Australian man named Grant Hicks is challenging Tod Swank’s world’s largest skateboard record. Sure, there have been other contenders, and it’s not official yet, but Hick’s board is supposed to be 9 feet longer, and he’s documented the hell out of it with five of his own videos as well as an appearance on an Australian TV news program. If you’re only going to watch one of them, the TV one is your best bet. You’ll do a double-take when you hear how the anchorwoman’s thick Australian accent makes the word “deck” sound like a part of the male anatomy, leading to lots of juvenile fun with sentences like: “The father of three hopes the giant deck will help raise money for his local (unintelligible) saving club.” and “Seven month’s of hard work and Grant’s monster deck is around 9 feet longer than the current world record holders.” Wow! Dirk Diggler is rolling over in his grave. Catch all six videos after the jump.

Yeah, we cover the local beats just on the off chance that someone official in Bonner Springs Kansas might read this. Hey, it’s happened before! Mayor Clausie Smith is running for reelection. One of his past term accomplishments was the construction of a skatepark. I couldn’t turn up a picture of the park anywhere on the web. The parks web site describes it as “Skate Park – 90′ x 60′ pad with speed ramp, quarter pipe, Euro-gap, and grind rail.” Hmm. Speed ramp? OK. Sounds fun, but not according to Escapist Skateboarding: DESCRIPTION: Pretty much identical to Rosedale Skatepark, same playground equipment “skatepark” company. Although miraculously this one manages to be even worse due to the asphalt surface so you don’t even get the flatground blissfulness of Rosedale. PROS: Uhhh…it’s free? CONS: Artists. PADS: None. COSTS: They should pay us to ride it Skaters of Bonner Springs! Arise and join the revolution by voting out Clausie Smith. Suggested chant: “Ditch Bossy Clausie!” Slow news day.

And I’m sure that’s not the last time you’ll see that title. Professional skateboarder Steve Berra has a movie that he wrote (and directed?) called The Good Life. It’s premiering at Sundance, so he’s starting to pop up in the entertainment news, like over at indieWIRE and the LA Times (See photo above. Site requires free registration). The movie is supposed to be about a disaffected young man, and is loosely based on some of his own experiences. It’s not clear whether skateboarding plays a part in the movie, but all the interviews talk about it. Lastly, here’s an in interview from the Active Mail Order site, one of his current sponsors. Is that weird, having a mail order place be your sponsor? I wonder how much money he gets from them.

Denver’s Channel 7 News reports that a skateboarder was attacked by a Coyote. Two different residents said a boy was attacked by a coyote while riding his skateboard. They said he was able to fend off the coyote with the skateboard. A certain Wile. E. is being sought as an animal of interest. Apparently, Wile E. has a history of violence against small birds and skateboards as well.

Love and Acceptance on the Half Pipe: Sexy Skateboarding Ads Attack Discrimination is the title of the Gaysports.com (Who knew?) article about the MTV’s gay skateboarder anti-discrimination commercial that appears to have been written by a time traveling robot. The article, not the commercial. I’m not exactly sure why they wrote the article, because it’s more of a primer on skateboard culture than it is a commentary on the TV commercial or gay skaters. A few choice quotes and more after the jump

This is probably the best tutorial on how to build a mini-pipe that you will ever see. It’s a quick view, so check it out, you won’t be disappointed.

You heard right. Want to revolutionize the skateboard industry? Then start bidding on the patent rights for this Easily Steered Skateboard, which near as I can tell, aside from already being in production elsewhere, is essentially a shopping cart wheel, or a rotating caster. Fug. This was supposed to be a quick and dirty post, but instead it turned into a dissertation on the variety of caster wheel type truck systems. There are more than you’d think. Catch patent details and the most shopping cart action with skateboards seen since CKY.

This Stereo Sound Agency video is reportedly a promo for an MTV show that fell through. That’s too bad, cause this is about a million times better than Rob and Big, and I can confidently say that without ever having watched the latter. I get peeved when companies and skate celebrities decide to resurrect their old brands. It betrays a certain lack of commitment and something else I can’t quiet put my finger on. If you just want to cash in, just do limited series of re-issues, don’t pretend that you’re in it for the long haul again. However much I grouse, I can’t harbor any ill will towards Jason Lee. I like Stereo’s aesthetic, they’ve released a few cool shapes, and Lee’s too damn funny. Catch the vid after the jump

There’s an article being recycled by different newspapers about how a rap act know as The Pack is helping the worlds of skateboarding and hip hop come together, as if that is something new. The research department only went back a couple of years because completely absent from the article are such bands as the Beastie Boys, Urban Dance Squad and oh, I don’t know, who else but Skatemaster Tate, a guy who based his whole schtick on it back in the late 80’s. That’s Tate above hosting Nickelodeon’s SK8 TV with Mathew Lillard. Bottom right is a shot from a video shoot for The Pack’s new EP Skateboards 2 Scrapers. Early skate-rap connections, video links, a Skatemaster Tate roundup and more after the jump.

ESPN gathered a panel of experts to rate the difficulty of 60 sports based on 10 criteria. Skateboarding came in at 37, sandwiched between difficult distance swimming and sprints in track and field. Some noticeable more difficult sports include badminton and team handball while the easier sports include calf roping, golf and table tennis. Settling the argument once and for all, skateboarding ranked 16 sports harder than rollerskating (and presumably rollerblading), which tied with cheerleading. Gentlemen, start your pom pom jokes! Check it out: ESPN [ via About.com ] Bonus: A link to the artist that painted the center picture you’ve probably seen all over the web but assumed it was Photoshopped and not a painting.