The shows I watch must fall out of the targeted demographic because I’ve had people tell me about this commercial but I can’t seem to catch it on the air. Instead I have to resort to pulling it off the web. Misubishi, the company that brought you the Japanese Zero, now wants to help you go on a kamikaze pool mission by driving you there and blasting your MP3’s once you get to the secret spot. Thanks to John Aguilar and Paige for the tip off.

Update: It turns out the press misrepresented the facts. Imagine that. Make sure you check out a reply from the twins father Michael after you are done reading my flippant remarks. From the Taipei Times (?) comes this article titled The Sky’s the Limit: A downward shift in the skateboarding demographic and the accessibility provided by the Internet has major labels seeking to endorse kids as young as seven. The article highlights the Puehse Twins success and rampant internet popularity: None of this would have been possible without the support of their father, Michael, a man with a vision, a video camera and a marketing plan. Nothing like a father with a “marketing plan” for his six your old kids. Yes, he started trying to market his kids at the age of six. I have nothing against the Puehse Twins. I think it would be fun to see them skate, and I wish them all the success in the world. It worked for Tiger Woods’ father, so why not Michael Puehse? Skateboards, safety gear, road trips, video camera and web site to market your skateboarding twins: $8000. The look on dad’s face when the twins reach adolescence and decide they…

ABC News has a small gallery of pictures from the practice session for the Skateboard Downhill World Championship held on July 11, 2007. Don’t start to whining “That’s not skateboarding, that’s extreme kooks! Wah wah wah!” Yes, it is skateboarding, and before Thrasher Magazine used to make fun of street luge and professional downhill racing, they used to have recurring spotlights where they talked about it in very revered tones. The guy on left has good fashion sense. The guy on the right looks like he’s got the racing suit but without knee pads. Full face helmet? Sure. Downhill in the rain? Count me out. There are some good shots in the gallery if you hold your breath through a couple of unfortunate buttboarding and skeleton pictures. It looks like there are too many disciplines in downhill these days. I would say that’s not skateboarding but my two year old son would disagree. Getty Images photos from ABC News. After you are done looking at the pretty pictures, check out this ABC Wild World of Sports clip featuring the World Championship of Skateboarding from 1976 after the jump.

Conahan sent me this. Apparently he was too weirded out by it to post. Someone should have explained to the suits that the word “slam” has an unpleasant connotation when associated with skateboarding. Burstin Berry? Eeewww! I think I got a few of those this weekend at Sleestock. Nice tweaked tuck knee. Recognize the skater? Is that a Japan air? One more pic (the same one really, just in one piece) after the jump. Does anyone remember Slam wrist guards? They had a cool pop art logo. Now that was a good product name.

The new World’s Biggest Skateboard is official. The old one belonged to Tod Swank. An Australian named Grant Hicks (no relation) now holds the title. He sent in a few pics and some details you can see after the jump. And to clarify, Grant only said FU! to Tod figuratively.

Outside Magazine? At first I thought this was going to be some real news, Tony Hawk coming out of the closet as the first highly successful openly gay skateboarder would certainly be news. Yeah I know there are other openly gay skateboarders out there, but nobody at Tony’s level. Turns out I was thinking of Out Magazine. Outside Online has an interview with both Tony Hawk and Shaun White, comparing career moves and their relationship as mentor and.. mentee? Err.. One of the best quotes: HAWK: Someone came to me once and wanted to do a signature Hawk cologne. I was like, “Of what? Sweaty pads? Am I wringing out my pads into a little perfume bottle?” WHITE: I’ve been sent like 20 movie scripts. And the first lines are always “What up, brah?” Nope, nope, nope. It’s a good interview that shows a bit of the human side of these two larger than life personalities. At four pages long, this interview is still way too short. I wish they had made a longer version available instead of just mirroring the print edition, which is what I’m assuming they did. we like to poke fun of some of (well most,…

Source: Asscciated Press (07-03) 08:48 PDT LITTLE ROCK, (AP) — A police officer who appeared to choke a skateboarder and put two others in a headlock in a video posted online used appropriate force when making his arrests, an internal police investigation found. The Hot Springs Police Department Internal Affairs Board found the use of force was within the police department’s policy on non-deadly force and recommended “no changes to this policy.” The decision was released Monday. Officer Joey Williams confronted a situation that “would have overwhelmed any single officer” when he stopped those breaking a Hot Springs city ordinance by skateboarding on a downtown sidewalk June 21, the report said. However, Williams was faulted for leaving a handcuffed suspect unattended while chasing another youth in the resort town’s historic Bathhouse Row. Williams has been on administrative leave since the video hit YouTube on June 25. Police said he would return to active duty Thursday in the city’s downtown. “I think it was fair,” City Manager Kent Myers said. Witnesses “consistently supported the actions of the officer and his efforts to control the situation.” Video from a business’ security cameras shows 10 skateboarders rolling down the city sidewalk at a…

The Simpsons Movie is having a so-called contest to see which city named Springfield gets to host the premier of the movie. I say “so-called” because it’s pretty obvious that Springfield Oregon is the inspiration for the city, given that Groening used to live in Oregon and lot of the character names can be found on the street signs of Portland predating the show. The contests involves each city making a video plea for their case. Why do we care? Because tony Hawk makes an appearance in Springfield Oregon’s video. [Source: Oregon Live]

Not much to say about this 1981 clip of Tony Hawk on the old children’s show Captain Kangaroo. I didn’t know the Captain was still on the air in 1981. It’s a little disappointing actually, since Tony’s appearance isn’t live on set with the Captain. Instead, it’s just video footage of tony skating Del Mar on a Steve Caballero board no less. The Captain’s crew even managed to record an old sea chanty titled Skateboard Johnny, not to be confused with the song Skateboard Johnny featured in this collection of 70’s skateboard tunes, or this UK child molester named Skateboard Johnny. Watch the video after the jump. [Source: Wall of Gray]

This week Willamette Week recommends Pier Park as a good outdoor destination. They include a photo of Ben Wixon by Daniel Root. Strange to see skateparks in the listings of things to do in the newspaper.