So this was going to start as a post about a New York Times article titled Out From the Cold, Snowboarder Tries to Duplicate Success that was basically about how Shaun may be a superstar on the snow, but he’s been a failure on the ramp, at least in terms of his struggle to win the X-Games vert event and be taken seriously as a skateboarder. [Source] That’s a bit of an overstatement really. Does not winning the X-Games makes you a failure? Not in my book, but apparently you’re not even a real skateboarder until you win the X-Games. In ‘Flying Tomato’ now a champ for all seasons, the Boston Herald Quotes Shaun after finally winning one this weekend: “This means the world to me,” choking back tears after his run. “I’ve always wanted to be a skateboarder. I’m finally doing my thing.” Uh yeah. I guess it was emotional for him. We can cut him some slack since he’s doesn’t appear to be nearly as big of a douche bag as the Sheckler, and he’s already paying a penance by not having any control over being constantly referred to as the Flying Tomato. Links to a couple more…

Australia’s Herald Sun has an article titled Skaters shun parks for concrete jungle that talks about how kids still don’t want to be confined to skateparks. While Melbourne is upping it’s skateboard deterrent budget to $50,000 a year, the city of Boroondara has an annual budget of $100,000 a year for skatepark development. 100k Australian is only about $86,000 in US dollars, but it’s still nothing to sneeze at. One of the popular street skating spots that kids keep barging is called Docklands, which near as I can tell is a redeveloped waterfront plaza that used to be, well, docks. The article mentions YouTube videos of Docklands, so I did a cursory search. There appears to be a nicely finished pedestrian park as well as a bunch of more industrial areas that appear to be abandoned or in disuse. You can watch a couple vids after the jump.

I don’t watch the X-Games, even if I come across them by accident. I know, it’s hard to believe. When I came into work this morning a coworker in his 40’s who doesn’t skate had already emailed me about Jake Browns’s slam to flat on the mega ramp. It’s every vert rider’s worse nightmare, multiplied by 10. That’s right, he fell almost to flat from 15 feet above the coping. How tall are those mega ramps? 20, 30ft? Unofficial word is that he fell about 45-50 ft. It’s sickening to watch, but he actually walked off under his own power 20 minutes later. Jake Brown is the luckiest skateboarder alive on this day. Cringe through the vid after the jump. [Update: Added an alternate, extra gnarly camera angle.] [Update: That was fast! The New York Times has article about Jake’s slam and the inherent dangers of the Mega Ramp. Requires free registration – or read it here]

The Tuscaloosa News has a fascinating article titled LIVING ON THE EDGE – Skate park attracts enthusiasts, competitive boarders. Critical analysis of this thought provoking and controversial article after the jump.

For those keeping track, and I’m guessing that’s about three other people, I’ve resurrected the Broken Kingpins column name in Skate and Annoy. This time around, instead of covering all the roster hopping and product release junk like we used to in our ancient print issues, I’m using it for all the miscellaneous links that don’t merit their own post. Besides, there are about a million other web sites that can tell you who has new shoe models and who got kicked off of what tour. [Photo: Denver Post / Andy Cross]

The Science Channel’s How it’s Made program featured skateboards as one of the items that they show… how they are made. For some reason they chose the skateboarding segment to include some gratuitous “history of” narration and crappy animation. None of the other products got the extra dog and pony show. The skateboarder in the picture above seems to be caught in some sort of time-space wormhole anomaly where he is forced to dress like the late 70’s but ride a skateboard that looks like it was designed in the 50’s. Every skateboard manufacturing process seems to vary a little, but the basics are the same. If you’ve never seen this type of thing before it can be interesting. These guys are using the heat transfer process to apply the “decorations” as they call it. The video does not show how the heat transfers are printed (similar to printing t-shirt transfers, colors are printed in reverse order on a flat substrate.) but does show them being applied. The shapes are cut out by hand using an interesting shaping template and what I think is a planer. I’ve never seen it done that way before. Actually, a factory using heat transfers…

Some kid (adult, actually) tried to ride his bike at a skatepark and got kicked out. Not a big deal, except for a few things that make this more interesting. The skatepark was already closed for a specai “summer camp only” session, so he was double barging. Not only that, but the kid came back a short time later and started yelling at kids while riding around the park “recklessly.” He even ran into and injured a nine year old kid. Way to go tough guy! To make it even stranger, he was friends with or at least on friendly terms with a bunch of the local skate kids. As if it couldn’t get any stranger, witness nine year old kids wearing pork pie hats as a fashion statement! This isn’t a really a BMX versus skateboarders story, just more of a moron vs. little kids story. In any case, the police picked up the kid, who hopefully has come down from whatever he was under the influence of before returning to the skatepark. Philip Delisle of Hillsboro Oregon, we salute you for your bravery! Watch the news report after the jump. [Source: Sleestak]

The Dallas Morning News has a surprisingly lengthy article on the older crew of skateboarders in Dallas that are still getting some, not only in local skateparks, but in less than legal pools as well. The article, titled These guys haven’t slowed down, talks a little about balancing their adult lives and responsibilities with skateboarding, and is thankfully short on the “Rad Dad” rhetoric. Here’s a good quote: Now he wears a tie every day. But underneath the suit, he remains a skater punk. Mr. Stubbs says he has had to explain more than once to co-workers and clients why he has pus oozing through his slacks. Reminds me of my friend Shawn who went out to skate on his lunch break, ate shit and had to spend the rest of the day explaining the holes in his fancy work pants and bloody knees. Now he carries an extra pair of work pants in his trunk. Not a prophylactic, but prophyl-slack-tic, as in “slacks.” Ba dum bump! Take my wife! Please! Uh, yeah. What else? The Sonya Hebert/DMN photo above has a quality that makes it seem more like an advertising shot from a prescription drug company or a financial…

Dateline: Englewood Florida. Headline: County wipes out good, clean fun Overmonitoring, irregular hours and high fees mar new skate park Eric Ernst wrote a piece for The Herald Tribune about micromanaging the fun out of the new Englewood skatepark that Team Pain built. Here in Oregon, most of our parks are free, open from dawn to dusk and unmonitored. And for the most part, this works out great.

It’s another case of designers with too much time (or LSD) on their hands. This time it’s Acconci Studio with their concept for a skatepark in San Juan Puerto Rico. I came across this in Dec/Jan 07 issue of Dwell magazine. It was on a page talking about the Cooper Hewitt 2006 National Design Triennial. The design evokes a 70’s snake run mixed with a waterpark. It may be fantastic to look at, but it shows a complete lack of practical skateboarding knowledge.