A World Without CEOs is a response to A World Without Pros. It’s a good piss-take on the Blitz’ site, although it would have been better if it had stuck to rational argument instead of the occasional name calling and profanity. Not that I have anything against profanity in general, but in this case I think it’s counterproductive. I just think it would be more effective without calling the IASC a bunch of morons. The “Don’t sue me. I’m just a poor skateboarder” page is kind of weak too. If you are going to make a statement, stand by it and don’t include a “just kidding” as an afterthought.

Coca-Cola Road Trip: I think this aired in the summer of 2006. In the story line, some kids get bored building their miniramp so they go on a road trip to find some full pipes in the desert. They skate for five minutes and get kicked out. Someone did some cultural research, throwing in terms like “desert water project” and having full pipes in the first place, except the pipes are small and metal. The punch line is “At least someone got to skate.” Gee, maybe if you hadn’t brought seven guys to the session in the middle of the day it wouldn’t have been a problem. These kids need to learn about stealth. All in all though, a fairly innocuous effort. Catch the video after the jump.

Remember that Sony patent we reported on for a vehicle steerable by movement of center of gravity? Well, Sony may have an artist’s conception of a stick figure snowman riding one, but some college kids at UBC (where?) have video footage of pretty much the same device that they made and actually rode back in February of 2005. Patent law in the U.S. is one big mess. I’m sure these kids will get screwed. No matter, it’s not like the devices are going to become popular. Catch the video after the jump.

A lot of commercials featuring skateboarders have been popping up lately. Yesterday I posted the CarMax advert, so starting today I’m going to see how long I can keep it going. Nissan has a fetish for skateboards. Here’s a commercial featuring Danny Way for another Nissan vehicle.

I kind of forgot that it was Valentine’s Day. Check out this small collection of Extreme™ Valentine’s Day stuff from 2002. Surely there is something new to add. Let us know if you got some.

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Must be weird to show up for a session at the local skatepark if you are Tony Hawk. This is from JGB’s blog at The Skateboard Mag. He says he took this the last week in January. Classic trick executed as well as anybody could. Great shot.

I’m not sure if this commercial is even airing or not, but thanks to the Interwebs, here it is. There’s nothing funnier than an age-inappropriate person on a skateboard, with the possible exception of a football to the groin. Catch the video after the jump

The Express-Times has short interview with old Zorlac pro and current Syndrome Distribution honcho Rob Mertz. The article, titled “Skateboard to top not pipe dream” is a short fluff piece, but it does contain an amusing fact – the town mayor was the one who encouraged him to follow his dream of being a pro skateboarder. If like me, you’re still skating as grown man with a family of your own, you can probably relate to hearing this kind of thing from your extended family, and in this case, from Rob’s mom:

All the years, miles and bruises later, Nancy Mertz still worries. “He skates every day on his lunch hour. You know he’s 41?” she sighed. “This is why they have hair dye; I turned gray early.”

More Mertz links after the jump.

Dave Cawdrey was a former pro skateboarder in Seattle during the 90’s. I didn’t get to the Pacific Northwest until late 1998 so I never really heard about him, but maybe you have. Dave is now living out the rest of his brief life in Bend Oregon. I say “brief” because he suffers from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). This Seattle Times article is a long, sad but good read about his life before and after diagnosis in 2000. Skateboarding is a recurring element in the story. Dave’s physical deterioration contrasts the physical development of one of his sons, who has taken up skateboarding. It’s an atypically poignant case of a father living vicariously through his son. It’s a tear jerker for sure. After reading about Dave and his family’s situation, it makes me want to puke when I see guys like this that think they have it bad and want to have everything handed to them on a silver platter.

Looks like it’s a video post kind of day. This is probably the best car-as-skateboard, ahem, in-car-nation I’ve ever seen. Check out this spot for the Nissan Qashqai. “WTF is a Qashqai?” you ask? Well its a Turkic-speaking tribal confederation of clans in Iran. I guess that explains why they don’t sell it in the United Sates… And here I thought it was Icelandic. This post is labeled “Part 2” but I’ve skipped a car commercial or two. There’s another commercial with some sort of creature using a car as a skateboard but I can’t recall what for. I think I might even have it taped somewhere. The best part of this commercial? The wall ride! Watch it after the jump.