I don’t know who first said “I don’t know art but I know what I like.“, but I like it when someone manages to get the money to build something skateable and pass it off for art. Apparently Dreamland feels the same way. Matt Sefton (See Newcastle feature) contributes another piece, this time a short bit about an art show at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead England called Spank the Monkey. At this point there are no skate pictures up at either site, so you’re better off checking out Matt’s pics here on SnA.

26 year old British man Dave Cornthwaite Skating across Australia while raising money for three charities and attempting to set a world distance record of 6000km. There have been a couple of groups who have done this in the U.S.. I remember someone doing it in the 80’s even. You would think that would be a longer distance, maybe Dave is taking an indirect route. Not to take anything away from Dave, especially considering he hits stretches of outback where he won’t see a city for two months! I guess we can cut him some slack on the dropped and fendered board he is riding. You can sponsor and even challenge Dave to go farther. Get the details from the European skate mag with the great name of Kingpin. No details as to why a British man is doing this in Australia. The important question is whether or not the dingo will eat his baby. Maybe it’s some sort of extreme case of skate harassment and former penal colonies. Let’s hear from some Aussies: Are you sick of these jokes yet?

Where Kwality is Spelled with a “U” as on YouTube. I’ve been meaning to get Grover to contribute a few key video finds a week or so, since he seams to spend a lot of time surfing YouTube. His other passion for the personals on Craig’s List has no place here. Kicking off the inaugural post is this slam section compilation titled Skateboarding Pain LOL which may or may not have been compiled by Funny-Videos.co.uk, but was definitely poached from EPM. Now to talk to Steve…

While not quite as sexy as harassing congressional pages, The Mayor of Harpenden (UK) is under investigation for allegedly harassing and threatened a 13-year-old boy over noise level disputes caused by an allegedly crappy driveway skateboard ramp. I think they call it a car park over there. UK readers, a little help? The inmate numbers in the picture above were added by us, as an editorial statement. I don’t to get sued by a gaggle of flouncy barristers in their funny wigs.

Now this is what we need. More contribtors like Matt Sefton. Originally intended as one of our scene reports It was just too long and too well done. So I made it a feature. Long time readers already know we have a U.K. connection in ex-pat House of Neil, so we’re glad to continue the tradition. Read the Newcastle feature.

I’d be stoked too If I lived in a city with a good skate park. Oh wait, I do. Anyway, The City of Stoke On Trent (True!) in England is coming up on the first anniversary of their skate park called, what else, but Stoke Plaza? It looks pretty damn good (from the Internet at least.) I’m not much for today’s street parks, but this one has plenty of banks and an interesting layout that looks fun. Topping it off is an outlying system of skate paths, an interesting concept that appears to be gathering momentum among builders and advocates. These pictures are from the UK Sketchy Skateboarding website.