisclosed location on an undisclosed date in 2008. Must be top secret. Here’s how they define skateboarding: This is a show of the emerging roller disciplines which are day by day reaching the same importance of the “historical” official roller disciplines. Much appreciated by young people, these sports are stylish, aggressive, acrobatic, in a word: modern sports for young people. SKATEBOARDING: Acrobatics on half pipes or specific skateparks on the renowned four wheeled platform. Recognised different styles: Freestyle – Aerials – Flip tricks – Slides and Lip Tricks. First FIRS world skating Championship is scheduled in 2008 Hmmm… I can hear the controversy now. Do we want our renowned four wheeled platform acrobatics performed in unspecific or specific skateparks? Thank god we are approaching the same historical significance as the other official roller disciplines. No word yet on who is on Team USA for skateboarding, but I hope they are as balanced as a certain Team USA figure skater who has…

Transworld Skateboarding reports (See how I gave you guys credit there? It doesn’t even hurt.) that skateboarding will likely not make it into the 2012 Olympics. The got it from a subscription only web site about the business of the Olympics called Around the Rings. Plans to bring skateboarding to the program for the 2012 Olympics are headed for a crash landing, sources tell Around the Rings… …As part of a play to make maximum use of the BMX half pipe track, UCI was also willing to consider bringing skateboarding into the federation for a double-barreled shot at attracting younger sports fans for the Olympics. UCI sports director Olivier Queguiner, who met recently with IOC officials to discuss the situation, now tells Around the Rings that the “no decision about skateboard” will take place during the UCI Congress in Stuttgart later this month. A vote of the UCI Congress is a must to bring a new discipline into the sport of cycling. Failure to act this year effectively kills the chance of adding skateboarding to London. Around the Rings also claims that most pro skateboarders would rather have street skating in the Olympics instead of a vert event, I’m guessing…

Want to turn into a professional skateboarder like Ryan Sheckler? Who doesn’t? Now you can avoid all the “paying your dues” BS and get the inside scoop in the Go Pro Book from the good folks at Skateboarderpro.com. It covers such topics as: How do you become a professional skateboarder? How do you get sponsored? How do you make a good “Sponsor Me” video? Where do you send “Sponsor Me” videos? Where do you even start? GO PRO is the one and only STEP BY STEP method that can show you EXACTLY the right plan of action you can start TODAY to take you on a direct path to getting sponsored! GO PRO defines a precise daily, goal oriented system that you can work at your own pace to achieve “levels” that position you in exact ways so that you can become “Sponsor Material”. I can’t wait for the informercial. It turns out they can even help you get a college scholarship. And to think I dropped out of college because of skateboarding.